Religious Congregations across Australia spent one hour in prayer on Sunday, October 18 to mark the National Day of Sorrow and Promise, an annual observance prepared by Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) to acknowledge the profound harm caused by abuse and reaffirm the importance of safeguarding.

Catholic Religious Australia, along with a number of Congregational leaders, signed Australian Religious Response to Climate Change’s (ARRCC) Open Letter to the Prime Minister, which called for the Australian Government to use its leadership role at COP31 to support our Pacific neighbours, by helping to ensure the international phase-out of fossil fuels and the strengthening of climate finance and action on loss and damage.

Students at Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School in Eltham, Melbourne, shrieked with delight as Fr Michael Sierakowski blessed them with holy water during a blessing of the pets in the lead-up to the Feast of St Francis recently, reports Melbourne Catholic.

An encounter with Sr Hieu Tran OP is instantly smile-inducing. The liturgy coordinator and Vietnamese liaison officer at St Dominic’s Priory College is diminutive in size but emanates the kind of positivity that fills a room, reports The Southern Cross.

Perth Auxiliary Bishop Nelson Po has prayed that the newly completed St John of God Midland Private Hospital in Perth would continue the healing mission of Jesus, reports The Record.