OLSH RANDWICK, PREPARING FOR THE 2020 PLENARY SYNOD

Dioceses and parishes and particular groups have been involved in discussions to prepare submissions for the 2020 Plenary Synod.  Here is an example from MSC parish ministry.

Statement Summary of OLSH Group, Randwick, on the Plenary Council 2020:

We think God is calling our church to be more inclusive placing people ahead of rules akin to what Jesus lived and preached when he challenged Judaism to place people ahead of the law.

The sexual abuse scandal has revealed how much our church leaders lost their way. We were appalled with how our church leaders placed power and assets ahead of the protection of our nation’s young people. Regarding the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse we agreed that:

• ● Bishops and Leaders of Religious Orders should work with the Vatican in establishing a tribunal for canonical disciplinary cases

• ● Church leaders need to establish a transparent process for appointing Bishops which includes the direct participation of lay people.

• ● Australian Bishops need to promote more women to leadership positions in the Church. We considered that our present Australian church suffers from being 'overly institutional' rather than a 'community' based church. Members spoke of its clericalism and exclusiveness but saw this manifest not in our local parish but in the national church. Again this was linked to failures of our Bishops and the concentration of power into too few hands. We call upon the Australian church to:

• ● Remove the present mass text and replace it with the 1998 ICEL missal

• ● Strive for greater ecumenical ties with other Christian churches

• ● Investigate the introduction of a female diaconate

• ● Protect the seal of confession but re-introduce the option of the 3rd Rite of Reconciliation for pastoral reasons

• ● Re-examine the presentation of sexual morality in the Catholic Church regarding same sex attraction and other areas of personal morality…

• ● Allow divorcees who remarry outside the church to receive communion…

• ●Promote introduction of married clergy

We believe God is calling all those baptised to be more engaged in the life and mission of the church…(and) truly live up to the hopes and decisions of the Second Vatican Council which called on the laity to share in the salvific mission of the Church ( Lumen Gentium , 33)…

We spoke of the need for our national church…to seek the regaining of trust with its members and focus on attracting young people…Michael Blowes, (Convenor)