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Who will carry the Australian church’s mission into the future? And how will the next generation of lay Catholics be accompanied to lead the church’s vital education, health, social and spiritual ministries, especially in regional and rural communities?
‘Lay people are running on empty when it comes to the critical decision making they’re being called into in 2025,’ says Virginia Ryan. She's inaugural CEO of the Catholic Leadership Foundation, recently launched by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in response to the call of Australia’s Plenary Council and the global synod for lay Catholics to be formed for mission in a church which has prioritised the formation of ordained and consecrated members.
Mentioned in this episode:
Article on Cardinal McElroySynod final document summary in The Tablet, 2 Nov 2024, and whole document on synod websiteCardinal Grech’s letter on the accompaniment process of the implementation phase of the synodEnquiries about the Catholic Leadership Foundation can be emailed to [email protected]. Follow Plenary Matters on Facebook, and stay tuned for our new name – and look – still to come!
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As Australians prepare to vote, how can our Catholic tradition help us to reflect on what matters? And how might the concept of synodality in the church influence broader relationships and decision making in the contemporary society?
Join Geraldine and two seasoned observers of the Australian church and society, John Warhurst and Eva Skira, for a thoughtful discussion on faith and politics today.
Amid polarisation and a changing world order, is synodality, as John says, ‘something that we as a church have to offer at the moment’?
Mentioned in this episode:
Professor Anna Rowlands’ Trócaire lecture, 'A Politics of Hope and Catholic Social Teaching as a Guiding Light' The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference federal election statement, Called to Bring Hope in the Year of JubileeNational Catholic Education Commission federal election documentJohn Warhurst’s Eureka Street article, 'Synodality and the federal election: What should the bishops say?'CathEvents online hubLet us know your suggestions and feedback via the Plenary Matters Facebook page.
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First up in this new series of Plenary Matters, Geraldine speaks with Fr Hans Zollner, a world expert in the safeguarding and protection of children and adults at risk. He’s been speaking in Australia and New Zealand on the progress made in the Catholic Church, including the leading role of women, as well as the new global and pastoral frontlines of safeguarding.
Change in the church ‘doesn't come like a miracle,’ says Zollner. ‘We need to work constantly in dissemination and in education of people who are committed to safeguarding.’
Don't miss this conversation with a true change agent in the church.
Mentioned in this episode:
Interview with Archbishop Ryan Jimenez at the synod in RomePope Francis appoints Sr Simona Brambilla as Vatican’s first female prefectThanks for listening! We'd love to hear from you, including suggestions for a new name, via the Plenary Matters Facebook page.
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Two of Australia’s most seasoned representatives at the Synod in Rome, Susan Pascoe AM and Bishop Shane Mackinlay, join Geraldine to discuss what’s in the final document and what happens next. While the pace of change may vary in different parts of the church, they both have witnessed moments of conversion – and grace – throughout the 3-year process.
For Susan Pascoe, a facilitator and member of the methodology commission that produced the initial guide for the global synod on synodality, and part of the writing team for the continental stage, the authenticity of the process now needs to be reflected in the implementation phase. And Shane Mackinlay sees parallels with Australia’s Plenary Council in how synod delegates responded to the process around the issue of women in the church.
With thanks to the Polish Sisters of the Resurrection in Rome for hosting our recording of this Plenary Matters episode!
Read Christopher White's article, 'Synod's final report calls for all baptized Catholics to shape future church'Watch the final press briefing with Cardinals Hollerich and GrechCardinal Fernández: Let us work to give women more space and powerCardinal Grech's homily on Monday of synod's final weekAustralia's Archbishop Timothy Costelloe elected to the synod councilThankyou for following our coverage from Rome! Send us feedback and suggestions via the Plenary Matters Facebook page.
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As the Synod on Synodality enters its final week, Timothy Radcliffe urged delegates to speak with freedom as they consider and vote on the final document. Delegates were also addressed by head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Cardinal Fernandez, whose absence from a meeting on women's ministries provoked indignation among delegates.
Synod expert and papal biographer Austen Ivereigh attended the Friday meeting of study group 5 and says it was an important moment for seeing synodality in action.
