Australia’s recently appointed bishops are gathering in Canberra this week to attend the “Seminar for New Bishops in a Synodal Way”. Source: Catholic Voice.
The seminar, hosted by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Canberra-Goulburn Archbishop Christopher Prowse, chair of the Bishops’ Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry, brought eight new bishops and auxiliary bishops together along with several experienced bishops.
The week-long seminar will be focused on formation, reflection and shared learning around the practical and spiritual realities of episcopal leadership.
“It’s somewhat unprecedented in the numbers involved,” Archbishop Prowse said. “Pope Francis and Pope Leo, over the last couple of years, have appointed quite a few new bishops to Australia, and most of them are here.”
Archbishop Prowse said the seminar was designed to support bishops as they transitioned into their roles.
“It takes a long time to understand what it means to be a bishop,” Archbishop Prowse said. “We know it theologically, but practically – what does it mean? The transition from priest to bishop doesn’t happen overnight.”
Seminar sessions range from prayer and discernment, canon law, preaching and public leadership, to safeguarding, engagement with clergy, and the evolving role of lay leadership.
For Cairns Bishop Joseph Caddy, ordained in August 2024, the gathering is less a course and more “an opportunity for encounter and engagement”.
“I think this more intimate encounter here is probably beneficial,” he said, noting the contrast with the international orientation course he attended in Rome shortly after his ordination. “Having a year or so under my belt also helps.”
Also joining the new bishops were Lismore Bishop Gregy Homeming OCD, Darwin Bishop Emeritus Eugene Hurley and Toowoomba Bishop Emeritus Robert McGuckin.
Bishop Hurley said reassurance is one of the most important gifts the week offers.
“They find it reassuring that pretty much every other person who’s been made a bishop shares the same anxieties and concerns,” he said. “They’re reassured that you’re not on your own.”
With the seminar continuing until Friday, Archbishop Prowse said he hoped participants would leave Canberra with renewed confidence.
“God is calling them to something they never thought or imagined,” he said. “I hope that they grow in confidence, skill, and faith, and that they know they are part of something bigger: their diocese, the national Church, and the global Church.”
PHOTO
Back row, from left: Bunbury Bishop George Kolodziej, Melbourne Auxiliary Bishop Rene Ramirez, Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Tony Percy, Broome Bishop Tim Norton. Front row, from left: Armidale Bishop Peter Murphy, Melbourne Auxiliary Bishop Thinh Nguyen, Cairns Bishop Joseph Caddy and Ballarat Bishop-elect Mark Freeman.
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New Bishops gather in Canberra for synodal formation (By Veronika Cox, Catholic Voice)
