In a rather fiery climate, the works of the Plenary council of the Australian Catholic Church. The final assembly, which was held in Sydney, saw real moments of tension after a motion on the role of women in the Church – which included an opening passage to the female diaconate – did not obtain the favorable vote. two-thirds of the bishops, required for approval.
The Plenary Council consisted of 277 members. But while the vote of the other delegates (lay and religious) was only consultative, that of the bishop delegates was deliberative. Failure to reach the quorum provoked a vibrant protest in the Great Hall of St Mary’s College to the point that some sixty delegates stood up and left their posts. A sensational uprising which risked damaging the synodal image of the Australian Church, meeting in the Plenary Council for the first time since 1937. A pause followed during which the Steering Committee set to work to mend and in the end a compromise was found that led to the final approval of a text in which it is written that “Should universal Church law be modified to authorize the diaconate for women, the Plenary Council recommends that the Australian Bishops examine how best to implement it in the context of the Church in Australia“. Despite the watering down, therefore, a victory of the rebel delegates.
In another motion, moreover, the attempt by those who wanted to remove an explicit reference to Catholics who identify themselves as LGBTQIA + was rejected. Despite this, one of the leaders of the protest, the delegate Francis Sullivan, he said to The Catholic Weekly that there was in the classroom “a lot of anger and frustration“not only by women but also by”rainbow community“. Of the 19 motions that arrived on the table of the general discussion, the only one that was rejected was the one asking to authorize the laity to give homilies during Mass. The request for a new English translation of the Roman Missal that is more inclusive compared to that currently in force. An Australian cardinal, George Pell, who held the position of president of the Vox Clara Committee, made a fundamental contribution to the translation rejected during the Plenary Council, and which made its debut on the first Sunday of Advent in 2011.
The atmosphere that was breathed at the Sydney assembly did not please many members, not only those who later obtained the approval of the bishops on the question of the female diaconate. This is demonstrated by a joke of an anonymous participant who at the American portal The Pillar commented: “We should be here listening to the Spirit, that’s what everyone keeps saying. But it seems that at least some people have come with a pretty clear idea of what the Spirit was supposed to say”.
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