The Hon Scott Morrison MP, the 30th Prime Minister of Australia. Photo: Scott Morrison/Facebook. By Matthew Lau Australia’s newest Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed to go ahead with the national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse on 22 October. The fallout of last month’s leadership spill – which saw Mr Morrison supersede Malcolm Turnbull – h...

The core theme of this year’s contest was “Empathy”. Photo: Supplied. Castlemaine-based poet Annie Hunter is the winner of the 2018 ACU Prize for Poetry for her entry Anthea Noctua. Ms Hunter’s poem was selected ahead of Sound Bridge by Felicity Plunkett of Croydon in NSW ($5000 second prize) and Point of Recognition by Jane Williams from New Town in Tasmania ($3000 third prize). A rec...

Archdiocese of Perth Communications Manager Jamie O’Brien is congratulated by Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli at the 2018 ACPA Awards. Photo: Neil Helmore/Diocese of Townsville. The eRecord and The Record Magazine have been awarded several crowns at the 2018 Australasian Catholic Press Association (ACPA) Awards and the Australasian Religious Press Awards (ARPA). ACPA ...

Bernard Holland, the new head of Catholic Earthcare Australia. Photo: Nicole Clements/Caritas Australia. By Matthew Lau Building on the ecological work already underway within each diocese, the new Director of Catholic Earthcare Australia has pledged to act as a conduit for the good of “Our Common Home”. Bernard Holland brings a wealth of experience from both Catholic education and env...

Eileen O’Connor died in 1921 – a month short of her 29th birthday. Photo: Supplied.  Australia is one step closer to getting its next saint with the Vatican advancing the cause for Sydney woman Eileen O’Connor to the title “Servant of God”. The significant announcement comes just months after Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP began the formal process for the beatification of Eileen when...

Fr Hans Zollner SJ was Chair of the organising committee for the symposium "Towards Healing and Renewal" on sexual abuse of minors in February 2012. Photo: Supplied. The Catholic dioceses of Wollongong and Parramatta will co-host two days of presentations this week with a priest widely recognised as one of the leading experts in the field of safeguarding of minors. Fr Hans Zollner SJ is a...

By Peter Wilkinson This is the fourth in a series of articles looking at the particular (provincial and plenary) Councils of the Catholic Church held in Australia between 1844 and 1937. It examines the 1885 First Australasian Plenary Council, held between November 14 and 29, which officially brought together the Churches in Australia and New Zealand for the first time. In the period fro...

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe lights the special plenary council candle during the official Perth Launch of the 2020 Plenary Council on Saturday 26 May 2018. Photo: Ron Tan. Thousands of people from across Australia have taken time in the two months since the Plenary Council 2020 officially launched at Pentecost to consider the future of the Catholic Church. In May, the Listening and D...

A clergyman hears confession from Pope Francis during a Lenten penance service on 9 March in St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Photo: Catholic News Service. The membership of the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy has voiced its profound objection to the laws passed in the Australian Capital Territory, South Australian and Tasmanian legislatures requiring priests to break the ...

Brisbane singer-songwriter Peter Pellicaan in the music video for Listen, a new song for the Plenary Council 2020. Photo: Plenary Council/YouTube. The first screening of a new music video for the Plenary Council 2020 was witnessed by hundreds who gathered in Brisbane for the 2018 PROCLAIM Conference on 15 July. PROCLAIM, the biennial national evangelisation conference, this year has a...