Time to have your say

THE Catholic Church in this country has recently launched the “journey” towards a gathering called a Plenary Council which will meet in 2020.

These are rare events in the Catholic Church which makes this journey significant. The word “Plenary” means “entire” or “open” which suggest that the Catholic Church is serious in her efforts to “open up” the possibilities for the Church from 2020 and beyond.

This gathering is in fact a gathering of the whole church in the sense that Bishops, Clergy and laity will participate in various ways and while the gathering won’t deal with matters of doctrine, it will have legislative power within the Australian Catholic Church.

For me, this gathering and the process that will lead to it is an exciting opportunity for the Church to examine in particular how it will spread the good news of Jesus Christ in a culture increasingly adverse to Christian values.

There really is not a more pressing matter of consideration for Catholics in Australia at this point of time; and this is the theme that Pope Francis has emphasised — how do we evangelise in a culture moving away from the Christian world view?

Of course, the Catholic Church, while it has done over- BISHOP OF TOWNSVILLE whelmingly good things in its hospitals, nursing homes, schools, social outreach, missionary endeavours and many other areas, it has experienced, in more recent times some very serious and catastrophic failures that have caused great harm to individuals.

The child sexual abuse matter still causes deep wounds to fester, but as I say, the Catholic Church has also been a leader in serving the community well.

The Pope captures the Church as it could be with these words: “The way in which we locate ourselves in history has changed. Things we thought would never happen, or that we never thought we would see, we are experiencing now, and we dare not even imagine the future. That which appeared normal to us — family, the Church, society and the world — will probably no longer seem that way. We cannot simply wait for what we are experiencing to pass, under illusion that things will return to being how they were before.”

The recent redefinition of marriage is a case in point. This matter would not have even been thought of in 1937 when the Catholic Church had its last Plenary Council.

Clearly then, the Catholic Church in Australia needs to talk. We need to reflect. We need to examine present situations. We need to look at what is working and what is not. We need to allow our Tradition to speak as a living Tradition to the present day.

This will be a mammoth task but everything is possible with God. The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, will help us and you are invited to contribute to the discussion leading up to our gathering. If you wish to contribute you can go to www. plen a r y c o u n c i l . c a t h o l i c . o r g . a u and follow the prompts. We are all invited to have our say in the hope of shaping the future of the Catholic Church in Australia.

Come Holy and renew the Church. Spirit Come face of the