Archdiocese of Kuching reviews synodal progress

Aug 25, 2023

By Ivy Chai
The Archdiocese of Kuching held a forum to review the progress of the implementation of the Parish Pastoral Plans (PPP) presented by the 12 parishes during the Kuching Archdiocesan Pastoral Assembly (KAPA2) on Oct 1 and 2, 2022.

About 350 delegates including priests, religious, parish councillors and lay leaders from parishes and Archdiocesan commissions congregated to listen, discern and dialogue on the way forward in the spirit of synodality as a Missionary Church.

The forum commenced with Holy Mass presided by Kuching Archdiocese Synod Central Working Committee (CWC) chairman Fr Patrick Heng, with all priests present concelebrating.

Fr Patrick urged everyone to have faith in each other. “We must trust each other, journey together as a community so God’s work can be done together,” he said.

Archbishop Simon Poh in a video message, encouraged delegates to “bring the plans” discussed, in prayer to the Lord during the Year of Prayer 2024.

Fr Patrick gave a recap of the Synodal Journey commencing 2021 to 2024 by reflecting on its universal launch by Pope Francis in October 2021 and working its way down to the national and local archdiocesan levels.

He further updated delegates on the Synod-KAPA2-MPC2026 Roadmap and encouraged parishes to adopt the ‘See-Judge-Act’ methodology to track the progress of implementation, mitigate gaps and readjust their plans where necessary to meet the needs of the community and church.

They are to plan for 2024, ‘Review, Reflect, Realign, Renew, Reprioritise’ quick fix, medium and long-term strategies. With the launch of the 2024 Ecology Year (Laudato Si’), parishes will also incorporate Ecology initiatives into their PPP.

Further deliberation on the implementation status of the PPP and 2024 budget will be carried out to consolidate and endorse the outcome of the PPP reviews before presenting it to the APC 52nd Executive Board Meeting on Dec 9, 2023.

Creation Justice Committee chairperson Friar David Au, presented the essence of Ecological Protocol and what it means to parishes. This includes a pledge to become an Ecological parish. The announcement will be made in September in conjunction with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

Friar David also launched the Bunan Resilience Project with a short video of the pilot project in the parish of St Jude, Bunan. The video showcased fresh food products available for online order, with delivery only at designated collection points of participating local parishes.

The project aims to supply urban consumers with fresh, local produce grown by the farmers of Bunan, hence helping local farmers become more economically resilient in facing mounting uncertainty brought about by climate change and other threats to nature.

The plenary concluded with a Q&A session, closing prayer and fellowship lunch. --Today’s Catholic