In May 2024 Parish Priest, Fr James Antony, drew together a small team of parishioners to explore the idea of holding a parish assembly. This idea had grown out of several conversations and sentiments expressed by parishioners that our parish was existing in maintenance mode, with limited focus on the mission of the Church – that is, to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The aim of holding a parish assembly, which would entail several gatherings and consultation with the Catholic community, was to step out in faith and discern what our parish might look like in the next 5, 10, 20 years.
The first gathering was held on Saturday, 15 June, 9am – 1pm in Holy Family Church. Our guest speaker was Fr Rob Galea who is originally from Malta, serves in the Sandhurst Diocese, and is well-known internationally as a singer-songwriter and evangelist.
At this gathering a parish survey was launched. Like the first gathering the aim of this survey was to investigate what helped, or hindered, a person’s sense of belonging to our parish. A document summarising the results of the survey and feedback from the first gathering can be found here. Corpus Christi Parish Assembly 2024 (FINAL)
The details of this survey were shared at a second parish gathering on Saturday, 24 August, 9am – 1pm in Holy Family Church. The guest speaker for this event was Dr Trudy Dantis. Trudy is the Director of the National Centre for Pastoral Research of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Trudy is also the national coordinator for the Synod of Bishops 2021-2024 and will be attending the second assembly of the Synod in Rome in October this year. Trudy is the lead researcher for a national research project into why some Australian Catholics do not participate regularly in Sunday Mass. Trudy and her husband Alwyn are members of our parish.
Trudy’s presentation focused on the findings of the Parish Social Profile (based on the 2021 Australian Census) for the South Tuggeranong Parish. The Social Profile can be viewed here: [link to https://ncpr.catholic.org.au/2021-Parish-Social-Profiles/Canberra_Goulburn/South%20Tuggeranong.pdf ]
Following Trudy’s presentation attendees gathered in small groups to discuss what had surprised them about the presentation and to delve further into the five themes that have emerged over the course of the Assembly. The themes are:
- Mass, Sacraments and music
- Outreach (community engagement, hospitality, inclusion, schools)
- Faith formation
- Parish communication and infrastructure
- Pastoral Care
Next steps
Further consultation/surveys: It was agreed during the last few months that we need more feedback from young people aged approximately 12 to 18 years as well as parents who have children in Catholic schools. This work is currently in progress.
Working Groups: An invitation is now extended to parishioners to volunteer to be on working groups to further explore the themes that have emerged. If you would like to express your interest in being on one of the working groups, please contact the parish office.
Parish Pastoral Council/Parish Finance Council/Parish Assembly Team: To ensure the findings of the parish assembly process are acted upon it will require significant planning to put in a place a strategy that is sustainable, measurable and achievable. This will take a good deal of commitment and vision. We will endeavour to keep the whole parish up to date with developments.
Please keep the assembly process in your prayers. We can’t do this work without God’s help. Please include the parish prayer in your prayer routine.
PARISH ASSEMBLY PRAYER
Ever-present and everlasting God,
Together with you, we journey towards our Parish Assembly.
Open our eyes to recognise you present in our community,
Open our ears to listen to one another,
Open our hearts to the gifts that each of us brings to our community.
Open our minds to new possibilities.
Guide us towards becoming the flourishing community you wish us to become.
Amen