Australia's fifth Plenary Council officially gets underway this Sunday with the Opening Mass at St Mary's Cathedral in Perth. Close to 300 Plenary members will then gather online for the first of two assemblies, discussing and discerning how to become a more Christ-centred Church.
It's been 84 years since the last Plenary Council and a few years since this journey towards the Council began (plus a pandemic interrupting the original schedule!), so you'd be forgiven if you're a little rusty on what's in store for this first Assembly. We've put together a quick Plenary Council refresher for you, and included the livestream program so you can follow along online.
Also in this week's round up of stories is a look at the Archdiocese's Take the Way of the Gospel project, which is an invitation to take up seriously Pope Francis' challenge that 'each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out ... to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the “peripheries” in need of the light of the Gospel’ (Evangelii Gaudium, §20). As Fr Tony Kerin reflects, ‘It’s an opportunity for our parishes to go beyond themselves, to reach out to the unchurched and to bring the joy of the Gospel to them.’
