Maria Jose Centurion at Congresso della Stampa Cattolica, Roma, 2010

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC MEDIA CONGRESS 2012 AT WWW.COMMUNICATINGTHEWORDACMC2012.COM

Dear friends,

It is my great pleasure to invite you to the Australian Catholic Media Congress 2012. The congress is run by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference through the Australian Catholic Media Council and aims to bring together Catholic media, Christian media, secular media, people working within Church agencies, and anyone with an interest in how we communicate the Gospel message in our society today.

The ACMC will be held from Monday April 30 to Wednesday May 2 at the Menzies Hotel, Sydney with the theme Communicating the Word: Timeless messages, new media.

The Congress aims to look at the phenomenon of Social Media and how the Church can use everything from Facebook, to Twitter to more traditional means to spread the message of Christ in our world.

Already, we have booked a tremendously exciting international guest Monsignor Paul Tighe from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, and we are planning to have great line-up of Australian guests also including former Young Australian of the Year and filmmaker Khoa Do; Social commentator Melinda Tankard Reist; and musical contributions by Fr Rob Galea and Simon Hyland.

Please enter the site here and browse the program, and register early! This Congress promises to be the Catholic Media event of the year and I warmly invite you to consider attending.

With every blessing in our Lord Jesus Christ,

Bishop Peter Ingham

This is the Official message from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications
for the Occasion of the 46th World Day of Communications, May 20, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As we draw near to World Communications Day 2012, I would like to share with you some reflections concerning an aspect of the human process of communication which, despite its importance, is often overlooked and which, at the present time, it would seem especially necessary to recall. It concerns the relationship between silence and word: two aspects of communication which need to be kept in balance, to alternate and to be integrated with one another if authentic dialogue and deep closeness between people are to be achieved. Continue reading →

Media Release from Caritas Australia
20 December, 2011

Australians are expected to spend $27 billion this Christmas. That works out at $1213 each, much of it on food and gifts.

That’s a lot of money. In fact, it’s more than the $20 billion which has been estimated as the amount needed to bring much of the African nation of Kenya out of poverty within four years. Kenya’s population is roughly 41 million people. Continue reading →

By Bruce Ryan, Executive Secretary of the Bishops’ Commission for Pastoral Life

My recent foray into the book of the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament, particularly though John J Collins’ commentary in the “The Collegeville Bible Commentary” but in other sources also, suggested to me some interesting themes relevant to today’s circumstances: Crisis – Isaian prophesies made over a period of time address a series of crises including the Syro-Ephraimite War against Judah, the Assyrian threats to Israel and Judah and other nations, the Assyrian subjugation of Israel, Syria and Judah, destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Babylonian Captivity. Fundamentalism – the yearning for a simpler and purer agrarian way of life over the wealth and luxury of the ruling class. Smaller Numbers – the notion of a remnant of the people being forgiven the sin of unfaithfulness and returning from the Babylonian captivity to form the nucleus of a restored Israel and rebuilt Temple. Confusion and Dismay – the suffering of the people through the various military threats and exile. Continue reading →

Media Release
13 December, 2011

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference today appointed Canberra Educator Donella Johnston as the Director for the Office for the Participation of Women (OPW) and as the Executive Secretary to the Bishops’ Commission for Church Ministry (BCCM).

The position was designed by the Bishops’ Conference over 10 years ago to foster the participation of women in the Catholic Church.
Donella comes from an education background, having worked as Religious Education Coordinator at Canberra Catholic college St Francis Xavier in Florey. She has also shown leadership on various Archdiocesan commissions as well as at a local parish level. Continue reading →