ABOUT US

We are a group of women and men who have adopted the name ‘Be the Change’ as that is what we aspire to, committed to gender equity in the Catholic Church.

Inspired by the Women’s Ordination Movement internationally, we want to become a supportive group for women in New Zealand called to particular ministries currently denied women, or which women find difficult to access, including priesthood, the diaconate, mediating the sacraments, giving homilies etc.

While woman priesthood was the issue we originally gathered around, we are still discerning what this might mean, or how this might happen. We want to continue nurturing the formation of our community, build relationships, and mission our vision, all the while being open to how the Spirit may move among us.

We are motivated by a sense of responsibility to Be the Change. In a safe, supportive, nourishing, hope-filled space we are journeying towards a radical new, inclusive model of RC Church that reflects God’s wondrous wholeness and faithfulness to the Gospel message.

Most of us are also connected to other groups of organisations that seek change or work towards a new vision of church in one way or another. These include the St Paul’s Rongopai Eucharistic Community (an Auckland based community of more than 3 decades history), Tui Motu Independent Catholic Magazine, Sophia women (a loose movement that functions in various ways throughout the country), and various spiritual groups, including ecumenical groups and more progressive religious communities.

Our core policy in Corporate Governance by Episcopacy has been:
Organisation should be based on the core teachings of Christ in the gospels, the epistles of genuine Pauline origin, the Acts of Apostles, Vatican 1 Constitution, Papal document on the Apostleship of Laity, and Pope Francis edict that local churches should adapt to their own situations dictated by pastoral need not doctrine.
So the gospel of inclusion embraced their preferential option for the poor in current times where they embrace the equality of all people as defined in Paul as the mystical body of Christ where all members have role to play as a royal priesthood.
We follow our core roles in welfare as defined in Matthew for the hungry, homeless, naked, grieving and prisoners in the broadest meanings of each of those terms as the world has evolved.
These works come out of the prime two love commandments and the Sermon on the Mount which set the value ideals laid out in the Beatitudes and the maximum obedience to spirit of each law not just the legal letter minimums of each rule.
St Stephen’s model of governance which made each leader fully accountable to the community for the decisions they took was the antithesis to the Roman Empire model imposed by Constantine which replaced Christ’s values of inclusion, equality and solidarity with the contemporary legal and cultural values of a hierarchical society. This Roman model ruled by hierarchy, coercion, economic exploitation and force, rather than dialogue and consent for the common good of society and each individual without discrimination which Jesus explicitly and implicitly opposed.

Catholics Moving Forward is based in the Shoalhaven area of NSW

OUR MISSION STATEMENT: “As followers of Christ in the Catholic tradition, we seek to build the Kingdom by reading the signs of the times in the light of Vatican II. We seek to live out this vision in small Christian Communities, which focus on life and experience, through study, reflection, prayer, dialogue and action.”
OUR STORY: Communities of the Way began in 2008 as a group of around 20 people who had all been involved in a program called “Back to Galilee”, presented in the diocese by Fr Paschal Kearney. This program challenged participants to commit to a new way of being Church, centred around the development of small Christian Communities which would enliven the parish and lead to a more collaborative structures and processes. We named our group “Aggiornamento” in recognition of the vision of Vatican II which inspired us to work towards building an “up to date” way of being Church.
Over the years we have run seminars and workshops to engage others in this movement towards establishing this vision, and many Small Christian Communities have grown out of it. What has evolved is the establishment of groups of lay people, sharing their life and faith together, not necessarily members of the same worshipping community, but committed to transforming the Church from the grassroots upward. We have also held educational seminars
to challenge and encourage people to consider the way forward for the Church in challenging times. We decided to change our name to Communities of the Way to make our aim a little clearer, but with the inspiration of Vatican II still firmly in our minds.
For the past two years we have also been involved in aspects of the Plenary Council, preparing submissions, organizing groups to make submissions and much discussion around the process of the Council and the future of the Australian Church. Sadly, the group has lost some of our most valuable members to death in recent years. We have spent many meetings embroiled in discussions about the state of the Church and our frustration with the slowness of real change, but continue to hope that all things are possible, in we work together faithfully.

Concerned Catholics Canberra-Goulburn Inc. was created in April 2017. We are a group of lay Catholics in the Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn concerned about governance, cultural and structural issues arising from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. We seek an effective voice for lay people in the future direction and administration of the church in Australia, and operate at local, archdiocesan and national level. We are governed by a committee of about fifteen, with John Warhurst (chair), Margaret OÇonnor (secretary), Kevin Vassarotti (treasurer) and Judith Tokley and Mark Metherell (communications).
We host a website, operate a twitter account, and issue regular newsletters to our mailing list (anyone can sign up online). Contact us at concerned.catholics.cangbn@gmail.com
We have held numerous public forums and made several submissions to the Plenary Council 2020 (see our website). We engage with our local Archdiocesan Administration and advocate locally for a diverse and open church media, financial accountability, women in church decision-making and a diocesan pastoral council. We also have many writers in oúr group, who contribute to the Canberra Times, Pearls and Irritations, Eureka Street and The Swag.
We also issue regular media releases, most recently urging a timely release of The Light from the Southern Cross.
Our current interests include linking with other groups, playing an active role in ACCCR, planning for a public Zoom meeting on the six PC Discernment Papers recently released, and other future public meetings, and engaging with our own Archbishop, Christopher Prowse, church administrators and parish representatives on local issues. John Warhurst has been chosen as a PC Delegate by the CG archdiocese and we want to see the PC process through to the very end by keeping church leaders on their toes.

