BISHOP’S MESSAGE
DIOCESE OF BROKEN BAY Diocesan Office: Tel (02) 8379 1600 Caroline Chisholm Centre Building 2, 423 Pennant Hills Rd Pennant Hills NSW 2120 (Access off City View Rd) PO Box 340 Pennant Hills NSW 1715 bishop@bbcatholic.org.au
BBN / AUGUST 2020
God is calling you. How will you respond? By Bishop Anthony Randazzo
As Saint Paul VI reminded us when he visited Sydney in 1970, Australians are “an original people, the result of the meeting of people of very different nations, languages and civilizations.”
CHANCERY OFFICES Bishop: Most Rev Anthony Randazzo Vicar General: Very Rev Dr David Ranson
(Randwick Racecourse, 1 Dec 1970).
Chancellor: Jo Robertson Executive Officer: Kelly Paget
One of the great challenges that faces us today is how to preach the Gospel to such an original people.
Diocesan Financial Administrator, Director, Office for Stewardship: Emma McDonald Director, Diocesan Office for Safeguarding: Jodie Crisafulli Tel: (02) 8379 1605 Director, Marriage Tribunal: Adrienne Connaghan Tel: (02) 8379 1680 Director, Office for Communications: Selina Hasham Manager, Office for Evangelisation: Jenny Hildebrandt Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD): Alison Newell CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OFFICE Interm Director: Danny Casey Tel (02) 9847 0000 PO Box 967 Pennant Hills NSW 1715 CATHOLICCARE Executive Director: Tim Curran Tel: (02) 9481 2600 PO Box 966 Pennant Hills 1715 Children’s Services: Tel: (02) 9481 2660 Family Centres: Brookvale – Tel: (02) 8968 5100 Naremburn – Tel: (02) 8425 8700 Waitara – Tel: (02) 9488 2400 Warnervale – Tel: (02) 4356 2600 Foster and Residential Care: Tel: (02) 4320 7700 Mission, Hospital Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care: (02) 9481 2658 BROKEN BAY NEWS Editor: Melissa Loughlin Tel: (02) 8379 1618 news@bbcatholic.org.au Design: Edward Baricevic 14,000 copies of Broken Bay News are distributed bi-monthly to 26 parishes and 44 schools in the Diocese of Broken Bay. The Broken Bay News is a member of the Australasian Catholic Press Association. Acceptance of advertisements does not imply diocesan endorsement of products or services advertised. Cover Image: The Hand of God, by Yongsung Kim (www.havenlight.com)
www.bbcatholic.org.au
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My dear sisters and brothers in Christ, Two of my favourite saints are Saint Paul and Saint Catherine of Siena – one the greatest missionary in the life of the Church, the other a profound mystic and spiritual writer. Paul of Tarsus, the heroic figure of the New Testament who proposed solutions to a chaotic world making Christianity an authentic instrument of change. Caterina, the woman from the city of Siena in Tuscany, whose political boldness to speak the truth to the powerful, influenced the Papacy, politics and Western history. They were both faithful advocates of conversion, renewal and reform. Neither one of these people ever visited Australia; neither of them knew that this great Southern Land even existed! Australia – where our Aboriginal brothers and sisters have lived for thousands of years, moving over large tracts of land and living in deep harmony with nature. Mapped and colonised by European people, Terra Australis de Spiritu Sancto was the name that it was given: in the Christian tradition, they called it after the Holy Spirit. Australia is now a largely urban, modern and secularised nation, in which successive immigrations from Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania have contributed to make it a multicultural society. (cf. Ecclesia in Oceania no.6)
In our Catholic faith tradition, we believe that the Good News can only be known and understood through personal encounter with Jesus Christ. A relationship with the person of Jesus happens through the witness of the Christian community. Moreover, history has shown us that one usually reaches Jesus by passing through the community of the Church. (cf. Pope Benedict XVI 22 Nov 2006) However, for Saint Paul the Christian community is not some cosy place where believers meet to feel good about themselves! It is, rather, where one is formed in the mystery of Christ and transformed into a disciple. It is where the obligation is placed on each member of the body to preach the Gospel, for Christ calls each to service as a disciple. (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:16) In a society where the Good News is not always welcome and where devoted service to the master is often shunned, this might all sound strangely countercultural. And of course, it is. However, being counter-cultural does not invalidate or neutralise the Good News. It is precisely in this manner that we Christians are commanded to live the faith. It is in this setting that the Gospel is planted, takes root, grows from within and becomes a sign that God reigns on earth and in heaven.
