Catholic Seminaries in Australia 1835-2023

Peter J Wilkinson

An experience of the German Synodal Way

Frankfurt, Germany, March 6-9 2023

Susan Sullivan BA Dip Ed MRE (Chicago)  was one of two Australian representatives who attended the recent meeting of the German Synodal Way. The other was Sandhurst’s Bishop Shane Mackinlay. Susan’s report is quite enlightening, given so many conflicting reports of the Germans’ meetings. Susan has a background in executive mission leadership roles. She has designed and implemented a range of collaborative mission-focused initiatives including leadership formation programs for Australian health, aged care and social services organisations. She is currently a board member of Marymead CatholicCare in the Canberra and Goulburn Archdiocese, a director of Campfire in the Heart, located in Alice Springs, and an active member of Canberra’s refugee support and advocacy network. This article was published in the April 2023 edition of The Good Oil, the e-journal of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, and is republished with permission of the author, and The Good Oil. There is no cost to subscribe to The Good Oil: www.goodsams.org.au

The missionary aspiration of reaching everyone

Armando Matteo

Michael McEntee is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and former lecturer in theology at Catholic Theological College. His current interest is the theology of Armando Matteo, the secretary of the Doctrinal Section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). Matteo’s recent book, “The Francis Option,” appeared in January 2023 marking the tenth anniversary of Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium). Matteo’s concentration on Francis’ Missionary Aspiration of Reaching Everyone (EG 31) is “The Francis Option” and Michael reflects on this in his review of Matteo’s book.

Faith formation and the parish: Finding a way!

Professor Gerard Moore

Gerard Moore is the Principal and CEO of BBI-The Australian Institute of Theological Education, situated in the Caroline Chisholm Centre.

Vatican – Israel rupture over Gaza

Paul Collins is an historian, broadcaster and writer. A Catholic priest for thirty-three years, he resigned from the active ministry in 2001 following a dispute with the Vatican over his book Papal Power (Harper Collins 1997). He is the author of seventeen books, the most recent being The Depopulation Imperative (Australian Scholarly 2021) and Recovering the ‘True Church’ (Coventry 2022). A former head of the religion and ethics department in the ABC, he is well known as a public commentator on Catholicism and the papacy and has a strong interest in ethics, environmental and population issues. This article appeared in John Menadue’s Pearls and Irritations, 21 Feb 2024 and is reprinted here with Paul’s permission.