Delegates Named for Celebration of Plenary
MEDIA RELEASE March 23, 2020 DELEGATES NAMED FOR CELEBRATION OF PLENARY COUNCIL Plenary Council president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has written to 266 other Catholics across the country, calling them as delegates for the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia. “At a time in our Church’s history we’ve not seen before, with the suspension of Masses in many parts of the country and around the world, the announcement of our Plenary Council delegates is a source of great joy for the People of God in Australia,” Archbishop Costelloe said. Canon law outlines those who must be called as delegates to a plenary council, including bishops, vicars general, episcopal vicars, heads of seminaries and theological institutions, and leaders of religious congregations. That amounted to 180 delegates. Canon law also allows for delegates who may be called as representatives – the total of which can’t exceed half of the total of those who must be called. The number of delegates from each local church – a diocese, eparchy, ordinariate or prelature – ranged from one to four depending on the local Catholic population. In all, 78 people have so far been confirmed, with additional representation to be named from national organisations representing education, social services, health and aged care, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic. “Bishops across the country worked locally with leaders in their diocese to design a process to consider names of people who were nominated or applied to be delegates for the Plenary Council assemblies,” Archbishop Costelloe said. “We were grateful for and impressed with the faith and the calibre of the people who were nominated.
[Show full text]