Walking Together
Update
During the holiday break, the Second Assembly of the Catholic Plenary Council gathered in Sydney. It brought together Bishops, Clergy and laity from a generous, diverse and complex Catholic community.
The Plenary was essentially looking at how the Church can reengage, rebuild trust and identify priorities. Whilst there was plenty of tension during the sessions, with many different visions for the future Church, the process of discernment was done respectfully with the large majority in support of Church renewal.
Pope Francis’ hopes for a synodal Church is reflected in the Plenary process and that the polarization within the Catholic community will continue to walk together in respectful synodal relationships. Francis has always encouraged us ‘not to disengage from polarisation but to engage with conflict and disagreement. This means resolving division by allowing for new thinking that can transcend that division.’ Pope Francis affirms that ‘this path of sodality’ is precisely what ‘God expects of the Church of the third millennium.’
The establishment of the Plenary, as stated by Archbishop Coleridge, comes from a sense in which the Church must change into a more humble and less rigid institution. The Archbishop believes there is an urgent need to find fresh ways of ministry and service for both men and women. He recognises the process moving forward requires attentive listening, giving dignity to others and honouring their experience.
There were many positive achievements from the Plenary with strong support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart, calling for a First Nations voice to Parliament to be enshrined in the Australian constitution. The Plenary also provided an opportunity to express “profound sorrow” to those who have been hurt through an encounter with the Church, those who have experienced marginalisation, “including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women, those divorced, those who identify as LGBTIQA+ and those who have suffered abuse of any form.” The Plenary also embraced the “urgent need” to develop an “integral ecology of life” that requires what Pope Francis has dubbed an “ecological conversion.”
The question of female deacons and the wider role of women in decision-making in the Church has been a part of Catholic conversation for some time. Pope Francis has openly encouraged discussion on this important issue for many. There are different and firmly held opinions on what a woman’s role is in the Church and what that should look like, even amongst women. Encouragingly, despite an initial setback, there was an unequivocal commitment ‘to enhance the role of women in the Church, and to overcome assumptions, culture, practices and language that lead to inequality.’ The contentious motion of women deacons was not just considered but would be examined as to how to best implement it, should Rome so authorise.
Despite criticism, there remains a great sense of hopefulness from the Plenary Council recommendations. Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly’s well known lyrics ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow,’ reminds us this Plenary gathering is the first small step in constructing new ways of the Church conveying the freshness of the Gospel.
Matthew Hutchison
Headmaster