23 January 2023
 Our challenge is to accompany people from the margins into a journey towards the fullness of life and love. We are meant to be in the coalface, in the messiness of it all and at the same time in fidelity to the Gospel… Like Christ in his ministry among the sick and the lost, we are called to meet God in the most unlikely people and places. We, too, must be in that frontier space. |
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16 January 2023
 No one can be saved alone.Combatting Covid-19 together, embarking together on paths of peace. |
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24 December 2022
 A number of activities were executed in Myanmar. These are the first executions since 1988. There has been a continuing coup by violence of the military. The military is not monolithic. There are different factions within the military. The coup was a product of these factions. Ever since Myanmar's military leaders took control in a 2021 coup, the country has deteriorated into civil war. But who are the men in charge and what do they really want? |
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21 December 2022
 We live in an increasingly dangerous world where a spiral of violence seems to be out of control. Violence and selfishness dominate our daily news, as the ‘answer’ the world offers to us. The horrors unfolding in Ukraine and the scandal of the arms race, and even more the danger of nuclear war frightens us all. Our planet continues to be exploited and the beauty of God’s creation plundered for profit. And the ongoing tragedy of refugees continues with many people closing their hearts to compassion. |
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17 December 2022
 'STARTING A NEW CHURCH'. These are the words of our Founder, FatherJean Claude Colin. Pope Francis, in callingthe Synod of the Universal Church, said: 'We must live another way of being Church'. I believe that the mostbeautiful thing about the Chapter of the European Province of the Marist Fathers, held in Rome from 6 to 14June 2022 - preceded by an electronic session held from 27 to 29 May, in which some Lay Marists alsoparticipated - was precisely putting as the underlying theme of every moment these words of our Founder andof our current Pope; thereby, combining and comparing every prayer, action, thought, word, aspiration andperspective with this interpretative key. Finally, moving beyond the limits of our own horizon, our Founder'sprophecy, and fidelity to the Pope's action - aiming to trigger processes of renewal in the Church, so that shemay be ever more perfectly embodied in our time, marking a change of epoch - are the key criteria groundingour Spirituality and our journey in the Church and in the world. |
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12 December 2022
 On Dec 08 during Mass at St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill, celebrating the Immaculate Concepton the new Star of the Sea Province of the Marist Brothers was inaugurated. Visiting Superior-General, brother Ernesto Sanchez FMS, officially announced the closure of the Australian Province and District of Oceania and invited brother Peter Carroll to assume the role of leader of a new province embracing Pacifc and southeast Asian countries. |
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04 December 2022
 As the Jesuit scholastic Brendan Busse reflects: “The true beauty of this season lies in the way in which it sanctifies that which is most human in us: our desire to love and call ourselves beloved, the desire for the eternal to break into our mortal lives, for light to break into our darkness, for God’s loving presence to become a felt reality in our all too frail human condition.” |
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05 November 2022
 They have fled war zones around the world for the safety of Australia and now a group of teenaged refugees are sharing their personal stories on stage at a Theatre in Sydney. The performance was a drama-focussed trauma recovery play which aims to help heal the young refugees and educate the audience about the process of resettlement. |
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01 November 2022
 View the December 2011 Marist Laity Australia Newsletter. |
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30 October 2022
 In 2005, Bishop Brian Heenan (Rockhampton Diocese) sent a letter to various religious congregations asking if there was anyone available and willing for ministry in the western parts of the diocese. Mary Kiely, the St. John of God Sister who had been covering the territory in a 4WD for the previous five years had been voted into leadership. For twelve years before that, Annemarie Jensen PBVM, a qualified pilot, had flown a small plane to minister to the people of the 'outback'. (A real flying Nun).This aerial ministry began in 1981, the plane being piloted by several diocesan priests. |
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23 October 2022
 On Friday October 21 former staff and students of Marist Sisters College gathered to celebrate Sister Fidelis 60 years as a Marist sister. Many of the years were serving the Woolwich community as leader and principal. Today Sister Fidelis serves the St Patrick's community as Parish secretary. Most Saturday and Sunday mornings she wakes up at 4 am to prepare to coordinate St Patricks efforts to feed the homeless of Sydney. Sister Fidelis is passionate and faith filled leader who would encourage you to come along to the new program she is running called 'The Chosen' event on Sundays at 2 pm at St Patricks Church Hill (See http://www.maristlaityaustralia.com/2030/Events/808.php). It was great to catch up with so many friends and Marists as we remembered the goodness that Sister Fidelis and Mary has brought us. |
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23 October 2022
 Leading iconographer and artist Michael Galovic has created his own deeply-felt response to the war in Ukraine in his latest work, Ukraine Response. |
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28 August 2022
 What Matters to Australian Catholics – Blue, Red, Green and Teal – After the 2022 Election and Plenary Council. Father Frank Brennan SJ |
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21 July 2022
 What equality exists between men and women? Today highlighted the need for more theological input and understanding amongst the members of plenary. This has highlighted some deficiencies in the process up until this point. This process reinforced a sense of hope from real discernment from that rejection. The rest of the day was with that reflection and discernment. The steering committee was surprised because they could not go forward. This is a key issue for the church. whether or not we believe in Vatican 2 and the kind of church this is calling for or whether we belong to a restoration group. That is the tension that is there which is pulling either way. |
