The Federal government’s recent decision to deny welfare and other support to refugees receiving medical treatment in Australia has drawn criticism from Australian Catholic Bishops.

Fondly known by her bush name, Jindibirri (Willie Wagtail) for her sprightly character, Aboriginal Catholic Ministry (ACM) Pastoral Care worker Sister Frances Wilson RNDM was last month farewelled after 27 years of service. As an advocate for education and the development of the new mission in Gibb River in the Kimberley, Sr Frances worked across a variety of communities, including with the Aboriginal peoples of the Kimberley, at Mazenod and St Brigid’s Colleges Perth, and most recently with ACM in Perth.

In an interview with The eRecord, Sr Frances reminisced about the past 27 years, speaking about her life in the Kimberley, her work as the Aboriginal Liaison Officer at Mazenod College, as mentor to Aboriginal students at St Brigid’s College and as Pastoral Care worker with the ACM team, saying that even though she’s on the doorstep of turning 80 in 2018, she will keep going for as long as she can. By Natashya Fernandez.

Providing the opportunity for an experiential and active knowledge of the Word of God is behind FMI’s new Online Bible College. By Josh Low.

St Norbert College students have had their views radically transformed after 12 days in Cambodia as part of an immersion trip.

Students from Ursula Frayne College were last month announced as winners of the Lower Secondary category of the One Minute Film Competition.

For seminarian John Bosco, the journey of faith has been a profound one, taking him from village life in India to studies at St Charles Seminary Guildford. And now it will take him to the remote parts of the Kimberley in far north Western Australia. By Caroline Smith and Jamie O’Brien.

Parish Priest Fr Vinh Dong and Deacon Joseph Laundy welcomed more than 350 parishioners for the occasion, which also marked three years since the commencement of the parish, with the proposed new Church building to be named after the former Pontiff and now Saint. By Jamie O’Brien.

The University of Notre Dame Australia has acquired the vacant site next to its Broadway Sydney campus, located in the inner-city suburb of Chippendale, paving the way for strong long-term growth in the national tertiary education sector. Purchased at auction on 2 November, the 520m2 site is located at 142-152 Broadways. Vice Chancellor Professor Celia Hammond, said the acquisition of the site is an exciting step towards expanding UNDA’s presence within Sydney’s premier educational precinct. “The University will develop this site to further its strategic goal of providing students and staff with the highest quality teaching spaces and facilities,” she said.

Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has this week reinforced the message of Pope Francis and the upcoming World Day of the Poor at the liturgical launch of his 2017 Christmas Appeal for LifeLink.
“It is an initiative which we can be sure will find a place in the Church’s life for a long time to come, touching as it does one of the most fundamental aspects of our Christian faith,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
“In his letter inaugurating this first World Day of the Poor, the Pope writes powerfully of the many faces of poverty in our contemporary experience,” the Archbishop continued.
“We live in a country which is richly blessed with natural and human resources, with a stable political system, with a well-developed and resourced education system and with generally good access to medical care for all who need it,” he said. By Jamie O’Brien.

Directors and representatives from 21 Catholic agencies in the Archdiocese gathered together to build networks, collaborate and find opportunities for partnerships at the Social Outreach Collaborative Meeting which took place on 27 October at the Newman Sienna Centre.
The meeting was a fresh opportunity for the directors to build new networks and opportunities for partnerships.
The event saw CEOs, Directors and representatives from each of the 21 agencies meet and greet each other, whether for the first time or through working together, and present a short video and presentation for six minutes of their story and the good works they do in the Archdiocese. Vicar for Social Outreach, Dr Terry Wilson, said that at the launch of the Archdiocesan Plan in 2015, Archbishop of Perth Timothy Costelloe SDB recognised that many organisations and program existed but stated, ‘I want to strengthen these initiatives, encourage mutual collaboration and support, and also identify areas where the Church could contribute but is not as yet active’. By Natashya Fernandez.