In May representatives from Catholic organisations, parishes, schools and aligned groups will gather in Sydney for the seventh biennial ‘Mission: One Heart Many Voices’ (MOHMV) conference. Marion Gambin rsj and Danielle Achikian of the MOHMV committee spoke about the importance of the theme ‘Choosing hope. Trust yourself to its leading’.
Marion said when planning the conference, the organising committee looks at what’s happening in the context of the church, country and world.
‘We are mindful that the theme for this Jubilee Year is “Pilgrims of hope”, and the whole theme of hope is very much threaded through the three days of the conference. It seems there is a real cry from people and organisations for some hope in our world today.’
Marion said the other ideas informing the 2025 conference sessions will be the Synod on Synodality, which concluded in 2024, and the Australian Church in light of what came out of the Plenary Council.
CHALLENGING CONVERSATIONS
‘We try to be a bit edgy in the way that we might include topics that will lead to challenging conversations – for example, the role of women in the church, the place of the LGBTQI+ people, people with disability, and we always have a strong sense of the role of First Nations people running across the three days.
‘Hopefully it involves people in conversation that stretches them rather than keeping to a safe place,’ Marion said.
Danielle said the overwhelming feedback to the organising committee was that people were feeling a hopelessness. ‘As you look around the world post-Covid there’s this feeling of exhaustion.’
‘That’s why the theme ‘Choosing hope: trust yourself to its leading’ is important. We have agency in choosing to live in a hopeful way and that fits into the Jubilee Year Pilgrims of hope.
‘We are called to mission and we are called to be hopeful people. If nothing else, we want people, when they leave the conference, feeling hopeful that there is a community for them, and that there are others who are like-minded wherever they sit ideologically,’ Danielle said.
It doesn’t matter whether you sit on the left or right of theology or church or politics, the conference was about showing everyone there is a place for everyone, and it is about engaging in dialogue, she said.
UNDERSTANDING OF MISSION
The other significant thing underpinning the conference is understanding mission, Marion said.
‘It’s the theology of mission which links with Pope Francis’ call for everyone to be missionary disciples. It’s not about the pre-Vatican Council understanding of a person being sent as a missionary overseas. It’s about all of us being called to be missionary disciples and that’s what happens at the end of every Eucharist. We’re all called to go out and be missionary disciples wherever we are. It doesn’t matter where you are, it’s intrinsic to who we are as Christians and living the Catholic faith, living the Gospel.’
Danielle said for this conference themes around the ecology and the environment will run through every session.
‘We see it as the most urgent need of our time. It’s the undercurrent of LGBTQI+ issues, disability services, aged care. Whatever the issue, the environment needs to be top of mind.’
The conference promotes connection with many people from different backgrounds, different sectors of Catholic life.
‘Particularly people on the margins have found a space for themselves because we try really hard to be inclusive and innovative and welcoming,’ Danielle said.
‘One thing that the Plenary Council showed me was how siloed the different church agencies and ministries are. There a lot of people are doing the same thing. I think the beauty of the conference is that it’s a multi-sector dialogue. People come from health, social services, education, prison ministry, seafarers, you name it, and they get to cross-collaborate and realise that actually “where I work is not that different in regard to the God’s mission”.’
Danielle said the aim of the conference was to empower, challenge, inspire and engage people. Throughout the conference, and afterwards, feedback is sought to ensure the conference is meeting the needs of those who attend.
CONNECTION
One of the key themes from the evaluations Marion said was ‘transformation’. ‘There is that sense of connecting with others and a hope around living the Gospel. Frank Brennan, who was a keynote speaker at a former conference, said the conference does give people hope because it enables them to feel they’re not alone out there. There’s a great sense of solidarity.’
Danielle said over the years there has been a significant number of people who are really on the margins of what we what we call traditional church and they don’t feel those fit. ‘In their evaluations they say the conference has reconnected them, reinspired them, and shown them a church that they didn’t think was actually possible in their lifetime.’
The conference is not just symposium-style plenary talks. It also engages in what the organise committee call ‘heart sessions’. There may be drama, poetry, music, stories or artwork.
‘We like to let the spirit in the room happen,’ Danielle said.
CHOOSING HOPE: TRUST YOURSELF TO ITS LEADING
The Mission One Heart Many Voices (MOHMV) conference, coordinated by Catholic Mission in partnership with Catholic Religious Australia, will be 19-21 May, at the SMC Conference and Function Centre, Sydney. The conference is endorsed by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
Key presenters include Dr Anna Cody, Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Dr Estela Padilla, theologian, member of the Synod on Synodality and consultant to the Federation of Asian Bishops Conference. Other speakers include Kelly Paget, head of mission and chancellor for the Diocese of Broken Bay, regular Madonna columnist Alice Carwardine.
For more information, see www.mohmv.com.au.
