Looking back a bit
It was a dark and stormy night... And then it seemed to rain for weeks afterwards. June 15 2011, the night I was ordained and installed as bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, just on six years ago.
At St Joseph’s, school is where the heart is
Imagine arriving home to find you no longer have a home.
Expanding learning options across the diocese through satellite learning
While curriculum delivery for students is typically defined in terms of a teacher and a physical classroom, within the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle learning options have been developed to provide flexible delivery of courses, expanding options for students across the diocese.
Church dialoguing with the world in a secular age
“Christians see themselves handing on the faith of previous generations to the following generation, and so faithful to it in that way, but always open to what is new. I heard somebody contrasting the lazy tradition that simply repeats what’s said previously to the real tradition that brings the faith to life for a new generation, grasps the very heart of it and hands it on and brings it to life. And that’s what tradition most deeply is. It’s not simply a bland repetition.”[i]
Bringing light to darkness and colour to lives
Pauline Carrigan describes herself as a farmer’s wife. She is a mother of four, a grandmother of five and a gardener. The common thread here is giving life and love and care – nurturing.
A conversation with Sister Libbey: “It’s all of us”
“I’ve got this passion for helping people make sense of faith and life and link the two together….Often, the people in the pews are the ones who miss out….to reach everybody, you need to be in the parish.”
“I finally get this God stuff!”
As the Australian Catholic Youth Festival 2017 approaches, launching the Year of Youth, Aurora invited ACYF/WYD veteran and Religious Education Co-ordinator at St Patrick’s Primary, Lochinvar, Maryanne Hacker, to share something of her story.
Get creative as Australian Catholic Youth Festival approaches!
For thousands of years, faith has been expressed in myriad ways, including through various forms of art. Art allows faith to be expressed uniquely in ways that words may not be able to achieve.
If you are a young person between Year 9 and age 30, there is an opportunity to create an artwork or short film to be shown at the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Sydney in December.
Local community responds generously to Project Compassion 2017
Caritas Australia, the international aid and development organisation of the Catholic Church in Australia, has just run its annual fundraising appeal, Project Compassion, in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.
To address bullying, everyone has to be involved
An academic well versed in the area of bullying offers some practical advice.
Child labour and slavery – it’s real and it’s big
World Day Against Child Labour is observed on 12 June. Child labour is often defined as work that denies children their childhood, their dignity and their potential, and that is damaging to mental and physical development. Child labour comes in many forms and includes work that is physically, mentally, socially or morally dangerous and/or harmful to children.
The Uniting Church – an ongoing experiment!
From the outside, the Uniting Church in Australia must look like a confusion! No bishops, no cathedrals, sometimes no agreements and an endless supply of committees, conversations and diverse opinions to pepper the journey.
Enjoy the joy of play
Was there a time recently when you stopped to watch a group of children at play, heard their laughter and shouts of sheer joy as they ran around a park or playground, then giggling, grouping in twos and threes, began to tell one another pretend stories, untrue tales of grand adventures they’d imagined?
CatholicCare’s serving the Muswellbrook community
CatholicCare Social Services Hunter-Manning opened the doors of its new office in Muswellbrook on Monday 5 June.
Telling the stories of sacred spaces
As I walk through the grounds of the Convent of Mercy, Singleton, I am struck once again by the gracious and elegant lines of this very beautiful building. In the half light of evening we crunch our way across the gravel paths to the welcoming light of the front door.
What’s so special about Special Religious Education?
The children file into the room under the guidance of their watchful teacher. They settle on the carpet and greet the visitor who stands before them. The class comprises some 20 Kinder and Year 1 students and they come together every week at this time. The visitor is a regular weekly guest who is becoming familiar to the group.
What’s core Catholicism and what’s cultural Catholicism?
Recently I gazed, with combined feelings of pity and annoyance, at a contemporary photo of a large group of priests.
