And at the end of the closing Mass, a delegation took to the podium to present their first message. A painting by Paul Newton that shows a piece of history, the first Catholic community in Sydney praying before the Eucharist at the beginning of the 19th century, when the English authorities hindered the celebration of the sacraments to the few Catholic priests present on the island.

"Super, super exciting. It's been an amazing week here in Quito to see what the congress is about. And I just cannot wait until Sydney has it in 2028. It'll be just fantastic.," said an Australian pilgrim.

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The 30-second clip of The Men's Rosary Crusade on the forecourt of St Mary's Cathedral in the heart of Sydney's CBD is now taking social media by storm … literally.

Filmed on a phone in atrocious weather conditions, around 100 men prayed the Rosary on their knees for around an hour while torrential rain bucketed down around them.

Daniel Ang, the Director of the Archdiocese of Sydney's Centre for Evangelisation, said the huge response proves "God really is present in our lives and in our city".

"Some might baulk at such a scene, but the response it has elicited speaks to the power of Christian witness," he said. Continue reading

The video relayed footage of gruesome deaths of Islamic State victims who have been beheaded, shot and even burned alive in the Middle East.

"Hacked by Islamic State", the text on the black homepage read on the Our Lady of Mercy Syriac Catholic Church website, based in Concord in Sydney's west.

"We don't negotiate except with cannon, we don't have dialogues except with guns," the text said.

The hack also stated that the group would not stop fighting until it prays "in Rome by Allah's will in a conquest".

The church community affected is mostly from Iraq and Syria.

Parish priest Fr Rahal Dergham told Daily Mail Australia they first felt shock followed by "a big wave of anger and hurt" when they realised their website had been hacked.

"We have our families still under the threat of ISIS and the majority has been hurt, displaced or raped," Fr Dergham said.

"I don't think at this stage we have any fear. We've lost everything.

"They [the church members] feel a big loss has happened.

"We're always hoping that at one stage ISIS would be defeated and we would be back to our towns and churches and monasteries and villages and properties, and business as usual.

"[But] people have lost hope."

He said the church community had been seeking a peaceful way of life.

"Hopefully Australia will always be a safe country and safe home for all of us."

The church's website was restored later on Thursday.

In a Facebook post on Thursday afternoon, the church said they believed the attack had been fuelled by the church's appeal to help and shelter displaced Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

The incident has been reported to Australian authorities.

Last week, four Kosovo citizens were arrested in Italy on suspicion of condoning terrorism after online threats were made against Pope Francis.

The threats included claims that Francis will be the last Pope.

Sources

• Daily Mail Australia
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Daily Mail Australia

Archbishop Fisher's comments came after an address by Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia on September 24.

Archbishop Fisher, who attended the address said: "Cardinal Sarah spoke on the family as a light in a dark world."

"Just as in the days of St Augustine and Athanasius, we rely on the African bishops to help us steer an orthodox course in confused times," the Sydney prelate said.

"[Cardinal Sarah] said we should not put the magisterium, the teachings of Christ and his Church, in a 'pretty box' as if they were irrelevant to pastoral practice and daily life.

"He said God's law for the human person and relationships does not 'confine' us: it opens up exciting new possibilities and ultimate happiness.

"This is not moralising, not finger-pointing, not being judgemental towards others, but authentic family life shines as light in today's darkness."

Cardinal Sarah cited Pope Benedict as saying the light of family life was being "snuffed out" due to modern culture.

"Even members of the Church can be tempted to soften Christ's teaching on marriage and the family," Cardinal Sarah said.

Separating what comes from the magisterium with pastoral practice, changing it in "accord with certain circumstances, is a form of heresy", the cardinal emphasised.

"Welcome the mercy of God," he told the audience. "This mercy has a name: Jesus Christ."

"This Spirit, the Holy Spirit charity — love until the end — can overcome all that seems humanly impossible within the family."

"All those wounded by personal sin and the sin of others — the divorced, the separated, those who have cohabitated, who get closed in on themselves and those in same-sex unions — can and must find in the Church a place for regeneration without any finger pointed at them," he stressed.

Sources

• Sydney archdiocese
• National Catholic Register
• Image: Allentown diocese

Fr Jim Carty led a campaign by the Sydney Alliance to get the concession for newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers living in the community.

For almost six months, members of the Sydney Alliance and other people collected hundreds of thousands of used tickets stubs, as well as receipts for travel on smartcards.

