Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green, centre, with members of the Australian Catholic Youth Council

Young people and youth ministers from across the country have met for the first time as the new members of the Australian Catholic Youth Council.

Meeting at the tomb of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop in North Sydney, the council reflected upon the outcomes of the Year of Youth for the Church in Australia and the General Synod of Bishops on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment. Continue reading →

Plenary Council president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB says the involvement of Catholics across the country remains critical as the Council’s Listening and Discernment stage ramps up.

The Council recently published the “Let’s Listen and Discern” guide, a tool to help people participate in the practice of communal discernment. A number of resources, including videos, have also been released to offer advice on how discernment has evolved in the Catholic tradition. Continue reading →

Since 1990, Ministry to the Newly Married has been helping couples in their first few years of marriage.

A special Catholic marriage mentoring program for newlyweds is increasing in popularity as the next generation strives to build strong, long-lasting and prayerful bonds.

Aimed at fostering relationship skills, broadening spouses’ understanding of each other and living out the sacrament of marriage for couples during their first five years of marriage, the Ministry to the Newly Married (MNM) has grown from humble beginnings in Canberra to dioceses and parishes throughout Australia. Continue reading →

The work of Catholic prison chaplains was celebrated at a conference in Melbourne last week.

Catholic prison chaplains have heard how their mission is becoming increasingly vital as Australia’s corrections system expands, conservatively costing the country $16 billion annually.

The two-day gathering in Melbourne, supported by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the Australian Catholic Prisoners Pastoral Care Council, focused on the theme “I have come that you may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Continue reading →

Msgr Harry Entwistle

The former head of Australia’s Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross says the Ordinariate’s success is part of a long-term progression towards true ecumenism.

Msgr Harry Entwistle, 79, has been a Catholic priest since 2012. That same year, he was named the first head of the Australian Ordinariate, which is aimed at welcoming groups of Anglicans, former Anglicans now Catholic and anyone else seeking full communion with the Catholic Church. Continue reading →

Fr Peter Malone MSC

An Australian priest who has been reviewing films for more than 50 years has just launched a new book about the cinematic portrayal of Catholic priests since 1900.

Screen Priests, Depictions of Catholic Priests in Cinema, 1900-2018 was written by Melbourne’s Fr Peter Malone MSC. Fr Richard Leonard SJ, director of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting, launched the book at the Yarra Theological Union last week. Continue reading →

Australia’s Catholic bishops will today launch a major statement on digital communications, calling on all levels of society to overcome the hatred, division and exploitation that occurs online.

This year’s Social Justice Statement, Making it Real: Genuine human encounter in our digital world, will be launched in Sydney by Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv, chairman of the Bishops Commission for Social Justice – Mission and Service. Continue reading →

More than 120 young people will attend the inaugural Catholic Earthcare Schools Sustainability Summit on August 30

The head of Catholic Earthcare Australia has called for urgent action to safeguard “our common home” ahead of the fifth annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation this Sunday.

In 2015, Pope Francis designated September 1 as the annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. The day was established for individuals and communities to “reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live”. Continue reading →

Msgr Carl Reid

The new head of Australia’s Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross was installed at a special Mass in Sydney on Tuesday night.

Canadian Msgr Carl Reid is the second priest to lead the Australian Ordinariate, which was established in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI to welcome groups of Anglicans seeking full communion with the Catholic Church. Continue reading →

A specialised leadership program for Catholic women in Australia has been selected for inclusion on a Vatican website promoting best practices in lay formation.

The Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life recently chose Leadership for Mission, a course specifically developed by women and for women who are inspired by the Gospel vision of justice, freedom and the dignity of the human person, to be featured at the Dicastery’s first Plenary Assembly in November. Continue reading →

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 →