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Australia's Plenary Council
David Timbs and Peter Wilkinson (Catholics for Renewal) • 15 May 2021
Getting Back On Mission
David Timbs and Peter Wilkinson (Catholics for Renewal) gave an excellent ZOOM presentation today (15 May 2021) to WAC Ireland, particularly relevant to our proposed national Synodal Assembly in Ireland.
A summary history of the Catholic church in Australia showed the strong Irish influence with Archbishop Cullen appointing 12 relations and students of his as bishops. His nephew Cardinal Patrick Moran organised 3 Councils (1885, 1895 & 1905) to build a united national Australian church with uniformity of discipline and authority. And a troika of Irish bishops in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide held sway for a long period.
The Australian bishops took very little notice of Vatican ll, preferring to refer to the Bishops Conference and allowing each bishop to do his own thing in his own diocese.
The clerical abuse and cover ups scandal led to the Victoria Enquiry “Betrayal of Trust” Report. A journalist Therese McCarthy and Prime Minister Julia Gillard led to the setting up of a Royal Commission which received cross partisan support, took 4 years and cost hundreds of million dollars.
Catholics for Reform published “Getting Back on Mission” to focus attention on the underlying issues of dysfunctional governance: Secrecy; Power; Honour; Shame – on which the Roman Catholic hierarchy is built.
In Australia 50% of priests are from overseas on limited contracts. This leads to a lack of continuity (most stay only for the contract period). Regular mass attendance has declined from 74% (1954) to 12% (2016).
Archbishop Coleridge: “ Our credibility is shot to pieces.”
Bishop Long: “Our reputation and credibility are effectively destroyed.”
Archbishop Coleridge attended a synod in Rome at which Pope Francis said: “Synodality is not some of the bishops some of the time; it is all of the church all of the time.”
The Australian bishops today are evenly divided between conservatives and progressives. At the last election for head of the Australian Bishops Conference the voting was 20 votes each for Archbishop Coleridge and Archbishop Fisher. Archbishop Coleridge was appointed as he was ordained earlier than Fisher.
In 2018 when the Plenary Council was announced, Archbishop Coleridge said “everything is on the table.” But since then some of the other bishops have suggested that doctrinal issues and church teachings can not be discussed.
The Plenary Council has had 3 stages:
1. Listening and Dialogue
1.1. Question for all: “What is God asking of us in Australia at this time?”
1.2. They received 17,500 written submissions (4,7000 from individuals; 12,800 from groups).
2. Listening and discernment
2.1. This produced 6 National Themes from the 17,500 submissions.
2.2. Much more useful were the individual diocesan reports which gave weightings to the different issues.
3. Call for Participants
3.1. Each diocese used their own processes which were very opaque.
3.2. This resulted in 257 Delegates (35 bishops with a deliberative vote and 222 lay people with a consultative vote)
3.3. Catholics for Renewal appealed for a dispensation from Canon 433 which limits the number of lay people.
3.4. The Vatican agreed the dispensation and allowed an extra 40 (mostly women).
3.5. The Vatican also ruled that all attending were Members and not Delegates.
3.6. The Plenary Council is now made up of 280 Members:
3.6.1. 39 Deliberative Votes
3.6.2. 241 Consultative votes.
3.6.3. The Deliberative Votes over rule the consultative votes.
3.7. Of the 280 Members:
3.7.1. 52% are clerics
3.7.2. 48% are lay persons (most of whom are employed in church institutions)
3.8. Of the 280 Members:
3.8.1. 67% are Male
3.8.2. 33% are Female
3.9. The contact details for most of the Members have not been published. Unaccountable representatives?
Due to the pandemic the timetable has been changed:
Instrumentum Laboris was published January 2021 – a major disappointment
The Agenda is expected this month
Advisors, Experts and Guest Bishops (all non – voting) to be appointed
Members training in June/July 2021
First meeting in October 2021 in Adelaide; multi modal & regional hubs
Second meeting in 2022 in Sydney
The bishops elected Bishop Costello of Perth as President of the Plenary Council.
Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia stressed the Primacy of Conscience. The people of God in difficult situations can work out solutions to difficult issues like divorce and re-marriage. Reference was made to John O’Malley’s book “History of Change.”
The Australian bishops appear to have stacked the Plenary Council with fellow travellers. Inertia seems to be their tool of management. Cardinal Newman said listening to the people of God is not an act of charity; the bishops have a duty to listen.
Catholics for Renewal have two major concerns:
1. The Voting process. They would expect the bishops to have to publish their reasons if they vote against the Consultative vote. The bishops say they are not obliged to do so.
2. The Oath of Fidelity which all Members must take in support of the deposit of faith. This is broadly based on Pope Pius X letter Vehimenta Nos to the French hierarchy which refers to those who lead and those who follow. The deposit of faith expands from core doctrines to include the common discipline of the entire church and the Code of Canon Law!
The German Synodal Path does not have any oath for its Members; there all issues are on the table; all Members have votes, but for approval of resolutions there must be a two thirds approval from BOTH the full assembly AND two thirds of the bishops on their own.
Colm Holmes
15 May 2021
Notes:
1. The book “Getting Back On Mission” can be ordered from HERE
2. Catholics for Renewal website HERE
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Dr Luca Badini Confalonieri with Fr Helmut Schüller
WAC International response to Instrumentum Laboris
It is a dull document but perhaps all the cans that have been kicked down the Synodal road will yet create a din that cannot be ignored.
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Overall control of the Study Groups should be given to the Synodal Office
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We Are Church Ireland
C/O 49 Rockfield Avenue,
Perrystown,
Dublin 12.
D12H6F6
Ireland