Plenary Post - Australian Catholic Bishops

 

Welcome to PlenaryPost One of the questions that we're seeing a lot these days relates to how the Plenary Council and the international "Synod on Synodality" align, or how they might differ. In reading some of the foundational documents for the Synod on Synodality, the Australian Plenary Council experience is cited often as something of a model for how the Synod invites the People of God into a shared journey of dialogue, of discernment and of prayer. Archbishop Mark Coleridge recently spoke about the two processes in this way: "So for us the process of the Plenary Council will interweave with the process of the global Synod, an interweaving of the local and the universal, each enriching the other. That’s how the Catholic Church works." Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, the president of the Plenary Council, said this when the fruits of the first Council assembly were published late last year: "The complementary nature of the Plenary Council and this Synod of Bishops process is quite clear, and I encourage people to be as engaged with the Synod as they have been in the Plenary Council." Read on for more information and updates, and news of related Church events. And please continue to pray for the Plenary Council.

FacilitatorFocus: A new year, the same spirit of prayer and journeying together by Lana Turvey-Collins

Dear Friends,    In this first edition of PlenaryPost for the New Year, Marion, Peter, Olivia and I would like to take the opportunity to wish you all the best for the year ahead. We hope that the first few weeks of the year have been peaceful and, most of all, healthy. Many continue to struggle with the reality of COVID, new variants and changing rules. This state of constant uncertainty can be very draining, and we are cognisant of the very human, emotional and mental impact that this pandemic is having. Amidst all of this, over the last few months the members of the Drafting Committee, a number of the periti (expert advisors) and some others have been working in writing groups to continue the discernment of the Plenary Council. If you recall, the mandate the Members are challenged with on behalf of all the faithful’s discernment thus far is this: As children of God, disciples of Jesus Christ, and guided by the Holy Spirit, the Members of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia are called to develop concrete proposals to create a more missionary, Christ-centred Church in Australia at this time. The writing groups have taken the initial fruits of the first Assembly and, on behalf of the Members, are preparing something written for all of them to take into discernment in a particular way in March and April. The input from the Members’ discernment will be taken onboard by the writing groups for final drafting during April and May. The four years and hundreds of thousands of contributions from the People of God across Australia have helped to give voice to the workings of the Holy Spirit answering the 16 specific questions on the Agenda and are helping to guide the Members and all others writing, praying and discerning together. Everyone is working towards the final stages of discernment – which will take the form of proposals and propositions to be considered and decided upon at the second and final General Assembly, to be held in Sydney in July 2022.   In June, everyone will be invited to accompany your local members of the Plenary Council in conversation and prayer as they prepare for the final stages of their pilgrimage, travelling to Sydney physically, but carrying with them the hopes, questions, prayers and faith of all of the People of God, from thousands of communities, groups and organisations across Australia. Over the coming months, we invite you to continue to practise synodality – to talk together, to pray together, to seek the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit and to live the mission of Jesus in the way the Gospel shows us. We look forward to these final months of working together with you all. Please know you’re always in our prayers, we ask you to please keep us in yours.  Thanks and peace,  Lana, Marion, Peter and Olivia Plenary Council Facilitation Team

CuriosityCorner

We will address a new question in each e-newsletter. To catch up on previous editions, you can check out the Plenary Council FAQ page. If you have a question, email it to us and we will include it in future editions of PlenaryPost. The question for this edition is… Why are we having a Plenary Council?  There are many reasons for having a Plenary Council for the Catholic Church in Australia: Pope Francis has invited the local Church to dialogue; the contemporary society of Australia has changed significantly; and the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse has been a significant and influential event that requires deep consideration and response. When the Australian Catholic Bishops announced the decision to hold a Plenary Council, Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge said that “the Church is not the presence in our society it once was. We need to take a measure of that and make decisions accordingly. The culture in which we have to proclaim the Gospel is very different to what it was even 20 or 30 years ago.” The journey is taking place over several years in order to give the Catholic community in Australia time to listen, dialogue and discern with one another and, guided by the Holy Spirit, about the future, the role and relevance of the Catholic Church in Australia.

