|
[Back
to Contents Page]
WHEN CHURCHES
JOIN
Appendix E: The
Thrill of the Ride!
- A Lay person's guide to Covenant
Also see: Kilcoy
Covenant (Uniting, Anglican, Catholic and Lutheran Churches),
QLD
Greetings from the Ecumenical community
of Stanley River! At this juncture, most people would say
"Where is that?" The Stanley River bisects the area between
Woodford and Kilcoy and our ecumenical area goes out to Peachester,
Mt Mee and Jimna and covers all points in between!
I have titled this paper "The Thrill
of the Ride!" because it was a very exciting time personally
for me.
It happened one night in March 1997
- the 11th, to be precise - when four Church Pastoral Councils
were called to a joint meeting. Our Ministers had been meeting
for some time as a group and decided that it was time to cast
us together in the open sea of Ecumenism and see where it
took us. The Anglican Church of Kilcoy, the Stanley River
Roman Catholic Church, and the Uniting Church
Parish of Stanley River then formed the Stanley River Ecumenical
Pastoral Council.
From the very beginning I knew this
wild ride would be challenging! And on the very fIrst day
I was approached by a member of the Uniting Church who said
to me, "It's all your fault - no matter how much we think
Ecumenism there will never be real ecumenism
because the Catholics won't celebrate Eucharist with the rest
ofus!" Words paraphrased! My memory is a little dim on the
exactness but I remember well the thrust! Immediately I circulated
a copy of our Church's guidelines on Eucharistic Hospitality
and suggested tha,t whilst we could not work miracles in our
lifetime, perhaps we could still work together in a myriad
of other ways. Friendships formed, the ride had begun!
Rev. Fr John Dobson, Catholic Dean of
the North Coast Deanery and well acquainted with a working
model of ecumenism in his parish of Caloundra, told us, "Just
Do It!". So we immediately set to work to form four areas
of endeavour - Liturgy (Catholic word!) or Worship, Aged Care,
Kidzone and Social activities. The latter didn't quite make
the waves and was soon beached! The other three groups have
managed to keep their heads above water - often rising to
great heights with their endeavours.
The Liturgy Group meets to plan four
ecumenical services each year - Australia Day, Pentecost,
Advent and sometimes one for Senior Citizens depending on
the busyness of the various Church calendars. The fIrst major
project to go public in the community hall was an Advent celebration
around the Jesse Tree. A 12 x 9 foot banner of the Jesse tree
was displayed on the main road into Woodford with the challenge
"Check out your Church this Christmas!". The Press was intrigued
and requested a Christmas statement for the front page of
the local newspaper. This was the fIrst time a joint Christian
message was issued at Christmas in the area. At the Advent
celebration, stories of the faith ancestors of Jesus were
told in drama, song and poetry by the Kidzone kids. Each church
was presented with a special Jesse Tree banner to use during
Advent and families were encouraged to make their own Jesse
Tree banner at the celebration. They entered into this activity
with great enthusiasm and energy and if they didn't know about
the Jesse tree before they certainly did by the time Christmas
rolled around.
Kidzone is a bi-monthly activity for
local kids - it has been operating for about four years now.
Leaders and helpers become the ecumenical community. The kids
enjoy games, a bit of "God Stuff' (their words!), supper and
craft.
The Aged Care project to build an aged
care facility in Woodford was initiated by the Ecumenical
Group but proved to be too big a wave to cross without local
support. So eventually it was taken over by the local community
and the ecumenical council is now represented in the person
of the Chainnan of the Woodford Aged Care Facility Inc. It
is envisaged that as the project moves forward some commitment
in monetary terms will be required from the Churches.
The group responsible for social activity
didn't make any progress and it was decided that the focus
should be on existing social events. Covenanting Churches
are invited to various celebrations especially when changes
in ministers occur, or for significant milestones such as
the 70th birthday celebrations of the Catholic Church in Stanley
River.
Now this is one for the books! Once
a year the Catholic ladies serve meals and do the dishes at
the Anglican Commitment Dinner to relieve the Anglican ladies
from this task and to allow them to participate in the evening.
These gestures of friendship and support have strengthened
the ties between the Churches. The principle of collaboration
and never doing separately what can be accomplished together
without a violation of conscience has been the bedrock of
our ongojng relationship.
