NETworks 2011 Issue 2

NETworks Issue 2, 2011 - 1

NET Ministries AustraliaPO Box 889PaddingtonQLD 4064Ph: +61 7 3217 5299Fax: +61 7 3217 [email protected]

From the Director’s Desk:

Inside This Issue:Lasting Fruit Archbishop’s Fundraising DinnerNET NoticeboardUniversity Ministry

I would like to take the opportunity in this particular edition of our newsletter to pay tribute to the Most Rev. John Alexius Bathersby D.D., Archbishop of Brisbane. Archbishop John has been a tower of strength and support for NET Ministries for many years, and we are forever grateful for his financial and pastoral support of this ministry.

NET Ministries began 23 years ago in Australia and in the first year as a pilot team composed of American and Australian team members, NET visited 15 dioceses here in Australia. It is extremely difficult to pioneer a new ministry at any time but in 1988 it was even harder, particularly in the area of youth ministry, and especially when facilitated by lay people. Lay ministry was almost unheard of and the mentality of most Catholics including priests, lay and religious was that the work of evangelization and catechesis was the exclusive domain of priests and religious, and in any case ‘evangelization’ was seemingly a new concept for the Catholic. Pope Paul VI had written and promulgated Evangelii Nuntiandi (Evangelization in the Modern World) in the 70’s and then in the 80’s Pope John Paul II was talking about the ‘new evangelization.’

A Grateful Tr ibute. . .

(Continued inside on page 2)

Issue 2, 2011

NETworks

tang ib le SUPPORT . . .

y e a r a f t e r y e a r

blessing

a courageous

with your

NET

l e a d e r a n d e n c o u r a g e r

A Grateful Tr ibute. . .(Continued from front page)

Shanelle BennettExecutive Director

However, these terms had only begun to seep into the psyche of Catholics as a whole, and in their minds it was still predominantly the task of the religious in schools to form the young.

Shayne Bennett was a young Catholic man who thought otherwise. He had been educated by the Oblates and Iona College, Brisbane and it was there that he found his personal relationship with Jesus Christ through a prayer meeting for students held at the school. His life was turned up side down by the Holy Spirit, and he began to preach the Gospel and evangelize school students, after being mentored by a wonderful Oblate Priest (Tommy McDermott). This was a mammoth task and it would not have been possible for lay ministry to flourish in this area without the wisdom, foresight and support of the Bishops of Australia. The Archbishop of Brisbane at the time of beginning of NET here in Australia, was the Most Rev. Francis Rush. He was a wonderful man who gave us irreplaceable advice, trust and support.

When Archbishop Rush retired we were a little apprehensive as to who would succeed him and whether they would be as favourable to our mission. We need not have worried! God blessed us with the most wonderful,

Christ centered, intelligent and pastorally equipped Archbishop we could have prayed for. Our relationship with him was immediately warm and encouraging, and at the same time one of careful guidance as expected from a true pastor.

Archbishop John has always been there to guide us with our pastoral decisions, theological questions and approval when formulating teachings for our young people. In 1998 he began to sponsor an annual Fundraising Dinner

for us here in Brisbane which has proven to be a huge success over the years. He has always celebrated our Commissioning Masses at the beginning of the year, and given much welcomed inspiring homilies, filled with personal testimony of his own faith. He has laughed with us, anguished with us, prayed for us, inspired us and spoken in our favour on many occasions. He appears on our promotional DVD, and has written us wonderful letters of recommendation. We

have dined with him, recreated with him, grieved with him and lived life with him. We love and appreciate him more than we can say. In this year of your anticipated retirement Archbishop John, let us take this opportunity to say “THANK YOU” from the bottom of our hearts for all that you have done for us. We most especially appreciate all the sacrifices you have made, and will continue to make, for this Archdiocese, and for us in particular here at NET Ministries.

To all of our supporters, we invite you to add your own prayers for this wonderful man and ask your continuing support in the light of his contribution to this ministry.

God bless

“...God blessed us with the

most wonderful, Christ centered, intelligent and

pasorally equipped Archbishop...”

Another result was “a growing love for ecumenism and dialogue between Christians”. Natalie spent time on the Council for Ecumenism and Interfaith relations while her “hands-on” ministry stretched to Brisbane archdiocese’s youth office, to a stint of campus ministry at the Australian Catholic University, Banyo, and a number of years in a similar role at St Mary’s College, Ipswich.

