The last Plenary Council held was in 1937… 81 years ago. Times have changed, let’s move forward together.
The Plenary Council is upon us all.
Submissions were accepted until Ash Wednesday, March 2019 and have now closed.
Please read the final submission from St Kevin’s Parish in Templestowe.
PlenaryPost edition 30 December 2020
FacilitatorFocu
s:
Hope-filled preparation — for Christmas and for the Council
Pope Francis, in the recent encyclical Fratelli Tutti, “invites everyone to renewed hope, for hope ‘speaks to us of something deeply rooted in every human heart … Hope speaks to us of a thirst, an aspiration, a longing for a life of fulfilment, a desire to achieve great things, things that fill our heart and lift our spirit to lofty realities like truth, goodness and beauty, justice and love … Hope is bold … and can open us up to grand ideals that make life more beautiful and worthwhile’. Let us continue, then, to advance along the path of hope.”
Some of the preparations taking place at the moment include finalising the working document for the Plenary Council, known as the instrumentum laboris, and the statutes and regulatory norms that will help guide the proceedings of the assemblies.
As this most unusual of years nears its conclusion, it is timely to offer thanks to so many who have, in one way or another, contributed in varied, unique and special ways to the Plenary Council. Our prayer is that the Holy Spirit continues to guide us all and leads us into a hope-filled future and, as Pope Francis says, “Let us continue, then, to advance along the path of hope”.
Our great thanks and wishes of blessings and peace for you and all your loved ones this Christmas.
Peter
TalkTheology
Synodality and Mission
First assembly moves to “multi-modal” delivery
Ambassador: Pope is watching Australia
Chiara Porro took up her post in August and, in an interview with Parramatta Diocese’s Catholic Outlook, she said the Holy Father is “switched on to what is happening in Australia”.
One reason is because of the Church’s recent engagement with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the ambassador said. She added that the Church in Australia is seen as dealing with the issue of child sexual abuse more effectively than some other countries.
But the Pope is also looking to the future.

“Pope Francis is now watching things like the Plenary Council and how the Australian Bishops Conference manages this point in time. He is seeing how they refocus and highlight all the good work done by the Catholic community in Australia,” says Ambassador Porro.
Click here to read more from Catholic Outlook.
Mary MacKillop and the Plenary Council
December 2020
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop is one of two saints — the other being Our Lady Help of Christians — whose intercession is asked for in the Plenary Council prayer.
And one of the people helping continue Mary MacKillop’s legacy says Mary is someone who lived the life the Council’s themes envision.
“I think of the Plenary Council that we are going through as a Church in Australia and I have seen the themes for discernment. Mary MacKillop brought to life these themes in her work,” said Antoinette Mangion, coordinator of the Blacktown Josephite Companions group and a member of the NSW leadership team.
“She was missionary and evangelising. She was inclusive. She was humble, and steadfast, in the work she did. She was prayerful and Eucharistic. She brought people together in thanksgiving. She called the ‘Will of God’ her ‘Book of Life’. And she lived that story as true as she could.
“Again, Mary lived hundreds of years ago, but her story and the Plenary Council themes for discernment speak to each other so much. I can see that the themes we have been offered through Plenary are not new, but like Mary did, brought them to life as she responded to the world in which she lived.”
Click here to read more on Mary MacKillop and the Plenary Council from Catholic Outlook.
The ongoing journey of discernment
Prayer, discernment and reflection were central to a recent gathering of Plenary Council delegates from the Archdiocese of Perth as they continue to prepare for the Council assemblies.
The two-hour session was facilitated by St John of God Health Care mission leader Tara Peters, pictured above, who also sits on the Archdiocese of Perth Plenary Council Strategy and Engagement Reference Group. It began with delegates sharing their experiences of personal and group discernment, before reflecting on Scriptural passages.
“Recognising that this is a newly formed group, this is one of many upcoming opportunities to come together as representatives of the Archdiocese, and participate in a shared discernment process with purpose and intentionality,” Ms Peters said.
During the session, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB spoke briefly about the need to listen in this process of discernment.

