Australian pilgrims gather in Madrid, Photo courtesy of the Knights of the Southern Cross

In December 2013 the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference will host the first Australian Catholic Youth Festival. The Festival will be held in the Archdiocese of Melbourne from Thursday December 5^th to Saturday December 7^th and gather up to 4000 young Catholics from year 9 students to those 25 years of age.

The Festival will be the largest national gathering of Catholic young people since WYD 2008 and will be held 5 years after Pope Benedict XVI visited Australia for the Sydney WYD.

Bishop Anthony Fisher, the Bishops Delegate for Youth, said the concept of a national youth event has been discussed for many years: “The Bishops Commission for Pastoral Life and the Australian Catholic Youth Council has invested a good amount of time reflecting on the purpose and structure of a national youth event. It will be an exciting and vibrant gathering of young people full of music, talks, prayer and exhibitions. Continue reading →

All Catholics feel shame at the sexual abuse of children by clergy and others.

The loss of childhood innocence and the broken lives that flow from this evil have evoked broad community revulsion and a determination that such criminal abuse of the young has to be stopped.

Since the advent of Towards Healing in December 1996, the Australian Catholic Church has committed itself publicly to a more victim-centred response when evil of this nature became known. Continue reading →