By Lu Danieli and Gary Fry
Former Catholic Bishop of Armidale, Most Rev Luc Matthys, was the principal celebrant of the Episcopal Ordination and Installation of his successor, Bishop Michael Robert Kennedy. Continue reading
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Names National WYD 2013 Pilgrimage Tour Provider
Media Release
8 February, 2012
In preparation for Australia’s pilgrimage to World Youth Day (WYD) in Rio de Janeiro in July 2013, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) has named Harvest Pilgrimages as their official Tour Operator for the Conference’s National Pilgrimage of Australian groups attending this universal event.
“I am happy to see Harvest Pilgrimages partner with us again for WYD Rio de Janeiro” said Bishop Christopher Prowse, Bishops Commission for Pastoral Life (BCPL) Delegate for Youth. Continue reading
NCEC welcomes the Coalition’s ten principles for school funding
The Chair of the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC), Mrs Therese Temby, today welcomed the Coalition’s announcement of its ten principles for funding school students.
“The ten principles announced by Mr Pyne constitute a charter to which I think most schools in Australia would subscribe”, said Mrs Temby. Continue reading
Reduce the funding gap for Catholic Schools
Media Release, 2 February, 2012
The school funding data in this week’s ROGS Report (Productivity Commission, Report on Government Services 2012, pages 4.33 and 4.34) provides a very interesting statistic.
• Government funding for government schools has increased each year in the period 2005-06 to 2009-10 by an average of 2.7%.
• Government funding for non-government schools has increased over the same period by an annual average of just 0.7%.
NCEC calls on the Commonwealth Government to reduce the operating resources gap in Catholic schools. Continue reading
Bishop Les Tomlinson appointed Bishop of Sandhurst
Media Release, 3 February, Archdiocese of Melbourne
Photo from the Bendigo Advertiser
The Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst includes central Victoria and the Goulburn Valley and north-eastern Victoria to the Murray River in the north.
Bishop Tomlinson said he was humbled by the confidence that the Pope has shown in him and that he was delighted to accept the appointment. Bishop Tomlinson was born and raised in Mildura and is no stranger to country life. Continue reading
Communicating the Word: Australian Catholic Media Congress 2012, 30 April – 2 May
Maria Jose Centurion at Congresso della Stampa Cattolica, Roma, 2010
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC MEDIA CONGRESS 2012 AT WWW.COMMUNICATINGTHEWORDACMC2012.COM
Dear friends,
It is my great pleasure to invite you to the Australian Catholic Media Congress 2012. The congress is run by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference through the Australian Catholic Media Council and aims to bring together Catholic media, Christian media, secular media, people working within Church agencies, and anyone with an interest in how we communicate the Gospel message in our society today.
The ACMC will be held from Monday April 30 to Wednesday May 2 at the Menzies Hotel, Sydney with the theme Communicating the Word: Timeless messages, new media.
The Congress aims to look at the phenomenon of Social Media and how the Church can use everything from Facebook, to Twitter to more traditional means to spread the message of Christ in our world.
Already, we have booked a tremendously exciting international guest Monsignor Paul Tighe from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, and we are planning to have great line-up of Australian guests also including former Young Australian of the Year and filmmaker Khoa Do; Social commentator Melinda Tankard Reist; and musical contributions by Fr Rob Galea and Simon Hyland.
Please enter the site here and browse the program, and register early! This Congress promises to be the Catholic Media event of the year and I warmly invite you to consider attending.
With every blessing in our Lord Jesus Christ,
Bishop Peter Ingham
Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization
This is the Official message from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications
for the Occasion of the 46th World Day of Communications, May 20, 2012
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As we draw near to World Communications Day 2012, I would like to share with you some reflections concerning an aspect of the human process of communication which, despite its importance, is often overlooked and which, at the present time, it would seem especially necessary to recall. It concerns the relationship between silence and word: two aspects of communication which need to be kept in balance, to alternate and to be integrated with one another if authentic dialogue and deep closeness between people are to be achieved. Continue reading
A Word for Today – Archbishop Hickey launches new weekly YouTube series
By Bridget Anna-Maria Spinks
Children’s welfare, family interests and the rampant drug culture in Perth will be a few of the topics discussed by Perth Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey in a new video series he launched on 20 January online.
In an attempt to speak to the broader public, the weekly video series “A Word for Today’s World with Archbishop Barry Hickey” will appear online every Friday from now on via The Faith Centre website, signed in Auslan and complete with subtitles and a transcript.
The Faith Centre for Evangelisation and Catholic Culture, the newest centre in the Perth Archdiocese, will produce the videos and host these on their website www.thefaith.org.au. Continue reading
Bishops’ Australia Day call for time limit on detention
Media Release
24 January, 2012
To mark Australia Day, the Catholic Bishops Commission for Justice, Ecology and Development calls upon political parties to work towards a common approach to asylum seekers, so that human beings do not become pawns in a political argument. Further, and more immediately, to honour the Australian sense of justice and compassion, there must be a defined limit to incarceration in detention centres for people who are not criminals. The Bishops are calling on the Government to limit detention to three months.
Four of the Bishops who signed this statement minister directly to asylum seekers in immigration detention centres located in their dioceses. Bishop Julian Porteous, Auxiliary Bishop in Sydney, supported the opinions of the other Bishops who have direct involvement in the pastoral care of asylum seekers in detention. “Prolonged and indefinite detention in these facilities can only produce psychological damage”, he said. Continue reading
Catholic schools: making good use of government and family funds
Media Release
10 January, 2012
The National Catholic Education Commission commented today on reports in the Australian Newspaper and on the ABC regarding government funding for Catholic schools, suggesting that there has been a misrepresentation in the media of how much funding schools receive per student.
Mrs Therese Temby, Chair of the National Catholic Education Commission, said that the reporting is quite misleading, as it suggests that Catholic schools receive a higher level of funding than Government schools. Continue reading