Evangelium keynote says ‘Jesus Christ is as relevant as ever’

By Catherine Sheehan

Keynote speaker at the upcoming fifth Evangelium Conference, Deacon Peter Pellicaan PhD, said he hopes to encourage and empower those who attend the conference by reminding them that “the person of Jesus Christ remains as relevant as ever”.

“Our faith is still good news and the encounter with God experienced most deeply in the sacramental life is the deepest desire of the human heart,” Deacon Peter said.

“So we can be empowered and encouraged to evangelise because what we have to share is really life changing.”

“There are of course ways to do this that are effective and appreciated, and ways which are highly inappropriate – so we’ll unpack some of the ‘how’ as well.”

Deacon Peter is Executive Director of Evangelisation Brisbane, an agency of the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane that assists parishes and communities to engage in the evangelising mission of the Church.

He has been involved in various forms of evangelisation for around 30 years, beginning at the age of 14 when he went on a mission trip to Singapore to share the Gospel with young people.

“If something makes a significant difference to your life, it’s natural to share it with others,” he said.

“We commonly share our recommended restaurants, tradesmen to use, cars to buy, holidays locations… Jesus has made so much more difference to my life than any of these things – so it’s natural to want to share Jesus with others. He’s the source of all that is good, true and beautiful.

“In this light, it’s almost unkind to our friends not to share the reason for the hope we have within us.”

At the Evangelium Conference to be held in Launceston on 3 August, Deacon Peter will speak on the topics of ‘Proclaiming the Kerygma’ and ‘Growing as a missionary parish’.

“If Jesus is the hope of the world, why aren’t our parishes and communities centres of hope for humanity? We’ll examine how parishes can become more like Jesus, and in the process become more missional, fruitful and nourishing to people of all ages.”

Deacon Peter said one of the most challenging aspects of evangelisation was overcoming and transforming the “prevailing culture” in most church communities which “is not in the service of mission”.

“We tend to be more concerned about protecting buildings and land, or our preferred liturgical style than thinking about how our local community is engaging the people in our region,” he said.

“We can be more interested in balance sheets, and enrolment numbers than in baptisms and confirmations. We celebrate the anniversary of a building, but we don’t celebrate the baptisms that have taken place in it.

“We also struggle to embrace change and at times would prefer to keep things in a state of slow decline, than to make the uncomfortable changes that could much more effectively engage the younger generations.

“These changes are not to do with our teachings, they’re to do with how we compellingly communicate our heritage of faith and engage people in experiences that are nourishing and meaningful for both adults and children.”

The Evangelium Conference is an initiative of Archbishop Julian. This year’s conference, held at Sacred Heart School in Launceston, will also feature talented musician Stephen Kirk who will lead participants in prayerful worship. The event will be hosted by author and speaker Sam Clear, Director of the Office of Youth Evangelisation.