“Often, we can look at the big picture of the Catholic Church in Australia and be disappointed about what does not seem to happen, yet so much is happening in the local communities of faith around the Church in Australia.”
These words from Bishop Michael Morrissey, Bishop Delegate for Women, were at the heart of the recent online national Consultation for Women.
The 54th World Communications Day will take place on May 9 in Australia, with this year’s theme being “Come and see: Communicating by encountering people as and where they are”.
It is an invitation not just to media professionals, but to the whole Church, to discern news, to go beyond the screens and what we read, and to be in relationship with others.
Jesus said nothing about art. He did, however, speak using images that were at once familiar enough to be grasped and yet evocative enough to provide a glimpse of the mystery about which he was speaking – God, the Kingdom, the Temple, the Cross, eternal life.
The Church, from early times, turned to art in its life, worship and mission. Art, in the form of figurative and symbolic images, was used to portray or signify important people, places and events in the Christian story. Art, in images of the Scriptures, the saints and history was used to catechise. Art, in churches and other sacred places, was used in a sacramental way to make present and to honour those whose images were portrayed – Christ crucified, the Virgin Mary, biblical figures and the saints.
The Catholic Enquiry Centre (CEC) is a work of the National Centre for Evangelisation (NCE). Since its establishment in 1959, the CEC has played a significant role in journeying with people on the road to becoming a Catholic. In recent years, its mandate has broadened to also include resourcing and assisting those who want to know more about their faith, as well as catechists and others who are assisting people on their faith journey.
A generation ago, the media most households consumed consisted of radio, television, newspapers, books and magazines. Today, as technology advances rapidly, our homes are filled instead with music and television streaming services, online video games, virtual and augmented reality, smartphone apps, podcasts and a plethora of social media.
These forms of “new media” – which refers to any media delivered digitally – have become commonplace in society almost overnight. But what challenges and opportunities do these new media forms present, for the Church and for society as a whole?
On New Year’s Eve 2019, a devasting bushfire licked the walls of St Mary’s Star of the Sea Church in Milton, NSW. Fortunately, the church and nearby school were saved. Sadly, this was not the case for many people in nearby towns and villages.
Homes, livelihoods and lives were lost. And then, just as the community started to claw its way back, COVID-19 hit. However, this is not a story of gloom and doom. It is the story of how the local Catholic parish did exactly what Pope Francis calls us to do: “to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the ‘peripheries’ in need of the light of the Gospel”.
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?
