Mrs Kath Evans, whose cure was recognised as one of the miracles required for the canonisation of St Mary MacKillop, will share how this experience has transformed her life, forcing her to step out in faith and giving her a sense of courage and mission in proclaiming and celebrating our first Australian Saint. Following, leaders of Mary MacKillop International will further explore faith and action in the spirit of Mary MacKillop.

A conversation with H.E. Jose Ramos-Horta and Mr Abel Guterres, Timor-Leste Ambassador to Australia

Q&A with Archbishop Mark Coleridge and Brooke

Mission: one heart many voices is being held in Sydney, Australia from 29 April -1 May. It is a conference for those who are inspired to strive creatively for justice, truth, peace, freedom, reconciliation and the Reign of God in Australia and globally. It is a unique opportunity to listen, converse and experience the many and diverse voices that are an expression of the one heart of mission. The conference will explore the complexity and issues surrounding leadership, formation, theology and the practice of mission.

Brooke Clark - Catholic Teacher

Mission: one heart many voices is being held in Sydney, Australia from 29 April -1 May. It is a conference for those who are inspired to strive creatively for justice, truth, peace, freedom, reconciliation and the Reign of God in Australia and globally. It is a unique opportunity to listen, converse and experience the many and diverse voices that are an expression of the one heart of mission. The conference will explore the complexity and issues surrounding leadership, formation, theology and the practice of mission.

Biblical Foundations of Mission - Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Archdiocese of Brisbane

A central aim of this conference is to provide for people already involved in work for the Kingdom of God in ministries as diverse as Catholic Education, Aboriginal Ministry and St Vincent de Paul a sound theological vision of mission that will affirm these people in the knowledge that what they are doing is part of God’s and therefore the Church’s mission and to encourage and enable them in their vocation. To do this we need to go back to the roots of missionary work, the Scriptures. Archbishop Coleridge, a Biblical scholar as well as archbishop will explore the foundation, imperative, motivation and inspiration for mission to be found in the Bible.

Fr. Stephen Bevans (Talk 3)

Partnering with the Missionary God: A Vision of Mission Today

Fr Stephen Bevans SVD

Mission: one heart many voices is being held in Sydney, Australia from 29 April -1 May. It is a conference for those who are inspired to strive creatively for justice, truth, peace, freedom, reconciliation and the Reign of God in Australia and globally. It is a unique opportunity to listen, converse and experience the many and diverse voices that are an expression of the one heart of mission. The conference will explore the complexity and issues surrounding leadership, formation, theology and the practice of mission.

Mission is Trinitarian Practice. God's first act of mission is creation, and God has been active in it since the very beginning through the presence and action of the Creator Spirit. That Spirit was lavished on Jesus in his own ministry, and the Risen Christ lavishes that Spirit on us. Mission involves us in a partnership with God's already and always present creating, redeeming, healing, consoling, inspiring action.

Guest speakers Dr Gemma Tulud Cruz, Mr John Falzon, Fr Stephen Bevans SVD and Mr Graeme Mundine face questions from the audience during a panel discussion.

Doing mission today can only be done in "prophetic dialogue" – always open, always ready to learn, and yet bold in witness and bold in confronting evil and injustice. Mission is done in many ways. It is a "single, complex reality" of witness, proclamation, liturgical celebration, working for all sorts of justice, engaging in interreligious and secular dialogue, working for inculturation, and committed to reconciliation. It is in such multifaceted prophetic dialogue that we engage in the new evangelisation.

Responder: Mr Graeme Mundine, Executive Officer Aboriginal Catholic Ministry, Sydney Archdiocese

Pilgrims of Hope: Migrant Spirituality and Mission Today - Dr Gemma Tulud Cruz, Senior Lecturer in Theology, Australian Catholic University

This presentation will explore migrant spirituality and how such spirituality might help in understanding, envisioning, and doing mission today. More specifically, the presentation will consider four characteristics of migrant spirituality: namely, courageous hope, creative resistance, steadfast faith, and festive community spirit. Based on these four characteristics reflections on three possible facets of mission today will be offered: (1) mission among the “crucified people”, (2) mission as pilgrimage in the wilderness, and (3) mission as a consistent ethic of hope and life.

Responder: Mr John Falzon, Chief Executive Officer, St Vincent de Paul Society

When there is no vision the people perish! (Prov 29:18)

Sr Maureen McBride RNDM, Congregational Leader, Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions

Maureen McBride RNDM has spent the past eleven years as Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, an International Missionary Congregation, where 35% of the members are under the age of 40. Drawing on her own mission experience in the Southern Philippines, and in the 25 countries where her Sisters are present, Maureen will explore the threefold role of leadership as: a) prophecy and visioning, the invitation to be attentive to “Whisperings of Grace”; b) the pastoral care of members and partners in mission, and the challenges of living and working in extraordinarily diverse intercultural communities; c) striving for best practice in administration and stewardship of resources. Maureen will offer vignettes of biblical women as paradigms of leadership in mission today. She will reflect on some of the challenges of leadership in a diverse multicultural context.

Responder: Dr Therese D’Orsa, Conjoint Professor of the Broken Bay Institute and the University of Newcastle