Fr Daniel Donovan sees enormous shortcomings in the new Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese of Sydney beginning with criticisms of its underlying Christology (understanding of of Christ's message and mission) and going through to criticisms of its understanding of what the pastoral mission of the Church is…

Background to the new Pastoral Plan…

In March 2007, the Archdiocese of Sydney launched its Draft Pastoral Plan which was purported to be a blue print for the renewal of the local Church as it moved into the new millennium. Unfortunately, that document fell far short of the community's expectations with major pastoral and theological problems. These problems rendered the document as neither pastoral nor a workable plan. A major weakness of the Draft Plan was its lack of suitable and thoroughgoing Christology as a context for its theology of Church.

The new Pastoral Plan is available on the Archdiocese of Sydney website as a pdf document. Click HERE to view.

Later that same year, the Draft was revised as, Starting afresh with Christ (SAC), with the caption, "Implementation of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan". However SAC has not only failed to address the shortcomings of the Draft but has exacerbated them through text additions.

Lack of a foundational Christological basis…

Below some of the problems and inconsistencies in SAC will be identified with the intention of indicating some difficulties which will dog any professional implementation.. It was disappointing again to find that SAC like the Draft Plan document has failed to develop a foundational Christological basis for its shaping of the Sydney Church. Of course this basic lack of a theological context is not addressed by including "Christ" in the title and an icon of Christ. It would have been a simple matter for those who developed SAC to have adopted the Christology of Evangelii Nuntiandi (EN) to provide a pastoral integrity to the whole venture.

Some issues to be discussed further include:

• mission statement;
• the Aboriginal ministry;
• the meaning of pastoral care in the community;
• the hierarchy of the priorities; and
• the uncritical adoption of the processes of big business.

After reading the document one is left with the distinct impression that the little flock of Jesus has moved into the era of "big Church" which will work through committees and commissions. Like big business and big government, the assumption of big Church is that the members of these bodies "know" what is good for the faithful and what it means for them to be church. Much of the agenda of "big Church" is irrelevant to congregations and their daily life.

The Mission Statement: Starting Afresh With Christ

Starting afresh with Christ begins with a mission statement…

This statement needs closer examination not only in its grammatical composition but especially in its theological underpinning. Firstly, there is an uncanny resemblance to a television commercial for a popular spaghetti sauce aired in the United States back in the 1970's. In the commercial a person named ingredients (garlic, basil, mushroom tomato etc) while a voice-over repeated after each ingredient, a mantra "it's in there." The SAC's mission statement is the spaghetti sauce of pastoral planning, in its attempt to pack every detail of Christian life into a space of seven lines of two sentences. As a result of this style, the reader is left reeling and it is difficult to determine how the statement provides a satisfactory context or rationale for the priorities which follow. Surely the words of Jesus in Matthew's gospel (Mt 28:20), "Go therefore make disciples of all nations" is the mission statement? In fact, Pope Paul's VI Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Nuntiandi (EN 1975), explains the Church's mission beginning from these very words:

The Church is born of the evangelising activity of Jesus and the Twelve. She is the normal, desired most immediate and most visible fruit of this activity: "Go therefore make disciples of all nations." Now "they accepted what he said and were baptised. That very day about three thousand were added to their number…Day by day the Lord added to their community those destined to be saved'. (EN #15)

The failure of both the Draft Plan and SAC to include Jesus' eschatological vision of the Kingdom (Mt 28:20) in their mission statements undermines the very nature of evangelisation as an act of the whole Church. Paul VI endorses this interpretation when he writes, the "…mission to evangelise, and the work of each individual member is important for the whole." Essentially, evangelisation is a work of God so what exactly does the mission statement mean when it speaks of "strengthening evangelisation"? Pope Paul writes that evangelisation begins by the Church "being evangelised herself" through constant conversion and renewal.

The essence of this renewal is to be found in the process which the biblical prophets described as sub, meaning to "turn and return". God's people were challenged to constantly turn away from their erring ways and false idols and to return to their compassionate God (Lk 15:11-32). This return must impact on community life (orthopraxis), doing the gospel which Jesus demanded of his disciples, "…not every one who says to me Lord, Lord will get into the Kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my Father" (Mt 7:30).