He tells Geraldine this synod is 'a holy process' with the Spirit 'pouring out gifts and charisms on us all, which need to be better recognised by the Church.’ It's a call to both rights and responsibilities for the transformation of the Church.
Links from episode:
Cardinal Fernandez's statement Timothy Radcliffe's meditation also available on YouTubeNCR's Christopher White report, 'Outrage follows Vatican doctrine chief's absence from synod meeting on secretive women's study group'Synod forum with Timothy Costelloe and Catherine CliffordAusten's Tablet report, 'View from the Synod' Austen's article on compost, 'A Steaming Synod'Thanks for listening! Follow more Rome coverage via our Plenary Matters Facebook page.
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Baptised Catholics are 'the principal presence of the Church in the world', says Professor Catherine Clifford. She's one of the Canadian delegates to the Synod on Synodality, an expert on Vatican II, and is overseeing the drafting of the final text that will be voted on by all the delegates in the last week.
When Pope Francis asked bishops to consult people about their experiences in and hopes for the Church, it awakened expectations among Catholics everywhere that they are central to the Church's mission. And they're asking be formed – to pray, to discern, to read the Scriptures – so how will the Synod respond to this global search? And what resources can be redirected to accompany people on the margins not just in a material sense, but also socially and spiritually?
Watch Timothy Radcliffe's reflection on the Syrophoenician woman in the Paul VI hall.Mark O'Connor's 3rd letter from the Synod in Catholic OutlookKeep up with more coverage from Rome via our Plenary Matters Facebook page.
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Who might help or scuttle all these bold ambitious plans for synodality? Tales of the Roman Curia – the Vatican civil service – are replete with villainy, but its constant reform under successive popes may surprise.
Monsignor Anthony Ekpo has worked in the Roman Curia for eight years, first in the Secretariat of State and last year Pope Francis appointed him Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He's seen intelligent women and men – lay, religious and clergy – work quietly out of sight in service of Pope Francis, who might drop by unannounced to greet staff.
But will this powerful machinery accept the synodal reform in a global Catholic church that is decentralising while facing year on year deficits?
Further reading:
Anthony Ekpo's book, The Roman Curia: History, Theology, and OrganizationMassimo Faggioli, 'Too holy to fail? Vatican finances and the globalisation of Catholicism,' La Croix InternationalThanks for your feedback! Send your suggestions via our Plenary Matters Facebook page.
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What does synodal leadership mean for a bishop? Archbishop Ryan Jimenez is wrestling precisely with that question after being appointed as the new archbishop of Agaña, Guam, amid a crisis of sexual abuse in his diocese.
He's new to the synod – his appointment came after the first assembly last year – but he's using this month in Rome for deep reflection on his role in what he believes is the 'era of the laity.'
As president of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (CEPAC) he also brings lived experience of Pope Francis' peripheries – in the region and in his own migrant story – to the synod table.
This episode was recorded in the Centro Velehrad after the forum at the Augustinianum on 'The Role and Authority of the Bishop in a Synodal Church.'
Share your thoughts and follow more coverage from Rome via our Plenary Matters Facebook page.
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One of the most influential lay women at the synod in Rome is Professor Anna Rowlands, who believes a relational revolution is underway inside the synod hall.
Working in the synod office for the past two years on secondment from Durham University, she sees the building of a relational fabric – including relations between women and men – as the basis of being a global synodal church.
Catch up on Timothy Radcliffe's pre-synod meditations, and also his latest reflection on part two of the synod working document.
Keep listening! And keep in touch via the Plenary Matters Facebook page.
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God nudging us along, is how synod expert Eamonn Conway describes the process happening inside the Paul VI hall. He attended a previous synod, in 2012, but this synod he believes is fundamentally reshaping the mission of the global church, which 'can only succeed if the gifts and charism being given by the Holy Spirit to every single baptised faithful is enabled to flourish.' The choice, as he says, is whether we choose change or have change overtake us.
You can follow the opening prayers each day inside the synod hall via Vatican YouTube.Watch Massimo Faggioli's webinar, sponsored by the Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform and Garratt Publishing.Let us know your thoughts via the Plenary Matters Facebook page!
