Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane has been elected by the
Australian bishops to chair a commission preparing for a national
council in 2020.The national plenary council - the first such event in Australia since 1937 - will bring the members of the Australian hierarchy together to discuss pastoral responses to the challenges facing the Church today.
Archbishop Coleridge acknowledged a need to form new approaches at a time when the public influence of Catholicism is in decline.
“We can’t just put up a sign saying business as usual,” he said.
“What the plenary council is all about is planning for the future of the Church in this country at a very complex time,” the archbishop said.