STORY - "Moving forward in a spirit of communio"
From Bishop Michael Malone

As the local church, the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle has a responsibility to review its work continually and to plan for the future so that we can successfully fulfil our mission to hear God's people and empower them to participate fully in Christ’s mission.

Members of the diocesan community would be aware of our Diocesan Pastoral Plan which emerged from the 1992 Diocesan Synod, and the fact that diocesan Assemblies are held regularly.

Parallel with these consultation processes I have been working with the agencies of the diocese, particularly Catholic Care and the Catholic Schools Office to ensure that we are all working in synergy, in collaboration with each other to achieve common goals in a spirit of Communio.

This synergy assists us on many levels, from encouraging vibrant parish communities to ensuring our financial sustainability.

In 2007 I invited the Council of Priests, members of the Diocesan Executive, representatives of the Catholic Schools Office, Catholic Care, the Diocesan Pastoral Council and the Diocesan Finance Council to gather to identify some of the major issues facing the diocese and to begin a process of planning to address them.

Together we discussed many questions: what are our most important considerations as we plan together for the short and long term future in the diocese? Where is the Spirit leading us? Are the agencies of the diocese being challenged to create stronger mechanisms and practices to enable us to work together, based on a spirituality of Communio? Are we being called to change some aspects of our culture?

Three priorities were identified last year:

1. Ensuring financial sustainability into the future (Mission within means).
2. Achieving sustainability through working collaboratively throughout the diocese (Collaborative leadership now).
3. Establishing ways and means of providing universal support to parishes and parish leadership (“Communio in Action”).

A process of consultation and collaboration which took place following the 2007 forum culminated in the first draft of a Stewardship Plan which builds on the foundation of our Diocesan Pastoral Plan and includes both short and long term strategies and goals.

In late April I reconvened the forum to review the draft, which includes strategies to enable the diocese to address the priorities named above.

An updated draft of the Stewardship Plan will be discussed at the Clergy Conference in August, a critical step in the planning process. In addition, members of the diocesan community will be given the opportunity to discern relevant aspects of the plan, following which there will be discussion at our next Diocesan Assembly in September 2009.

At the heart of participative processes within the church is the spirituality of Communio. It must underpin all aspects of our church life and is certainly inherent to our Diocesan Pastoral Plan and our draft Stewardship Plan.

Communio for us is challenging, both to describe and to live out. The notion of the Trinity is significant to our understanding of Communio. The Trinity cannot exist without each individual part: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Together they are one God in community. In this image, we are called both to unity and diversity as a Christian community. We are called to a unique harmony in collaborative relationships and teamwork.

Our draft Stewardship Plan gives me great hope for our future. It is another significant step in trying to make real the place of Communio in our day to day lives together.

I will keep in touch with you as the planning process evolves.

Bishop Michael Malone

Diocesan Pastoral Plan, Pastoral Goals:
1. That we, the Church of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, will be recognised as a visible and credible sign and instrument of Communion with God and of unity among all people (Lumen Gentium).
2. That in every parish of the diocese all the baptised will have the opportunity and formation to make their contribution to the life and mission of the church.
3. That all members of the diocesan community - young and old, poor and rich, weak and strong, clergy, religious and laity, individuals, families and institutions – will be recognised as working together to meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of God's people.

Click here to read our Diocesan Pastoral Plan in full.

The call to leadership in service of the church in the modern world involves recognising the place of parishes as the centre of church life, the building of systems that support that central role and the demonstration of a generosity of spirit between leaders that reflects the church as a sign of unity and peace in the world.

In 2001 Pope John Paul II wrote about the processes of Pastoral Planning:
“Let us have no illusion, unless we follow the spiritual path of a spirituality of Communion, external structures of Communion will serve very little purpose. They would become mechanisms without a soul, “masks” of Communion rather than its means of expression and growth. The spirituality of Communion supplies institutional reality with a soul.” (Novo Millennio Ineunte (43) 2001)

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