Almost as soon as we hit the waves,
we sought and received funding from Queensland Churches Together
Rural Grants Scheme. Many thanks! These funds are held jointly
for ecumenical projects. Religious Education in the area is
taught in an ecumenical setting and the costs of the programme
used is shared. Administrative services, (alias Della), are
provided by the Catholic Church. Other resources are shared
where possible (like the portable TV/Video) and small gestures
in this regard help cement the relationship.
Catching the biggest wave of all fIrst
started on 31 August 1999, when Sr Beryl Amedee attended a
meeting of the Stanley River Ecumenical Pastoral Council and
mooted the idea of formalising the relationship between the
Churches by working out a Local Covenant to be signed by all
parties. The idea was enthusiastically accepted and work began
on drafting the Covenant and its Supplement.
A small working group was set up to
research models of Covenant.
The Covenant formally outlines the shared
vision and puts in place a workjng arrangement that would
be binding on the present and future leadership.
The Supplement contains the practical
ways in which the Churches could work together.
On 20th May 2000, the Lutheran Church
in Woodford joined the Ecumenical Group and was included in
the negotiations to Covenant.
In the meantime, the Covenanting Churches
presented the draft Covenant and Supplement to their communities.
Surprisingly there was little or no negative comments and
in fact most members enthusiastically accepted the Covenant
with the comment that "it was about time!" The draft Covenant
was then submitted to the various Church authorities.
Well! The Catholics and the Lutherans
appeared to have similar problems with the wording and hit
a few breakers that threw us off balance - only temporarily!
The sticky bits were: Sharing of pulpits and funeral services
conducted by ministers of other Churches.
After discussion with Bishop Putney,
Catholic Auxiliary Bishop for Ecumenism at the time, and with
some minor wording amendment, the Covenant and its Supplement
were accepted by all parties - the Lutherans were greatly
relieved that the Catholics had solved their dilemma too!
The ride was now reaching a climax.
Rehearsals began for the choir (and the Catholics found themselves
out of step musically with the rest of the group and had to
fast track their musical skills). Detailed drafts of the liturgy
were prepared. Consultations were held with church leaders
who would officiate to ensure that the celebration was a meaningful
and symbolic occasion.
1st June 2001 - This truly was the night
of nights! With great ceremony and sense of occasion the covenanting
church communities joined together with their Church leaders
to formalise their relationship. They carried in symbols of
shared faith... the water of Baptism, the Word of God, the
Paschal Candle and the Cross. The Creed was proclaimed with
candles lit from the Paschal Candle held aloft. I still get
goosebumps remembering it!
The formal signing of the Covenant document
was the highlight of the celebration and the sign of peace
was passed from Church leaders to the pastors and then to
the people. Ecumenically of course! It had taken hundreds
of years but the air was electric. The Spirit was definitely
moving!
The local Press in the following days
spoke impressively about the occasion and the sight of Christians
of different denominations celebrating together. It was a
good example to the local community of how people could accomplish
great things by working cooperatively.
Back in the water again after the tumultuous
days of the Covenant, we are continuing to grow in our understanding
and knowledge of each other. We have embarked on a programme
the main features of which are:
- Study of Church hierarchy and structures.
Each denomination prepares a paper on its hierarchy and structure
for consideration at the Ecumenical Pastoral Council meetings.
Other areas of interest will follow and we hope to use these
Council meetings to further understand each other.
- Joint course on Hebrew Scriptures
is underway during Lent this year.
- Christian in Dialogue programme during
the latter half of 2002.
- Renewal of Covenant commitment and
signing of the Covenant by all lay people to take place on
the 31st May 2002 and we are excited that Rev Russell Morris
has accepted our invitation to be the homilist on that occasion.
The group continues to meet quarterly
and plan and work together. No doubt there will be differences
but so far we have been able to overcome these by keeping
our eye on Jesus, accentuating the things we share in common
and working through our differences, agreeing to try and see
each other's perspective. Our main challenge into the future
is to coax the other members of our Church communities to
jump in the boat!
In conclusion, we offer the following
recipe which we know will keep all ecumenical thrill seekers
well nourished -
One full measure of Jesus
A rich mixture of Traditions
Barrels of Tolerance
Deep buckets of respect
Loads of willingness
Mix this rich brew well, add a dollop
of good humour, and combine with lavish servings of the Holy
Spirit. Set to prove over the years.
We hope that many will follow us into
the Deep in search of Jesus mirrored in each other.
Queensland Churches Together AGM
Presenter: Della Lopez, Secretary, Stanley River Ecumenical
Pastoral Council
|
