We are a pilgrim Church, walking together on the way of Christ, who is bringing every part of our lives—indeed all of creation—to completion and wholeness. As we walk, we do so with Christ and towards Christ. This is what it means to be a synodal Church.
This week it was announced that the Australian synthesis for the global Synod of Bishops has been released, drawing together themes and insights from the reports put together by dioceses from around Australia. Each country has put together their own national synthesis, and Australia’s expresses a strong, widespread desire for a more missionary Church.
We talk with Fr Andy Hamilton SJ—about his lifelong love of nature, his commitment to refugees, and his work as a poet and writer, and how they have shaped his unique contribution to the mission of the Church in Melbourne over many years.
And in the wake of Vocations Awareness Week, we still have many stories to share about the joy of discerning and following God’s call. We hear from Fr Joel Peart this week, Assistant Priest at St Catherine of Siena Parish and one of seven vocations promoters across the Archdiocese. He shares what a wonderful and blessed thing it is to be a priest and to embrace the particular calling God has for each one of us.
In a noisy and fast-paced world, learning to slow down and enter more deeply into relationship with Jesus can sometimes be tricky. So this week we begin an exploration of the challenges the modern world might pose to listening attentively to God's call, and what practically we might do to discern God’s call on our lives more clearly.
