Respectful Dialogue for Repair, Healing and Wisdom

Movers Catt, P.

The Very Reverend Dr Peter Catt moved, Bishop Stephen Pickard seconded,

That this Synod

(1) Notes that:
(a) Members of this church want the church to be involved in the shaping of public and church policy in diverse areas, some of which are very complex and controversial. The Public Affairs Commission has contributed to some, such as those in a special issue of St Mark’s Review ‘Seeking Christian responses to ‘wicked’ problems’, eg sustainable growth, and population and environment.
(b) There are many other complex issues that can be difficult to discuss in meaningful ways, eg the future of marriage, the structure of family life, euthanasia, stem cell research, asylum seekers and refugees and how to respond to climate change.
(c) Members of this church in good faith hold a diversity of opinions as to how such complex issues are to be assessed and responded to.

(2) Recognises that :
(a) the church needs to undertake a journey of repair and healing in which the fundamental connectivity between God, the world and all living things is emphasised more.
(b) the church needs to set an example in its life and action that can assist repair of our institutional, social, economic, political, personal and spiritual life.
(c) the church needs to seek for a greater wisdom which is to be found at the crossroads of life. As the church seeks this wisdom it will soften our contests as we undertake respectful dialogue on important, difficult and urgent matters.

(3) Notes that:
The Social Responsibilities Committee in Brisbane has been sponsoring a process to provide a safe entry point for church members from across the Diocese of Brisbane to commence or continue their process of learning and listening on complex issues by exploring techniques for dialogue. Such approaches reflect the spirit of ‘lndaba’ adopted at the Lambeth Conference in 2008.

(4) Calls on Dioceses to be active in exploring how dialogue techniques might be used to deepen our Church’s capacity for respectful dialogue and provide us with more means for acting wisely and faithfully on complex issues.

3 July 2014


Resolution year: 2014
Resolution number: 63/14