By Mr. Steven Buhagiar
Team Leader | Life, Family, and Marriage Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

1: Your Apostolate

Steven Buhagiar and Chris Da Silva – We are the Life, Marriage, and Family team in the Archdiocese of Sydney with our principle areas of focus delineated by our aforementioned title. We seek to collaborate with all partner organisations within the Archdiocese and beyond who have a vested interest in promoting these fundamental goods and, thereafter, offering and integrating the fruits of this collaborative practice into the life of Archdiocesan parishes and agencies.

2: Pandemic Impact

Our work is primarily with the parishes and parishioners of the Archdiocese of Sydney. We are finding that parishes are quite occupied in just getting through this period of time and adjusting to the dynamic of change which the COVID-19 situation has and continues to bring into effect.
Our own work has moved more into the online space where we have developed means of communication which are ‘information’ and ‘building presence’ focused. We hope that this will allow our primary audience to know that we are still working away in trying to identify what it is that parishes and parishioners most need at this time in the area of Life, Marriage, and Family.
As parishes come to realise that the ‘parish space’ has in fact changed for the long term, it is more likely that they will be open to online formation opportunities as they also recognise that it is essential that their parishioners and parish families be fed in the same process of remaining connected. Our aim is to discuss broadly with parishes what they are identifying as primary needs at this time in the area of Life, Family, and Marriage.

3: Priority Issues

The key priority is the building up of a ‘Marriage Affirming Culture’ within the local Parish community. Here, the parish leadership team and then the whole parish community seeks to intentionally affirm the truth, beauty, and goodness of Holy Matrimony through explicit practices which highlights its centrality, necessity, and importance to the proper flourishing of family life, parish building, societal health, and national well being. Again, an intentional emphasis here looks to preparing couples for engagement within the parish itself by local couples, providing for local marriage enrichment opportunities, as well as having married couples with a missionary heart who can speak to the beauty and reality of Christian marriage in local Catholic secondary schools.
Another priority which must be brought to the fore and acknowledged as such is men’s ministry. The data highlights that the strongest indicator for children continuing to attend Sunday Mass and pray regularly is if they grow up with a father who sets that example. Across religions, only 2 percent of children whose fathers do not practice the faith grow up to practice it as adults.

4: Plenary Proposal

That the ACBC research possible models of a parish based Marriage Catechumenate as requested by Pope Francis and which incorporate local Marriage Preparation and Enrichment, Marriage Missionary Couples, and Formation for marriage and vocational discernment that is integrated into Catholic Primary and Secondary Schooling via an adequate anthropology such as the Theology of the Body.

5: Signs of Hope

This period of COVID-19 has provided an opportunity whether one likes it or not to become introspective as a parish community and to take a hard look at “how we are travelling”. It has highlighted the inherent weaknesses which exist but has also provided a space in which to take risks which, in any other period of time, may have seemed imprudent or even rash. The fact that there is a pressing need to do something that is different to what we have been doing with regard to a broader evangelisation, is a positive feature in itself.
___________________________
Submitted by: Mr. Steven Buhagiar
Team Leader | LIfe, Family, and Marriage Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

03/08/2020