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 was led by Francis Sullivan AO and John Warhurst AO.

Sullivan is Chair of Catholic Social Services Australia and the Mater Group of hospitals. He was previously CEO of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council. Warhurst is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University, and chair of Concerned Catholics Canberra Goulburn.

Sullivan told The Catholic Weekly that a "palpable division" in the Plenary assembly room was evident.

"There was a lot of anger and frustration particularly on behalf of women but also the LGBT or rainbow community if you will," Sullivan said.

"This to my mind goes to the deeper issues confronting the Church over this period of listening and dialogue. Lots of voices have come forward and there is frustration that not all those voices are not actually in the room.

"The second thing is, are we actually being attentive to what those voices are saying to us.

"Underneath it all, I have to say, even from my own experience, there is a deep grief I think that we all feel about where the Church is at, not just for ourselves personally, but collectively there are generations of people who are no longer able to identify with the Church."

The Council had been discussing a two-part set of documents called ‘Witnessing to the Equal Dignity of Women and Men'.

One motion, including the consideration of women for ministry as deacons - should Rome agree - received a qualified majority among consultative voters.

However, it fell just short of a qualified majority among deliberative voters - the bishops - and did not pass.

The other motion asked: "That each Australian diocese and eparchy foster new opportunities for women to participate in ministries and roles that are stable, publicly recognised, and resourced with appropriate formation including theological education and commissioned by the bishop.

"These ministries and roles should engage with the most important aspects of diocesan and parish life and have a real impact on those communities."

The second motion did not receive a qualified majority on either the consultative or the deliberative votes, so was not passed.

During Plenary Council assemblies, consultative votes are exercised by the 277 lay, religious and clerical members and deliberative votes are exercised by the Australian bishops.

Acknowledging the embarrassment the result had caused, Plenary council vice president Bishop Shane Mackinlay said: "This is not the way we were anticipating or hoping the process would go.

"It is disappointing and a lot of people - women and men, priests, laypeople and bishops - were very distressed.

"It was clear our members were not ready to put this to one side and move on to other things."

Mackinlay said council members were trying to redraft the motion so that a new version could be approved on Friday.

"Everybody is absolutely adamant we need to say something about the equal dignity of women and men, and the way we recognise this in the life of the Church," he said.

A four-person writing group has been established to receive recommendations from Members for the drafting of revised motions. The new motions are expected to be considered later in the week.

Source

• Catholic Weekly
• The Sydney Morning Herald
• National Catholic Reporter

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 question may equally have been the following: "What is it about change and the Church?

It's glib to answer that few like change, so what's news?

Surely, it's not too much to expect that a Church in crisis would be open to considering change, to actually welcome change, albeit gently.

In his patient drive for a synodal Church, Pope Francis speaks of a "different Church" (not a new Church). In doing so, he is picking up the wisdom of Yves Congar OP from all those years ago.

A different Church can only come about only with change.

The motion on the equality between women and men

The papal prescription for that change is synodality. That does not mean a free run, or a lot of hot button demands, or a majority vote as in a parliament, but a genuine listening, active hearing and prayerful consideration to reach a discernment of what is right.

The Holy Spirit is mostly blamed for what is claimed to be the right answer.

Clearly, the Holy Spirit was temporarily rejected during the Plenary Council. One may rail about the unfortunate circumstance of the Australian bishops' rejection of the motion on equality between women and men.

Surely after four years of discussing and preparing the Plenary Council, the bishops were well aware of the equality issue. The terms of the decree had been on the table for months.

Where was the application of a synodal approach? What conversations occurred? What attempt was made to reach a proper accommodation?

Where was the benefit of four years of preparation, appreciation of the significance of the issue, the importance of the second assembly of 277 members, the consciousness of the Catholic faithful (a majority of whom are women)?

We all appreciate that the synodal journey is not a straight downhill run. We know that potholes and delays abound.

But, apparently, not even nationwide shame and disbelief among Catholics, women and men alike, served to offer help to some bishops to work out an acceptable course before voting in the negative.

Sister Patty notes that the subsequent good news of the endorsement of the decree may be drowned out by the initial outrage. Fair call.

But there is a bright side.

Humble pie will be food for the journey, with a dollop of trust and goodwill

Plenary members did re-group. They worked to revise the language of the motion and, ultimately, it was enthusiastically supported. Importantly, that included the support of most of the bishops.

The Holy Spirit is still alive and well!

But much more than that, the journey of this decree on the equality of women and men — including its major blemish — may be seen as an outstanding synodal example that has the capacity to open a national conversation among all the People of God.

That means a less hierarchical conversation with more trust and fortitude.

Unavoidably, we go into that conversation with wounds. We may assert they are self-inflicted and demeaning wounds, but against an outcome that should become a watershed for future deliberations.

The event (not the spin) presents an opportunity for a different way of doing things; of trying a journey on the same track and eschewing the parallel precipice.

Humble pie will be food for this journey with a large dollop of trust and goodwill.

A disposition to genuinely embrace synodal change for a different Church will be the shared goal.

• Justin Stanwix is a deacon at St Mary's Star of the Sea Parish, Milton in the Diocese of Wollongong (Australia).
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

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 Church."

Well, I am now 37, and have sincerely tried.

I have been privileged to become a Sister of Mercy, youth ministry co-ordinator, pastoral worker, pastoral associate and chaplain.

My whole employed life has been in the church, at the grassroots, on the margins.

However, ordination - which would allow women to serve in the ministry - is our official recognition and authorisation of this as a stable lifelong calling.

This would allow us to perform weddings, funerals and baptisms, which have been shown to serve the most valued role for churches in Australian society.

Last week, bishops and representatives of the Australian Catholic Church concluded over four years of consultations in the highest form of church assembly with legislative authority: a Plenary Council.

At a time when the census shows that Catholics have decreased from 22.6 per cent to 20 per cent of the Australian population, the Council was to renew us in following Jesus, to reach out with hope, spirituality, ethics and justice inspired by faith.

