events
Chris Sidoti on Human Rights in Palestine and Israel
ACCCR Webinar on Thursday 25 September at 7.00pm AEST
Chris Sidoti is an Australian expert on international human rights law, a lawyer and advocate. He is a former Huan Rights commissioner and aHformer commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission. He is currently a Commissioner on the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.
Chris will be in Geneva in mid-September for the launch of the latest report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. Genocide is a central topic in that report. We are delighted that he will join us for this webinar to discuss the report and its findings.
More information and registration details will be available shortly
IF AUSTRALASIAN CATHOLICISM BECOMES SYNODAL!
The promise and vision of living faith
Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (ACCCR) and Garratt Publishing
Webinar on Thursday 24 July 2025
What are the potential benefits for Australasian Catholicism in becoming synodal?
The Synod on Synodality and its Final Document seem to have become yesterday’s news with hardly a mention in parishes or church conversations. Who cares? What is the point in discussing communion, participation and mission when nothing seems to change?
Richard Lennan and Anne Benjamin shared their hopes and visions for a revitalised, expansive and inclusive faith where Catholicism is a broad church.
Moderated by John Warhurst with Susan Chen providing a response.
Richard Lennan is a priest of the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, ordained in 1983. After graduate studies at the University of Oxford and the University of Innsbruck (Austria), where he wrote his dissertation on Karl Rahner’s ecclesiology, he taught from 1992-2007 at the Catholic Institute of Sydney. He is currently Professor of Systematic Theology in the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College.
Richard’s research and teaching focus on ecclesiology, ministry, and the theology of Karl Rahner. He has authored or edited nine books. He is an editorial consultant for Theological Studies and served as a theological advisor to the preparation of Light from the Southern Cross (2019), a document on reforming governance in the Catholic Church in Australia. Most recently, Richard was a member of the theological panel for the Plenary Council of Australia (2021-22).
Anne Benjamin is a Sydney-based writer, consultant and educator with roots in the Hunter Valley of NSW and strong links with South India.
She has authored or co-authored over 40 significant reviews in Australia and internationally. These were mostly senior performance reviews or organisational reviews. For 16 years, she held senior administrative roles within education in Western Sydney, including university governance, involvement in NSW Government education boards and committees. She was Executive Director of 75 schools in the Catholic Diocese of Parramatta in Western Sydney for nine years. In 2021, Ann co-authored with Charles Burford, Leadership in a synodal Church.
MAKING SYNODALITY WORK
IN OUR LIVES AND OUR PARISHES
Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (ACCCR) and Garratt Publishing
Webinar on Thursday 26 June 2025
Catholicism is experiencing an amazing era of change. In that context, we hope that the concepts and ideas from the recent Synod on Synodality will become part of the lives of our parishes and dioceses. This webinar will be a reflection on where we, Australasian Catholics, are eight months after the final session.
The webinar explores what is happening in dioceses where there has been some action. We will hear about the local synod in Brisbane last year, the outcomes and the implementation process, as well as hearing about synodal ways of being a parish or other community.
We will share ideas around ministries and vocations that are pertinent for those both in and outside parishes.
We hope this webinar will contribute to re-energising people of faith.
Tim Norton Elissa Roper Steph Jorna Gail Gill Christina Reymer
Bishop Tim Norton Speaker
Tim Norton SVD has been the Bishop of Broome since 2024. He was an Auxiliary Bishop in Brisbane from 2022–2024. He completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in Physiotherapy before joining the Society of the Divine Word (SVD). He undertook some of his studies in Mexico and returned after ordination for a further five years. He was the Provincial Superior of the Society for Australia between 2005 and 2013 and then worked in Italy until 2022.
Elissa Roper Speaker
Elissa is a theologian specialising in synodality in the Catholic Church with a focus on building a mature, responsible and loving Church. She has served extensively in the areas of ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, and is a member of the Australian Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue. Elissa is currently a sessional academic with the University of South Australia, teaching theology to primary and secondary Catholic teachers. She and her husband have four children and live in the beautiful Yarra Valley.
Gail Gill Responder
Gail Gill’s professional background is in Catholic Education where she worked in a variety of positions in schools and education offices in the Archdiocese of Sydney and in the Diocese of Broken Bay. The last twelve years of her working life were committed to a ministry for women established by Bishop David Walker. During this time, she responded to needs in a number of parishes and in one parish was a Parish Life Coordinator. She was a member of the formation team for the Permanent Diaconate for a number of years. Now, in retirement, she contributes to a variety of organisations such as WATAC, ACCCR, Australian Catholics Exploring Diaconate (ACED) and to ministry in her home parish.
Christina Reymer Moderator
Christina is a founding member of Be The Change, Aotearoa and a Director of Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform, teacher, international development volunteer, community activist, and business owner. Christina brings a rich perspective from her New Zealand and Dutch heritage to everything she does.
Links for - Being Adult People of God in the 21st Century - Diarmuid O'Murchu.
We Are Church Ireland
9 Jan 25. In the pre-evolutionary model, truth is invested in wise individuals, representing a parental, hierarchical system. In the evolutionary model, truth itself evolves as relational adults seek out the truth through a range discerning groups.
Recording of talk on 9th January 2025
“When you are confronted by evidence that the faith in which you were brought up no longer provides an adequate explanation for the nature, meaning and purpose of your life, you have three choices. You continue as before. You can abandon the faith. Or, third, you can accept the new knowledge and use it to develop a more mature understanding of what lies at the core of your beliefs. ——-“(John Feehan)
Recording of talk on 16th January 2025
23rd January
What does it mean to belong to a faith community, that is nourishing for people and the earth alike? How to revision the meaning of sacraments in this wider context.
Link coming soon
Landing strip or Launching Pad? Trish Gemmell and Michael Gill. Concerned lay Catholics (Canada) 23.1.25
Australian and Canadian perspectives on the historic nature of the Synod on Synodality.
What’s next for Australia and Canada, as sisters and brothers learn together. Join us for a lively and spirit-filled conversation with Michael Gill and Trish Gemmell as they unpack the Synod in Australia and we compare and contrast with Canada’s experience.