Armed with their ideas and a vision for the future church in Sydney, families are ready to seize this rare opportunity to help steer the future of their faith at the upcoming Synod consultations, beginning on 30 August.
Mother of four Phillipa Manley 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.
“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 OP has convoked a diocesan Synod for Sydney between 30 April to 3 May, 2026.
In preparation, the archbishop is seeking positive, practical and faithful ideas on how to make our 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?” Phillipa 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 focussed on their desire for a church that is more mission oriented towards helping those truly struggling in our 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 suggested.
A pharmaceutical sales rep, Lorraine 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 expressed.
Lorraine acknowledges that these are difficult issues, but she emphasises that honest, open dialogue is essential for meaningful progress within our community.
“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,” Lorraine said.
The Bobosevic’s desire to become a more mission-oriented church is one of the three longings the archbishop has identified when inviting practical ideas from families like Lorraine’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 organised three consultations to hear these and discuss these ideas:
- Holy Family, Menai
Saturday, 30 August 2025 | 9 AM – 12 PM - St Mary’s Cathedral
Tuesday, 14 October 2025 | 6 – 9 PM - All Saints, Liverpool
Thursday, 16 October 2025 | 6 – 9 PM
Phillipa’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.”
For more details about the Sydney Synod 2026 please follow this link.
14/08/25 Article updated due to an incorrect quote used in the original version.
