14 September 2020
Friends, I take this opportunity on the Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross to share the perspective of the Catholic Church in Australia to development of a vaccine for COVID-19.
Many Catholics have sought advice from the bishops about the ethics of a vaccine, which has been discussed widely in Australia in recent weeks. Early in September I met with the Federal Health Minister to discuss vaccines for COVID-19, following a letter I wrote to the Prime Minister in July.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia have today published an “important and substantial” document on the review of diocesan and parish governance and management in Australia.
The review was recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Australia has a new bishop, following the ordination of Bishop Mykola Bychok CSsR as the third Eparch of Sts Peter and Paul in Melbourne for Ukrainian Catholics in Australia and New Zealand.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, ordained Bishop Bychok on Pentecost Sunday, 7 June, at St George’s Cathedral in Lviv, Ukraine.