By Eric Martin
Plenary Council President Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB said that in in response to the dramatic changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the bishops of Australia have made the “difficult, but necessary” decision to postpone the first assembly of the Plenary Council.
“In such a time of such upheaval, including severe restrictions on travel and group meetings, the postponement was unavoidable.”
“Even though it is possible Australia may have moved through the worst of this health crisis by October, our capacity to adequately continue the process of discernment and formation – for everyone in the Church and in particular for the delegates – is severely compromised,” he said.
Archbishop Costelloe said the Church’s current focus, and for the foreseeable future, was ensuring that people continue to be cared for pastorally, spiritually and emotionally during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Changes in the ways people live, work and communicate due to the pandemic led the Bishops Commission for the Plenary Council to consult with the advisory and planning teams, as well as the wider Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, with the decision made to postpone the assembly scheduled for October this year to be held in Adelaide.
The bishops will consider proposals for an alternative timeline for the Council’s two assemblies at their biannual meeting this May.
“The bishops remain committed to the Plenary Council journey and affirm that two assemblies will take place. This allows for the maturation of the discussions and discernment of the first assembly to develop with clarity and lead into the second gathering,” Archbishop Costelloe stated.
“The timing, the order and the location of the two assemblies will need to be re-examined, but it is hoped that having one assembly in Adelaide and the other in Sydney might still be possible.”
Plenary Council facilitator Lana Turvey-Collins said work had already begun to consider how the changed timeline provides opportunities to embed the practices of dialogue, listening and communal discernment.
“There is obvious disappointment in the postponement of the first assembly, especially so soon after the excitement of announcing the Plenary Council delegates,” she said.
“But once the pandemic has eased, people will have a thirst to look to the future – and the Plenary Council is about the future of the Church.”
Some 222,000 people participated in “Phase I: Listening and Dialogue”, contributing 17,457 submissions. This data reveals the current reality of the Catholic Church in Australia, some deeper hopes and questions and the diverse yearnings that we are now challenged to consider together.
The voices in the Listening and Dialogue submissions inspired The National Themes for Discernment, with the responses from the Writing and Discernment sessions drafting thematic papers towards making the agenda for the first assembly.
On 23 March, the Plenary Council announced more than 250 delegates for the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia, including laypeople nominated by dioceses, eparchies, ordinariates, and a personal prelature.
The delegates will represent those local churches at the celebration of the Council over two assemblies – originally planned for Adelaide in October 2020 and in Sydney in mid-2021.
The Shopfront Director Damian Walsh, Applecross Parish Youth Coordinator Emily Hardbottle, UNDA Senior Lecturer in Theology Angela McCarthy, and Centre for Faith Enrichment Director Marco Ceccarelli are the Perth lay delegates.
“I would like to echo what National Plenary Council Facilitator Lana Turvey Collins recently said concerning the postponement, while it may be disappointing for some, once the pandemic has eased, people will have a thirst to look to the future – and the Plenary Council is about the future of the Church,” Dr Ceccarelli said.
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