The recent decision to indefinitely postpone the First Assembly of the Plenary Council (PC) (scheduled for October 2020) due to the unavoidable circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, did not deter the absolute commitment of the bishops, and hopefully of all Australian Catholics, to the Plenary Council, and could instead buy more time for Catholics to discern, affirmed Plenary Council President Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB during the recent Holy Thursday Mass live telecast from St Mary’s Cathedral.

Churches have been closed, weekly and daily Masses are being streamed online and reception of the sacraments such as baptism, confession, marriages and funerals are extremely limited.

Once again, the great celebrations of our Christian faith have arrived. In this Holy Week, we remember the final days of Jesus’ life, when His love for us is shown in such a powerful and uncompromising way as he is lifted up on the cross.

Depression and anxiety, feeling safe in your own home and being exposed to physical violence are just some of the topics addressed in the results of the Commissioner for Children and Young People’s survey of some 5000 WA schoolchildren across Years 4 to 12.

“As a juxtaposition of the fast-paced and stressed world we live in, music within the liturgical sense has now become, and will continue to provide, a stillness and reflection we need.”

The Church believes that no-one comes to faith without being called by God – God initiates, God calls and God converts, said Dr Carmel Suart, Director for the Office of Christian Initiation.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, prayer is defined as “a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God”.

Is it only humans who have a soul? What about buildings, communities and organisations? These thorny questions have been the subject of much reflection for poets, playwrights, artists, theologians and philosophers for centuries and they often come up with contradictory answers.

Plenary Council President, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, said that in in response to the dramatic changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the bishops of Australia have made the “difficult, but necessary” decision to postpone the first assembly of the Plenary Council (PC).

Thomas and Emily Meagher, who exchanged vows last June, believe that they would not have met, fallen in love and dedicated their lives to one another if not for the calling they received from God.