Archbishop Mark Coleridge has recently launched the final document of the Archdiocese of Brisbane’s SYNOD24 Action Plans, which implements the Plenary Council Decrees. He emphasised that these Action Plans must be understood within the current context of the Church in Australia. As we engage in this process, may we be true listeners, acting with love while encountering Christ in one another and allowing our conversations to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
Transcript
The Synod was held in two sessions, in September and October of this year. Friday evening and Saturday until mid-afternoon. But they were really the tip of an iceberg because the Synod is not an event, it’s a journey. So the roots of this document go back a very long way indeed and they will take us a very long way into the future. It’s not exactly a road map or a GPS, but this is pointing the way into the future at a time when the future can’t be taken for granted. And this document is not just human words, it’s certainly that, but these are human words and action plans, as we call them. A set of action plans that has been shaped under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Now if that’s not true, then all we’re left with is a kind of politics, human management, and we can’t manage our way into the future.
So this is much more than just another document or a management plan, this is an Abrahamic moment in the life of the Church. I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll never cease saying it because it’s true and important. So, the God who has called us on this journey accompanies us and shows us the next steps, even if He doesn’t give us a GPS or a road map. But we are given this and it comes to us as gift. So that’s the first thing that I would say. The second thing I would say is that you can’t read this document on its own. First of all it must be read in strict conjunction with the final document of the Plenary Council. And keeping in mind too that the Plenary Council like the Synod, was about action, not words. Again words are never enough, they’re important, because for the Bible words create worlds. But words have to lead to action and this is about action, so too is the Plenary Council.
The other thing that you need to keep on the radar screen is the Synod in Rome on synodality. And it has produced its own final document which is a thoroughly worthy document that I commend to the reading of all. This Synod document needs to be read with the Plenary Council document, with the Synod in Rome document and of course the scripture, which provides us always with the larger framework. So I commend the document to you bearing the title, Archdiocese of Brisbane SYNOD24 Action Plans: Implementing the Plenary Council Decrees. That said, I have the greatest pleasure in launching the final document, SYNOD24 Action Plans: Implementing the Plenary Council Decrees. Thank you.