Its Church Mission team offers a range of learning and development programmes.

All focus on parish formation.

In providing the programmes, the Archdiocesan Church Mission team responds to findings in the archdiocese's 2017 synod and the 2021-24 global synod.

Both synods highlighted the need for lay people's formation.

The formation opportunities for lay parishioners have had to be carefully thought through.

The archdiocese says they must be accessible and flexible while covering academic, spiritual and pastoral dimensions.

Parish formation opportunities in 2024

The Church Mission team programmes include workshops on topics such as marriage enrichment, the teachings of Pope Francis, hospitality and developing pastoral plans - among others.

The module 'Creating and Implementing a Parish Pastoral Plan' aims to help communities in the post-Covid environment, the Mission teams says.

That module also aims to help parish communities that have had to amalgamate, given that Parish Councils are feeling the need to revisit their pastoral plans or create new ones to meet parish needs better and become more mission-focused.

"Whichever course or courses people choose to attend, they can expect to receive pastoral and spiritual formation and be equipped to serve in ministry" the Mission team says.

Those running the courses are very well qualified.

Programme engagement

There are various ways to engage with the programmes.

Parish leadership teams should contact the Church Mission team directly to organise a locally-based workshop for their community.

The team also runs public workshops during the year.

For other courses - such as the "Called & Equipped" new formation programme for lay people in Parishes - the parish leadership teams recommend potential candidates from their parish communities to the Church Mission team.

The Mission team says the workshops are usually a one-evening seminar or perhaps a day with the Parish Council regarding pastoral planning.

Called & Equipped can be taken in one or two years.

The Launch Out programme usually takes five to eight years and is a major commitment.

The Mission team stresses it is important that people realise Called & Equipped and Launch Out are both complete programmes.

Success stories

The various programmes are definitely paying off for the archdiocese's Catholics.

The Mission team points to three parishes that started working through their Parish Pastoral Plans this year.

They are enthusiastically implementing a new vision for their parishes.

There are 31 Launch Out graduates and six current candidates. All graduates are engaged in active ministry.

22 of the graduates are or have been employed by the Church.

Source

• Supplied

Dew, the archbishop of Wellington New Zealand, was speaking to The Irish Times on the fringes of a pastoral conference on The Future of the Irish Parish in Thurles, Co Tipperary

He said he thought the pope did extremely well to address it at the beginning of the mass at Phoenix Park: "He was upfront about it. He apologised for it."

Some 55 per cent of Irish people believe Pope Francis "did not go far enough" when he addressed the issue of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church on his visit to the Republic last week, according to an opinion poll in The Irish Times.

Responding to that criticism Dew said it was hard to know what people actually want. But he was thought that now that people have been spoken out there will be some concrete actions taken.

"But I haven't heard too many of what those actions should be at this stage. It's a massive challenge, but it's something the Holy Father knows has to happen, and other people know has to happen."

Dew also discussed the possibility of ordaining women or allowing a priest to marry. He said that while a lot of people want that he had doubts about whether it would solve the problem.

"I think there is something about being celibate and being available. You can see many more people. You can be involved in a whole range of families that you wouldn't be able to do as a married man," he said.

At the conference, Cardinal Dew delivered a presentation on how the merging of parishes and the appointment of "lay pastoral leaders" in Wellington has helped to "relieve the heavy burden that priests are expected to carry".

Read the whole article in the Irish Times

Source

• irishtimes.com
• sightmagazine.com.au
• screenshot: youtube.com

He has been invited by the Irish archbishops to speak about the Wellington Archdiocese's experience with its own Launch Out programme, established to form lay pastoral leaders.

His topic will be Lessons from New Zealand, Launch Out: Lay Pastoral Leadership Roles.

Fr Éamonn Fitzgibbon, director of the Irish Institute for Pastoral Studies, says the time has come for Ireland to look to experience elsewhere and receive the wisdom garnered by others.

Other countries have faced and addressed the challenges now confronting the Catholic Church in Ireland, Fitzgibbon says.

"We need to be open, generous and humble enough to allow that learning to inform us, as we try to ensure parishes can be all that they are called to be."

Other speakers and facilitators at the conference on the future of parishes include Martin Kennedy, Dr Margaret Lavin, Fr Matthew Nunes, Dr Jessie Rogers and Bishop Michael Wüstenberg.

Cardinal John will leave next week for Ireland.

Before going to the conference he will attend the World Meeting of Families 2018 from 21-26 August.

Of his visit, Cardinal John commented, "It is a very significant event for the Church in Ireland which has been dealing with many difficulties in the last few years."

The three-yearly international event brings together families from around the world to celebrate, pray and reflect upon the central importance of marriage and the family.

There will be a simultaneous opening of the meeting across the dioceses of Ireland, followed by the three-day congress reflecting on the meeting's theme of ‘the Gospel of the family: Joy for the world,' one chosen by the Pope himself.

The congress will feature keynote speakers, workshops, talks, cultural events and musical performances.

It will conclude with a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Phoenix Park, Dublin, where it is expected hundreds of thousands will gather.

Source

• Supplied: Amanda Gregan New Zealand Catholic Bishop's Conference
• irishinstituteforpastoralstudies.com
• www.wn.catholic.org.nz
• irishexaminer.com
• Image: wn.catholic.org.nz

Since it started from discussion at the 1988 and 1998 diocesan synods, Cardinal Tom Williams says the programme and the lay pastoral leaders it forms have become indispensable.

The candidates must pass 18 papers for an NZQA-approved Diploma in Pastoral Leadership. This includes planning and carrying out each year a mentored, supervised and evaluated pastoral project. Once passed they are eligible for appointment to a parish or chaplaincy, complementing the ministry of parish priest or priest chaplain.

Source

• Welcom
• Launch Out