Most Rev Peter A Comensoli, Archbishop of Melbourne, said, "I am deeply grateful to the Holy Father for this gift and blessing to our Archdiocese."

"The Melbourne Archdiocese is the largest in Oceania, and we have waited a long time to have our full complement of Auxiliary Bishops to assist in ministering to God's people.

"Both Fr Nguyen and Fr Ramirez are men who have a heart for the Gospel and a missionary energy for God's people," said the Archbishop.

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Bychok, 44, who leads the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Australia, was appointed only four years after arriving in the country.

His elevation has surprised many within the Church, especially those who expected more senior figures such as Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney or Melbourne's Archbishop Peter Comensoli to receive the title.

Some conservative figures are reportedly upset by the decision, with Archbishop Fisher expected to be especially displeased.

A senior source within the Church described Fisher as likely "choking on his Talisker" upon hearing the news.

Critics have noted the pope's continued tendency to pass over right-wing appointees associated with the late Cardinal George Pell, a controversial figure in the Australian Church.

At the same time, progressives had hoped Vietnamese-Australian Bishop of Parramatta Vincent Long may have caught the pope's eye.

A difficult cross

Bychok's appointment has also been interpreted as recognising the growing multiculturalism within the Australian Church. Data from the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office shows that nearly a quarter of the clergy in Australia are overseas-born.

The new cardinal-elect, who learned of his appointment through the news, said he was in shock. "For me, it's a great mystery. God works in mysterious ways, and the pope works in mysterious ways, under God!"

Bychok acknowledged the weight of his new role, particularly for the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Australia and worldwide. "To fulfil this will of God will be a huge challenge for me, and a really difficult cross" he said.

Cardinal-Elect Bychok paid tribute to his predecessor, Cardinal George Pell, who passed away early in 2023.

"Cardinal Pell, besides all his trials, was faithful to God. He proclaimed the Word of God until the end—he was a true apostle of Christian values. That's what I would like to carry into my ministry as cardinal" Cardinal-Elect Bychok said.

In a statement shortly after his appointment, he also honoured his predecessor cardinals of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

"I will endeavour to follow the worthy example of my predecessor cardinals" the cardinal-elect said. He singled out 20th-century Cardinals Myroslav Lubachivsky, Lubomyr Husar and Josyf Slipyj.

Sources

Crickey

Catholic Weekly

"We shall return", a buoyant Fr Glen Tattersall said at the final Traditional Latin Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne on Wednesday evening.

The Australian reports the Cathedral was packed for the Mass - it estimated there was a congregation of around 850 people.

"They came in business suits, in strollers, on trams and in fluoro tradie gear. Most were rugged up in heavy coats against the Melbourne winter which did not dim the spirit of the cathedral lit with candlelight and optimism" reports Tess Livingston in The Australian.

Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli sat in the Sanctuary, but did not address the crowd.

On Monday Comensoli received the news that the Vatican had denied his request to hold the Traditional Latin Mass at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral.

The decision from the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments was published on Monday on the news portal "Zenit".

"While we recognise that Mass according to the Missale Romanum of 1962 has been celebrated in the Cathedral Church for some time, we are nonetheless constrained to deny this request" the response stated.

The Vatican stated that liturgies in a bishop's church should serve as a model for the entire diocese.

"It does not seem appropriate for the antecedent liturgy to be celebrated in the place that should serve as an example for the liturgical life of the entire diocese" said the statement.

The Dicastery's Secretary, Bishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, signed the response.

Viola emphasised that "The Cathedral is the first place where the celebration of the liturgy must use the current liturgical books, which form the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite".

Lex orandi refers to what is prayed.

It is often used in conjunction with lex credendi which together translated from the Latin means: "the law of what is prayed [is] the law of what is believed".

It is also sometimes expanded as lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi, which again translated from the Latin means "the law of what is prayed [is] what is believed [is] the law of what is lived".

Congregation at St Patrick's Melbourne final old rite Latin Mass

Latin Mass restrictions

While the cathedral request was denied, the Vatican allowed the Traditional Latin Mass to be celebrated at Saint Michael and Saint Philip parishes in Melbourne for two years.

After this period, Comensoli must seek renewed permission from the Vatican to continue these services.

The Vatican suggested that a contemporary form of the Mass could be celebrated in Latin at the cathedral for the group favouring the Traditional Latin Mass, potentially using the same altar as the pre-conciliar form.

