Members of the Plenary Council Executive Committee and the Bishops Commission during their meeting in Adelaide this week (The Southern Cross photo)

The Bishops Commission for the Plenary Council and its Executive Committee have met in Adelaide for the first time, 14 months before the Council’s opening session in the South Australian capital.

Plenary Council president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB said the gathering of the two groups this week came at a liminal moment in the Plenary Council journey. Continue reading →

Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Bill Wright has convoked a diocesan synod commencing in November this year, one of a number of events around the country building towards the Plenary Council and beyond.

Bishop Wright made the announcement in a homily delivered at Hamilton’s Sacred Heart Cathedral on August 8, the Solemnity of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Continue reading →

Fr Aniedi Okure, who spoke Tuesday at a national conference in Brisbane on missionary clergy and religious (The Catholic Leader photo)

by Mark Bowling/The Catholic Leader

A major Church conference on missionary clergy and religious in Australia has heard of the demographic shifting of the Catholic Church and the need to welcome and nurture international priests.

“The Church is rich, the Church is vibrant because of its diversity,” Fr Aniedi Okure, a Dominican priest and executive director of the Africa, Faith and Justice Network in Washington, told the sixth national conference on missionary clergy and religious in Australia, being held in Brisbane. Continue reading →

Fr Baggio and Bishop Long at Monday night’s Bishop Joe Grech Memorial Colloquium on Ethics and Migration (The Catholic Leader photo)

by Mark Bowling/The Catholic Leader

Parramatta Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv has praised the contribution of waves of refugees and migrants to Australia during a seminar in Brisbane marking the start of a three-day national conference on missionary clergy and religious.

“Migrants and refugees always bring energy and dynamism to a new country,”
Bishop Long said, speaking Monday night at the ninth Bishop Joe Grech Memorial Colloquium on Ethics and Migration. Continue reading →

Members of the Australian Catholic Diocesan Vocations Directors Conference at their Adelaide meeting this week.

Diocesan vocations directors from across Australia met in Adelaide this week to discuss opportunities for creating a “culture of vocations” in the Church in Australia.

Fr David Cartwright, executive officer of the Australian Catholic Diocesan Vocations Directors Conference (ACDVDC), said one of the clear messages from the gathering was the need to refocus efforts to promote vocations and have that reinforced at the parish level. Continue reading →

The National Centre for Pastoral Research has published the final report of the Listening and Dialogue phase of the Plenary Council, capturing the voices of more than 222,000 people.

The 314-page report provides insights into the 17,457 individual and group submissions received from May 2018 until March 2019. It also outlines the Listening and Dialogue process, including the questions asked, the research methodology and the preparation of the final report. Continue reading →

Pope Francis has this evening appointed Fr Shane Mackinlay, currently Master of Catholic Theological College Melbourne and a parish priest in Ballarat, the next Bishop of Sandhurst.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge recalls teaching Fr Mackinlay and said the qualities he observed then have developed in the years since. Continue reading →

The Catholic Church is developing new national policy guidelines to strengthen and standardise Church authorities’ responses to historical and contemporary concerns and allegations of abuse of children and vulnerable adults.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, said the development of the guidelines is a critical step forward in the Church’s ongoing response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Continue reading →

Gary Williams and Br Steve Morelli. Br Steve has been recognised for his efforts to keep Indigenous languages alive. (Photo supplied)

Preserving and promoting the languages of Australia’s First Peoples has been at the heart of the ministry of a New South Wales Christian Brother recently recognised with Australia’s premier award in teaching languages other than English.

Br Steve Morelli is one of two teachers of Australian Indigenous languages to be jointly awarded the Patji-Dawes Award in this, the International Year of Indigenous Languages. Continue reading →

A Morrison Government proposal to recognise Australia’s First Peoples in the constitution has been broadly welcomed by key Church organisations.

In a National Press Club address on Wednesday, Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt pledged to “bring forward a consensus option” during the current term of Parliament. Continue reading →

About 5000 young people are expected to attend ACYF19/Giovanni Portelli Photography

The countdown is on with only 150 days until doors open on the fourth Australian Catholic Youth Festival, to be held in Perth from December 8-10.

With an anticipated 5000 young people taking part in ACYF19, groups from every Australian state and territory have begun registering and preparing for an incredible and unique encounter of the Church in Australia. Continue reading →

General secretaries of the bishops conferences of France, Australia, Germany and England and Wales at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra

The general secretaries of the bishops conferences of England and Wales, Germany and France have completed a three-day visit to Canberra that examined key issues facing the Church in Australia and globally.

Fr Stephen Hackett MSC, general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, said he was “delighted” to host the “very beneficial” gathering, which moves from country to country each year. Continue reading →