THE Second Assembly of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia begins in earnest today with more than 270 Church members expected to endorse two motions of national importance – support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and an apology to First Nations peoples.
The members – bishops, priests, religious and lay women and men – will gather at St. Mary’s Cathedral College Hall in Sydney each day this week to debate and vote on key motions of importance to the Church outlined in a Framework for Motions.
Last night (July 3) a Mass at the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel in North Sydney celebrated the opening of the Plenary Council assembly and also Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday, as part of NAIDOC Week.
As bishops from diocese across Australia entered the chapel, an indigenous smoking ceremony was taking place, with the strong smell of burning eucalyptus leaves filling the chapel.
Many bishops paused to draw in the smoke as sign of respect as they passed closeby indigenous elders fanning the smoking leaves.
It is expected that today, plenary members will debate and vote on whether to support the Uluru Statement from the Heart which demands a stronger indigenous voice in national decision making.
Members are also expected to support saying sorry to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in and beyond the Church for past harms suffered.
Indigenous woman Sabrina Steven, a plenary member from Cairns, said she had great hope that reconciliation and greater acceptance of indigenous identity would be a fruit of the week-long plenary.
“ … that we are an inclusive Church and that people do feel that there’s a place for indigenous spirituality and belonging within the Catholic Church,” she said.
“Especially considering that we have a lot of young people who identify as Catholic – Indigenous young people.”
Delivering the homily, Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green spoke of the many struggles that befell the Israelites including slavery and exile, and how they became tired and lost faith in God.
Bishop Macbeth-Green, from the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes, compared the plight of the Israelites with modern day Australia.
“I think that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples could probably really resonate with the people of Israel in a way that most of us couldn’t,” he said.
“There are a lot of people in the church today who feel tired too.
“They’re have been profound changes they’ve seen in the church and in society.
“They have seen what was dear to them, their faith, seem to dissolve before their eyes in some case, with emptying churches and everything seeming to be going backwards instead of forwards.
“Many people are tired because they have been trying for years to be heard or to affect change.
“For some, their tiredness has turned into apathy towards the church and their faith.
“For others, it’s frustration, it’s anger, even intolerance.
“Our plenary Council could be, like the prophet Isaiah, a prophetic voice that communicates through the Church comfort, hope, and encouragement to a tired people.”
High profile plenary member Francis Sullivan, chair of Catholic Social Services Australia said he is optimistic the second assembly will produce change within the Church, but warned true reform starts at the margins.
“After a decade of revelations about sex abuse scandals, criminal convictions, and court-ruled payouts to its victims, the institution limps towards the second assembly of the Plenary Council less unified, less popular, and less certain of itself than ever before,” he said.
Mr Sullivan has criticised the plenary’s voting process that will see all members who aren’t bishops get a nonbinding consultative vote on motions, which pass with a two-thirds majority.
An approved motion is then referred to the bishops for a decisive vote the following morning, also on a two-thirds majority.
“The bishops’ hyper control of the Plenary processes speaks volumes for an organisation under threat, both from within and without,” Mr Sullivan said.
“This Second Assembly, despite the heavily orchestrated draft motions, the truncated consultations, the dubious administration of amendments and submissions, can still stand up for those humiliated and hurt by the Church.”
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