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Welcome to Roma where the global Catholic church is meeting for this final assembly of the Synod on Synodality. To set the scene Geraldine chats with Br Mark O'Connor, Vicar for Communications for the Diocese of Parramatta, who has a close eye on the proceedings and participants, including the men whom Pope Francis has just named cardinals in a move that has renewed attention on the global shifts underway in Catholicism following his recent visit to our region.
Also mentioned in this episode:
Mark O'Connor's 1st letter from the Synod in Catholic OutlookMichael W. Higgins' book, The Jesuit Disruptor: A Personal Portrait of Pope FrancisGeraldine's Compass episode, 'Pope Francis: The Disruptor,' on ABC iviewLet us know your thoughts via our Plenary Matters Facebook page.
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Ahead of Pope Francis’ trip to our region, Plenary Matters caught up again with Augustinian Assistant General Fr Tony Banks during his recent visit to Australia. He’s been involved with preparations for the pope’s visit to the border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea where prayer and diplomacy meet.
He believes that the real impacts of synodality are on the ground, in local decision making, and the implementation of regional differences that put people at the centre of pastoral work. And like Francis, the bishops still have a journey to go.
Geraldine will be back soon! You can join her along with Jesuit priest Fr Frank Brennan, synod advisor Dr Sandie Cornish, and members of Australian Catholics Exploring the Diaconate (ACED), at the St Phoebe Webinar on 3rd September.
Get in touch via our Plenary Matters Facebook page!
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Synodality is ‘a different way of living’ unity in diversity, according to theologian and canon lawyer Myriam Wijlens who has been closely involved in the global synod. And Europe’s diplomatic leaders are taking note.
Cardinal Hollerich, one of four male clerics who presented the working document for the second session of the synod in Rome, thinks synodality can bridge polarities. But can the church be a credible witness while only ordaining men to speak on its behalf?
The people of God need new lenses, Myriam tells Geraldine, that can focus on the local church while remaining recognisably Catholic. And it’s this multi-focal approach that the synod is also testing for women to speak and lead in the church.
You can watch the interview with Myriam Wijlens, recorded at the Diocese of Parramatta as part of the Bishop Vincent Presents series, and also read an interview with Cardinal Hollerich, ‘If women do not feel comfortable in the church, we have failed’.
As always, please share your thoughts via the Plenary Matters Facebook page!
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Fresh from her meeting with Pope Francis, Associate Professor Maeve Heaney VDMF joined Geraldine at the Spiritual Care Australia conference to speak about holding together tension in the church, and how music has helped her to name experiences of vulnerability through illness.
Two years on from Australia’s Plenary Council, and in the wake of Francis’ ‘no’ to women’s ordination to the diaconate during his CBS interview, Maeve thinks we need to find ways truthfully and creatively to ‘untie the knot’ between ordination and authority in the church.
Mentioned in the episode:
Maeve's meeting with Pope Francis as part of the International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology (INSeCT)Brisbane and Sydney forums on synodality with synod delegate and Jesuit Fr OrobatorPapal nuncio to US Cardinal Christophe Pierre's address, 'Becoming a universal church'International theologian Dr Myriam Wijlen's lectures in Sydney and Melbourne in August, and in Brisbane at Holy Spirit Seminary on 24 July.Get in touch via the Plenary Matters Facebook page!
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At the Spiritual Care Australia conference held at the Australian Catholic University in North Sydney, Geraldine sat down with keynote speaker, Rev Jon Owen, CEO and pastor of the Wayside Chapel, which turns 60 this year.
They discuss the spiritual needs of communities still seeking ritual, as in the aftermath of the Bondi shootings where Wayside has opened a chapel. It's when we come together to share stories, Jon says, that we can remedy the social impacts of loneliness and mitigate the temptation to retreat into easy answers.
Mentioned in the episode:
Papal nuncio to US Cardinal Christophe Pierre's address, 'Becoming a universal church'.International theologian Dr Myriam Wijlen's lectures in Sydney and Melbourne in August. She will also be speaking at Holy Spirit Seminary in Brisbane on 24 July.Thank you for listening! Would love to hear your feedback on the Plenary Matters Facebook page.