Archbishop Comensoli's request, made in June 2023, came in the wake of Pope Francis's 2021 Motu Proprio "Traditionis custodes" ("Guardians of the Tradition"). This publication restricted the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.

The rules were further tightened in February 2023, mandating that bishops need the Holy See's permission to authorise such Masses in parish churches.

Sources

Katholisch

Zenit

The Australian

CathNews New Zealand

According to the Bishops' Conference website's media blog, the delegation from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) made the pastoral visit to several Ukrainian cities on 8-11 August in an expression of solidarity with the country's people.

The delegation consisted of Archbishop Peter A Comensoli of Melbourne; Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart; Bishop Karol Kulczycki SDS of Port Pirie; Father Simon Cjuk, vicar general of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Australia; Annie Carrett, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Melbourne; and was guided and accompanied by Father Adam Ziółkowski SDS.

The delegation visited Lviv, Kyiv, Bucha and Irpin, the last two having been sites of horrendous destruction and atrocities against human life, and met with Church leaders, families, civil leaders, and soldiers.

Read More

The sermons likened abortion to concentration camps and included claims that "practising homosexuality is a sin" - views which Victoria's premier, Daniel Andrews, said were "absolutely appalling", "bigotry" and "intolerant".

Daniel Andrews identifies as a Catholic.

The Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli (pictured), the state's most senior Catholic, told the Herald Sun the premier's comments were harmful.

"Such language pitches some members of the community against others and contributes to an unhelpful spirit of division," Comensoli.

"It leaves ordinary people of faith questioning if they can publicly hold their committed beliefs, or even to be able to exercise leadership and service in the community."

"It really concerns me deeply," Comensoli told The Age. "It is quite a bizarre reality we seem to have entered into where people are being judged unworthy to lead because of some of their basic Christian beliefs."

Adel Salman, the president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, says the episode is the "most stark example" of organisations sacrificing religious freedom at the altar of corporate image.

"Someone should not be discriminated against and ostracised because of their religious views," Salman said. "I feel sorry for everyone involved, and I just hope this doesn't become a commonplace occurrence."

Thorburn quit as Essendon chief executive after club president David Barham insisted he choose between employment at the club and his volunteer position as chair of City on the Hill, an Anglican church.

Barham issued the ultimatum after the Herald Sun published extracts from a nine-year-old sermon delivered by a City on the Hill pastor which likened abortion rates to the Holocaust and urged same-sex attracted people to remain celibate.

Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne Phil Freier said his church rejected homophobia and he saw nothing in Thorburn's reported comments which contradicted that.

Prominent workplace lawyer Josh Bornstein said that under Victorian law, it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against an employee because of their religious belief or activity. He said it was arguable that in delivering its ultimatum to Thorburn, Essendon breached the Equal Opportunity Act.

Comensoli said it appeared a new "litmus test" had been established for people seeking leadership roles in football and other professions, and questioned the impact this could have on ordinary people of faith.

"Are they now having to rethink how they think?" he said.

"There is a level of intrusion of this into people's lives which I think is really concerning."

Sources

Brisbane Times

The Guardian

CathNews New Zealand

Instead, Morrison insisted, people of faith must be defended from those who seek to marginalise and silence them.

After tabling the government's religious discrimination bill in parliament on Thursday, Morrison said faith groups and individuals should be shielded from the "prevalence of cancel culture in Australian life".

"It's true, it's there, it's real," Mr Morrison said.

"Australians shouldn't have to worry about looking over their shoulder, fearful of offending an anonymous person on Twitter, cowardly sitting there abusing and harassing them for their faith, or transgressing against political or social zeitgeists.

"We have to veer away from the artificial, phoney conflicts, boycotts, controversies and cancelling created by anonymous and cowardly bots, bigots and bullies."

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said Labor would "carefully review the bill" and speak with religious bodies, civil society and community organisations, LGBTIQ groups and legal experts.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has welcomed the introduction of the Religious Discrimination Bill. They say it will provide basic human rights protections for Australians of all faiths to express their beliefs.

Archbishop Peter A Comensoli, chair of the Bishops Commission for Life, Family and Public Engagement, has commended the bill. He said it offers "a positive expression of religious freedom" that will be "an important progression towards parity with other anti-discrimination laws in Australia."

"All Australian citizens, regardless of their religious belief or activity, should be able to participate fully in our society. They must be entitled to the equal and effective protection of the law. They should not be discriminated against based on their religious belief or activities in public life."

