Last month in the Diocesan Newsletter, we were encouraged to read the papers that had been prepared by the National Writing groups in preparation for the Plenary Council. All of these papers were sent to the delegates and are open for our review also. 

National Writing Group Papers

The writing papers that emerged from all the discernment across the country were on the six National themes for Discernment which invited people to consider how God is calling the People of God to be a Christ-centred Church in Australia that is: -

• Missionary and Evangelising;
• Inclusive, Participatory and Synodal;
• Prayerful and Eucharistic;
• Humble, Healing and Merciful;
• A Joyful, Hope-Filled and Servant Community;
• Open to conversion, Renewal and Reform.

Plenary Council president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB said the bishops and Council facilitation team had a challenging task to choose the 58 people – lay, religious and clerical – who sat on the Discernment and Writing Groups from a pool of more than 400 applications.

“The exercise of inviting people to offer their talents to this historic opportunity has been a humbling one and has demonstrated the high calibre of expertise, knowledge and commitment of the People of God across the country to their Church,” he said.

The Discernment and Writing Groups relied on a number of sources, including Scripture, Church teaching and canon law, as well as writings of popes and bishops such as the Vatican II documents, Evangelii Gaudium, The Call to Holiness and pastoral letters written by the bishops of Australia.

Another important source for the discernment process was the sensus fideilum expressed in the voices of the Australian people through the Plenary Council process during the “Listening and Dialogue” phase, which concluded earlier this year.

Easy English and Simplified Versions of the Thematic Discernment Papers

To assist us in absorbing the writings on these themes, there has been an effort to have the Thematic Discernment papers in both an easy English version and a Simplified version.

Unfortunately, these are not available at the time of this Diocesan Newsletter being sent out. However, they should be available on the Plenary Council Website by the first week of October.

Please keep checking the Plenary Council website.

They are reader-friendly for those of us who are interested but are constrained by time, language, or faith education.

New Logo

It has been necessary to rework the Plenary Council logo which at present incorporates the numbers 2020… a year which has turned the planning for the Plenary Council upside down. The new logo will be very similar to the present logo but adjusted for the time. 

Like the simplified versions of the papers from the writing groups, the new logo will be out in the first week of October. This, of course, is too late for this edition of the Diocesan Newsletter.

Please keep checking the Plenary Council website.

How can we as a Parish Be Part of the Actual Council Event

As the planning continues for the Plenary Council, there is an often-asked question - What is planned so that the parishes can engage with the actual event of the Plenary Council?

Answer:

• Live streaming of major liturgical events
• Live streaming of plenary sessions of delegates.
• Private 10 min input from various delegates.
• Streaming of small groups (no audio just an idea of how it is working)
• Night time plenary sessions so parishes can gather and be part of the proceedings.
• The prayer experiences will be distributed to parishes so they can pray with the participants.

So as a parish community we will be able to gather and prayerfully “be there” without actually “being there”. However, in these recent times of Zoom meetings and house parties we are all getting used to such realities.

Rockhampton Delegates to the Plenary Council

Within the next few weeks each parish in the Diocese will receive an updated introduction to our two delegates, Catherine Simmonds and Loretta McKeering.  Please keep them and all the delegates in your prayer as they keep on with their own preparation and personal education for the Council.