Peter Johnstone

Peter Johnstone consults in good governance practices and is committed to renewal of the Catholic Church.

Peter's recent articles

False fruits: What hope now for the Plenary Council of the Australian Catholic Church?

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.

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.

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 seems that Archbishop Comensoli takes decisions without the need for accountability, transparency or inclusiveness, or any regard for the views of the faithful, and is happy to reinforce the dysfunctional governance that was at the heart of the clerical child sexual abuse cover-up business...

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 that this is code for teachings that devalue people of LGBTIQ sexual orientation.

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 associated with their institution had sexually abused a child.

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 to mention the recent conviction of an Australian archbishop on concealment charges and the imminent trial of another on sex abuse allegations. In many ways, the Catholic hierarchy is becoming increasingly isolated from the faithful.

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 to assert the importance of all Catholics not only being heard but also accepting their own responsibilities of leadership. Catholics are losing trust in their leaders.

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 the starkly inadequate responses of the Australian bishops to the findings of the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It is remarkable that the bishops have focussed on processes and procedures, basic changes that did not need a Royal Commission, while...

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 time; 4. Accept responsibility.

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 of civil law.

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, appointed by his fellow bishops to guide the preparation for the council, has recently said that the Church is facing the biggest crisis in its history. Yet the planning for this plenary council is already suffering from the poor governance that it is supposed to...

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 of Maitland-Newcastle have effectively removed any Catholic arguments against supporting marriage equality and stress the responsibility of Catholics to discern carefully in determining their vote.

PETER JOHNSTONE. The Catholic Church is Circling the Wagons

This is no time to circle the wagons in some supposedly self-protective manoeuvre. (Archbishop Coleridge, Chair Bishops Commission for the 2020 Plenary Council)

PETER JOHNSTONE. (Announcement) International Authority on the Churchs 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 functioning of the Church.

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 more recent times, Catholics have increasingly questioned this dysfunctional governance; many have walked away and many have witnessed their children walking away. The widespread disillusionment of Catholics has peaked with the revelations emerging from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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.

PETER JOHNSTONE. The Royal Commission and the Catholic Churchs 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 Churchs cover-up and protection of abusing clergy, including factors that may have affected the institutional response of the Catholic Church to child sexual abuse. The hearing will doubtless attempt to answer the question asked by many Catholics: How could the leadership of our Church behave in this way whilst...

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 the time of the Apostles. Thats not surprising as no plenary or provincial (roughly State-wide) synods have been held in Australia since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), despite that Council calling for synods to flourish with fresh vigour (Christus Dominus, n.36), and insisting that the laity...

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 24August 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 in focussing on the interests of children ahead of the institutional interests of the Church. He was there to assist the Commission in its understanding of the Catholic Churchs approach to the scandal of clerical child sexual abuse. Bishop Robinson was transparent in his formal...

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