The expert advisors of the historic 5th Plenary Council of Australia have been named and among them is The Office for Justice, Ecology and Peace’s Dr Sandie Cornish.
Dr Sandie Cornish has led various Social Justice, Peace, Ecology and discernment processes in her thirty year’s experience in Church organisations. In various roles from Social Justice Education Coordinator for the Diocese of Broken Bay, Director of Quality and Community Engagement for the Sydney College of Divinity and being the first woman to head a national agency of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, her expertise in Catholic Social Teaching has made her a leader of the Australian Church.
The historic first assembly of the Plenary Council will take place next month from the 3-10 of October, 2021. The expert advisors join over 280 people from across the Catholic Church who are ‘called to develop concrete proposals to create a more missionary, Christ-centred Church in Australia at this time’.
Archbishop Costelloe explained the members will propose “answers to 16 questions for the Church in Australia, so having as much support as possible on call makes sense,” he said.
“We are grateful to those women and men who have responded so generously, have seen the importance of this moment in the life of the Church and agreed to serve in this critical role.”
The agenda, made up of the 16 questions includes,
- “How might we heal the wounds of abuse, coming to see through the eyes of those who have been abused?”
- “How might the Church in Australia meet the needs of the most vulnerable, go to the peripheries, be missionary in places that may be overlooked of left behind in contemporary Australia? How might we partner with others (Christians, people of other faiths, neighbourhood community groups, government) to do this?”
- “How might the Church in Australia respond to the call to ‘ecological conversion’? How can we express and promote a commitment to an ‘integral ecology of like’ in all its dimensions, with particular attention to the more vulnerable people and environments in our country and region?”
For more information on the expert advisors, Chairpersons and members of the Council, click here