The 277 members listened to hundreds of thousands of Australians before voting on motions for a final document.

What started well turned into a crisis.

On Wednesday, the two motions relating to "Witnessing to the Equal Dignity of Women and Men" did not receive a qualified majority from the bishops, whose votes count. Soon, worldwide news reported that more than 60 members stood up in shock.

The whole Council stalled.

At that point I was starting to question my own humanity and the value of my baptism. Others I spoke to were pained, bruised and disillusioned.

One of the most controversial motions, it seems, was the potential ordination of women to the diaconate.

Across the Christian world, there has been a revival of permanent deacons, to complement bishops and priests in ordained ministry. Here, women deacons exist in the Anglican and Uniting Church, among others.

Evidence shows that women were ordained as deacons until the 12th century.

Strangely, however, we heard no reason why some voted against reinstituting this possibility. Women like me can only imagine why our participation might be unwelcome.

• Is it a fear of women, or our "impurity" that prevented us from serving on the sanctuary?
• Is it the 13th-century legal phrase: "the impediment of sex"?
• Or is it that there are many available lay ministries and we don't need to "clericalise women"?

That last one hits hard. What I already do appears very similar to the ministry of a deacon.

I am not asking for power, but to better serve people's spiritual needs, and to open more ministry pathways for future generations of Catholics. Continue reading

• Elizabeth Young is a Sister of Mercy she has a Master in Theology, and has ministered with youth, in prisons, detention centres, parishes and nursing homes. She is currently a pastoral worker and secondary school chaplain.

As PC member John Warhurst commented: 'In political terms we [Catholics] range from One Nation to the Greens and everything in between' (Blog, 9 July).

That's true, but PC votes consistently indicated that the large majority of Catholics strongly support church renewal. Out of 277 members, the most those opposed to renewal could muster was 65 even when you count the juxta modumvotes as 'no' votes.

The PC's most positive achievement was its strong support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart, calling for a First Nations voice to Parliament to be enshrined in Australia's constitution.

In some ways Catholics are ahead of the general community on First Nations concerns. The reason: this has been an issue for the church for decades and was pushed by pioneers like Shirley 'Mum Shirl' Smith, Ted Kennedy and many others, making it central to mainstream Catholicism

On the issue of equality, the PC eventually semi-caught-up with the 20th century in a vote on a set of re-drafted motions supporting equal dignity for women and men.

Perth Archbishop, Tim Costelloe, in an understatement, commented: 'There is a long way to go …in understanding the proper role of women in the life of the Church.' Exactly, archbishop!

But the problem is that Catholicism has long resisted equality as a 'feminist plot' so that we've now just caught-up with the 1970s. As Costelloe admitted, 'there's still a long way to go' to get the church into the 21stcentury.

Within the constraints of canon law

This debate takes us to the core weakness of the PC. Because some bishops and laity have long resisted the basic reforms of Vatican II, particularly that of living in the real world as mandated by Gaudium et spes ('The Church in the Modern World'), we are endlessly at a disadvantage, always playing catch-up.

As someone said, we're entangled in 'pathetic incrementalism.'

For example, there are a set of motions asking bishops to establish diocesan pastoral councils and parish councils, structures already legislated in the Code of Canon Law (canons 511-514 and 536).

Another example: the PC encourages all Catholics 'to accept Pope Francis' invitation to join the Laudato Si' Action Platform…as a vehicle…for their ecological conversion.'

But the environmental movement developed plans like these decades ago, while the church has been stymied by some Catholics talking about ecology as 'pagan religion' filling a spiritual void in the post-Christian West and claiming that global warming is 'the hysteria of alarmists.'

This, despite the fact that Catholicism has had an ecological theology and spirituality for more than fifty years with thinkers like Thomas Berry. Here in Australia, we'd already developed a theological approach and the term 'environmental conversion' actually originated here.

Environmentalists moved-on years ago to real issues like winding-down coal mining, stopping native forest logging, confronting global warming and overpopulation.

The PC's 'integral ecology' sounds like something from the 1980s. Again, the church is lagging behind the world and pious platitudes are meaningless as we face environmental catastrophe.

Sure, I understand that all the PC could do was to act within the constraints of canon law and find formulations on which members could agree. Sadly, the process was flawed from the beginning and major issues facing the local church were simply ignored.

For instance, there was no forensic analysis of contemporary Australian society. The church must understand the world to speak to it.

We live, as Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor says in a secular world where religion and God are literally expelled from the public sphere and relegated to the private. Public spaces, Taylor says, have been 'emptied of God, or of any reference to ultimate reality.'

All is not lost

He says we have moved 'from a society in which it was virtually impossible not to believe in God to one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is one possibility among others. God is no longer axiomatic.'

The contemporary assumption is that religion is fading away as science explains everything and people search for their own meaning and ethical norms.

Given this context, the PC's failure to consider questions regarding gender and sexuality was a mistake. These questions are, to use Taylor's word, 'axiomatic' for people today and can't be ignored.

For young people the church's irrelevance is demonstrated by the fact that it stubbornly resists these issues.

Again, if the hard work had been done several decades ago, we wouldn't be dealing, as Francis Sullivan says, with some PC members' 'gobsmacking level of political correctness over the politics of sex and gender…As if making any reference to "those who identify as LGBTIQA+" is somehow running counter to the missionary outreach of the Church beggar's belief' (Blog, 5 July).

Another issue that was largely ignored was the priesthood and the question of ordination itself, especially in light of the fact that over 55% of all priests now working in Australian parishes are foreign-born.

The anodyne motion on priesthood says nothing new, and seminaries, the seedbeds of clericalism, were hardly mentioned.

Again, this is one of those unaddressed issues from decades ago. Its not that some of us haven't asked questions. My first public disagreement in the mid-1980s with the then Father George Pell was over his approach to formation in the Melbourne seminary.

