Archbishop Hickey's Vision for the Next Ten Years

            Archbishop Hickey has stated that, now that speculation about his going to Melbourne is
            at an end, it is time to formulate a plan for the remaining ten years in which he will be
            Archbishop of Perth.

                 "The priority is staring me in the face", he said, "Stop the drift from the Faith,   call people              back to Mass, and the life-giving community of the Church, call them to be true followers of              Christ. New initiatives that we have not even thought of yet, need to come from our common
           consideration of the problems the Church is facing. This is the time to listen to God speaking
           to us, respond in new and pioneering ways, and call on the Holy Spirit to fill us with wisdom
           and zeal, to produce a hundredfold from the seeds we plant".

                The Archbishop said there was "no easy answer' to this problem, "because we are caught in
           a post-modern culture that we cannot overturn by ourselves. Only the Holy Spirit can do that".
           Archbishop Hichey outlined ten priority areas in which new initiatives needed to be taken.

                 At a recent Conference organised by members of Perth's Catholic Charismatic Movements,
           the Archbishop spoke on the theme of a vision for the new millennium:

                 "If Jesus were here in the flesh today, He would urge His followers not to be discouraged
           by the state of the world. The more faith in God appears to be waning, the more He would urge
           His followers to go out and preach His message ... The problems of the world make it ripe for
           evangelisation. Jesus would say, 'Look around you, the fields are ripe for the harvest!'
           His message of hope is exactly what the world needs. That is why He came, to bring the broken
           hearted back, to bring those who are trapped in sin back to forgiveness and to new life, to
           bring people who hate one another to recognition of one another as brothers and sisters".