These were then sent to the NSW Premier and Transport Minister as part of the campaign, which also saw thousands of emails sent in support of asylum seekers being granted the cards.

New South Wales Premier Mike Baird announced the travel concession move last week.

The equivalent of a gold pension concession card, it means eligible asylum seekers will be able to travel across Sydney's transport network at a capped price of A$2.50 per day.

Some 7000 asylum seekers living in Sydney will be helped by the concession from January 1.

Unable to work and receiving less only A$412 a fortnight in benefit income, most asylum seekers in Sydney are living below the poverty line.

By the time they have paid for food and rent for frequently overcrowded accommodation, there is nothing left over for public transport in order to access the assistance they need.

Fr Carty, who is Coordinator of the Marist Asylum Seeker and Refugee Services, applauded Premier Baird's decision to grant the concession.

"NGO services offering asylum seekers assistance, particularly with health and medical care, trauma rehabilitation, language classes and other vital services, are spread out across the city," he said.

"But the cost of getting to each of these services and receiving the help they need made accessing these services extremely difficult and simply added to the stress of what are already traumatised people."

"It is also important for asylum seekers, especially those with families, to be able to access food banks such as Oz Harvest," Fr Carty said.

The priest has worked with refugees and asylum seekers for more than 35 years.

Sources

• Sydney Catholic
• Image: Marist Fathers

Archbishop Anthony Fisher said this last week in an interview with Vatican Radio.

This followed his appointment by Pope Francis as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The archbishop said a lot of people had asked him about what he thinks are the biggest issues at last year's synod and the upcoming synod in October.

"It seems to be that we very easily get distracted by the controversies, the fashion issues that the newspapers and the other media want us to get excited about," Archbishop Fisher said.

He noted that "no doubt they matter very much to individuals who are perhaps in the thick of them, and suffering from them".

"But there are more fundamental things that I think these two synods raise for us, and a very big one I think is how to love," he added.

Archbishop Fisher said modernity speaks a lot about love, but it tends to romanticise it and sentimentalise it.

" . . . I think people in the modern world are not actually very good at it."

He added that deep down, people are aware of this.

"You look at the collapse of the married vocation, in many countries around the world, where as many as half the people are not even trying marriage anymore, and maybe half of those who try marriage, their marriages are failing, this is a crisis of what it means to love, and how to love, and how we support people loving well.

"And I think those are the sorts of issues we have to grapple with, much more than the controversies the headline writers would like the synods to be about."

Archbishop Fisher said the family synods would be "very much pastoral synods".

"But we know the issues they consider also have their doctrinal implications," he said.

Sources

• Vatican Radio
• Image: Catholic Leader

The 72-year-old man had climbed more than 110 stairs to be at evening bell-ringing practice.

But he had a heart attack and collapsed.

After CPR from fellow bell-ringers, he was revived by paramedics.

Emergency workers then had to devise a way to lower him about 60 metres to the ground.

They loaded the man on to a rescue stretcher, then opened the central tower's trapdoor, which had not been opened in about 30 years, and paramedics abseiled from the roof with the man.

The man was in a stable condition in St James's Hospital the following day.

Continue reading

"We don't blame the Pope for the IRA, and we don't blame the Catholics living next door for the folly of some people, the folly and madness of some people who may claim a Christian motivation. And I think we need to be similarly carefully and cautious in these other areas," he told ABC's Chris Uhlmann.

Abbott admitted that while terrorists claim to act in the name of God and religion, no serious religious leader is defending this.

He told Uhlmann that his friend, prime minister Najib of Malaysia, a devout Muslim, says the ISIL movement is against God, against Islam and against our common humanity.

Confirming Monis was well know to state and federal police and the domestic spy agency, an unsatisfied prime minister is looking for answers.

"The system did not adequately deal with this individual, there is no doubt about that," he said.

Pope Francis agrees

Returning recently from Turkey, Pope Francis told reporters on the plane that it is wrong for anyone to react to terrorism by being "enraged" against Islam.

Equating Islam with violence is wrong, said the Holy Father.

"You just can't say that (equate Islam with violence), just as you can't say that all Christians are fundamentalists. We have our share of them (fundamentalists). All religions have these little groups," he said.

"They (Muslims) say: 'No, we are not this, the Koran is a book of peace, it is a prophetic book of peace'."