Trade unions on Thursday opposed the religious discrimination bill, with the ACTU warning the new laws would "undermine the mental health and safety of Australian workers."

ACTU president Michele O'Neil said the proposed religious protections would hand "exemptions to religious employers to discriminate against workers on religious grounds."

Sources

The Australian

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

Morrison's religious discrimination bill, a 2019 election pledge, will shield Australians from prosecution if they express reasonable and genuinely held faith-based views despite offending others.

Senior government sources said the revised bill removed some of the more controversial or "extreme" measures in earlier drafts and offered a "sensible compromise".

The government has removed the ‘Folau clause' but retained exemptions guaranteeing that professional bodies cannot dismiss people based on religious beliefs. The clause refers to rugby union player Israel Folau who was stripped of his contract in 2019 after posting "hell awaits" gay people on social media.

It is understood faith-based groups have adopted a pragmatic approach to the bill, realising that outcomes gained from the proposed laws would offer more protections than they currently have.

Catholic Bishops Conference spokesman Peter Comensoli, the Archbishop of Melbourne, said a religious discrimination bill was "an important progression towards parity with other anti-discrimination protections".

However, doctors have called for a halt to draft federal laws to enshrine religious freedom out of concern the changes would curb access to health services for women. They believe it will also compound discrimination against gay and lesbian Australians.

"It's unnecessary to introduce ‘religious freedom' laws when these rights are already protected under Australian law," said Dr Karen Price, president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

"Furthermore, we remain concerned about the potential impact of the bill on the delivery and access to some women's health services, and vulnerable groups' access to suitable healthcare or particular health services.

"The proposed law could compound negative community attitudes toward those most vulnerable, including minority groups and the LGBTQI+ community.

"Given Australia is already in the grips of a mental health crisis, we must do everything in our power to prevent this."

The religious discrimination bill will be debated by the lower house next week. It will then be sent to the Senate, where it is expected to be referred to a committee process.

Sources

• The Australian
• The Sydney Morning Herald
• Sky News Australia

While turning the unvaccinated away is a public health imperative, it is theologically very difficult for many religions.

Father Peter Nguyen of St Dominic's Catholic Church in Camberwell is grateful for an easing of restrictions in Victoria from Oct 29. This will allow him to hold a small Mass for people with "unknown vaccination status".

"I didn't want to say, ‘Sorry, you can't come' to the unvaccinated," Father Peter says. "Jesus was about including rather than excluding people."

From last Friday, places of worship are allowed to hold indoor services for the fully vaccinated, with a density limit of one person per four square metres. Outdoor services for the fully vaccinated are capped at 500 and services of up to 30 for those of "unknown vaccination status".

Most Masses at St Dominic's will require all people to be double jabbed and carry proof of their vaccination status. But a special Mass for those of "unknown vaccination status" will be held at 6pm on Sunday.

However, faith leaders do not need to be vaccinated to conduct a service.

Premier Daniel Andrews has flagged unvaccinated Victorians will be barred from most venues and events until 2023.

Melbourne Catholic Archbishop Peter Comensoli - who says Catholics are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated - welcomed Victoria's second to last opening-up stage from Friday.

Comensoli believes Victorians also need a marker when a unified gathering might happen. He says he will continue to work with other faith leaders on proposals that allow both vaccinated and unvaccinated people to worship in person safely.

"After many long months of isolation, continued forms of segregation within the community are deeply damaging. We cannot let this become the only way for COVID-accommodation," he says.

"As faith communities, we are here to support and comfort those in need and to be open to all regardless of who a person is or why they come."

Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann from the Ark Centre in Hawthorn East says most synagogues are unwilling to risk COVID transmission by allowing the unvaccinated to attend services or prayer groups.

"What I am seeing is the people most in need of a sense of community are the ones who aren't taking up vaccinations," Rabbi Kaltmann says. "I'm seeing people falling through the cracks of society and becoming increasingly isolated. I think once we reach 90 per cent double vaccination, the government must re-evaluate."

Bishop Paul Barker from the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne is horrified by Mr Andrews' suggestion that the unvaccinated will remain excluded in Victoria until at least 2023.

"We are anxious that in society - not just in churches - we don't create a division or an underclass of the unvaccinated," Bishop Barker says.

Barker said he understood Victorian health officials were reluctant to set a date for when unvaccinated people could have the same freedom because they didn't want them to simply wait it out.

