Tag Archives: Disability

World Mental Health Day Message from Bishop Terence Brady

Mental Health Week logoWorld Mental Health Day is observed annually today (October 10). This year, the Church has sought to celebrate this day as an opportunity to encourage a truly pastoral view that embraces our total community as the living Body of Christ.

To be authentic, this view must include every member of the community acknowledging their call, their gift and their presence. We cannot claim to be truly disciples of Jesus unless we are totally engaged in honouring His presence in each one and in building and nurturing this community to be a living witness of that presence. Clearly this is a revealed truth that is fundamental to our sense of our own real value. Just as clearly this truth should be so evident in our lived experience that others are drawn to know, understand and experience the Father’s love that Jesus reveals. Continue reading →

British Actor Liz Carr brings Assisted Suicide: The Musical to the Aussie stage

Liz Carr

Liz Carr

Assisted Suicide is not the most common subject for musical comedy shows – and that’s exactly why British actor, comedian and activist, Liz Carr, was so passionate about bringing the topic to the stage.

“It’s a serious subject, and I just wanted to create a space where people can talk about it,” she says.

“Comedy is how you open things up and through the ridiculousness and the banality and the laughter, we can ask the questions. And I wanted it to be a musical because firstly, I love musicals, and secondly, music allows us to explore emotions and different ideas in ways that are far more palatable than just doing a lecture for an hour and a half.”

Liz, who has lived with disability since childhood, knows all about the limitations of the lecture circuit, because before she brought Assisted Suicide: The Musical to the stage, she spent years speaking out against euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) in lectures, articles and on news and chat shows. Continue reading →

International Day of People with Disability – Removing barriers to create inclusive society

Banner – International Day

Media Release, November 26, 2012

The International Day of People with Disability is celebrated on 3 December each year, with this year’s theme of, “Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all.”

Bishop Terence Brady, the Australian Bishops’ Delegate for Disability Issues, said that there is much evidence of the types of barriers that are faced by people with disability, and that Church communities can find ways to address these.

“Barriers can take a variety of forms, including those relating to the physical environment or to information and communications technology (ICT), or those resulting from legislation or policy, or from societal attitudes or discrimination.” Continue reading →

Listening with her heart

By Beth Doherty

Eight years ago, Anna Chandler had a virus. The virus resulted in her full hearing loss in her right ear, a condition which has continued to deteriorate each year since in her left ear.

The charismatic youth minister, teacher and Centacare facilitator however has not let this enormous challenge prevent her from sharing a message of hope with those around her. Continue reading →

Letter for International Day for People with Disability – a letter from Bishop Terry Brady

Dear Friends in Christ,

At our baptism, we are welcomed and commissioned to spread the Good News, to produce fruit that will last and to use our God-given gifts. We are all called to witness the life of Jesus Christ through our prayer, our offerings and how we share our gifts. It is through the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Saviour that we are challenged and called to be a loving, compassionate and inclusive community; to be truly One Body in Christ.
The President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Philip Wilson, in his recent letter to the Catholic Church in Australia, invites and calls us to a Year of Grace. It will be a time to contemplate the face of Jesus Christ; for it is when we recognise Jesus Christ in ourselves and each other that we are led on a profound and mysterious journey towards understanding the meaning of being One Body in Christ.

Continue reading →

“One Body in Christ” –Disability Council releases new resource for people with disabilities


“One Body in Christ” – Release of a New Resource for Welcoming People with Disability
Media Release
16.11.11

The Australian Catholic Disability Council and the Disability Projects Office of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference have released today a new resource for parishes and Church communities called One Body in Christ, Welcoming People with Disability. 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 →