Plenary Matters

Here's a chance to hear a qualitatively different voice and tone reflecting the Church's possible future--listen and see if you agree.

Professor Anna Rowlands is a political theologian helping to shape the future of the Catholic Church. She presented the pope’s 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti at the Vatican and now she's been seconded from her university to work with the global synod team as well as supporting the Vatican’s research on politics, economics, climate and migration.

Ahead of the release of the synod working document that will set the agenda for the October meeting in Rome, she speaks with Geraldine about Francis’ vision to bring the separate voices of the church together. It’s not a papal diversity and inclusion strategy, although lay women and men will participate in this synod for the first time. But it does demand a new quality of encounter, one which is unafraid of conflict and fragility and can cope with mess! This is the ‘pearl of great price’ she says is what is personally being asked of us all.

You can watch the press conference and find the working document on the synod website.

Further reading:

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Fr Bill Uren SJ offers sage advice and a history lesson in the lead up to the synod in Rome. The late Cardinal Pell warned that synodal reform would water down bishops’ authority, but Fr Uren takes the long view that earlier popes had already centralised church decision-making in reaction to 19th century revolutions and part unintended consequence of Vatican II. He also detects in Pope Francis’ response to Germany’s synodal way a deep fear of an irrecoverable loss of direction.

Further reading/listening:

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Geraldine teases out both the potholes and possibilities of church renewal with keen observer Br Mark O’Connor fms. He’s clear-eyed about opposition to the pope’s reforms but ultimately, he believes, the synod is the best hope of implementing Vatican II.

Cardinal Martini in his last interview said: ‘Vatican II gave the Bible back to Catholics. Only those who perceive this Word in their heart can be part of those who will help achieve renewal of the church, and who will know how to respond to personal questions with the right choice.... Neither the clergy nor ecclesiastical law can substitute for the inner life of the human person.’

Further listening/reading:

Thanks for listening! Send feedback via the Facebook page Plenary Matters or email [email protected]

The need for Catholic educators to adapt religion to the modern classroom, operating amidst lower levels of religious literacy, has produced some good results in the Brisbane archdiocese. Their new RE program, Religion, Meaning and Life has been offered as a pilot course to Yr 11 and Yr 12 students across 17 Catholic schools since 2020 with an emphasis on personal reflection and dialogue in the classroom. Plus evaluation results among post-school students showed considerably raised interest in RE and in the worth of Catholic education more broadly.

Guests are Associate Professor Bill Sultmann, Deputy Dean of Australian Catholic University’s La Salle Academy, Mark Craig, Education Officer at Brisbane Catholic Education, and Catherine Rodden, Lead Education Advisor RE for Brisbane Catholic Education.

Further reading:

Join the conversation at the Facebook page Plenary Matters or email [email protected]

First up in this new series Geraldine speaks with Dr Monica Dutton who leads the Sisters of the Good Samaritan Study and Mentoring (SAM) Program, helping lay women aged 30+ to pursue theological training. Now in its third year, with the support of male congregation leaders in Australia, the program offers mentoring, spiritual accompaniment and financial assistance to equip women to become future leaders in their chosen fields including education, chaplaincy and canon law.

Further reading/listening:

Join the conversation at the Facebook page Plenary Matters or email [email protected]

Guests were Sr Nathalie Becquart XMCJ, Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops; Kirsty Robertson, CEO Caritas Australia; Paul McClintock AO, Chairman of Metlife Care, Director Catholic Health Australia, Chairman St Vincent's Health Australia; and Chiara Porro, Australian Ambassador to the Holy See.

You'll hear Sr Nathalie describe her role at the Vatican and now attending a wide range of different international synodal discussions. Paul McClintock eloquently teases out what's asked of people who realise, to their surprise, that they may need to think of themselves as 'church leaders'. Kirsty Robertson is inspirational, describing the commitment of women in the region. And Ambassador to the Holy See Chiara Porro said she really had noticed the power of the global Church to convene highly effective gatherings tackling entrenched disadvantage.

The discussion was recorded at The Chapel, in the Bethany Centre of the Diocese of Parramatta on Friday February 3. It is also available on the diocese's YouTube channel here.

Join the conversation at the Facebook page "Plenary Matters" or email [email protected]

Extra reading:

This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

In this new episode, Geraldine speaks to Archbishop Tim Costelloe, president of the Australian Bishops Council and Bishop Shane Mackinlay, bishop of Sandhurst in Victoria and vice-president of the Plenary Council. Speaking during afternoon breaks of the bishops’ regular November meeting, they both reflect on the significant impact of Australia’s five year Plenary Council journey; on the eventful two public sessions, on how many Australians Catholics chose to contribute while also recognising how many in and out of the pews probably knew little about proceedings. And they have both met Pope Francis in these last couple of months and reported, personally, on the experience for them and others, of such ambitious gatherings. In Bishop Mackinlay’s words, “I told the Pope the Church in Australia was alive”.

For those in Sydney, Bishop Mackinlay is speaking in the afternoon at 1.30, Nov 13 at the Crypt at St Patrick’s in The Rocks, as a guest of Catalyst For Renewal. It should be a very good conversation and all are welcome.

Here is the promised bonus episode in this series.

It offers a very rich---and bracingly realistic set of observations---about a Council from a seasoned Church participant, Fr David Ranson.

He was secretary to the Council and deeply absorbed, as you'll hear, in the lead-up, in the events of the week itself and now in assessing what comes next.

He might surprise you with his judgements. They're delivered by a man with an acute sense of Church procedures but also with an eye to possibilities. Let me know what you think.

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It's wrap-up time after a very big week in the life of the Church.

Listen and ponder these first thoughts from two key contributors to the Council: Sr Patty Fawkner, head of the Good Samaritan Sisters and a member of the Council organising committee.

Alongside Emeritus Professor John Warhurst, who was a scrutineer at the Council, ensuring the propriety of voting. He's a prominent member of the Concerned Catholics for Church Reform group from the Canberra-Goulburn diocese. They both feel transformational moments occurred but that there is much to come still, to ensure a welcoming, holy and world-facing Church.

Thanks for listening! Join the conversation at the Facebook page "Plenary Matters" or email [email protected]

Well prepare yourself for some powerful listening in this episode. Two guests join me who've been at the core of events this past week of surprises at the 2nd Assembly...and they're still pretty raw from the sheer intensity of it all.

First Archbishop Mark Coleridge, who as President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Council, persuaded his confreres to call this Council back in 2015, in an inspired moment following the Rome 2015 Synod on the Family.

Then Dr Maeve Heaney joins me, a feisty but faithful theologian/liturgist, who's President of the Aust Catholic Theological Assn (ACTA) plus Director of the Xavier Centre for Theological Formation and one of the launchers of the Xavier School of Preaching, in the Canberra-Goulburn archdiocese. I hope they convey some of the acute emotions on display this week: suggesting a Church far from Death Row, as has occasionally been the public impression portrayed over the last few years.