Catholics for Renewal

Subtitle

Editorial December 2019


How should PC2020 listen to what the sensus fidelium is saying?

- launch of the first summary document "Sensus fidelium" as part of our incremental set of Plenary Council key issue resources


Key issues underlying the 2020/2021 Plenary Council

1. sensus fidelium


Painting: The Last Supper, Elise Boysaw, 2014,
"a simple image of a profound moment"  
www.eliseboysaw


The Church as 'Communion of the people'

"We are members one of another" (Eph 4,25)

"The Church herself is a network woven together by Eucharistic communion, where unity is based not on "likes", but on the truth, on the "amen", by which each one clings to the Body of Christ, and welcomes others"

- extract from message of Pope Francis for the 53rd World Communications Day, 2019.


Launch of set of Summary Documents - beginning with 'Sensus fidelium'

Over the ten years of Catholics For Renewal existence an important learning has been that however many words are used to describe and explain significant issues it cannot be assumed that all readers share background knowledge or clear understanding of key terminology, phrases and issues that are fundamental to our faith, effectiveness of our Church, and objectives of the 2020/2021 Plenary Council. There are times when for busy people fewer words that are highly focused and very accessible can be more helpful than lengthy detail, particularly when these also optionally point to further resources.

For this reason we are embarking on a program over the next six months or so to incrementally produce a set of very short but highly focused statements and explanations to help raise awareness and general understanding. These are not substitutes for lengthier more complex treatises but intended to provide a set of readily accessible short explanations, with optional connection to fuller resources.

These documents are for use by our subscribers and may also be freely used, for example, as printed inclusions for parish newsletters, as discussion papers for groups such as parish Pastoral Councils, Liturgy Teams, Scripture Groups, Faith Formation Groups and School Religion Groups etc.

One critical issue, amongst others, is the 'sensus fidei fidelium' (sense of faith of Christ's faithful - commonly abbreviated to 'sensus fidelium') which underlies the whole P2020/2021 process. This is the subject of a summary document now available HERE   and launched by Catholics For Renewal as the first of a progressive series of short accessible key Plenary Council issue documents over the next six months or so from December 2019.

The initial 'summary document' resource (below) and those that follow will also be progressively available as part of 'Document No. 93' on our website Documents page.

Planned set of 2020/2021 Plenary issue summary documents

1) Sensus fidelium (sense of faith of Christ's faithful) [Dec. 2019]          HERE
2) Co-responsibility: Accountability, Transparency and Inclusion [Jan. 2020]
3) Diocesan/Parish Pastoral Councils and Synodality [Feb. 2020]
4) Women and Ministry [March 2020]
5) Clericalism [April 2010]
6) Priests and celibacy [May 2020]
7) Subsidiarity [June 2020]
8) Signs of the times [July 2020]