Acclaimed as one of the Catholic Church’s best communicators in the English-speaking world, United States bishop Robert Barron will be presenting a much sought after talk live online to Sydneysiders next month, explaining why the Church always seeks to embrace to the full the mission given by Jesus to call, baptise and teach disciples.
Bishop Barron, who is an Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, will deliver a talk live via Zoom on Saturday 13 November entitled “Why Make Disciples? The case for the evangelising mission of the Church’ in an event led by the Parish Renewal Team in the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation (SCE).
Bishop Barron’s talk will be the first in a new series, Reclaiming Evangelisation: How Jesus’ Great Commission will Renew our Parishes’ and will feature time for Q and A and small group discussions.
“Genuine renewal comes from always seeking to reclaim or claim more fully the treasure which was given to us by Our Lord” says Elizabeth Arblaster, Manager of the Parish Renewal Team.
“This is what the series seeks to support. We’re taking the time to be re-inspired about the identity and vocation of the Church, to recall what the Lord has done for us, to listen to what he is calling us to do for others in and through the Church and how to do this in the current pastoral context. I pray this series will be a real means of grace to all our communities as we seek to live the vocation of the Church to the full.”
The talk comes close to the first anniversary of the launch of the Archdiocese of Sydney’s Mission Plan, Go Make Disciples which calls for our parishes, schools and other institutions to seek to renew our commitment to live the mission given by Our Lord to make disciples, baptise them and teach them.
Sr Anastasia Reeves OP, one of the members of the parish renewal team helping to organise the series said she expects very high levels of interest in Bishop Barron’s talk which will cover some key issues of direct concern to teachers and parents who are engaged with Catholic education.
“We expect that Bishop Barron is going to speak on why the Catholic Church is always in need of renewal, no matter what group of people within the Church that may be. Bishop Barron’s talk will appeal to a wide cross section of Sydney Catholics, since he has a great gift of taking pretty lofty ideas and challenging philosophical perspectives and making them accessible to everyday people”, Sr Anastasia said.
Bishop Barron has spoken at length on the special mission of Catholic schools, emphasising that they have a responsibility to evangelise and that Catholic values should be reflected across the curriculum of Catholic schools and not merely be confined to religious education.
Bishop Barron is a best selling author and religion correspondent for the internationally respected broadcaster NBC, while also appearing on Catholic and mainstream media channels including CNN, Fox News and EWTN.
His website, Word on Fire, reaches millions of people each year, his regular You Tube videos have been viewed over 50 million times and he has over 3 million followers on Facebook.
The series will continue in February 2022 with Dr Mary Healy, professor of Sacred Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit and in March with French-born author and retreat director Fr Jacques Philippe whose works have become classics of modern Catholic spirituality. These will lead a conversation about why and how our parishes can be renewed, through seeking to live more fully the mission given to us by Our Lord to call disciples, baptise them and teach them.
Registrations will open soon. To be notified when registrations open sign up to the Go Make Disciples newsletter at gomakedisciples.org.au
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