Massimo challenged us to think about and discuss the three major intentions of Vatican II and its relevance to Australia, our Diocese and our school communities. Vatican II as a narrative attempted to challenge the Catholic Church to be:

• more evangelical in its outlook as a Church
• more ministerial in its witness and service and less institutional
• more authentic, honest and without double standards.

I joined Bishop Bill, the Priests, Principals and colleagues from the Curia, including members of the Catholic Schools Council, to debate these challenges and what we need to do embed the intended goals of Vatican II into our Catholic Churches, parishes, schools and Diocesan agencies. As we grapple with responding to secularism, post modernism, political liberation, corruption, the impact of institutional sexual abuse whilst remaining counter-cultural, the discussions were vibrant and stimulating.

Vatican II attempted to bridge the gap between the institutional church and the person of Jesus Christ.

As Catholics we must ask each other 'did it succeed in doing this? Have we gone backwards as a Church? What needs to happen to make this a reality?'