Varcha Sidwell, producer of the ABC reality TV series, The Abbey which followed the experience of five women who spent a number of weeks at the Benedictine Sisters Abbey at Jamberoo NSW, is currently working on another TV presentation.

Retired priest of the Wilcannia-Forbes Diocese, Fr Alistair McLean of Deniliquin, has taken on the role of acting PP of Kununurra in the Diocese of Broome for three months.

Dr Val Noone has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to education as an academic and historical researcher, and to the community. He was a contributor to The Catholic Peacemaker from 1983 through to the early 1990s – a publication investigating nuclear war.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols at his ceremony of installation as Archbishop of Westminster said, “Let us be a society in which we genuinely listen to each other, in which sincere disagreement is not made out to be insult or harassment, in which reasoned principles are not constructed as predjudice and in which we are prepared to attribute to each other the best and not the worst of motives.”

The death of Blessed Mary MacKillop’s on 8 August 1909 was a noteworthy event for the Australian Church at the time. The centenary of her death, 8 August 2009, will be a special occasion of gratitude for Australian priests when we reflect on the great number of priestly vocations nurtured by the Sisters of St Joseph.