A group of around 60 Tasmanian Catholics met in Launceston on the 7th December 2019 to hear the Chair of Concerned Catholics Canberra/Goulburn (CCCG), Emeritus Professor John Warhurst, speak about the Vision, Mission and Aims of CCCG. The organisation takes its mandate from the Church’s call in Church Canon Law for the ‘Christian faithful’ to exercise the ‘right’ and ‘duty’ they have to make known to their pastors their views on matters that impinge on the ‘good of the Church’.
As a result of this meeting the resolution was taken to explore the possibility of initiating ‘Concerned Catholics Tasmania’ (CCT), with a similar Vision, Mission and Aim, but with a distinctly Tasmanian ‘flavour’. From around sixty people who attended, a Steering Committee was formed.
The Steering Committee, chaired by Kim Chen, has refined the purpose and potential structure of CCT. As a group we are committed to collaborating with our Archbishop, our priests and the ‘faithful’ in working towards important renewal and reforms for the ‘good of the Church’. We are empowered by the spirit of ‘synodality’ that Pope Francis and the 2020 Plenary Council are promoting. We are committed to finding a voice for the laity, sharing our commitment to our Baptismal call and to our Church, in this time and in our state of Tasmania.
The development of a Vision and Mission Statement for Concerned Catholics Tasmania was informed by the work of CCCG, relevant Church documents, and our knowledge of our Tasmanian community.
Some other current areas of attention for CCT are:
• an upcoming meeting of three committee members with Archbishop Porteous (via Zoom);
• consideration of the six Discernment Papers developed from the Plenary Council consultations;
• discussion around The Light from The Southern Cross report on governance and commentaries;
• affiliation with the Australian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (ACCCR).
Concerned Catholics Tasmania was officially incorporated on 26th May 2020 with an initial official membership of 18. There are nearly 150 members on the mailing list who, along with others, are now being invited to apply for membership.

CCWWD started in October 2019 with a packed meeting in Wagga Wagga with wonderful encouragement and support from CCCG. This was followed by successful meetings in Albury and Leeton with speakers from our management team. An email address and a website were quickly established and about three hundred plus respondents have registered to receive current updates and developments as well as topical articles on our church reform agenda. The organisation is based on the Gospels, is prayerful, is nonaggressive and seeks our church to be transparent, accountable, inclusive and show acceptable standards of good governance.
CCWWD members are frustrated with the silence of the bishops and their failure to acknowledge or address our questions or submissions. Wagga Wagga has been without a bishop for the past four years until the appointment of bishop elect Mark Edwards was announced in late May. CCWWD has welcomed the new bishop and looks forward to having discussions with him about reform issues and governance.
CCWWD values its membership of the Australian Coalition of Catholic Church Reform (ACCCR) seeing it as a catalyst in forming a joint national approach with submissions to the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the Plenary Council Committee. On a united front, we pray that the bishops will listen to us and take on board the details of our many suggestions on resurrecting our dying church.
– Kerry Carmichael, Chair

CCWollongong’s activity will be based on:

• Sexual Abuse in Church and responses

• Acceptance of the Gay Community

• Women – involvement and being part of the decision making of the Church

• Clericalism

• Plenary 2020

• Married Priests

We will be using the book “Getting Back on Mission”, produced by Catholics for Renewal Inc., and the papers produced for the Coalition Renewal Forum planned for April for discussions. Some of the avenues that CCWollongong would look to explore include:

• prayerful and practical support towards our committed clergy

• support towards those who have suffered sexual or other abuse from the church, or otherwise been hurt by the church

• collaborative working towards a reform agenda in the Wollongong Diocese more broadly

• new models of church and more effective lay participation

• effective vehicles for the participation of women in key decision-making

• establishment of a diocesan pastoral council with a view to establishing lay leadership, and

• agreement for a work plan, based on mutual partnership with our bishop, lay people, and our committed priests and religious to achieve a reform agenda.

ACCCR has recently released a communiqué to the Catholic bishops and religious leaders of Australia (and open to all the People of God) calling for sweeping changes in the Church, including greater transparency and accountability, and equal participation for women.

Recognition of the damage and division caused by clericalism in our church is a call from many contemporary Catholics in Australia. These are some of the ‘ground floor’ issues that could be of great interest to Concerned Catholics of Wollongong. (CCWollongong)