Parishes of Outer Suburban Melbourne Project
2010
Gathering The Harvest: Encouraging Active Participation In The Life of the Community
Parishes of Outer Suburban Melbourne Forum Day
Speaker: Bishop Gerry Kicanas
Bishop Kicanas was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1967, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago in 1995, and ordained a bishop in the same year. His educational accomplishments include post-graduate work in several areas, as well as a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, a M.Ed. in Guidance and Counseling from Loyola University, and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary. Principal among his pastoral interests are vocations, the permanent diaconate, and encouragement of lay ministry.
2009
Seminar 'Ministering the Sacraments - challenges and opportunities for large numbers'. Keynote speaker Bishop Tim Costelloe SDB.
Report on the seminar: Read more...
Newsletter downloads
The large outer-suburban Catholic parishes of greater metropolitan Melbourne and Geelong cover a vast area, and are home to a significant proportion of our city’s Catholic population. Each of these has its own characteristics, and its own challenges.
There are however a number of factors affecting the life of the Church in these areas which are common across the range of outer-urban parishes. These may include:
- Large overall population, with a high Catholic ratio;
- High proportion of children and young adults;
- Significant ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity;
- Lack of social cohesion and social infrastructure, particularly in new housing estates;
- Low disposable income;
- High rates of working parents (including irregular hours) rendering church participation difficult;
- Relatively low rate of church attendance as a proportion of the Catholic population;
- Difficulties in reaching out to a substantial Catholic population and creating a sense of connectedness and belonging;
- Large and growing Catholic school populations, often in multiple schools;
- High proportion of Catholic children not attending Catholic schools;
- Large numbers of candidates presenting for sacraments of initiation (most of whose families are not otherwise in significant contact with the Church);
- Inadequate parish staffing and other infrastructure to deal with a growing, youthful, and disconnected population base;
- Low rates of active lay participation as proportion of overall Catholic population.
Parishes in this situation devise useful, innovative, practical, and truly evangelical solutions to enable the local Church to deal with these challenges. Outer-suburban parishes can be places of successful evangelical outreach, where the local Church fulfils its essential mission. Too often, though, these strategies and solutions remain confined to the parish which invented them.
The Parishes of Outer Suburban Melbourne Project aims to provide a forum for discussion, sharing of ideas and strategies in a way that supports these parishes and furthers the mission of the Archdiocese. The project which may begin an ongoing conversation across the parishes, is to share these positive strategies and ideas with one another.
Invitation to participate in the project is limited to those parishes who can identify with many of the characteristics described in the dot points above. It is hoped that those parishes who participate in the project will share their own successes and gain insights to assist them in meeting the challenges of mission and evangelisation in their area.
In 2009 we will conduct two seminars and produce a quarterly newsletter. Further information from Carmel Crawford 9926 5765.