The Catholic Enquiry Centre (CEC) has had great success in 2024 connecting with those interested in the Catholic faith, guiding them to an encounter with Jesus.

Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann AM, Senior Australian of the Year in 2021, gave the Australian Church a special gift. She helped us to appreciate and learn from the Aboriginal practice of deep listening – dadirri. It is a spiritual skill, an inner, quiet awareness, a posture of waiting, which is available to everyone. She says, in essence, we have been listening to your way; now is the time to listen to our way.

The second assembly of the 16^th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod Bishops in October marked the culmination of a three-year process for participants, including 14 Australians.

Catholic sports enthusiasts in Darwin are engaging in a highly practical way of combining their love of sport with their faith by training to become sports chaplains.

More than 35 events are planned in Rome during the 2025 Jubilee Year. The majority are small one or two-day gatherings which will include a pilgrimage through the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica and an audience with Pope Francis. However, the longest and largest event will be the Jubilee of Youth from July 28 to August 3.

Former clinical psychologist and priest in the Diocese of Wollongong, Fr Gerard Stoyles recently completed his PhD researching the motives of parents who requested the Sacraments of Initiation for their children, with some fascinating findings.

In September, 36 women gathered for a guided three-day retreat in the Archdiocese of Brisbane.

Organised by the Adult Formation team at Evangelisation Brisbane, the retreat was held at the tranquil Santa Teresa Spirituality Centre. The beautiful grounds provided the perfect setting for retreatants to step away from their daily routines and enter into a peaceful space of reflection and encounter with God.

Catholics in the Victorian diocese of Sandhurst have been actively engaged in a synodal process of listening and discernment over the past few years, culminating in the establishment of the Sandhurst Mission and Pastoral Council in 2023.

The revival of beauty took a further step forward in Melbourne recently, with the ‘Beholding Beauty’ art exhibition proving to be popular among Catholics from near and far.

Pope Francis has written to young people in preparation for the 39^th World Youth Day (WYD), to be held on the Solemnity of Christ the King (24 November 2024). His second message exploring the Jubilee 2025 theme, he invites young people to “set out and become pilgrims of hope”.