Perth priest Rev Dr Joe Parkinson has last week been awarded the Catholic Health Australia 2021 Sr Maria Cunningham Lifetime Contribution Award.

The award recognises Dr Parkinson’s work over the past 40 years, in particular his contributions to St John of God Health Care, one of Australia’s largest Catholic providers of health care services, and his impact on the community through a lifetime of bioethics writing, teaching and consultancy across health, aged care and education.

Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli has last week written to all members of the Catholic community in the Archdiocese of Melbourne expressing grave concerns about new legislation which will seriously diminish the rights of religious organisations to manage their activity according to their faith and conscience.

Divine Word priest Fr Tim Norton will become an Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Brisbane. Fr Norton, who is currently in ministry in Italy, will early next year join Auxiliary Bishop Ken Howell in supporting Archbishop Mark Coleridge in serving the Catholics of Brisbane Archdiocese.

A new book produced by the Australian Catholic Bishops titled Streams of Light: Easter Messages from Australian Bishops During Lockdown 2020 is a collection of sermons and pastoral letters of the bishops of Australia during the height of the pandemic.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President Archbishop Mark Coleridge said bishops and leaders of religious congregations have worked with Catholic Church Insurance for more than 100 years, last year reporting that recent and projected compensation claims for historical abuse had necessitated an increase in the company’s capital levels.

The announcement that four-year-old Cleo Smith was found alive and safe may have prompted many practitioners to imagine how they would respond when faced with a similar situation.

Bathurst Bishop Michael McKenna will deliver a free online public lecture titled ‘How Do We Know What We Don’t Know?’ on Wednesday 17 November 2021 at 5pm AEDT, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s (ACBC) commitment to pastoral research through the National Centre for Pastoral Research (NCPR).

A new report released last week has revealed that the experience of COVID-19 has caused many Australians to experience a renewed spiritual search.

The research, conducted by McCrindle Research, surveyed 1,000 Australians and found that two thirds of Australians are likely to attend a church service either online (64 per cent) or in-person (67 per cent) if personally invited by a friend or family member.

Foundress of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, known in Australia as Catholic Mission, Pauline Jaricot was declared Venerable on 25 February 1963, by Saint John XXIII. Her beatification will occur during year marking the 200th anniversary of the foundation of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

Australian lay woman Susan Pascoe AM, who been assisting in the process of the current Synod of Bishops, says the Church in Australia has been a key supporter of the Synod.