The nationwide council is a conference of the Church’s bishops scheduled for 2020 and follows in the wake of the royal commission. 

With the last plenary council in Australia being held in 1937, the 2020 conference of bishops is unprecedented for the Church as the agenda of the conference will determined from written submissions made from the public, not just clergymen. 

The submissions have the objective of outlining the major reforms Australians want the Catholic Church to take to retain its relevance and place in society. 

 “This is the first (plenary council) where the people are asked to suggest agenda items which will be discussed when the bishops and the church people get together in a series of meetings,” Clare Mitchell said. 

“We have to get people to come and talk to each other to say this is what we should be interested in doing (for the community),” Mrs Mitchell said. 

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Sister Johnson said she would like to pass on local submissions to give Sacred Heart new and creative ideas of how to remain relevant and of service to the Griffith community. 

Sister Johnson said she wants to receive submissions from “people who are cranky with the church, people who have given the church up, we want all those ideas, because there must have been something bugging them at the time and if that can be fixed up great,” Sister Johnson said. 

“We need a creative church, we are continually evolving, creation is evolving and we should be looking at issues that are here not up in heaven.

“Things like climate change and sustainability we need to get involved in that, its’ all about looking after the earth, we’ve got a lot of migrants and refugees in (Griffith) maybe we need to get a (church) refugee group going,” Sister Johnson said. 

Sister Johnson said she would also be interested in Sacred Heart working to the prevent and rehabilitate young people from drug use. 

“I want the church to be a community rather than a hierarchy, we need to be involved in what is happening in the community, a more active and participatory church. 

The deadline for submissions to be made to the plenary council is March 6 2019, after which Sister Johnson said Sacred Heart, and the Diocese of Wagga Wagga, will be making reports of the local submissions and what reforms residents are wanting from the Church. 

Submissions to the plenary council 2020 can be written as letters or online at plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au, or can be entrusted verbally to the ladies at Sacred Heart. 

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