Submission to Synod on Synodality from Rainbow Catholics InterAgency for Ministry Australia
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed
me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to
captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and
to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” (Luke 4/18-19).
What is most needed is a clear revival of the mission of
the church in terms of Luke 4. Guided by Catholic Social Teaching, we need to
refocus on the mission of liberation with the marginalised, silenced and erased
so as to offer life where there is despair, and hope for the downhearted. We
suggest prioritising lay apostolate using “see, judge and act” method. This is
an essential parish strategy for personal and social transformation that
reaches the peripheries as established by the gospel as at the heart of the
missionary journey.
We suggest this means holding back on moral and theological
statements that seem to exclude, insult and reject so as to affirm people’s
human dignity in their loves, life, stories and identity.
We suggest the church presents a gentle and compassionate
face that values the gift of all people regardless of race, gender, colour,
creed, gender or sexual diversity, marital status, cultural background,
disabilities or class.
Can we please put aside the culture, liturgical,
theological and class wars in favour of proclaiming a year acceptable to the
Lord – especially for the poor, women, LGBTIQ people, the disabled and
minorities in every culture?
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