Draft Pastoral Plan needs serious re-write suggests Academic...

The Archdiocese of Sydney recently circulated a Draft Pastoral Plan for public discussion. A pdf copy of the draft document is available on the Archdiocesan website. The feedback being picked up by independent religious journalists and commentators around Sydney is that at the parish level there is disquiet about the draft plan. Fr Daniel Donovan, a lecturer at the School of Religious Education at ACU National was approached by a number of parishes to provide a critique of the Draft Plan. His conclusion is that the draft is seriously flawed and needs to be taken back to the drawing board for a major re-write. He argues the document is theologically flawed and needs to pay far greater heed to official Vatican documents and the accepted teaching of the Catholic Church. In his critique, Fr Donovan cites a number of significant Vatican level documents which would urge a different approach to be taken to what has been proposed in the Draft Pastoral Plan for Sydney. What follows is the critique Fr Donovan has provided to the parishes that requested it.

A critique of the Draft Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese of Sydney...

1. 	Click the image above to access a copy of the Draft Pastoral Plan or visit the Archdiocese of Sydney website.

   Theological weakness: The mission statement presents an ecclesiology which has no Christological foundation. Jesus is sent by the Father to proclaim that the kingdom and salvation is God's offer of grace and mercy to all creation (EN#6-10, 2 Cor 5:12-15). Surely the mission statement for any Pastoral Plan should be based on the initiative of God. The Church is born of this evangelising activity of Jesus and the disciples (EN#15). The Church in turn is sent forth to proclaim the "mighty works of God" constantly needs to be evangelised through "conversion and renewal" if evangelisation is to be credible to the wider community (EN# 15). Evangelisation is therefore never an "individual and isolated act" but is always "deeply ecclesial" (EN#60). Evangelisation and eucharistic participation "an ecclesial act" (GIRM# 5) are intimately connected as the gathered body of Christ is commissioned and sent into the world to serve and live eucharist (Mk 10 45-50).
2. An alternative Christological foundation: A suitable Christological basis for a Pastoral Plan should be as follows: God, the Father of mercies, through the life, death and resurrection of the Son has sent the Holy Spirit to transform humanity through an "interior renewal and radical conversion" (EN# 10). From this divine initiative there flows the great sacrament of the whole Church which continues to be "responsible for the task of spreading the Gospel" (EN# 60) and transforming society in the power of the Spirit (EN#27).
3. Ecclesiology must be rooted in Christology: All ecclesiology must be rooted in Christology otherwise there is as Aloysius Pieris points out "...ecclesiology ... runs the danger of allowing the church to overdevelop as a massive euro-ecclesiastical Body, that conceals Jesus, its head." Pieris' critique applies to the present Pastoral Plan Draft which substitutes a bureaucratic-ecclesiastical Body which conceals Jesus by excluding the people (Mt 18:20).

4. Click the image above to access a copy of the Draft Pastoral Plan or visit the Archdiocese of Sydney website.

   Inculturation vs Enculturation: On p.10, the role of the Episcopal Vicar for the Clergy has the task of "INCULTURATION" of the new clergy. This is a theological concept and refers to the incarnation of the faith within culture. This means that it describes the interaction between faith and culture. "ENCULTURATION" on the other hand, is a sociological term and refers to the process of assisting a person from another cultural background to accommodate to a new cultural milieu. It would seem that the latter, rather than the former term, is intended here.
5. Christian education and sexual development: The section on Christian education and sexual development is vague and uninformed. Surely the family rather than the Church should be involved in the personal development programs? Generally the section on marriage needs more depth.
6. Needs to be founded in Church documents and thinking: Church documents need to be used more meaningfully. For example, the use of EN#27 does not define evangelisation. The paragraph makes the point that evangelisation is not simply to be identified with human liberation. Evangelisation proclaims salvation which goes beyond human liberation to "transcendent and eschatological salvation".
7. A "listening" hierarchy: Much of the Plan has shades of the Opus Dei especially in the areas of education, youth formation and sacramental and human development programs. A major failure of the Plan is that it has failed to take note of the various movements (Opus Dei, Neocatechumenal Way etc and their infiltration of the Archdiocesan structures and ministries. There is also, a need to provide a suitable process for critiquing structures and providing just outcomes. There must be developed a "listening" hierarchy who are able "connect" with the broad masses of the faithful and their issues rather than endorsing the agenda of the various movements.
8. Empowering of the community under the Holy Spirit: The whole Plan must be shown to be an empowering of the community under the Holy Spirit. There is no mention of the Spirit in the Draft document.
9. This document needs a serious re-write: My recommendation would be for the Draft to be returned to the committee for a serious rewrite. There is a need to represent the needs of the people and not simply those of the clergy.

REFERENCES:
EN = Evangelii Nuntiandi
GIRM = General Instruction on the Roman Missal
Aloysius Pieris, Christ beyond dogma: Doing Chrisiology in the context of the religions of the poor, in Louvain Studies 25 (2000) 187-231, p. 199.

Fr Daniel Donovan is a lecturer in the School of Religious Education at the Strathfield campus of ACU National. He has a long history in the education of primary school teachers in Religious Education. He has given special attention to teaching beliefs and values courses, and to field supervision of students in practicum. Further details about his research interests and contact details can be found on the ACU National website at rel-ed.acu.edu.au/ren2/staff.html.

What are your thoughts on this commentary, and on the Draft Pastoral Plan? You can contribute to the discussion in our forum.

©2007 Daniel Donovan

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