The forthcoming launch of Our Stories , Our Lives, Our Mission at the 2023 National Assembly is a significant exercise in sharing something of who we are as religious in Australia and that we are doing so together, writes CRA President Fr Peter Jones OSA.

The resource, attentively prepared under the oversight of the team at the CRA Office, represents a humble yet confident celebration of the gift we seek to offer the broader Church and Australian society. Its use among young people will hopefully deepen appreciation of the particular shapes and colours we offer in the larger mosaic which is the community of Christ’s disciples in our place and our time.

Each part of the title has meaning.

Our… it is wonderful that we have worked on this together. One of the joys for myself in the present responsibilities I have with CRA is the appreciation of how we work together. Differences of charism, experience, perspective … yet we need each other in our common witness to the religious vocation. Anyone reading this resource will sense a unity of purpose in the midst of a diversity of gifts.

Stories…. none of us live in the abstract but through what happens in encounters, events and experiences. We share stories of our strength and weakness, sin and grace, our fears and hopes. All of that is part of who we are. Our stories are grounded in place and time.

Lives… the stories have meaning because of the lives behind them and our way of life as religious. Relationship is key to our influence and the stories are grounded in people’s connection with religious over time. The resource will help us as we share what is important to us both personally and communally.

Mission… this resource is anything but an inward looking exercise. Mission links us with the whole. Our vocation humbly and courageously offers a gift to others. We in turn are constantly nourished, enriched and transformed through the grace of all with whom we share mission.

This resource is as much an account of what we have received as well as given. Our stories are not just about us but about many who are part of our common journey.

I commend this wonderfully prepared resource to you and those whom you serve.