ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOURNE REPORT:
Monday 13 August 2012
THE FIRST ever national conference for Catholics, focusing specifically on the 'new evangelisation', has been hailed as a “Spirit-filled success.”
Organisers predicted PROCLAIM 2012 – which wrapped up in Chatswood, Sydney, on Saturday, 11 August – would come to be recognised as a 'watershed' moment in the life of the Australian Catholic Church.
View gallery
Director for the National Office for Evangelisation, Marita Winters said feedback, both formal and anecdotal, proved that the event had “ticked a lot of boxes”.
“It attracted those who were interested in learning more about their faith and how to share it with others, and we covered topics as diverse as engaging with people with disabilities, attracting young people back to the church and equipping people in parishes to more effectively outreach to those disconnected from the institutional Church.”
In a show of both solidarity and loyalty to the universal Church, Proclaim 2012 featured input from overseas guest speakers, including Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the President of the Vatican’s newly formed Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation and Martha Fernandez-Sardina, the Director of the Office for Evangelisation in the Archdiocese of San Antonio in the United States.
Mrs Winters said the input of Archbishop Fisichella was significant because it showed that the Vatican took a great interest in how the New Evangelisation was being embraced and implemented by Australian Catholics, while also recognising the Church in Australia was pioneering many innovative ways of spreading the Gospel.
“Some of our workshop presenters, as well as the stall holders that featured at our three-day expo, along with our workshop presenters, are literally at the cutting edge of ministry, mission, outreach and catechesis,” she said.
A highlight of the three-day gathering was a youth rally on Friday 10 August, featuring live music, multimedia and hip-hop and krump
Stronger, higher, faster path to Sainthood
By Beth Doherty
“You are what you eat,” said evangelist Martha Fernandez-Sardina as she addressed the 400-strong crowd at PROCLAIM 2012: the first national conference on the “New Evangelisation” held from 9-11 August at The Concourse in Chatswood.
The American keynote speaker wasn’t giving diet tips or fitness advice; rather, she was exhorting the crowd gathered to understand the power in frequent reception of the Eucharist.
“If you receive Christ frequently, you slowly become transformed. It changes you. You become the bread come down from heaven. You become Holy as the Lord your God is Holy”, she said.
One of two high-profile international guests to address PROCLAIM 2012, Martha: a bilingual speaker, trainer and consultant captivated the audience for over an hour with witty stories, anecdotes, personal sharing and biblical wisdom.
Martha admitted to those gathered that growing up, her family were not great Church-goers, but that at the age of 15, she saw that there was something missing in her life.
Raised between New York and the Dominican Republic, Martha grew up speaking Spanish and English and now is the Director of the Office for Evangelisation in San Antonio, Texas.
Her work has led her to develop programs in both languages and to reach out via the media and in various forms of ministry, to share how Christ has worked in her life.
By way of personal anecdote, Martha shared the story of attending a parish as a young teenager and realising that they had a youth group. Having had not much contact with Christian young people, she observed them closely during the Mass and realised that “she wanted what they had.”
“I saw how they loved one another!!” she said.
As soon as Mass ended, she approached one of them and asked when the Youth Group met. Reflecting later, she admits she probably scared the youth group leader a little bit.
“He was probably thinking, “wow! I wasn't even fishing and she jumped into my net”. But you know, even when we aren’t fishing, the great evangeliser catches fish.
It was at this Mass that Martha prayed the prayer: “Lord, I recommit my life to you and the Church.”
Following this, she forced herself to attend Mass every week until she began to understand the beauty and sacredness.
“For me, there are very important ways in which you maintain your faith. Through daily Mass; frequent reception of Holy Communion and by regular confession. We need to want that holiness so much that we would pay any price, we want the blood of a spotless, unblemished lamb.”
Martha had clearly done her research before coming to Australia and was familiar with the sayings of St Mary MacKillop as she addressed the crowd.
“Do not get so attached to the world that you will find it hard to go home – after all, as Mary of the Cross MacKillop said, “we are but travellers here”.”
“There will be sacrifices! You will need to give things up. You will wrestle with God and some things won’t be easy to give up”, she said.
“And speaking of giving things up, I arrived at the airport here and swapped over my American dollars for your beautiful colourful Australian ones. I was a little apprehensive, because not only was there a fee, but I actually got back less than I handed over”, she said to the laughing crowd.
“However, that allowed me to do something – it allowed me to buy things I needed for the trip. God works in a similar way. Sometimes we have to give up certain attachments, lifestyles, and baggage. But God will reward you abundantly for what you lay down!”
Martha then told the story of the young man who went to buy a large burger and fries at a fast-food chain, and was greeted with the reply: “Do you want heartburn now, or later?”
“It’s the same with Jesus”, she said.
“It is inevitable that we will get heartburn from an unhealthy diet, that we will see the effects, just as eventually, we will all come before the Lord; but how much more beautiful if we live Christ’s way now, if we allow our hearts to burn with the Gospel here on earth.”
“We don’t just want our hearts to burn, we want a heart transplant. We want God to replace our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh.”
Her final words were an exhortation to approach prayer and faith in the same way that Olympic athletes do, and used the motto: “stronger, faster, higher”.
“Holiness requires effort, self-discipline, self-denial and a “fierce Olympian attitude and mindset.”
“After all, you want to, as St Paul writes in Corinthians, ‘run so as to win’.”
“It requires getting up and going at it every day. We too can be Olympians and medallists. As Fr. Benedict Groechsel said: ‘Saints are people like us who simply tried harder’.”dancing.
