What happens when Catholic parishes, organisations, movements and youth by the truckload decide to join forces to publicly proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord? It happened in Sydney a fortnight ago, writes Natalie Ambrose.
In some ways, the streets of Sydney city are like any other major city in the world, filled with black and grey buildings, black and grey cars, black and grey business workers all wearing their black and grey suits.
But for a brief moment from July 11-15th the inner city of Sydney became a completely different place.
Walking through the middle of Sydney’s Martin Place earlier this month the average Australian would have been flabbergasted by what met them there.
Capuchin friars serving free cappuccinos, the cast from Artes Christi performing a scene from their up and coming musical Fiddler on the Roof, Religious Sisters in full habit like a scene from Sister Act, just to mention a few of the wonderfully ‘odd’ sights this month brought to Sydney.
What happened? Sydney became a Catholic stomping ground of sorts as SCENE, the brain child of Bishop Julian Porteous, an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese, took over the city to encourage attendees to be inspired by the New Evangelisation.
SCENE (Sydney Congress Embracing the New Evangelisation) was held in and around Sydney’s CBD from the July 11–15th, offering attendees the formation and practical skills to be able to live out the call to be ‘evangelising’ through daily life, focusing on faith and understanding what evangelisation is.
It also sought to equip participants with the skills needed to go forth and share their faith with others.
The conference started off with a bang in Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral with Bishop Porteous introducing the Year of Grace.
He touched on the importance of the quality of the inner life of faith, telling participants that “we as Catholics are very good at doing things, however there is a danger that we get so caught up in doing that we forget about the being, just like the story of Martha and Mary … we need to look at, not just what we do, but to really refocus on our being”.
Emphasising the importance of Grace he told those attending that, “… we are saved by Grace through faith.
“There is a tendency among many Catholics to think that we merit eternal life because we have lived good lives, worked hard and been good people, that it is through the good that we have done and ourselves that we will be saved, however in St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he writes that, it is by Grace that you have been saved and this is not from ourselves, it is a gift of God, not only by works. We are therefore saved by the Grace of God”.
Fr David Nugent, a member of the Missionaries of the Most Holy Eucharist, presented a morning session on day three on “Contemplating the Face of Christ in the Eucharist”.
Speaking on the importance of a personal encounter with Christ through adoration of the Blessed Sacrament he emphasised how Christ transforms those who come to adore him in this way.
One of those attending, Jessica Leach, told The Record that this message spoke to her.
“I see that the Lord in His Real Presence must be the fuel for our evangelisation and must draw us closer and closer to His Eucharist as part of our daily conversion.
I think it’s important that SCENE provides such a platform for personal reflection and spiritual growth as this is integral to evangelisation,” she said.
On each of the Congress’s five days the Vocations Office of the Archdiocese held a Vocations Expo in Martin Place, allowing for religious communities and Catholic organisations to not only meet discerning Catholics, but to be a visible presence of the faith for busy workers in the CBD.
Br Joseph Pham, a Franciscan Capuchin who worked on the Capuchin stall making Cappuccinos, described the expo as being “important for the wider community to know that the Catholic Church is still alive and that it still is very vibrant and full of life with an ever modern face that’ll never go out of fashion.”
While many of the workshops and talks were guaged a success, the main event that got Sydney Catholics buzzing was the six separate icon processions, which saw hundreds of people at each Procession moving through Sydney’s streets in prayer and meeting at St Mary’s Cathedral for a Night of Mercy.
Hundreds gathered for a night of worship, prayer and participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
“I encountered one elderly man who was amazed by the street processions leading to the Cathedral on the Friday night.
He turned to me and asked ‘This is Catholic? I have never seen anything like this.’
He was so surprised to see such a beautiful and public expression of the Catholic faith,” Ms Leach told The Record.
SCENE 2012 was characterised by numerous catecheses and opportunities for prayer, a move by organisers to ground the whole event in the spiritual, while also providing participants with a social and fun time.
Sarah Coppola, the Manager of Cradio, a Catholic online podcasting radio website, described the importance of SCENE, saying “It’s easy for us to get stuck in the bubble of our own communities and routines, but Christ called us to make disciples of all the nations.
“Evangelisation is necessary, but it doesn’t seem to be ingrained into us as Catholics, so I think we need a bit of a kick every so often.
“SCENE is a great opportunity to be renewed in our own efforts, to learn from the experiences of others and to be challenged to proactively share the faith in new ways.
“The event itself provides a chance to engage in this work through the Vocations Expo, icon processions and street evangelisation.
These public displays can be a little out of our comfort zones, but are a really powerful opportunity for witness.”
SCENE also strongly emphasised the coming together from parishes and communities across Sydney, providing opportunities to be together, to celebrate the Catholic faith they have in common and to inspire each another in their mission to share their faith with others.
“The greatest thing at scene – as a religious – was to see the faces of the young people of the same faith working together joyfully as one Church because if at least one person has grown deeper in their faith due to the efforts of SCENE then it has all been worthwhile,” said Br Pham.
Recordings of talks from SCENE 2012 can be accessed on the web at www.cradio.org.au/scene-2012 and via www.xt3.com.