Introduction to Commissioning Ceremony for Sydney Delegates to the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia
St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 31 January 2021
Welcome to St Mary’s Cathedral as we commission the Sydney-based delegates to the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia. The previous four such councils – in 1885, 1895, 1905 and 1937 – were all held here in Sydney with this cathedral as their focal point, as will be the case for the final session of the 2021-22 council. Last time the aged and long-serving Archbishop Michael Kelly of Sydney presided. Other luminaries included Archbishops Mannix of Melbourne, Duhig of Brisbane and O’Shea of Wellington, as well as the newly appointed Archbishops Prendiville of Perth, Simonds of Hobart and Coadjutor Archbishop Gilroy of Sydney. Much has changed since their day, for better or worse or just for different. But for such times of change the Second Vatican Council prescribed more regular synods and councils,[1] and after eight decades we are ready.
Our forthcoming meetings have been long prepared for through submissions, sociological research, listening sessions, discernment groups, and a constant litany of prayer. They will doubtless focus upon the future of the Church in Australia, its inspiration, identity and mission, its membership, apostolates and structures. But unlike a corporation, government department or NGO engaging in self-examination and strategic planning, we know we must do this as the flock of Jesus Christ, particular to this time and place, with all its challenges and opportunities, graces and limitations, but part also of His greater flock throughout space and time, seeking His will and inspired by His Spirit. So we will continue to pray, listen and reflect, discern and discuss our central question: what is the Spirit saying to the Church – here and now, as well as always and everywhere? What does He want us to experience and endure, celebrate and share, preserve and strengthen, renew and reform? What must we do if we are to be the best Church we can be for the people of Australia in the coming years – best not by the standards of this world but by God’s standards?
Which makes this an ecclesial project, a head and heart project, above all a spiritual project. It must begin and end in prayer, in communion with God, in listening to Him and responding. If the Plenary process makes each of us more faithful, enthusiastic and effective at that, if it makes us and those we touch more holy and humble, just and compassionate, above all more prayerful, that may ultimately be more fruitful than any legislation or policy emerging from our meetings.
You have been summoned to this Plenary Council by the Church in Australia. It is a rare privilege, an exciting opportunity, a grave responsibility. We pray today that our bishops as successors of the apostles, our clergy, religious and lay leaders, and all the delegates, advisors and guests at the forthcoming Council, will have the wisdom and courage needed to embrace the task ahead of us. In black American congregations it is common for the people to boost the preacher with encouraging cries of ‘Alleluia, A-men’ and ‘Praise the Lord’. But when he’s not going so well, they may be heard to cry ‘Help him Lord, help him’. We say ‘Alleluia, Amen’ today to the God who has given us so much in this land. We praise the Lord for all that has been achieved through His Church. But we pray also for each other and for the Church in this land: ‘Help us Lord, help us.’
To everyone present, a very warm welcome!
Ferverino for Commissioning Ceremony for Sydney Delegates to the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 31 January 2021
It’s a strange and portentous book, the last one of the Bible, the Apocalypse or Book of Revelation. It opens with a series of letters from John, the beloved young friend of Jesus, now all grown up and writing from Patmos to the seven Christian communities of Asia Minor or what is Turkey today (Rev 1:4,11; chs 2 & 3). He has a message of faith and praise, challenge and hope for each. He begins by testifying to “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth, who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us into a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father” (Rev 1:5-6). In acknowledgment that it is this Christ for whom he speaks, not himself, John begins each communique with a brief individual profession of faith: to the Church in Smyrna, for instance, he speaks of the One who is “the first and the last, who was dead and came back to life”; to Pergamon of the bearer of “the sharp double-edged sword”, the Word of God; to Philadelphia of “the holy One and true, who bears the key of David”; and to Sardis of the One who confers seven spiritual gifts.
So we know for whom John speaks. He speaks for Jesus. Next he praises the Christians in each place, especially for their patience in trials and their good works. He commends the Ephesians also for their sound discernment; Smyrnans and Philadelphians for enduring poverty and powerlessness; Pergamonites for fidelity amidst non-believers; and Thyatirans and Sarditians for their love and purity.
No church is perfect. So to his praises for each of the churches John attaches a but: “But I have this against you…”. To the Christians of Ephesus: that some have abandoned the love they had when first they converted. In Smyrna: that some have apostatized. In Pergamon and Thyatira that some are syncretistic, unkosher and promiscuous. In Sardis and Laodicea: that they are spiritually dead or tepid in their Christianity; “Neither hot nor cold, I spit you out,” he says on behalf of God. Turn back, John pleads with each community, lest more terrible things befall you.
