Perth’s Vietnamese Catholic Community has this month welcomed the opening and blessing of a new Presbytery and Community Centre in Westminster, which it hopes will boost cultural and faith activities by providing more space for the Parish groups to meet.

“While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped Him in bands of cloth, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the Inn” (Lk.2:6-7).

This year, as our Catholic community celebrates the wonderful feast of Christmas with the rest of our society, we do so at the very beginning of the Jubilee Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis. This special year began on December 8 and will conclude next year on the Solemnity of Christ the King on November 20, 2016.

A Mercy religious sister who would have celebrated her Diamond Jubilee next year passed away peacefully on 17 October 17 at Catherine McAuley Nursing Home, Wembley after a long illness.