Three women’s religious congregations - the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, the Missionaries of God’s Love Sisters and the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary – met recently with nine young women from around Australia and New Zealand for an online discernment retreat.

The Pope’s new encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, has garnered much attention since its publication; not all of it positive. In some quarters, he’s been accused of interfering in politics, meddling in the economic sphere or being naïve. The Pope is not unfamiliar with criticisms, and these comments come from the usual quarters. One thing is certain – people are reading what Francis writes, and hearing what he says, writes CRA President, Br Peter Carroll FMS.

Aware that the environment is a gift to be respected and cared for, the Brigidine Sisters have become more diligent about reducing the use of single-use plastics – including, in these times of pandemic, disposable face masks.

Pope Francis’ latest encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti, is, as we might have anticipated, a reflection on our times, writes Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ in Eureka Street. The encyclical strongly endorses the human rights of people made vulnerable by society — of women and children, of racial minorities, of refugees, of the aged and others. It views the public conversation about rights as one of engagement and persuasion in seeking the common good, not as a closed and adversarial struggle between allies and enemies. That at least would be an improvement upon the public discourse to which we have become accustomed.

The National Catholic Reporter recently published a review of a new book entitled “Back- Pocket God: Religion and Spirituality in the lives of emerging adults”. As the title suggests, it presents the findings of a survey of younger people and is the last part of a twenty-year study called the National Study of Youth and Religion, writes CRA President, Brother Peter Carroll FMS.