If I include myself in any critique I make of the Church, and if I reflect on how I obscure the Gospel, I will be taking a step – an important step – in “fostering ecclesial community”, writes Good Samaritan Sister and CRA Deputy President Patty Fawkner SGS in The Good Oil.

Catholic agencies have expressed disappointment at Australia’s stance at the Pacific Islands Forum after it stymied efforts by small island states to get Pacific-wide consensus on their declaration for stronger action on climate change.

Jesus was never one to ostracise people, writes CRA President Br Peter Carroll FMS. Repeatedly we see him associating with the ill, impaired and outcast; and more than that, establishing personal relationships with them, healing them, calling them into the community and inviting them into life.

A new report from Jesuit Social Services highlights the stricter and more onerous conditions for visitors to asylum seeker detention centres. The changes designed to deter visits have a flow on effect to those detained as they feel forgotten and abandoned.

As we celebrated Mary MacKillop’s feast day this month, let us celebrate how she was a woman who raised the powers of love in her time and continues to inspire us to do the same in our day.  Love was at the heart of all that Mary did, writes Sr Monica Cavanagh RSJ.