The Marist Association of Saint Marcellin Champagnat has invited internationally renowned scripture scholar Professor Amy-Jill Levine to participate in a series of speaking engagements across Australia and New Zealand in May 2024. Professor Levine will deliver a public lecture in Sydney on Monday 6 May entitled ‘Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi’ at Doltone House, Sydney from 9am to 2:30pm. She will also deliver the 2024 Marian Lecture, which will be hosted in person and online this year in Sydney on Tuesday 7 May at Southern Cross Catholic College ..read more

  Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, has provided the following reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B, 28 April 2024. To watch the reflection from 28 April, click here ..read more

  On Harmony Day (21 March), over 50 people from across the Diocese of Parramatta gathered for a Harmony Week Table Talk at scenic Catholic Care Mamre House and Farm in Orchard Hills. The evening event was an opportunity to celebrate the multicultural diversity in Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains and to highlight the personal stories and cultural gifts that many refugees contribute to this diversity. The Harmony Week Table Talk was the first in a new series of Peace, Justice, Ecology Table Talks on various topics, offered throughout 2024 by the Diocese of Parramatta’s Mission Enhanc ..read more

  Peter William Ingham, the fourth bishop of Wollongong, has died peacefully in the late evening of 26 April aged 83. “The sad news of the death of Bishop Ingham, while not unexpected, will be felt deeply by many people: his family; the laity, religious and clergy of Wollongong diocese; his brother bishops and his many friends and admirers,” Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President Timothy Costelloe said. “As we entrust him with great confidence to the boundless compassion and mercy of God we remember him as a man of deep faith, rich in human qualities, who embodied so well what ..read more

  In an interview with CBS, Pope Francis calls for an end to the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and around the world. He says there is room for everyone in the Church pointing out that if a parish priest doesn’t seem welcoming, one can look elsewhere: “There is always a place, don’t run away from the Church.” Referring in particular to the wars in Ukraine, in Gaza and others that continue to ravage the world, Pope Francis said “Please, countries at war, all of them… Stop the war. Look to negotiate. Look for peace. A negotiated peace is better than a war without end.” The Pope was speaking during ..read more

Most Reverend Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv DD STL, Bishop of Parramatta Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B and Admission to Diaconal Candidacy of Charles Hyson Readings: Acts 9:26-31; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8 28 April 2024   Channelling the vine of God’s life and love to others Dear friends in Christ, We live in a time of heightened tension, conflict and violence. The war in the Holy Land brings this reality home to us as demonstrations regularly take place in the streets of our big cities. The world is not at peace with itself. But even when we are not living in a war ..read more

  Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter, 28 April 2024 Readings: Acts 9:26-31; Psalm 22; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8   We Christians come in all shapes and sizes. So do bishops, some of whom even set up their own churches. We have all been horrified by the on-air stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in Western Sydney. This was an appalling act of terrorism on our own home shores. I have every sympathy for the bishop and am grateful that he was so prompt in calling for forgiveness for his young assailant. Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-28424 From his hospital b ..read more

  We are called to be charitable with each other, but sadly, we often list our worst instincts get in the way of our charity. We let our worst thoughts and inclinations get the best of us, so that even minor things can end up leading us to be unjustly angry at someone else and wishing them harm. This is true, even if we have the best of intentions, even if we know we should be charitable, as two monks came to find out: Abba Nicetas said of two brothers that they met with the intention of living together. The first thought within himself, ‘If my brother wants something, I w ..read more

  In view of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations (21 April), L’Osservatore Romano asked Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, some questions. Called to be Happy An interview with Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik By Andrea Monda Director of L’Osservatore Romano   What is vocation? Before thinking of any religious or spiritual dimension, I would say this: vocation is essentially the call to be happy, to take one’s own life into one’s hands, to live it to the fullest and not waste it. This is God’s first desire for every man and woman, for e ..read more

  When Mary Ellen Mitchell first heard about Beacons of Light—a plan by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to arrange its 208 parishes into 57 “families of parishes”—she felt confident that Bellarmine Chapel, her own parish of 13 years, would not be affected. The family parish model combines previously independent parishes together under one pastor with the eventual goal of becoming a single canonical parish. She assumed the plan mostly would apply to struggling parishes. Bellarmine Chapel, a Jesuit-run parish in Cincinnati, is a vibrant faith community where approximately 1,000 people a ..read more