Our first speaker, Cathy Jenkins generously shared her personal story of attending mass. Growing up in the 60s and 70s she attended Mass weekly and remembers many Catholic discussion groups meeting in her home. She recalled being fortunate to have a very intellectual Catholic upbringing. It was a series of invitations - to play music at Mass, become a catechist, join the RCIA Team – all of which Cathy credits with developing and maintaining her strong connections to her Church Community, right up until today.

Cathy said, 'We can't control the work of the Spirit and the Spirit moves in all the baptised.' A longing for adult faith formation has come through strongly in the plenary submissions and Cathy feels lucky to have been able to always have worked in Catholic settings which has given her rich and varied opportunities to develop her own faith.

'It is religious imagination which allows us all to see Jesus in our world.' Wrestling with the tradition in which we are immersed allows our religious imagination to come to life and it is an exercise which can only be done in community. It is through the act of wrestling with our faith, in the company of others that we can make real our connection to God and Jesus. Cathy believes that as a society our imaginations are already full and this has created a challenge for the Church community in how to invite people into a shared imagination of faith. We have so much light in our modern lives that the significance of the candle as the light of all life has been diminished. We have so much food and wine that the symbolic nature of bread and wine as our hope and deliverance from difficulty is no longer the pull it must once have been. We have saviours and helpers all around us and don't have the same sense of longing for a saviour which our ancestors had.

Cathy explained the pull back to Mass for herself as coming from the sense that Mass is about full and active participation, 'You can't be a Catholic on your own.' Jesus was never alone, people followed him and wanted to go where he went. For Cathy, Mass is where she goes to remember Jesus, the imagination of God, with her community.

As the daughter of Italian migrants, the second speaker, Alma Limbrick, recalled many precious and amusing memories of her experiences as a child attending Mass and supporting the family farm. She would regularly join with her siblings in praying for Mary to appear to them as they were minding the sheep grazing by the roadside, just as she did to the children at Fatima!

Alma grew up fearing God, terrified of missing Mass. As a young adult when she finally did miss a Sunday Mass and wasn't struck down by lightning she began to question what she had always been taught and had grown to believe.

Alma has a strong conviction that the people are the Church and attends Mass for the connection with people rather than the institution. She has also been inspired by her involvement in the RCIA program and the privilege of journeying with the participants. She also appreciates deeply her connection and involvement in a community who gathers together to share their sorrows and joys.

Both speakers highlighted the power of an invitation and the sharing of story as what has held them in the Church Community throughout their childhood, adulthood, COVID shutdown and post-COVID return to mass.

MC for the night, Kerry Stone, shares her thoughts about the Open Forum.

Participants offered a wide range of comments and questions with many recalling their own early memories as well as their past and current understandings of Eucharist. For some, it was the opportunity to share their pain. Others expressed that their grief during lock-down was not just about missing Mass but about the fact they felt deserted by parish/diocese throughout this time. One thought offered was that we’ve had to hunger for the Eucharist to now appreciate it better. And yet, so many have not returned.

‘Chris Sidoti, prominent Catholic and Human Rights lawyer recently wrote his response to our question for the night which you can find on the internet. Kerry shared an outline of his views. Whilst Sidoti expresses painful truths for all of us, we felt he missed the point made so strongly by Alma. She goes not to the institutional church but to the church of the people.’

Many questions remain to be answered. Will be anything coming out of the Plenary to encourage us back to Eucharist?

Would our experience of Church be the same now as before Covid?

In response to this one, Cathy offered a quote from Pope Francis, “[This post-COVID time is] not an Era of Change but a Change of Era”.

Another offered a quote from Archbishop Tim Costelloe, “It’s about bringing the Church back to Christ and Christ back to the Church.”

Both speakers had emphasised the importance of ‘invitation’. Open Forum participants came back to this point with the question “What are we inviting people back to?” And that too, I think, is a question for the plenary!