Archdiocesan Agencies and Organizations
Our witness would be hopelessly inadequate
if we had not first contemplated his face.
(NMI 16)
Some Background
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Recognition of two great ecclesial events: World Youth Day and Canonization of
Mary McKillop
Archbishop Wilson as President of the Episcopal Conference proposes a
Plenary Council
Sub-Committee established
Need to discern the needs, challenges and opportunities of each diocese: a
number of sessions in the Plenary Meetings
Emerging consensus: a need to do something and to do it together.
Proposal to Conference: A Year of Grace
May 2010: Working party appointed (Archbishop Coleridge, Archbishop
Costelloe, Bishops Putney and Walker)
December 2010: Fr Peter Brock appointed by conference as “Project Officer”.
Establishes National Planning Team
May 2011: Conference formally adopts proposal for a year of Grace.
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Inspiration from “Novo Millennio Ineunte”;
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In the face of the challenges, difficulties, uncertainties, opportunities, etc, we
need to “go back to the basics” and centre ourselves on Christ.
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You must have in you the same mind that was in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5).
An invitation to the whole Church to ask the fundamental question: what has this
got to do with Jesus?
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Our witness would be hopelessly inadequate if we had not first
contemplated his face (NMI 16)
The greatest challenge facing religious life today is to return the religious
life to Christ and to return Christ to the religious life (Fr Pascual Chavez
SDB)
How do I ensure that all that I am/we are doing is really centered on Christ?
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To take seriously the claim of the Johannine Jesus: I am the Way, the Truth
and the Life; no-one can come to the Father except through me (John 14:6).
If Jesus is not, theoretically and practically, at the heart of our faith as a Catholic
community, then perhaps we have no heart …..
What it is – and isn’t
 Not another programme
 This is a call and an invitation
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to encounter and conversion more than
education (heart as well as head)
to prayer more than to study (to know Jesus
more than to know about Jesus)
to reflection more than problem-solving,
to a retreat, in the broadest sense, more than
to a discussion program in the narrower
sense.
When?
 Officially announced on the Feast of Christ the King
 Officially opened on Pentecost Sunday 2012.
 Officially closes on Pentecost Sunday 2013
 Merges with the Year of Faith (October 11, 2012 – November
24, 2013)
National scope – local focus
 A series of focal points celebrated nationally but adapted to local needs
and realities.
 Opening of the year – Pentecost 2012.
 Throughout the year:
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Celebration of repentance and healing (Lent 2013)
Celebration of holiness – saints among us (November 1, 2013)
Celebration of Family Life
Celebration of Catholic Education
Celebration of migrant communities
Celebration for children
Celebration for Religious Life
Others
 Closing of the Year – Pentecost 2013 (merging into last half of Year of
Faith – faith is our response to grace)
Not an added burden but a central
focus …..
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Letters to bishops, parishes, priests, schools, Church agencies, religious
congregations, etc.
Each parish, community, school, organization, movement, agency invited to
reflect on how to put Christ, clearly and unambiguously, at the heart of
everything we do. An invitation to constantly ask the question: What has this to
do with Jesus? Is he at the heart of everything we are doing? Is he our
inspiration, our focus, our source of strength, the centre-point around whom
everything revolves?
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A spirituality for those who work in the Agency/organization
Evangelization of those who access the Agency/organization
Not so much creating new initiatives but rather giving a central focus for all that
we are already doing or plan to do.
Here in Perth
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The animation of the year of Grace, at the diocesan level, entrusted to a team
led by Ms Paddy Buckley and supported by Ms Lydia Stanley and the Faith
Centre
Resources provided through the Faith Centre.
Will also act as a “clearing house” for the sharing of locally and nationally
produced resources and ideas.
Local parishes, other groups and agencies, are strongly encourged to appoint a
local coordinator to liaise with Paddy Buckley and Lydia Stanley.
Much will depend on the active enthusiasm of the Agency/organization head and
the local clergy and religious.
Year of Grace Website: www.yearofgrace.catholic.org.au
Official Launch for the Archdiocese: Pentecost Sunday 5.00pm Mass in
Cathedral.
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Many parishes and other groups attended
Special focus on Youth
Candles distributed
Other dimensions
 An E-Conference (possibly a series) relating to the central theme of the
Year of Grace.
 Support and Assistance provided by the Catholic Education Office for
school participation
 DVD/multimedia production – the Faces of Christ
 Guidelines/suggestions for the national celebrations
Our witness would he hopelessly inadequate
if we had not first ourselves
contemplated his face.