This was the Friday night
scene in Santa Maria College
PERTH, WA: May 4, 1989
Registered by Australia Post Publication No WAR 0202
hall as Father Kevin Dance (on the podium) marshalled the 60 group spokesmen (standing) to present their initial findings as (foreground) Sr Joan Smith and others wrote the themes on overhead projectors. Inset: Archbishop Foley stressing a point at the Assembly.
Number 2634
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Down to the nitty gritty ...
IN MIDST OF LAST WEEKEND'S BIG PERTH CELEBRATION L ast weekend's Assembly of Perth's archdiocese was a celebration of the "Spirit in our midst."
So said Archbishop Foley in his final address on Sunday. The consultative process of the diocesan assembly had been important for the growth of the church, Archbishop Foley stressed. He was commenting on the fact that on Trinity Sunday he would reflect further during Mass at the Entertainment Centre, where he would present a Call to Mission "to the total Church and to those outside to express the value we see for every man and woman in our society." Priests would be giving some of their vision to the parishes also, he said, and agencies would be given the results of the assembly findings for further deliberation. Archbishop Foley said the assembly's concern for adult education and formation picked up and confirmed what had already started in the diocese and which would be addressed in a
seminar soon following a review of education in the archdiocese. Archbishop Foley said the assembly had given him a sense of desire of many, led by the priest, to come to terms with the works of the Church. He said it was as if the work of the Church had been going on in pockets and the Year of Mission had made people aware of the mission of the Church and a bridge had been built between the agencies and the works of the Church. Earlier in the assembly, Archbishop Foely told the 600 delegates that they came with their varying gifts. "The Church believes that the lay faithful of the Church primarily work their apostolate in the marketplace where they live and where they work. It is there you are witnessing your commitment to Christ and it is there you are sharing in His mission." Religious were gifted in a special way for living in our midst and bishops and clergy were gifted for the service of the Church to make the Lord live strong within hearts.
It took less than an hour on Friday night f or the Diocesan Assembly to compress over 4000 opinions about the future of the Church in Perth into 150 odd statements of concern. The 600 delegates had been asked to put forward the leading two of their seven stated 'issues When answering the question: If the Church is to survive and flourININEW..114
ish what issues do we need to face? Many came prepared with the hundreds of suggeshad they tions received from the parish assemblies. More than 60 groups individually announced their condensed views and opinions before the 10.15pm conclusion.
Overnight the organisers extracted the 19 areas of concern which met the dele-
gates on Saturday morning and which were tackled by new groupings to produce by the end of the day some 62 issues and of hundreds recommendations. On Sunday the original groups were set the task of prioritising the 62 issues that emerged on Saturday, thus giving the organisers the answer to the ranking of the areas of concern.
• See how they scored on Page 2