We have much pleasure today in publishing this unsolicited reflection which Fr Paul Roberts sent in to us last night giving his reflections on World Youth Day. The publishers of Catholica have enormous respect for Fr Roberts as a personal friend but much of this personal respect has been forged through his honesty and his self-evident success as a very pastoral priest in the communities he has led. He has recently taken on a significant challenge in rejuvenating a very old parish in the diocese of Parramatta in addition to his diocesan duties as Vocations Director. He had a very active part in encouraging a very multi-cultural group of young pilgrims from his parish to participate in the major events of World Youth Day and he was active at the Vocations Hall at Darling Harbour. As editor of Catholica I have little hestitation is writing that of all the parish priests I have seen at work in my 60 years in diverse parts of Australia Paul Roberts would have to be up there amongst the most successful community builders I have ever seen. I urge readers to pay special attention to his reflections. This priest seems to understand where ordinary Aussies are at in their lives and spiritual journeys more than most. …Brian Coyne

An overview of my feelings…

I had a big involvement in WYD both as a PP and as the Vocation Director for a Diocese and have felt various reactions. My sister's comment (she's a faithful and broad thinking mother of five) was that we've promoted and been wonderfully tolerant of a whole range of other religions and backgrounds and this was our chance as Catholics to make a positive statement of our valid and meaningful presence and belonging in the society. I agree with that. We can all too quickly shrink, out of a well intentioned ethic of respect and become a 'nothing' or a 'house divided'. At the same time I admit of the difficulty often of being a 'house united'. From comment of the public events, it seems that the organisers of the Stations of the Cross really got it right and can feel great pride. A non-Catholic told me today that he was glued to his TV screen for the whole event. Many others I have spoken with highlighted the Stations. It seems too that many were proud of the Prime Minister in relation to WYD. Let's be thankful to live in a country where civic leaders highlight the goodness in our faith and religion. And I heard many other comments so appreciative of the efforts and events. I loved the comment of a senior policeman when asked about the crowd's behaviour: 'We don't need to be here, but we're loving it. This mob just want to hug us!' I celebrated this comment with a group of Police that night after finishing my responsibilities at the Vocations Expo at Darling Harbour. The Police and my few Priest friends there agreed that it was a great plug both for the Police and for the young members of our Universal Catholic Church.

In terms of other public displays, I admit that I personally questioned the re-emergence of so much Latin in some of the liturgies and the obvious delight some felt in wearing medieval gear through the streets as something of a banner! Yes we have a history which had its place in different times, but we have to speak in 2008 and beyond.

I was left empty and stunned by the decision to make the official Morning Prayer at Randwick the projection a group of a group of robed clerics singing the Morning Office. This was a practice that took me, as a moderate, ordinary Catholic, a couple of years to appreciate after I went to the seminary at Manly in 1987. It wasn't even given an introduction or explanation at Randwick in a once off opportunity in front of young pilgrims from across the world. I was there on the spot and can attest that our young people were not engaged at all! I also would have liked Benedetto to have been coached more in ways of engaging young people here in the now. I don't hold that against him personally. What can one hope in such ways of an elderly European, holy, gentlemanly academic, off his own bat? I did find his gentle voice quite moving and some of my group of young pilgrims commented similarly. And the word in some quarters was that in fact his disposition was much more personable here than in Cologne. If that's so, then full credit to one who is very considerably senior in age, subject to all the tiredness and physical limitations of seniors, prepared to stretch himself to appeal to contemporary perceptions. Perhaps and hopefully, the overnight choruses of 'Benedetto, clap clap etc' at Randwick say something of the openness of our young people to a voice beyond their immediacy... an openness to a bigger picture. One of my signs of hope was a commentary I read last week that suggested many young people talked of going to 'hear Benedict' whereas the similar sample twenty years ago would have been more inclined to say they were going to 'see JPII'. Please God this is true because the pastoral challenge of evangelisation at the coal-face is hard enough without having to start from scratch in making sense of the Pope's sharings during the rare privilege of having him on our doorstep.

Will the WYD spirit be taken back to the ordinary parish life of the church?

Seemingly as it stands though, from my perspective in an ordinary suburban parish (and I believe I know where our young people were in this experience; I journeyed with our pilgrims to and fro, slept overnight with them in the cold at the racecourse, and chose to concelebrate from among them rather than up the front), it seems that much of the work still remains to disseminate some of the very valuable stuff the Holy Father shared. Maybe that's reasonable and understandable. I'm not sure. But will we do the work? Or will this weekend's 17th Sunday in Ordinary time and beyond just be more of the same. Maybe we put too much on a good man, formed in his own story and context, who is the Pope, and risk being disappointed. He is Peter, a principle of unity, but how fair dinkum are we in animating and effecting that unity beyond the pious platitudes? How prepared are we to make the most common access to shared faith; the weekend liturgy... an experience that really unites? And I'm not only talking there of me and my brother priests... but yes, I am including issues with us. I heard an honest priest say recently that his homilies almost put him to sleep. What is he doing, or what's available in his diocese to keep him renewed and vibrant in his public ministry? And then there are others of us priests who are putting people to sleep and don't yet realise it! And what about the people? In a parish to which I've been recently appointed, the participants in today's midweek liturgy were sparsely spread throughout the building, distant nods at most marking the sign of peace, some being more inclined to remain near statues at the close rather than engage each other. I'm so often stunned by how few names of fellow parishioners typical Catholics know who have been attending the same parishes for years.

Needing to distinguish Catholicism from fundamentalist Christianity…

One of the bottom lines out of WYD and indeed out of the current climate of the Church, I suspect, is the question of how much Catholicism needs to distinguish itself from 'Christianity' in its widespread and growing, supposedly contemporary presentations of much of Protestant evangelicalism. Such presentations are typically fundamentalist, anti-intellectual and devoid of appreciation of the evolution of Christian faith and insight across the centuries.

