Australian Bishops Second Meeting of 2020
The Australian Catholic bishops second meeting for 2020 attended by almost 40 bishops and other senior Church figures will be held online over the four days 24-27 November 2020.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference holds biannual meetings each May and November.
Items on this four-day agenda include:
- Establishment of a new national agency with responsibility for all areas of safeguarding and professional standards commencing work in early 2021. This agency is a consolidation of roles and responsibilities currently carried out by several offices and will create a more effective and efficient means of tackling these critical issues.
- Review of the new National Response Protocol, which will create consistent, survivor-centred practices for investigation of historical and contemporary complaints and allegations of child sexual abuse. The Protocol will attend to complaints or allegations in the same way anywhere within the country and regardless of circumstances.
- Review of Church governance and the report “The Light from the Southern Cross: Promoting Co-Responsible Governance in the Catholic Church in Australia”.
- Induction and formation of bishops.
- Formation of candidates for the priesthood.
The coronavirus will be an overarching theme for the meeting.
Please pray for the bishops as they come together in the interests of the Church.