Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, delivered an address at the Theological-Pastoral Forum for the Synod in Rome on October 16.
The forum was held in the auditorium of the Jesuit Generalate, looking at the topic ‘Synodality and the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome’.
This is the text of the address.
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, has preached during a Mass for the Memorial of Saint Jerome on the first day of the Synod Retreat in Rome.
Bishop Tim Harris being congratulated by Bishop Peter Ingham
The episcopal ordination of the Most Reverend Timothy Harris as the sixth Bishop of Townsville took place today, on the Feast of St Philip and St James, at the Ryan Catholic College in Townsville.
Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, was the principal consecrator of the ceremony. The co-consecrators were Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, Apostolic Nuncio to Australia and James Foley, Bishop of Cairns, in the presence of Cardinal John Ribat MSC, Archbishop of Port Moresby, Fr Mick Lowcock who has been Diocesan Administrator since the death from cancer of Bishop Michael Putney three years ago. They were joined by priests of the Diocese of Townsville and clergy from the Archdiocese of Brisbane and visiting priests. Continue reading
Archbishop Prowse, Elder Tony and Archbishop Yllana.
HOMILY at St Christopher’s Cathedral, Canberra on the First Sunday of Advent and the 30th Anniversary of St John Paul II’s Speech at Alice Springs.
We have now entered into a new Liturgical Year focussing on the Gospel of Matthew. We begin today our Advent Season.
The Gospel calls us to STAY AWAKE in anticipation for the Lord’s coming. We are to be ‘READY,’…for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour’. It is a time of hope.
Not only is Jesus to come unexpectedly in time, but he comes unexpectedly in appearance. Who would have expected the Almighty Son of God to come unexpectedly as a fragile child in a Bethlehem stable, at an unexpected time of Roman Imperialism in the chaotic religious culture of Judea.
Also today, we welcome Pope Francis’ representative in Australia, our Apostolic Nuncio, His Excellency, Archbishop Yllana, as our Principal Celebrant. He is with us because it is a special day for all Australians. We look back to the Pastoral Visit 30 years ago of St John Paul II to Australia. In this 1986 visit, the Pope visited all States of Australia. It was however, his monumental speech in Alice Springs (29th November 1986) that we recall today. Continue reading
Cardinal Timothy Dolan
When it comes to god we are all Olympic gold medalists at putting things off, when it comes to critical things in life, we are experts at putting things off. That’s why today’s catechesis, ‘Now is the Time of Mercy‘ is so critical at this time, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, told hundreds of Aussies pilgrims during World Youth Day.
‘We live on Gods mercy. We don’t and shouldn’t delay with God. We should’t put things off.’
Quoting St Augustine, the Cardinal said, ‘we will always have God’s mercy, we might not have tomorrow but we will always have God’s mercy. Haunting, isn’t it? That’s why now is the time of mercy’.
Gathered in a packed tent on Wednesday 27 July, Cardinal Dolan delivered an engaging, urgent and compassionate talk to young people at the english speaking catechesis site. Continue reading
Photos by Emilie Ng, Catholic Leader
Welcome message to pilgrims at World Youth Day.
My dear friends!
The moment we have been waiting 3 years for has arrived.
We have been waiting since the day Pope Francis announced in Rio de Janeiro that the next World Youth Day would take place in Poland – in Krakow. We are pleased to welcome the Cardinal and delegation from Rio de Janeiro. I thank you for coming to us to pass the happiness of World Youth Day.
The clock fitted on the facade of St. Mary’s Basilica in the heart of historic Krakow counted the days, hours, minutes and seconds to the moment which we are now experiencing.
But a more important clock, registering the thoughts and feelings in our hearts, spiritually prepared us for the meeting that we are beginning today of young disciples of the Master of Nazareth from all over the world. Continue reading
Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM ConV and Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP.
Dear friends,
The clergy and Catholic people of Parramatta have been waiting for long and here I am, only five feet and a half though. After 19 months without a bishop, you have been given one in the person of a Vietnamese Australian and a former boat person. Perhaps, you can add my appointment to the list of surprises that Pope Francis has done.
I am very honoured and humbled by this appointment and grateful for the opportunity to serve the Church in Parramatta during this time. As guided by my motto “go further into the deep” (Lk 5:40), I have taken many leaps of faith before, including the one that launched me literally onto the Pacific Ocean. Now I am about to be cast into the deep interior of Western Sydney, all the way to the beautiful Blue Mountains and the fertile plains of the Hawkesbury River. I cannot help but feel daunted by what lies ahead. Nevertheless, I make bold to move forward, trusting in the sustaining power of God and the support of many people and fellow ministers of the Gospel. Continue reading
http://www.sspeterpaulukrchurch.us/
By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
12 May 2013
Today is unusual not merely because Ascension Thursday, forty days after the Lord’s resurrection, is celebrated on this Sunday before the feast of Pentecost, but also because it is the only occasion when we have two excerpts from Luke, from the Acts of the Apostles, which he also wrote and from his Gospel. We are all well aware that in this year the cycle of gospel readings is taken predominantly from Luke, although we have not had Lucan gospel texts for a few weeks.
Luke’s gospel is written in the best Greek in the New Testament according to the experts. Luke was a Gentile not a Jew, probably an early Christian convert and physician from Antioch, with Greek as his first language. Greek was then the common language all around the Eastern Mediterranean just as English is now used in Asia and Africa, where there are many local tongues. As well as giving us this information St. Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin in the fourth century also told us Luke was a follower of St. Paul, the great missionary apostle and companion on Paul’s journeys.
Legend describes Luke as a portrait painter, especially of Our Lady and the Christ Child. The portrait we know and venerate as Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which is found in the Redemptorist Church in Rome was one such ascribed to St. Luke in my youth in country Victoria. Alas, this painting comes from the 11th – 12th century and Our Lady is dressed as a Byzantine noblewoman from the Eastern part of the Roman Empire which continued until 1453 in Constantinople, about one thousand years after the Roman Empire collapsed in Western Europe. Continue reading
Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes
Media Release 13 February, 2013
President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Archbishop Denis Hart today received a letter from Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, regarding the future of the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes.
The Congregation has been considering various proposals relating to the Diocese including the possibility that some parishes might be attached to other neighbouring Dioceses.
The Congregation has recommended that the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes continue as a Diocese, and has advised that a Bishop will be appointed in due course. Continue reading
Bishop Paul Bird
Charles Dickens is famous for his novels such as The Adventures of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. He also wrote a little book called The Life of Our Lord. He wrote this especially for his own children and he used to read it to them every Christmas. The book begins with these words:
“My dear children, I am very anxious that you should know something about the history of Jesus Christ. For everybody ought to know about Him. No one ever lived who was so good, so kind, so gentle, and so sorry for all people who did wrong, or were in any way ill or miserable, as He was.” Continue reading