The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference is launching a new website, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Catholic Ministry, via video conference on Thursday 22 October 2015.

The launch will begin at 2pm with a short liturgy in Auslan; Australian sign language. During the 30 minute launch, there will also be live captioning.

You can experience the event from any location in Australia as long as you have a computer or tablet with internet connection. Register to join the launch at: deafministry.catholic.org.au

This website, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Catholic Ministry, will encourage and challenge all of us to celebrate the beauty and strength of the Body of Christ by promoting participation and inclusion of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Catholic community. It will be a call to create opportunities for participation and inclusion where everyone is valued, gifted and acknowledged. Continue reading →

Fr Brian Lucas

Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, has announced the appointment of Father Brian Lucas as National Director of Catholic Mission.

This appointment follows the resignation of Mr Martin Teulan who has taken up another position.

For just over thirteen years, Father Lucas has been General Secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) and prior to that appointment he was for twelve years Archdiocesan Secretary and Financial Administrator of the Archdiocese of Sydney.

Welcoming the announcement, Archbishop Denis Hart, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference said, ‘Father Lucas has given his considerable skills, expertise, hard work and giftedness to serve the Bishops as General Secretary since August 2002 and we recognise the immense contribution which he has made to many areas of Church life in Australia. We thank him for his service and extend our prayers and wishes for his important new role’. Continue reading →

Social Services Minister Christian Porter, should dump plans to cut the income of most single breadwinner families by more than $54 a week.

The Chief Executives of the Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations, Brian Lawrence, and Catholic Social Services Australia, Marcelle Mogg, said the Coalition Government should not be taking Family Tax Benefit Part B (FTB B) from low and middle income families with school age children.

“The proposal discriminates against couple parent families and would leave them and their children at a lower standard of living,” said Mr Lawrence. Continue reading →

The St Vincent de Paul Society National Council has marked Anti-Poverty Week 2015 with the launch of the ‘Sick with worry…’ report containing stories from the front-line of inequality and 14 recommendations for urgent action by the Federal Government to help enable people to achieve their dreams of a life without poverty.

The report is being launched by Vinnies CEO Dr John Falzon in conjunction with the Social Determinants of Health Alliance Anti-Poverty Week Oration in Canberra today.

The report comprises more than 20 stories from people located around Australia who are assisted by the St Vincent de Paul Society. The stigma faced by those living in poverty, the inherent insecurity that homelessness and housing stress entails and the disproportionate impact of poverty on women emerged as key themes.

Continue reading →

The Catholic Diocese of Wollongong is taking orders for BELOVED – Daily Advent and Christmas Reflections 2015 book as well as CRY OUT – Psalms for Advent and Lent CD.

Click here to order your copies online today:
www.advent.dow.org.au

Click here to view a sample of the book:
http://dow.sh/beloved_reflections

Click here to listen to samples of the music:
http://dow.sh/cry_out_samples

BELOVED is a beautifully presented full-colour 72-page pocket size resource containing short daily reflections for Advent and Christmas 2015. BELOVED is primarily for personal use, but it is also appropriate for group use such as parish, Church agency, religious community and school staff/class prayer.

Continue reading →

Catholic Women’s League Conference Logo. Photos by Karen Cassar.

Over 250 women from all over Australia gathered in Parramatta to attend the 47^th Biennial Conference of the Catholic Women’s League Australia from 22-24 September.

The theme for the conference was “Listen with the Heart” and evoked the values of understanding, forgiveness, compassion, empathy, mercy, justice and love.

Beginning with an Opening Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral Parramatta on Tuesday 22 September, the conference focus was very much on the social justice issues concerning women in Australia today. Continue reading →

Fr Brian Lucas, General Secretary, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

Addressing delegates gathered at the twenty second annual International Law and Religion symposium in the United States, Fr Brian Lucas presented examples of interfaith opportunities that impact social stability.

Gathered at the International Center for Law and Religious Studies, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah from 4-6 October 2015, Fr Lucas, General Secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, discussed two examples relevant within an Australian and global context; Islam extremism and same sex marriage.

‘Challenges include the difficulty of identifying authorities to negotiate with in dialogue,’ Fr Lucas told delegates that included 90 leading scholars, jurists, and political and civil society leaders from 40 countries.  Continue reading →

Today more than 50 Leaders representing diverse faith groups met with Members and Senators at Parliament House, Canberra, calling on them to restore Australia’s standing as a compassionate nation by winding back policies negatively impacting on people escaping violence, persecution and death.

As a positive step, the faith leaders asked all political parties and independents to join with them in establishing a task force to work together to change the political and public narrative regarding asylum seekers and refugees. Continue reading →

People living with mental health challenges, are no less members of the Body of Christ than anyone else, Bishop Terry Brady said during Mental Health Awareness Week.

‘People with mental illness and their families can often feel isolated from their faith community and thus isolated from God. Isolation is often caused by social stigma: the idea that mental illness is a question of character or a punishment from God,’ Bishop Brady, Chair of the Bishops Commission for Pastoral Life and the Australian Catholic Disability Council said.

Continue reading →

Prayer card for World Mental Health Day, 10 October 2015.

World Mental Health Day is observed annually on 10 October. This year, the Church has sought to celebrate this day as an opportunity to encourage a truly pastoral view that embraces our total community as the living Body of Christ.

To be authentic, this view must include every member of the community acknowledging their call, their gift and their presence.

Recently, people with mental illness were consulted on their experience in the church in Australia. One respondent said, ‘I have a mental illness, my illness is usually episodic. I am me all the time, and would like parishes to have some knowledge about mental illness in regard to stigma’.

Another stated, ‘For many people with a mental illness, it can be impossible to have full and active participation in parish life. They are so tired all the time (from a combination of medication and illness) that they just don’t have an opportunity to venture out much at all. We can’t afford to feel alone and not part of the church, even though it, at times it seems we are!’ Continue reading →