St Mary’s Towers Online Retreats
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, St Mary's Towers Retreat Centre will be offering their September and October programs online!
Closing the Gap 2021
In August 2021, the Commonwealth Government released its first Closing the Gap Implementation Plan. The $1bn Implementation Plan provides an overview of the Commonwealth’s existing actions that contribute to Closing the Gap, as well as new investment and areas of future work. It is a whole-of-government plan, developed across the Commonwealth in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partners.
Celebrating National Child Protection Week across the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle
National Child Protection Week is a campaign held annually across Australia to raise awareness of child abuse prevention. The campaign aims to engage, educate, and empower Australians to understand the complexity of child abuse and neglect, and work together to prevent it. It does this through the sharing of events and resources to encourage communities to engage in conversations around children’s safety and wellbeing.
Horses for courses
The symbiotic relationship between a horse and a human is longstanding and unique, dating back thousands of years. According to clinical resource therapist, Brenda Tanner of Equine Encounters Australia, "predator and prey, fight and flight, natural instincts and learnt behaviours" must be suspended for the two species to build trust in one another.
Keeping global citizens in your prayers
As you may have seen in the media, there are a number of humanitarian and natural disaster crises occurring throughout the world. Below is some key information collated from Caritas and Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum for your reference. We encourage you to keep these people in your thoughts and prayers, and find out more about what you can do to help.
A Home for All? Renewing the Oikos of God
Take a deep breath and hold it. Keep holding. Hold on until you run out of breath!
How long could you hold your breath? Safe to assume it wasn’t longer than a couple of minutes. Our body needs oxygen to survive. It is even more vital than food and water.
Yet, we humans destroy the very earth that supplies us with this vital air and so much more. This needs to change!
How you can help your community to thrive!
During a lockdown it’s easy to wonder what you can do from the confines of your home to continue to help others.
You're invited: Plenary Council Conversations
The Plenary Council members will be invited into spiritual conversations over the first week in October in order to arrive at the concrete proposals to create a more missionary, Christ-centered Church in Australia at this time.