"But I think personally, if we get to 90 percent double vaccination and low case numbers, it should end then."

Sources

• The Age
• Australian Financial Review

Critical of State Governor, Daniel Andrews (pictured), Comensoli says the new Equal Opportunity Act (Religious Exceptions) reform proposes a new ‘inherent requirement' test to replace current, well-working exemptions from anti-discrimination laws.

This means an employer will have to prove that a staffing role had an inherent religious requirement, he says.

Comensoli says he is particularly worried about Catholic schools.

These schools have been "a beacon of trust and welcome for so many precisely because they are run on the basis of Catholic faith and values," he says.

He does not think it should be up to a court or a government bureaucrat to determine what constitutes faithful conduct in a religious context.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne is asking the Government for a serious re-think of its proposals and to let go of its commitment to introducing an ‘inherent requirement' test.

Comensoli says the reformed Act is "one more unneeded attack by the Government upon people of faith in Victoria."

It will seriously diminish the rights of religious organisations to manage their activity according to their faith and conscience, he says.

"People of faith have stood shoulder to shoulder with their fellow Victorians through this pandemic and shown extraordinary care for the vulnerable and those facing isolation, loneliness and great fear.

The archbishop says he's deeply concerned that, "as people of faith emerge from the pandemic, the Government should choose this time to start telling them what should be important to them in their own faith-based organisations.

"Across multiple sectors, Catholics run organisations with an open and inclusive commitment to all people in their care, regardless of their personal circumstances.

"Suddenly the Government is determined to tell them whether or not religious identity should be a factor in managing employment matters," Comensoli says.

Source

• Catholic Weekly
• Image: The Catholic Leader

Comensoli told his diocesan clergy and parish lay leaders that the diocese is on a ‘threshold' and either we do something or ‘sink into the sunset'.

He conceded the church's painful history and parishioners abandoning the pews had caused serious challenges.

The Archdiocese currently has 209 parishes with an average of 5052 Catholics. But only 13% of Catholics across all parishes typically attend weekend Mass. In the largest parishes as few as 6% attend.

In briefings to church officials, the Catholic leader has suggested overhauling Melbourne's 209 parishes into about 50 to 60 "missions".

The missions would be parishes grouped together based on common districts, ethnic communities or needs.

Under the plan, which could take between three and five years to implement, two priests could be based at each mission. They would live together in the same residence enabling resources to be pooled.

Figures show that the Catholic church is struggling to address priest shortages. More than half of the 224 priests and 28 seminarians in training in Melbourne 2019 were either born or recruited from overseas.

Archbishop Comensoli has not suggested the restructure would result in parishes being forced to close. Instead, he insisted that the shift was merely designed to help parishes thrive and adapt to "changing circumstances" confronting the church.

The Archbishop's comments come less than three months before the most significant conference Catholic Bishops have held in years, the Plenary Council. The meeting is due to take place in October.

While Catholics are pushing for reform, some have accused the Archbishop of failing to do the very thing the Plenary Council process promised. That is to consult with lay people about the structure and governance of the church.

"Comensoli has effectively thumbed his nose at the Plenary Council," said Catholics for Renewal spokesman Peter Wilkinson. "He has made a unilateral decision, settled on his own proposal, and then, only afterwards, invited them to comment on its implementation."

The Archdiocese has rejected these concerns, telling The Age that parishes would not be abandoned. The consultation process began a few weeks ago with two major briefings involving clergy and lay representatives.

"This is not an ‘imposition', but a response to having listened within the Archdiocese," a spokeswoman said.

"This will be a long journey. The next steps include regional meetings in August and September, followed by more local gatherings in October and November. All gatherings will involve both clergy and lay representatives, chosen at the local level."

Sources

The Age

Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli said any coercive practice "is an affront to human dignity."

He said he firmly rejects such harmful acts but added that "nobody is protected when governments seek to determine what prayers are OK to say, or what faith reasonably proposes."

"Who I pray to, how I pray, what I pray for, and most particularly, who I pray with is not of concern to any government," Comensoli says.

"Most mainstream Christian churches reject coercive practices or activities that do harm to LGBT people, and we're ready to work with government to find ways of ensuring that people are protected.

"But the bill goes well and truly beyond that."

Banning and criminalising "conversion therapy" is the most egregious attack on religious freedom the country has ever seen, Australian faith leaders and legal experts say.

Their assessment is the bill's definitions are so broad they could crush any Christian expression of human sexuality.

