David

All Catholic institutions have been urged to divest from fossil fuels as a way to live out their faith and work against the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis. The call has been made by Archbishop of Glasgow William Nolan, who added, “It will be an embarrassment for any Catholic institution that hasn’t divested.”

From the moment they landed in Australia, the Redemptorists had been asked to open a foundation house in Victoria. However, it wasn’t until 1885 – three years after settling in Singleton, NSW – that Fathers Edmund Vaughan, Thomas O’Farrell and John Stokes made it to the southern capital.

Faith onLine: Almost 30 years ago Majellan introduced Catholic Faithline which included two monthly messages written by former Majellan editors Max Barrett CSsR and Bill Stinson CSsR. Father Stinson, Bishop Paul Bird CSsR and Michael Gilbert CSsR recorded the messages. The family reflections covered many issues ranging from bullying to how to improve your marriage to dealing with stress and loneliness. 

Here’s the thing about living with seven other people: you need to be ruthless with clutter. We accumulate so much stuff so easily that if I don’t get rid of things, we might end up on the 60 Minutes special report on hoarding.

  No amount of advice from family and friends and no amount of baby literature will prepare you for the arrival of your first child. You know things will change and your life will be turned upside down because everyone tells you so, but it’s hard to appreciate until you experience it yourself.

We often underestimate the value of a role model in today’s world. I think this is a mistake. Role models guide and inspire us because, in part, we see underutilised aspects of who we could be, in them, if we aimed high enough and fought tooth and nail to protect our dreams at all costs. 

A striking feature of the recent Catholic Plenary Council in Sydney was the prominence and power of symbols, art, prayer and rituals of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples, with welcome to and acknowledgment of country, smoking ceremonies and didgeridoo music.

We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart: