(Vatican Radio) The Bishops of Australia have three representatives at the XIII General
Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization. Archbishop of Perth Timothy
Costelloe and Bishop of Sale Christopher Prowse were elected by their Bishops’ Conference,
while Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, is a member by Papal appointment.
They say Australia is experiencing a crisis of Faith.
“Clearly generations
today are very much influenced by what’s happening in the social media. We use all
the ‘isms’ – secularisms, relativisms, consumerisms, and so on – but there seems to
be something new in this context today that is more potent – more poisonous – for
the Faith,” said Bishop Prowse.
“It seems almost fashionable in parts of the
world, possibly Australia too, to sort of say, ‘I really don’t need God, I’m doing
very well thank you very much, but if you need it all the best to you, but please
don’t get involved too much in my life. It’s a personal thing my relationship with
God, or my lack of relationship with God,’”
Archbishop Costelloe told Vatican
Radio the Church needs to find a way to stop people from “drifting” from the practice
of Catholicism.
“I am not so sure it is mainly people who have rejected the
Gospel, or rejected the Church, or rejected Catholicism,” said Archbishop Costelloe.
“We’ve got so many resources- so many riches [in Australia] that it’s easy to forget
the need for God. So I think it’s more a case of people drifting away, gradually
finding themselves distanced from the Church in their day-to-day lives …We often speak
of people having this deep hunger for God, this deep hunger for the Gospel, for things
of the Spirit. I think, in Australia, it’s very deep, and it doesn’t easily rise
to the surface, so that’s one of our big challenges: To try and find ways of connecting
with that deeper reality in people’s lives.”
Archbishop Costelloe said the
main challenge is preach the Gospel effectively in today’s world, “trying to get them
to see the beauty of it, the value of it, [and] the difference it can make in people’s
lives.”
Bishop Prowse said this effort must not assume any previous knowledge
of Jesus Christ.
“There’s a sociological context; the idea that mother and
father would automatically pass on the faith to their children, who would then pass
it on to their children – that sociological link from grandparent to parent to child
in parts of the world is damaged badly, and in some parts of the world it is non-existent,”
he said.
“It’s that initial [proclamation of the Gospel] that I think is something
new; hence we need a New Evangelization in today’s world,” Bishop Prowse continued.
There are many positive stories in Australia, many of them stemming from the
2008 World Youth Day in Sydney.
“In some parts of Australia where vocations
were radically down, there’s been a bounce. Our work with youth is a little bit easier.
We’re getting bigger numbers,” explained Cardinal Pell. “Our university apostolates
in Sydney - in the great secular universities - are thriving. It’s going well, and
World Youth Day has certainly helped it.”
Listen to the interview by Charles
Collins with Cardinal Pell:
Listen to
the interview by Charles Collins with Archbishop Costelloe:
Listen to
the interview by Philippa Hitchen with Bishop Prowse: