Adelaide Archbishop Patrick O’Regan and Sandhurst Bishop Shane Mackinlay have been elected Australia’s two delegates to the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be held in 2023. The delegates were confirmed during the recent plenary meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. In March 2020, Pope Francis announced that the theme of the next Synod of Bishops would be “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission”. The Holy Father launched the international journey towards the celebration of the Synod in October this year, with local launches and a diocesan consultation phase commencing soon after. That local engagement will support the preparation of national syntheses, which will be followed by continental meetings. Australia’s bishops will collaborate […]

Darwin Bishop Charles Gauci has last week apologised unreservedly to members of the Stolen Generation who were abused at the Garden Point Catholic Mission on the Tiwi more than 50 years ago.

Father Danny Meagher will be installed as an Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney on 8 December, serving alongside Bishop’s Terry Brady and Richard Umbers. Photo: Supplied. Pope Francis has appointed Sydney priest Fr Danny Meagher, the former rector of Good Shepherd Seminary, an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) confirmed on 18 November. ...

Uluru is located in the Northern Territory. Photo: Adobe. Australia’s Catholic bishops, on the recommendation of their key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisers, have endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference made the decision as it gathered online for its biannual meeting earlier this month. The bishops’ consideration of the matt...

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.