Dr Bob Dixon

On 29 January 2016, the Pastoral Research Office (PRO) celebrates its 20th anniversary since the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference established it in 1996.

Initially called the Pastoral Projects Office, the focus was to carry out two major research projects: to acquire, analyse and distribute data on the Catholic population from the Australian Census to parishes, dioceses and Catholic agencies; and to coordinate the participation of the Catholic Church in the National Church Life Survey.

The first staff member of the office was Dr Robert (Bob) Dixon. Then General Secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Fr Michael McKenna, now the Bishop of Bathurst, appointed him as Project Officer to carry out research that was envisaged to take three years to complete. However, the remit of the Office increased and its role became an integral function of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Dr Dixon, who later became the foundation Director of the Pastoral Research Office, completed a PhD while directing the Conference’s research activities.

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Official Year of Mercy logo

Seeing mercy as an action word invites reflection!

Mercy has been seen by some as a kind of privilege that I could grant to someone else, even though they may not deserve it.

However, Mercy is at the heart of all Christian beliefs, stretching back to the Old Testament when God revealed himself as one who has never ceased to show mercy to his people.

Then in the New Testament, Jesus was the embodiment of God’s Mercy.

Living out God’s mercy in our lives is not about a gift, which in our discretion, we hand out and measure out on our terms.

God’s mercy is something we receive in measures which go way beyond our merits.  God does not sit there in judgment. Continue reading →

On February 7, 2016 Caritas Australia, the international aid and development agency of the Catholic Church, will launch its annual Project Compassion appeal – one of Australia’s largest humanitarian fundraising and awareness-raising campaigns.

This year marks 50 years of Project Compassion, which thanks to supporters, schools and parishes across Australia raised a record-breaking $11.57 million last year.

Each year Project Compassion, which runs through the six weeks of Lent, brings hundreds of thousands of Australians together in solidarity with the world’s poor, to help end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity. Money raised goes towards Caritas Australia’s humanitarian and long-term development programs in more than 40 countries across Asia, Africa, the Pacific, Latin America and with First Australian communities. Continue reading →

St Josephine Bakhita

Australians should not be indifferent to human trafficking and can take simple steps to combat this global injustice.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Commission for Pastoral Life (BCPL) and Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans (ACRATH) are calling for a day of prayer, reflection and action against human trafficking on the Feast of St Josephine Bakhita on 8 February 2016.

‘In marking the Bakhita Day of prayer and fasting in this Year of Mercy, Australia’s Catholics should be mindful of Pope Francis’ challenge to us to stop human trafficking. We can all commit to learning more about human trafficking. We can commit to helping victims of human trafficking. And we can commit to tackling the systems that enable human trafficking to flourish’, said BCPL Chair, Bishop Terry Brady.

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A long drive during the visit

From 9-15 December last, I experienced the expanse and diversity across the Diocese of Wilcannia–Forbes. Not too mention the friendliness of the local people. Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green hosted me for a week in the Western part of his Diocese, centring in Broken Hill. 

Flying into the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes is quite a different experience. The REX plane seated 33 passengers and flies lower than interstate commercial aircraft, thus, less pressure on your eardrums, which is pleasant and you see more. My flight also experienced some interesting turbulence. 

Distances are immense. Wilcannia-Forbes covers 51% of NSW, broken into 20 parishes with 14 priests. While the chancery and the bishop’s house are based in Forbes, the Cathedral is a nine hour drive to Broken Hill. Bishop Columba, like other locals, seems to think nothing of a two hour drive. 

Heat is also a reality. At 7.00pm, it had cooled to a pleasant 35 degrees! Continue reading →

CRA logo celebrating the Year of Mercy

Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) proudly unveiled a logo to celebrate the Jubilee Year of Mercy which began on the 8th of December 2015 and will conclude on the 20th of November 2016.

The logo reflects the call of Pope Francis to contemplate the mystery of mercy throughout the year to become more effective witnesses of God in our lives. We are all called, said Pope Francis, “to look beyond, to focus on the heart to see how much generosity everyone is capable.”

The logo is for the use of CRA members and the ministries and partners of its member congregations and institutes. Church groups, parishes and the broader Australian Catholic community are welcome to use the logo for the promotion of the Year of Mercy.

“The logo depicts the CRA cross and shows the region of Australia, Oceania and Asia where many religious women and men associated with CRA serve the marginalised,” said CRA President Sister Berneice Loch. “Showing these regions on the globe demonstrates our interconnectedness and unity in mission with others striving for merciful love in the world.” Continue reading →

John Allen, Image from Crux

From 24 – 26 February 2016, Catholic Social Services Victoria and Catholic Social Services Australia will jointly host a mission conference focused on the theme ‘Review, Reimagine, Renew: Mission making a difference in a changing world’.

Veteran journalist and Vatican Correspondent, John L. Allen Jr, will be the keynote speaker at the Conference. The Tablet, has called Allen ‘the most authoritative writer on Vatican affairs in the English language’.

Allen, associate editor of The Boston Globe, also writes for The New York Times, CNN and NPR. He is author of nine books including, ‘Against the Tide: The Radical Leadership of Pope Francis’ and ‘The Future Church: How Ten Trends Are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church’.

Other speakers at the Conference include: Julie Edwards, Jesuit Social Services, CEO, speaking about ‘Leading people to build a better world’; Cathie McGowan, MP, will talk about ‘A more just and compassionate Australia’; and, Tony Nicholson, Brotherhood of St Laurence, CEO, will deliver a workshop about the ‘New models for social investment’. Other topics include the challenge of preventing domestic violence and sexual abuse within the community. Continue reading →

A Christmas message from Archbishop of Perth, Timothy Costelloe SDB.

Archbishop Coleridge

The world at the moment seems a real mess – terrorism, the refugee crisis, climate change, economic woes, political turmoil and so on. But in one way or other the world has always been a mess. It certainly was when Jesus was born.

In Palestine at the time there were dramas of every kind – not least of which, from a Jewish point of view, was the Roman occupation. Whatever about the famous pax romana, things were anything but peaceful in the Holy Land. As one conquered warlord said of Rome, “They create a devastation and call it peace”. Into that mess Jesus was born; and the mess is symbolised in the Christmas story by the circumstances of the birth – no room at the inn, the farm animals, the feed-box into which the newborn is placed.

When the child is born, God enters into the human mess to transfigure it. The transfiguring begins at Christmas but will be complete only once Jesus is raised from the dead and even the mess of death is transfigured. The shadow of the cross falls across the crib; but so too does the light of Easter.

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