Catholic Mission has held their 2025 One Heart Many Voices conference, focusing on several key aspects of the faith including synodality, inclusivity, and hearing the perspective of others.
Presenters included Broome Bishop Tim Norton SVD, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody, Head of Mission and Chancellor for the Diocese of Broken Bay Kelly Paget, and member of the Synod on Synodality Estela Padilla.
They addressed a wide variety of topics and hosted guided discussions with attendees, imbuing those present with a strengthened sense of Catholic community.
They included Catholic Mission’s National Youth Engagement Officer Sony Cuaycong who hosted a workshop focused on a variety of social justice matters such as environmental degradation and the importance of interfaith dialogue for interested young people.
She told The Catholic Weekly she received a very good response from the participants, most of them high school students, saying the event “gives them the assurance they are not in this alone” and that it encouraged them in the work they are already doing in their communities.
Attendees were given tools to discern if they were interested in doing mission work on a small scale, with some indicating they would seek volunteering opportunities afterward.
“Young people realise they are already leaders,” Cuaycong said.
A key initiative launched at the conference was the operation of formation.org.au, which brings together Catholic missionaries from different orders to more efficiently collaborate and connect.
A guided discussion led by Bishop Norton and others on the final day of the three-day conference saw participants sharing insights they had gained.
It touched on the need for wider communication and collaboration in the church, an understanding of the work of religious orders and missions which may not be so well known, and appreciation at being able to come together for the event.
Bishop Norton, former auxiliary bishop for Brisbane who was ordained the Bishop of Broome in December, shared his experiences with Brisbane’s recent archdiocesan synod and said he is pondering how to bring the experience to his new, much more geographically isolated home.
“For all of us to be moving our mission as we do, we don’t do it alone,” he said.
“We actually need partners in one way or another.”
