No matter where we come from, and how many hardships we endure, we are all journeying together towards our true, heavenly homeland.

Last Sunday, St Patrick’s Cathedral was filled with life, colour and the joy of faith as more than 500 people gathered to celebrate the 108th Migrant and Refugee Sunday. This was the first time since 2019 the event has been celebrated, and it was an amazing opportunity to bask in the cultural richness of the Catholic Church in Melbourne.

This week we also share the story of one migrant who hopes to use her creative gifts to make a real difference here in Melbourne. Coming to us via New Zealand, and originally from Japan, Hana Osawa works for the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. She shares some of her story with us and how she came to the Catholic faith.

This month also marks the 100-year anniversary of the Carmelite Community arriving in the Archdiocese of Melbourne from Sydney. Carmelite spirituality is rich and beautiful, so we reflect on the origins of Melbourne’s Carmelite monastery and how their beautiful spiritual legacy can be experienced in person by Melbourne Catholics.

St Thérèse of Lisieux was a young Carmelite the world would come to fall in love with, and this Saturday 1 October we celebrate her feast day. Reflecting on some of her writings, we ask whether our ‘bigger-is-better’ approach to life is exhausting us, and how this young saint might invite us to see holiness as a journey of ‘growing small’ instead of growing bigger and better.

And finally, on Friday 16 September, Archbishop Peter A Comensoli blessed and dedicated the newly established Iona College in Geelong. There he reflected upon St Columba of Iona, the college’s patron saint, and the calling of Catholic education to form young people as ‘forces for good in the world.’