So, while thankful for what was achieved, the PC simply side-stepped the major issues facing Australian Catholicism. But all is not lost.

Awareness has been raised, Catholics wanting renewal are clearly the majority, prominent lay leaders have emerged, and many of the bishops 'get' the real issues. And there's always Sancta Sophia, the Holy Spirit, guiding us.

• Paul Collins is the author of 15 books, several of which focus on church governance and Australian Catholicism.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

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.

The ‘proposals' include reports from small groups and verbatim ideas from anonymous individual members of the Plenary Council.

These were not even considered by the full Plenary Council assembly whose members had been appointed under canon law to identify the ‘sense of faith' of Australian Catholics, provided in contributions from the whole Australian Church over three and a half years of preparation.

• Some ‘proposals' are contrary to concerns frequently stated in those contributions, without explanation.
• Some major contributions with substantial support are not even mentioned.
• Some proposals seem ill-informed.
• Some are inconsistent and mutually contradictory.
• And none has been adopted let alone considered by the Plenary Council assembly.

It seems that many of the anonymous individual proposals, mostly conservative and even reactionary, were generated by some conservative members of the Plenary Council well informed of the process to be adopted - simply moved, seconded and submitted via a ‘submission form' or extracted from untested ‘interventions by members'.

These anonymous proposals have been published to influence the Second Assembly in a particular direction as if they have the authority of the First Assembly.

Worse, it seems that some Plenary Council members were not aware that such proposals could be or were being submitted in this subversive manner (without the consideration or support of the full Assembly) and that such proposals would become key to the development of the legislative agenda for the second and final Assembly.

These proposals are now guiding preparations for the Second Assembly 2022.

Writing groups have been selected by the bishops, but not as representatives of properly appointed Plenary Council members, to work on the ‘fruits' report as the primary source in identifying "thematic focuses for propositions that might be developed for consideration by the Second Assembly in July 2022."

This process is blatantly improper, cynical and contrary to the principles of canon law, good governance, synodality and Vatican II, and completely contrary to the spiritual discernment promised by our bishops, seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The Plenary Council's process of discernment has been manipulated and gravely compromised.

The Plenary Council has failed its own statutes which state that the Council "seeks to gather the People of God in Australia in a process of listening and dialogue in order to discern the providential guidance of the Holy Spirit concerning the mission of the church in Australia in the 21st Century."

The Statutes also note that the Plenary Council assembly "has power of governance, especially legislative power." The processes "shall include prayer, listening, dialogue, analysis, discernment and synthesis in accordance with methods of pastoral research and practices of discernment drawn from Catholic tradition."

The Plenary Council organisers have excluded the critical role of the People of God and the Plenary Council's power of governance. They have implicitly rejected spiritual discernment and the sense of the faith of the faithful.

So much for synodality and Christian leadership!

In its Media Blog (9 December 2021), the Australian Catholic Bishop's Conference has claimed that the so-called ‘fruits' document contains ‘great richness' and ‘reveals the directions of the small groups' discernment and offers them as a basis for the ongoing preparation for the second assembly.'

The ACBC further states: ‘Final versions of the propositions, which will form the agenda for the second assembly, are expected to be published in June. Reflection, prayer and conversation will precede final discernment and voting at the second assembly.'

That same commitment to reflection, prayer, conversation and discernment was stated repeatedly and properly before the First Assembly as critical.

Instead, we have been presented with a distorted outcome of the First Assembly that lacks spiritual discernment and will improperly bias the final Assembly.

It was always seen as a difficult task to achieve agreement on the necessarily wide-ranging agenda in a very tight one-week assembly, but whatever was achieved was to be the position adopted by a properly constituted assembly, even if preliminary and tentative - not the idiosyncratic views of anonymous individuals and small groups appointed by the organisers.

Before the First Assembly, the Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform published its considered responses to the 16-question agenda (‘A Church for All', Garratt Pub.).

Complimentary copies were provided to all PC members.

We know that there are many Council members who supported many of those and other responses and would have gladly put them forward as propositions for proper consideration had they been properly informed.

The Australian bishops must now ask themselves whether the Vatican will be prepared to endorse the outcomes of the Australian Plenary Council if it now proceeds based on a fundamentally flawed report.

Regrettably, the Church's dysfunctional governance, exposed by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (the major catalyst for the Plenary Council), has been exposed again in the management of this Council.

Further, the manipulative approach adopted flies in the face of Pope Francis' current Synod on Synodality, a means of reforming the Church's governance through a genuine process of listening to the people of the Church - an acceptance of accountability, transparency and inclusion lacking in this Council process.

The manipulative approach adopted in the Plenary Council shows scant respect for either the Pope or the people.

The ‘fruits' report, ‘First Assembly Proposals from Small Groups and Individual Members', must be withdrawn as it lacks any validity or credibility in claiming to present authorised proposals from the First Assembly of the Plenary Council.

All Plenary Council members must now be given the opportunity to prepare proposals, properly signed and seconded, for consideration by the Second Assembly.

That assembly will need more than the mere week that has been scheduled if it is to ensure serious consideration of all proposals by the appointed Plenary Council members.

• Peter Johnstone consults in good governance practices and is committed to the renewal of the Catholic Church.
• First published by Pearls and Irritations.
• Sent to CathNews by Peter Johnstone.

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 same time, it constrained free-flowing discussion and overwhelmed any effective canvassing of the issues confronting the Church. The upshot was a week devoid of strategic focus.

Given that so much time was spent on prayerful reflection, not enough was available to the task at hand. The Catholic community had supplied 17,500 submissions in an initial consultation phase.

Yet the Plenary was not presented with any report on what those submissions contained, nor was it presented with any draft resolutions from the submissions.

It can only be assumed that the Bishops Steering Group deemed the submissions to be of insignificant value to the Assembly.

The expert theologians, scripture scholars, canonists and public policy advisors were kept at a distance. It was if the participants were meant to start from scratch.