"I told the president (Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan) that it would be beautiful if all Islamic leaders, whether they are political, religious or academic leaders, would speak out clearly and condemn this because this would help the majority of Muslim people," the Holy Father said.

Sources

• ABC
• Sjna
• Image: Yahoo News

At his installation Mass last week, Archbishop Anthony Fisher vowed to improve the Church's record on safeguarding children.

He said the Church would emerge from a period of intense public scrutiny about clerical child abuse "humbler, more compassionate and spiritually regenerated".

Archbishop Fisher apologised for sexual abuse committed by clergy, spoke of survivors'
"harrowing experiences" and the "shameful deeds of some clergy".

He also mentioned "serious failures of some leaders to respond".

The Catholic Church in Australia has been grilled at a Royal Commission on abuse, as well as at various state level inquiries.

Continue reading

In an opinion piece on abc.net, Archbishop-elect Anthony Fisher wrote that "modernity struggles with any kind of love that goes beyond feelings".

"People today are less and less willing to commit, for the long haul, to another person or a small community of persons, come what may, even when the loving is hard," he added.

It is this "fundamental problem" that faces the family, rather than the "hot button" issues in the media during the synod on the family, the archbishop stated.

Factors contributing to the "shrinkage and fragmentation" of the modern family include urbanisation, industrialisation and a view of the institution as being founded solely on the affections of the couple for each other.

Archbishop-elect Fisher wrote that there are some positives in the modern outlook, such as greater respect for freedom and the equality of the sexes.

But when "concepts of love and sexuality are unmoored from religious values and mores . . . major stress points become evident".

These include: "disconnection of domestic relations from marriage; disconnection of sexuality from love and procreation; and the relegation of the family to the private sphere".

Archbishop-elect Fisher stated that the results are plain to see.

"In our grandparents' day, nearly everyone was married; now fewer than half are.

"Of those who ever give marriage a try, it's generally only after a long period of experimentation and cohabitation, even though this radically reduces marital sticking power," he wrote.

"Many adults think children are an optional extra for their marriage.

"Many children grow up without the experience of a Mum and Dad committed to each other and to them over the long haul. "

Archbishop-elect Fisher wrote that the memory of a genuine marriage culture remains, but sometimes this manifests itself in the phenomenon of serial monogamy.

Sources

• ABC
• Image: Catholicism Pure and Simple

In his first news conference last week, Archbishop-elect Anthony Fisher, OP, said he was determined to do everything he could to make sure the abuse didn't happen again.

To the survivors of abuse and to the Church's youth, Archbishop Fisher said: "To both of them I say, no excuses, no cover-ups. I am ashamed and I'm sorry for where we've failed you in the past."

He said victims have to be put first.

"It's been harrowing to listen to the stories of the survivors of abuse as I have done here as Bishop of Parramatta," he said.

"The Catholic Church in Australia is going through a period of public scrutiny and self-examination," he said.

"I hope it will emerge from this purified, humbler, more compassionate and spiritually regenerated."

But victims' advocates in Australia believe the new archbishop will be little different in this area from his predecessor, the combative Cardinal George Pell.

Victims' advocates cited "callous" comments Fisher made at World Youth Day in 2008, when he said the parents of two abuse victims, one of whom who had subsequently committed suicide, were "dwelling angrily on old wounds".

The Vice-Chancellor of the Australian Catholic University, Professor Greg Craven, said Fisher was referring to journalists in that remark.

But Nicky Davis of SNAP said: "Many survivors believe the only place where we will be first under Bishop Fisher is in media statements, mentioned dismissively with an insincere apology, and then ignored."

A former lawyer, Archbishop-elect Fisher was ordained as a Dominican priest in 1991.

He was appointed auxiliary bishop in Sydney in 2003 and has been Bishop of Parramatta since 2010.

He also founded the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne and was co-ordinator of WYD2008.

Archbishop-elect Fisher, who was appointed to his new role last week by Pope Francis, said he wants to build on the strong foundation left by Cardinal Pell.

The new archbishop said the Church has a role in helping a nation of migrants live together.

One day after being named archbishop, he said he would try to meet Muslim leaders in Sydney after the anti-terror raids.

He said faith leaders had to play a role in ensuring calm and harmony.

Sources

• The Guardian
• Sydney Morning Herald
• ABC
• SBS
• Image: SBS

The reasons cited by Catholic Weekly editor Peter Rosengren are Ms McAleese's views on homosexuality and the ordination of women.

