Help carry one another’s burdens

By Fr Maurizio Pettená – Director of the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office

The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference is part of the community delegation supporting the Federal Government’s positive pathway towards community-based alternatives to immigration detention.

This community delegation is meeting with ministers at Parliament House today and includes: Paul Power, Refugee Council of Australia; Rev. Elenie Poulos, Uniting Church in Australia Assembly; Phil Glendenning, Edmund Rice Centre; Cassandra Goldie, Australian Council of Social Service; Brad Chilcott, Welcome to Australia; Rev. Tara Curlewis, National Council of Churches; Joe Moloney, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference; Alex Pagliaro and Tamara Lions, Amnesty International; Asmi Wood, Australian Federation of Islamic Councils; Kate Gauthier, ChilOut (Children Out of Detention); Jeremy Spinak, Executive Council of Australian Jewry; Padma Menon, Federation of Ethnic Communities Council of Australia.

The following statement was developed by Fr Maurizio and Joe Moloney and outlines the Catholic Church’s position on issues of migration. Continue reading →

ACMRO offers sympathy on death of Sri Lankan refugee;

Media Release,
28 October 2011

For more information go to www.acmro.catholic.org.au

The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office offer our condolence to the family of the Sri Lankan refugee who passed away on Wednesday, 26 October. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and to the Sri Lankan community. Continue reading →

Communicating timeless messages using new media

www.cievents.com.au/events/ACMC2012

Recently, a friend sent through a message to me on Facebook with the picture just below, which shows Jesus talking to a young man. Indeed, Jesus is asking us to follow him, and although we all misread the signs at times – Christ desires all of us to be with him. So, we have a 2,000 year old message which is timeless, it doesn’t age, although perhaps the mediums we use to communicate the message could do with a little work. This message of course is that of love, hope, mercy, faith and salvation. These are not easy messages to put into one line “tweet” or a pithy “facebook” status. We don’t exactly update our relationship status to “In a relationship with Jesus Christ” and consider ourselves “Facebook official” the moment we realise how much we have been gifted by God in our lives.. The hope of Christ in the world gives life to all, and yet so many haven’t been touched in this way.

Next year, the second Australian Catholic Media Congress will be held at the Menzies Hotel in Sydney with the theme “Communicating the Word: Timeless messages, new media.” Our international guest for this Congress is Monsignor Paul Tighe, Secretary to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

The Congress is open to anyone who wishes to attend, particularly those with an interest in Church media. The congress aims to address some of the challenges of spreading a message in a sometimes hostile world; it aims to show new ways of engaging with technology to more effectively proclaim those messages. Over three days, from the 30th of April to the 2nd of May, the bishops have invited you, the people of Australia to attend the Australian Catholic Media Congress and discuss your hopes and vision for Church media.

So we hope that you will join us. www.cievents.com.au/events/ACMC2012

The Blessing of the Altar; Domus Australia Rome; By + Cardinal George Pell

Archbishop of Sydney
17 October 2011
This evening we conclude the retreat day of the Ad Limina visit with both Mass in this renovated chapel of St. Peter Chanel and the consecration of its new altar.
I am not sure whether the chapel was ever consecrated previously by the Marist Fathers. But we can be sure that this place of worship has been made holy by the prayers and lives of all the Marist priests and seminarians who lived here during more than one hundred years.
As Jesus pointed out to the Samaritan woman, his followers, the true worshippers to which we belong, worship the Father in spirit and truth. It is the same Eucharist, the same seven sacraments that will continue to be celebrated here as in the Marist times, when we worship the Father through his only Son. Continue reading →

Address by President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference to the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI

Most Holy Father,

From the Antipodes, from Terra Australis de Spiritu Sancto, we come as pilgrims ad limina apostolorum, to the Tombs of the Apostles. The old map on the third loggia of this Apostolic Palace has Australia marked simply as Terra Incognita. But our land is no longer unknown to you, and its “joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties” (Lumen Gentium, 1) are intimately known to us as Pastors. All of these we bring to you now, confident that you have come to know not only our land but also its people in all their diversity. The land may be distant, but we know the people are close to your heart. Continue reading →

HOMILY OF MOST REV BARRY JAMES HICKEY ON THE FEAST OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST 20 OCTOBER 2011

AT THE BASILICA OF ST JOHN LATERAN

In the history of salvation God called extraordinary people to proclaim his revelation to the world. Patriarchs and prophets prepared the Chosen People, the Israelites, to grasp the reality of the one true God and to shape their lives according to his Will.

On the Feast of St John the Baptist we see in him the fulfilment of the centuries of preparation and the validation of all that had gone before. We hear in him the combined voices of all the prophets as he cried out “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths”. Continue reading →

Toward a theology of disability

By Patricia Mowbray

The Disability Projects Office of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference is a much more all-encompassing ministry than one might imagine. It involves encouraging and promoting the full participation of people with disability, their families and friends in the faith life of our Church in Australia.

It’s all about taking our rightful place in the Body of Christ. Continue reading →

Deadly floods strike Central America

CARITAS AUSTRALIA MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release: October 19, 2011

Torrential rains have hit Central America hard, causing deadly floods in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, Caritas Australia reports.

Caritas Australia Latin America Program Coordinator, Margaret Fyfe, said 12 out of 14 regions have been severely affected by the downpour, with over 13,000 people forced to flee the rising waters.
Continue reading →

Aged Poor Mustn’t Be Forgotten by Hung Parliament

Media Release from Catholic Health Australia, 19/10/11

By Martin Laverty and Gavin Abraham

Bipartisan support is emerging to improve access to aged care for older Australians living in poverty, according to the nation’s largest network of residential and community aged care providers.

As Anti-Poverty Week is marked across Australia, Catholic Health Australia (CHA) chief executive Martin Laverty said people often have an image of what poverty looks like. That image is rarely of people in retirement, but there are tens of thousands of older Australians who are struggling financially. Continue reading →