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From the President: One of the interesting pieces of news to appear last week was the announcement that the

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference is planning a plenary Council for the Australian church in 2020.

This will be only the fifth time in our history that there has been a plenary council. Previous councils

were held in 1885, 1895, 1905, and 1937. If you want to find out more about previous councils you will

find the relevant documents in the Veech Library.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane will be the chair of the Standing Committee for the

council. In an interview last week he gave some indication as to the thinking of the Australian bishops.

We are living at a time of profound cultural change, he sais, and this will require wise pastoral decisions.

Archbishop Coleridge put it this way: “I think we have to accept that Christendom is over – by which I

mean civic Christianity. ... This is no time for the Church to be putting up signs that say ‘business as

usual’.”

There is no doubt that the experience of the synod of bishops last year has fed into the decision of

the bishops to hold a plenary council. In fact, the program for the synod will be structured similarly to that

for the synods of recent years. There will be three phases: preparation, celebration, and implementation. It

will be an opportunity for a variety of voices in the church to be heard.

For students of theology, like us at CIS, this will be an interesting time. Our ecclesiological

studies will give us a good background for appreciating the conciliar process and helping others to

appreciate it. We will want to reflect on the address Pope Francis gave at the synod last year on 17

October. This gives the ground rules, so to speak. It emphasises that the plenary council is an ecclesial

event, and that it differs from say, a parliament or a town hall rally. I believe that the two most important

things to learn in this process will be how to listen to the word of God and discern God’s will, and how to

listen to each other as we “walk together” (syn-hodos) on this journey. So prepare for a great journey.

Fr Gerard Kelly

STUDY SKILLS MORNING

Led by Fr Gerard Kelly and Sr Michele Connolly

SATURDAY 27 AUGUST 2016 (Lecture Room 3)

9.30am — 12.30pm

RSVP by Thursday 25 August at the Registry.

All welcome! A great oppor tunity for new students. Content will include how to wr ite an essay through every step of

the way, from the essay question to the finished product, analysing the essay question, preparing a mind-map, researching

the essay, planning to use the material to answer the question, proper documentation of sources and editing the essay and

computer use in essay writing.

STUDY SKILLS MORNING I will be attending the study skills morning on Saturday 27th August 2016

NAME: ………………………………………………………………………………………………

PHONE No: ………………………………………………………………………………………….

Please return to Mary Cassar (Registry Office) by Thursday 25th August, 2016

A reminder for students that Mass

is celebrated in the chapel during teaching weeks

Tuesday and Wednesday at 12:40pm

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From the Registrar:

We have now come to the third week of the semester and I need to bring a number of issues to your

attention.

First, this is the week in which class lists are finalised. After Week 3 it is not possible to withdraw

from a class without incurring academic penalty unless you make a special application, through

the Academic Registrar, to the CIS Academic Board. Such applications are not automatically

granted. If the withdrawal after this week is not granted by the CIS Academic Board, regretfully, you

will fail the course unit and that fail will count against your GPA. If you are provisionally enrolled,

your enrolment may be terminated on the basis of such a fail.

Secondly, a reminder about attendance: students ordinarily must attend 80% of classes in order to pass

a course unit. In practice, this means that you can only be absent for a maximum of two classes

(or a maximum of one day for intensives/extensives). Of course, there are exceptions to this rule.

However, should they present, they should be negotiated very clearly with your lecturer and, possibly,

with myself.

Thirdly, if you are a current student and do not have a Student ID Card with expiry date 31st March,

2017, you need to see Mary Cassar in the Registry Office, so that your card can be renewed in order to

allow you to borrow from the library.

My final item relates to housekeeping, and it’s a gentle reminder that the student common-room

facilities are provided for all students, and as such, it’s up to everyone to pitch in and ensure it remains

a functional and pleasant space. So please wash up after yourself and help to stack the dishwasher

when required.

With good wishes for the weeks ahead,

Janelle Craig

From CISSA:

As president of CISSA I would like to welcome back all current and new students for Semester 2 here

at CIS. I would also welcome back all WYD Pilgrims from both Good Shephard Seminary

Archdiocese of Sydney and Holy Spirit Seminary Diocese of Parramatta. I hope all had a wonderful

grace filled experience.

Just after one week of lectures, the state of the student common room areas have been left very untidy

with racks of unwashed cups and glasses. Seeing the state of this last week I am not happy at all.

Please if you see that a rack is full of used coffee cups, place them in the dishwasher (in the back

kitchen) and press start. Also clean any benches around you of any spilt coffee and sugar as well as

only open one packet of biscuits at a time. Students are responsible for the washing up of cups/cutlery

and plates in the student common room. I hope this is will be the last time I have to write about the

state of the common room areas.

I hope that all students have started settling into classes and that you are making a start into your

assessment.

Yours in Christ,

Michael Lilley

CISSA President