Australian Cardinal Edward Cassidy passed away earlier today at the age of 96. After ordination to the priesthood and two years in parish ministry in regional New South Wales, Cardinal Cassidy went to Rome for additional training, leading to a 30-year career as a Vatican diplomat across four continents. In 1989, he was appointed President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity – making him one of Australia’s most high-ranking Vatican officials. He was named a cardinal two years later.

Oceania Webinar
11.00 a.m. Tuesday 20 April 2021

How can we revitalise, renew and grow mutual relationships between our parish and school communities? Together let us explore how a worshipping community can reach out to our school communities and how we can enable school communities to recognise that they are an important part of the parish —and that we are all part of the one community in Christ.

By Diane Grant.

Mother, grandmother and great grandmother, Eileen McDonald recently celebrated her 90th birthday recently.  A Nagambie parishioner for most of her life, she's seen a lot of change in the region over the years.

Catholic health and aged-care operators are calling on government to create clear lines of communication to avoid the confusion that beset the sectors at the height of the COVID pandemic, a review into operations has found.  Multiple data requests, junior staff in the bureaucracy as contacts and a surge workforce that was untrained and unprepared to work with COVID-affected patients were also some of the challenges facing the operators, according to the report, Lessons Learnt from COVID-19.

The Gianna Centre is a caring family support, education, and referral service for men, women and young people dealing predominantly with pregnancy, parenting, relationships, fertility, loss and grief, and related issues. The Gianna Centre provides a welcoming, friendly and confidential environment, writes Catherine Holmes.

On 17 March The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Australian Catholic University’s public policy think tank, the PM Glynn Institute, hosted an online roundtable to consider the Catholic policy response to COVID-19. Leaders from a range of ministries and fields, from within and beyond the Church attended the event. A discussion paper will be published after Easter summarising the key topics and themes addressed during the roundtable.

On Holy Tuesday, Bishop Shane Mackinlay gathered with Bishop Tomlinson emeritus and priests and people of the Sandhurst Diocese to celebrate the Mass of the Holy Oils or ‘Chrism Mass’;a celebration of our entire Sandhurst Christian community and a manifestation of our unity through baptism. Bishop Shane blessed the oil of catechumens, the oil of the sick, and consecrated the chrism, since these oils are used in every parish of our diocese, the Bishop is linked to the sacramental ministry of the priests in every parish.

If you would like to learn more about different aspects of Holy Week, including its history and significance, or would like to delve more deeply into prayer and reflection, you will find something to suit you in the very long list of resources provided by Lyn Breen.

Project Compassion Week 1 and Week 5 stories have featured Jamila and Halima, refugee women who fled from violence in Myanmar to the protection of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. You may have seen media coverage of the extensive fires which swept through an area of the camp on 22 March.

By Kerry Stone

Last Friday, St Mary’s Parish Echuca provided an amazing example of a community ‘BEING MORE’ with their all-day Caritas Ks event in the centre of town. The Parish community, as well as St Mary’s Primary School and St Joseph’s Secondary College, all put their compassion into action by walking in solidarity with those who have to travel many kilometres each day for water, firewood, to get to school/market/clinic. Fr Pompeyo, shown here, led by example!