As it's drafted, homilists, Scripture teachers and parents will face penalties of over US$148,600 or individuals could spend up to 10 years in jail if they fall foul of the new law.

It's not about praying for people who have neither asked for nor wanted conversion therapy.

Any religious practice, including praying for a person at their request in relation to issues concerning their sexual orientation or gender, is included in the draft bill as a criminal offence.

Activities relating to gender transitioning from a person's biological sex to a new gender identity are exempt.

The new law would also empower Victoria's Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to respond to reports of change or suppression practices from any person, not only those directly involved. The Commission would be empowered to launch its own investigations, too.

Any coercive practice "is an affront to human dignity," says Archbishop Peter Comensoli of Melbourne (pictured) says.

Not only does he firmly reject such harmful acts, he says "nobody is protected when governments seek to determine what prayers are OK to say, or what faith reasonably proposes."

John Steenhoff, managing director of the Human Rights Law Alliance also spoke out strongly against the proposal.

The bill is "a direct attack on religion beliefs, and in particular Christianity, and will target those who hold to traditional convictions on sexual orientation and gender identity issues," he says.

"It is far too broad and will legislate extreme ideology, particularly around gender ideology," he says.

In his opinion, the bill represents "thinly veiled ideological compulsion."

Professor of Law Michael Quinlan, also has strong views about the proposal.

Quinlan is the dean of the School of Law, Sydney, at the University of Notre Dame.

Victoria is taking a "very draconian and authoritarian approach which no government should take," he says.

"The proposed Victorian legislation is not only an affront to freedom of religion, it is also an affront to freedom of choice.

"I don't think it should ever be a crime to pray."

Source

• UCA News
• Image: YouTube

"This is not a theoretical discussion for the future but is happening in real-time", says Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli.

Comensoli says the epidemic is forcing the Church to be more creative in the way it reaches people.

It is also reshaping the way faith is practised at home, he says.

"In this last week alone the shift between doing things in one particular way to now doing things differently is quite extraordinary," he says.

It's important that the Church recognises and takes advantage of the current opportunities, he adds.

Right now the Church has the opportunity "not just to move what we already did onto an online platform, but to find genuinely different ways of evangelizing, of reaching out to people and letting them know that the Lord is with them and finding ways that they themselves can be a part of the life of the Gospel and the life of the local faith community."

Each diocese and parish will work out how to do this in their own way, he adds.

In Melbourne, for example, the solution has been to get "seriously geared up around digital and online opportunities."

With schools closed, the Melbourne archdiocese is looking for ways to help children and adolescents continue their education and faith journey online with the help of their families.

"We've been saying for decades and decades that faith is at home and in the parish, and now it's literally at home," Comensoli says.

Comensoli says although he is not frightened of COVID-19 on a personal level, "there are many, many people who are, and my role and responsibility is to be able to accompany and carry those who are fearful, who are overwhelmed."

He also thinks the pandemic will see a "shift in people's priorities."

"People will start to give consideration to ... 'What is important in my life? What is important in our family life?'

"I think faith opens up as a possibility there," he says.

His job as archbishop "is to find ways of enabling that to happen."

For Catholics, the way faith is lived at home "will become substantive" in a way that it was not before, Comensoli predicts.

Source

• Crux
• Image: Catholic Philly

Hundreds of thousands of Catholics are pushing for the church to open itself to ordaining women, ending clericalism and enabling people who are LGBTI or divorced to be included more.

Prominent Catholics are sounding alarm bells, warning the Church that Pell's conviction should be seen in the light of the influence he has had on the church.

"A convicted paedophile has played a major part in the form of the Church we see today," Catholics for Renewal spokesman Peter Johnstone says.

"It can't just be business as usual."

An internal report, based on the input of more than 220,000 people is demanding radical reform at next year's Plenary Council, which will discuss the future of the Catholic Church in Australia.

The plenary council will be the first to be held since the second Vatican Council.

The internal report includes proposals such as:

• more inclusion for divorced and remarried Catholics
• better selection of priests
• more involvement for lay-people
• an end to discrimination against LGBTI people
• the need for women to have a greater role in the church
• more support for victims of child sex abuse

Whether the Church is open to change is a question many people are asking, particularly in the light of Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli's recent media statements.

These include Comensoli saying he'd go to jail rather than break the confessional seal to report on a paedophile.

