Mark Brolly
28 October 2024
An ecumenical, trans-Tasman organisation set up to combat rising postal costs for religious publications celebrated its 50th anniversary in a digital world in October – and formally resolved to disband.
The Australasian Religious Press Association held its golden jubilee conference on the Gold Coast, with Brisbane’s Anglican Archbishop Jeremy Greaves as its keynote speaker and prominent Brisbane Anglican Allan Sauer OAM announced as winner of its premier award, the Gutenberg, for overall excellence in religious communication.
The Melbourne Anglican and its predecessor as diocesan newspaper, See, were awarded the Gutenberg in 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2015 (the latter, jointly with its long-serving editor Roland Ashby).
Read more: Melbourne priest, TMA honoured at religious press awards
Mr Sauer, ARPA’s treasurer since 2012 and executive officer for six years before that, chaired Brisbane’s diocesan media committee and is a former editor of its publication, FOCUS. He also has been active in other areas of Anglican life, such as defence chaplaincy.
ARPA president Sophia Sinclair said Mr Sauer embodied the spirit of ARPA.
Archbishop Greaves said young people, particularly, had led the reaction against the Church as an institution that acted as the “purity police”.
He said the Church needed to make fewer pronouncements, listen more and prepare to be transformed.
“There has been this big shift when Australians are asked what things are most important in defining your personal identity,” Bishop Greaves said.
“Our religious beliefs come a pretty long way down the list. They come after our politics, our nationality, our gender and our job and all of those things people say define us … About 70 per cent of Australians say that religion is just not important in our lives.
“It seems to me that the way we might keep the story alive, the way we might have a future as a church, is if we can embody the faith in deep and authentic practices that demonstrate those things – love and hope and care and truth – the things that people still associate with Jesus … that helped spread the stories of the faith at the beginning.”
ARPA’s demise came as the number of its member publications dwindled due to factors such as costs, changes in churches’ media policies and technology.
Read more: Sharp drop in religious press could spell loss for community
In recent years, COVID was a key factor in forcing ARPA to cancel its annual in-person conferences from 2020-23.
The conferences brought together Christian media professionals from across the theological spectrum for discussions on issues affecting the Christian press, professional development and the awards dinner, culminating in the President’s announcement of the Gutenberg winner.
ARPA established a New Zealand chapter in 1990.
Mark Brolly was ARPA Australian vice president and secretary. He was also a long-serving, senior journalist at The Melbourne Anglican, and retired in 2022.
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