On Sept 3rd 2018, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin asked each parish in the Archdiocese of Dublin to carry out a preliminary consultation on how to proceed with Church renewal after the World Meeting of Families in August.
Some ACI members based in Dublin are reporting that their clergy have so far shown no sign of taking up the Archbishop’s request.
Speaking at Mass in Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral on Sept 3rd, 2018, Archbishop Martin noted that what was involved was not a political style consultation, but a call to each believer and faith community radically to interiorise what the challenge of faith in Jesus entails in our contemporary culture.
Archbishop Martin said each parish and parish community could find its own path of reflection, with the help of the Parish Pastoral Council. “The idea is to gather as wide a variety of ideas as possible and not simply repeat the ideas of one or other group and so begin to set out a realistic agenda for renewal of the Church in the years to come,” he said.
The Archbishop stressed the importance of addressing questions about faith. “Why are we no longer captivating so many of our young people for the message of Jesus Christ? Which models of pastoral activity and reflection are most likely to win the hearts of young people for the message of Jesus? How do we teach young people about prayer? How can our parishes respond to these challenges? Which aspects of our dominant culture make it harder for people to understand the message of Jesus? I am thinking, for example, about a widespread individualism that invades everything from personal life to our economic vision.”
Archbishop Martin said “The question now arises: where do we go forward now in the challenge of renewing the faith we carry in our own hearts and renewing the life of the Church?”
Parishes were asked to begin this reflection in the period of the Feast of Saint Laurence O’Toole on November 14th, 2018.
Would ACI Dublin members please feed back their experience of being consulted on this challenge to renew the faith of the diocese?