An innovative programme that teaches preaching skills and educates laypeople how to better convey the Gospel in everyday life has been launched in Australia. The Xavier School of Preaching model is backed by the Australian Catholic University and has garnered significant interest from Catholic dioceses around Australia. The programme offers practical face-to-face and online training Read more
People in the Vatican often use biblical allusions to express their expectations. Such was the case of a top Roman Curia official on March 19, just a few hours after Pope Francis had published his new apostolic constitution to fully reorganize the Church’s central bureaucracy. He was more than willing to give his views on Read more
Two Catholic dioceses in the Indian state of Kerala have made an appeal to the Supreme Court (pictured) over the state’s High Court judgment that held Bishops have no authority over diocesan properties unless linked with spiritual matters. The Catholic Diocese of Thamarassery and Eparchy of Bathery filed the Special Leave Petitions challenging the remarks Read more
The fact our children and youth are suffering increased abuse is sad and distressing, says Children’s Commissioner, Judge Frances Eivers. Eivers’ comment comes as abuse of New Zealand children in state care keeps increasing. Oranga Tamariki’s new Safety of Children in Care Report says almost 500 were harmed in 2020-21 alone. The reported statistics are Read more
A church that listens to and engages with the universe, with te ao Māori, with women, young people and LGBTQI is the dream of a group of laypeople who are planning an online synod in August. The group, which is part of Be the Change Aotearoa New Zealand, is inspired by the concept of Te Read more
The Bishops’ Conference of the Nordic Countries recently wrote an open letter to the German Bishops’ Conference to voice concerns over the Synodal Path now underway in Germany. They ‘“let rip” at the Germans. The Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland Church leaders’ letter is an excellent example of one group of bishops seeing the Read more
People’s real battles should be spent on fighting poverty, hunger, disease, thirst and slavery, Pope Francis says. They should be spending money on those battles, not on fighting each other, nation against nation. Yet vast sums are spent on armaments for waging war. This is “a scandal” that just drags civilisation backward, Francis told a Read more
Pope Francis has overhauled the Vatican’s central bureaucracy, dramatically expanding the number of top leadership roles lay Catholics, both men and women, can hold. On Saturday, Francis issued a new constitution for the Vatican’s central administration, known as the Curia, stating that any baptised lay Catholics can head Vatican offices. For centuries, male clerics have Read more
Archbishop of Wellington Cardinal John Dew says Pope Francis is deeply concerned about the invasion being justified as a holy war. In recent weeks, the Russia’s Patriarch Kirill has used religious language to justify his support for Russia’s military aggression. Even Kirill’s own supporters are looking elsewhere, says Dew. “The invasion has created new ecumenical Read more
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has released a report entitled ‘First Assembly Proposals from Small Groups and Individual Members’ described as the ‘fruits’ of the first of two Plenary Council assemblies. These published ‘proposals’ of the First Assembly of the Plenary Council of the Australian Catholic Church are neither ‘assembly proposals’ nor ‘fruits’ of the assembly. Read more