5000 Log On to E-Conference

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
2 Jul 2009

More than 5000 Catholics in every State as well as those living in the US, Canada, Malta, Peru, the Philippines and New Zealand took part Australia's largest ever E-conference on Tuesday, June 30.

"The success of the conference and numbers taking part, exceeded our wildest dreams," says Annie Carrett, communications manager for the Broken Bay Diocese.

Held to mark the end of the Pauline year, the E Conference was an initiative of the Diocese together with the Broken Bay Institute and the Australian Catholic Bishops' Commission for Mission and Faith Formation.

Taking "Paul – The Man, the Mission and Message for Today: Igniting his purpose and passion" as its theme, the conference was streamed live to 120 sites across Australia and additional sites overseas from a church hall at Pennant Hills from 10.30 am until late afternoon.

With St Paul the first evangelist of Christ's Word, evangelisation was a key focus of the conference and speakers included renowned Pauline scholars, Fr Brendan Byrne, Professor of New Testament at Victoria's Jesuit Theological College and Sister Michele Connolly, a respected lecturer and deputy president of the Catholic Institute of Sydney. and media specialist, Fr Richard Leonard, Director of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting and authority on evangelisation in the modern world.

Participants in the E-Conference came from every Diocese and Archdiocese in Australia. In Parramatta, alone, groups of 200 crowded into various sites while in Sydney some 800-900 parishioners took part. But it wasn't only in the cities where the E Conference made its mark. Up in Queensland towns such as Warwick were also able to take part. In WA it was the same story from Broome to Karratha while down in Perth students from Notre Dame University all tuned in.

"Registration was free and with the wonders of modern technology, people were able to become involved no matter where they lived and hear internationally acclaimed speakers discuss The Gospel and answer their questions," Annie says.

Originally organizers expected around 700 to 1000 participants and saw it as an Australian only event. But within days of its announcement, dioceses from around the world were emailing requests to take part and as the conference began, more than 5000 registrations had been recorded.

 "We'd received a large number of registrations but on the day there was another rush with 1700 enrolling at the last minute," says a delighted Annie Carrett and adds that a further flood of emails arrived during the afternoon with questions for the speakers who joined together for a panel discussion during the final session.

"The response was far greater than any of us expected and enabled people, no matter where they lived, to tune in and hear world class speakers talk about the Gospel and their Faith," says Annie.

But for those taking part, the excitement and power of the e- Conference was not just hearing the acclaimed speakers but was the opportunity to discuss what was said more fully after each address with the help of a trained facilitator. 

"There has always been talk about the Tyranny of Distance in Australia. But the E-conference changed all that," says Annie who says that E-Conferences are now seen as the way of the future to evangelise, expand people's knowledge of the Gospel and to spread the Good News.

For those who missed the Conference or would like to relive the excitement of the day, log on to www.paul.vividas.com where each of the six sessions can be downloaded.