The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference held its plenary meeting at Mary Mackillop Place, North Sydney, early in May. Following is the news that has been released from that meeting ...
ACBC comments on Bishop Robinson's "doctrinal difficulties"
New Chair for the National Catholic Education Commission
Archbishop Philip Wilson stays on as President
Bishops approve new pastoral outreach strategy
New Nuncio speaks
ACBC comments on Bishop Robinson's "doctrinal difficulties"
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference says that doctrinal difficulties remain between it and retired Bishop Geoffrey Robinson over opinions published in a 2007 book,
Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus.
"After correspondence and conversation with Bishop Robinson, it is clear that doctrinal difficulties remain," the Bishops say in a statement, dated May 8.
"Central to these is a questioning of the authority of the Catholic Church to teach the truth definitively. In Saint John's Gospel, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to the
disciples in order to lead them into the fullness of the truth (cf. John 16:13). It is Catholic teaching that the Church has been endowed with this gift of truth.
"The book's questioning of the authority of the Church is connected to Bishop Robinson's uncertainty about the knowledge and authority of Christ himself.
"Catholics believe that the Church, founded by Christ, is endowed by him with a teaching office which endures through time. This is why the Church's Magisterium teaches the truth authoritatively in the name of Christ.
"The book casts doubt upon these teachings.
"This leads in turn to the questioning of Catholic teaching on, among other things, the nature of Tradition, the inspiration of the Holy Scripture, the infallibility of the Councils and the Pope, the authority of the Creeds, the nature of the ministerial priesthood and central elements of the Church's moral teaching."
The Bishops say that while the authority entrusted by Christ to his Church "may at times be poorly exercised, especially in shaping policy and practice in complex areas of pastoral and human concern", this did not, in Catholic belief, "invalidate the Church's authority to teach particular truths of faith and morals".
More than 8000 copies of the book have been sold. The John Garratt Publishing presses began to roll again within days of the official August 26, 2007, launch after books from the already largish print run for a religious book in Australia began walking out the doors of both religious and secular book stores. Overseas publishing rights in North America, the United Kingdom and Spain have since been negotiated.
LATE NEWS
Response to the Statement of the Australian Bishops
The statement of the Australian bishops is not unexpected, but it is disappointing.
My book is about the response to the revelations of sexual abuse within the church. Sexual abuse is all about power and sex, so it is surely reasonable to ask questions about power and sex in the church. In their statement, the bishops appear to be saying that, in seeking to respond to abuse, we may investigate all other factors contributing to abuse, but we may not ask questions concerning ways in which teachings, laws, and attitudes concerning power and sex within the church may have contributed.
This imposes impossible restrictions on any serious and objective study, and it is where I have broken from the Bishops Conference. We must be free to follow the argument wherever it leads.
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson
15th May 2008
New Chair for the National Catholic Education Commission
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has appointed Mrs Therese Temby to the position of Chair of the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC).
Mrs Temby was Director of Catholic Education in Western Australia from 1992 to 2003 and has first-hand experience of all facets of Catholic education - primary, secondary and tertiary. She was a member of the NCEC for 16 years and has been appointed as chair to various West Australian educational bodies.
The retiring Chair of the NCEC is Monsignor Tom Doyle.
The NCEC is commissioned by and responsible to the ACBC, for developing, enunciating and acting upon policy at the national level for the Church's work in education. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education in Australia.
Archbishop Philip Wilson stays on as President
Archbishop Philip Wilson has been re-elected as President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference for a second two-year term. Archbishop Wilson, who is the Archbishop of Adelaide, was first elected ACBC President in May 2006. Archbishop Barry Hickey of Perth
(right) was re-elected as Vice President of Conference, also for a second two-year term.
Bishops approve new pastoral outreach strategy
The Bishops have approved a major new pastoral strategy to reach out to Catholics who no longer practice their faith and to those Catholics who never really connected with the Church.
The strategy will include a pastoral letter to parishes, urging them to become places of welcome, as well as a six-week program entitled 'Reconnect' to help equip parishes and individuals to reach out and invite people back to the practice of their faith. There is also a similar program aimed at young people who may be seeking to connect with parish life in the wake of World Youth Day.
A national advertising campaign from the Bishops, inviting Catholics to reconnect with the Church community will also form an important part of the strategy.
(part of the media release on Archbishop Wilson's reappointment)
New Nuncio speaks
The recently arrived Apostolic Nuncio to Australia, Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, has thanked the Bishops and the people of the Church in Australia for their warm welcome and said he saw his role here as that of a companion.
"I have come to be your companion on the way and to share with you all that characterises your pastoral ministry," he told the Bishops.
In his opening address to the Plenary Meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Lazzarotto also paid tribute to the love and affection given to his predecessor, Archbishop Ambrose De Paoli
(right), during his final illness.
Archbishop Lazzarotto said that in this context, he noted with gladness the work being done by the Bishops on a plan to reach out to inactive Catholics and to help parishes to become true communities of Disciples on Mission.
"This gives honour to your pastoral sensitivity and shows the commitment with which you try to open new ways of announcing the Gospel," he said.
The Archbishop concluded by "anticipating the gratitude of the Holy Father for the extraordinary efforts you are making to prepare, as much as possible, for his visit and for the
celebration of the World Youth Day".
photo credits: Geoff Orchison, editor, Catholic Voice, Canberra-Goulburn, pics of Archbishops Wilson and Lazzarotto
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