“In his Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, ‘The Joy of Love: On Love in the Family’, Pope Francis has spoken as a true pastor who really knows the human heart and is well aware of the pressures now facing marriage and the family”, said Archbishop Mark Coleridge on behalf of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference today.

“The Pope moves between the ideal and the real, offering the Church’s vision of marriage and the family but also dealing with the facts on the ground that can be messy,” Archbishop Coleridge said.

In the document, which was launched at 8pm AEST in Rome, the Holy Father sees marriage and the family in dynamic terms, writing of them as a journey. ‘The Synod process’, he notes, ‘allowed for an examination of the situation of families in today’s world’, opening up ‘a broader vision’ and a renewed awareness of the importance of marriage and the family, which is counter cultural in today’s society.

Francis does not shy away from complex and controversial issues including divorce, abortion, domestic violence, euthanasia, same-sex marriage and gender ideology. He stresses the need to care for the most vulnerable in society, especially the elderly, people with disabilities and migrants. Continue reading →

Minimum wage

The Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations (ACCER) is seeking a $25.10 increase per week to the National Minimum Wage.

The Council made the proposal in a submission to the Fair Work Commission Annual Wage Review 2015-2016.

The ACCER asked that the National Minimum Wage be set at $682.00 per week and $17.95 per hour. It also sought that Award wage rates be increased by $19.00 per week.

The annual wage review requires the Fair Work Commission to set a safety net of fair minimum wages by taking into account, relative living standards and the needs of the low paid. Continue reading →

Get on board and book your ticket to Krakow by Friday 15 April 2016 to experience World Youth Day (WYD) in the ‘City of Mercy’ this year.

The Bishops Conference, Office for Youth, are calling all young people to get in touch with their local diocesan youth office this week.

Australian registrations for WYD2016 will close at the end of this week, 15 April. Full registration details are available on the Office for Youth website: https://wyd2016.com.au/

Pope Francis will join millions of pilgrims including 3,000 young Australians in Poland from 25 – 31 July 2016. The theme of the 31st World Youth Day is ‘Blessed are the merciful: For they shall receive mercy‘ (Mt 5:7). Continue reading →

Archbishop Mark Coleridge

This op-ed was first published in The Weekend Australian today, Saturday 9 April 2016.

From the moment of his election Francis has been a Pope of surprises. One of the surprises of this old man has been his energy. It has been astonishing, and part of the energy has been literary — as we see in his latest production, published yesterday, The Joy of Love: On Love in the Family.

In it, the Pope wants to gather up and move forward the work of the Synod of Bishops held in Rome in 2014 and last year. The decision to hold the two synods on the theme of marriage and the family was a surprise. But it was shrewd strategy from a Pope who is nothing if not a strategist.

What Francis was saying to the Catholic Church was that a synod wasn’t just a one-off event; it’s an ongoing journey, which is what the word synod means. In The Joy of Love Francis doesn’t claim to be the final word settling every controversial question. Nor does he claim to offer a comprehensive pastoral plan to be implemented around the planet. His claims are more modest, and for that reason more compelling. He wants this text to be another step on the way; not a final product but another part of the process. Continue reading →

The late Bishop Mulkearns

On Monday 11 April, the funeral of Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, retired Bishop of Ballarat, took place at a local nursing home in Ballarat.

During this time, members of the Catholic community gathered for prayer and reflection in different parts of the Ballarat Diocese.

The death of Bishop Mulkearns from cancer has given rise to different responses from those who remember him as their bishop and to those who remember him for his failings in dealing with perpetrators of child sexual abuse.

As with all Catholic funerals, the funeral of Bishop Mulkearns was a time of prayer for the deceased, asking for God’s mercy, remembering his life. The chief celebrant was Archbishop Francis Carroll. Continue reading →

(L-R) Joe Zabar, Jeremy Stuparich, Prof John Haldane, Suzanne Greenwood, Alison Burt and Fr Stephen Hackett MSC.

Wisdom comes at the end of the day and we tend to only truly understand things in retrospect, Professor John Haldane told Church leaders gathered for a talk at the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) Secretariat recently.

University of St Andrews philosopher, Professor Haldane was appointed a Visiting Professor at The University of Notre Dame Australia within the School of Philosophy and Theology for 2016.

Professor Haldane visited the ACBC Secretariat in Canberra for a luncheon with senior Catholic agency and Archdiocesan staff on Thursday 31 March 2016.

Drawing attention to the ‘Philosophy of Right’, Prof Haldane began the lunch gathering by quoting Georg Hegel, a German philosopher who examined the role of philosophy in prescribing principles on how the world ought to be. Continue reading →

Amoris Laetitia could be viewed in one sense as a deeply traditional document and in another sense as a document full of surprises, Archbishop Mark Coleridge told Journalist John Cleary during a live discussion on ABC Radio, Sunday Nights program on 10 April.

The Archbishop was also joined by ABC Religion Producer Noel Debien to discuss ‘The Joy of Love’ Exhortation and to unpack its meaning.

Archbishop Coleridge said the document moves between the ideal and the reality of family life. ‘It does so in a very down to earth, deeply spun way. One of the things that’s struck me is that it both affirms much of what we have received, what we have to pass on, but it also opens new doors. It calls for a pastoral conversion. Continue reading →

Choir from St Patrick’s Parish, Mentone

JOYFUL singing in praise and worship to God was heard resounding from the Catholic Leadership Centre in East Melbourne on the evening of Friday 8 April, for the national launch of the Catholic Worship Book II (CWBII).

The launch was presented by the National Liturgical Music Board and was webcast live into parish and church centres around Australia.

The evening was punctuated with rousing hymns and songs from CWBII performed by cantors and the choir from St Patrick’s Parish in Mentone.

CWBII, which is published by Morning Star Publishing, contains 650 musical items including hymns, songs and psalms. Clare Johnson from the National Liturgical Music Board said CWBII is designed to underpin the Church’s liturgical year and the sacraments. Continue reading →