The Australian bishops’ decades-long tradition of publishing an annual Social Justice Statement continues this week, with the launch of Listen, Learn, Love: A New Engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples on Thursday.

In May last year, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference agreed the 2023-24 statement would consider the place of First Nations peoples in Australian society today. It was prepared in partnership with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council.

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Members of the Australian delegation to Ukraine in front of a war-damaged building (Photo supplied)

At the invitation of Bishop Mykola Bychok CSsR, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, a delegation from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference visited Ukraine from August 8-11 in an expression of pastoral solidarity with the country’s people.

This was an important opportunity to witness first-hand the human experience of this ongoing war, and to hear from Church leaders and civilians where future humanitarian support might be best directed.

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Diocesan Social Profiles are available for all 28 geographical dioceses in Australia, based on data from the 2021 Australian Census.

One in four Catholics in Broome Diocese are aged under 15, Wagga Wagga Diocese has the largest proportion of Catholics and the Archdiocese of Melbourne the largest number of Catholics, new reports have revealed.

The National Centre for Pastoral Research has just published Diocesan Social Profiles for all 28 geographical dioceses in Australia, based on data from the 2021 Australian Census.

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The new website for the online edition of the Official Directory of the Catholic Church in Australia has been launched, coinciding with the opening of pre-orders for the new print edition of the Directory.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has taken over management of the Official Directory in 2023, after many years being overseen by the National Council of Priests.

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The Australian World Youth Day gathering in Lisbon was a time for prayer and celebration (Photo: Neil Helmore/Townsville Diocese)

More than 2500 World Youth Day pilgrims from Australia and Oceania have been told that they will “do great things” as the global Catholic celebration commenced in Lisbon, Portugal.

Continuing a tradition from previous World Youth Days, an Australian gathering was held on Tuesday to celebrate the pilgrims’ faith and their homeland.

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The more than 3000 Australian pilgrims who will attend World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal have started leaving the country, with groups also preparing to visit key holy sites in the Middle East and Europe.

The Australian contingent is one of the largest to ever attend an international World Youth Day, with the Archdiocese of Sydney and Melbourne each taking more than 500 pilgrims.

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Catholics are being urged to “preach all the Gospel, to all the world, all the time” and to consider encounter, discipleship and mission from their Catholic foundations in a new document from the Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry.

The document, titled Evangelisation, offers a scriptural and theological reflection on the proclamation of the Gospel through the lenses of encounter, discipleship and mission.

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Greg Baynie, who brings extensive experience from a range of Church settings, has been appointed to an executive secretary role to support the work of the country’s bishops across two episcopal commissions.

Mr Baynie started with the Bishops Conference on July 12 as the executive secretary for the Bishops Commission for Social Justice, Mission and Service, and the Bishops Commission for Relations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

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Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB says he was honoured to be chosen by Pope Francis as one of nine president-delegates for the sessions of the upcoming Synod on Synodality, calling it a “great privilege”.

Archbishop Costelloe, who is president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and has served on the Synod of Bishops’ preparatory commission, was one of hundreds of people confirmed on July 7 as participants in the Synod sessions in October this year and October next year.

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As the Church approaches the first session of the forthcoming Synod of Bishops, Australian Catholics are being encouraged to continue their engagement with the global synodal journey through prayer, ongoing discernment and local conversations.

On Tuesday evening, the Secretariat of the Synod published the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document, for the first session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops – commonly referred to as the Synod on Synodality.

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