recent events
SPIRIT UNBOUNDED
Our Lay-led Synodal Assembly
8 – 14 October 2023 – online
13-14 October – In-person, Rome, Italy and Bristol, UK
Spirit Unbounded is a global network of Catholic and other Christian reform groups, of which ACCCR is a Companion. We are the emerging church. Networked! We collaborate across all boundaries for transformational change, firm in the belief of the equal worth and value of all people.
Human Rights in the Emerging Catholic Church
In Spirit Unbounded we nurture the emerging church. One that works to be safe, inclusive and just. One that strives to live by the teachings of Jesus. One that prays. And one that challenges the church’s continuing disregard of our simple human rights. We embrace diversity and work to include groups currently marginalised by the institutional church.
Catholics from over 40 reform groups worldwide will reflect on their experiences, telling it like it is, sharing their hopes and dreams for better lives in a better world.
HEAR OUR VOICES FROM ALL OUR CONTINENTS REFLECTING ON MINISTRY,JUSTICE FOR THE OTHERS, AUTHORITY, ETHICS, CLERICAL ABUSE, WOMEN, HUMAN RIGHTS AND OTHER SUBJECTS ON THE SPIRIT UNBOUNDED WEBSITE.
Pink Shoes into the Vatican - It Happened
Pink Shoes arrived at the Vatican in October.
From the far reaches of New Zealand to the very heart of Catholicism in Rome, the Pink Shoes Into The Vatican Campaign made a bold statement on gender inequality within the Church.
Led by Be the Change Aotearoa New Zealand, this grassroots initiative took the form of an eye-catching art installation in October, featuring worn-out women’s shoes adorned with pink ribbons.
However, these aren’t just shoes; each pair tells a tale of women’s hardships within the Church.
Be The Change Aotearoa is a member of ACCCR.
“While the Pope’s initiative is a step in the right direction, many worry it’s too controlled, too orchestrated.
“We aim to hear from those who’ve already left the Church, disheartened by its failure to fully address gender discrimination, abuse and other social and environmental issues.
“Spirit Unbounded seeks to create a global network of Catholic reform and other Christian groups that actively embrace diversity and work to include groups marginalised by the hierarchical Church.
“The ‘Human Rights in the Emerging Catholic Church’ event aims to push the envelope, insisting that the Church must evolve to address contemporary global challenges from social injustice to environmental degradation’. Christina Reymer
How did we get here: LGBTIQA+ and the Church?”
James Alison
Monday 2 October 2024, 7.00pm AEDT
James Alison is a Catholic theologian, priest and author. His principal claim to fame is as one of those who has done most to bring the work of the great French thinker René Girard to a wider public. In addition, he is known for his firm but patient insistence on truthfulness in matters gay as an ordinary part of basic Christianity, and for his pastoral outreach in the same sphere.
Moderator: Angela Han
Responder: Benjamin Oh
Anticipating the First Synod Session - October 2023
Webinar with
Bishop Shane Mackinlay
Thursday, 14 September 2023
Presenter
Shane Mackinlay, Bishop of Sandhurst (Vic) will be one of two representatives of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference at the Synod on Synodality.
He was a key figure in organising and conducting the Australian Plenary Council final session in July 2022.
Moderator
Genevieve Jacobs AM is Group Editor, Region Media, Australia’s fastest growing digital news platform and winner of the 2023 national Telstra Best of Business award for building communities.
Responder
Francis Sullivan, Chair of Concerned Catholics Canberra Gouburn, was previously CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council He is currently Chair of the Mater Group of hospitals, Catholic Social Services Australia and a director of Mercy Health.
Susan Pascoe and Susan Sullivan
Webinar on 27 July 2023
Susan Pascoe AM has been invited to participate in the Synod October ’23 session as an expert/facilitator. She is a member of the Vatican Commission on Methodology, planning for the 2023 Synod on Synodality. She chairs Catholic Emergency Relief Australia (CERA) and has held a number of senior roles in the Church and government, including inaugural Commissioner for the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission and head of the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria. She is an Adjunct Professor at The University of Western Australia.
Susan Sullivan attended the final session of the German Synodal Way in February 2023 at the invitation of co-chairs of the German Synod, Bishop Georg Baetzing Chair of the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) and Dr Irme Stetter-Karp, President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK, the main organisation of lay Catholics in Germany). Among key themes, she noted: ‘A prophetic voice which takes us into the reality of the world’ and, ‘The Church must find the way of the people and not determine the ways of the people’. Susan recently retired from ACU where she managed the Ministry Leadership Program.
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Walking Together Towards a Synodal Conversion
Webinar on 20 May 2023
Rafael Luciani
Rafael is a Lay Venezuelan theologian, Expert of the Theological Commission of the General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops, Expert of CELAM (Latin American Bishops’ Council) and Member of the Theological Advisory Team of the Presidency of CLAR (Latin American Confederation of Religious men and women). Rafael joined us from Venezuela, his home country.
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Webinar on 2 February 2023
SYNOD ON SYNODALITY: WHY WE SHOULD CARE
Speakers: Susan Pascoe AM, Francis Sullivan AM, Grace Wrakia and Patricia Gemmell.
Moderator: Christina Reymer.
Introduction: Archbishop Timothy Costelloe.
A recording of the webinar is available on YouTube. Search for – Synod on Synodality: Why We Should Care