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Archbishop Costelloe: Proclaiming the Church’s vision of family
On the second full day of the Meeting on the Tenth Anniversary of ‘Amoris laetitia’, Archbishop Tim Costelloe of Perth reflects on his experience of the encounter, and discusses how to build relationships with youth.
By Christopher Wells
Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation on love in the family, “is a very beautiful expression of the ideal of Christian family and Christian marriage,” Archbishop Tim Costelloe said Friday, following a press briefing on the ecclesial encounter marking ten year’s since the promulgation of Amoris laetitia.
He said the Meeting with heads of Eastern Churches and presidents of bishops’ conferences, called by Pope Leo, is not intended so much to look back at the past ten years, but to ask what the Church can do now, in light of Amoris laetitia, “to continue to promote and proclaim and celebrate our vision of marriage.”
“I think that’s really what it’s about.”
Universal challenges, diverse responses
Archbishop Costelloe said his experience of the Meeting thus far—albeit after just two full working days—reminded him of his experience at the Synod on Synodality. “It’s very interesting to be sitting at a table with people where there’s the opportunity to speak more directly than if we were just in a big lecture hall, and to hear their experiences, particularly in the case of the group I’m in, from Africa.”
He said it’s “enlightening” to discover that many of the challenges concerning marriage and family are “the same everywhere.” At the same time, he continued, “the response” to those challenges “has to vary, because the cultural reality is different.”
Focusing on young people
The Australian prelate emphasized the importance of focusing on young people, the topic of the day’s discussions. Archbishop Costelloe said that, in his intervention, he tried to explain the importance of seeing young people as individuals, rather than “as some great big mass of people.”
“A group of young people are as varied as the group of bishops” who were present in the hall,” he said. “So I think we need to be aware that there will not be any simple answers or ‘magic bullets’, to use that expression.”
“For the Church to be effective,” Archbishop Costelloe said, it needs to focus on “building relationships, because when you have a relationship with somebody, they’re more able to hear what you’re saying.”
He said the Church needs to find ways to engage with young Catholics across a wide spectrum, from committed Catholics, to those who only occasionally go to Church, to others “for whom questions of faith haven’t really impacted on them yet.”
“We’ve got to try to find… different ways of reaching out to all these sorts of people,” he said.
“So it’s a big challenge, but I think the Church has the resources to do it.”
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