2011 has produced the first graduates of the Sydney Neocatechumenal Way Seminary. After Simon Apablaza and Luca Infantino were ordained priests in May, Allan Casquejo, Norvin Dias, Pasquale Pizzoferro and Pierluigi Passoni were ordained deacons on November 24 at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney.

In response to the promise of the Australian bishops to bring the issue of Bishop Morris’ termination of appointment as Bishop of Toowoomba to their visit to Rome last month, they produced a statement noting multiple meetings with Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

With the report recently of a Sri Lankan man in his mid-20s found dead in Villawood Detention Centre after getting refugee status, Bishop Saunders recent comments have even greater importance. He has branded Curtin detention centre a “chamber of horrors” where detainees were ever more depressed, and felt hopeless.

Since 2009, the rate of civil marriages has been climbing, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics. Today a third of marriages take place in church. The Australian Bridal Industry Academy chairman John O’Meara says this shift is in direct correlation to who’s paying for the big day.”If you look back more than 25 years ago, 18 percent of [...]

Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat Ministries, begun in the USA by Dr Theresa Burke, offers healing and hope to those traumatised by an abortion experience. This ministry is offered through a two day retreat which uses scripture, the sacraments and ways to assist people connect to their lost children. It is a process to assist people to grieve their lost babies. It can bring great [...]

Pope Benedict opened Domus Australia in Rome on October 19. He recalled his visit to Australia in 2008 with joy and went on to honour Mary MacKillop as an example of faith saying: “Almost exactly one year ago, the first Australian saint, Mary MacKillop, was raised to the altars, and I join all of you in giving thanks to God for the many [...]

Jim Nesbit will direct the retreat to be held at Newman College, Melbourne University on January 8-14, 2012. Jim’s involvement with the Charismatic Renewal began in 1967, while a student at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. Details and registration for the retreat can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/4yjfxfp

The Good Oil (August 2011), the Good Samartitan Sisters e-magazine reported that twenty Good Samaritan Sisters travelled to Lawson in New South Wales in July to celebrate the eightieth birthday of their long-time friend and ministry colleague, Father Arthur Hackett.

Richard Tanter, peace policy analyst, offers a set of proposals to help discuss ways of responding to the war in Afghanistan in an article in Disarming Times, Pax Christi Australia’s journal, August 2011.

A new resource produced by the Catholic Enquiry Centre, Hearing God’s Call: An Audio Introduction to the Catholic Faith, is an audio catechetical program specifically designed to meet the needs of adults in prison.