Nourishing the seeds of Renewal at the National Pastoral Conference
Where do we begin? At the time of writing our National Pastoral Conference, “Communion and Co-Responsibility in the Church,” has just ended. Hosted by the Council for Pastoral Renewal and Adult Faith Development in partnership with the Council for Justice and Peace, this three-day gathering had over 230 participants from all across the country. Following almost two years of planning, the conference became a space of meeting, prayer, dialogue, listening and learning. Those that gathered were from parish teams and PPCs, diocesan teams and faith development ministries. There were youth and young adult ministers, ACCORD staff and volunteers, members from the Lay Pastoral Workers’ Network together with members of ecclesial movements and associations of lay faithful. The institutes of theological and pastoral education and training were represented along with CORI and IMU. There were liturgical ministers, Justice and Peace ministers, theologians, members of the Share the Good News Committee, teachers in the faith, and concerned Catholics.
Participants included over 125 lay faithful, 50 priests, 40 religious and 8 bishops. As one participant commented, “It was very inspiring to see such a representative group of the Church in the same room and in dialogue together on the very important topic of shared communion and co-responsibility.”
