The Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in Australia 

The Plenary Council was to be held to address the questions:- What is God asking of us in Australia at this time? What are we called to do?  Who are we called to be? How do we need to change?"

The first session of the Plenary Council had been scheduled to take place in Adelaide in October 2020, but the COVID-19 virus scare has led the Australian Catholic Bishops to decide that answering those questions must wait until next year. The first assembly session will now take place in Adelaide from 3 to 10 October 2021 and the second session in Sydney from 4 to 9 April 2022.

"Mindful of the ongoing challenges of COVID-19, it was felt that delaying the first assembly by a full year would provide some certainty that travel and social distancing guidelines will have been lifted for the assembly," said  Plenary Council president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB.  "Just as importantly, we believe that period of time will allow for an adequate period of preparation for the delegates and the Catholic community," he added. "The postponement was an unfortunate speed bump on the Church's path to the Plenary Council assemblies, but we are committed to using this extra time wisely." 

Plenary Council facilitator Lana Turvey-Collins said the continuing preparation for the Council will take on some new characteristics, shaped by the experience of the pandemic.  “A program of webinars, podcasts and other multimedia projects will be rolled out in the latter half of 2020 to help the People of God explore and share about how they respond to the Spirit and live out their own call to mission – as individuals and collectively,” she said. 

“These papers are the fruits of communal discernment and provide a major focus for our continued prayer and reflection. They represent another significant step in our national discernment process as we move towards the working document, or Instrumentum Laboris, for the Council assemblies and the Council agenda,” Archbishop Costelloe said. 

Australia’s Bishops have already welcomed a report on “Promoting Co-responsible Governance in the Catholic Church in Australia” presented on the eve of their recent plenary assembly.  The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) and Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) commissioned the report, following a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.  The report is based on a 15-month review of church governance, which was conducted by a panel led by Justice Neville Owen, the former chair of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council.  The report is entitled “The Light from the Southern Cross: Promoting Co-Responsible Governance in the Catholic Church in Australia” and was written by a combination of lay people, clergy, religious and international experts.

“The members of the Governance Review Project Team are to be congratulated on producing such a substantial piece of work, with far-reaching implications for the Church’s life and mission,” said ACBC President Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Brisbane.   He said the bishops will study and discuss the document at the diocesan level, in preparation for a “full discussion” at the next plenary meeting, set to take place in November.  The document will make a useful contribution to the debates during the upcoming national Plenary Council.  The report makes 86 recommendations focused on key principles for good governance of the Church in Australia, including subsidiarity, administration, synodality, dialogue, discernment and leadership. The report also offers concrete suggestions on how to strengthen the role of the laity and ensure their appropriate co-responsibility at both the parish and diocesan levels. 

In Our Diocese

Our diocese has been working towards strengthening the role of the laity and ensuring their appropriate co-responsibility at both the parish and diocesan levels for a number of years now.  Bishop Michael conducted Listening Sessions across the Diocese and followed this up by calling the Diocesan Assembly, which was held early 2019.  Since then Regional Pastoral Councils and a Diocesan Pastoral Council have been established and have been meeting, even during this time of COVID 19 isolation.  So in our Diocese we are well on our way to implementing these suggestions for co-responsibility.

Please keep in prayer our two delegates for the Plenary Council  - Catherine Simmonds and Loretta McKeering.

Please also keep this process in your prayer. And we have confidence that “Given that the Council is the work of the Holy Spirit, it is the Holy Spirit who will have the final say.”

Sr Noreen Dunne smsm