Synod 2003 Archive

Welcome...

In May 2003, the Archdiocese of Brisbane (Australia) held a three day Synod -- the culmination of three years of extensive consultation and preparation. Abp Bathersby

Archbishop John Bathersby called the Synod to assist him identify and respond to the challenges facing the local church as it entered the new millennium. He was particularly aware of the Pope's call for a "new evangelisation", and wished to further his own priorities of spirituality, ecumenism and justice.

The Synod process sought to actively involve as many people as possible. Consultative meetings at parish, deanery and interest-group level were held, and private submissions were welcomed. Care was taken to make the entire process "transparent", with all documentation being promptly published on the internet for public scrutiny.

This website seeks to document Brisbane's Synod Journey.

You will find collected together here:

details of the various synodal stages;
documents used in the consultations;
responses from parishes, deaneries and other interest-groups;
liturgical rites that accompanied the Synod process;
the Archbishop's letters and homilies;
the Synod's recommendations and the Archbishop's promulgation.

synod pot This extensive archive of synodal material is offered to the people of the Archdiocese as a source of information and for future pastoral planning. To the wider Church it is offered as a service of shared experience, hopeful that it may help other local churches in their own synod processes. For researchers, it offers valuable data about the religious sociology of one Catholic diocese at the beginning of the third millennium.