Australia’s Catholic bishops have released a new document to guide priests, chaplains and pastoral workers who are asked to provide pastoral support to Catholics who are considering euthanasia.
The publication of the document, To Witness and to Accompany with Christian Hope, follows the legalisation of euthanasia in all Australian states.
One “particular grace” of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia has been its encouragement of many initiatives in the Church across the country, according to a letter to the People of God prepared for the Solemnity of Christ the King.
As the Church marks the end of the liturgical year this weekend, the letter provides an update on work carrying forward the Plenary Council’s outcomes while awaiting the Holy See’s formal recognitio of the Council’s decrees.
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Archbishop Charles Balvo and Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP
A senior Vatican official who served as Apostolic Nuncio to Australia has told the country’s bishops that the Church is being called to be welcoming, healing and hopeful in a world challenged by war and unrest.
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisations, is on a six-day visit to Australia to mark the 50th anniversary of Australia-Holy See diplomatic relations.
Port chaplains, managers, volunteers and members of the Stella Maris national committee gathered in Sydney last week for the first national conference of its type in several years for those ministering to seafarers.
Eighteen people attended the event at Mary MacKillop Place, with the theme “Together: United in Caring for Seafarers”.
Bishop Shane Mackinlay addresses the Plenary Council in Sydney, July 2022 (CNS/The Catholic Weekly/Giovanni Portelli)
Australia’s Plenary Council provided a “positive and transformative experience of discernment and synodality”, Sandhurst Bishop Shane Mackinlay told the Synod of Synodality on Wednesday.
Bishop Mackinlay, who served as vice-president of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia that ran from 2018 until 2022, was invited to offer a reflection on that journey during the current Synod’s 12th general congregation.
Despite the referendum to establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in the Constitution not succeeding, Australia needs to find a way to address the inequalities many First Nations people face, Bishop Charles Gauci has said.
Bishop Gauci, chair of the Bishops Commission for Relations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, has issued a statement following yesterday’s poll. He said although the idea of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament was not supported by a majority of Australians, “that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do something”.
Personal and communal conversion is possible when a pastoral mission begins and ends with Jesus Christ, Broken Bay Bishop Anthony Randazzo told fellow participants in the Synod on Synodality on Monday evening.
Bishop Randazzo, president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania, celebrated Mass and preached on Monday evening as more than 350 Synod participants attended a retreat before the Synod opens on Wednesday evening Australian time.
Australia’s Catholic bishops say the issues surrounding the proposed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice “are not just political”, but are also “moral and ethical”, in a statement ahead of next month’s referendum.
In Towards the Referendum, the bishops encourage all Australians to educate themselves, including by reading the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the bishops’ annual Social Justice Statement. They also invite people to listen to others’ hopes and fears.
The Church has rejected “unfounded allegations” made by West Australian politicians that it failed to abide by the state’s mandatory reporting laws, saying it takes its reporting obligations seriously.
In a statement provided to Channel Seven, which has run several stories this week based on the leaked report from the Church’s investigation into former Broome Bishop Christopher Saunders, the Church confirmed it had provided a copy of the report to Western Australia Police deputy commissioner Allan Adams.
A statement from Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB
Archbishop of Perth, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
The allegations against the former Bishop of Broome, Christopher Saunders, broadcast on Monday evening are very serious and deeply distressing, especially for those making the allegations. It is right and proper for them to be thoroughly investigated.