Year in Review 2022 Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst 11 Sandhurst Diocese Reports in Sandhurst are yearning for a truly inclusive Church, one that recognises and finds a place for the distinctive gifts of women, encourages co-responsibility for mission and provides formation to grow understanding of and support for missionary outreach. To celebrate Synodality in our Diocese as participation, communion and mission, a series of five videos featuring clergy, parishioners and Catholic schools were released on the Sandhurst YouTube channel between Holy Week and Ascension Sunday. This included a live stream of the Mass of Oils from the Cathedral on the Tuesday of Holy Week. The Synod has now moved on to the Continental Stage and, in December, Leslie Cooper led a small group of clergy, lay faithful and Chancery employees through a process of reflection and feedback on the Vatican Document for the Continental Stage. On 27 April, the Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Bishop Shane announced a year of preparation and consultation for a Diocesan Pastoral Council, to be known as the Sandhurst Mission and Pastoral Council. Following the Bishop’s announcement, the team got to work on developing documentation and processes for preparation and consultation meetings to be held throughout the Diocese from July through to December. Ruth Lawlor was temporarily reassigned from her Youth Ministry Coordinator role to co-facilitate these meetings with me. At Sacred Heart Cathedral on Sunday 24 July, Bishop Shane commissioned us to meet and consult with the people of God in the Sandhurst Diocese regarding the plan to establish the Council. The meetings enabled participants to learn about the proposed Council, to enter a listening and dialogue process and provide feedback to the Bishop. By 13 December we had met with the priests and representatives of the lay faithful in thirty-nine parishes, senior students and staff representing ten Catholic secondary colleges, all Catholic school Principals and Religious Education Leaders, Catholic Education Office Sandhurst staff, the Boards of Catholic Education Sandhurst Limited and Sandhurst Catholic Early Childhood Education and Care Limited, as well as representatives of St John of God Hospital. Nine hundred and five people participated in these meetings and more than 279 (collected) group responses have been received, providing a rich source of data that will help inform the focus, direction and processes adopted by the Council. A report on the preparation and consultation process and outcomes will be published prior to the Diocesan Assembly in February 2023. I am anticipating strong alignment between the themes expressed by participants in these meetings, the Synod on Synodality and the 5th Plenary Council of Australia. Thank you to our parish priests, school principals and Catholic Education Sandhurst leadership who advertised and made time for these meetings. I am especially grateful for the work of the Mission and Pastoral Life Team in promoting, organising, facilitating and reporting on the meetings. I am looking forward to the celebration of our Diocesan Assembly on 15 February 2023 in Shepparton. Our Diocesan Assembly is part of a larger movement of synodality, being a church on the journey together. At the Assembly, Bishop Shane will welcome 400 representatives of parishes, schools, professed religious, chancery staff and other Catholic entities. A keynote address on Synodality will be delivered; the recommendations of the 5th Plenary Council of Australia noted; the synthesis from the diocesan consultation for the Synod on Synodality celebrated; and feedback from the preparation and consultation meetings for the Sandhurst Mission and Pastoral Council will be considered through a listening and dialogue process. At the conclusion of the Assembly, Bishop Shane will call for Expressions of Interest from the faithful to join the Council. Once the Council members have been appointed and commissioned at the Mass of Oils, I expect the first meeting will be held in the last week of April 2023. This Council will support synodal governance in the Diocese through a structure that builds co-responsibility and discernment in leadership and decision making. It will strengthen our capacity to operate in a strategic and collaborative way, by drawing on the best possible advice of lay people and clergy for pursuing the Church’s mission.
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