Gary Bonney visits Caritas programs in Peru

Two students from Western Australia’s Notre Dame University, supported by Caritas Australia, will clock up more than 1,600 kilometres when they embark on a road trip across the South West and Mid West, Western Australia, to bring awareness to constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Caritas Australia, the Catholic Church’s international aid and development agency, is committed to working with Indigenous Peoples across the world. For over 40 years Caritas Australia has been working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia through its First Australians programs. Caritas’s Walk As One campaign advocates joining in solidarity with Indigenous communities to achieve a more just world. Continue reading →

World Youth Day coordinators gather

With only one month to go before pilgrims set off for WYD in Rio de Janeiro, 50 Australian pilgrimage coordinators recently met in Sydney for a final preparatory briefing before leading over 1700 pilgrims to South America.

The Australian pilgrimage to WYD will consist of over 30 groups from various dioceses, communities, groups and movements in the Catholic community across Australia. Sixteen Bishops and a large number of lay leaders, youth ministers, chaplains, religious and teachers will travel with the young pilgrims, visiting different parts of Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina.

Matters discussed at the briefing day included reports with the latest information and planning from the WYD Office in Rio. It also provided coordinators with spiritual formation, updated travel arrangements, logistical and critical response planning, and a time to discuss post-WYD retreat and formation strategies. Continue reading →

wisdom at the gate colloquium

The Council for Australian Catholic Women (CACW) has announced its inaugural colloquium for Australian Catholic women which will take place on Friday and Saturday 16-17 August at Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney.

Wisdom at the Gate: Radiant and Unfolding is a colloquium facilitated by the CACW which aims to gather, connect and re-energise those who are responding to the issues of women’s participation in the Catholic Church within their local context.

Director of the Office for the Participation of Women (OPW) Donella Johnston is working with the CACW to organise this colloquium, and hopes that the collaborative effort will bear fruits that will last.

“The colloquium is an invitation for women to gather and dream; to be all they can be; to re-imagine the potential of what is possible within their own context; and to distil the wisdom that women carry and nurture within their lives and our church”, she said. Continue reading →