Catholics for Renewal Inc.
- Who we are: Origins and identity
- What we do
- Our Aims and concern
- Our Members
- Brochure
- (Other Renewal/Reform Groups)
Catholics for
Renewal seeks to meet our responsibilities for the state of the Church
in accordance with Christ’s teachings as reflected in the mandate of
Vatican II:
“The Church or people of God . . . fosters and
takes to itself, insofar as they are good, the ability, riches and
customs in which the genius of each people expresses itself.”
(Lumen
Gentium 13)
“Christ’s faithful have the right, indeed at times
the duty, in keeping with their knowledge, competence and position, to
manifest to the sacred pastors their views on matters which concern the
good of the church.”
(Canon 212, 3)
Who we are: Origins and Identity
Catholics for Renewal is a group of Australian
Catholics who are deeply committed to Christ, his Gospel
and Church mission. We are motivated by the
vision, teaching and the ongoing implementation of the
Second Vatican Council. We believe that the Council has
best preserved these in the dynamic imagery of the Church
as “the People of God” as found in its Constitutions, Lumen
Gentium and Gaudium et Spes. Catholics
for Renewal has from its beginnings in 2011 advocated the
fundamental importance of key principles of effective
governance and structural integrity that comprise
accountability, inclusion, transparency, subsidiarity and
co-responsibility. These are essential for a more
Christ-like Church and reflect the central vision and
intention of the Second Vatican Council.
What we do
Catholics for Renewal remains firmly committed to ongoing reform of the
Church’s structure and culture, always committed to the Church’s mission,
inclusive in every sense, and responsive to the People of God. Catholics for
Renewal does not represent sectional interests or ideological bias.
Catholics for Renewal as formed in early 2011 in response to growing
concerns among large numbers of Church members at failures in the Church, and
that the relationship with their leaders was rapidly breaking down. Among other
things, this became evident with the increasing number of people leaving active
participation in local Church life. This has become more and more obvious with
the separation of young people from the regular worshiping community. It
became increasingly obvious that the foundations of faith, trust and confidence
among Catholics were being seriously eroded and compromised by a remote and
isolated hierarchy with a fundamental breakdown and collapse of sound
governance, particularly in the areas of inclusion and accountability at every
level of church hierarchy.
Our Aims and Concerns
Catholics for Renewal Inc. seeks to exercise the rightful voice of all
the faithful within the Church in ways which are clearly and unambiguously
committed, transparent, constructive and responsible. Catholics for
Renewal asserts this voice with renewed urgency. It sees that the very mission
and credibility of the Catholic Church is at stake and that its claim to
represent, embody and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ is being seriously
compromised, tragically illustrated by scandalous cover-ups of clerical and
religious child sexual abusers, protecting the abusers at the cost of the
abused and the resultant further abuse of vulnerable children and adults.
Church leadership is seen to have, and has been proven to have, placed
reputational interests and protection of authority ahead of the teaching of
Jesus Christ.
For these reasons, Catholics for Renewal has taken a number of key
initiatives aimed at drawing the attention of Church leadership to the
corruption of the Church’s mission. Among these initiatives a number are
particularly significant:
- the 2011 Open Letter to the Pope and Australian Bishops, linked HERE
- the 2012 submission and subsequent presentation to Victorian
Parliamentary Inquiry, linked HERE, HERE and
Appendix, HERE
- The proposal to the Australian Bishops for a plenary national synod in
2015 preceded by diocesan pastoral councils and diocesan synods, linked HERE.
- The submission of Catholics for Renewal to the Royal Commission on
Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, July, 2013, HERE
- The comprehensive submission to the Australian Plenary Council revised
and published as Getting Back on Mission (2019)
Our Members (October 2021)
Many people, including ourselves, are easily drawn to disillusionment
over what has become an Institution in decline, for understandable reasons. But
belief in a Church comprising all of the People of God working
collectively in God’s name energises us to work synodally in shared faith with
others towards Church reform necessary for serving God’s mission in today’s
world. The spirit arising out of Vatican II and reinforced by Pope
Francis encourages us further and brings some hope.
Catholics for Renewal members comprise a diverse mix of people, however
a key point to make is that what we write and advocate for is not simply what
we think, although it includes that. It is very much more a reflection of what
our continuing wide engagement with others and our research informs us that Catholics
overwhelmingly believe is needed for urgent and faithful Church reform and
renewal. Our goal is to represent the views and aspirations of those Catholic
people as best we can. We are not lobbyists but we are advocates. Our Plenary
Council submission, published as Getting Back on Mission: Reforming our Church
Together, illustrates this very clearly.
Our interactions involve various other Catholic groups and individuals,
in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere in the world. It also includes those we
occasionally survey or who respond to our regularly published papers via our
Newsletter, website and elsewhere, and by those who endorse our open letters.
For example our Initial Open Letter to Pope Benedict XVI and the Australian
Catholic Church around ten years ago was endorsed by over 8,000 Catholics.
Others simply share their thoughts with us in response to our newsletters, and write
to us from time to time.
Our Newsletter subscribers are themselves a very diverse group of people
ranging from those who are engaged in the church but wanting reform, others
who have left the Church, on its fringe and disenchanted, and others who are in
key positions in the institutional. Mostly however they are from people who
like us refuse to simply watch our Church continue its current decline, or
exist in ways that differ from the mission God called us to follow.
So in conjunction with many others a small group of around 16 voluntary
committee members (which varies from time to time) share faith and commitment
to essential reform and renewal. We come from diverse but complementary backgrounds
including people from different ministries and vocations such as pastoral
carers, church historians, researchers, theologians, teachers, academics,
policy analysts, psychologists, doctors, communication people, lawyers,
engineers, and others.
President: Dr. Peter Wilkinson
Vice-President: Dr. Gail Freyne
Secretary: David Timbs (temporary)
Treasurer: David Timbs
______________________________________________________________________________________________
C4R Brochure
A Catholics For Renewal Brochure (October 2021) may be downloaded HERE
(the tri-fold brochure is best printed in Landscape format, double sided A4, on ‘presentation grade’ [thicker] paper)
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Other Renewal/Reform Groups (as of June 2023) HERE
(Note a new website for Australian Reforming Catholics)