Imagine you are a Catholic.
Imagine you are a Catholic who stopped going to Mass because you were fed up with the Church or you had been hurt by the Church or life just got in the way of your weekly attendance. There could be many reasons.
Fratelli Tutti was published in October 2020 and is Pope Francis’ third encyclical, which is the kind of document used by popes for what they regard as their most serious and long-term contribution to Church teaching and reflection. Some commentators suggest that this encyclical completes a trilogy for Pope Francis, which began with his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (2013) and continued in his environmental encyclical Laudato Si’ (2015).
I am Helen Melarekere. I was born in Port Moresby into a Catholic family and am the second of my four siblings. We were raised by my dearest mum and her immediate family. I lived most of my childhood and completed my primary education in Port Moresby. In 2005, my mum, siblings and I moved to Townsville. Townsville is home for us.
In 2018, the parishioners of Sacred Heart Parish Hindmarsh-Findon in Adelaide were advised that although their parish would continue to exist, they would not have a resident priest for the foreseeable future — if at all. Suddenly, it was up to the parishioners to plot their way forward in uncharted waters. How would they manage it?
Late last year, as Pope Francis concluded Mass for the handing over of the World Youth Day (WYD) cross between Panama and Portugal, he paused and made an unexpected announcement.
The valuable role that women in the Catholic Church play may seem to many to be overshadowed by a focus on bishops and priests. Yet, at the Women as Church Conference hosted by the BBI-TAITE in October 2020, Mrs Louise Zavone and Dr Trudy Dantis sought to make attendees aware of the many and varied leadership positions that women now hold within the structures of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC).
Pope Francis begins his apostolic letter Aperuit Illis with this quote from Luke, which resounds so appropriately to instituting the Sunday of the Word of God in this time. Immediately we are transported to the road to Emmaus, walking with those disciples going away from Jerusalem in the aftermath of the death of Jesus.
Like many people this year, I have done most of my Christmas shopping online. As I have spent time scrolling through the pages of trinkets, clothing, chocolates and other thousands of Christmas marketing gift ideas that appear in my social media feeds, I have considered each person I was buying for. I realised I would give anything, pay any amount, just to spend one more minute of time with them, to feel one more cuddle, to share one last giggle together before I knew I would not be seeing them this Christmas — or for some family members and friends, not seeing them at all during 2020.
For me, the image of a field hospital after battle conjures up childhood memories of watching M*A*S*H, a TV series set in a US Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. The warning sirens would sound, helicopters would land bearing wounded from the front, and the nurses and doctors would be pulled from their petty squabbles into life-and-death situations of triage and surgery.
Affectionately known as “St Ben’s”, St Benedict’s Parish Burwood is situated 14km east of Melbourne’s CBD. Despite the challenges, the parish has thrived during the COVID-19 lockdown. And all agree that there is no turning back to the way things were done before.