What did emerge was the diversity of views over the role and purpose of the Church. Again, no surprise there! Though more important was the lack of clarity over the actual starting point for the conversation.

Participants were constantly reminded that Pope Francis was calling for a Church motivated by a 'missionary impulse'. It seemed fair to assume therefore that the task was to imagine what that looks like for the Church now and into the future.

Yet the daily feedback from the working groups roamed far and wide from personal devotional practices all the way to cutting edge pastoral outreach.

Again, no surprises when you give Catholics free rein!

The situation would be less distressing if there had been an overt recognition of the crisis the Church faces. A crisis that is both of its own making and one that prompts questions about religious belief in our world today.

This crisis needs to be addressed by the Plenary Council in two fundamental areas: internal organisation and pastoral disposition.

On the first, the organisational life of the Church has already been the subject of intense scrutiny by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

One of the seventeen volumes of the Final Report dealt specifically with the Catholic Church. It contained clear recommendations for governance and culture.

Following this, the bishops and religious leaders commissioned a two-year study that produced The Light From the Southern Cross report into governance and cultural issues. These two reports outline a similar roadmap for change.

But the elephant in the room is the authority of bishops.

Christian anthropology insights of the human sciences

Almost before the ink dried on the reports some bishops dismissed their recommendations as an attack on episcopal authority.

Some even went as far to say that the reports would make the Catholic Church too 'Anglican'! Talk of shared governance models and expanding the influential role of the laity, especially women, was a bridge too far for those content with 'business as usual'.

This despite the evidence that most indicators the Church was going backwards.

Calls for Church leaders to introduce measures enhancing best practice accountability and transparency, vital to regaining the public trust lost after the abuse scandal and cover-ups, continue to be met with shrill warnings about erosion of episcopal control.

This issue must be faced head-on. Whether the Church can embark on a new missionary strategy is dependent on getting its own house in order.

That is, demonstrating that the culture to conceal and deal in the dark is over. That best practice governance is commonplace. That transparency in how decisions are made and by whom is the norm.

That the laity, especially more women, are effectively involved in and jointly accountable for the life and future direction of the Church. These are the obvious indicators of a changed culture and structure. One that has some chance of being believed when they say 'trust us'!

On the issue of the pastoral disposition of the Church, the way forward is more fraught. The mindset and culture of our Church is still based on an outmoded understanding of personhood.

Our Christian anthropology has not kept pace with the insights of the human sciences and contemporary understandings of personal development, including sexuality, gender identity and its diversity.

This is a fundamental disconnect for the Church in the Western world. It puts at risk the effectiveness of its mission.

This is particularly the case for the Church's relevance to young people exploring their place in the world; or in bridging the chasm with the LGBTIQA+ people in their full participation in the life of the Church; or in embracing divorced and remarried Catholics, including their reception of the Eucharist.

A more nuanced theology of personhood would better inform our pastoral practice and deliver a genuinely inclusive, compassionate missionary outreach.

This is what the Plenary Council must address. Building trust is a two-way street. Being trusted to act in an ethical manner, both in its business and organisational dealings and in the dealings with people, in and out of the Church, is non-negotiable.

Reaching out with compassion, affirming people, being for others, goes to the heart of a 'missionary impulse'. Doing it without conditions goes to the heart of the Gospel. Anything less looks like 'business as usual'.

• Francis Sullivan AO is Chair of Catholic Social Services Australia and the Mater Group of hospitals. He was previously CEO of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council.
• Published in La-Croix International.

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.

Coleridge says the answer to his question came to him "from the Holy Spirit" while he was in Rome for the Synod of Bishops on the family.

"For the first time — certainly at a Roman synod — I saw discernment in action," Coleridge says.

"It was messy and unpredictable; at the halfway mark it looked very unlikely that we would achieve anything worth achieving. Yet at the end we did produce something which wasn't the last word, but which was a real contribution to the ongoing journey of the church."

It was there he decided it was time for the church in Australia to move toward a plenary council.

Several years and much planning, committee work, Vatican approval and — perhaps most importantly, listening sessions — the first of two Plenary Council assemblies began on Sunday.

Synodality is at the heart of the Plenary Council's purpose. Pope Francis has also announced a synod - the 2023 Synod of Bishops on synodality.
Preparations for this begin near the end of the Australian assembly.

Francis says the synod on synodality "is not so much about deeper reflection on this or that theme as it is about learning a new way of living as church."

Francis says the church must adopt a style "marked at every level by mutual listening and by a pastoral attitude, especially when faced with the temptations of clericalism and rigidity."

This would have helped combat the clericalism that the Australian Royal Commission often heard blamed for decades of covering up abuse cases.

The government investigators' call for a change of culture was echoed by Catholics participating in the Plenary Council's listening sessions.

"So much of what we heard during the council journey related to this concept of ‘conversion' — personal conversion, communal conversion and institutional conversion — with an ever-deeper renewal in Christ," says Archbishop Timothy Costelloe.

"Through the Plenary Council, we are being called to consider how we can be a church that goes out to the peripheries, that welcomes all into our communities and shows the face of Christ to the world."

This will be Australia's fifth Plenary Council; the last was in 1937. Rules for a plenary council are outlined in canon law. Although laypeople are among those who may be included, this is the first time they have been members of a plenary council.

The daily programme involves gathering for Mass, prayer, formal proceedings and large group dialogue and smaller virtual group discussions. Discussion summaries will be submitted the following day.

Offline time provides for people to pray and discern over two questions. One is about abuse and the other about being a missionary people.

Coleridge says the results of the assemblies will go to Rome for papal approval.

Source

• Catholic News Service
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

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 into the working document and finally the agenda.

Momentum for the Plenary Council ebbed and flowed during this process, which has been disrupted by the pandemic.

By and large, there has been considerable goodwill, enthusiasm and even a sense of hope for the future of the Church in Australia in the post-Royal Commission period. Robert Fitzgerald who - among other prominent roles - is the new Chair of Caritas Australia, once enthused that the Plenary Council is the only game in town.

