An important item on the 1905 Plenary Council agenda was the evangelisation of Australia’s Aboriginal peoples. The 1844 first Provincial Council made no mention of this ministry, but the 1869 second Provincial Council decreed that their “conversion” be confided to some male religious congregation, denounced the injustices committed against them, and recommended a special vicariate apostolic for north Queensland. The 1885 first Australasian Plenary produced six policy decrees (nn. 203-208) for ‘propagating the faith among the aborigines’ whom it considered ‘capable of and willing to embrace Christianity’, but the predominantly Irish bishops who had formulated the decrees generally ignored them. The 1895 second Australian Plenary Council merely endorsed the 1885 decrees.

This is the first of a six-part series of articles by Peter Wilkinson looking at the provincial and plenary councils of the Catholic Church held in Australia between 1844 and 1937. It examines the Third Australian Plenary Council held in Sydney from 3 to 10 September 1905.

Two Plenary Council Perth lay delegates feature in The eRecord’s latest podcast recording on Friday 11 September for an in-depth discussion about their hopes and dreams for the process.

The Perth Catholic community is invited to attend the commissioning of the Archdiocese of Perth Plenary Council delegates during Mass at 11am on Sunday 4 October at St Mary’s Cathedral.

The importance of the need to be an evangelising Church in Australia was emphasised at a recent free Plenary Council seminar, titled “Towards the Plenary Council 2020: Understanding a Missionary and Evangelising Church.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJe4-4XVUEI&feature=youtu.be How can we be a constructive part of a renewed Church and not initiators of a new church which would, in the end, be our own creation rather than God’s? This is the question presented by Plenary Council President and Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB in his paper on the theme of Discernment. The key, continued ...

Archbishop Costelloe has convened a new Strategy Engagement Group who will work with Archdiocesan Plenary Council Coordinator to respond to the emerging needs and opportunities in the Archdiocese of Perth for the on-going Plenary Council. Photo: Ron Tan. Plenary Council President and Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has convened a new strategic engagement group for the Archdiocese of ...

Plenary Council delegates Dr Marco Ceccarelli and Dr Angela McCarthy sat down with The Record journalists Eric Martin and Amanda Murthy to speak about all things Plenary Council.

The Archdiocese’s new Episcopal Vicar for Education and Faith Formation will present a workshop later this month to unpack the first of six Plenary Council themes.

The key to what we can do and must do to contribute to the rebuilding and renewing the Church lies in a careful consideration of what fidelity to the Lord and the Lord’s will for the Church look like.