The crux of the mission statement should centre on discipleship, as the Archdiocese develops its goals and strategies for the new millennium. SAC does not address the discipleship in the Sydney Archdiocese. In the 1970's the now Cardinal Avery Dulles developed six models of Church to allow the development of goals and strategies for future planning. Dulles admitted that his sixth and final model of Church, "community of disciples" was the most important of the models and summed up all the others. However there is little evidence of any of Dulles' models in the pages of SAC rather there is an overarching model of "BIG Church." This model is becoming more common in the writings and administration of the Church today and it draws from the processes of big government and big business rather than Jesus' concern for his "little flock" (Lk 12:32).

Universal and Local Church in SAC's Mission Statement

Secondly, SAC's mission statement describes the Church of the Archdiocese of Sydney as "part of the universal Church" [emphasis mine]. If this ecclesiology is to be accepted then the universal Church would be the sum total or aggregate of the Sydney "part church" and the other "part-churches" throughout the world. This ecclesiology is both incorrect and naïve. It could lead to the impression that there are two churches, the Universal Church and the Local Church. Anyone wishing to adopt this understanding of Church would be tinkering with heresy. Paul VI in Evangelii Nuntiandi clearly explains that there is one Church which is universal in its vocation and mission but local in incarnate in the local Churches (EN# 61-62):

A universal Church without boundaries or frontiers except, alas, those of the heart and mind of sinful man. Nevertheless this universal Church is in practice incarnate in the individual Churches made up of such and such an actual part of mankind, speaking such and such a language, heirs of a cultural patrimony, of a vision of the world, of an historical past, of a particular human substratum … Let us be very careful not to conceive of the universal Church as the sum, or, if one can say so, the more or less anomalous federation of essentially different individual Churches. In the mind of the Lord the Church is universal by vocation and mission, but when she puts down her roots in a variety of cultural, social and human terrains, she takes on different external expressions and appearances in each part of the world.

The Church is universal in its vocation and mission but is experienced by the faithful within their local Church community. Thus the Church which has put down its roots in the fertile soil of Sydney is the Church which holds the one faith in concert with all other Churches. This is the Church's identity which is one, holy catholic and apostolic under its bishop. Each Church witnesses to Jesus command to evangelise all creation. This very understanding of Church is the reason that there must be three bishops involved in the ordination of a new bishop. The bishop is the symbol of his community's unity with all the other Church communities and with the Bishop of Rome who is the ultimate guarantee of the Church's unity in the faith, a faith which does justice.

SAC document and "BIG Church" model

"BIG Church" is a model of Church which is drawn not from scripture but from the practices of big business and government. This model is dominated by bureaucrats, committees (whatever their name) conferring with each other and developing goals and strategies for people. The common assumption in this model is that members of the various committees have a mortgage on truth and possess the capacity to make decisions on behalf of the community. Priorities, goals, strategies, outcomes etc. are framed using the language and techniques of big business and are not really suitable for encapsulating the Church's challenge to form disciples. A major downside of business is that it works in a rarefied atmosphere which avoids input of opinions which differ from those of the committee and represent those of the community. There is a bureaucratic arrogance which fails to do Christian mission (Mt 25:45).

The very ranking of the priorities indicates the mind-set of authors who are disconnected from the people. For example, Priorities 1 and 3 are on evangelisation and spiritual renewal and could be seen as concerns for the Sydney Church. However the language is technical and fails to provide any real breakthroughs for improving the community's sense of the proposed goals and to be implemented by 2009. This timeline seems impossible because the goal and priorities do not reflect the concerns of the people. The success of any implementation strategy is to convince the community of the overall benefits to derive from the changes proposed and to address defined needs in the community.

Priority 2 is about the clergy. Vatican II in the Constitution on the Church placed the people of God before clergy. The reason is that a person must be a member of the people of God before belonging to the clergy. However this priority does not take into account the morale of the clergy and the problems manifested over recent years.

