As the headlines continue to swirl around the Catholic Church in Australia it is a distressing time for both victims of abuse and also for regular Catholics who have been rocked by one scandal after another for years.

We often hear the phrase that these years of crisis and shame have led to a “humbler” Church and lately I’ve been wondering what that humbler Church might look like in practice.

Certainly, a humble Church would be one without all the trappings of power and prestige and the toxic culture that this can lead to.

It would be a Christ-centred, universal community of faith, nourished by Word and sacrament.

It would be a mission-focused Church, that is, one that looks outwards, instead of inwards on itself.

It would be a Church whose members, as baptised Christians, would seek to share the love of Christ, which they themselves have received. And they would be empowered and encouraged to do this.

In doing so, we would seek first the poorest and the most vulnerable and marginalised and we would walk with them, and gather them in to the embrace of a loving God.

A humble Church is one firmly grounded in the world around it – aware of the needs and the deepest desires of the people we encounter and prepared to meet those needs through practical and spiritual means.

Every crisis brings opportunity. And here in this place, right now at this time, it seems to me that we have the opportunity to transform the image of a humble Church into reality. Only we, all of us, with God, can make it happen. I suspect the Plenary Council will be able to assist us in our task.

As we head towards Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, may our prayer be for new life to spring forth from the ashes. That is the promise and the foundation of our faith.

Yours in the Word,

Fr Henry Adler SVD,

Provincial.