On 1 May, the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, The Australian Catholic Social Justice Council released a statement urging a review on the welfare system. Payments have not been updated in terms of real buying power since 1994 despite rises in rent, food and bills. The statement is timely especially in regards to […]
Sixteen seminarians of the archdiocese have been commissioned on 23 March to serve in Sydney Catholic primary schools as part of the 2018 Seminarians in Schools Program. It is the largest cohort of seminarians ever commissioned – to the delight of Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS). According to Robert Haddad, head of SCS’ New Evangelisation team, the program […]
Pilgrims devoted to keeping alive the legacy of Australia’s first Catholic bishop and then Archbishop of Sydney took to the streets despite traffic, crowds, and scorching heat in Sydney’s CBD on St Patrick’s Day. Organiser Ronan Reilly led the first Bede Polding Walk through Sydney streets since its hiatus in the early 2000s. Mr Reilly […]
Sophia Skarparis, a 14 year old schoolgirl from Monte Saint Angelo Mercy College, North Sydney, is petitioning the New South Wales state government to ban single use and heavy retail plastic bags. Sophia told The Catholic Weekly she was inspired by the 2015 papal encyclical emphasising our responsibility to be stewards of God’s creation: “I […]
Margie Abbott, wife of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott MP, spoke at the recent Campion College Women’s Luncheon on her Catholic spirituality as a mother, a wife and an educator. “As a married woman my prayer life changed”, she told the 100 or so participants attending the function. “Part of my support for my loved ones […]
If the implementation of Catholic social teaching such as the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum is not applied to contemporary politics and economics, the results could be social upheaval and the collapse of capitalism, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned. Mr Rudd’s warning came at the launch of an Australian Catholic University’s Institute for Religion, […]
On the feast of the patron saint of victims of slavery Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP reminded the faithful that modern slavery, while largely hidden, is still embedded in the global economy, including Australia: “Most people think human trafficking and slavery a thing of the past that need not concern them. But as we speak, there […]
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, called for Australia’s legal professionals to uphold the right to religious freedom – especially in the midst of growing militant secularism – at the Red Mass on 29 January, marking the beginning of the 2018 legal term. In his homily, Archbishop Fisher spoke of the growing threats to the expression or […]
“There are reasons why we act in certain ways, but reasons are not the same as excuses.” These words, heard in school, came back to Chris Lee when he was hospitalised after a vicious attack by a stranger on a Kings Cross street one early Easter morning. That was in 2012, a seemingly disastrous year […]
A void of serious scholarly research on Mary and Her place in the Church has been filled with the Sydney launch of a new book promising to shed learned light on the matter. Mariology at the Beginning of the Third Millennium was launched at the University of Notre Dame in Broadway on 8 September. The […]
The Hills Shire Citizen of the Year for 2017, Chris Lee, is the new team leader for Sydney Archdiocese’s youth ministry rejuvenation – Catholic Youth Sydney. Chris, 23, founder of young men’s health organisation Conviction Group, and Credo Youth Ministry (the youth group at St Patrick’s Cathedral Parramatta) is determined to use his skills in […]
