How might we ‘take the plunge” into our shared baptismal calling?
Why does hope outweigh the risk?
You are a Chosen Race, a Royal Priesthood: living fully our shared baptismal anointing
This year’s John Wallis Memorial Lecture will be held on Saturday, 21 October, at 2:30pm.
The Lecture will focus on the theology of priesthood both ordained and as our lay vocation built on our baptismal anointing.
The Second Vatican Council beautifully highlighted the profound call to enter friendship with a living God – a God who meets us intimately and personally in the reality of our daily lives. As Paul reminds us, “the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us” [Rom 5:5]. Our shared baptismal calling celebrates this: God’s love, dwelling in each of us, is celebrated and realised with our fellow sisters and brothers in the pilgrimage of life and the Church. Such a call touches the very essence of our relationships and the invitation to follow Jesus’ call to share the Gospel in the world today.
Yet how might we recognise the ‘holy’ in our own humanity and in the Church and world? And what might this mean for our invitation to ‘mission’ today? In Timothy Radcliffe’s words, how might we “take the plunge” into our shared baptismal calling as heralds and prophets of good news? Of hope? In an ever-changing – yet exciting – world, there is always a risk with the mission of the Gospel; but we always take that plunge in company – with each other and with a living God.
The Lecturer
Rev Dr Jake Mudge
Born and bred in Bendigo, Fr Jake trained as an osteopath and worked in Wellington, NZ, before entering Corpus Christi College for studies to the priesthood in 2002. Fr Jake was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Sandhurst in 2008.
In mid-2013 he began further studies at the Gregorian University in Rome, where he completed a Licentiate and Doctorate in fundamental theology, with an interest in the work of Bernard Lonergan and Luigi Rulla. He returned to Australia early in 2018 to begin his role at the seminary. Today, on staff at Corpus Christi Seminary, Melbourne, he also teaches at Catholic Theological College where he is a member of the Department of Systematic Theology and the Department of Pastoral and Spiritual Studies.
His hobbies include running, reading, golf, and spending time with family and friends.
Heritage
The annual John Wallis Memorial Lecture, hosted by the Tasmanian Branch of Highways and Byways, has become part of the tradition of the Archdiocese of Hobart that invites the very best of speakers to Tasmania to enrich our spiritual life and theological understanding.
From the inaugural Lecture in 2007 that brought Rev Dr David Ranson and Ms Geraldine Doogue to Hobart, Australian and international speakers have graced the lecture podium including Dr Francis Maloney SDB, Fr Richard Leonard SJ, Dr Gemma Simmonds CJ and Mr Wayne Tinsey.
The Lecture is named in honour of Fr John Wallis (1910 – 2001), a much-loved priest with a warm pastoral nature and searching intellect who, among many accomplishments, founded the Missionary Sisters of Service in Launceston in 1944. Two Sisters still live in Hobart, with other members of the congregation in Melbourne, Whyalla, Toowoomba and Mackay. Highways and Byways (formerly the John Wallis Foundation) continues the work of the Missionary Sisters of Service.
The Lecture has become an important annual event for our laity and clergy, alike.
Date and Time
The lecture will be held on Saturday, 21 October, at 2:30 pm, Media Suite, Guilford Young College, Glenorchy (Hobart). The event will be also be live-streamed via the Highways and Byways Facebook page. Click here to view.
For further information, please contact: Eva Dunn 0417 734 503 or eva.dunn@gmail.com