The former Bishop of Broome, Christopher Saunders, appeared in an Australian court on Monday. He pleaded not guilty to 28 criminal charges, including two counts of rape and 14 counts of unlawful and indecent assault. Saunders, 74, denied all charges that initially surfaced in 2020 and allegedly occurred between 2008 and 2016. Church officials launched Read more
Australia’s Catholic bishops have identified a looming mental health crisis as their priority social justice focus this year. During the past year Australian’s resilience has been tested with the country coping with droughts and deadly bushfires followed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the uncertainty that goes with it. “People experiencing mental ill-health are not some Read more
A secret report being considered by Australia’s bishops wants unprecedented reform in the church. The reforms aim to make the church more inclusive and break down the structures that contributed to decades of clergy abuse and cover-ups. The church could be “dramatically overhauled” to give lay people more power, increase the number of women in Read more
Australia’s Catholic bishops say tech giants like Facebook, Google and Twitter put profits before people. In their view, the companies should be fined for spreading fake news and offensive content. The conference points out that social media platforms’ core business is to sell advertising and maximise profits. The bishops want greater regulation of digital platforms Read more
This year’s Australian Catholic Bishops Social Justice Statement focuses on the family. It is put into useful perspective by the publication the Bishops’ Pastoral Research Office September E-News Bulletin headlining the 2011 Census statistic that only 50 per cent of Catholics aged 15 and over are married. The often talked about nexus between marriage, the family, and the Catholic Read more
The family is the first and fundamental school of social living: as a community of love, it finds in self-giving the law that guides it and makes it grow. The self-giving that inspires the love of a husband and a wife for each other is the model and the norm for the self-giving that must be practiced in Read more