Of a few things I'm sure... and they are:

Whether or nor that's done with a renewed and major promo of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament I'm not sure!

Our Sacramentality as Catholics needs to be focussed on and celebrated. Whether or nor that's done with a renewed and major promo of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament I'm not sure. Such adoration has its beautiful place but it seems that it is sometimes being given preference over truly joy-filled and spirt-filled celebrations of Eucharist. There continues to be an official tolerance of ripping through the Mass, reading all the right words, no matter if reflectively so or not, rather than good pastoral guidelines for allowing God to touch lives in excellent, reflective, relevant and joyful Sacramental liturgy. We've become so much more concerned about rightness with little officially promoted concern for relevance. I long for the day when a priest is called to account, or more positively, given support, for having been found to be presiding over a negative atmosphere of liturgy.

Our connection to justice needs to be celebrated and owned in particular ways by every Catholic community. It often seems that our Church's Social Teaching is one of our best kept secrets. So much of the social conscience and policy of our nation and of nations throughout the world is influenced and formed by the Catholic Church. Knowledge of this great treasure and projects embraced by Catholic communities can act to truly convert us and help to bring our communal worship and identity to life.

The importance of perception: As the Catholic Church, we need to recognise that much of people's determination of what matters happens through perception. This might be and might sound shallow in the face of the concept of an objective truth. But it's where we are and it's where our evangelisation in the real world needs to reach. And perception is closely linked to emotion. Again this may be or sound shallow, but it's where we really are. So, our evangelising efforts must include a tapping of emotion, if to lead people on towards conversion and conviction. A formal, sung 'Morning Office' by robed clerics at Randwick doesn't come near this reality for the bulk of ordinary young pilgrims who were underslept yet still open to celebration and joy. And such thoughts need to be part of our ordinary liturgy. Do we want our liturgy to be accessible only to those who most comprehend it at the deepest level or who have a particular type of personal piety? Or do we want our liturgy to combine our Catholic treasure with a constant awareness of outreaching and evangelising using gestures and means which tap the reality and perceptions of ordinary people today? It seems to me that there is much conversation to be had if we as the Catholic Church wish to reach people in our culture and world. Yes, it's crucial to guard our Sacramental treasures with certain standards and ways rather than risk that they become just the 'scraps for the house dogs'... to use a phrase from the Gospel... reducing treasures to a 'free for all'... but we've been given marvellous insights and talents by our God to work towards the balance. Our problem is so often that we view what's needed from a perspective only of 'this or that' rather than 'both and'. I believe that the official Church needs desperately to appreciate this and very urgently work on it, rather than continuing the current tendency to legislate standards of rightness and restriction with little publicised focus on standards or guidance about the spirit or expressions of our celebrations.

Inviters of others to belong: People who consider themselves truly 'Catholic' need to embrace their role as inviters of others to belong. Many from other Christian groups/churches put us to shame in terms of their active spirit of welcome. And yes, I know that some of them are too interested in attracting people to march to the exactly same beat which excludes some who are different or among the minorities. But we need to know that a privatised faith is not truly 'Catholic'. That many people on the margins can attend Catholic communities for weeks on end and be spoken to by no-one is a scandal, let alone the many others not present who are never invited. We need to get more active in inviting. And our liturgy needs to more actively welcome the outsider. There are sometimes reports from major functions of announcements informing people that only 'baptised Catholics' can receive Communion... but what about communicating that regularly in a welcoming, positive way in ordinary liturgy: eg. 'Those who are not Catholics are welcome to come to the table with their hands thus....and receive a blessing... our thanks that you are here with us'.... or something like that.

Ongoing encouragement and reflection about 'The Word': Most Catholics' exposure to our scriptures is still limited to what they hear read at Mass, the time constraints of which mean a minimalism of appreciation. What if every parish could have a gentle and ongoing reflection mid-week on a current text... if not by attendance at groups then by good use of the internet or by simple, engaging handouts?

Catholic "identity": We hear much of the lack of 'Catholic identity', particularly regarding our Catholic schools which form such a major part of the school education in our nation. Like the hope for Catholics to have a deeper scriptural appreciation, so too some similar approaches could be taken to encouraging knowledge of key Catholic teachings/perspectives on world issues. When issues such as Middle East invasions or respect for life are being debated through the country, many Catholics typically become just like one among others, rather than knowing that our religion has a base for ethical understanding and viewpoint. We need to embrace and own, with some knowledge, our world related views as Catholic Christians. These last two points, 5 and 6, could be easily organised on a diocesan or national level and used in schools and parishes with a sense of pride. Too often the 'Catholic identity' question reduces to a false hope that somehow thousands of baptised , nominal Catholics would somehow connect to parish communities once again. 'Identity' though, difficult as it may be, is an issue of knowledge, belonging and ownership, more so than just a hope of attendance. Such identity, however, depends on all the above points, and no doubt more. At the end of the day, it's about conversion. And all of our efforts and hopes need to understand the ways, needs, nature and modes of people and of the world today and to respond with such in mind, rather than with the insistence on some presumed, objective way.

None of this is some kind of final answer... but is rather the random reflections of an ordinary pastor and fellow traveller. Maybe some of it will prompt or encourage the efforts of some as we share the commission to 'go out to all the nations'. Thank God for many experiences of WYD008. May the convictions of this special time begin in earnest now rather than be lost in false expectations or continuing presumptions.

Fr Paul Roberts
Diocese of Parramatta

PHOTO CREDITS:
Photos used to accompany this article have been sourced from the official WYD website: www.wyd2008.org