Pancakes were flipped with great enthusiasm in parishes and schools across the Diocese last week to mark the start of Project Compassion. Even Bishop Shane got in on the act serving up pancakes to Chancery staff. 

Plenary Council Members will spend the month of March praying and reflecting on proposals emerging from the Council's first assembly in a newly released  document "Towards the Second Assembly: A Working Document for Members".  The document offers a focus for Plenary members and is based on the  “fruits” of the first assembly’s discernment, discussion and contributions, published in December 2021.

Stella Maris Melbourne has stepped in to vaccinate seafarers docking at Melbourne Port. Many seafarers who have worked tirelessly in difficult conditions to deliver supplies throughout the pandemic have remained unvaccinated, while over 94% of Australians over 16 are fully vaccinated. Stella Maris considers seafarers to be key workers and overcame many logistical barriers to ease the worries of some seafarers.

Les Gray, a longtime parishioner of St Kilian's, Bendigo and member of the Cathedral choir, teacher and World War II veteran died on 17 January 2022 in his one hundredth year.

The Grand Organ Master Series is a series of concerts for each month from April to December. The recitals feature internationally acclaimed musicians, Thomas Heywood, Christopher Cook and Paul Taylor, Sacred Heart Cathedral’s Organist & Director of Music.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has prepared a statement on the unfolding violence in Ukraine, quoting Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge and Bishop Mykola Bychok, the leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Australia.

The company behind Australia’s offshore processing regime on Nauru made a staggering $101 million profit last financial year – more than $500,000 for each of the fewer than 200 people held on the island at the time, according to its most recent accounts filed with the corporate regulator.

By Mary Pianta 

Pope Francis has sent warm greetings and good wishes to all participants and organisers at the Paralympic Winter Games. “Sport, with its universal language, can build bridges of friendship and solidarity between individuals and peoples of all cultures and religions,” he said.

At the request of dioceses, the period for local submissions for the global Synod of Bishops process has been extended by two weeks, with responses now being received until March 13.

Hundreds of submissions from across the country have been made through the online Synod of Bishops portal, along with responses that have also been sent directly to dioceses.

Majellan Media is bringing back a service first introduced by Redemptorist priests in the early 1990s to help families manage the many stresses of modern family life. The new service Faith onLine will commence again in March, after a 20-year hiatus. Instead of phoning, people are invited to visit the Majellan website and listen to a three-minute recorded message of their choice.