For 2023 and beyond, Archbishop Mark Coleridge took time to set down the Apostolic priorities of the Brisbane Archdiocese, known as With Lamps Ablaze (PDF). Conceived and developed under the influence of the Holy Spirit, who is moving in the Church in new and surprising ways, the Apostolic priorities are also the distillation of the wisdom His Grace has gleaned during his 11 years as Archbishop of Brisbane, plus almost four decades of ministry.
The priorities are termed ‘apostolic’ rather than ‘pastoral’ or ‘missionary’ and this is intended specifically to invest all of us who form the body of Christ as stakeholders. While the bishops are the successors of the apostles, it is no less true that the whole Church, the community of all the baptised, is ‘apostolic’. That sense of inclusiveness is foundational to these priorities, and what each of them seeks to further promote both individually and as a collective.
The Church needs to be ever on guard against the danger that, whilst it has received the gift of truth from Christ, it will always be speaking that truth without pause, and never stop to listen to its audience. For true dialogue and communion, listening must come before the speaking, or we risk speaking in ways that people simply do not understand or answering questions which no one is asking.
These priorities, therefore, are offered to the Archdiocese as a whole; lay people, religious and clergy, so that each of us has a chance to reflect more deeply, to consider what resonates most within us personally, and then to discern what actions might be jointly undertaken in response to them.