Writer
Peter Johnstone
Peter Johnstone consults in good governance practices and is committed to renewal of the Catholic Church.
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False fruits: What hope now for the Plenary Council of the Australian Catholic Church?
The expectations and hopes that many Catholics had after the First Assembly of the Plenary Council are fading fast.The manipulative approach adopted shows scant respect for either the Pope or the people. Continue reading »
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Catholics want reform
Catholics are rising up and accepting responsibility for renewing their Church. Catholics across Australia and New Zealand have met via Zoom to support the growing movement for reform of the Catholic Church. Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. Archbishop rejects top woman theologian – business as usual.
Peter Comensoli, still only 12 months into his new job as Archbishop of Melbourne, seems to have adopted the old ways of Catholic episcopal autocracy. He has unilaterally determined that an internationally acclaimed Catholic theologian, Sister Joan Chittister, be removed from the list of speakers at a conference of Australian educators in September 2020. It Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. Is religious freedom code for a licence to discriminate?
Just one worrying aspect of current talk that religious freedom needs to be legislated is that the need is rarely explained. There is vague reporting of the ‘right’ of religious schools to teach faith-based doctrine. This begs the question as to what these schools want to teach that they think is at risk. It seems Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. Breaking the seal for the common good.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has recommended that the Catholic ‘seal of confession’ should not exempt priests from a proposed offence of ‘failure to report’. That offence would apply to any failure to report to police in circumstances where a person knew, suspected, or should have suspected that a person Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. Bishops in the headlights.
Catholic bishops throughout the world should regard themselves as on notice following the dramatic offer of resignations by all the bishops of Chile. There are already calls (Paul Collins) for Australian bishops to emulate the Chilean bishops in light of the damning report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, not Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. Catholic Reform Groups Want Urgent Action from Bishops.
The Catholic Church in Australia faces continuing decay unless bishops listen to grassroots Catholics. Some 50 representatives, women and men, of nine Catholic groups throughout Australia advocating for systemic reform of the Church, gathered in Canberra a few days ago. The key focus of this Gathering of the Australian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform was Continue reading »
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Should Australian Catholic Bishops be Trusted?
“The bond of trust between the laity and their bishops has been severely impaired…a serious erosion of trust in the hierarchical leadership of the church’’.- leading Australian Catholic theologian Professor Neil Ormerod of the Australian Catholic University in Fairfax papers on Sunday 11 February 2018. Many Catholics have become demanding of their Church leaders following Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. Public relations responses to Royal Commission
The damning findings of the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in the recent reports on the Catholic dioceses of Melbourne and Ballarat seem to have elicited a standard Church response: 1. Accept critical findings; 2. Express regret to victims and families; 3. Apologise for failings of the incompetent bishop at the Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. The Seal of Confession: resorting to the Age of Christendom
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has recommended to Australian federal and State governments, that the Catholic ‘seal of confession’ should not exempt priests from a proposed offence of ‘failure to report’. The response of some Church commentators has been dismissive and disrespectful of the work of the Commission, foreshadowing defiance Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. An ill-informed plenary council for the Catholic Church.
Only those in blind denial could fail to realise that the Catholic Church in Australia is now in the midst of a massive and existential crisis. It is, above all, a crisis of governance. The Catholic bishops’ main response to this crisis in Australia has been to propose a ‘Plenary Council’ for 2020. Archbishop Coleridge, Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE Catholics,can definitely vote ‘Yes’
Two Catholic bishops have written pastoral letters to their dioceses in which they make it clear that Catholics should not discriminate against same-sex couples and should listen to their consciences in considering how to vote in the ABS survey, now landing in letterboxes throughout the country. Bishop Vincent Long of Parramatta and Bishop Bill Wright Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. (Announcement) International Authority on the Church’s Governance to visit Australia
Dr Richard Gaillardetz, an eminent lay theologian who raises some of the hard questions for the Catholic Church concerning its governance, is coming to Australia for the National Pastoral Leaders and Pastoral Planners Conference. This is a conference organised by pastoral associates, a challenging leadership role occupied mostly by women and increasingly important to the Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. An Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Australia
Most Australian Catholics have long been aware that the structures of their Church are autocratic; most were brought up accepting that Church decision making is unaccountable and often secretive, that bishops are remote from their people in their decision making, and that the views of laypersons count for little, particularly if they are women. In Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. What sort of bishops do Catholics want?
Concerned Catholics who responded to a recent Catholics for Renewal online survey showed widespread dissatisfaction with the current state of their local diocese and parishes. Their dissatisfaction referred to current governance arrangements, the need for a stronger pastoral focus and more effective leadership from their bishop based on his willingness to consult widely. Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. The Royal Commission and the Catholic Church’s Dysfunctional Governance
In May 2016, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released Issues Paper 11 – Catholic Church Final Hearing, inviting submissions for its final Catholic Church hearing scheduled for three weeks 6-24 February 2017. That hearing will review the horror of clerical child sexual abuse and the Church’s cover-up and Continue reading »
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PETER JOHNSTONE. A Plenary Synod in 2020 for the Australian Catholic Church
The Australian Catholic Church is planning a national/plenary synod of the Church in Australia. Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane has announced that the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) has decided to conduct a plenary council/synod in 2020. Few Australian Catholics would be aware that synods have been an integral part of church governance since Continue reading »
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Peter Johnstone. Bishop Robinson at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
“the major obstacle to a better response from the Church has been the Vatican.” Bishop Geoffrey Robinson On Monday 24 August 2015, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson spent a day in the witness box at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He showed the integrity one would hopefully expect from a Christian bishop Continue reading »
