Under the rules, which apply to the 147 systemic schools within the city's Catholic archdiocese, parents will also be forbidden from drinking alcohol at end-of-year celebrations.

Released earlier this year, the policy applies to year 12 graduation dinners, formals and other events, and end-of-school celebrations for year 6 students.

"As a school system we have a duty of care to our staff and students at any school event," a Sydney Catholic Schools spokesperson told news.com.au.

"The prohibition of alcohol at school events is consistent with our code of conduct. The focus of these events is on celebration of our students, their school lives, friendships and achievements. We do not believe that alcohol is a necessary part of any school event or celebration."

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"I can see the spirit at work in the people in their response at a parish level. They are very keen to lift up the saints, to celebrate the Church," said Bishop Richard Umbers from the Archdiocese of Sydney.

Umbers says the growth may be due to a number of things, including social media and improving logistics, like making buses available to parishioners.

However, more than a spike in attendance, he also has a heightened desire among Australians to profess their faith publicly, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Released on 27 February, the first national Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) report also notes some say their employers could do more to uphold all their employees' dignity.

The WGEA investigated about 5,000 companies, each employing more than 100 people, to determine the gender pay gap data.

Catholic workplaces consistently reported a lower gender pay gap than the 19 percent national median gender pay gap.

The WGEA defined the gender pay gap as the overall difference between women's and men's average weekly full-time equivalent earnings in an organisation.

Catholic employers

Among those the WGEA investigated were the Australian Catholic University (ACU), Caritas Australia and the Archdiocese of Sydney.

The ACU reported a median pay gap of 14.5 per cent, Caritas 13.1 per cent and the Archdiocese chancery 12.2 per cent.

Many Catholic schools, clubs, health and welfare agencies showed smaller or negligible gaps.

In an employer statement Caritas, with a workforce comprising almost 70 per cent of women in the reporting period, said factors like parental leave options contribute to its pay gap.

"While reducing the gender pay gap can be complex, it is a critical objective for Caritas Australia" a spokesperson for the Catholic charity says.

"We wholeheartedly commit to further foster an inclusive workplace where everyone has equal opportunity to thrive."

ACU recently appointed its first Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous) Kelly Humphrey.

A spokesperson says ACU's action plan to remove barriers to equity and diversity was recently awarded the Athena Swan Bronze Award. It is a national accreditation for gender equality in education.

"Analysis of salaries on a level-by-level basis shows pay is close to parity for women and men at most levels for academic and professional staff" the ACU spokesperson says.

"However, for some senior staff positions which are contract-based, a higher gender pay gap is evident."

The Archdiocese of Sydney' says it has worked hard in recent years to improve the representation of women at senior levels.

This effort has seen the first female member being included in the Archdiocese's curia - the governance body which assists the Archbishop.

It has also improved parental leave access, workplace flexibility and other entitlements for all employees, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese says.

"There has been a conscious shift towards improving our support and recognition of women, which is necessary."

The spokesperson says while there is still work to do, the archbishop is paying close interest.

He is particularly interested in finding out what is being done and what is still to be done to improve the lives of women and family lives of all who work at the archdiocese.

Abut half the employees in senior leadership roles at the chancery are women.

One says that while her situation in Australia is different from that of many women in other countries, she has always felt respected and heard, given opportunities and had her contribution valued at the chancery.

"Working for the equality of women aligns with Catholic social teaching in which the dignity of every person is upheld" she says.

Source

• Catholic Weekly

The mates met with the students of Lewisham Public school as student catechists to share their Catholic faith and teach the youngsters about the miracles of Pentecost and Jesus' ascension into heaven.

Mixing stories, song and a craft activity, the faith-filled foursome engaged classes in the story of Pentecost, which they explained is also celebrated as the birthday of the Church.

The student catechist programme has involved up to 300 senior students a year across the Archdiocese of Sydney, plus more in the Dioceses of Broken Bay, Parramatta, Wollongong and now beginning in the Diocese of Armidale.

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Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, has reportedly had complaints from churchgoers over priests who plan to return to delivering sermons without getting vaccinated.

Sydney's vicar-general, Father Gerry Gleeson, says a "handful" of priests have refused to get the vaccination, despite Fisher's constant "exhortations" to do so.

Gleeson says while most priests are already vaccinated, how to respond to parishioners of those who aren't vaccinated is of concern.

He says while the church respects the individual freedoms around vaccination it is faced with a dilemma.

As the church is not a corporation, it does not have the power to fire or move priests who want to continue hosting Mass while they refuse to get vaccinated.

In Australia, there have been no religious organisations expressly tell their followers to avoid COVID-19 vaccination.

On the contrary, many church leaders have reportedly been instrumental in "combating vaccine misinformation in their communities".

Places of worship opened again for the first time yesterday, but only to the fully vaccinated.

Church-goers must obey the one person per 4sqm limits on capacity. In addition, places of worship are permitted to have up to 10 fully vaccinated singers performing at services.

When the state reaches 80 per cent double-dose vaccination, places of worship will be reopened to those who are not fully vaccinated. The one person per 4sqm rule will continue to apply, however.

Source

• Sky News
• Image: Sky News Australia

Pell confirmed there was still a "significant" amount of money to be paid, despite having walked free more than a year ago.

Cardinal Pell's legal team initially applied for $800,000 in costs. Most of the 26 original charges fell away in the early phase of the battle.

On Friday, the Archdiocese of Sydney said Cardinal Pell had received $390,000 in costs from the state of Victoria after the hung jury of the first County Court trial.

The defence attracted some of the brightest legal minds in the country, as well as a small army of help from Melbourne instructing solicitors.

An archdiocese spokesman said Cardinal Pell, 80, had not had any of his legal defence covered by the church. However, Pell was afforded the same help as other retired clergy.

"The church does not fund criminal defences as it has consistently maintained. Cardinal Pell is retired. Any matters related to his legal affairs are private," he said.

It is almost four years since Cardinal Pell was initially charged with the 26 offences. Most of which were withdrawn or dropped or didn't pass the committal phase.

Pell was eventually convicted of sexually molesting two 13-year-old choir boys in the sacristy of Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996 and 1997.

After a first jury was deadlocked, he was then sentenced to six years in prison.

The High Court found reasonable doubt in the testimony of his sole living accuser. His story was deemed improbable because of the timing, nature and location of the alleged offending.

Lawyer Peter Kelso, who specialises in abuse cases, said the large sum spent defending Cardinal Pell showed that celebrities and the wealthy had a better opportunity to fight allegations.

"When you have the money, you can afford a full-on defence," he said. "That is, you can afford not only the lawyers but their team behind them. The ordinary punter accused of anything can't afford that."

Pell has written about the experience he had during thirteen months of detention in his book "Prison Journal". "It helped me to live my sufferings by associating them with those of Jesus. I have always believed that God was behind everything that was happening to me."

Sources

The Australian