Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunedin
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
2011 will be remembered as a year of stress and heartbreak.
Against such a gloomy backdrop, the season of Advent we are now celebrating challenges us to see Christ in all these situations. That takes faith and from time to time we need that faith recharged. We are then better able to be agents of faith and hope to others.
Recently, I was privileged to be invited as the keynote
speaker to the Gulf Catholic Charismatic Convention at
the Holy Family Cathedral in Kuwait. There were over 2000 people attending. Mainly Indian and Filipino Catholics, these people have made countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, United Emirates, Bahrain etc their adopted homes. The convention was attended by the bishops of Northern and Southern Arabia and the Apostolic Nuncio. The cathedral, which can hold about 1000 people, saw the overflow sitting in the church forecourt and an adjoining hall, watching on big TV screens. You could not fail to be impressed by the faith of these people.
My impression from the participants was that the normative expression of their faith was Catholic and charismatic. It was a faith that was vibrant, colourful and joyful. There was no western reserve here but rather a sense of the presence of God in their lives that was evident, attractive and infectious. Whenever I emerged from the presbytery to go to the cathedral or for a walk, I ran a gauntlet of happy faces all coming to seek a blessing or ask for a prayer.
One morning, after giving one of the addresses, I came out into the courtyard for a quick coffee and was besieged by a huge number of people, young and old, who formed a column to ask for prayer, intercession and blessings. There were all sorts of petitions for healing physical, emotional, psychological, relational etc. I had to take cover from the Arabian sun and didn’t get finished until lunchtime. As I said to one of the Convention organisers, “They are a credit to their Catholic faith in their prayer, praise, family life and work and I am sure they are
seen as model citizens living in lands with Muslim majorities.”
I personally found the whole experience a great help to
my own faith and we can learn a lot from such people. What
impressed me was the obvious fact of the nurturing of faith
in their homes. We speak about the Catholic Character in our
schools and how dear this is to us all; but we need to realise that
this is only as strong as the Catholic Character in our homes.
That is what it is built on. We need to bolster or rediscover
those faith practices in our homes.
As we draw near to Christmas we need to reflect on how much
our homes are modelled on the Holy Family of Bethlehem and
Nazareth. As Jesus was the centre of that family let us pray in
this new year of faith that our homes will mirror and reflect the
Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
May Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, bless you and your loved ones richly this Christmas, 2011, and in the new year of grace.
In the Spirit
+ CD Campbell
Bishop of Dunedin