For a country of about five million nominal Catholics, the initial response was quite remarkable.

Perhaps, for many of the disenfranchised, it is the last throw of the dice. I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket, though.

Some of you might have heard or even attended the first of the three convocation series organised by the Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (ACCCR).

There were 3,000 participants, including myself.

We heard a powerful and inspiring address by Sr Joan Chittister.

Catholicism "must grow up", she said, "beyond the parochial to the global, beyond one system and one tradition, to a broader way of looking at life and its moral, spiritual, ethical frameworks."

That is the kind of stretching of the imagination and dreaming of the transformation of the Church that many Catholics are thirsting for.

Few Catholics have any appetite left for cosmetic changes, mediocrity or worst, restorationism dressed up as renewal.

We have struggled under the weight of the old ecclesial paradigm of the clerical order, control and hegemony with a penchant for triumphalism, self-referential pomp and smugness.

We yearn for a Church that commits to a God-oriented future of equal discipleship, relational harmony, wholeness and sustainability.

The revitalisation and convergence of many lay reform groups in response to the Plenary Council is no small development for the Church in contemporary Australia.

It is a sign of the "growing up" that Joan spoke about.

Australian Catholics are growing up beyond the passive, subservient to the co-responsible agents for the transformation of the Church.

In Germany, there is a lay body called Central Committee, which plays a key role in their Synodal Assembly, including having one of its members as co-president of the said structure.

Perhaps this unique feature is part of the legacy of the Reformation in the German Church.

Is the Church in Australia in pole position for deep reform?

The Church in Australia is uniquely positioned to move into a new fresh future.

Yes, it is true that we have been humbled and reduced to near irrelevancy by the sexual abuse crisis.

The Royal Commission, though being the lightning rod, has also served as a necessary wake-up call for Australian Catholics.

Indeed, no other country in the world has conducted a similar national inquiry, which is as comprehensive in its scope as ours. This has brought about a heightened level of consciousness and an unprecedented momentum for deep reform.

In many areas, Australia punches above its weight.

• Could we be a leading light in the struggle for a more fit-for-purpose Church in this place and in this time?
• Could Australian Catholics rise to the challenge and co-create the synodal Church that Pope Francis has envisaged?

While the Plenary Council may not address all of the issues of importance, it is certainly worth the effort in discerning the roadmap for the future.

Recently, Cardinal Marx of Germany tendered his resignation in a personal gesture to take responsibility for sexual abuses by priests over the past decades.

In Chile, the bishops after a period of discernment offered to resign en masse for similar reasons.

This collective act of contrition is totally unprecedented, and it shows the depth of the crisis in the Church.

Whether or not we bishops of Australia should make the same radical gesture remains an open question.

However, what is indisputable is the need for deep institutional change that will restore confidence and trust in the Church. Nothing less than a root-to-branch reform that will align our minds and hearts to the Gospel will do.

What the Church needs is not simply a renewal or an updating of methods of evangelising.

Rather, what we desperately need is an inner conversion, a radical revolution in our mindsets and patterns of action.

Gerald Arbuckle speaks of refounding as opposed to renewal. This refounding means going to the very cultural roots and a hope-filled journey into the paschal mystery for mission under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Unless we genuinely repent of institutional failures and unless we convert to the radical vision of Christ and let it imbue our attitudes, actions and pastoral practices, we will not be able to restore confidence and trust in the Church.

Conversion is one of the key areas on the agenda of the Plenary Council.

It is framed in terms of our openness to learn and meet the needs of the world we live in.

As a result, the questions revolve around our engagement with First Nations peoples, with the marginalised and the vulnerable.

However, one wonders if conversion needs to be framed not just in terms of our openness to learn and meet the needs of others but also in terms of our examination of the Church's attitude and treatment of racial minorities, women, LGBTQ+ individuals and others.

Until we have the courage to admit the old ways of being Church, which is steeped in a culture of clerical power, dominance and privilege, we cannot rise to a Christ-like way of humility, inclusivity, compassion and powerlessness.

There is a sense in which the Church must change into a more Christ-like pattern of humility, simplicity and powerlessness as opposed to worldly triumphalism, splendour, dominance and power.

Christians in the post-Royal Commission are like the Jews after the exile.

The future of the Church, like the New Jerusalem that the exilic prophets often speak of, will not be revitalised by way of simply repeating what was done in the past.

It will not be simply a restoration project or doing the old things better. Rather, we must have the courage to do new things; we must be open to the Spirit leading us to new horizons even as we tend to revert to the old ways.

Change of era and new way of being Church in the world

Many Catholics hope that the Australian Plenary Council of 2020 will see a change in a number of priority issues such as greater inclusion of the laity, the role of women, clerical celibacy et cetera.

While it is important that there is an openness and boldness to discuss these matters, what is more important is to envision a new way of being Church in the world.

The model of the Church based on clerical hegemony has run its course. Insofar as it is deeply embedded in patriarchal and monarchical structures, it is incapable of helping us to meet the needs of the world and culture in which we live.

We have long moved out of the Ancien Régime and the age of absolute monarchs.

We are on this side of the secular state and the rise of democracy.

Yet it seems that the deeply entrenched patriarchal and monarchical structures of the Church have failed to correspond with our lived experience.

For the Church to flourish, it is crucial that we come to terms with the flaws of clericalism and move beyond its patriarchal and monarchical matrix.

What is urgent is that we need to find fresh ways of being Church and fresh ways of ministry and service for both men and women disciples.

New wine into new wineskins!

The new wine of God's unconditional love, radical inclusivity and equality needs to be poured into new wineskins of humility, mutuality, compassion and powerlessness.

The old wineskins of triumphalism, authoritarianism and supremacy, abetted by clerical power, superiority, and rigidity are breaking.

It is worth noting that at the recent Synod on the Amazon, the synod bishops say they consider it "urgent" for the Church to "promote and confer ministries for men and women in an equitable manner.

