Mission doesn’t have an age-limit.

Friends,

Welcome to another edition of Melbourne Catholic.

This Sunday is World Mission Day. There are so many good things happening around Melbourne advancing the Good News of Jesus Christ, but this week we highlight the Columban Mission Centre in Essendon. Fr Trevor Trotter SSC was good enough to talk about the inspiring work they do sharing the Gospel around the world. Learn what mission has to do with human flourishing and why it has no age-limit.

Sadly, too many people don’t experience the freedoms we often take for granted, with as many as 50 million people caught in the web of human trafficking worldwide. ACRATH is part of the struggle against trafficking on Australian shores, with some surprising issues being of concern. They talk with us about what those are and what ordinary people can do to help.

Also this week, a Melbourne Catholic high school teacher, Dennis Alberto, wins a top Christian music award along with his band M22—learn about his faith and music. The Catholic Women’s League of Victoria and Wagga Wagga is an organisation with an inspiring past and a dynamic, evolving future. The league’s president, Anna Krohn OAM, talks about the creative ways the league is connecting, forming and encouraging women of faith. And the President of Malta visits Melbourne, home of the world’s largest Maltese diaspora, touring St Patrick’s Cathedral with Archbishop Peter A Comensoli.
 

Don’t forget to check out down below other news happening around the Catholic world. And if you want more stories like these, visit the Melbourne Catholic News & Stories page or follow us on Facebook.

 
 
New challenges, new breakthroughs: Pastor Tom Pietsch on the future of ecumenism
The Lutheran pastor Tom Pietsch recently delivered the third annual Barry Nunn Memorial Oration at Corpus Christi College. In his address, he spoke forthrightly about the challenges facing Church bodies across the West today, arguing they may be ‘greater’ than the challenges of the past. Even so, these challenges also present opportunities to affect ecumenical relations ‘for the better’ in years to come.
 
 
St Thérèse of Lisieux ‘more alive than ever’: Pope Francis’ new apostolic exhortation
On Sunday 15 October, Pope Francis released a new apostolic exhortation, reflecting on the life and spirituality of St Thérèse of Lisieux. In this beautiful document, he says that through Thérèse we can learn that confidence in the Divine mercy ‘leads us to the Love that grants everything.’
 
 
President of Malta visits St Patrick’s Cathedral as part of Australia tour
This year marks 75 years since Australia and Malta signed an assisted-migrant-passage agreement that enabled more than 60,000 Maltese immigrants to settle in Australia from the late 1940s to the 1960s. A delegation from Malta—led by His Excellency President George Vella—is currently visiting Australia, which boasts the largest Maltese diaspora in the world. The president attended Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday 14 October and spent time at the statue of St George Preca, Malta’s own saint, located in the Cathedral grounds.
 
 
Promoting human flourishing: on mission with the Columbans
In his message for World Mission Day 2023, Pope Francis commends those ‘who have come to know the risen Christ in the Scriptures and in the Eucharist, who carry his fire in their heart and his light in their gaze’. He could be describing the Missionary Society of St Columban, which is made up of missionary priests, lay missionaries and lay ‘co-workers’ committed to announcing the Good News of Jesus Christ throughout the world. In the lead-up to World Mission Day this Sunday, we speak with Columban priest Fr Trevor Trotter SSC and Maha Shawky, chief executive officer of the Columban Mission Centre in Essendon, about their far-reaching and inspiring work, and about what it means to be truly missionary.
 
 
‘People are not for sale’: ACRATH and the fight to live freely
Human trafficking is a tragic reality, and the numbers of those caught within its web are staggering. ACRATH is an organisation committed to the fight against human trafficking, and their efforts have done serious good on both the educational and legislative fronts. Christine Carolan, ACRATH’s National Executive Officer, shares their inspiring story and explains how ordinary people can get involved.
 
 
The Catholic Women’s League: connecting women of faith in creative ways
The Catholic Women’s League of Victoria and Wagga Wagga—an organisation with a rich past and evolving future—continues to respond creatively to the needs and dreams of Catholic women and the broader Catholic community around Victoria and beyond. We speak with the league’s president Anna Krohn OAM about some of the challenges and joys of steering the league through COVID and into an exciting future. ‘Part of our challenge has been: “How do we respond to the needs of women now?”’ she says. ‘And some of the things that we’ve discovered are that women are very hungry for spiritual inspiration [and] formation in their faith.’
 
 
 

This newsletter is published by the Communications Office
of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
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