“What is it about women and the Church?” Sister Patty Fawkner SGS, recently asked. Writing as a member of the just completed Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in Australia, she spoke of her experience during the moment of “protest” once the motion on women failed to get the required vote. But her very reasonable Read more
The Australian Catholic Church’s vote last week on the role of women in the church felt personal. From when I was seven years old, I longed to commit my life in ordained ministry, and expressed this to my Archbishop at age 11. He responded, “There are many other things that women can do in the Read more
The Plenary Council (PC) is over and the time has come for assessments. What did it achieve? In positive terms it brought together an enormously generous group of people whose dedication to Catholicism is extraordinary. It also demonstrated the diverse complexity of the community. As PC member John Warhurst commented: ‘In political terms we [Catholics] Read more
The Second Assembly of Australia’s Plenary Council was disrupted on Wednesday when a vote to include women as deacons failed to attract enough support from Australian bishops. As a result, some delegates protested – they refused to take their seats and stood at the back of the meeting room. The Catholic Weekly understands the protest Read more
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has released a report entitled ‘First Assembly Proposals from Small Groups and Individual Members’ described as the ‘fruits’ of the first of two Plenary Council assemblies. These published ‘proposals’ of the First Assembly of the Plenary Council of the Australian Catholic Church are neither ‘assembly proposals’ nor ‘fruits’ of the assembly. Read more
The First Assembly of Australia’s Plenary Council held few surprises. The program made sure of it. Proceedings were carefully choreographed and the agenda was deliberately anodyne. It took several days before participants found their feet. The ‘deep listening’ process of scripture reflection and sharing in small groups did engender a spirit of collegiality. At the Read more
So far 220,000 Australians have answered the Plenary Council’s question, “What do you think God is asking of us in Australia at this time?” In 2015, Australian Archbishop Mark Coleridge says he was asking himself something similar. There was a government-mandated investigation into sexual abuse in the church and Australian Catholics were leaving the faith. Read more
With a few months to the first session of the long-awaited Australian Plenary Council (PC2020), we are finally headed down the home stretch. The initial phase of listening drew nearly 220,000 people across Australia and 17,500 individual and group submissions. These submissions were distilled into the six national theme papers and then further distilled again Read more
In our world Church today, there are two conversations at a national level about how a national Synod should occur. One is in Germany and another is in Australia. There seems little doubt that these conversations are only the first two of what will become dozens and dozens of conversations seeking to clarify what the Read more
Ordaining women is not okay, over 200 Australian Catholic students have told the country’s bishops in an open letter. The letter, sent ahead of the upcoming Fifth Plenary Council of the Church in the country, urges the bishops to remain committed to the Church’s teaching. Ordaining women should therefore be rejected. “Many submissions to the Read more