Following the theology degree, adventurous Natalie, who’d met husband Brian L’Huillier on NET and married in 1999, sought opportunities to study ecumenics in Australia “but no such opportunities existed”, she recalled.

Applying for and granted financial support via the National Council of Churches Ecumenical Leadership Fund, she then travelled to Ireland, to complete her Masters in Philosophy at the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College, Dublin. This meant

a stretch of 11 months in Ireland while Brian, a musician and teacher, remained local to complete his studies.

Natalie sees the new role with the CACW as a collaborative one and an extension of her three-year membership. “The council for women works to publicly name and affirm the way women are already active in leadership in the Church,” she said. “I feel being nominated by my peers is giving me a new sense of my gifts being able to flourish.”

Having received numerous emails of support, Natalie desires to make the most of the opportunity.

“Together with my colleagues of the CACW, I want to be worthy of the hopes and aspirations of our Catholic community in relation to the participation of women in the Church,” she said.

Admitting she’s “still a country girl at heart” and Brisbane “is still a big country town” because of its “simplicity and friendliness”, it seems the books have replaced any chance of room for fishing rods.

“Yeah, I haven’t been fishing in a long while,” Natalie said laughing heartily.

Our Latest NET

LIFE MEMBER

“...challenged my whole

perspective of how to share one’s faith.”

Natalie is now the new and

enthusiastic chair of the Council for Australian

Catholic Women (CACW).

Archbishop John Bathersby

THANK YOU !

Natalie Linder L’Huillier

NET Alumnus Natalie Lindner L’Huillier is the new and enthusiastic chair of the Council for Australian Catholic Women (CACW) a Role announced by the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Commission for Church Ministry (BCCM) earlier this year.

It was Natalie’s self-confessed love of expressing herself that provided an unexpected challenge when fishing with a group of indigenous young people while on the Broome NET team - the then 19 year-old “learning a new appreciation of silence”.

“The experience of living and working in Broome diocese has had a lasting influence on my life,” she said of working for NET after deferring a science degree.

“I arrived there after a year with NET on the east coast ... (that was a year) of very verbal and ‘let me tell you my story’ kind of ministry.

“(But) I got to Broome and realised that wasn’t going to work in that cultural environment. “This challenged my whole perception of how to share one’s faith.”

Natalie, who was raised in country Victoria, said she “had a lot to learn”.

“I remember thinking, ‘We’ve been fishing for a lot of hours’ before conversation and tentative interpersonal exchanges would start,” she said.

“There was an emphasis on sitting and being with people ... and letting things unfold not according to my timetable.

“Essentially it was about letting God be God.”

Natalie said this experience among indigenous cultures spurred the lasting question of “What does the Church of Australia look like?”

As such, articulate Natalie left the notion of a career in science behind and instead dove into studies at the Brisbane College of Theology. She “balanced one or two units of theology at a time with work in pastoral ministry - one informing the other”.

1996 National Team 1 1997 Broome Team

NET 1996

NET 1997

2011

Used with permission

from an article by Selina Venier in the Catholic

Leader.

Enabling her many gifts to florish

LastingFruit:

NETworks Issue 2, 2011 - 2 NETworks Issue 2, 2011 - 3

F he 2011 Archbishop’s Fundraising Dinner for NET Ministries lived up to the fine tradition of this great event. Nearly 200 guests were spellbound by our special guest speaker Sam Clear and the trials and many blessings of his 15,500km walk for Christian unity. Thanks to all who attended and made it such a great night.

D rama by NET staff...

P rizes won...

A rchbishop John Bathesby with Shayne and Shanelle Bennett and Dinner Speaker, Sam Clear.

N ew Life Member...

Annua l Arc hb i s h op’s2 0 1 1

F ood. . . F riends. . . F unding. . .

Fu n d r a i s i n g D i n n e r

“... enabling them to learn through

an interactive approach...

deeping their faith and equiping them with skills to spread the Gospel

message.”

NET University Ministry

(L-R)Above: Dony and RobertLeft: Dony, Helena, Robert, Fr Clarke, Grace

Below: Freedom events: A drop in session and a Bible study

a C a t h o l i c M i s s i o n o n C a m p u s

equip

commission

As for me and my house

we will serve the Lord...