"It is the Church of baptised men and women that we must strengthen by promoting ministeriality and, above all, the awareness of baptismal dignity," they state.

Beyond these generic statements, it remains to be seen how women can share in the decision-making power and institutionalised ministries in the Church.

The Church cannot have a better future if it persists in the old paradigm of triumphalism, self-reference and male dominance.

• So long as we continue to exclude women from the Church's governance structures, decision-making processes and institutional functions, we deprive ourselves of the richness of our full humanity.
• So long as we continue to make women invisible and inferior in the Church's language, liturgy, theology and law, we impoverish ourselves.
• Until we have truly incorporated the gift of women and the feminine dimension of our Christian faith, we will not be able to fully energise the life of the Church.

In the world where the rules are made by the strong and the structures of power favour the privileged, the Church must be true to its founding stories and responsive to the living presence of God.

It must find ways to promote a community of equals and empower men and women disciples to share their gifts for human flourishing and the growth of the Kingdom.

Our founding stories are those of emancipation and liberation.

• It is the story of Moses and the movement of the new social order against the tyranny of empires that lies at the heart of the prophetic imagination.
• It inspires Mary who sings of the God who overthrows the powerful and lifts up the lowly.
• It is the story of Jesus who washes the feet of his followers and subverts the power structures that are tilted towards the strong.

This narrative of the new reality that envisions radical reordering of human relationships was in fact the hallmark of the earliest Christian movement.

The Church must continue to embody the alternative relational paradigm.

This alternative relational paradigm turns the world's system of power structures on its head because it is rooted in the biblical narrative of the new social order of radical inclusion, justice and equality.

The Church cannot have a prophetic voice in society if we fail to be the model egalitarian community where those disadvantaged on account of their race, gender, social status and disability find empowerment for a dignified life.

Towards a Church of co-responsibility and synodality

Martin Luther King, Jr famously said that the arc of history is bent toward justice.

The parallel statement I want to make is that the arc of the Church is bent towards co-responsibility or synodality. Let me explain.

The way of being Church has evolved over the centuries.

When, after the early centuries of persecution, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the early tradition of egalitarianism gave way to a more clerical and hierarchical governance system that actually took on many features of the Empire.

Throughout the long reign of Christendom and up to the Second Vatican Council, the Church often understood itself predominantly as a perfect society. Its institutional functions and dynamics were steeped in clericalism.

Ministries gradually became the domain of the ordained.

They were all subsumed under a very cultic priesthood (set apart for the sacraments). Even the ancient ministry of deacon became a casualty of the process known as the "cursus honorum". This means that no one could begin "the course of honour" unless he is destined and qualified for the priesthood (no married and certainly not women!).

The shift towards the celibate priesthood as the normative form of ministry effectively deprived the Church of the richness of ministries as attested by the New Testament.

At the Second Vatican Council, there was a shift in the Church's self-understanding.

The dominant metaphor of "a societas perfecta" gave way to a more biblical image of a pilgrim people.

The priesthood of faithful was rediscovered along with the affirmation that the working of the Holy Spirit was granted not to the ordained only but to all baptised. Ecclesial ministries were understood in such a way as to fully honour what Paul says, "everyone is given the grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ".

Pope Paul VI accordingly suppressed the minor orders and opened some of these ministries to the lay faithful.

Now some 60 years later (talk about the glacial speed of change in the Church), Pope Francis took a step further with two recent important decisions.

In January this year, he opened to women the "installed" lay ministries of lector and acolyte, previously restricted to men.

Then just a few weeks ago, he responded to an idea that sat untouched since the Council and established the installed ministry of catechist.

The Pope called for "men and women of deep faith and human maturity, active participants in the life of the Christian community, capable of welcoming others, being generous and living a life of fraternal communion."

Pope Francis affirms that ‘this path of synodality' is precisely what "God expects of the Church of the third millennium."

He gave new impetus to the doctrine of the sensus fidei fidelium, stating that the path of synodality represents an indispensable prerequisite for infusing the Church with a renewed missionary impulse: all the members of the Church are called to be active subjects of evangelisation and "missionary disciples".

The Church has entered a new era that is characterised by a crisis of a top-down centralised ecclesiology.

With Vatican II, the ressourcement and aggiornamento led to a more biblical paradigm of a pilgrim People of God, called to be the sacrament of the Kingdom and the prophetic witness in the world.

The emphasis on the superiority of the ordained gave way to an ecclesial communion based on common baptism.

Pope Francis has applied a critical lens through which the Church is renewed for the sake of its mission for the poor.

The Church is helped to decentralise and impelled towards the peripheries.

The Church, the People of God, should walk together, sharing the burdens of humanity, listening to the cry of the poor, reforming itself and its own action, first by listening to the voice of the humble, the anawim of the Hebrew Scriptures, who were at the heart of Jesus' public ministry.

Conclusion

The COVID crisis, the Pope says, has exposed our vulnerability.

It has revealed the fallacy of individualism as the organising principle of our Western society.

It has given the lie to a "myth of self-sufficiency" that sanctions rampant inequalities and frays the ties that bind societies together. If we want a different world, we must become a different people.

I wonder if the crisis in the Church today could be framed in analogous terms.

In fact, we are at a point in history where all the indications point to a perfect storm: sexual abuse crisis, near-total collapse of active participation, loss of credibility, shrinking pool of clerical leadership et cetera.

Some have likened the state of the Church to Shakespeare's state of Denmark.

It is hardly an exaggeration!

This monumental crisis above all has exposed the weakness and indeed the unsustainability of the clericalist model.

Hence, if we are to emerge out of this, we will need to boldly embrace a new ecclesiology from below that has regained momentum thanks to the prophetic leadership of Pope Francis. We must take up the call issued to St Francis, "Go and rebuild my Church that is falling into ruins".

It is not only possible; it is the most exciting time for us to construct a new future.

