Jesuits open new refugee shelter Josephites unveil shrine in Perthville Salesian celebrates 60 years eConference focuses on Jesus Oblate elder farewelled American to oversee religious orders Mercy Sisters to attend UN conference
Jesuits open new refugee shelter
Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is celebrating the opening of a large new shelter in Sydney's beachside suburb of Manly. The former boarding house comprises 14 rooms and one small flat. It will provide accommodation for asylum seekers awaiting a result to their asylum claims. It also offers transition accommodation for new refugees who have received permanent protection, as they find their feet in the community.
"These new refugees came initially to JRS as asylum seekers and received mid-to-long term assistance from us, including accommodation," says the Director of JRS, Fr Sacha Bermudez-Goldman SJ.
"Now that they have been successful in their applications for asylum, they have to find their own accommodation. However, given the current residential market and many other factors, this can be very difficult to do. Our aim then is to provide them with low-rent transition accommodation for a few months and hopefully during this time they'll be able to find a new place of their own."
Sisters of St Joseph converged on Perthville near Bathurst on 8 August to unveil a shrine to Mary MacKillop. The Sisters travelled to the small central western town from Goulburn and the NSW and South Australian Provinces. The Sister of St Joseph came to Perthville from Adelaide in 1872.
Antoinette Baldwin, RSJ said the place is steeped in Josephite history of pain and separation, of growth and courage, of renewal and reconciliation.
At the unveiling the sisters shared their collective story and celebrated the Eucharist. They also enjoyed country-style refreshment before regathering in the chapel for the unveiling of the Mary MacKillop shrine.
"It was a simple and touching ceremony, a sort of homecoming for Mary MacKillop and a 'gathering of the clan' from across Josephite Congregations," said Sister Antoinette.
Salesian celebrates 60 years
Father Tony Moester celebrated his 60 years as a Salesian during the community Eucharist at Brooklyn Park in South Australia on 13 August. He was joined by every Salesian of the community together with two visiting priests - Father Peter Carroll from Sydney and Father Marc Barry from Melbourne.
Father Tony made his First Profession as a Salesian on 16 August 1950 in Holland. He then came to Australia as a missionary. In his homily, Father Tony thanked God for calling him as a Salesian in the last 60 years. He also acknowledged those who have been part of his life, supporting him in different ways. During the Eucharist, he also mentioned and prayed for the repose of the souls of his companions, Father Gerard Remie and Father Adrian Wenting who had come to Australia with him as fellow missionaries.
eConference focuses on Jesus
One of the world's leading scholars, Jesuit, Reverend Professor Gerald O'Collins will be the key presenter for the 'Jesus the Christ' eConference on Thursday 16 September.
This fourth eConference, presented by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the Broken Bay Institute, is hoped to break records for numbers of participants from across Australia and around the world.
Professor O'Collins has a worldwide reputation as an excellent lecturer, and one who is able to push the boundaries of theological speculation and knowledge. His presentation on Jesus as Fully Human and Truly Divine will tackle key theological questions at the heart of the faith.
Professor O'Collins will be joined by Ms Philomena Billington (Director of Education Sandhurst Diocese), Dr Claire Renkin PhD (Melbourne College of Divinity and Yarra Theological College) and Dr Rev Merrill Kitchen OA (Principal, Churches of Christ Theological College) as they explore Jesus and his mission that we live out today. For more info go to: http://jesus.vividas.com.
Oblate elder farewelled
On July 10, 2010 Oblate priest, 82-year-old Father Robert Duncan McGregor OMI died suddenly at Cabrini Hospital in Melbourne. Ordained in Kilkenny, Ireland in 1956, Fr McGregor was highly-respected throughout the Australian Oblate Province as an energetic and talented preacher, a former MAMI Director, Provincial Bursar and a deeply-committed prison chaplain in Western Australia.
Blessed with a magnificent speaking voice and beautiful baritone singing voice, Father Robert also had a rare talent for fundraising and business acumen. In the mid-1960s he was appointed MAMI Director and in 1969 he became parish priest at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Sefton in western Sydney. Father McGregor also served as Provincial Bursar, parish priest of Rosebud, Melbourne, assistant priest at St Michael's, North Melbourne and on the Mission and Retreat team at Eagle Junction, Brisbane.
Father McGregor's next appointment was as Senior Chaplain to the West Australian prisons. Based in Fremantle, he spent the next 12 years working at various jails throughout West Australia counselling thousands of prisoners and warders. He was noted for his strong sense of justice and on occasion he showed great courage by standing up for prisoners against the prison authorities in cases he felt they were treated unjustly.
American to oversee religious orders
Pope Benedict XVI has appointed an American, Joseph William Tobin, to oversee Catholic religious orders around the world. As head of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, one of the Vatican's nine departments, Father Tobin, 58, will oversee the more than 300 Catholic orders around the world.
Tobin, from the mid-western US city of Detroit, headed the 5300-strong Redemptorist order based in Rome from 1991 to 2009. His predecessor Gianfranco Agostino Gardin was named archbishop of Treviso, Italy, last December.
Speaking to the National Catholic Reporter on 3 August, Father Tobin said he hopes to offer the Vatican a "different picture" of women religious in the United States.
Father Tobin added that he suspects the choice of an American for the job, and one known to be sympathetic to women religious, may reflect awareness of "just how badly" a controversial Vatican investigation of women's orders has been received.
Mercy Sisters to attend UN conference
Six Sisters of Mercy from the Australian Institute will attend the 63rd United Nations Department of Public Information Non-Government Organisations (UN DPI/NGO) Conference in Melbourne from August 30 to September 1.
The focus of the conference is "Advance Global Health: Achieve the MDGs". The sisters attending each have particular expertise and depth of experience in health issues, in both practice and policy. Participation at the conference requires a pass via an NGO (maximum 6 passes) and Mercy Global Concern (MGC) Director, Deirdre Mullan RSM, kindly offered the passes via MGC.
The sisters attending the UN DPI/NGO Conference are:
* Gaye Lennon, Mercy Works Inc., Co-ordinator of Offshore and Indigenous Projects (Sydney); * Mariska Kua, Executive Officer of Mercy Works PNG Project (Papua New Guinea); * Anne Foale, a midwife working with Indigenous Australians, asylum seekers, refugees (Port Augusta, South Australia); * Mary Jane Lynch, a nurse working in remote Indigenous communities (Gibb River Station, Western Australia); * Carol Ong, a medical doctor and Clinical Director of community health organisation working with culturally and linguistically diverse communities, refugees and people from low socio-economic backgrounds (Melbourne); * Moira Truelson, who is experienced in health and education with Indigenous peoples, has worked in Pakistan, and is a board member of 'Mercy Partners" Queensland the new PJP (Queensland). http://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/conference/
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