Archdiocesan action on recommendations of the Australian Bishops’ Governance review

A recent Catholic Voice article described the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocesan approach to  governance reform. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse proposed a governance review, and Australia’s Bishops commissioned a report titled Light from the Southern Cross as their response. This latter report included 86 recommendations to improve governance and related aspects of Church management and administration, and the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, ACBC, considered those recommendations and proposed further action at the Diocesan level. This article provides more information about the Archdiocese’s actions to improve governance.

Catholic Voice’s earlier article described Archbishop Christopher’s creation of a Governance Committee to advance implementation of ACBC’s recommendations. The Committee meets regularly and is addressing systematically the Bishops’ recommendations. Its next meeting will be in mid-April after Holy Week.

During its most recent meeting, the Committee decided to:

• review progress on those of the ACBC’s 86 recommendations for action within the Archdiocese;
• improve communication, present graphically the many components of the Archdiocese and their relationships; and
• improve the reporting of ecclesial activity and finances.

The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference is also encouraging Dioceses to publish annual reports and financial statement where they are not already available. For that purpose, the Conference has provided examples of annual report formats for consideration, with each Diocese selecting the most appropriate format for it.

The goal of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Archdiocesan Governance Committee is to provide substantially more information on local Church activities and financial statements to members of the Archdiocese.