Hi. My name is Loretta McKeering and I live on a cattle station between Barcaldine & Aramac, in the Central West.  I grew up here, before heading to boarding school in Yeppoon, then University in Toowoomba, followed by a few years working in water engineering and irrigation research in Brisbane and Toowoomba before returning home about 11 years ago.   As well as working on the property, this year I began working part time as the Pastoral Coordinator for the Parishes in the Western part of our Diocese. 

Thanks to Sr Mary Farrelly I have been following the journey of the Plenary Council since its announcement.  When it was first announced I was pleased and quite excited that this was happening in my lifetime - that the Church in Australia could come together, explore the issues holding us back, and have a voice.  Over time, the reality of the enormity of the Catholic Church in Australia began to sink in and I feared that the voices of those I interact with would be lost in the sea of contributions.  I thought the delegates would be all 'high flyers' - Bishops, Vicar-Generals and other people in positions of authority; I thought that the people in the pews, and the people on the streets, would not have a seat at the table.  Then at the Diocesan Assembly in 2019 it dawned on me that the delegates from our Diocese would likely be people present at the Assembly; that two of them would probably be regular people, not scholarly and devout people with limited understanding of 'everyday people'.  I never realistically thought that one of the delegates could be me, but I was so excited to think that they might be someone whom I had met and that they might be able to truly represent the people in our communities.  When I was told that I would be a delegate for the Plenary Council I was totally shocked and so very very excited.  This has now been tempered with a healthy dose of anxiety and a sense of burden - I do not want us, as the Church, to squander this opportunity.  I now want to be able to contribute not just as a person on the street, but also from a base of knowledge and prayer, for naive enthusiasm is a wonderful thing but understanding and wisdom are also needed if the Church is going to rise to the challenge of being both relevant and reverent. 

I have been asked a few times lately what my passion is and the answer is, I don't know.  I do know that I want each person to know about, and be able to, develop a relationship with the triune God.  For this reason, I think it's important to continually reach out and share God's message and God's love in ways that are relevant to people, regardless of whether they are regular parishioners or not.  I also think ecumenism is important; Christian denominations have so much in common and by working together we can use our resources to bring people (ourselves included) closer to God.  At the risk of alienating people, I also have a desire for people to see themselves as the Church - as the hands and the feet of Christ, as being responsible for the Church rather than mere participants in a program or attendees at a show.  I recognise that for some people physical contributions of time, talents or finances aren't possible, but I believe that most of us are able to be the Church in some way - by our prayers, by our treatment of others, by our example to others.  I truly believe that we (the Church) is a body made up of many parts, with each part required to contribute in their own way to the whole.

Loretta McKeering