| Ecumenical
& Interfaith The Broken Bay Ecumenical
Commission Broken Bay’s Ecumenical Commission was established to promote, develop and encourage Ecumenism within the Diocese. Ecumenism has the objective of reconciling all Christians in the unity that Jesus Christ willed for His Church. But what is Ecumenism ? Does it mean 'we' have to join 'them', or that 'they' have to join 'us' ? The call to Ecumenism dates back to Christ's prayer to His Father in the garden on the eve of His crucifixion: 'May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you ...' (John 17:21). At the Second Vatican Council the Church committed herself irrevocably to follow the path of the ecumenical venture. Pope John XXIII believed that 'what unites us is much greater than what divides us'. John Paul II urges us to the task in his 1995 Encyclical Letter Ut Unum Sint, That They May All Be One. With this vision in mind Bishop David Walker established the Diocese of Broken Bay Ecumenical Commission in 1998. This followed the Interim Ecumenical Commission established the previous year. The Commission works with and supports the Ecumenical Representatives in the various parishes of the Diocese to help to facilitate ecumenical activity at a local level. There are 12 members of the commission, along with the Chair Fr Colin Blayney, who is parish priest of Our Lady Help of Christians, Epping, and St Gerard Majella’s, Carlingford. Members are nominated by their parish priest or by expressions of interest to the commission and are appointed by the Bishop for a period of three years. The commission meets four times a year and holds two meetings with parish ecumenical representatives.
Objectives The Commission’s objectives include promoting, developing and encouraging Ecumenism within Broken Bay. Most of the 39 parishes within the Diocese have ecumenical representatives and groups that are responsible for organising occasions of fellowship and prayer with members of other Christian churches. It has been amazing to see the increase in ecumenical activity in the parishes over the past three years, particularly the variety of prayer, pastoral and support interactivity. The commission also aims to establish and maintain a dialogue with members of other Christian churches. This has included a series of dialogues between Bishop David, Bishop Roger Herft (Anglican Bishop of Newcastle) and Bishop Michael Malone (Catholic Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle). These have been stimulating and informative discussions on topics relevant to both churches. Ecumenical education has included the release last year of the statement One Body Broken, which advises Catholics and members of other Christian churches about the occasions and conditions for Eucharistic sharing in our Church. If your partner, members of your family and/or friends are Christians of another denomination and wish to share the Eucharist with you on special or similar occasions, then this booklet tells you how this can be achieved. Copies are available from your parish priest or from the Ecumenical Commission. Members of the Commission attend meetings, symposiums and information sessions that are significant to the ecumenical movement and interfaith issues in order to increase their knowledge and experiences and to share this with other commission members, parish representatives and members of their congregation in an effort to develop and promote ecumenical initiatives. The Commission meets twice a year with the Anglican and Catholic Ecumenical Commissions from Newcastle to share information and initiatives.
Activities Over the past four years the Commission has organised ecumenical celebrations at Corpus Christi Cathedral, St Ives, and St Patrick’s, East Gosford. These have been attended by hundreds of representatives from all denominations throughout the Diocese. The Commission hosted a meeting of church welfare agencies operating on the Central Coast to explore the possibility of co-operation and collaboration between the agencies and the churches to address the increasing need for welfare services and support for the disadvantaged in the area. A taskforce set up to identify and examine such opportunities reported recently to a second meeting of the churches and agencies. The taskforce identified the provision of crisis counselling to those in need, the provision of accommodation for the homeless, and support for people with disabilities as the most urgent issues. A number of subcommittees have been established to further explore ways in which Central Coast churches might act in concert to address these issues. Other church agencies on the Central Coast are also being invited to join what is hoped will be a worthwhile and fruitful ecumenical initiative. The Commission has also requested Bishop David to approach the other Australian Bishops as to the possibility of being able to review the documents of permission required at an inter-church marriage. Events organised by the Commission are advertised through parish bulletins, in the Broken Bay News and on the Diocese's web site.
Ecumenical articles
|