Ms McAleese is the guest of Catholic think-tank, Catalyst For Renewal, and will give the Rosemary Goldie lecture at the Sydney Town Hall on September 7.

The organisation's aim is to "prompt open exchanges among the community of believers".

But Mr Rosengren told Sydney's Irish Echo newspaper that "No matter how admirable a person she is it places me in some difficulty as editor of the Catholic Weekly."

He said that neither he nor the Church "see homosexuality as a sin", but added that male and female gender have meaning in God's creation.

"Having previously employed an openly same-sex attracted columnist on an official Catholic newspaper I feel quite entitled to make these observations," he added.

Up to October last year, Mr Rosegren was the editor of Perth's archdiocese's newspaper The Record, which has since closed down.

On the subject of women priests, Mr Rosengren said "I think it's quite clear that men got the consolation prize with the priesthood - only a woman could be the mother of God.

"As a married man in the . . . Catholic Church, I do not have the right to be ordained either, but I don't campaign on it as a matter of equality."

Catalyst For Renewal president Kevin Grant said he was "disappointed" the advert was refused.

Mr Rosengren said he "quite admired" Ms McAleese's reported views on abortion and divorce "both of which I understand she opposes".

Sydney archdiocese had recently rebuked Ms McAleese for criticising Cardinal George Pell for his appointment of Sydney archdiocese business manager Danny Casey to his Rome office.

Ms McAleese said the position had not been openly advertised and it looked like "the gravitational pull of the old boys' club".

Former Sydney auxiliary Bishop Geoffrey Robinson will introduce Ms McAleese at the lecture, which is part of Catalyst for Renewal's twentieth anniversary programme.

Earlier this year, Ms McAleese said having a synod on the family, at which only the opinions of celibate males would be canvassed, is "bonkers".

Sources

• Irish Times
• Belfast Telegraph
• Perth Catholic
• Sydney Morning Herald
• Image: Irish Independent

Pell's latest promotion, to head an important new office in Rome with authority over all financial matters within the Vatican, is proof of the powerful friends he has made. Pell's appointment as Cardinal Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy was approved by Pope Francis — the third pontiff to have demonstrated extraordinary confidence in Pell's abilities since he was made Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne at the comparatively young age of 46 years in 1987.

As for enemies, it is not hard to compile a list of those who will be glad to see Pell go.

It would include most liberal Catholics, many priests who have served under him (one of whom once described him as 'a memory of all those silly stereotypes of authority that used to haunt us as children'), and many of his fellow bishops, who saw him as too eager to please Rome and too prone to do his own thing without acting in concert with them. Continue reading.

Chris McGillion is a former religious affairs editor for the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a senior lecturer in journalism at Charles Sturt University and co-author of the forthcoming book Reckoning: The Catholic Church and Child Sexual Abuse.

Source: Eureka Street

Image: The Australian

Australian Federal Attorney General Nicola Roxon said that a federal commission investigating sexual abuse would take up the question of whether priests should be required to disclose information from sacramental confessions.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard also said that the commission should discuss the matter. But Senator Nick Xenophon, a persistent critic of the Catholic Church, was more candid, saying that the government's recognition of the confessional seal is "a medieval law that needs to change."

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney has stated that the Church will never allow priests to disclose what they heard in the confessional. But the cardinal said that priests who suspect someone is involved in abuse should refuse to hear that person's confession.

One Sydney priest who works with street children disclosed that he never hears confessions because he would want to disclose any report of sexual abuse to police.

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, a retired auxiliary of the Sydney archdiocese, added to the public furor when he criticized Cardinal Pell's stand, and said that he would break the confessional seal for the "greater good" of reporting an abuser.

Another prominent Catholic dissident, Father Bob Maguire, said that he too would inform police about a penitent who confessed to sexual abuse.

Bishop Robinson, who stepped down in 2004, at the age of 66, has been an outspoken critic of Church teachings. The Australian bishops' conference took the highly unusual step of issuing a caution about a book the bishop had written, saying that the work misrepresented the Catholic position on "among other things, the nature of Tradition, the inspiration of the Holy Scripture, the infallibility of the Councils and the Pope, the authority of the Creeds, the nature of the ministerial priesthood and central elements of the Church's moral teaching."

Father Maguire, an elderly priest who had long resisted efforts by the Melbourne archdiocese to force his retirement, also has a history of conflict with Church authority—including an episode in 2005 when he "heard confessions" on a radio call-in show.

