Pastoral Life and Mission

SARAH MOFFATT

Diocesan Assembly and Diocesan Pastoral Council

In September, we hosted the Diocesan Assembly, which brought together 460 representatives from parishes, schools and communities to look forward in terms of a continued pastoral plan and the establishment of an Interim Diocesan Pastoral Council. Gathering as an Archdiocese with Archbishop O’Regan was a joyful, Spirit-led and hopeful moment for the local Church.

The Diocesan Assembly and its consultation process resulted in 255 recommendations in six key areas: Leadership and Leadership Formation; Inclusion and Healing; a Church that responds to the Cry for the Earth and the Cry for the Poor; Faith Formation and Spiritual Development; Outreach and Accompaniment of Children, Families and Young People; and Parish Life and Liturgy.

The Diocesan Assembly resulted in the appointment of the director of Pastoral Life and Mission and initial planning to develop a broader pastoral services team to respond to and support parish and community life.

Further information on the Diocesan Assembly can be found at www.adelaidediocesanassembly.org.

A commitment has been made to host another Diocesan Assembly in 2022.

Plenary Council

The Diocesan Assembly also assisted the Adelaide-based Plenary members to be prepared to represent the voices of the people of the Archdiocese at the first Plenary Assembly in October 2021.

Due to COVID restrictions, the first assembly was hosted virtually, with Adelaide-based members blessed to be able to gather together in a hub. Moving towards the second assembly in 2022, many of the discussions will become more formal proposals.

More information around the ‘fruits’ of the first assembly can be found at: www.plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au.

DIOCESAN ASSEMBLY

World Synod

The Diocesan Assembly, Plenary Council and Synod are all distinct, but part of the same journey together. Initial steps towards the Synod have begun, with much of the earlier consultation for the Plenary and Diocesan Assembly contributing to this. Archbishop O’Regan, together with Bishop Shane Mackinlay from the Sandhurst Diocese, will represent the people of Australia at the Synod in Rome in 2023.

Council for Integral Ecology

The Council engaged in its second year of work to ‘engage in dialogue with all people to bring about an understanding and practice of integral ecology’.

Its terms of reference specify serving the diocese in the promotion of Pope Francis’ encyclicals Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti, especially through parishes, schools and other agencies; working for these goals within the wider SA community; through liaison with national Catholic agencies such as the Council for Justice, Ecology and Peace, and Catholic Earthcare Australia; and by contributing to the renewal of the diocese through its major initiatives.

The Council has sought to enhance the uptake in the diocese through existing major events and initiatives, such as Social Justice Sunday and the annual release of the Social Justice Statement by the Australian Catholic Bishops, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday, and Migrant and Refugee Sunday. It has sought to create a network of active individuals in parishes throughout the diocese who can promote a range of justice, peace and ecology issues in their local setting. This network has met a number of times, both face-to-face and online, with an encouraging sense of being able to support the initiatives of parishioners.