12 Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst Year in Review 2024 Dr Chris cotter From Director Mission and Pastoral Life On Palm Sunday, more than one hundred and seventy ordained and lay faithful of our Catholic community gathered in St Kilian’s Church Bendigo to begin the Jubilee to celebrate 150 years since the establishment of the local Church of Sandhurst. The present St Kilian’s church is on the site where Mass was celebrated in a tent by early Catholic settlers, as well as the site of the pro-Cathedral. Bishop Shane blessed a newly commissioned Processional Cross, in the style of the Paderborn cross, and we followed the Cross in a short pilgrimage procession from St Kilian’s to the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. As Bishop Shane remarked in his Palm Sunday homily, the track between St Kilian’s and the Cathedral follows the path of the Bendigo Creek and has been walked by humans for tens of thousands of years. It was a simple and fitting way to open a year of celebrations, a reminder of our identity as the pilgrim people of God, of the steps we take in our lives, and the encounters we have with Christ on the road and in holy places. The Processional Cross now has its home in the Cathedral and has also been loaned to the twelve foundational churches of the Diocese for their celebrations of the Jubilee. At the Annual Mass of Holy Oils (Chrism Mass) on the following Tuesday, each parish was presented with a specially engraved cruet for the storage of Chrism oil to commemorate the Jubilee year. It has been my pleasure to provide support as Executive Officer to the Sandhurst Mission and Pastoral Council and the Council of Priests over the year. This involves working with the Chair and Bishop Shane to develop the work plan, prepare the agenda, draft minutes and ensure continuity and follow-up between meetings. An achievement of the Sandhurst Mission and Pastoral Council was the development of ten Strategic Mission and Pastoral Goals, through a process of listening, dialogue and discernment. The Goals were promulgated by Bishop Shane on 22 November and will provide direction for the activities of the Office for Mission and Pastoral Life, as well as parishes, schools and other diocesan entities for the next four years. The 2020 ‘Go Forth’ Report recommended formalisation of the Bishop’s pastoral visitations to parishes. Commencing in November 2023 the Office of Mission and Pastoral Life, with the aid of a dedicated working party of priests, Chancery staff and parishioners, developed and piloted the Parish Visitation Program (PVP). The PVP is an opportunity for parishes to reflect on all dimensions of their life and activity with the assistance and guidance of Chancery staff, to undertake planning for the future and to set goals to guide their endeavours. The PVP is also intentionally designed as an opportunity for Bishop Shane to listen deeply to our pastors and communities of faith, to understand their strengths and challenges, and to discover “Every new step in the life of the Church is a return to the source. It is a renewed experience of the disciples’ encounter with the Risen One in the Upper Room on Easter evening.” XVIth Ordinary Synod for a Synodal Church, Final Document n.1
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