The Share the Dream, Third National Gathering of Families called by the
nation’s Catholic Bishops and held in Melbourne in April saw hundreds
attend to hear from a stellar line-up of speakers on every aspect of
family life. Common to all was a strong philosophical belief in the
fundamental importance of the family – for individuals and for society.
Bridget Spinks reported on the event for The Record.
By Bridget Spinks
who attended the Share the Dream, Third National Gathering of Families, in Melbourne from 15-17 April
Hundreds of couples and families attended the Share the Dream Third National Gathering of Families at Xavier College in the Melbourne suburb of Kew.
Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, hosted the conference with the support of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, while Matthew MacDonald from the Melbourne Archdiocese Life, Marriage and Family Office was responsible for coordinating it.
The Gathering included several formational and educational talks aimed at married couples on the indispensable role of marriage and family life, the ‘mission’ of the family and the sacramental nature of marriage.
More than 800 people participated in the gathering including several families – at least two had ten children – as well as many singles, engaged and married couples, grandparents and great-grandparents.
The longest married couple in the room had been married for 55 years; the most newly wed had tied the knot just 18 months earlier and one couple had flown in from Colorado.
Pope Benedict XVI had sent the Papal Nuncio to be present but chose to send his warm greetings to those gathering in Kew even more personally.
A few days earlier, as part of his Wednesday Audience on 13 April, the Holy Father recorded a special message which was replayed during the conference’s official welcome, introduced by Papal Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto.
The Pontiff said the gathering was an occasion to not only “witness to the bonds of affection within your individual families, but also to deepen them with the wider family of God, which is the Church, so that you become protagonists of a new humanity, a renewed culture of love and unity, of life and stability, giving glory to God our Father at all times.”
Keynote speakers included a Vatican official, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family Bishop Jean Lafitte; a lecturer from the John Paul II Institute and Lutheran convert to Catholicism, Dr Adam Cooper, and Australian founders of marrige enrichment course ‘Celebrate Love’ and marriage preparation course ‘Embrace’, Byron and Francine Pirola.
Melinda Tankard Reist, the founder of Collective Shout – a grass roots campaign against the objectification and sexualistion of women and children in popular culture – also gave a presentation for which she received a standing ovation. In her talk, Melinda demonstrated the graphic and obscene way popular culture is assaulting the family and children’s innocence.
The sexual assault on the culture is not just coming from ads, but from video games that suggest “it’s ok to have fantasies about your teacher”; the sale of pole dancing kits aimed at little girls and magazines such as Girlfriend and Dolly that provide practical advice on how to perform sexual acts despite their intended audience being underage.
“There’s no advice to call the police or their mother or to run away,” Melinda said.
Then she spoke about Collective Shout, the grassroots campaign she founded last year (www.collectiveshot.org).
She showed a number of ‘wins’ they have already had in the last year since launching. A number of sexy items have been removed from shelves and ads have been banned as a result of hers and others’ complaints.
More than 40 simultaneous workshops were on offer throughout the weekend including speakers and topics such as Jonathon Doyle on The Problem with Pornography – What Parents Need to Know; Helen and Leo Wursthorn on Difficult Conversations and What Matters Most and Warwick Marsh on the Seven Secrets to Success as a Father. Maltese-born Bishop Joseph Grech, former Bishop of Sandhurst, was included in the programme but died unexpectedly on 28 December last year after the recurrence of a blood disorder. To honour his memory, Diana Tomic from the Croatian Community said a few words of tribute.
Under Bishop Joe’s leadership of migrant communities, they felt loved and encouraged, Diana said.
“He taught us that as Catholics we have to be FAT – Faithful, Available and Teachable,” she said.
The keynote addresses were spliced by the testimonies of various married couples who gave personal witness to the ways they as a family had either been evangelised to or been able to evangelise to others through their marriage.
Each couple was unique, distinct.
There was a two-thirds majority of participants who had come from the Melbourne Archdiocese, such as Andrew and Karla Zmegec who are in the parish of Mt Evelyn. They brought their family of six children and said they loved the experience.
