An initiative that the great Gospel communicator would be proud of.
The Catholic Church in Australia is to embark on a landmark
“E-conference” on St Paul on June 30, with church groups and parishes
encouraged to gather over the internet for the innovative conference.
Registrations have now opened for the Year of St Paul National
E-Conference, entitled, “Paul – The Man, the Mission and Message for
Today: igniting his purpose and passion”. The E-conference is an
initiative of the Broken Bay Institute, a Christian learning centre
seeking to empower people for discipleship in the Third Millennium, and
the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
It will be hosted by Australian television identity Mike Bailey, the
ABC weatherman who unsuccessfully challenged the previous government’s
Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey for a Senate seat in the 2007
federal election.
It will feature sessions from world-renowned Scripture scholars Brendan
Byrne SJ, Michele Connolly RSJ and film, media and communication
scholar Richard Leonard SJ.
These sessions will be web-cast live to sites across Australia, and
will be interspersed with opportunities for local gatherings to discuss
the sessions with the guidance of a trained facilitator.
Bishop David Walker, a member of the Australian Catholic Bishops
Commission for Mission and Faith Formation, said the format of the day
would be a first for the Church in Australia.
“Every parish in Australia will have the opportunity to get involved,
either by hosting a web-cast site themselves or by joining with another
group nearby,” Bishop Walker said. “This is a wonderful opportunity for
people from Broome to Broken Bay to be able to join in this very
exciting program of world class speakers. It is a fitting way to mark
the end of the Year of St Paul in the Church and we feel it is an
initiative of which St Paul, the great Gospel communicator would surely
have been proud.”
The Director of the Broken Bay Institute, Dr Gerard Goldman, said that
local communities need only a broadband connection, a projector and a
screen to be involved in the E-conference, and incurs no cost.
Parishes and church groups can register to take part in the Year of St
Paul National E-Conference by following the link to Year of St Paul on
the Broken Bay Institute homepage, www.bbi.catholic.edu.au.
To register for facilitator training, to be held at Mary Mackillop
Place, North Sydney on May 4 and 5, the faithful need only follow the
link to Year of St Paul on the Broken Bay Institute homepage and
download the forms.