Category Archives: ACBC agency news

50th World Communications Day opportunity for parishes to speak out

ACBA_Mercy Banner 200 x 200 px
The ACBC World Communications Day initiative to gather ‘grassroots’ stories of compassion and mercy from around Australia is an opportunity for ordinary Catholics and child abuse survivors to speak directly to the Church leadership.

As part of the 50th World Communications Day, the Australian Catholic Media Council is inviting each diocese to share local stories about ‘Communication and Mercy’.

The CEO of the Catholic Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, Mr Francis Sullivan, said the initiative could be of huge benefit to the church leadership as it hears directly from the people in the pews about their reactions to the Royal Commission and what they have seen and heard about the way the church leadership is responding.

‘One of the big challenges for us now is to find the language and the way in which we can communicate the very significant changes that have taken place within the Church over the past years to protect children and help survivors. Continue reading →

Aid cuts signal shift to an insular Australia

Caritas Australia (CA) has expressed deep disappointment in this year’s federal budget, specifically the decision to cut even deeper into an already diminished Australian official aid program. 

The cut of an additional $224m is the third successive cut by this government and has reduced Australia to its least generous role among OECD countries in 40 years.

Caritas Australia CEO, Paul O’Callaghan said that Australia has had a prominent and bipartisan record of strong support for economic improvement and poverty alleviation, both in our immediate region and beyond.

“Together with Australia’s outstanding contribution through peace-keeping missions, this aid and development role over many decades led to Australia being regarded as a significant leader and middle power,” Mr O’Callaghan said. Continue reading →

PROCLAIM 2016 Early bird registrations now open!

Proclaim 2016 logo

With 120 days to go, Registrations for PROCLAIM 2016 have now opened with great Early Bird rates available.

This exciting conference on the New Evangelisation is expected to draw more than 500 participants from across Australia to discuss, exchange and learn fresh ways in which parishes can become evangelising communities of the twenty-first century.

Running across three days from 1-3 September 2016, PROCLAIM 2016 draws upon the inspiration of this Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy and the ongoing missionary challenge of Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium.

Participants will gain invaluable support, ideas and pastoral initiatives for their parish communities from keynote speakers Cardinal Donald Wuerl of the Archdiocese of Washington, Bishop Nicholas Hudson of the Archdiocese of Westminster; Dr Susan Timoney * (Washington) and Mr Daniel Ang Director, Office for Evangelisation, Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay. Continue reading →

Making dreams come true

Hero picture at past World Youth DayTwelve lucky young pilgrims from across the country have been awarded sponsorship to attend World Youth Day in Poland from 25 – 31 July this year.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC), Office for Youth and the World Youth Day (WYD) Committee today announced twelve recipients of the ‘Pilgrim Support Program’.

The Pilgrim Support Program aims to support young people who may never ordinarily have had the opportunity to travel to World Youth Day. The program is funded by the ACBC, Catholic Church Insurance and Cosmos, the official tour operator for the Australian pilgrimage to WYD.

Pilgrims were nominated by their Bishops and Youth Ministry leaders. The selection criteria for the program included two key elements; providing opportunities for personal and spiritual development and identifying emerging youth ministry leaders. Continue reading →

Australian Catholic Superannuation supports young dancer

Kim Wilcke & Elyse Lenehan The Australian Catholic Superannuation and Retirement Fund awarded Elyse Lenehan, a dance student from Canberra, with a YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) Enrichment Grant on Tuesday 28 April at the annual Round the World Breakfast event.

Elyse is a young dancer of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who is currently studying dance at NAISDA – National Aboriginal and Islander Dance Academy in Gosford.

The award was presented at the YWCA Canberra’s Round the World Breakfast event to celebrate World YWCA Day.

World YWCA Day is recognised every year across 120 countries. The Round the World Breakfast event provides an opportunity for YWCAs to come together to honour the contributions of women leaders in their communities. Continue reading →

Catholic Education welcomes school funding commitment

School children in a classroomThe National Catholic Education Commission has welcomed the Coalition Government’s announcement of $1.2 billion in additional funding to support all Australian schools, saying it has placed school education at the centre of this year’s federal election campaign.

“Schools are important institutions in the community and well-directed investment in schools will determine the future of Australia as a society and an economy,” NCEC executive director Ross Fox said.

“Catholic education is pleased that the Government has today committed to future funding that reflects real costs for schools.”

In its announcement, the Coalition said per-student school funding from 2018 will increase at 3.56 per cent each year, which it says is in line with recent increases in school costs. Over the past two years, the NCEC has led calls for needs-based funding for all schools, with funding that keeps pace with school costs. Continue reading →

Victorian Budget 2016: strong revenue, sound initiatives, more to go

Minimum wage

Budget 2016

‘Strong revenue has enabled sound spending programs, and welcome initiatives’, said Denis Fitzgerald, Executive Director of Catholic Social Services Victoria, following the Victorian budget announced on Wednesday 27 April 2016.

‘However, the budget does not yet reflect a central focus on the fundamental needs of those on the margins of our society,’ he added.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas MP brought down the Andrews Government’s second budget on Wednesday 27 April, a week earlier than usual because of the earlier date for next week’s Federal budget.

Only rarely does a Government have sufficient revenue available to meet its broad fiscal managment goals, to fund existing programs, and to have enough left over to embark on a number of initiatives.

This was such a budget. Continue reading →

Nepal Earthquake – Shelter still the priority one year later

Man Bahadur Garti Chetri

Man Bahadur Garti Chetri

As Nepal marks the first anniversary of two devastating earthquakes this week, the Caritas international network continues to invest millions of dollars to assist survivors.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake on 25 April last followed by another on 12 May, 2015 left almost 9,000 people dead, caused numerous casualties and destroyed tens of thousands of homes and buildings.

A major focus of the global Caritas network has been to provide good quality housing. As the Caritas member agency chosen by Caritas Nepal to play a lead coordination role among 18 Caritas agencies from around the world, Caritas Australia has been very active in this response. Continue reading →