Fr Morgan Batt

The white sand and surf beaches of Queensland’s holiday glitter strip are a far cry from scaling the world’s highest mountains, but Burleigh Heads parish priest and acclaimed mountaineer Fr Morgan Batt sees the connections.

“There is a lot of synergy because both entail an outdoor life, physicality and meeting a complete variety of people from all walks of life. The difference is the amount of people,” Fr Batt said from his parish office, just a short drive from Australia’s iconic surfing beaches that he is quickly coming to love. Continue reading →

The voice of trafficked women throughout Australia will continue to be heard with the official opening of a new anti-trafficking service in Perth yesterday.

The Archdiocese of Perth has stepped in to provide an office for ACRATH (Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans) after the organisation lost its $125,000 in Commonwealth funding in June this year. Continue reading →

Bishop Houhou receives his mitre from Archbishop Kurian

The young Catholic population of the Solomon Islands has joyfully welcomed the episcopal ordination of their first locally-born Catholic bishop.

Fr Peter Houhou, who had been vicar general of the Archdiocese of Honiara and administrator of Holy Cross Cathedral, became the new Bishop of Auki earlier this month in a jubilant, emotional and culturally-rich celebration at St Augustine Catholic Cathedral. Continue reading →

Bishop Terry Brady

Inspired by the Catholic Church’s Year of Youth in Australia, the focus of Prison Sunday on November 11 will be youth justice and juvenile detention.

Prison Sunday commenced in 2016, during the Year of Mercy, as an initiative of Pope Francis to observe the Jubilee for Prisoners. Continue reading →

The Australian bishops have appointed a new executive secretary to support their engagement with Indigenous Catholics and their work in the critical areas of evangelisation, laity and ministry.

Christopher Ohlsen, who was the first lay person to hold the role of master of ceremonies for the Diocese of Parramatta, said he had always been interested in the workings of the Church and in serving at the national level. Continue reading →

Australia’s First Peoples gathered in Perth last week to explore the strong connections between faith, spirituality and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.

Craig Arthur, the national administrator of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC), the peak advisory body to Australia’s bishops, said 250 delegates attended the week-long gathering. Continue reading →

Malcolm Hart says his appointment as a consultor to a Vatican advisory body recognises the work of people ministering to young Catholics across Australia.

Over the weekend, Pope Francis named the inaugural – and current – director of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s Office for Youth a consultor to the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. Continue reading →

Bishop Mark Edwards

On Friday, October 5, Melbourne Auxiliary Bishop Mark Edwards OMI offered the following remarks at the Synod on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment:

Holy Father, sisters and brothers,

We are, as Pope Francis suggested to the Italian Bishops in 2015, entering a new era. I would like to suggest an image for intergenerational encounter and the spirituality and values of this new age in western culture. Continue reading →

Professor Jacqui Ewart

The Catholic Church has a vital role to play in promoting social acceptance and inclusion to combat a rising tide of intolerance in Australia, an expert in the media reporting of Islam said.

Professor Jacqui Ewart, a former reporter, media manager and academic, told the recent Catholic Communications Congress in Brisbane that the Church could help find solutions to the “wicked problem” of a lack of tolerance of other faiths and cultures. Continue reading →