Bishop Shane Mackinlay addresses the Plenary Council in Sydney, July 2022 (CNS/The Catholic Weekly/Giovanni Portelli)

Australia’s Plenary Council provided a “positive and transformative experience of discernment and synodality”, Sandhurst Bishop Shane Mackinlay told the Synod of Synodality on Wednesday.

Bishop Mackinlay, who served as vice-president of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia that ran from 2018 until 2022, was invited to offer a reflection on that journey during the current Synod’s 12th general congregation.

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Despite the referendum to establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in the Constitution not succeeding, Australia needs to find a way to address the inequalities many First Nations people face, Bishop Charles Gauci has said.

Bishop Gauci, chair of the Bishops Commission for Relations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, has issued a statement following yesterday’s poll. He said although the idea of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament was not supported by a majority of Australians, “that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do something”.

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Personal and communal conversion is possible when a pastoral mission begins and ends with Jesus Christ, Broken Bay Bishop Anthony Randazzo told fellow participants in the Synod on Synodality on Monday evening.

Bishop Randazzo, president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania, celebrated Mass and preached on Monday evening as more than 350 Synod participants attended a retreat before the Synod opens on Wednesday evening Australian time.

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by Bishop Shane Mackinlay

Later this week, I will be one of 15 Australians and hundreds of people from around the world heading to Rome for the first assembly of what has become known as the “Synod on Synodality”.

Next month’s assembly, and another to follow in October 2024, are the continuation of what has been dubbed “the world’s largest ever consultation”. When you consider that almost 120 bishops conferences from every part of the world gathered the thoughts of the People of God in their dioceses, that claim makes sense. Continue reading →

Australia’s Catholic bishops say the issues surrounding the proposed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice “are not just political”, but are also “moral and ethical”, in a statement ahead of next month’s referendum.

In Towards the Referendum, the bishops encourage all Australians to educate themselves, including by reading the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the bishops’ annual Social Justice Statement. They also invite people to listen to others’ hopes and fears.

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The Church has rejected “unfounded allegations” made by West Australian politicians that it failed to abide by the state’s mandatory reporting laws, saying it takes its reporting obligations seriously.

In a statement provided to Channel Seven, which has run several stories this week based on the leaked report from the Church’s investigation into former Broome Bishop Christopher Saunders, the Church confirmed it had provided a copy of the report to Western Australia Police deputy commissioner Allan Adams.

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A statement from Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB
Archbishop of Perth, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

The allegations against the former Bishop of Broome, Christopher Saunders, broadcast on Monday evening are very serious and deeply distressing, especially for those making the allegations. It is right and proper for them to be thoroughly investigated.

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Bishop Charles Gauci, John Lochowiak and Sabrina Stevens are among the Australians who will participate in the International Conference on Catholic Indigenous

Five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will attend an international Catholic gathering in Washington D.C. next week, along with indigenous people from the United States, Canada and New Zealand.

The Australian delegation will take part in the International Conference on Catholic Indigenous, which had originally been scheduled for 2020 but was postponed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions that year.

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Catholic communities across Australia are being encouraged to reflect on the Holy Family’s experience as migrants as the Church prepares to mark the 109th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

Dating back to the First World War, the commemoration takes places on the final Sunday in September – September 24 this year. It will come just after Pope Francis travels to Marseille, France, for a cultural festival called “the Mediterranean Encounter”.

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The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia have published a report updating the Church’s progress in implementing the relevant recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

On the five-year anniversary of the initial response, the report is part of the Church’s ongoing efforts to be publicly accountable for how it is working to create, maintain and enhance safe environments for children and all people who are at risk.

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