The National Council of Priests of Australia have backed the Bishops’ 8 May 2014 statement on Australia’s asylum and refugee policies. They say:
Like our Bishops, many of us have seen the faces and heard the stories of these people and cannot hide our shame at the way some are being treated.
Here is the full text of their 14 May 2014 statement…
Read More »Asylum Policy Extinguishing Hope
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has issued a statement pleading with those in Government and the whole Australian community to have respect for the rights of asylum seekers. They denounce current policies as ‘institutionalised cruelty’, ask for an examination of conscience concerning racism and for an end to the dehumanisation… Read More »Australian Bishops Plea: Respect Asylum Seekers’ Rights
Easter is a good time to consider how we think about our bodies. Do I treat my body simply as a vehicle for my mind, or my soul? Am I at war with my body, trying to recreate it in another form, rather than accepting myself as God created me?… Read More »Body Image at Easter
Just before 3 pm there were lights and sirens and a cavalcade speeding through the streets. Thousands of people had gathered at Manly Beach to see the Duke and Duchesse of Cambridge – and a few Christians were trying to make their way to Good Friday liturgies.
While we commemorated the crucifixion, helicopters and sirens continued around us. Numbers were well down, but perhaps those who lived further than walking distance from the church simply decided to drive in a less congested direction to commemorate Good Friday in peace elsewhere? Nonetheless, it put me in mind of St Ignatius of Loyola’s Mediation on the Two Standards.Read More »The Two Standards at Manly Beach?
The Catholic Bishops of the Philippines have chosen Easter – the time at which Jesus’ body was resurrected – to encourage appropriate stewardship of health. They draw on the cardinal virtues to call for moderation, appropriate exercise and rest, the rejection of harmful substances and activities and unhealthy perspectives on… Read More »Philippine Bishops Easter Pastoral on Health
Trafficking in persons attacks our belief in a dignity that arises from the fact of being human and is shared in common by all people. Do we experience the trafficking of others as an assault on all of us? Are our consciences affronted or do we remain indifferent? Here are… Read More »Trafficking & Our Common Humanity