In October 2020, the Catholic Church in Australia will gather for the first Plenary Council to be held since the second Vatican Council. In 2018, the entire People of God in Australia began preparing for this historic moment by listening to God, by listening to one another’s stories of faith.

More than 222,000 people participated in listening and dialogue encounters and contributed 17,457 submissions during the first stage of preparation for the Australian Plenary Council. The voices of the faithful help all of us to understand something of the historical experience and the current reality of the Catholic Church in Australia. This gathered data also reveals some deeper hopes and questions, and the diverse yearnings, that we are now challenged to consider together. The National Themes for Discernment named below are inspired by the data and call us toward the future.

On March 23, we announced more than 250 delegates for the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia, include delegates nominated by dioceses, eparchies, ordinariates and a personal prelature. The delegates will represent those local churches at the celebration of the Council over two assemblies – in Adelaide in October 2020 and in Sydney in mid-2021.