An editorial in The Australian argued that the heated debate about the confessional seal was "entirely confected" for political purposes, in a "proxy war" aimed at opposition leader Tony Abbott, whose Catholicism has been a frequent topic of discussion.

The Australian expressed confidence that the federal investigating commission would avoid a direct confrontation with the Church. "Those who see an opportunity to discredit the Catholic Church, however, will milk it for all it is worth," the editorial said.

Source: ucanews.com

Three to six-year-olds at the Inner Sydney Montessori School replaced the festive lyrics "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" with "We Wish You A Happy Holidays".

One angry parent said he would withdraw his daughter from the Balmain school next year. The dad, who did not wish to be identified, said: "There were about five songs and not one of them mentioned Christmas. There was no Santa or Christmas decorations or a Christmas tree or any reference to Jesus.

Instead of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", students at an inner west school were twisted into wishing everyone a "Happy Holidays".

"Is this politically correct? I don't understand."

He said some of the children were so confused they blurted out the word Christmas while singing: "They should not force this on young kids. Christmas is meant to be all about Santa and presents."

With a stated goal of closing the last traditional classroom within 5 years, executive director of the diocese's schools, Greg Whitby, says the transition to increasingly big learning areas is well advanced, despite some opposition from some teachers and some parents.

"Everyone thinks we've got a barn with 200 ferals running around and teachers screaming," Whitby said. It's however far from the truth.

Noisy?

Yes, but in one class at St Monica's Primary school at North Parramatta, children were learning to read and follow a recipe in the kitchen; a dozen children were working on laptops; 30 were watching video trailers they had produced; others were dressing for a play and many were at round tables on a variety of tasks.

Reportedly, the discipline has improved since the school changed shape.

"You don't really have children off-task" assistant principal, Mary-Jo Mason said.

Mega-classrooms is a massive change for parents and some have resisted and have voted with their feet.

"Parents have got to get used to the idea, because they all had their own teacher, 30 kids and a blackboard out the front," said one father, Jason Jones.

Others vented their frustration because this learning environment is not like the real world.

John Quessy, the assistant secretary of the Independent Education Union, said many teachers were not impressed. They struggled with the noise, and with having to talk more loudly and to plan as a team rather than working independently.

"We're not making a judgment of whether this is good or bad," he said.

"But any system of education requires people who are willing and capable of delivering it."

Whitby though, is of the opinion that results are better and it is not possible to please everyone.

"But we can say we're giving [the children] the very best education. The enrollments are up, teachers are not kicking my door in and saying 'I hate working' and they're getting some amazing learning environments."

Sources

• SMH
• Image: The Telegraph

The ads, paid for by an Islamic group called MyPeace, will carry slogans such as "Jesus: a prophet of Islam", "Holy Quran: the final testament" and "Muhammad: mercy to mankind".

The organiser of MyPeace, Diaa Mohamed, said the campaign was intended to educate non-Muslims about Islam.

He said Jesus was a prophet of Islam, who was to come before Muhammad. "The only difference is we say he was a prophet of God, and they say he is God," Mr Mohamed said.

"Is it thought-provoking? Yes, it is. We want to raise awareness that Islam believes in Jesus Christ," he said.

MyPeace intends to extend the promotion to Television.

Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, Rob Forsyth, said it was "complete nonsense" to say Jesus was a prophet of Islam. "Jesus was not the prophet of a religion that came into being 600 years later."

But the billboard was not offensive, he said. "They've got a perfect right to say it, and I would defend their right to say it [but] … you couldn't run a Christian billboard in Saudi Arabia."

Catholic Bishop from the Archdiocese of Sydney, Julian Porteous however has different views. He calls the billboards "provocative and offensive."

Porteous wants the billboards taken down.

"In Australia with its Christian heritage a billboard carrying the statement 'Jesus A prophet of Islam' is provocative and offensive to Christians," Porteous said.

Shared basic human values

A meeting of Catholic and Islamic scholars recently concluded with a statement that believers of both faiths "share basic human values like the sacred character of human life, human dignity, and the fundamental inalienable rights deriving from it."

The meeting jointly sponsored by the Holy See and the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies in Jordan, called for respect for believers of all faiths, and demands that religious education should never "form identities in antagonism or in conflict."

Sources:

• SMH
• MyPeace
• Vatican Information Service
• Herald Sun