The Catholic Institute of Sydney will offer the course, Evangelising Mission of the Church, over three sessions in March and May 2010. The course will teach participants how to understand and practice mission as it has evolved over the centuries; appreciate the Vatican II shift from mission as the Church's task to mission as God's plan and action in the world; learn to read the "signs of the times" in order to cooperate with God's purposes for human and planetary flourishing; discover new expressions of mission that are relevant to today's world -- proclamation, dialogue, peace and reconciliation, liberation, justice and ecology.
The course will be particularly suited to students undertaking studies in theology and religious education, priests, pastoral workers, teachers, catechists and anyone wishing to deepen his/her understanding of contemporary mission. The course can be undertaken for personal or professional development.
Among the topics covered will be: Mission in the Scriptures, history of mission, contemporary Church teaching on mission, contemporary theology of mission, mission as prophetic dialogue, justice, ecology, dialogue, inculturation, reconciliation and mission, the rise of the third world Churches and mission on six continents, mission in Australia and post-mortem societies.
The lecturer will be Fr Noel Connolly (pictured), Colombian missionary priest whose original mission was Korea. He helped found the Sydney Korean Catholic Church and he has wide experience of mission, having also worked for 16 years on the Colombians' central leadership team (Ireland). He is a former rector of the Pacific Mission Institute and St Columban's College, Turramurra, and is a member of the council and staff of the Broken Bay Institute, Sydney.
Evangelising Mission of the Church will be held over March 6 - 7, March 27 - 28 and May 15 - 16.
Registrations close on January 29, 2010.
For further information and registration: The Registry, Catholic Institute of Sydney, telephone 02 9752 9500; cisinfo@cis.catholic.edu.au or visit the CIS website.
For information on the course contact Fr Noel Connelly 03 9375 9475.
AIDS globally now has a 'woman's face'
The medical plight of the world's women was the World AIDS Day (December 1) message issued by Australia's smallest AIDS-care charity, the Melbourne-based Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated. Its founder/president, Brian Haill, writes:
Most recently, I learned that one of the Christian church ministers we work with in Africa had contracted HIV, and that his wife was also infected. It came as a great shock to him and his family. It reminded me of a situation more than 20 years ago when a religious community of women in Australia also suddenly learned that its chaplain was similarly infected and we were able to help them and his community with information in the same way that we're now helping our African friends. It makes the unavoidable point that the Body of Christ is indeed infected with HIV/AIDS.
next month: Australian Sister saving the lives of Zambian children living with HIV/AIDS.
Revised Towards Healing to be published
The latest revision to the Towards Healing document will be published and also posted on the ACBC website in January 2010, following its approval by Australia's Catholic Bishops at their plenary meeting in Sydney earlier this month (December). Towards Healing has been constantly updated since it was first published in 1996, in the light of experience and feedback from those accessing the protocol.
The latest revision is the result of a comprehensive review of Towards Healing, carried out by Professor Patrick Parkinson, a professor of Law at Sydney University and an expert in child protection.
The revisions were earlier approved by Catholic Religious Australia.
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The course will be particularly suited to students undertaking studies in theology and religious education, priests, pastoral workers, teachers, catechists and anyone wishing to deepen his/her understanding of contemporary mission. The course can be undertaken for personal or professional development. 