“A group discernment provides the wisdom of, in one sense, the whole Church … we need the wisdom of other people to listen to that openly,” Archbishop Costelloe said.“That is a key part of listening to the Holy Spirit.
Click hear to read more from The Record.
Plenary Council challenges and opportunities
By Rev Peter Maher | Editor of and for The Swag
“a stark reminder of the challenges ahead for those who think the discernment and consultation process is commonly understood by all involved. It is shaping up as a power battle despite the language used generally.”
Have you seen it?
senseofthefaithful.org .au

“I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the centre and which then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures.”
• The launch of the Plenary Council encouraged 220,000 people to speak out on much needed change in our
• 26 Melbourne parishes (including St Kevin’s) came together and sent a joint statement to all the bishops
• The same group of parishes has established a website called “senseofthefaithful.org.au” to facilitate
The current delay of the Plenary Council process for 12 months is both a blessing and a curse. It gives us more time to consider the written material that will be the basis of the Council discussions; however, there is some scepticism the delay will slow the momentum for change.
• We invite you to sign up to become a subscriber (no cost involved) to the Sense of the Faithful website;
We hope you enjoy its content and that it inspires you to respond. See the link above.
Towards the Plenary Council Working Document: Some Reflections
[1] The members of the Editorial Committee are: Anne Marmion (St Thomas the Apostle, Blackburn); Richard Curtain (St Carthage’s, Parkville); John Davies (St Joseph’s, Malvern); Rowan Ireland (St Francis Xavier’s, Montmorency); and Fr Gerry McKernan and Peter Sheehan (St Kevin’s, Lower Templestowe).
[2] The members of the writing team are Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, Mr Daniel Ang, Dr Trudy Dantis and Fr Kevin Lenehan. For further details see https://plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au/staff/.
Discernment Papers Released
In his paper, entitled “A Journey of Discernment”, Archbishop Costelloe begins by examining the genesis of the Plenary Council, retraces the journey so far and offers insights into the period leading up to the assemblies in 2021 and 2022, as well as the implementation phase beyond.
In the paper, which was published today on the Plenary Council website, Archbishop Costelloe explains the “three fundamental fidelities which need to always be in play, much like a juggler needs to keep three balls in the air and not allow one of them to fall to the ground”.
“Those three fidelities are: fidelity to God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ, made known to us in the Scriptures, and pre-eminently in the four canonical gospels, as those Scriptures are lived and believed in within the community of faith; fidelity to the ongoing presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Church over the last 2,000 years in fulfilment of the promise of Jesus that the Holy Spirit would lead the disciples into the fullness of the truth (cf John 16:13); and fidelity to the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church, and the world, today, speaking to us in the signs of the times (the concrete circumstances of our individual and communal experience) as they are interpreted in the light of the gospel (Gaudium et Spes 4).”
Click here to download the paper.
Archbishop Costelloe introduces the paper in this video below:

Sophy Morley, the coordinator for liturgy and pastoral ministry and Plenary coordinator in Sale Diocese (pictured above), says the Vatican Instruction The Pastoral Conversion of the Parish Community in the Service of the Evangelising Mission of the Church diagnoses a critical shift in recent decades.
The document “highlights the changing nature of parish life from it being no longer ‘the primary gathering place and social centre’ for people as it once was, to a redefinition of parish as one that is not defined by its geographical territory alone”, Mrs Morley said.
“I think that many parishes are still coming to terms with what this means for their life as a community of faith.”
Daniel Ang, the director of the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation, told The Catholic Weekly that the new Vatican document “underscores any structural renewal within our dioceses must be underpinned and at the service of spiritual renewal, to render our parishes ever more conducive to the encounter with Christ that it serves and makes present”.
Deacon Peter Pellicaan, the director of Evangelisation Brisbane, said the Holy See demonstrates through the document that it “believes that renewal will not come from the abandoning of existing structures but rather from the personal encounter with Jesus that transforms the lives of the faithful and imbues them with faith, hope and love”.
“It is this encounter that makes the Church look, feel and sound more like Jesus – and that’s a Church that is attractive, life-giving and can’t help but be relevant,” Deacon Pellicaan told The Catholic Leader.
Click here to read more from the Bishops Conference’s Media Blog.
Plenary Council 2021/22 journey – Phase 2 -Let’s Listen & Discern Workshops


St Kevin’s Parish
Phase 2 Submissions
Women and Ministry in the Church

Incremental set of 2020/2021 Plenary issue summary documents
1) Sensus fidelium (sense of faith of Christ’s faithful) [Dec. 2019] document
2) Synodal governance for a pastoral church [Jan. 2020] document
3) Co-responsibility: sharing in church governance [Feb. 2020] document
4) Clericalism [March 2020] document
5) Women and Ministry [April 2020] document
…and more till to come over the next few months – subscribe here
6) Priests and celibacy [May 2020]
7) Subsidiarity [June 2020]
8) Signs of the times [July 2020]
Final National Report released
Theme ‘Snapshot’ reports published
Click on the individual ‘snapshots’ (pictures) above to view/download
Plenary2020 Update: Submission statistics show Council’s national reach