He also said during a radio interview that he doesn't believe Pell is guilty. His conviction could have been a result of mistaken identity on the part of the surviving victim, Comensoli suggested.

Proposed new laws compelling priests to report on child abuse disclosed during confession are also raising questions about the Church's openness to change.

Labour MP Paul Edbrooke - whose father was sexually abused by a Catholic clergyman - hit out at Comensoli's comments, saying:

"It certainly takes a man detached from all logic and reality to go on radio and sell our community this rubbish. But it takes an even stupider one to expect people to believe it."

A spokesman for Comensoli said he would not be responding to Edbrooke's comments. He also refused to respond to suggestions that Pell's conviction should be viewed as a "wake-up call" for church reform.

Source

• The Canberra Times
• MNews Today

Of this, there is no doubt.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse cast a much-needed light on the failures of many institutions across Australia, including government and church institutions, and most prominently my own church.

It grieves me daily to know that young, and now adult lives, have been devastated and destroyed through multiple failures by the Catholic Church.

We failed to hear, to believe, and to act on credible information regarding child sexual abuse.

There is no stepping aside from this fact, and it drives my ongoing commitment to personally do everything in my power to create and maintain safe environments for children in our schools and parishes.

• I share the concern of our civic leaders that religious leaders like myself follow the laws of our land.
• I support religious ministers holding mandatory reporting responsibilities, a change the Catholic Church proposed in 2013.
• I have committed the Archdiocese of Melbourne to organisational and cultural change.

We have policies, procedures and processes to achieve compliance with the Child Safe Standards; we are providing reports to the Commission for Children and Young People under the Reportable Conduct Scheme; we offer professional development of leaders and workers; we ensure accreditation of those involved in child related employment, and train our clergy and people in constant improvement in building a culture that recognises, respects and defends the rights of children and young people.

Alongside this commitment I will also uphold the Seal of Confession.

I recognise that many people find it hard to understand, or relate, to the importance of Confession in the lives of many Christians.

Even some Catholics who haven't "called in" for a long time only remember aspects of what it was once like.

So why, when faced with Victoria's proposed new laws on mandatory reporting of child abuse, which would include information revealed in Confession, would any reasonable Catholic person, or any person for that matter, express concern?

Violating the Seal of Confession does not address any reform needed to protect children from abuse in institutions and other contexts, which is the fundamental point of the royal commission.

We learned a great deal from that work, including the need for ongoing supervision of those who work with children, regular review of relevant policies, transparency and accreditation for religious ministers, none of which are addressed by removing the Seal of Confession.

Let me name some of my other deep concerns with the current draft of the bill. Continue reading

• Image: The Age

The Victorian Premier, a practicing Catholic, says Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli is wrong to compare priests refusing to disclose allegations heard during confession to confidentiality between journalists and their sources or lawyers and their clients.

"I don't accept that comparison at all..." Andrews says.

Despite Andrews's protests, Comensoli says the Catholic community has "not been afforded the opportunity to view and provide comment on the draft bill prior to its public release".

Under laws introduced to parliament on 14 August priests can be jailed for up to three years if they flout the mandatory reporting rules. These rules currently apply to professions including teachers, medical practitioners and police.

Comensoli says while he supports mandatory reporting, he is prepared to go to jail rather than break the confessional seal.

"Confession is a religious encounter of a deeply personal nature. It deserves confidentiality," he says.

"Confession doesn't place people above the law. Priests should be mandatory reporters, but in a similar way to protections to the lawyer/client relationship and protection for journalists' sources."

Victoria's Liberal-National opposition went to the election with a similar policy, which they are currently reviewing.

Opposition leader Michael O'Brien says while he expects everyone including members of the church to obey state laws and that child safety is paramount, he also is concerned about religious freedom.

"What I do want to see though, is have the laws that are proposed been drafted in a way which achieves that end, and do they not unnecessarily go and infringe on other religious freedoms."

Andrews has attacked O'Brien for what he calls a "disgraceful" about-turn.

"No religion, no church, no person, no priest, no politician is free to do anything other than put the safety of our kids first," Andrews says.

"This was his [O'Brien's] policy, for heaven's sake, only a few months ago."

Clergy are already subject to mandatory reporting laws in South Australia and the Northern Territory, while Western Australia and Tasmania have announced plans to compel religious leaders to disclose knowledge of abuse.

Victoria's reforms will also allow survivors of institutional abuse to apply to the Supreme Court to overturn "unfair" compensation settlements previously signed with churches.

