EPIPHANY/REVELATION/EVANGELISATION - PLENARY COUNCIL 2020

2020 in Australia is a potentially powerful year for the Church in Australia, with thought and action in prayer and discernment for the Plenary Council. An opportunity renewal and for the future of the Church.

It seemed a good moment at the beginning of the year to highlight the Plenary Council. But just as some serious focal points were emerging, the following cartoon appeared. A perspective on Plenary Council agenda.

It seemed, then, a good idea, not simply to repeat the points – confirmed when the other two cartoons appeared, both from the prolific cartoonist, David Hayward, with his nom-de-plume, The Naked Pastor.

His two cartoons offer a Plenary Council challenge to our stances.

And some pertinent words from Pope Francis – to the Curia, and to all of us.

'Today we are no longer the only ones that produce culture, no longer the first nor the most listened to,' he said. 

'The faith in Europe and in much of the West is no longer an obvious presumption but is often denied, derided, marginalised and ridiculed.' 

'Here we have to beware of the temptation of assuming a rigid outlook.

'Rigidity that is born from fear of change and ends up disseminating stakes and obstacles in the ground of the common good, turning it into a minefield of misunderstanding and hatred.'