The Year of Mercy was this week inaugurated in the Archdiocese of Perth on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception at a special Mass celebrated at St Mary’s Cathedral, by Archbishop Timothy Costelloe.

The group of young singers, known as the Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity Choir, hired Dr Pride for an eight-week program to help improve their singing quality and cohesion. And, with just a few short weeks, the eight-week program will come alive at their fifth (annual) Christmas Concert, to be held at the Quarry Amphitheatre on 20 December.

More than 100 students and staff from Sacred Heart College, Sorrento recently joined together to host a hunger banquet. The banquet sought to demonstrate the inequitable distribution of food around the globe and raised awareness about the amount of people living in poverty and the impact that global warming will have on their food security.

Mater Christi Primary School in Yangebup last month celebrated 25 years of history as staff, students and the wider community came together to commemorate a school known for its ability to foster love of learning, community, charity, and social justice.

A team of volunteers has put their painting skills to the test and transformed the inside of MercyCare’s Wembley youth accommodation service, Carlow House, in one day.

Imprisonment for the non-payment of fines in Western Australia could be addressed by removing their regressive nature on those with low incomes and adopting a ‘day fine’ system, according to research by Senior Lecturer at The University of Notre Dame Australia, Tomas Fitzgerald.

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe made the most of his annual visit to St Charles’ Seminary in Guildford last month on 3 November, where he celebrated Mass, met with seminarians and blessed newly completed renovations.

The feeling of being safe and secure has provided the confidence 18-year-old Callan needed to take on new life challenges, including his dream of racing a V8 Super car!

“God is like the Good Shepherd in the Gospels, who never tires of going in search of us, ready to place us on His shoulders and bring us back.” These are the words of Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which was officially launched this week on 8 December, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

“The old saying will always be true: ‘Where there are religious, there is joy!’,” stated Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter to All Consecrated People, just before declaring 2015 the Year of Consecrated Life.

If there is a group within the Archdiocese of Perth that took Pope Francis at his word, it is the Vietnamese Catholic Community, whose celebration marking the approaching end of the Year of Consecrated life was last month a resounding success.