Author: Lawrie Hallinan

National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. National Reconciliation Week reminds us of two significant milestones in Australia’s reconciliation journey: 27 May, the successful 1967

The National Centre for Evangelisation provides a free newsletter and other support for Catholics who want to better live and share your faith. https://youtu.be/X-uDPRVBuLU   “In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples (Matthew 28:19). All the baptised, whatever their position

Increasingly the promotion of voluntary assisted dying is falsely being pushed as the best response to terminal illness. The counter view is that high quality and easily accessible palliative care enables the person to be an active participant in experiencing a good death. Palliative care also ensures the sanctity of

There was something eschatological about a fire devastating Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral in Holy Week. Eschatology is theologising on the end of time(s).  The fire could be seen as an eschatological symbol of: the dying dream of a united and inclusive Europe which seems to be mortally wounded by the rise

Australian Catholics are invited to support appeals  for the Catholic community in Sri Lanka, which is still reeling from the Easter Sunday bombings that killed 253 people and wounded hundreds. Aid to the Church in Need, whose mission is to support the Christian faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or

There were fewer Catholics in Australia in 2016 than in 2011, but they were more likely to have a higher education and more likely to have been born overseas than five years earlier. The National Centre for Pastoral Research (NCPR) yesterday released the Social Profile of the Catholic Community in

A panel of experts has been convened to conduct a national review of the governance and management structures of Catholic dioceses and parishes, including in relation to issues of transparency, accountability, consultation and lay participation. The review was a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual

The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2019 this year is Grounded in Truth, Walk together in Courage.   The National Reconciliation Week campaign states:   At the heart of reconciliation is the relationship between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. To foster positive race relations,

On 2nd April 2019 Pope Francis presented his Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit (Christ Lives). This document is Pope Francis’ response to the 2018 Synod on  ‘Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment.’ There is much in the document to inspire and challenge both young people and others within the Church.

Here we are in the middle of Lent. A time of giving up the bad and taking up the good – a period of remaking ourselves as better disciples. For me, and I imagine for many Catholics, the Lenten process this year is particularly pertinent to the church community as