Source

• The Age
• 9 News
• Image:Crux Now

He was referring to a bill in Victoria's parliament which will make it mandatory for priests to report suspected child abuse to authorities, including abuse revealed in the confessional.

Under current law, various professionals working with children must tell authorities if they develop a reasonable belief that a child has been abused or face up to three years in jail.

Amendments to the law - which follow Royal Commission into Child Abuse recommendations - mean religious leaders will be compelled to tell police of disclosures of abuse during reconciliation.

Last year the Church formally rejected legally forcing clergy to report abuse revealed during confessions.

Comensoli says he doesn't see the principles of mandatory reporting and the seal of confession as being "mutually exclusive".

He says he would encourage someone who admitted to abuse to tell police and to speak to him again outside the confessional. This way he could report the abuse without breaking the seal of confession.

However, he would break the law rather than the confessional seal if the person did not want to speak to him outside of confession.

Catholic priests who break the seal of confession currently face excommunication from the church.

Victoria's Child Protection Minister says the amendments will bring about "cultural change" to make future generations of Victorian children safer.

Anti-abuse advocate Chrissie Foster says the legislation is a breakthrough.

She cited the case of Catholic priest Michael McArdle — who claimed in an affidavit to have confessed he was sexually abusing boys over a 25-year period — as an example of why the laws were needed.

"Instead of him offending for 25 years, now he'll be mandatorily reported at the first confession, not allowed 1,500 other confessions after that," she said.

Father Kevin Dillon, who has been an outspoken advocate for victims of church abuse, says the new laws offer an opportunity to revisit the canon surrounding the confessional seal.

"I think there's a certain amount of burying the head in the sand in terms of the way in which the church has got to react to this," he says.

"I don't see the seal of the confessional as so much a teaching as a practice, and practice can be altered."

"I would have to follow my conscience at the time to do what I believe was the right thing to do."

Source

• ABC News
• Image: ABC

The residence comes complete with an indoor pool.

The leak follows a recent announcement by the archdiocese making dozens of staff redundant.

The Australian newspaper learned that in virtually the same breath as warning his archdiocese of budget constraint, a reorientation of core functions affecting 140,000 weekly parishioners, plus staff redundancies, Comensoli spent AUD900,000 on a private country retreat.

Documents provided to the newspaper show Comensoli placed a caveat, signalli­ng ownership, on the property­ last month. He purchased it from money provided by his family, not the Church.

The documents say the property's most recent­ listing price was $860,000 and was sold on 24 May - which was just over a week after staff and clergy were told of Comensoli's plans to overhaul the archdiocese.

"It's not what the church is about. Kicking out hardworking people,'' a church figure said.

Comensoli, believed to be privately furious, declined to comment when The Australian contacted him.

The newspaper says commentators are speculating that some of Melbourne's inner-city parishes will have to close because of financial pressures - some of which are a result of falling attendances linked to the sex abuse crisis.

It also reports that a priest from one inner-city parish says under five percent of Catholic school families attend weekend mass regularly - a matter he has brought up with the children's parents.

An archdiocesan spokesman says while there are some challenges, there are areas in Melbourne where attendances were strong.

"We do have ongoing­ concerns about falling mass attendances though this is not a new phenomenon.

"Every Sunday almost 140,000 people attend mass across the archdiocese of Melbourne."

The spokesman noted several outer-Melbourne ­parishes are doing very well, including Deer Park, where 1930 people attend mass weekly, Mill Park (2068) and St Albans (3398).

Source

• The Australian
• Image: The Australian

Although the current financial situation is not believed to relate directly to the financial compensation payouts as a result of clergy abuse, it feeds into the way the church does its business.

The issue has provoked concerns about the impact on church attendance among the traditional Catholic support base in the country's largest archdiocese.

While there has been some growth in some parishes due to immigration, there is alarm about a forecast drop-off in support from the offspring of elderly churchgoers horrified by the extent of the abuse problem.

These factors are among those that resulted in Archbishop Peter Comensoli making plans to cut administrative staff across the archdiocese's cathedral, finance, property, communications and parish development offices.

He has also outlined reform of the church's mission agencies to "reduce the number of silos" in the organisation, which is the faith's largest in Australia.

The current restructure is believed to be part of one of the biggest ever embarked upon by an archbishop.

Comensoli, who replaced Cardinal George Pell, has been calling for restraint and a new way forward to deliver services.

