In the face of the many challenges facing us today, Take the Way of the Gospel invites us to be open to how we might reframe our current way of doing things so as to proclaim the Gospel anew, and with fresh apostolic spirit, in our own time and place.
As Pope Francis writes in Let us Dream: the path to a better future:
God asks us to dare to create something new … It’s a task for all of us, to which each one of us is invited … We need a movement of people who know and need each other, who have a sense of responsibility to others and to the world. Let’s allow God’s words to Isaiah to speak to us: Come, let us talk this over. Let us dare to dream.’
The second series of our Take the Way of the Gospel regional forums took place with clergy and parish lay representative over May and June 2023. This series explored how we might respond to Pope Francis’ call to be more missionary by collaborating within and across parish boundaries. The forum had both a short-term focus—that is, what parishes can implement immediately—as well as considering how the structure of the Archdiocese might be reconfigured to enhance our effectiveness in living and proclaiming the Gospel. The following report is the result of these consultations.