A coalition of 20 Catholic groups will this week push for significant reform of the church in Australia to make it more inclusive, saying the conservative stance of the late Cardinal George Pell “may have galvanised the mood” for change.
The Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform will gather on Thursday – the same day as the funeral planned for Pell at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral – in support of Pope Francis’s commitment to a more inclusive church and less autocratic and patriarchal leadership.
The ACCCR’s convocation will be opened by the archbishop of Perth, Timothy Costelloe, and will feature Francis Sullivan, the former head of the church’s response to child abuse royal commission, among its panellists.
Kevin Triston, an ACCCR project officer, said the timing of the gathering was coincidental as the event had been organised well in advance of Pell’s death.
But he said Pell’s strident opposition to reform and the timing of the two events set up an “interesting contrast … between celebrating the life of a man who was very determined to take the church back to where it was 100 years ago, [and] a gathering of people who want to see the church moving in a way that’s proving productive for its members”.
The event, titled the Synod on Synodality, will question the Catholic church’s centralised and patriarchal control.
“Synodality means a listening leadership, a form of leadership that has not been the norm in the Catholic church. The church’s leadership remains essentially patriarchal and autocratic,” the ACCCR said in a statement.
The ACCCR, an umbrella group for 20 pro-reform Catholic groups in Australia and New Zealand, supports a much greater role for women and laypeople in shaping the church, among other things.
The convocation is being held in response to Francis’s two-year canvassing of the Catholic laity on issues such as the church’s teaching on sexuality and the role of women. This is expected to come to a head at a meeting of bishops in October.
Pell, in a letter revealed after his death, described Francis’ approach as a “toxic nightmare”.
Triston said Pell, through his ultraconservatism and his posthumously revealed letter, had galvanised support for reform. He said Pell’s alternative was “rushing back to a very autocratic system” – “one where someone like George Pell would exercise authority without any accountability,” he said.
Triston said the consequences of failing to reform were clear.
“It’s already happened,” he said. “About 10% of nominal Catholics actually engage in any way with church activities. If that was happening in any business, heads would be rolling pretty fast, but church people seem to be quite laid-back about it.
“You have to ask yourself: is the organisation, the way it’s structured, fit for purpose?”
Preparations are continuing for Pell’s requiem mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney on Thursday.
Abuse survivors travelled from Ballarat, where Pell spent much of his career, to tie ribbons to the fence around St Mary’s. The act is designed to give voice to clergy victims and survivors, emulating an approach taken at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Ballarat.
“To me it’s unfinished business,” Ballarat abuse survivor Paul Auchettl told the Guardian last week. “So I’m going to tie ribbons on the fence for the people who are too sick to be there, who have died and can’t be there, and for families who are too angry to be there.
“ I’d like to tie ribbons for them.”
Ballarat child abuse survivor Paul Auchettl has travelled to St Mary's in Sydney in the lead up to Pell's requiem mass this week. He says he's there "for those who can't be". Within hours he says his ribbons were removed and one man told him off for "desecrating" the church. pic.twitter.com/Ac02yPMBUh
— Charlotte King (@CharEKing) January 29, 2023
Church staff have been regularly removing ribbons from the fence in the lead up to Pell’s funeral. They have already removed Auchettl’s ribbons, which were placed over the weekend.
The Sydney archdiocese has repeatedly declined to comment on why it is removing the ribbons. Loud Fence founder Maureen Hatcher, who led the practice of ribbon-tying in Ballarat, said earlier this month that removing them was damaging to survivors.
“Once you tie a ribbon to the fence, that’s what it becomes,” Hatcher said. “It becomes a symbol of a survivor or a victim, and it’s their voice, whether they’ve been able to speak out or not, it’s there.”
• Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
