OMG how you’ve changed since I was a boy!

Des Connolly is a parishioner of St Patricks Church Sutherland and a member of the Parish Spirituality Group. Before retirement he was principal at St Catherine Laboure Primary School, Gymea and then at Star of the Sea Primary School, Miranda.

Failed system, failed leadership

John Hannon is the Catholic Parish Priest at St Therese Parish, Essendon, Victoria. This article is an extract from a homily on the Third Sunday of Advent looking at the failures around child sexual abuse and how we must address them differently.

In search of an Australian priesthood

Gary Stone

Can the priesthood in Australia flourish without a majority indigenous clergy and where will they come from? Do we need married clergy? Gary Stone is a Brisbane diocesan married deacon and chaplain to the ex service community. He works with the Veterans Care Association which runs holistic rehabilitation programmes for veterans and their families.

The participation of women in the 2020 Plenary Council

Council for Australian Catholic Women

This paper was prepared by the Council for Australian Catholic Women as a basis for a discussion with Archbishop Mark Coleridge in June 2017 in preparation for the Plenary Council October 2020.

Sacraments of Initiation for children in the Australian Church

Gerard Stoyles, Wollongong priest and researcher, explores the current climate of engagement of children and their parents in Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist and then offers an update on his research and the questions he will explore in the relationship between the allure of the Sacraments for children and their parents’ failure to find any home in the church community.