* If you have an announcement for this

section please email us :)

ENGAGEMENT

Daniel Pyke

(Bundaberg 2006, Orange

2007, Staff 2008-2010)

and Aneta Graczyk

(Coffs Harbour 2009).

have announced their

engagement!

They are getting married

on Saturday 26th

November this year.

BIRTH NOTICE

Mylie Bethany Curtis Born 19th May 2011

Kathryn (nee McArthur, NET 2000/01/05 and Africa 2004/05) and Roby Curtis (NET

2005) welcomed the arrival of their 4th child.

BIRTH NOTICE

Michael Jeremy Dwyer Born 18th May 2011

Veronica (nee Howes, NET 2006,) and her

husband Adam welcomed the arrival

of their 1st child.

Noticeboard

OTHER ALUMNI BABIES ARRIVING:

Hannah (nee Harris, 1998, 2000/03) and Max Vickerson (2004) are expecting their 3rd child;

Grant Cowell (2004) and his wife Renee are expecting a baby girl in September;

Kevin Powell (1993/94) and his wife Renee are expecting twin girls!

Caroline (1995, nee McVeigh) and husband Nathan are expecting their 6th child;

Mick Tome (1993/95 & staff 98- 02) and wife Nicole are expecting their 6th child;

Paul Ninnes (2007) and wife Emma are expecting their 1st baby any day now!

STAFF

BABY NEWS

NET staff member

Mark Doyle and wife

Renee (nee Bennett)

are expecting their

2nd child

Joshua 24:15

May the LORD give you increase, you and your children!

Psalms 115:14

We have continued to challenge our leaders to run faith studies on campus. One of the great aspects of the ministry is it focuses on training university students to confidently deliver these faith studies. The students are given one-on-one training to equip them with appropriate tools to deliver these effectively. A s the ministry grows we hope to train a greater number of students .

These faith studies are also carried out on a weekly basis at Banyo Seminary. This gives the seminarians an opportunity to experience and learn tools for evangelisation. It is the hope that this year the seminarians will be able to take their new found skills and use them on campuses in Queensland.

We are really excited about the success and stories of personal growth and transformation. But understand the difficulties of pioneering a new ministry within Australia. We need your continued prayer and financial support to help sustain and establish the

ministry within Brisbane and beyond. Thankyou to all those that support us in our endeavours it is greatly appreciated.

proclaim

Freedom Team:

Outreach NET Alumni NEWS

NETworks Issue 2, 2011 - 7NETworks Issue 2, 2011 - 6

2011 began with NET training at Perigian Beach for the Freedom team. The training experience was uplifting, motivating and challenging. The focus was on leadership, faith development and empowerment. One of the great opportunities of training was the ability to invite the members of the Freedom’s QUT core team. This team consists of students at QUT who input ideas and help assist with faith studies. This provided experiences of prayer and self-reflection.

QUT Freedom life started with market week getting out there and meeting new students, making new contacts and friends. Shrove Tuesday quickly followed with free pancakes for the students and allowed us to make further contacts. Each semester we gather our students together with a launch party this encourages the group to meet new people on campus and become familiar with the Freedom team. Other events that continue to occur are mass 3 times a week, morning breakfast and drop ins are welcomed and encouraged.

This year with Freedom we continue to focus on drawing university students into faith studies enabling them to learn through an interactive approach which allows them to deepen their faith and equip them with skills to spread the Gospel message.

My Gift Today: $1000 $500 $250 $100 $50 $______

I want to assist the NET teams in this valuable ministry!

Please send me more information: Including NET in my will

Method of payment: Cheque or Credit Card Please debit the above amount from my: Bankcard MasterCard Visa American Express once only monthly quarterly yearly _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Expiry: _ _ / _ _ Signature: ____________________

YES

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____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ State:____________________ Postcode: ______________________________________ Home: ___________________ Fax: ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Hosting a NET team

There are many ways to help NET Ministries Australia

positively impact the lives of young people every year.

If you are interested in

supporting NET with a tax-free contribution from a

or if you want information on how to include NET in

a Will by making a

please contact us on [email protected]

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PO Box 889PaddingtonQLD 4064 NETworks Issue 2, 2011

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