Meeting of the Principals and Managers of Community Works 

What is Catholic about Catholic Identity? 

Rev Fr Kevin Lenehan worked with our leaders of the community works and our Principals to further explore sociological issues that are impacting on our Catholic Identity and the way we give expression to our faith. He put to us that the work of the Gospel is not about numbers and that as faith leaders we should not be scandalised by the number of Christians who are now declaring they are of no faith or belief.  Rather we need to enter into relationship with those whom we serve and do what Jesus did. Teach our communities to be questioning of the status quo to ensure a just world; be the living witness of Jesus to our student, teachers and communities and they will come to know God by what we stand for, by the questions we ask and by the example we set.  Jesus was never scandalised by the mess of our humanity, he in fact entered into it.   

Largely, the actions we take and our Christian world view will depend on our answer to the question, Is Jesus Alive or Dead? If Jesus is dead, then there is no Catholic mission but if Jesus is alive we have no choice but to encounter the mission.  In fact, Jesus is the source of our ‘aliveness’, we can’t just take it or leave it, we have to be with it.  If we just do our work, if we remain true to the mission then we won’t need to worry about our identity because others will know who we are and what we stand for by the work we do.  Our identity will take care of itself!

Erica Pegorer

Kildare Ministries

Executive Director

Fr Kevin Lenehan
Fr Kevin Lenehan