The late Cardinal George Pell's efforts to undermine Pope Francis's commitment for a more inclusive church may have ironically galvanised the mood for reform in the Australian Catholic Church. More than 1400 Catholics have already registered for a forum on Pope Francis's commitment to an inclusive church - which Pell described as both a "toxic nightmare" of synodality and "an outpouring of New Age good will".
The Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (ACCCR) will present a virtual convocation of Catholics on Thursday, February 2, across Oceania to support Pope Francis' commitment to a synodal Catholic Church. Titled The Synod on Synodality - Why we should care, it aims to provide the participants with an understanding that synodality means a listening leadership, the possibility of the laity being more involved in church leadership, a radical change from the existing patriarchal and autocratic leadership.
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, has agreed to open the convocation in a sign that the church may be becoming more responsive to an informed and questioning laity as envisaged by Francis. The convocation comprises a panel of recognised Catholic leaders including Susan Pascoe AM, the chair of the Oceania Bishops taskforce and a member of the synod's global methodology commission, Francis Sullivan AO, the former CEO of the church's response to the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Grace Wrakia, national coordinator of the Lasallian Family in Papua New Guinea and a member of the Oceania synodal writing group, and Trish Gemmell a member of the Grail and one of many preachers in the Australian Women Preach podcast.
Synods, gatherings of bishops in Rome to discuss an issue, usually have a clear object. Recent ones include "Youth" and "The Family". This Synod on Synodality examines the way the church leads, the way it listens and decides, and the need for inclusion. All church members were invited to forward their issues for discussion for the initial gathering of bishops in October 2023. A further week in October 2024 has now been organised, acknowledging the need for ongoing conversations allowing all Catholics clergy and lay, to accept the need to listen respectfully to everyone on the mission and leadership of the church.
Submissions from around the world have all mentioned the same key issues, particularly the need for women to be treated equally and justly, and be recognised for their talents, experiences and abilities at all levels of the church. This includes ordination to the priesthood and being accepted as authorised to teach, sanctify and govern as bishops are called to do. The current thinking of the institutional church about complementarity of male and female roles excludes women from any meaningful role in the church, a church that would disappear if women stopped supporting it financially and practically.
A related issue is the masculine, patriarchal and clericalist nature of the current hierarchical church that allows sexual abuse, misogyny, homophobia and autocracy to flourish. A church that suppresses those whose lives are considered irregular, including the remarried divorced and the LGBTQIA+ members of the faith. Clericalism is also seen in some lay groups and individuals and must be rooted out from all parts of the church.
Francis' concept of servant leadership was mentioned in many submissions. The church needs bishops who "have the smell of the sheep" as Francis says, ones who really understand the issues that are important to Catholics in the 21st Century. Their failure to harness the gifts and talents of all the faithful severely limits the church's capacity to carry out its mission in the world.
Kevin Liston, chair of the coalition group SA Catholics for an Evolving Church, commenting on the convocation said: "We no longer live in a society where well-informed and educated people will simply do as they are told by a select group of often isolated men. Catholics seek a church that needs to get back to its Christian mission with inclusive and non-discriminatory leadership."
That call for reform is supported by the large number of registrations for the convocation and is sponsored by Garratt Publishing and the Yarra Theological Union (University of Divinity). Register at garratt.com.au
Eleanor Flynn and Peter Johnstone are co-conveners of ACCCR
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