Plenary Council 2020
The First General Assembly of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia ran from 3-10 October 2021. This national online gathering saw participants engage in spiritual conversations to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying to us as the members of the Catholic Church in Australia. An article from Vatican News provides a good summary of the key themes of the First General Assembly, including calls for ‘a more listening Church’. Recordings of each of the daily Masses and some of the Council sessions are available on the Plenary Council website at https://plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au/ This site also contains the First General Assembly Agenda, the Instrumentum Laboris, and other resources to help you engage with the process.
The Church now enters a time for “prayer, reflection, maturation and development” until the Second General Assembly, which is scheduled for July 2022. Please keep in your thoughts and prayers all those faithfully participating in the Plenary Council as they discern the way ahead for the life of our Church.
In another exercise in synodality, the global Church is preparing for the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. For more information on this and to provide your response to the synod questions, go to the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference site at https://www.catholic.org.au/synodalchurch







