Eight years ago this year, Pope Francis published his encyclical Laudato si’, on caring for our common home. It was a call to conversion, to see human life and the life of the earth as intimately connected.
Since then, faithful Catholics have taken up the Pope’s call in a variety of practical ways, including in many parishes across our Archdiocese. To mark Laudato si’ Week, we take a look at what several parishes are doing, and at the ways Catholic Earthcare Australia is helping Catholic parishes, schools and agencies to implement the Laudatio si’ goals.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference recently released a statement on the upcoming referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, in which they encouraged Catholics to read and discuss the Uluru Statement from the Heart, observing that this is ‘a moment to use our democratic institutions to produce a high-quality debate shaped by a genuine concern to do justice and bring healing to First Nations Peoples’.
Last week, the Knights of the Southern Cross Victoria officially launched this year’s Archbishop’s Dinner in support of the Priests Support and Education Fund—a great initiative that has been supporting Melbourne’s priests for 25 years.
The Week of Global Prayer for China begins this Sunday. This lay-led initiative is an opportunity to focus on the challenges faced by our Christian brothers and sisters in China and to uphold them in prayer.
We also visit Lithuania as we continue our series on ‘Our Lady around the world’, and reflect on what St Paul’s famous ‘hymn to love’ might teach us about how to engage with media in more loving and life-giving ways.
