Where is our mission confidence?

Posted on October 11, 2024 
Filed under Australian dioceses, Culture wars, Good News

“Last week, I enjoyed Xiao Long Bao with the family in a restaurant just behind Bourke Street in Melbourne City. On our way back to the car, we walked past two billboards casting their messages onto the famous Swanston and Flinders Street intersection.

The first billboard was hilarious; it advertised Melbourne’s Fringe Festival by emulating Paris’ Olympic Opening Ceremony with a Last Supper mock-up. Melbourne’s creatives apparently have the comedic and artistic flair of the inside of a vacuum: ‘Let stupidity repeat itself’! (no I’m not offended, except by the boorishness).

The second billboard stands outside St Paul’s Cathedral. This gothic lookalike sits on the busiest intersection in Melbourne’s CBD. It is a favourite spot for news reporters, city workers, protesters, and more. In every direction a tram is clicketing with passengers heading to the MCG or to theatre shows and the symphony.

With this kind of amazing frontage, which is probably unbeatable anywhere else in all of Melbourne, what message would you like to convey to the 100,000s people who pass by every day?…”

– Murray Campbell in Melbourne has some important observations for all churches.

Here’s another message, posted by private individuals, across from St. Paul’s Cathedral several years ago: