The Plenary Council 2020 is now nearly six months into the second phase of preparation.
Following a long and detailed review of responses from the first phase of Listening and Dialogue, the National Centre for Pastoral Research has published the final report of the first phase the Plenary Council, capturing the voices of more than 222,000 people.
The 314-page report, which can be accessed from the Plenary Council website, provides insights into the 17,457 individual and group submissions received from May 2018 until March 2019.
It also outlines the Listening and Dialogue process, including the questions asked, the research methodology and the preparation of the final report.
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, President of the Plenary Council, said he hoped when people read the report, they “will be encouraged by the passion and commitment which the invitation to enter the journey has generated in such an extraordinary way”.
“In the first phase of our journey, this listening has produced an extraordinary treasure of ideas and proposals which represents the heartfelt response of many people,” he said.
“The great challenge ahead of us now is to ‘catch’ the voice of the Holy Spirit within the passionate, hopeful, but sometimes contradictory voices of God’s people.”
National Centre for Pastoral Research Director, Trudy Dantis, said the Plenary Council has already been one of the most ambitious research projects the Church has ever undertaken.
“For the bishops to invite the people of God in Australia to respond to such a broad question was a courageous move and the response was overwhelming,” Dr Dantis said.
“We could not have predicted the number of voices from which we would hear, but we were able to use high-level research and analysis tools to understand the threads and topics on which people spoke.
“This report is faithful to the stories told, the questions asked and the opinions shared.”
Archbishop Costelloe acknowledged that the invitation to open listening and dialogue, and the honest and open reporting of what arose from that, means that people “may be challenged, and even disturbed” by some of the responses.
“The ongoing journey of the Plenary Council provides us all with an opportunity to deepen our own reflection in the light of what other members of the Church have expressed, as together we now enter into the next phase of the journey: the Listening and Discernment phase,” he said.
It is after that time of discernment, which will run for several months, that the agenda for the Plenary Council will begin to emerge.
Archbishop Costelloe said the Plenary Council has been an exercise in being open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, with the Council’s theme drawn from the Book of Revelation: “Listen to what the Spirit in Saying.”
That ought to continue in the coming months, he explained.
“As we now enter into the crucial phase of Listening and Discernment […] may we be open to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit who will lead us into the fullness of the Truth (cf. Jn 16:13) and eager for that gift of humility which will equip us for the opportunities, the challenges and the joys which now lay ahead of us,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
Attadale Parishioner and Plenary Council Animator Dr Graham Mahony, spoke to The Record about his commitment to the process.
A member of the Catenian Association Australia Province of WA, Dr Mahony is one of the driving forces behind the co-ordination of Phase two across the Pastoral Care Community comprised of East Fremantle, Myaree, Palmyra and Attadale Parishes, as well as Catenian members and their families.
“What we’re trying to focus on is positive outcomes for the drafting committees without telling the Bishops what to do, we’re simply saying that these are some suggestions that you might want to consider, and that’s really what it’s all about,” Dr Mahony said.
“If we keep our heads too much in the clouds – in a constructive sense – people are just going to recreate the first phase again and we don’t want to do that.
“What we need to do now is to reflect and discern realistic, positive outcomes,” he explained.
The final report of the Listening and Dialogue phase can be found on the Plenary Council website by Clicking Here
From pages 26 to 27 of Issue 22: ‘The Church in Perth’ of The Record Magazine