Caritas Australia, the Catholic Church’s International Aid and Development agency, has a new CEO at the helm.

Caritas Australia says support is reaching typhoon-ravaged communities across the Philippines but more help is needed as the number of people affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan continues to rise.

Thousands of young Catholics gathered for the Australian Catholic Youth Festival recently, where they were challenged to make a difference in the world and to spread the Gospel message.

THE HIGH Court of Australia upheld marriage between a man and a woman last week, ruling unanimously that the ACT’s same-sex marriage laws were inconsistent with the Federal Marriage Act, and consequently unconstitutional. The decision that the entirety of the ACT law “is of no effect” was made on December 12, almost two months after the legislation was initially passed in the ACT Legisla...

NEW SOUTH WALES is a step closer to conferring the status of “personhood” on an unborn child for the first time. Parliamentarians in the lower house voted 63-26 in favour of a controversial amendment to the Crimes Act, after two months of weekly debate on the bill. The bill will now face a vote in the upper house, where the result is expected to be closer. The proposed changes are ...

ARCHBISHOP Christopher Prowse was officially installed as the leader of the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn on November 19. The Mass of installation was held at St Christopher’s Cathedral in Canberra, with more than 700 people in attendance. The crowd included almost 150 clergy, as well as most of the Bishops of Australia. Archbishop Prowse’s five siblings were also present. P...

PRAYING outside an abortion clinic in Tasmania could result in imprisonment after radical changes to the State’s abortion laws were passed last week. The Tasmanian upper house passed the Reproductive Health Bill on November 21, which removes abortion from the criminal code, placing it instead in the health code. Abortions up until 16 weeks will now be performed without written consent...

Altar servers from around Australia are preparing to gather in Brisbane in January for the national conference of the Guild of St Stephen.

Vietnamese asylum seekers detained in Northam will face immediate and indefinite imprisonment if the Australian Government rejects their claims for asylum, a visiting Vietnamese bishop said in Perth this week.

At a time when Church groups and ministries are finding it increasingly difficult to attract and retain younger members, a Victorian event is proving that achieving such a goal is possible.