Youth ministry leaders from across Australia will be invited to attend the inaugural Australian Catholic Bishops Conference's Youth Ministry Convention in Melbourne in October 2010. The theme for the 2010 convention will be the World Youth Day theme of that year, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"" (Mk 10:17).
The Bishops Commission for Pastoral Life hopes the convention will draw together youth ministry leaders from across the country to dialogue, network and exchange ideas.
Initial plans include over 30 workshop options, performers, a youth ministry expo and a conference dinner. A variety of keynote speakers have already been announced with Bishop Joseph Grech (Sandhurst, Vic.), Bishop Eugene Hurley (Darwin, NT), Archbishop Mark Coleridge (Canberra-Goulburn, ACT) and Professor Anne Hunt, Dean of Theology and Philosophy at ACU National, speaking. Dr Bob McCarty from the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry in the USA has also accepted an invitation to speak.
The convention will be held at ACU National St Patrick's Campus in Melbourne from October 1-3, 2010.
Thuruna, or 'meeting place', on the pristine South Australian coastline was the gathering place recently for women from Eyre Peninsula. They met to hear from the wisdom and experience of Sister Mary Cresp RSJ as she shared on 'integrating faith and spirituality'. Basing her presentation around Blessed Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tennyson-Woods, she compared the similarities of faith growth and the pattern on the life of a river.
The Catholic Church in Australia has launched informative new websites to promote the work of its national employment relations bodies. The Office for Employment Relations (OER) now has its own website aimed at providing both church employers and employees with key operational information on employment relations matters. The OER is an agency of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference which develops, promotes and maintains best practice employment relations policies, procedures, practices, guidelines and manuals for implementation by Catholic employers.
Meanwhile, the Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations (ACCER)will continue to have its web presence at its current address. The ACCER is an advisory council which provides the bishops with advice, research and advocacy on matters affecting employment in the Australian workplace, within the context of the Catholic Church's social teachings.
Pope Benedict XVI has issued a strong message ahead of the 96th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which will be celebrated on January 17: "The migrant is a human person who possesses fundamental, inalienable rights that must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance." The message focuses on underage refugees and migrants.