"This sad and difficult moment has come at the conclusion of a process of discernment and consultation over the past two months,'' Comensoli wrote to priests last week.

"The time taken to reach decisions about the reformation of the administrative side of the archdiocese has involved an extensive period of reflection, discernment and consultation with staff members.

"Every person in the administration-support areas has been personally consulted and there have been many meetings in small groups to consider a sustainable structure for the future.

"Most especially, please reach out spiritually and pastorally to any staff member or their family you may know affected by these decisions.''

Comensoli wants the church to be placed on a "missionary footing'' as it approaches its new future.

Some priests and senior staff think Comensoli should have found other ways to navigate through the funding crisis.

However, Comensoli says he consulted Rome and other senior priests over the issue.

He hopes to further clarify the extent of the proposed reforms by the end of this week.

Source

• The Australian
• Image:Catholic Outlook
  

Comensoli, the Archbishop of Melbourne, initially sought to say the rescinding of an invitation to Sister Joan Chittister, a US author, feminist and advocate of church reform, was a misunderstanding.

He suggested Joan had been sounded out for her availability for the 2020 National Catholic Education Conference in Melbourne, but that no formal invitation had been made.

In fact, correspondence between the Ballarat Catholic Education Office deputy director John Meneely and Joan's office shows on 29 April they agreed to Joan presenting a 60-minute speech at the conference, covering the topic 'Listen to what the spirit is saying'.

A fee of $11,700 had also been negotiated, along with business-class airfares and hotel accommodation.

"I am very saddened to say that while our organising committee strongly supported the inclusion of Sr Joan as a speaker at the conference, the Archbishop of Melbourne has failed to endorse her inclusion," Meneely says.

He is now seeking explanation for Comensoli's reasons for excluding Joan.

The Archdiocese issued a statement last Friday evening.

Acknowledging Comensoli was advised in May of "a proposal for Sister Joan Chittister to speak at the National Catholic Education Commission Conference", the statement continued:

"When the conference was raised with him, Archbishop Comensoli requested that more names aligned to the themes of a national Catholic education conference be considered.

"The conference is a national conference with an organising committee drawn from leaders in Catholic education that is engaged in dialogue as part of the planning with a range of stakeholders including Catholic education leaders, church representatives and bishops.

"Archbishop Comensoli has neither invited Sister Joan or revoked any invitation that may have been issued to her."

However, suspicions the archdiocese was seeking to suppress the views of a nun who had repeatedly called for the empowerment of women and laypeople in the church is fuelling anger among those already upset by Joan's exclusion.

Others are contrasting Joan's treatment to the support Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher recently gave to former rugby star Israel Folau's right to free speech.

"One hopes that the freedoms advocated for Folau be also extended to Joan Chittister," Sister Patty Fawkner, the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan wrote in an online article last week.

"This would certainly help us move towards an adult Church."

Source

• The Sydney Morning herald
• The Age
• Image: MSN.com

This is changing with Pope Francis. According to the Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli, who was in Rome for the Australian Bishops' "Ad Limina" gathering this week, the Roman Curia is listening to rather than lecturing the bishops toiling in the trenches.

"There's none of this ‘we're the schoolmaster, and you are the pupil', all that seems to have gone," the energetic 55-year-old archbishop told me when we sat down for an interview in between his hectic schedule of meetings in the Vatican.

Every five years bishops from a particular region are required to undertake an "ad limina apostolorum" visit as a group to the "tombs of the apostles", where they meet the pope, report on the state of their dioceses and meet leaders of Vatican dicasteries.

The last Australian bishops' ad limina was eight years ago, with the delay caused by a backlog caused by the growth in the church and number of bishops worldwide.

"I was here at the last ad limina, back in 2011, and all the meetings with the dicasteries on those occasions were mainly a presentation of the dicastery, of what they were doing.

"That's turned around completely. So far, it's ‘what do you want to share with us?' ‘how can we help'?"

His remarks echo those of the Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon who also detected a different approach under the Francis curia during his visit last September, and an end to some of the "tension" that existed before between Rome and the English bishops.

This shift, Archbishop Comensoli explains, is evidence that reform of mentality is taking root in the Roman Curia, which Pope Francis sees as just as significant as re-organising structures.

A new constitution for the Roman Curia, "Praedicate Evangelium", ("Proclaim the Gospel"), which could come this September, is going to emphasise the importance of the Curia serving the local churches. Continue reading

• Image: The Tablet