Message from Daniel Ang

Thank you to Fr Paul for the invitation to offer my advice on the constitution, membership, and the work of the Parish Pastoral Council of St Agnes’ Parish. I know that this review was prompted by Fr Paul’s desire to further strengthen the life and mission of your parish, and informed by the feedback received from parishioners and groups within the Parish on this mission and the role of the Parish Pastoral Council within it.

In my review and advice, I’ll be taking into consideration:

• the vision of your Parish;
• the four priority areas defined in its mission;
• its core values;
• parishioner feedback on the need for and the role of the Parish Pastoral Council;
• existing structures and ministries within the Parish, past and present guidelines;
• as well as best practice for Parish Pastoral Councils as recommended in contemporary Catholic literature;
• drawing upon my own pastoral experience of these bodies over the past twenty years; and
• the provisions of Canon Law that regular these bodies of co-responsibility in the life of the Church.

It is a time of great change for the Church here in Australia, and this is also the story for St Agnes’ Parish. As I have come to know your parish, there is both great opportunity and great need as it looks to its future as it serves Christ’s presence in the world.

The parish of St Agnes’ serves so many through its works of evangelisation and outreach, through the worship and prayer of the faithful, and the works of mercy, justice and community that it supports through its services and ministries. There are the many gifts of the people who serve and pray in the community and there are many yet to be called to discipleship in Christ and the community of his body, the Church.

St Agnes’ Parish, as the local presence and embodiment of Christ’s life, exercises a constant and unchanging mission in the midst of a changing world – to make Christ known and to make disciples of those who believe and those who do not yet know their home is with us. If we are to have the Christ-centred impact we desire to have in our local communities, we need to exercise this unchanging mission with new passion, new methods and through new expressions of Jesus’ mission. It is a great paradox of our tradition that we must change to remain faithful.

The Parish Pastoral Council is an advisory body that can assist in the discernment of this constant renewal to which the Church, including the Parish of St Agnes, is called in every age. Anointed by the Holy Spirit and under the care and leadership of the Parish Priest, the Parish Pastoral Council provides advice on new ways of living a timeless mission, undertakes ongoing formation and learning, collaborates and works alongside others with a spirit of humility and boldness, and with a capacity to think strategically and look to the future with enthusiasm and charity.

I look forward to contributing in some small way to this ongoing effort and desire at St Agnes’ Parish through the review to which I have been invited. I look forward to meeting many of you via Zoom in the near future and please keep me in prayer in this work as I do you in your ongoing works and commitments as a community of faith.

With every blessing and good wish, Daniel