The Church and the world need Catholics to be fully alive in their faith and to stop waiting for “professional religious to do the job” says Melbourne academic Anna Krohn, and it is a message she hopes to spread during her visit to Western Australia in early December.
Mrs Krohn, currently employed at the John Paul II Institute in Melbourne, will spend a week in Perth and New Norcia delivering a series of talks, networking with a variety of Catholic contacts and liaising with JPII Institute alumni and existing students.
A graduate from the Melbourne College of Divinity, Mrs Krohn spoke at the Dawson Society dinner lecture series on 2 December, and will be speaking at the Embrace the Grace Catholic Youth Conference in New Norcia this Friday, 5 December.
President of the Dawson Society, Thomas Gourlay, told Archdiocese of Perth Communications and Media Office journalist Mark Reidy that Mrs Krohn’s lecture on Dogmatic Relativism was very well received and was a fitting conclusion to the year’s series.
“Anna’s presentation on the response of two German Catholics, Dietrich von Hildebrand and the Bishop of Munster, Clemens August Graf von Galen, to the fight against Nazism inspired a lively question and answer session,” he said.
Mrs Krohn, whose official title at JPII Institute is Academic Skills Counsellor and Overseas Students Officer, is passionate about inspiring others to reach their God-given potential and to actively interact with the world around them.
“I like to engage with each person’s sense of vocation – their calling,” she said “to encourage them to become the fullest personality they can be through grace and in their baptism in Christ.”
One of the opportunities to fulfill this desire will be provided during the Embrace the Grace Conference where she will share her ideas with young people from the Perth Archdiocese.
The annual conference, titled Let us be Lights of Hope, is the 11th to be held, but for the first time will be a joint venture between the Respect Life Office and Catholic Youth Ministry.
Mrs Krohn is particularly pleased that the influence of the JPII Institute is reverberating across the nation.
“We have some wonderful graduates in Perth who are taking their study and formation into some significant areas in the west,” she said.
She is hoping to encourage others to become involved with the Institute and, during her time here, will share information about courses on offer, particularly the newer options available.
“We now have on-line courses,” she said, “as well as a post-graduate program for psychology and pastoral care, a religious education accreditation and the development of a New Evangelisation degree.”
Mrs Krohn said she had been looking forward to her trip to Western Australia and hoped to be able to contribute to the “many great initiatives” occurring here and to inspire Catholics to discover who they were created to be.
“Being alive and Christian is not a spectator sport,” she said, “God has something unique for each one of us.”