20 Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst Year in Review 2020 Clergy Life and Ministry Report Very Rev. Dr Brian Boyle PP EV Director of Clergy Life and Ministry Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst CLERGY LIFE & MINISTRY The COVID-19 pandemic which emerged in force in early 2020 had a significant impact on the liturgical and pastoral life of our parishes with its series of Government lockdowns. For our clergy these lockdowns brought issues of isolation and reduced physical contact with parishioners. Our priests needed to find ways to innovatively and imaginatively keep in contact with parishioners. Changes to lockdown regulations brought changes to the ways liturgy could be conducted and the not inconsiderable issue of the loss of parish income. In this context, this report offers an overview of the work of Clergy Life and Ministry with our priests in 2020. One of the ways in which our priests stayed in contact with each other during 2020 was through a regular fortnightly online meeting, using Zoom. These online gatherings gave the priests the opportunity to pray together, to keep in touch, to discuss pastoral initiatives during the COVID-19 restrictions, and offer support. One of the highlights of these gatherings was the opportunity to interview the two ordinands at that time, DJ (Denib) Suguitan and Adi Indra, by Zoom, about their forthcoming ordinations to the priesthood. Adi connected with us in the early hours of a Roman morning! One of the responsibilities of the Director of Clergy Life and Ministry is to regularly visit the priests in their own parishes, as a way of offering support and interest in their local ministries. During October 2020 I was able to visit some twelve priests in the North East Deanery. Priests appreciate the visits of fellow priests. Following the Royal Commission, new arrangements for the governance and management of our Catholic schools are now in place. The Parish Priest is no longer the Canonical Administrator of the local primary and/or secondary Catholic school. While the priest no longer has a significant role in the management of the school, his role as the pastoral and spiritual leader has been enhanced in these new arrangements. Catholic schools in the Sandhurst Diocese are now under the governance of the new company Catholic Education Sandhurst Ltd. In 2020 our priests participated in several forums organised by Catholic Education Sandhurst (CES) to consult with the clergy and to offer information about the new structures. During 2020 I worked on a series of draft policies on the care of Sandhurst priests; specifically on the pastoral care of overseas priests ministering in our Diocese and on the care of recently ordained priests. The Diocese offers a range of support structures including supervision, mentoring, and spiritual direction to support and assist priests in their ministry. One of these draft policies will address the pastoral care of all priests in the Diocese. Other policies will be more specific, addressing particular groups. The overseas priests ministering in Sandhurst are an increasingly important group in our Diocese and very welcome in our midst. The full suite of policies on the care of priests will be considered by the Sandhurst priests at their inservice in August 2021. Like many other groups and individuals in 2020, our plans for an inservice for our clergy needed to be significantly revised because of the pandemic. Instead of gathering together as in previous years, in 2020 we ran the inservice over two days in August by Zoom. Despite the challenges, this method of presentation was enthusiastically adopted by our priests. Rev. Dr Jake Mudge, presented on the theme of Human Dimensions of Priestly Formation. Rev. Dr Kevin Lenehan (Master, Catholic Theological College) presented the theme of Discernment and Synodality. The August inservice was a good example of how forum and mode of presentation could be adapted to new and challenging situations. Again, because of COVID-19 the annual meeting of Parish Priests and Pastoral Associates was conducted by Zoom in late July. Christine Sebire (Pastoral Associate, Echuca) chaired the meeting. We had the opportunity to reflect together on our own ministry during the pandemic in terms of challenges and opportunities to innovate. We reflected on how many of our liturgical and pastoral experiences in 2020 will in fact be the ‘new normal’ in the future. The purpose of the Clergy Life and Ministry is to offer support, professional inservice, and care for the priests of the Diocese. The nature of that presbyterate is changing significantly with increasing numbers of Filipino and Indian priests ministering so effectively in the Diocese. Priests generally minister more effectively and with greater personal satisfaction when they minister together. “Many of our liturgical and pastoral experiences in 2020 will in fact be the ‘new normal’ in the future.”
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