The Perth co-ordinator of the special Year of Grace for Australia announced by the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops in Rome during the Australian bishops’ ad limina visit in October is calling for ideas and suggestions for ways to begin the journey in the Perth archdiocese.
A retired laywoman and former principal of Catholic primary schools in WA, Paddy Buckley emphasised at a meeting of Perth clergy on 10 November that ‘A Year of Grace: starting afresh in Christ’ was about seeking the face of Christ.
She said the year was not a guided programme but a journey, the inspiration for which emerged from a meeting of Australia’s bishops.
During that meeting there was a pile of folders on the desk with issues relating to governance, finance and planning for the bishops to consider but at one point one bishop pushed the pile away and said “Where is Jesus in this?”
The question was central to the Year of Grace, to be celebrated starting at Pentecost 2012, she said, and should be applied to all aspects of public and personal Church life.
Australian parishes can expect a formal letter announcing the year, while a website is also on its way, containing material for priests, parishes and schools and including liturgies, prayers and suggestions.
The year would be a way of thinking and reflecting on the face of Christ, she said, and ways to incorporate it into daily parish life could be as simple as setting up a display or a regular prayer at Mass.
She told Perth clergy the year, inspired by John Paul II’s 2000 Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, will have three major themes: contemplating the face of Christ, building a spirituality of communion and undertaking mission for the new evangelisation.
Miss Buckley will be based at The Faith Centre, 450 Hay St, Perth and can be contacted on 08 6140 2420
Addressing Pope Benedict in October, Archbishop Philip Wilson said the Church in Australia had received two graces in recent years, World Youth Day in 2008 and the canonisation of St Mary MacKillop. The special Year of Grace would build on this, he said.