Plenary Council Assembly Two

Watch the live-streams here

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SATURDAY, JULY 9

Plenary Council – Ballarat Members Marie Shaddock and Felicity Knobel pictured with Bishop Paul (L-R) brought up the gifts in the Offertory procession for the Closing Mass of the Plenary Council on July 9.

Fifth Plenary Council of Australia closes

The nine-month celebration phase of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia ended on Saturday, with Council Members standing and applauding as president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB formally declared the Council closed.

Almost four-and-a-half years after preparations for the Council began, Members met for a final session to bring to a conclusion the second general assembly, held across six days in Sydney.

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Concluding Statement, read here..

Second Assembly Podcast (Day 7 – Saturday, 09 July 2022) – Michael Kenny with Bishop Anthony Randazzo (Diocese of Broken Bay, Sr Monica Cavanagh RSJ (Congregational Leader of the Sisters of St Joseph) and Eva Skira (Chair of the Association of Ministerials PJPs & Chair of the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia) Listen here.

Plenary Council Media Briefing with Archbishop Timothy Costelloe is a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco and the Archbishop of Perth. He has spent the last four-plus years as president of the Plenary Council and will next week take on the role of president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference; Danny Casey has been Director of Schools, Broken Bay since April 2020. Danny’s previous roles include the Business Manager for the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and Director of the Secretariat for the Economy for Vatican City. He is known by many from his role as Chief Executive Officer for the 23rd World Youth Day held in Sydney in 2008; and Renee Kohler-Ryan is head of the School of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia. She has been heavily involved in the Plenary Council process as chair of a Discernment and Writing Group in 2019-2020, a Member and part of the Council’s drafting committee. Access here.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM FRIDAY, JULY 8

After six days of discussing, discerning and voting on a number of important motions for the Catholic Church in Australia,. Highlights of a very busy week:

Friday’s Votive Mass to Our Lady during the Plenary Council was an opportunity to encourage and strengthen prayer to Mary, the Mother of God. Bishop Paul Bird CSsR of Ballarat and Dominican Archbishop Anthony Fisher, homilist and principal celebrant respectively, both spoke of the protection Mary offers and the veneration she receives in the Western and Eastern rites of the Catholic Church.

On the final full day of the Plenary Council, Members have celebrated the passage of almost all motions contained in the Motions and Amendments document that formed the second assembly’s agenda. Eighteen of the nineteen motions considered on Friday passed. All five motions in Part 4 of the document, entitled “Witnessing to the Equal Dignity of Women and Men”, passed decisively. Read more.

Media Briefing with guests Julian Nguyen, Coordinator, Catholic Office for Youth and Young Adults, Archdiocese of Adelaide, Erin Gillard, Catholic Diocese of Wollongong and Fr Tony Corcoran, Provincial of the Marist Fathers in Australia.

Second Assembly Podcast (Day 6 – Friday, 08 July 2022) – Michael Kenny with Bishop Charles Gauchi (Bishop of Darwin Chair, Bishops Commission for Relations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Fr Dominic Murphy OP (Prior Provincial of the Dominican Friars Australia, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea and Dr Angela McCarthy (Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of Notre Dame Australia) Access here.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THURSDAY, JULY 7

Plenary Council backs action on ecology, Church governance reform: Plenary Council Members have passed all six motions they considered on Thursday across parts of the agenda in the areas of Church governance and integral ecology. Among the reforms backed were a call for the establishment of diocesan pastoral councils across the country, the hosting of diocesan synods within five years of the conclusion of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia and the undertaking of broad consultation about the creation of a national synodal body for Church collaboration. Continue reading →

Media Briefing with guests Francine Pirola, Bishop Michael Kennedy and Sr Anne Boyd csb. View here.

Second Assembly Podcast (Day 5 – Thursday, 07 July 2022) – Michael Kenny with Bishop Tim Harris (Diocese of Townsville, Sr Mary Julian Ekman (Sisters of Mercy of Alma) and Wendy Goonan, Member of the Plenary Council, Diocese of Parramatta) Access here.

No deliberative votes were taken on Thursday morning. The outcomes of any motions for which consultative and deliberative votes were taken on Thursday afternoon were published at 7pm in the evening on the Plenary Council’s Motions and Voting page here.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM WEDNESDAY, JULY 6

Members will reconsider two Plenary Council motions – The Members of the Plenary Council have spent Wednesday afternoon working together to reconsider a pair of motions that were not passed earlier in the day. In the first afternoon session, an overwhelming majority of Members backed a motion to reconsider the two motions from Part 4 of the Council’s Motions and Amendments document entitled “Witnessing to the Equal Dignity of Women and Men”. Continue reading →

Wednesday saw the proceedings of the Plenary Council interrupted after two motions did not achieve a qualified majority. During the afternoon, Members passed a motion that proposed a way forward. Watch some highlights from the third full day of the Council’s second assembly.

Media Briefing with guests Virginia Bourke, Archbishop Mark Coleridge and Sr Mel Dwyer FdCC. View here.

Second Assembly Podcast (Day 4 – Wednesday, 06 July 2022) – Michael Kenny with Sr Mary Ryan OP (Provincial Leader of the Dominican Sisters in Western Australia, Emeritus Professor John Warhurst (Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn) and Dr Jodi Steel (Diocese of Wollongong): Access here.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM TUESDAY, JULY 5

Plenary Podcast – Day 3 with Sr Clare Condon (Sister of the Good Samaritan, Expert Advisor, Plenary Council), Bishop Paul Bird (Bishop of Ballarat) and Sabrina-Ann Stevens (Kuku Yalanji and Yidnji Woman, Diocese of Cairns) : Access here

Media Briefing with guests, Dr Maeve Heaney VDMF, Bishop Mark Edwards OMI and Monica Conway. View here.

On the third day of the Plenary Council’s Second Assembly, the members heard from two of the Periti (Advisors) and also finalised the first batch of motions that will be voted on this week. Mass was celebrated by Bishop Michael McKenna.

Motions and Voting Outcomes

Over the past 24 hours, Members of the Plenary Council voted on six motions from the Motions and Amendments document. The voting was staged over two rounds – the consultative and deliberative votes. Read more.

Motions and voting outcomes found here.

Council Members Hear Wisdom From Theological Advisers

At the beginning of the second full day of the second assembly of the Plenary Council, members received input from two of the Council’s theological advisers — or periti — on topics being considered on Tuesday.

Speaking to the theme “Called by Christ: Sent Forth as Missionary Disciples”, Fr Patrick McInerney SSC quoted from the Vatican II document Ad Gentes, which he described as “revolutionising our understanding of mission”.

Sr Clare Condon, a Sister of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict spoke to the theme “Witnessing to the Equal Dignity of Women and Men”.