The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You

WITH Australia still gripped by pandemic, “understanding and support” for mental health has been identified as a nationwide priority in the 2020 Australian Catholic Bishops Conference social justice statement. COVID-19 is not only causing physical, social and economic strains, it is also heaping pressure on the mental health of many people in ways that are hard to see. “People experiencing ... Read More »

WITH Friday Islamic prayers to be recited in Hagia Sophia for the first time in 85 years, Christian leaders around the world have expressed deep regret at Turkey’s decision to change the status of the famous place of worship. Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge and the head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, Archbishop Makarios expressed ... Read More »

BISHOP Ken Howell has echoed the words of Pope St John Paul II in calling for a renewed commitment to recognition for and reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The Brisbane auxiliary bishop, speaking at the annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday Mass at St Stephen’s Cathedral last weekend, said Australian Catholics needed to hear again “those ... Read More »

MALICIOUS emails have been sent to random recipients claiming to be from Catholic parishes, dioceses and other Church organisations – they were not. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference released a statement denouncing the emails and their contents. Their contents mention one or more of the following – Cardinal George Pell, the complainant in his criminal trial, COVID-19 and most recently ... Read More »

BRISBANE Archbishop Mark Coleridge said it was Mary who understood the “suffering of her children like no one else can” during his homily at the re-dedication Mass of Australia to the patroness Our Lady Help of Christians from St Stephen’s Cathedral on May 25. “We look to her because she is the one who always stands beneath the cross of ... Read More »

PARISHES and dioceses taking precautions like refusing to offer Holy Communion from the chalice to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak in China were not called to do so. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference issued a statement that said they had “not called for the suspension of any practices at Mass in response to novel coronavirus that appeared in China and ... Read More »

AS communities recover from the current bushfire crisis, the Catholic Church is setting up a blueprint for how it will respond to future disasters in Australia. It has set up a new collaboration called CERA – Catholic Emergency Relief Australia – to serve as a co-ordination point for Catholic agencies responding to fires, droughts, floods, cyclones and other disasters. The ... Read More »

THE Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has launched a national Church response to deal with the unprecedented scale of the bushfire crisis. “The efforts of firefighters have been heroic. The resilience of the communities affected has been extraordinary,” ACBC president Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane said. “This has been Australia at its best … but we need more than words. Expressions ... Read More »

EVANGELISATION efforts in Australia are being streamlined to focus more on the Church’s central mission of spreading the Good News. During the biannual meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, it was announced that a revamped National Centre for Evangelisation would take responsibility for a number of offices. The refocusing signals an end to the Office for Lay Pastoral Ministry, ... Read More »