The Australian World Youth Day gathering in Lisbon was a time for prayer and celebration (Photo: Neil Helmore/Townsville Diocese)
More than 2500 World Youth Day pilgrims from Australia and Oceania have been told that they will “do great things” as the global Catholic celebration commenced in Lisbon, Portugal.
Continuing a tradition from previous World Youth Days, an Australian gathering was held on Tuesday to celebrate the pilgrims’ faith and their homeland.
The more than 3000 Australian pilgrims who will attend World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal have started leaving the country, with groups also preparing to visit key holy sites in the Middle East and Europe.
The Australian contingent is one of the largest to ever attend an international World Youth Day, with the Archdiocese of Sydney and Melbourne each taking more than 500 pilgrims.
Catholics are being urged to “preach all the Gospel, to all the world, all the time” and to consider encounter, discipleship and mission from their Catholic foundations in a new document from the Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry.
The document, titled Evangelisation, offers a scriptural and theological reflection on the proclamation of the Gospel through the lenses of encounter, discipleship and mission.
Greg Baynie, who brings extensive experience from a range of Church settings, has been appointed to an executive secretary role to support the work of the country’s bishops across two episcopal commissions.
Mr Baynie started with the Bishops Conference on July 12 as the executive secretary for the Bishops Commission for Social Justice, Mission and Service, and the Bishops Commission for Relations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB says he was honoured to be chosen by Pope Francis as one of nine president-delegates for the sessions of the upcoming Synod on Synodality, calling it a “great privilege”.
Archbishop Costelloe, who is president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and has served on the Synod of Bishops’ preparatory commission, was one of hundreds of people confirmed on July 7 as participants in the Synod sessions in October this year and October next year.
As the Church approaches the first session of the forthcoming Synod of Bishops, Australian Catholics are being encouraged to continue their engagement with the global synodal journey through prayer, ongoing discernment and local conversations.
On Tuesday evening, the Secretariat of the Synod published the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document, for the first session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops – commonly referred to as the Synod on Synodality.
The new chief shepherd of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania says his first priority is to meet with and listen to the faithful, before working together to formulate a pastoral plan for the region.
Bishop John Panamthottathil CMI was ordained the second leader of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of St Thomas the Apostle in Melbourne last week. He was reflective when asked about the ministry that lay ahead of him.
The Australian bishops have welcomed the minimum wage increase, even though they asked for a larger increase
The Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations has welcomed the largest increase in the minimum wage in three decades, even though the increase fell below the Council’s submission of 7.2 per cent.
However, the increase for C13 award rates is equivalent to an 8.6 per cent increase.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has launched its Laudato Si’ Action Plan on World Environment Day, outlining practical responses to Pope Francis’ landmark 2015 encyclical letter.
When it published the 2021-22 Social Justice Statement Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor, the Bishops Conference committed to developing its own plan – believed to be the first episcopal conference in the world to make that pledge.
Bishop John Panamthottathil blesses the congregation during Wednesday evening’s ordination (Photo: Syro-Malabar Eparchy Media)
Hundreds of people gathered on Wednesday evening to celebrate the ordination of Bishop John Panamthottathil CMI as the second shepherd of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of St Thomas the Apostle in Melbourne.
Bishops from India, Europe and the United States, as well as 20 members of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, were among those who attended the ordination and installation ceremony.