FCBCO assembly delegates visit an extraction mine and hear about the impacts on the river and its ecosystem

The bishops of Oceania encountered the scriptural and practical realities of God’s creation on Monday, hearing the Creation story at morning Mass and later seeing the effects of climate change in Fiji.

On the second day of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania assembly, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB celebrated Mass, at which the first reading included the first four days of the Creation story in Genesis.

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The Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry (BCELM) has launched a new online resource designed to enable more people to easily access formational Australian Catholic video content.

Evangelise Plus is a video resource library that will host a range of audiovisual content from various Catholic events and initiatives, bringing the material to a wider audience in an effort to inspire, form and encourage viewers in their faith life.

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The offertory is brought forward for the opening Mass of the FCBCO assembly

A Mass steeped in Fijian spirituality and tradition has opened the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania assembly – a gathering its president hopes will turn “a new page” in the bishops’ shared mission.

Sacred Heart Cathedral in Suva was overflowing on Sunday morning with hundreds of local worshippers, along with dozens of bishops and other assembly participants.

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Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Michael Kennedy, who has led the Diocese of Armidale in regional New South Wales since 2012, the new Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle.

The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle has been without a bishop since the death of Bishop Bill Wright in November 2021, with Fr Greg Barker serving as diocesan administrator in the intervening period.

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The Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry is hosting an online national sports consultation on February 28 (Photo: Diocese of Parramatta).

The Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry is inviting Catholics to register for an online national sports consultation to be held on February 28.

The consultation will include a keynote address from Santiago Pérez de Camino, head of the Church and Sport Office in the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

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Archbishop Peter Loy Chong is the current president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania.

Dozens of bishops will descend on Fiji this weekend for the quadrennial gathering of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania to reflect on and pray about their shared mission in the region.

The assembly will bring together members of the bishops conferences of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea/Solomon Islands and the Pacific Islands.

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The ongoing work to ensure Catholic settings are safe for children and that organisations are responsive to safeguarding concerns has been outlined in the Church’s fifth annual report to the National Office for Child Safety.

One of the recommendations of the final report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse was the publication of annual reports on progress that organisations were making. The requirement was for such reports to be submitted for at least five years.

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Members of the Oceania discernment and writing group after the celebration of Mass on January 12.

The rich diversity of the Catholic Church across Oceania, as well as its unity, was evident during a meeting in Melbourne last week of representatives of the region’s four bishops conferences and Eastern Catholic churches.

More than 20 people from across the Pacific gathered to reflect on and respond to the Working Document for the Continental Stage released by the Synod of Bishops Secretariat, titled Enlarge the Space of Your Tent.

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Pope Francis has appointed Fr John Panamthottathil CMI as the second bishop of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of St Thomas the Apostle, Melbourne, to succeed Bishop Bosco Puthur.

The announcement was published in Rome and Mount St Thomas, Kakkanad, Kerala this evening (Australian time).

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A statement from Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

It was with great sadness that I learned of the unexpected death of Cardinal George Pell in Rome on Tuesday evening (Rome time). Cardinal Pell provided strong and clear leadership within the Catholic Church in Australia, as Archbishop of Melbourne and Archbishop of Sydney and as a member of the Bishops Conference for more than 25 years.

His many strengths were widely recognised, both in Australia and around the world, as his Vatican appointments as Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy and as a member of the Council of Cardinals, an advisory group to Pope Francis, testify.

Cardinal Pell’s impact on the life of the Church in Australia and around the world will continue to be felt for many years. As we remember him and reflect on his legacy, I invite all Catholics and other people of goodwill to join in praying for Cardinal Pell, a man of deep and abiding faith, and for the repose of his soul.