The President of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference has called a leaked report on Church governance “an interim version” and not the final report.
The report is entitled “The Light from the Southern Cross: Promoting Co-Responsible Governance in the Catholic Church in Australia”. The Bishops commissioned the 208-page report and handpicked 14 people—including laypeople, clergy, and international experts—to write it.
The report makes 86 recommendations for changes in the governance of the Catholic Church in Australia. They hit on issues such as subsidiarity, administration, synodality, dialogue, discernment, and leadership, as well as offering concrete suggestions for strengthening the role of the laity at the parish and diocesan levels.
Archbishop Coleridge said the Bishops’ Conference regards the governance report as an “integral part” of the Australian Church’s journey toward the Plenary Council, which should take place in late 2021 and mid-2022.
The Plenary Council, concluded Archbishop Coleridge, will determine the Church’s response to the report.
“Given that the Council is the work of the Holy Spirit,” he said, “it is the Holy Spirit who will have the final say.”
