People often express their difficulties with their belief in the church. As Pope Paul VI said 40 years ago, sometimes Catholics today are easily inclined to say yes to Jesus but find it difficult to affirm their faith in the church.

This is a false distinction: if we express our faith in God then according to God’s plan that means that we have to express our faith in the church, for Jesus established the church as a community to provide a framework in which we are able to relate to the Lord through the Word and sacrament and through the life of the community itself.

As we continue to engage with the renewal programs that make up the current life of the Archdiocese, especially the Leap Ahead program, it is important for us to reaffirm this truth.
To be a Catholic means that you have to live in communion with the church. It asks for an acceptance of the teachings of the church and a commitment on our part to do all that we can to strengthen the life of the church by our own charity and involvement.

There are indeed some things about the church’s beliefs and customs for which there is complete freedom on which way we want to go but there are some elements of the church’s teachings to which we must be highly committed if we are to express the Catholic faith. For example, every person who belongs to the Catholic Church must believe that Jesus is both God and man: anything else, any other arrangement, any other understanding would lead to the false and the inaccurate estimation of Jesus’ true nature.

However, there are many devotions in honour of Jesus that are recommended and worthwhile about which Catholics can have different opinions.

In the Archdiocese, as we prepare for our future, it is important for us to understand that all that we plan and prepare for will be based on an acceptance of the teaching of the church in all ways that are appropriate. Our Archdiocese can only be strong in the faith if we maintain our unity of faith with the Pope and all the Bishops throughout the world.

So as we go through these processes of renewal and preparation for the future, it is essential for us to pray that the gift of faith will be strengthened in our minds and hearts so we will always remain faithful to our Catholic faith. In that fidelity we will find a rich and vital future.


Leap Ahead prayer

God our Father,
We ask you to bless our Leap Ahead program. May the renewal of our Archdiocese reveal for us the mystery of your love and may that love become effective in our lives. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns within you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever, Amen.

This is copy of a letter from Archbishop Philip Wilson to be read out on Trinity Sunday, June 7.

My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

How well do we know each other? How are we Church to each other? 

As an Archdiocese we are undergoing change. Priests are ministering within several communities and lay people are taking on greater responsibility. Although some parishes are becoming larger it is important to continue to nurture the small communities within parishes and the even smaller connections of neighbourhood, in order that we may be the face and hands of Jesus to others.

The Archdiocese has encouraged the building of relationships within our parishes and local neighbourhood areas for many years. When we know one another as fellow parishioners we are more likely to think beyond a Sunday connection and consider how to encourage and support each other throughout the week. The Red Cross program by which elderly people are telephoned by volunteers to ensure their safety, saved lives during the heatwave that occurred in Adelaide in February. When we know each other in our neighbourhoods we are more likely to notice if a child is lost or an elderly person has not collected their mail.

We need to reflect on ways we might like to welcome people in our parish into community. This call to communion with one another takes its heart from the Eucharist and calls us to be communion for and with others.

St Paul recognises this need for interdependence in both his letters to the Corinthians and the Romans, when he states, “members of the community should function in mutual dependence and harmony like the parts of the body”. (1Cor 12:12-30, Rom 12:4-8)
To help us achieve this strengthening of our communities, as your Bishop I ask you to mark Trinity Sunday as a very appropriate day for all families, including all cultures, single people, young people and older people, to connect in their relationship together as Church. I invite you therefore, commencing this year, to celebrate Trinity Sunday as a key day in the Diocesan calendar when we celebrate community, relationships and neighbourliness in the life of the Church.

Jesus said : “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friend. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.” (John 15:12-14, 16-18)
I ask you to pray about this initiative and to begin to consider how you might make Trinity Sunday a day of encouragement for us to continue to be a relational Church that is in touch with peoples’ lives. You will be forwarded some resource material to help to generate ideas on how this can be actualised in your parishes, small groups and neighbourhoods.

God bless you in these endeavours. I would be delighted to hear the stories of neighbourliness that you experience on this day.