Photos by Elizabeth Doherty/ACBC
Proclaim 2012 greeted with acclaim
Monday 13 August 2012THE FIRST ever national conference for Catholics, focusing specifically on the 'new evangelisation', has been hailed as a “Spirit-filled success.”
Organisers predicted PROCLAIM 2012 – which wrapped up in Chatswood, Sydney, on Saturday, 11 August – would come to be recognised as a 'watershed' moment in the life of the Australian Catholic Church.
View gallery
Director for the National Office for Evangelisation, Marita Winters said feedback, both formal and anecdotal, proved that the event had “ticked a lot of boxes”.
“It attracted those who were interested in learning more about their faith and how to share it with others, and we covered topics as diverse as engaging with people with disabilities, attracting young people back to the church and equipping people in parishes to more effectively outreach to those disconnected from the institutional Church.”
In a show of both solidarity and loyalty to the universal Church, Proclaim 2012 featured input from overseas guest speakers, including Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the President of the Vatican’s newly formed Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation and Martha Fernandez-Sardina, the Director of the Office for Evangelisation in the Archdiocese of San Antonio in the United States.
Mrs Winters said the input of Archbishop Fisichella was significant because it showed that the Vatican took a great interest in how the New Evangelisation was being embraced and implemented by Australian Catholics, while also recognising the Church in Australia was pioneering many innovative ways of spreading the Gospel.
“Some of our workshop presenters, as well as the stall holders that featured at our three-day expo, along with our workshop presenters, are literally at the cutting edge of ministry, mission, outreach and catechesis,” she said.
A highlight of the three-day gathering was a youth rally on Friday 10 August, featuring live music, multimedia and hip-hop and krump
Stronger, higher, faster path to Sainthood
By Beth Doherty
“You are what you eat,” said evangelist Martha Fernandez-Sardina as she addressed the 400-strong crowd at PROCLAIM 2012: the first national conference on the “New Evangelisation” held from 9-11 August at The Concourse in Chatswood.
The American keynote speaker wasn’t giving diet tips or fitness advice; rather, she was exhorting the crowd gathered to understand the power in frequent reception of the Eucharist.
“If you receive Christ frequently, you slowly become transformed. It changes you. You become the bread come down from heaven. You become Holy as the Lord your God is Holy”, she said.
One of two high-profile international guests to address PROCLAIM 2012, Martha: a bilingual speaker, trainer and consultant captivated the audience for over an hour with witty stories, anecdotes, personal sharing and biblical wisdom.
Martha admitted to those gathered that growing up, her family were not great Church-goers, but that at the age of 15, she saw that there was something missing in her life.
Raised between New York and the Dominican Republic, Martha grew up speaking Spanish and English and now is the Director of the Office for Evangelisation in San Antonio, Texas.
Her work has led her to develop programs in both languages and to reach out via the media and in various forms of ministry, to share how Christ has worked in her life.
By way of personal anecdote, Martha shared the story of attending a parish as a young teenager and realising that they had a youth group. Having had not much contact with Christian young people, she observed them closely during the Mass and realised that “she wanted what they had.”
“I saw how they loved one another!!” she said.
As soon as Mass ended, she approached one of them and asked when the Youth Group met. Reflecting later, she admits she probably scared the youth group leader a little bit.
“He was probably thinking, “wow! I wasn't even fishing and she jumped into my net”. But you know, even when we aren’t fishing, the great evangeliser catches fish.
It was at this Mass that Martha prayed the prayer: “Lord, I recommit my life to you and the Church.”
Following this, she forced herself to attend Mass every week until she began to understand the beauty and sacredness.
“For me, there are very important ways in which you maintain your faith. Through daily Mass; frequent reception of Holy Communion and by regular confession. We need to want that holiness so much that we would pay any price, we want the blood of a spotless, unblemished lamb.”
Martha had clearly done her research before coming to Australia and was familiar with the sayings of St Mary MacKillop as she addressed the crowd.
“Do not get so attached to the world that you will find it hard to go home – after all, as Mary of the Cross MacKillop said, “we are but travellers here”.”
“There will be sacrifices! You will need to give things up. You will wrestle with God and some things won’t be easy to give up”, she said.
“And speaking of giving things up, I arrived at the airport here and swapped over my American dollars for your beautiful colourful Australian ones. I was a little apprehensive, because not only was there a fee, but I actually got back less than I handed over”, she said to the laughing crowd.
“However, that allowed me to do something – it allowed me to buy things I needed for the trip. God works in a similar way. Sometimes we have to give up certain attachments, lifestyles, and baggage. But God will reward you abundantly for what you lay down!”
Martha then told the story of the young man who went to buy a large burger and fries at a fast-food chain, and was greeted with the reply: “Do you want heartburn now, or later?”
“It’s the same with Jesus”, she said.
“It is inevitable that we will get heartburn from an unhealthy diet, that we will see the effects, just as eventually, we will all come before the Lord; but how much more beautiful if we live Christ’s way now, if we allow our hearts to burn with the Gospel here on earth.”
“We don’t just want our hearts to burn, we want a heart transplant. We want God to replace our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh.”
Her final words were an exhortation to approach prayer and faith in the same way that Olympic athletes do, and used the motto: “stronger, faster, higher”.
“Holiness requires effort, self-discipline, self-denial and a “fierce Olympian attitude and mindset.”
“After all, you want to, as St Paul writes in Corinthians, ‘run so as to win’.”
“It requires getting up and going at it every day. We too can be Olympians and medallists. As Fr. Benedict Groechsel said: ‘Saints are people like us who simply tried harder’.”dancing.
Photos by Elizabeth Doherty/ACBC
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOURNE
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