ORIGINS
OF CATALYST FOR RENEWAL
The
First Meetings
In July 1994, ten Catholics met over lunch in a private house in Sydney to
talk about renewal in the Church....
During the discussion it was noted that there was a strong emphasis emerging
from the Second Vatican Council that we should think of the Church as first and
foremost all the baptised....
Something decisive and original happened at that meeting. The group of ten took
on a life of its own.
A precise formulation and understanding of what the group's life might be,
remained to be discovered. We agreed to continue meeting to see if we could
discern how we might contribute to the renewal of the Church in a more sustained
way.
Discerning an Identity and Mission
Other people joined the group, some discontinued their involvement. During this
time we agreed that the metaphor of a "catalyst" pointed to the way we
wanted to work for renewal.
From the very beginning we were clear about the fact that we did not want to
be confrontational. Furthermore, we wanted to remain within the
Catholic Church and work with and for its renewal, cooperating with all other
people of good will .....
We began to focus quite explicitly on "conversation" as the way of
being a "catalyst". We did not see ourselves forming a group or
movement that was parallel to or in any way antagonistic towards the
institutional Church. Rather, we wanted to become honest brokers of
conversation, with the expectation that good conversation could be an effective
catalyst for renewal within the Church.
(For the full text of Fr Michael Whelan’s paper click on Archives,
then on Profile
of Catalyst)
To further the
conversation, we recommend the following links:
ACBC:
http://www.acbc.catholic.org.au/bishops/confpres/20080508514.htm
Catalyst
for Renewal: http://www.catalyst-for-renewal.com.au/
Aquinas
Academy: http://www.aquinas-academy.com/home.pph
VOTF:
http://www.voiceofthefaithful.org/
Eureka
Street: http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=7348
Catholica:
http://www.catholica.com.au/index.php
The
Tablet:
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/issues/1000103/
