35 young adults from across Sandhurst have joined hundreds and thousands of pilgrims from dioceses around the World at World Youth Day events in Lisbon, where they are participating in five days of worship, activities, and fellowship. 

There are 354,000 pilgrims from at least 143 countries officially registered for the event, so no doubt Sandhurst pilgrims will return to their parishes with a heightened sense of global solidarity.  Although World Youth Day is gigantic in scale, with masses of people literally bumping into each other on the streets, World Youth Day is anything but impersonal.  Pilgrims are seeking true encounter with Jesus and authentic connection with each other, as Cardinal Manuel Clement, the patriarch of Lisbon, reminded them at the Opening Mass on 1 August:

On Sunday 23 July, St John’s Church Numurkah was packed to the rafters with young and old and everyone in between, as the parish and school celebrated World Day of Grandparents.

St Joseph’s student, Lenny, welcomed everyone to this special Mass, knowing his Nan and Great Nan, who were seated nearby, like always, had his back. Parish Priest, Fr Jophin Joy, considered the unusually large congregation of children at this Sunday Mass and proclaimed in his opening words that it was as if angels were present.

What could the Church look like in the future? As we pray and prepare for the first session on the Synod on Synodality it seems timely to revise on Sr Nathalie Becquart’s visit to Australia in February this year. when she described a Church in which where everyone is heard, everyone plays a part, and as a result, everyone participates in our Church’s Mission.   Read more about Sr Nathalie's thoughts on synodality and the future of our Church in a fascinating story by Christina Gretton.  

Catholics are being urged to “preach all the Gospel, to all the world, all the time” and to consider encounter, discipleship and mission from their Catholic foundations in a new document from the Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry.

The document, Evangelisation, offers a scriptural and theological reflection on the proclamation of the Gospel through the lenses of encounter, discipleship and mission.

With the recent publication of the Working Document for the first session of the Synod on Synodality scheduled for October this year, the Australian Synod committee will provide material to help Australian Catholics continue their efforts to find ways that a synodal Church can be lived out in the Australian context. 

The Working Document, officially known by its Latin title, Instrumentum Laboris, was published by the Secretariat of the Synod on 20 June 2023. It is designed as tool to guide preparation for the the first session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops – commonly referred to as the Synod on Synodality.  The first session will take place this October; the second and final session is scheduled for October 2024.

Sunday 18 June to Saturday 24 June.
During Refugee Week, Refugee Advocacy and Support groups join organisations to create a better understanding of the refugee journey, and a culture of inclusion to enable refugees to thrive and make a valuable contribution to Australia.

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC) has launched a new website called “One Journey, Together” for Catholics to learn about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

To help mark the Solemnity of Pentecost this year, and as an ecumenical expression of our desire for Christian unity, the Cathedral Community Choir welcomed the University of Melbourne’s Trinity College Chapel Choir to sing Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral.

While helping her grandaunt to move into a retirement home, the Chancery’s Sally Holmes was surprised to discover, in a dark room under a film of dust, an ornate Illuminated Address dated 1899.  Featuring gold gilded photographs and names of proud Victorian-era men, it read: -

“Presented by the Borough Council of Eaglehawk
to Councillor M.J. Curtain 
First elected Councillor August 1893
Re-elected August 1896
Elected Mayor 29 August 1898
Retired from the Mayoral Chair 29 August 1899.” 

Sally made a couple of excited phone calls, and the rest is, well — history.  

Sandhurst archivist Dr Donna Bailey is on a mission to preserve parish sacramental registers and make work easier for Parish staff by digitising over 120,000 individual sacramental records as part of the Parish Sacramental Registers Digitisation Project.