The priority is top heavy with new liaison persons Episcopal vicars, business managers etc. All this is superfluous. The real problem with clerical life is the failure of the Archbishop to be in touch with his clergy. Canon law describes the bishop as "father, a brother and friend to his priests." Why are senior priests continuing to abandon the priesthood and the pastoral care of their people? What strategies have been put in place by SAC to address clerical burn out? Do priests trust their bishop and believe that their concerns will receive a compassionate hearing? There is no real hope that "having access to a spiritual director" or courses for junior clergy will do anything to address the needs of the clergy and their emotional wellness.

Another characteristic of big business is that it tends to focus on events and headlines. SAC names World Youth Day as a priority. World Youth Day is an event and as such it is hardly a priority. For most people in parishes World Youth Day is a distraction not a priority. SAC states that the Catholic Education Office will "evaluate the impact of WYD08". How do you evaluate an impact? What criteria will be used to evaluate the impact? Surely in an event of this kind there would not be an impact but impacts: financial, educational, liturgical, transport, accommodation etc? Is the education office qualified to evaluate all these impacts? Who will provide the personnel and the financial support to the Catholic Education Office for this evaluation? What will happen to the Schools while the evaluation is occupying the time and resources of the Catholic Education Office? These are practical questions and criteria for the evaluation must be published prior to the event.

Priority 5 brackets pastoral care with social welfare and health care. As in Catholic schools, it is pastoral care which distinguishes the Church from welfare and health systems which treat clients rather than persons. In a society which is becoming increasingly impersonal it is surprising that the Church is now speaking of pastoral care agencies (Priority 5, B1). Pastoral care characterised the work and mission of Jesus (Mk 10:45) and must be part of the Church's witness to the all.

Surprisingly Priority 3 on the other hand Priority 3 details the plans of the Liturgical Commission for "a revitalisation of the sacrament of penance" (Priority 3, G1) with stress on "first rite".

While not wanting to rehearse here the whole history of the sacrament of penance and the process of reconciliation, it is important to state that public penance preceded private penance (the basis of the first rite of reconciliation). Public penance did not mean that sins were confessed in public. Rather it was pastoral care the whole community assisted the person through prayer and fasting in his or her penance. Prior to penance, confession was made to the bishop and then the community ministered to and supported the erring member. Community support was vital and was called "exomologesis". The community presented the person to the bishop for absolution on Holy Thursday at the eucharist. Any attempt to revitalise penance must involve the community's participation and a renewed emphasis on pastoral care rather than judgement.

Frequently, the question is asked: Why are people not going to confession? Many people report that they find the sacrament of penance unhelpful. However, there is still a real human need to seek help and support with life's problems. The confessional lines of the 1950's and 1960's have moved to counsellors who listen without judgement. The linchpin of any revitalisation of penance must be compassion of Jesus rather than guilt and shame. The community must experience the need for the sacrament's reconciliation and personal healing.

Aboriginal Catholic Ministry

SAC presents a real dilemma when it comes to its inclusion of the Church's ministry to the Aboriginal people (addition to the text of the Draft Plan). To place the Aboriginal Catholic ministry under "Priority 5 (B3), Pastoral Care, Social Welfare and Health Care", highlights two issues. The first based on the nature of Church and the second the relationship between the Aboriginal community and the Archdiocese of Sydney.

The first of these issues raises the question of the identity of Aboriginal Catholics. St Paul in his letter to the Galatians provided the basis for the Christian identity when he outlawed discrimination and division in the Christian community writing that "there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female but we are one in Christ" (Gal 3:8). Surely Paul's words would rule out any differences between Caucasian and Aboriginals; both through their common baptism possess the same identity, "in Christ" (Eph 4:5). This being the case, Aboriginal Catholics and ministry to them should be included in evangelisation and parish renewal (Priorities 1 and 3).

The needs of the Aboriginal community and the role of the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry be widely recognised and supported by the Archdiocese through its parishes and agencies by December 2009.

In SAC, the local Church is only required to recognise and support Aboriginal Catholics through its parishes and agencies. This is a patronising statement. The Black American Bishops have in their pastoral, What we have seen and heard (1984) and later writings have consistently critiqued and condemned such an approach as discriminatory denying Black Catholics real participation in Church. Like Afro-American Catholics, Aboriginal Catholics have a cultural and spiritual contribution to make to the Australian Catholic Church. This contribution will never materialise so long as the official Church have enshrined in their strategies such patronising views of the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry and its personnel.