It humbles us to know that God is with us in the mess and even in the perceived irrelevancy of the Church.

It comforts us, too, to know that the Church was not at its best when it reached the heights of its power in what was known as Christendom.

It was the Church of the Catacombs that shone forth its best rays of hope ironically when it was poor, persecuted and powerless.

Christendom and for the most part of history, we have tried to be great, powerful and dominant.

It was no coincidence that Dom Helder Camara and many of his Latin American colleagues chose to make the so-called "Pact of the Catacombs" as a way to return to the roots and foundations of the Church.

They weren't just letting the fresh air of the Second Vatican Council blow away the cobwebs and the manacles. They were determined to recapture the original and radical spirit of the earliest Christian movement.

It may be a long and winding road to a vision of the poor, humble but empowering and leavening force in the world. But as Teilhard de Chardin wrote: "the only task worthy of our efforts is to construct the future".

I pray that this historic once in a generation Plenary Council may be an expression of such effort.

May we have the courage, boldness and parrhesia to move from the old paradigm of triumphalism, power and splendour to the new ways of being Church that will convey the freshness of the Gospel.

• Most Reverend Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv DD STL, Bishop of Parramatta - Dom Helder Camara Lecture.
• First published by Catholic Outlook. Republished with permission.

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 Spirit is saying to the Churches.

The conversation in Germany has become quite complicated since Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich announced that he had submitted his resignation to the Pope on May 21.

Of course, Pope Francis can decline the offer of resignation.

Cardinal Marx has been one of Pope Francis' most forceful supporters and an advocate of the Synodal approach proposed by Pope Francis.

The declared reason for the resignation of Cardinal Marx is that his own position in Germany is untenable because of his membership of the leadership of the Church in his country that has badly mismanaged cases of sex abuse by the clergy.

How that all plays out and what impact it will have on the national Synod are matters of speculation at this point.

But what it clearly underlines is that Synods, Church governance and the Church's mission and purpose are about a lot more than its leaders, however, accomplished and distinguished.

Cardinal Marx is clearly saying that what the Church is facing in his country and of course elsewhere is the threat of driving itself off a cliff.

And at this point, the Germans are significant leaders in the response to Pope Francis' invitation to create in the Church a global community listening to what the Spirit is calling it to be.

It is not as though this is the first time the Church has ever had to manage such an invitation.

Church Councils are the most obvious examples of moments in the Church's life when the community of believers is invited to fall silent and listen to what God might be asking of it.

But there can be various realities that discourage Catholics from participating in processes and conversations about these matters that could be transformative for the Church.

First among the blockages occur when people - believers/the baptized/informed and intelligent Catholics - find out clearly and plainly that the apparent "consultation" is window dressing for a process whose outcomes have been decided and agreed by those who decide and agree on things - not by the participants

The second comes down to the realization that though they have been invited to participate in a conversation, what they have to offer is not valued, will not be listened to and is simply surplus to requirements.

The third comes down to exactly what a "synodal" conversation really is - not a vigorous exchange in a tutorial or a seminar but an exchange between searching believers who together are trying to hear the voice of the Spirit.

That search can lead to conflict as well-intentioned individuals develop perspectives and convictions across a spectrum and those perspectives and convictions can be at odds.

The temptation is to see such disagreements and contests as game stoppers, as insuperable blockages to progress especially among highly motivated and principled people.

Paradoxically, it is precisely the most highly motivated and principled who can become the most conflictive and most at odds.

And that is exacerbated if an attentive ear to the murmur of the Spirit is not there from the beginning.

Or, in other words, unless there is more in what's going on than the determination to win an argument.

In such contexts, being trapped in an ideology is the death of discernment. Ideologues have answers before they've heard the questions.

They don't need to listen, much less discern where the Spirit is calling the listeners to be.

There can be no doubt how challenging and difficult communal discernment is.

Doing it on the appropriate scale and remaining open to the numbing reach of the questions to be considered only emphasizes what a venture in faith the process is.

In today's Podcast, we address developments in Australia and Germany. Featuring in the podcast are:

• Lana Turvey-Collins who offers her view from the perspective as a key facilitator of discussions leading to and then conducted during Australia's Plenary Council;
• Patty Fawkner, leader of an Australian founded but now multinational religious congregation - the Benedictine inspired Sisters of the Good Samaritan, is an adult educator, with tertiary qualifications in arts, education, theology and spirituality.
• Frank Brennan is a Jesuit priest and Rector of Newman College in Melbourne and a leading commentator on Church and social and political issues.
• Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and publisher of the English edition of La Civilta Cattolica

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 Plenary Council have made the laudable recommendation that women be more effectively integrated into the existing governing structures of the Church," says the letter signed by students and alumni associated with the Australian Catholic Students Association.

"However, it was with great sadness that we note many submissions have called for a change to the very constitution of the Church also willed by Christ," they added.

"We call on the Plenary Council and the Bishops of Australia to reject unambiguously all calls for the ordination of women."

Delayed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Fifth Plenary Council is set for October next year. It will be followed in July 2022 by a second assembly.

While the students say they fully support the respect owed to the roles women play in the Church, they do not believe that these roles extend to ordination to the priesthood.

Instead, they have "wholehearted support for the integration of women into even more prominent roles in areas such as sacred theology, communications, evangelization and (insofar as lay people are able) governance."

"This letter expresses our longing to share Christ with others unashamed, with clarity and with the help of our leaders," ACSA Vice President Claudia Tohi says.

"Truth is not determined by the mood of the times, nor is it a mere abstract concept. Truth is a person, the Son of God who gave up his life for the salvation of all humankind."

The Australian Catholic students told the bishops the emphasis on the lay vocation would be "far more encouraging of women than any tokenistic program or power-wrangling we have seen in some of the Plenary submissions."

They were also critical of certain assumptions about the path young people wish to see the Church take in the coming years.

"Young people desire an authentic relationship with Christ; this will not be facilitated by a committee," they wrote.

