From 7 - 15 August Drs Richard Lennan and Richard Gaillardetz will spend some of their summer vacation again visiting our diocese, to rejuvenate minds, hearts and spirits as well as offer some sound foundational preparation for the forthcoming National Plenary 2020.

We have had previous opportunities to share their wisdom – more frequently our local ‘expert’ Richard Lennan, who on 7 August in a Twilight Session will set the course for what is to follow. Having already explored with us, in the forthcoming July Aurora, the spirit of Pope Francis’ latest letter, The Call to Holiness in Today’s World, Richard reminds us that faith is not something static or equated with being perfect, but an everyday developing and transformative process, often amid life’s messy reality. In his session he will then pursue this humbling yet true insight, exploring with us what it means to live as people of faith, with our particular contemporary experience and questions. 

Thus we will be grounded to develop further, from 11 August, under the baton of Richard Gaillardetz, an appreciation of being faith-filled people of the church – aware of the impetus of Vatican II, of the nature of the specific papacy of Pope Francis and the role each of us is invited to embrace. Vatican II and Pope Francis have pointed the way to a synodal church, in which everyone walks together responsibly on the road. The days of the submissive Catholic ought never to have existed and they are definitely over! Each of us is responsible for the church’s life and growth in the Spirit. By listening, questioning, sharing and reflecting together we will grapple with what is being asked of us today.   

The week can then be something of a ‘retreat’ as we ponder our invitation to be whole and holy companions in faith, ‘the most attractive face of the church’ (Gaudete et Exultate), looking outward, as Pope Francis desires, toward God’s world.   

Click here for further information and booking details.