Former New South Wales senator Ursula Stephens will take over as the new CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia on July 1, it was announced this morning.

Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv, chair of the Bishops Commission for Social Justice – Mission and Service, this morning welcomed Dr Stephens and, on behalf of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, wished her well in the new role. Continue reading →

Australia’s Catholic bishops have released an annual pastoral letter calling for renewed efforts to create an economy of inclusion for all workers.

For more than 20 years, the Catholic Church in Australia has marked the Feast of St Joseph the Worker on May 1 with a pastoral letter that places Catholic Social Teaching in dialogue with current work issues in Australia. Continue reading →

An Australian appeal has been established to support the Catholic community in Sri Lanka, still reeling from the Easter Sunday bombings that killed 253 people and wounded hundreds.

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), whose mission is to support the Christian faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need, established the appeal on Friday. Bernard Toutounji, national director of Aid to the Church in Need in Australia, said local donations will support ACN’s projects most in need in Sri Lanka. Continue reading →

Indigenous Australians, those on the Newstart Allowance and refugees and asylum-seekers are among the groups of people Catholic Social Services Australia wants to be front and centre in the federal election campaign.

In the preamble to its pre-election statement, which outlines five key policy areas, CSSA insists that the election campaign provides “a challenge to every political party to offer the Australian nation a vision of social and economic inclusion where the inherent dignity and potential of each person can be realised”. Continue reading →

Australia’s bishops and religious leaders have called on the faithful this Easter to be filled with hope for the future while encouraging Church organisations to continue providing great works of love, care and mercy.

In their 2019 Easter messages, the bishops reflected on local and global issues, including the effects of sexual abuse revelations, the rise of ideologies of hate expressed in violent massacres and the financial and social pressures on families, especially in regions crippled by long-term drought and natural disasters. Continue reading →

CNS/Reuters photo

Australia’s religious leaders have sent messages of support and sympathy to the people of France following the devastating fire at Notre Dame Cathedral yesterday.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president and Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge awoke to the news and was soon moved to prayer. Continue reading →

Federal Budget week was another significant one for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. It was a central feature in the speeches of both the Treasurer and the Opposition Leader.

Public debate centred on $1.6 billion of allocated (but unspent) funding going back into the Government’s projected $7.1 billion surplus. The Budget also allocated over $527 million for a Royal Commission into the mistreatment of people with a disability. But the question that remains with many of us is: Why was more not invested to improve choice and dignity for those in and around the scheme? Continue reading →

The next PROCLAIM, the most-attended Catholic evangelisation conference in Australia, will now be held in 2022, not in 2020, the National Centre for Evangelisation has announced.

After a sellout conference in Brisbane last year, Melbourne was named as the host of the next PROCLAIM in 2020. Continue reading →

CHA chief executive officer Suzanne Greenwood

Catholic Health Australia is part of a diverse coalition of aged care providers, unions, health professionals and consumer groups who are calling on candidates in the May 18 federal election to commit to “getting aged care right for everyone”.

Earlier this week, the National Aged Care Alliance, which comprises 52 national organisations, launched the Age Well Campaign, in anticipation of the election and in response to a disappointing Budget week for the sector. Continue reading →

Ashleigh Green participated as an Australian representative in events preparing for the Synod of Bishops on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment

Pope Francis’ recent letter to young people, Christus Vivit, reveals the Pontiff’s preparedness to listen to the needs of young Catholics while providing guidance for all on vocations.

The apostolic exhortation, released last week, covers nine chapters that provide guidance to young people and the entire people of God on vocations and how to welcome young people more fully into the life of the Church. Continue reading →