About 1,500 Sisters of Mercy, their friends, families and ministry colleagues gathered at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney on Sunday, 18 December 2011 for the foundation Eucharist of the newly established Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG).

A world-first, multi-faith institute for public theology proposed for Canberra has received overwhelming support from major Australian religious leaders, politicians and at least five federal government departments.

In this issue of The Swag just one piece from overseas is offered. It is a thoughtful and thought-provoking article by John Wilkins, editor of The Tablet from 1982 to 2003. The article invites us to consider anew the greatest Church event of the last century – perhaps we should take the time to re-read the documents and recapture the vision and Spirit contained in them.

Rocco Palmo at his blog, Whispers in the Loggia, notes: Home to 3 million Catholics in a country where four-fifths of its 88 million residents belong to the fold, one would have a hard time finding a larger or more influential Asian diocese than that of Manila.

Austria infelix. It is still causing conflict between Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and dissidents. This wekend, the Archbishop of Vienna spoke out about the risk of a schism in the Austrian Catholic Church.

Pallotine Father Benno Bausch who lives at Warburton, Victoria, was moved, after reading Michael Whelan’s article in the Winter Swag, to share this memory.

In July more than 250 priests in Austria issued a direct challenge to church authority by unilaterally announcing a list of reforms that include giving Communion to non-Catholics and supporting the ordination of women and married men.

Bishop Cullinane and Mgr Loftus (Letters, 30 July) have both given independent evidence of the way the Roman Curia has systematically and increasingly eroded and undermined the lawful rights and responsibilities of bishops’ conferences, particularly in the area of liturgical renewal.