13 APRIL 2023
www.therecord.com.au
Edition #428
SPECIAL REPORT: ARCHBISHOP COSTELLOE ANNOUNCES CONVENING OF ARCHDIOCESAN ASSEMBLY
Archbishop Costelloe with members of the congregation after the 11am Mass on Easter Sunday at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sunday 9 April. PHOTO: RON TAN/ ARCHDIOCESE OF PERTH.
By Jamie O'Brien
Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has this week announced the convening of a Diocesan Assembly in September this year. Speaking in a Pastoral Letter released Tuesday 11 April, Archbishop Costelloe explained that the Assembly will consider the re-establishment of a Diocesan Pastoral Council. Read the Pastoral Letter Dioces an Pas toral Councils, though not mandated by the law of the Church, were are highly recommended by the Second Vatican Council. Under the leadership of Archbishops Goody and Foley, Perth did have a Diocesan Pastoral Council for some years, but it was discontinued in the late nineties.
“Our recent Plenary Council has called for the establishment or re-establishment of such Councils in every diocese, and I believe it is appropriate for us to decide whether or not the time is now right to make such a move,” Archbishop Costelloe explained. “It is also important to clarify why such a body might be necessary and how it should operate. The Church’s law and traditions do give some indications and establish some parameters. “Within these, however, we have ample scope for shaping such a body according to our local needs. “At the same time, in response to the call of Pope Francis for a more synodal Church, we might ask ourselves what a Diocesan Pastoral Council might look like it if it is a
truly synodal body. These are the questions I will ask the Diocesan Assembly to consider,” he said. The Assembly will take place on Saturday 23 September and will be held at Newman College, in Churchlands. Former Perth Plenary Council Co-ordinator, Tony Giglia has also been appointed Co-Ordinator of the Assembly. The convening of this Diocesan Assembly, highlighted Archbishop Costelloe, is a relatively modest initiative. “But it is designed to set a pattern for ongoing consultation and discernment which I hope will become a permanent feature of the life of our Archdiocese in the future. “ Full Text available at
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