Call to arms for the Catholic Church

In an open letter sent to all parishes, Catholics for Renewal has urged bishops and archbishops not to "defer to the Holy See", or wait for the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, before acting on serious issues identified by the commission that contributed to the child sexual abuse crisis.

Catholics for Renewal president and former senior Australian government bureaucrat, Peter Johnstone, said bishops needed to be prepared to urge Pope Francis to require mandatory reporting of all child sex abuse allegations to police and immediately appoint women to the church's highest ranks.

"The appointment of women would be revolutionary, but I would argue the Pope could do that tomorrow and that would be a catalyst for forcing ultra-conservative bishops to realise they've got no choice but to get on board," Mr Johnstone said.

The push for an Australian delegation to the Vatican comes only days after the church's most prominent spokesman throughout the royal commission hearings, Francis Sullivan, returned from Rome to say he was "astounded by the resistance in some quarters of the church" to tackling the child sex abuse crisis.

Catholic parishioners were asked to support renewal within the church by signing the open letter to Australia's most senior clergy, in a campaign that will run until May. It was released on Friday as the royal commission ended its 57th and final public hearing.

All Australian parish priests and pastoral councils were asked to make a copy of the letter to bishops available in churches from Sunday.

Mr Johnstone said the call for Australian bishops and archbishops to directly challenge Pope Francis on fundamental church teachings might be perceived as a "revolutionary step", but was "simply in accordance with Christ's teachings".

"I don't think the act itself would be revolutionary because it is very much within the provisions of canon law for bishops to have that close relationship with the Pope and to give honest advice to him. The church needs to start practising the teachings of Jesus," Mr Johnstone said.

It had been a "great failure" that bishops in the past had been unwilling to give "honest advice" to popes on the subject of child sexual abuse, he said.

"We believe what we've suggested in the open letter are reasonable but necessary steps for responsible bishops to take immediately, and it can be done, and to apply the sort of pressure that might in fact help the Pope."

Mr Johnstone's group told Catholic parishioners it believed an Australian delegation would be welcomed by Pope Francis as he seeks renewal in the church.

Catholics for Renewal asked Australia's bishops and archbishops to end "the corrosive culture of clericalism", where priests are seen as above parishioners, and initiate "full involvement of the faithful" in diocesan assemblies or synods and annual diocesan reports.

Bishops and archbishops were asked to appoint women to senior diocesan positions such as chancellor and delegate of bishops, after figures revealed by the royal commission showed dioceses with women in influential positions with authority over priests had the lowest child sexual abuse rates.

Mr Johnstone said his group was calling for significant change because the global child sexual abuse scandal had changed the fundamental relationship between the Catholic Church and the community.

"Churches are regarded, should be regarded, as institutions that add to the value of society, and that's the big question that occurs with the scandal of child sexual abuse. Churches have been exposed as doing the opposite, and of detracting from the safety of children in society," he said.

Mr Johnstone said Australian politicians had to be prepared to make serious demands of the Catholic Church, and other churches, because of the child sexual abuse crisis and appalling failures demonstrated by institutions.

But he was not sure politicians realised how significantly the royal commission was likely to challenge them when it hands its final report to the government in December.

Newcastle Herald