Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President and Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart has this week said that protections for the seal of confession should be protected. Archbishop Hart was responding to a report from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, which said there should be no excuse for priests who fail to alert police because the information was received in confession.

Archdiocese of Perth Chief Operations Officer Dr Terry Wilson is one of several key speakers at the upcoming National Pastoral Leaders and Planners Conference. The Conference, titled Vine and Branches: Yearning to Belong, will be held in Melbourne from 4 to 7 September 2017 and will be attended by pastoral planners and pastoral leaders, clergy and pastoral associates from across the country.

Bunbury Bishop Gerard Holohan has earlier this week issued a statement regarding writs issued against the Bunbury Diocese on behalf of three plaintiffs alleging abuse several decades ago by the late Kevin Glover. Bishop Holohan explained that Diocesan lawyers have advised that the Diocese has no legal liability in these matters. The Diocese is entitled, like anyone else, to due legal process.

Arriving in WA as a refugee, James was helped in gaining employment through Catholic agencies, Identitywa and Centacare Employment and Training.

Supporters of Catholic Mission recently met with the National Director for the Pontifical Mission Societies in Uganda Father Philip Balikuddembe Amooti.

Two Aranmore Catholic College students have returned from the Bahamas as winners after competing in the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games.

Leading Irish theologian and scholar Professor Eamonn Conway has been hosting a series of lectures during his two-month period at the University of Notre Dame.In an interview with The eRecord, Prof Conway discussed his recent workshop organised for Catholic Education. By Natashya Fernandez.

One hundred and forty-four couples have last weekend joined together in celebrating their wedding anniversary at the 2017 Annual Marriage Day Mass on Saturday 12 August at St Mary’s Cathedral Perth. Couples celebrating a significant anniversary also received a certificate to commemorate their special milestone. Director of Catholic Marriage & Fertility Services, Mr Derek Boylen said that the Mass is a time to celebrate the contribution the sacrament of Marriage makes to the church, the community and society. “This year, the combined total years of married life experience comes to about 5800. A third of them have been married for 50 or more years,” Mr Boylen said. By Natashya Fernandez.

A vocation is understood as a call from God and, for Sister Therese Chau, it was a very surprising one, so much so that, even after 19 years, she is still amazed at God’s call for her. By Natashya Fernandez.

When Sister of Mercy Mollie Wright retired from her job as a headmistress and made the decision to volunteer her time to help others, little did she know she would have a defining impact on a young refugee mother struggling at one of the lowest points of her life. Sister Mollie, the principal of Mercedes College from 1978 to 1996, has devoted countless hours helping young mothers living at MercyCare’s Coolock Units in Wembley to further their life skills and education. For eighty seven year-old, Sister Mollie, volunteering is about giving a helping hand to people who desperately need it. “I’m especially interested in helping refugees because when I was principal at Mercedes College the terrible genocide in Rwanda was taking place and our school ran a fundraising drive for those affected,” she said. It was that link that drove her to help 24-year-old mother-of-two, Ruby*, a refugee from Rwanda. Ruby had spent 15 years living in a refugee camp in Rwanda before arriving in Australia with her family three years ago.