After 16 years of dedicated service as Adult Faith Education Coordinator in the Diocese of Sandhurst, Lyn Breen has announced that she will be retiring early in the new year.

The end of the 2021 school year marks the end of an era at Mooroopna. Teacher, Sheila Griffin, has retired after 50 years of service at St Mary's Primary School.

Sheila’s love of children and her passion to teach has inspired the minds of countless young people, and her legacy as a contemporary leading teacher who was always looking for new methods to assist children with learning, will live on for many years.

Renters in regional Australia are facing forced evictions as inflation pressures push up the cost of housing and COVID 19 forces mass exodus from bigger cities. Booming rental prices in regional areas have led to an increase in tenants being evicted without cause according to the Chair of Catholic Social Services Australia, Francis Sullivan.

Across the world, the consultation phase of  Synod 2021-2023: For a Synodal Church is well underway.  In Australia, the National Centre for Pastoral Research (NCPR) has been charged with collating responses to the Synod questions and reports that there have already been over 83 completed responses through their online submission portal and a further 89 submissions have commenced.

Reports and proposals of small groups at the First Assembly of the Plenary Council have been documented and collated into one document. The report published on 9 December, includes reports and proposals for consideration relating to the 16 questions put to members at the First Assembly.

By Bishop Donald Sproxton,  Bishop Delegate for Disability Issues 

Friday 3 December marks the International Day of People with Disability and provides an opportunity to celebrate the lives, contributions and achievements of the 4.4 million Australians living with disability.  

Australia’s Catholic bishops, on the recommendation of their key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisers, have endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart. 

Pope Francis has appointed Sydney priest Fr Danny Meagher, the former rector of Good Shepherd Seminary, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney.

In December 2021, Bishop Shane committed the Diocese to the international ‘Laudato Si’ Action Platform’.  This followed the commitment of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference to the Laudato Si’ Action Platform in their recent Social Justice Statement, ‘Care for the Earth, Care for the Poor’.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has welcomed the introduction of the Religious Discrimination Bill, which will provide basic human rights protections for Australians of all faiths and none to express their beliefs.