In regard to the second point, the relationship between Catholic Aboriginals and the Archdiocese the matter is more immediate: Anyone who has followed in the secular press the treatment experienced by the predominantly Aboriginal community at Redfern will find the statement in SAC as totally inappropriate. Since the death of Fr Ted Kennedy in 2005, the Archdiocese has appointed a succession of priests to Redfern who have been unsympathetic to the people's symbols and culture. Parishioners have been locked out of the Church and in 2005, the parish priest was advised by an auxiliary bishop to have the police intervene to settle liturgical problems which had arisen. The Archdiocese has continued to ignore appeals from those ministering in the parish to provide relief and restore a meaningful liturgical life for the people.

Last year (2007) the situation became so bad that the parish sent a dossier of its treatment to Rome. The Archdiocese towards the end of 2007 appointed a part time Chaplain to the Aboriginal people. However as the pastor of another Sydney parish, this priest is frequently unavailable to Redfern when he is needed. What other group of Catholics are treated in this manner? Who believe that this treatment will be moderated in the foreseeable future? Essentially the statement about Aboriginal Catholics must be considered as window dressing by well-intentioned folk who would shrink from writing such platitudes if they were across the real issues.

Pastoral Care

It is important to return to the specific nature of pastoral care. SAC provides no rationale for linking pastoral care with social welfare and health care unless it is that agencies will dispense all three.

While the document identifies Aboriginal Catholics as the recipients of pastoral care, it fails to recognise that all Christians have a right to pastoral care. There is a greater need today for pastoral care in a society which is becoming daily more impersonal. In January, this year, Sydney was shocked to learn that a man had been dead in his apartment for a year and no one had missed him or enquired about him. Perhaps it is the fear of being sued or other such things that has created this vacuum in society. The elderly, the lonely, depressed and the marginalised generally frequently suffer and die alone.

Parishes have adopted the recorded messages and the mobile phone so that a call for help might be responded to by a message providing the times of masses and the polite request to leave a message and someone will return the call. This is the coalface of pastoral care. The promise to return the call might be too late for that person who needs a real person not a recorded message.

On radio, late last year, a caller spoke of his efforts to get a priest to attend a dying relative. He said that he had called eighteen churches in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney and left a message for someone to contact him. His complaint was that not one call was returned and he finally, had the Salvation Army attend his relative. More and more talk radio hosts are becoming the pastoral carers listening to the problems, offering advice and referring persons to those who can help. Pastoral care must be available when the need arises and this is usually not during business hours.

Pastoral care is the other side of worship for the Christian community. Jesus identified himself with the least and the marginalised (Mt 25:45). Only when the Church has recognised the risen Lord and served him in the marginalised can it begin to appreciate his eucharistic presence. As the Church prays over the gifts of bread and wine — "fruit of the earth and work of human hands" — it realises that these natural gifts will become its spiritual food and drink and will strengthen it to work toward the fullness of the Kingdom.

Pastoral care must never become the domain of "agencies" no matter how well organised or intentioned. Jesus' words to the lawyer at the end of the parable of the Good Samaritan forbids it. Jesus asks "which of the three proved himself the neighbour to man who fell into the brigands' hands?" The response was "the one who took pity on him". Jesus was interested in action (orthopraxis: right action), Go and do the same (Lk 10:37). Pastoral care is dictated by the need of the brother or sister and is based on the dignity of the person. It is not in any way shape or form to be considered as social welfare. Rather it is an incarnation of God's reminder to his people that God desired "mercy not sacrifice" (Mt 12:7).

Conclusion

What can be said about this document and its proposed timeline for implementation? The document does little to inspire enthusiasm and will be received by the Church generally with a yawn. The paradox of SAC which emerges in the discussion above is that the document has uncritically adopted the processes of big business to deliver the very personal message of salvation. There is a real possibility that the document might alienate those Catholics who are currently involved in their local Church. Perhaps Shakespeare provided the best insight into this document when he penned the caption, "Much to do about nothing". Hopefully, there are strategies in place to contain the fall out!

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.

©2008 Daniel Donovan

[Index of Commentaries by Fr Daniel Donovan]