They came to learn and keep up to date with Church teaching, they said.
“Ignorance is a big stumbling block with these issues,” Andrew said.
But they also came for the social aspect of the weekend; for the children to mix with other children and to see the witness of other families.
Luiza and Italo Oñaderra, a Brisbane couple with a family of four children under the age of nine, said they combined their trip to Melbourne to attend the conference with a family reunion with Italo’s Chilean family who live in Melbourne.
Luiza said they heard about the Gathering from a friend in the Emmanuel Community.
They said they would take away a lot of new information, especially about parenting, after attending the workshops.
“It’s making our job a little easier,” Luiza said of the conference, as they have discovered new resources on parenting and gained encouragement. “And it’s nice to meet like-minded people here,” she said.
Some of the material from the weekend will be part of a presentation Luiza and Italo will give at an upcoming monthly family gathering they are part of that meets every fourth Sunday.
The programme was supported by the presence of many priests and Religious and eight Bishops including Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne; Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto; Bishop Eugene Hurley of Darwin; Auxiliary Bishop Terry Brady; Melbourne’s Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop Leslie Tomlinson who attended the opening night. Bishop Anthony Fisher of Parramatta and Melbourne Auxiliary Bishop Peter Elliott were part of the programme on the second day of the conference.
Bishop Elliott is director of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family Studies in Melboure, while Bishop Fisher, a Dominican, was organiser of World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney and is a leading bioethicist.
On the Gathering’s opening night, Bishop Eugene Hurley of Darwin and chair of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s Commission for Pastoral Life, recalled meeting the Holy Father in Darwin during his trip to Australia for World Youth Day.
“When he asked me what I did as a Bishop, I replied ‘Families’ and he said, ‘Bishop, there is nothing more important for the Church than to be working with and for families.’”
The next day, Bishop Hurley said the Gathering highlighted “what a treasure” families were to the Church and to the world.
He said it was important “for us as Bishops to hear you” and, holding back tears, on behalf of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference he said, “how deeply grateful” he was for what the families offer the priests and Church in Australia. “What we need is more of this where we listen with our heart,” he said.
There were 230 children among the throng that gathered in Melbourne that weekend and there was a coordinated effort to cater for children above the age of two and young adults up to age 25.
While the main talks and workshops were on, the St Vincent de Paul Society’s youth members ran a programme to cater for children 3-6, 7-9 and 10-12 years of age.
The Youth Mission Team ran a programme for teenagers 13-15 year olds while the programme for young adults 16-25 year olds included a catechesis from Bishop Lafitte, time for Adoration and a presentation for the young men by Jonathon Doyle and for the young women by Dr Brigid McKenna.
Communal prayer was also a key part of the weekend. Members of the Neo-Catechumenal Way led everyone in Vespers (Evening Prayer) on Friday night as well as Lauds (Morning Prayer) on Saturday and Sunday morning.
The Chapel was also open the whole time for Eucharistic Adoration and confessions were available on Saturday afternoon from 2-5pm.
Archbishop Denis Hart celebrated the Closing Mass for Palm Sunday after which he announced that he would be recording a video greeting for the Pope’s birthday on 16 April.
“Dear Holy Father, we, your sons and daughters of Melbourne, Australia have gathered with great joy and hope for the National Family Gathering.
“Holy Father, we thank you for your teaching and guidance; we thank you for your personal holiness and we thank you for your beautiful message for the success of this Gathering.
“Our time together has been a time of reflection, joy and celebration. We have concluded this celebration with the Mass of Palm Sunday and we remember you, as you’re about to celebrate Palm Sunday in St Peter’s Square,” the Archbishop of Melbourne said.
“May Christ Our Lord and Saviour be with you always. We thank you, we love you and we are praying for you constantly with our love and doing all that we can do to build up your holy Church, God bless you Holy Father,” he said.
Everyone cheered.
Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart told The Record that the Gathering was a tremendous encouragement. “It’s tremendous encouragement for all families but it helps us to know that family life in the Church is alive and well.”