The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You

MELBOURNE Archbishop Peter A. Comensoli has written a letter to Australian Catholics, explaining the Church’s advocacy for “ethically acceptable” COVID-19 vaccines, that do not use aborted foetal cell lines in their development. The University of Queensland vaccine project, in partnership with Australian biotech company CSL, is one that Bishop Comensoli singles out as acceptable. He is also clear that the ... Read More »

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has provided the Holy See’s observations on 12 recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to the Australian Government. The royal commission proposed that the Bishops Conference engage with the Holy See on those recommendations because they relate to universal Church law or practice. Holy See Secretary of State Cardinal ... Read More »

MENTAL Health is topping the nation’s political agenda, with the Prime Minister promising greater resources for suicide prevention, and Australia agreeing to a new blueprint that recognises faith leaders and communities as necessary in delivering mental health crisis care. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ranked suicide prevention as “one of my government’s highest priorities” during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has ... Read More »

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 »