"We believe true reform of the Church will not come from merely shifting resources from one committee to another, but in the rediscovery of, conviction about, and love for the Catholic faith by every Catholic."

Advocating for "the dilution of truths of the faith," is likely to "alienate young people and society at large."

"Why should anyone take the doctrine and mysteries of Christ and His Church seriously if her members do not," they asked.

"We call on the Plenary Council to recommit the Church in Australia to the timeless truths of the Gospel as proclaimed by the Church for twenty centuries."

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: australiancatholicstudents.org

The plenary council is set to begin in Adelaide October.

During his two-week trip to Rome, Coleridge will meet with senior curial figures and Pope Francis. They will focus on the plenary council, its key themes and its organizing principles.

The council is part of the Church in Australia's response to the sexual abuse crisis and issues including efforts by local governments to pass laws encroaching on religious freedom and the seal of confession.

Lay participants may contribute to Council sessions, but only bishops will vote on binding resolutions.

These resolutions will be sent to the Vatican for approval.

While he is in Rome, Coleridge also plans to discuss three sepcific topics.

These are: Vatican's response to the Australian Royal Commission's recommendations on the protection of minors, the seal of confession, and the case of imprisoned Cardinal George Pell.

A law passed in the state of Victoria last year requires clergy to report suspected child abuse to the authorities, even if it was revealed in the confessional. To obey this law means requiring priests to break the sacramental seal of confession.

The state's premier, Daniel Andrews, said he hoped the legislation would "send a message" to the Church on child sex abuse.

A national standard for mandatory reporting by clergy is also being considered.

Pell, the former Vatican prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, was convicted on five charges of child sexual abuse and sentenced to six years in prison. He must serve three years and eight months before being eligible for parole. He is in a maximum-security prison and has appealed his conviction to Australia's High Court. The case will be heard on March 11 and 12.

Australian bishop Richard Umbers is emphasising the importance of a valid ecclesiology, Catholic language, and clear expression of Church teaching during the upcoming plenary council.

There must be a proper understanding of the hierarchical structure of the Church, and respect for Church teaching, during the council assembly, he says.

The plenary council has been preceded by a "listening and dialogue phase" where the lay faithful submitted suggested topics on what is asked of the Church in Australia, and the future of the Church.

According to the final report on the listening phase, "strongly discussed topics included the rule of celibacy for priests, the ordination of women and the inclusion of divorced and remarried Catholics."

The desire for "greater listening" and lay involvement in the Church, as well as better evangelization was also present in the submitted answers, the report said.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: ABC

Plenary Councils are rare, with only two held during the past 130 years or so - one in the Philippines and the other in Poland.

Lay-people's opinions have been sought regarding the topics to be debated at the Council and they will be able to vote on the Council's recommendations.

A focus question: "What do you think God is asking of us in Australia at this time?" triggered a wave of responses among Australian Catholics and some of the church's senior clerics, Lana Turvey-Collins, facilitator for Plenary Council 2020, says.

When the 10-month "listening and dialogue" process finished earlier this month, the meeting's organisers had more than 20,000 submissions from over 75,000 Australian Catholics.

The Council was announced in 2017, during the five-year Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Some of the inquiry's findings related to the Church's administration and the formation of clergy. They included a recommendation that the seal of confession be removed for abuse cases.

Although the notion of a plenary council meeting was mooted at the Royal Commission, it had been on the horizon for some time, Turvey-Collins says.

"Around the start of the new millennium, the Australian bishops started discussing the possibility of some sort of national gathering."

She says initially the bishops were aiming to take up the challenge St. John Paul II issued in his apostolic letter 'Novo Millennio Ineunte.'"

The letter said the new millennium was the perfect opportunity for every church, nationally and on a diocesan level, to reflect on the faith and determine what pastoral actions to take in order to make Christ known and loved in today's world.

Jack de Groot, CEO of St Vincent de Paul in New South Wales and chairman of the Implementation Advisory Group to Australian bishops and religious on sex abuse, says the plenary council needs lay people's votes.

[It's] "only going to have credibility if laypeople get to vote on its recommendation - and that they have at least half the vote.

"There are still some bishops who have a default setting to the way things were, and that needs to change," he says.

"There are five million baptised Catholics in Australia and 800,000 kids in Catholic schools around the country; they need to be given permission to speak, and they need to get some power with this voice."

Turvey-Collins says final numbers of people attending the council are yet to be determined, but it is expected there will be approximately 300 delegates.

Source

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Jesuits Australia

Pope Francis has approved the national ecclesiastical gathering.

The Plenary Council will meet twice - once in central Australia in late 2020 and again on the eastern seaboard in mid-2021.

The Council's aim is to make plans to address challenges the Church faces in contemporary Australian society.

Council delegates will seek deeper discernment, further learning, and dialogue.

A series of listening and dialogue sessions for establishing the Council's agenda begins on 20 May this year.

Pope Francis has endorsed Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe's nomination as the Council president.

Costelloe says he is "committed to listening to the Spirit.

"I encourage all Catholics, whether devout or disillusioned, fervent or frustrated, to seize this opportunity to speak what is on their minds and in their minds."

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, who is the chair of the Bishops Commission for the Council, has asked people to "join in prayer as we embark on this journey together as God's people in Australia."

He says the gathering "will be a unique opportunity for people to come together and listen to God in all the ways God speaks to us, and in particular by listening to one another as together we discern what God is asking of us at this time - a time when the Church in Australia is facing significant challenges.

"We sincerely hope the preparation and celebration of the Plenary Council is a time when all parts of the Church listen to and dialogue with one another as we explore together how we might answer the question: ‘What do you think God is asking of us in Australia?'"

The bishops of Australia have launched a website for the Plenary Council to help people better understand how they can participate in the discussion process.

The website can be found at plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au

Decisions made at the Plenary Council will become binding for the Catholic Church in Australia, subject to the Holy See's approval.

Source

• Vatican News
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: National Catholic Reporter