SYDNEY — Armed with their ideas and a vision for the future church in Sydney, families are ready to seize the rare opportunity to help steer the future of their faith at the upcoming synod consultations, beginning on Aug. 30.
Phillipa Manley, a mother of four, sees the synod consultations as a way of shaping her faith — which is the bedrock of her family.
“I’m a mum. I work; do all the normal mum stuff and it’s my faith that really keeps it all together. It’s what’s important to me. And that’s why I’m looking forward to the synod,” she said.
It’s also why she’s planning on bringing all of her adult children to the consultations.
“This is a chance for families like mine to be heard. I see it as an opportunity to shape the church for the future. And that’s important because it’s the church I see my children being part of,” she said.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney has convoked a diocesan Synod for Sydney between April 30 to May 3, 2026. It’s Sydney’s first diocesan synod in more than 80 years and, according to diocesan website, “is the fruit of years of listening, discernment and prayer.”
In preparation, the archbishop is seeking positive, practical and faithful ideas on how to make the church in Sydney more vibrant.
“When I think about responding to the archbishop’s request for ideas, the questions I’m asking myself are, ‘What’s working well in my parish community at the moment? What have I seen in other places that seems to be working well? And maybe what are some things I’d like to see, happening? And what are some hopes for the future of our parish and our community?” Manley reflected.
Lorraine Bobosevic, a passionate Catholic mother from Kogarah, will be attending the consultations with her husband, Marko, and three adult sons. They’ve been preparing for the consultations by discussing ideas focused on their desire for a church that is more mission-oriented toward helping those truly struggling in the community.
“I think we can improve how we, as church, help people who are going through real issues, or who have fallen away from the faith,” she said.
A pharmaceutical sales rep, Bobosevic used a hospital analogy to highlight her desire to see greater spiritual care and support offered by the church, suggesting that parishes should be like a “field hospital” focussed on saving souls and providing real help beyond the Mass experience.
“Sometimes it can just feel like we can cater for the person with a cut on their finger, but not the person needing resuscitation. We need to be a church that caters for both. That saves souls and gets them to heaven, and I don’t know if that mission is articulated well enough,” she offered.
“When you are in your darkest moments you want people to turn to the church, not the pub or a psychologist. That’s the church we need to be — a more mission-oriented one,” she said.
Bobosevic acknowledges that these are difficult issues, but she emphasizes that honest, open dialogue is essential for meaningful progress.
“I want to throw these kinds of hard questions out there, because, as a parishioner, just in the pews, the opportunities to sit in front of a bishop or a priest, with an honest heart, is hard because they’re so busy. So, this is a great opportunity to offer this insight and throw these kinds of hard questions out there,” she said.
Bobosevic’s desire for the church to become more mission-oriented is one of the three longings the archbishop has identified in asking for practical ideas from families like Bobosevic’s at the three consultations beginning in August. The other two longings focus on creating more prayerful liturgies and more Christ-centred communities.
The archbishop has organized three consultations to hear about these longings of the faithful of the archdiocese and discuss ideas with them at Holy Family Church in Menai, a Sydney suburb, Aug. 30; St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, Oct. 14; and All Saints Church in Liverpool, also a Sydney suburb, Oct. 16.
Manley’s message to the wider archdiocese is clear and direct: “I believe the archbishop really wants to hear from us. He really cares about families, about schools, about the people of Sydney. And I think this is an important opportunity for us to respond and to share our ideas and dreams for the future of the church.”
This story was originally published by The Catholic Weekly, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Sydney, and distributed through a partnership with OSV News. Darren Ally is a reporter for The Catholic Weekly.
NOTES: More details about Sydney Synod 2026 can be found at www.sydneycatholic.org.