But for any community that repents, John has words of promise. The Ephesians will eat from the tree of life in paradise. The Smyrnans and Philadelphians will have the crown of life in “the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven”. The Pergamonites will receive the hidden manna, the bread of life eternal. The Sarditians will be clothed in white and named before God and His angels. And the Laodiceans will receive Christ into their own home and to their own table.
Strange and portentous messages these, but testimony also to belief and fidelity, danger and promise in seven particular churches. John concludes each letter with the same line: “Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches” (Rev 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22). This antiphon was chosen as the motto for our Plenary Council. What, we ask, is the Spirit saying to the church in Australia? Were John to write a letter to the Church in Australia, what vision of Christ would he offer? What achievements of the Christian community would he honour? What backsliding in faith or corruption in morals might he identify? What new hope might he offer were we to recommit to Christ and renew our Church and world?
Our Plenary Council comes at very particular time in the history of the Church in Australia. Unremitting secularisation has unsettled many faithful, corroded institutions, inoculated many of our young to the faith. It has left our culture and polity without sound moorings, some people with no moral compass, too many without meaning or hope. Many now declare themselves as having no faith, or no church affiliation, or no intention to practise, and so miss out on word and sacrament, Church community and service.
In recent times we’ve also been through the terrible purgatory of the child sexual abuse crisis and the ensuing Royal Commission and public trials. These brought with them much justified criticism and understandable disillusionment, continuing scrutiny and demands for reform, and some ongoing hostility.
All this secularisation and scorn has fed waves of troubling social legislation, threats to the sanctity of life and love and to religious liberty, attempts to starve Catholic schools of necessary funds, and other moves at least partly designed to slap the Church’s face or drive her from the public square.
Then, of course, most recently a global pandemic has challenged every part of our community and aspect of our lives, Church included. Though Australians have fared better than most, the pandemic may have magnified some of the pressures and declines already identified.
Amidst such challenges – and worse – John was able to write of hope, for repentance, reform, renewal; of confidence, in the Spirit who speaks to the churches and the gifts He brings when we need them most; of the possibilities for those who follow the Alpha and the Omega and so know that what is dead can yet return to life. Rather than curl up into ball and hide, the Plenary Council is a God-given opportunity to face all our dreams and difficulties head on, in the grace of the Holy Spirit and the company of fellow believers, and strike out with renewed conviction. The Plenary Council is a providential opportunity to look deep within and emerge from lethargy, humiliation and panic.
The re-evangelisation of Australia will be a crucial challenge for the Plenary Council and the generation beyond. How do we bring an increasingly secularised, disillusioned or distracted community to Christ? If ever the Church is to regain credibility and merit people’s trust, I am convinced the works of mercy, of helping the needy, will be central. People must see once again “how those Christians love each other”. So, rather than being self-obsessed and inward-looking as a Church, we must look outwards and be there for people – as Pope Francis keeps emphasising. Rather than a mere gabfest or symbolic performance, our Council must be the springboard for deeper engagement with Christ, His Church, the community, each other; for deeper sharing of the truth and beauty of the Gospel; and for joyful adventures in Gospel living that practice what we preach and preach by their practice.
Commit, committee, commission, commissioning… The words all come from the Latin committere and commissio, meaning to bring together and send together, to assemble and commit. So today’s commissioning is a case of gathering you, dedicating you, and sending you.
Whom do we commission today? Domiciled here in Sydney are around 30 of the delegates. These include lay people who lead in Catholic education, health or social services, or are active in ecclesial movements, youth ministry, marriage preparation or communications. Some will be consecrated religious (yet to be identified). Some are clergy leading in parishes, seminaries or the archdiocese. And some are bishops. Some will attend by virtue of their office according to Church law; others were nominated and selected for their particular background and perspective. But the ‘com’ in committee and commission, the ‘syn’ in synodality, the ‘co’ in collegiality means it is not just about who each one is individually, but who we can be together, a whole greater than its parts.
For what are we being commissioned? Most obviously, for our participation in the Plenary Council, where we must read the signs of the times through the lens of faith, and offer practical proposals about where next for the Church in Australia, within the broad space allowed by Catholic faith and morals, law and customs. But before today’s commissioning is a prior one, first given to us all at our Baptism, and first heard by the disciples as Jesus departed. In ‘The Great Commissioning’ Christ sent us out to all the world, proclaiming the good news, baptising in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching people to obey His commands and in the confidence that He is with us always (Mt 28:18-20; Mk 16:15). If preaching, sacramentalising, forming and reassuring are the great commission, they are also the meaning of today’s ceremony and indeed of the Plenary Council to come. “Listen!” John said to all the Churches, “Listen to what the Spirit is saying.” “Listen,” John’s Jesus said to the lukewarm Laodiceans, “I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open, I will come in and dine with you, and give you a place in my kingdom.”
[1] Vatican Council II, Christus Dominus: Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church (1965), 36.