At the heart of the Church
The Congress is being organised through CREDO, the Sydney Archdiocesan Office of Evangelisation and Renewal together with Auxiliary Bishop Julian Porteous, Chairman of the Congress; Fr Richard Aladics, Deputy Chair; Elizabeth Peoples, Event Manager; Katrina Tesoriero, Administrative Support Co-ordinator; and an advisory team of Tajana de Stoop, Paul Elarde, Catherine Kennedy, Doug Mawhinney and Epic Attractions.
SCENE is modelled on the International Congresses of the New Evangelisation which have been held in European cities in recent years, Vienna (2003), Paris (2004), Lisbon (2005), Brussels (2006) and Budapest (2007). These were organised by the local Church in collaboration with international communities and speakers. The Church in these cities realised that the richness of our faith should be presented to the world in a new way. Here in Sydney the Church wishes to show Christ to everyone and to, humbly but courageously, express some of the cultural and human richness of Christianity.
A city can be the symbol of the world. It is a place where people of different cultures, religions, and even ideologies meet each other; a place where there is a tendency to disinterest and apathy, of loneliness and anonymity, which is opposed to the richness of human life when lived for God and others. It is for that reason that Christ comes to our city - to reveal that there is a greater way for men and women to live today.
Last year in Sydney, Pope Benedict spoke to us, saying:
"Empowered by the Spirit, and drawing upon faith's rich vision, a new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished - not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty. A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships. . . . the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.
The world needs this renewal! In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns (cf. Jer 2:13) in a desperate search for meaning - the ultimate meaning that only love can give? This is the great and liberating gift which the Gospel brings: it reveals our dignity as men and women created in the image and likeness of God. It reveals humanity's sublime calling, which is to find fulfilment in love. It discloses the truth about man and the truth about life. The Church also needs this renewal!" SCENE seeks to respond to the call which the Holy Father made to us here in Sydney.