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Hear from some inspired leaders, fresh from an international conference in Canberra, about a church alive in Catholic education today.
Barbara Coupar from Scottish Catholic Education Service, Ross Fox from Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn and Peter Woods from the ACU La Salle Academy have all seen the confidence-building of students, teachers and leaders where conversations about faith are encouraged in and outside the classroom.
And they want the conversations to extend beyond schools to the whole church.
Read more about the conference, A Current of Grace: Renewing Catholic Schools as Centres of Evangelisation.
Share your ideas and suggestions via the Plenary Matters Facebook page.
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Two years on from Australia’s Plenary Council, Catholic schools are taking up Pope Francis’ call for bold action in living the contemporary mission of the Church in Australia.
Deputy CEO of Catholic Schools NSW Danielle Cronin says Catholic schools are no longer immune to the challenges of social cohesion. But it’s ‘in our DNA,’ she says, to see the whole child, including the families and communities around them, as the mission of Catholic education today.
From the Diocese of Lismore to the tiny town of Wee Waa, the ‘Connected Catholic Communities’ initiative is responding to the diverse and distant needs inside and beyond the school gate. It’s a holistic model, based on partnerships – and hope.
Read La Civilta Cattolica's interview with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, ‘The Church is more than it seems’ Contact Catholic Schools NSW for more information about 'Connected Catholic Communities'See details about the May 26 forum, 'Becoming synodal people' Catch up also on the March forum on women deacons.Thanks for listening! Get in touch via the Plenary Matters Facebook page.
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In this special episode of Plenary Matters Geraldine speaks about hope with Dominican priest Timothy Radcliffe during his recent visit to Australia.
Pope Francis appointed Fr Timothy as spiritual advisor to the synod on synodality and his series of talks and meditations to synod delegates set the tone for the synod’s call to journey together as a global human family.
Timothy tells Geraldine he thinks the church has something to offer a multipolar world. But it may cost us. ‘This crisis will really put us to the test whether we are the body of Christ in which the walls are broken down between north and south and east and west,’ he says.
Mentioned in the show:
Ezra Klein's interview with author Marilynne RobinsonTimothy Radcliffe's new book with Lukasz Popko, Questioning God (Bloomsbury)See also Timothy's synod reflections and talks, Listening Together: Meditations on Synodality (Liturgical Press)You can also catch up on Plenary Matters' coverage from Rome:
The synod gets underwayA church under pressureHistory making at the synodLetter to the people of GodShare your thoughts on the Plenary Matters Facebook page
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Welcome back to a new season of Plenary Matters!
Up first is renowned Czech theologian Tomáš Halík, in Australia last month to discuss his new book, The Afternoon of Christianity, with Australian Jesuit Frank Brennan. Drawing on his experience of an underground church, Tomáš calls for a deepening spirituality that goes beyond the institutional and mental borders of Christianity to meet the ‘Galilee of today’.
Is the church ready for the task?
Watch the discussion on the Diocese of Parramatta's YouTube channel, as part of the 'Bishop Vincent Presents' series, and leave your feedback via the Plenary Matters Facebook page.
Read the National Catholic Reporter's review of Tomáš Halík’s book: 'The Afternoon of Christianity' sets stage for courageous change
We’ll also post a link in future episodes to the discussion on women deacons Geraldine mentions at the end of the episode.
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Christopher White, Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, sat down with Geraldine during his recent visit to the Diocese of Parramatta to give some revealing anecdotes and insights into the synod's first assembly.While the dismantling of hierarchy may be a step still too far for some delegates, he believes the next papal enclave will be a referendum on synodality.
He also told Geraldine any correspondence to the pope on matters like women deacons can be sent c/- Prefecture of the Papal Household, 00120 Vatican City State.
You can watch the interview on the Diocese of Parramatta's YouTube channel, as part of the 'Bishop Vincent Presents' series.
Keep up to date via the Plenary Matters Facebook page!
- Se mer
