10/12/07
The President of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Philip Wilson, has responded to the signatories to the petition via Paul Collins on behalf of the Conference with the following letter:
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Office of the President
30th November 2007
Mr Paul Collins; PO Box 4053; Manuka, ACT 2603
Dear Paul.
I write to acknowledge receipt of the petition which was forwarded in the name of many Australian Catholics. The issues mentioned in the petition were referred to by the members of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference at our recent Plenary Meeting in a wide-ranging discussion of vocations.
See: http://www.catholica.com.au/breakingnews/014_bn_041207.php
Church ministry and the life of the Church. During the discussion it was clear that the Bishops continue to be deeply concerned to make adequate pastoral and sacramental provision for the Church in Australia. We intend to pursue discussions at future Plenary Meetings of those aspects of Church life which are within our competency as a Conference of Bishops in the Universal Church. Yours Sincerely in Christ; Archbishop Philip E. Wilson; President. Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
Dr Paul Collins, on behalf of the petition organisers has told Catholica, that the organisers of the petition are more than happy with the responses that they have received back both formally in the letter from Archbishop Wilson and more general feedback from individual bishops. Dr Collins indicated that the organisers were more than surprised with the level of interest the petition generated within the Church. Their original hope had been to try and generate a response of around 10,000 signatures and to receive over 16,700, including over 160 responses from priests, exceeded their expectation by a long way. Dr Collins said that “from the outset the organisers appreciated that the issues the petition was asking the bishops to discuss were not all necessarily within the competency of the Bishops’ Conference to make decisions about. Nevertheless,” he said, “we believed it might be within the competency of the bishops either collectively or individually to convey their opinions on some of these issues to the authorities in the institutional Church which do have the competency to take the matters further”.