TalkTheology

What does Pope Francis mean by synodality? In a nutshell, Pope Francis is leading us to rediscover a reality that has been at the heart of the Church’s life from the very beginning. Echoing both Scripture and ancient Christian writers, he speaks of synodality not as a recent innovation but rather as a constitutive part of the Church’s life. It goes to the heart of being “the Body of Christ” and “the People of God”. It’s at the core of the Church as a “communion” of believers, united to one another eucharistically, in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Synodality touches the essence of a diverse Church that is rooted in and manifests the unity of the distinct persons of the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Synodality emerges from all these ways of looking at the Church, and it means that we participate in the faith, not as isolated individuals, nor as ideological factions, but rather as fellow believers united by “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:5). Synodality requires us to build a “culture of encounter” in the grace of the Holy Spirit. It means creating an atmosphere of hospitality and welcome wherein we learn how to live our faith together, in patience and charity. Synodality means a deep respect and openness to our fellow Catholics coupled with a willingness to listen, dialogue, and discern with fellow believers . . . including those with whom we disagree, theologically, philosophically, and politically. True to form, Pope Francis does not want synodality to remain just an idea, but rather he wants us to learn how to put it into practice and to make it habit. It’s as if he’s saying to us, “To learn how to swim, you’ve got to jump into the water!” -- From a homily Baltimore Archbishop William Lori gave about synodality and Pope Francis' vision of synodality. Click here to read the full version.

News&Notes

Pope highlights the importance of listening Throughout the Plenary Council journey, listening has been seen as critical to the work of considering how to discern what God is asking of us in Australia at this time. The listening was to take place in the context of Scripture and Tradition, but also in listening attentively to one another. In his message for World Communications Day 2022, entitled "Listening with the ear of the heart", Pope Francis says "we are losing the ability to listen to those in front of us, both in the normal course of everyday relationships and when debating the most important issues of civil life". Listening, he continues, is "the first indispensable ingredient of dialogue and good communication. Communication does not take place if listening has not taken place". In the context of the global Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis writes: "Let us pray that it will be a great opportunity to listen to one another. Communion, in fact, is not the result of strategies and programmes, but is built in mutual listening between brothers and sisters. "As in a choir, unity does not require uniformity, monotony, but the plurality and variety of voices, polyphony. At the same time, each voice in the choir sings while listening to the other voices and in relation to the harmony of the whole. This harmony is conceived by the composer, but its realization depends on the symphony of each and every voice." Click here to read the full message.

Fr Tim Norton SVD (left) and Bishop Daniel Meagher

New bishops -- and Plenary Council members All Australian bishops are members of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia, and the number of bishops ebbs and flows with appointments Pope Francis makes and resignations he accepts. Late last year, two new bishops were appointed: Bishop Daniel Meagher, now Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney; and Fr Tim Norton SVD, who will be ordained an Auxiliary Bishop of Brisbane next month. Both will be part of the ongoing preparation for the second assembly of the Plenary Council, scheduled for July 2022. Read more about Bishop Meagher here. Read more about Bishop-Elect Norton here.

What is it like being a Plenary Council member? The nine Members of the Plenary Council from the Parramatta Diocese have taken time to reflect on what the experience has been like for them, especially in their participation in the first assembly last October. Carol Teodori-Blahut says the Plenary Council has opened her eyes to the reality of the Church in Australia. “The Church for me had always been the local parishes in which I have served. The Plenary has opened my understanding of how complex the issues are and how many people have dedicated their lives to making the parishes continue to function,” she said. Fr Wim Hoekstra conceded the first assembly was tiring, in part due to the online format, “yet it was a spiritually enriching time as we shared the hopes, the dreams and the realities of where the Australian Church is at”. Wendy Goonan said the small group discussions, during which the agenda's 16 questions were explored, were enriching. “These sessions, with their sincerity and imagination, were constant reminders of the authenticity of the whole four-year endeavour”, she said. Click here to read more reflections from the Parramatta Diocese Members.

Catholics urged: strengthen support for First Peoples The peak body representing First Nations Catholics has invited fellow Catholics to make 2022 a year of action to “strengthen Australia’s foundations by supporting Australia’s First Peoples”. The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council issued a statement for Australia Day, reflecting on this year’s theme: Reflect. Respect. Celebrate. The statement unpacks those three verbs and encourages people to consider a response as individuals and as Catholics. NATSICC also recommends the addition of a fourth verb to the Australia Day theme: Do. “Words are easy and limitless, but actions require time, effort and commitment,” the statement says. “We ask that you make 2022 the year of ‘Do’.” NATSICC offers some practical suggestions for how parishes, schools, organisations and individuals can take up that challenge. They include attending Mass at an Aboriginal and Islander Catholic Ministry, displaying acknowledgement plaques prominently in public places and supporting the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Plenary Council Members have called for the Church in Australia to endorse the Uluru Statement; the Bishops Conference did so last November. Click here to access NATSICC's Australia Day statement.

February 6 a day to focus on the Word of God The Church in Australia celebrates Word of God Sunday on the first Sunday in February – February 6 in 2022. Pope Francis established the day, which is devoted to “the celebration, study and dissemination” of the Word of God, in 2019. Several resources have been developed to help commemorate the day and to offer suggestions on how to better engage with Sacred Scripture in various ways and settings. Click here to access the resources.