“We renew our pledge for the present and the future of a Church that listens, that seeks the truth, that responds compassionately, that desires healing and that acts with justice,” wrote Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB and Catholic Religious Australia president Fr Peter Jones OSA, in the fifth Annual Report to the National Office for Child Safety.  

As we begin this new year, we can be confident that 2023 will bring more challenges as well as more opportunities. 

Prior to their departure from the Dioceses in March 2021, the Poor Clare Sisters gifted the Sandhurst archives with a wealth of material. Diocesan archivist, Dr Donna Bailey used this material to compile a book which features their memoirs, letters and photographs. The book was gifted to each of the Poor Clare Sisters before they departed

Respect: Confronting Violence and Abuse

In 2022,The Catholic Church in Australia marked Social Justice Sunday on 28 August focusing on issue of domestic and family violence. 

Every year since the 1940s the Office for Social Justice, an agency of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, has published a Social Justice Statement in time for Social Justice Sunday.

The Diocese of Sandhurst is a great supporter of Caritas' Project Compassion. Flipping pancakes on Shrove Tuesday to spread the word about Project Compassion has become a tradition in our Diocese with a Public Launch normally taking place in Hargreaves Mall Bendigo. 

Reflections by Australians on Synod’s working document for the Contintental Stage has been published. Although many issues and challenges faceCatholics, there is a strong sense of hope for the Church’s future.

The Bishops of Victoria have written to the Catholic community to provide an election guide designed to help Catholics consider and navigate key issues of significance, particularly those related to the common good.