Commentary…

As the accompanying pictures and video clips hopefully illustrate, the arrival of the World Youth Day Cross and Icon in the Diocese of Parramatta on Sunday afternoon attracted a sizeable community of participants and spectators. At a rough estimate I should think the numbers present on the banks of the river at Parramatta would have filled the Cathedral at Parramatta to capacity and probably have required at least half the number of seats again. It was a good sized congregation.

Back in the Year 2000 when I was on the organising committee for the Great Jubilee in Western Australia and we were only able to attract around 15,000 people to Subiaco Oval for the major event celebrating the 2000th Birthday of Jesus Christ and the 2000th Anniversary of the Birth of Christianity, I was left wondering, what does one have to do to bring the Catholic people out to celebrate the major events of our faith? In Western Austalia around 56,000 Catholics attend Mass each Sunday. One would have thought that it was not a big ask for 40,000 of them to have "rocked up" to Subiaco Oval for an event that only occurs once every thousand years.

I had a similar feeling yesterday. I don't know how many Catholics normally attend Mass on a normal Sunday in Parramatta. The welcoming of the Cross and Icon is an unusual event in the normal liturgical rhythm of the Church and perhaps it should have attracted a larger audience. I do appreciate the comparison with the Great Jubilee major event in Perth is not quite fitting, and many more people will get some connection with the Cross and Icon in their local parishes. At the same time, and as I often argue, if our Church is to become vibrant again, I think we do need to put far greater effort into enthusing people about these major symbolic and liturgical events. In a sense the symbolism in parishes is more or less a private event. Most of the television channels had cameras there yesterday to record the arrival of the Cross and Icon in Parramatta and these "big events" are where we provide far more public witness "to the world" as it were.

The other significant surprise to me yesterday was the relative lack of "youth" at this event. The photos and the accompanying video clips I think give a balanced look over the "sea of faces" that you would have observed had you been there in person. Granted that Parramatta has a higher than normal multi-cultural face — and that is well-illustrated — I have sincere doubts that institutionally we are still a long way from "hitting the mark" in our efforts to enthuse, or re-enthuse young people to the value of what Jesus Christ can bring into their lives. The faces of the youthful descendants of the Anglo- and Irish-born Australian Catholics who once formed the backbone of the Catholic Church in Australia are noticeably absent.

When I arrived home last night I was pondering on these things and thought perhaps part of the problem is that somehow these two principal symbols of our faith have lost some of their drawing power. I was wondering if perhaps the symbols could have been better explained in the introduction to the ceremony. Yesterday, running around trying to get as balanced a visual overview as I could, I have to confess Bishop Manning's words largely escaped my attention. Listening back to how he comes across in the video though I'm sure most would agree with me that one could not direct any criticisms there.

Young people today are certainly not becoming less interested in symbols. In many respects today's generations of young people are the most "literate" of any generation about the power of symbols. One only has to tune into the programs they watch in the media to appreciate that. I have a suspicion though that these two major symbols that represent our spiritual aspirations are no longer "cutting it" with many people in the Western world today.

When we hold up the Cross, or an Icon of the Blessed Virgin, what is it that we are inviting people to think about? Yesterday as I watched the long parade of people venerating the cross I couldn't help asking myself that there must a a myriad of thoughts that go through different people's minds when they make an act of veneration.

The theology of atonement that I remember well from my own childhood which accompanied the Veneration of the Cross each Easter and, I suggest, what we were invited to think in my generation and my father's generation when we looked upon the cross no longer holds the power it once did. I am not one to suggest we need to go back to a theology of atonement but I do wonder if there is much confusion today as to what the Cross of Christ is meant to represent in our lives today?

Similarly for the symbol of Mary. I actually love the iconography in the World Youth Day Icon's portrayal of Mary. Does the portrayal of womanhood that existed in the mind of the late Pope John Paul II, or that which might exist in the mind of Pope Benedict, 'gel' with what most Catholic men and women think of womanhood in the Western world today?

I think there is a significant degree of confusion out in our communities today about what these major symbols of our faith are meant to represent and lead us to reflection about. I suspect that if we can correct that it will help go a long way to ensuring that when we hold these major public liturgies the participation rate will be far higher.

(My apologies if the layout of this page is not ideal in your browser. I have been working under some pressure to complete this layout and it is very difficult trying to balance a large number of photographs without reducing them to a size where they are almost useless yet trying to make the layout work across all browsers and all the different settings people might have their computers configured to.)

Brian Coyne is the editor and publisher of Catholica Australia.