Pic: Kym Smith Source: The Daily Telegraph
The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) supports the Government’s efforts to reduce the human cost of prolonged and indefinite detention.
Media reports which criticise the Government for providing asylum seekers released into community detention with up to $10,000 of home furnishings, electrical goods and other financial support has been called misleading and provocative by the ACMRO. Continue reading
Media Release
16 February, 2012
The Australian Catholic Office for Film (ACOFB) and Broadcasting has cautiously welcomed the introduction of legislation which looks to create an R18+ classification for computer games.
Director of the ACOFB, Jesuit priest Fr Richard Leonard said that the submission from the Bishops was very clear that they do not condone the material contained in such games, and that their support would be qualified. Continue reading
Media Release
9 February, 2012
To download the Valentine’s Day Kit 2012, click here!St Valentine Resource 2012
In 2010, the Bishops’ Commission for Pastoral Life through the Australian Catholic Marriage and Family Council developed a kit devoted to the celebration of St Valentine’s Day for use in parishes.
The third edition of the St Valentine’s Day kit for 2012 is now available for download as a PDF from the Bishops’ Conference website by clicking on the button on the front page. Continue reading
Media Release
8 February, 2012
In preparation for Australia’s pilgrimage to World Youth Day (WYD) in Rio de Janeiro in July 2013, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) has named Harvest Pilgrimages as their official Tour Operator for the Conference’s National Pilgrimage of Australian groups attending this universal event.
“I am happy to see Harvest Pilgrimages partner with us again for WYD Rio de Janeiro” said Bishop Christopher Prowse, Bishops Commission for Pastoral Life (BCPL) Delegate for Youth. Continue reading
The Chair of the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC), Mrs Therese Temby, today welcomed the Coalition’s announcement of its ten principles for funding school students.
“The ten principles announced by Mr Pyne constitute a charter to which I think most schools in Australia would subscribe”, said Mrs Temby. Continue reading
Media Release, 2 February, 2012
The school funding data in this week’s ROGS Report (Productivity Commission, Report on Government Services 2012, pages 4.33 and 4.34) provides a very interesting statistic.
• Government funding for government schools has increased each year in the period 2005-06 to 2009-10 by an average of 2.7%.
• Government funding for non-government schools has increased over the same period by an annual average of just 0.7%.
NCEC calls on the Commonwealth Government to reduce the operating resources gap in Catholic schools. Continue reading
Media Release, 3 February, Archdiocese of Melbourne
Photo from the Bendigo Advertiser
The Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst includes central Victoria and the Goulburn Valley and north-eastern Victoria to the Murray River in the north.
Bishop Tomlinson said he was humbled by the confidence that the Pope has shown in him and that he was delighted to accept the appointment. Bishop Tomlinson was born and raised in Mildura and is no stranger to country life. Continue reading
Media Release
24 January, 2012
To mark Australia Day, the Catholic Bishops Commission for Justice, Ecology and Development calls upon political parties to work towards a common approach to asylum seekers, so that human beings do not become pawns in a political argument. Further, and more immediately, to honour the Australian sense of justice and compassion, there must be a defined limit to incarceration in detention centres for people who are not criminals. The Bishops are calling on the Government to limit detention to three months.
Four of the Bishops who signed this statement minister directly to asylum seekers in immigration detention centres located in their dioceses. Bishop Julian Porteous, Auxiliary Bishop in Sydney, supported the opinions of the other Bishops who have direct involvement in the pastoral care of asylum seekers in detention. “Prolonged and indefinite detention in these facilities can only produce psychological damage”, he said. Continue reading
Media Release
10 January, 2012
The National Catholic Education Commission commented today on reports in the Australian Newspaper and on the ABC regarding government funding for Catholic schools, suggesting that there has been a misrepresentation in the media of how much funding schools receive per student.
Mrs Therese Temby, Chair of the National Catholic Education Commission, said that the reporting is quite misleading, as it suggests that Catholic schools receive a higher level of funding than Government schools. Continue reading
Noting the quality of many of the Australian films produced this year, the jury of the Australian Catholic Film Office (ACFO) has awarded its 2011 Film of the Year to Jim Loach’s Oranges and Sunshine.
This film tells the story of a Nottingham social worker, Margaret Humphreys (Emily Watson), who almost singlehandedly confronted the UK Government on its relocation scheme that forcibly moved more than 130,000 children from the UK to other countries between the 1940s and the 1970s. More than 7,000 so-called “degenerate” and “unfit” children, who were in the protection of the UK social services, were shipped to Australia.
Continue reading