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10 July 2022
 Some words are merely mouthed words like 'that women are appropriately represented in in decision making. Who decides what is appropriate?' |
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04 July 2022
 It has been some time since Marist Laity Australia (MLA) produced a newsletter and so we reconnect with you today and invite you to read on and contribute to future editions if you would like to share some news. |
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19 June 2022
 “Community for mission” seems to be encoded in our Marist-DNA. From our very earliest days – we celebrate St. Marcellin this Monday, June 6 – Marists have evangelized from within Christian communities, with Mary at our heart. “We have no other model than the early church” Father Jean-Claude says. This Pentecost on Sunday, June 5, challenges us to be faithful to this vision of Mary at the heart of the community, sent out to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ. There are always some Marists who live on their own for very good reasons. However, our Founder always encouraged us to live in communities for mission, as he himself had done in Cerdon and in the mountains of the Bugey. |
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19 June 2022
 Mary Ghisolfo, Lay Marist serving with Notre Dame des Victoires, San Francisco, California, writes to answer the question: 'Why Does Ministry Among the Poor Awaken for Us the Critical Role of a Marist Vocation?' |
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22 May 2022
 As Australians wake up this morning, they have a new government. But not just a new party in power, but a new way of doing government. Change can be a very hard thing for some. Like the process of dying. We cannot accept the reality and instead create in our heads reasons for this false reality. When Donald Trump lost the November 2020 election, he created a storyline of a “rigged election”. It is hard for our ego to let go of how things were or how things should be. We ignore facts and prefer the way we think. |
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15 May 2022
 The Marist Sisters give thanks to God for their new General Leadership Team elected during the 30th General Chapter at Nemi yesterday. Sr Sylvette Mané (Superior General) is pictured here with Srs Silvia Sanz de Diego, Mari Aranda Sánchez-Lara and Kate McPhee. We ask God blessings upon each of them as they take up their role. |
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25 April 2022
 The opening liturgy of the Marist Sisters General Chapter 2022. |
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24 April 2022
 The Marist Sisters General Chapter will be held in Rome starting on Sunday April 24. The main goal of the General Chapter is to preserve and foster the spiritual patrimony of the Marist Sisters’ Congregation. It examines carefully what the Lord expects of us, by taking into account the directives of the church, developments in contemporary society and the aspirations of each Units (or region). |
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21 April 2022
 In his Easter “To the Church and to the World” message, Pope Francis announces that Jesus, the Crucified One, is risen, and he remembers victims of war, all those suffering around the world, and appeals ardently that the peace of Christ may enter our lives, our homes, and our countries. |
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20 March 2022
 On March 13 the people of Holy Name of Mary parish, Hunters Hill and Woolwich, gathered for a picnic day to farewell retiring parish priest, Father Kevin Bates and welcome their new parish priest father Brian Wilson. |
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26 January 2022
 Kiama Council has announced lay Marist Maria Baden as Australia Day Citizen of the Year for 2022. |
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26 January 2022
 Dialogue Between Generations, Education and Work:
Tools for Building Lasting Peace |
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26 January 2022
 Congratulations to Australian of the Year 2022, Dylan Alcott.As a teenager, tennis player Dylan Alcott was bullied over his disability and 'dreaded being in a wheelchair'.Now 31, Dylan has made history as the first man to achieve a Golden Slam, using his success on the tennis court to reshape perceptions around disability through the Dylan Alcott Foundation, Get Skilled Access and AbilityFest — Australia's first accessible and fully inclusive music festival. 'It may shock a lot of people but the thing I am proudest of now is my disability and I love it.' |
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22 January 2022
 View the June 2009 Marist Laity Australia Newsletter. |
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19 January 2022
 Please pray for the people in Tonga . This is the story of many people in Tonga and their families. There are reports Tonga is struggling with toxic air and contaminated water, after an underwater volcanic eruption triggered a tsunami, wiping out communications. |
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10 January 2022
 From his vast perspective after his eight years in leadership Pope Francis highlights “synodality” as the future direction for the Church. “It is precisely this theme of synodality which God expects of the Church in the third millennium”, he says. We are all urged to participate as best we can in this synodal journey towards and beyond the “Synod on Synodality” in Rome, in |
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10 January 2022
 To be honest, the word ‘synodality’ is one of those words that used to fly right over my head because it wasn’t something I was familiar with. Lucky for me, there was an opportunity to unpack what Pope Francis is asking all people to be part of (see Vademecum p16-17). Are we listening to each other deeply or enough? What’s your experience and what can the Church do to be better at it? “What an opportunity…” I thought to myself, “…what an opportunity IF we do this right. So what do I need to know about this synodal process?” |
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05 January 2022
 December. Sr Gail Reneker will take up the role of Unit Leader of Australia with Srs Julie Brand and Beverley Lewis as her Assistants. The gathering was also an opportunity to give thanks to Sr Catherine Lacey who has been Unit Leader for the past seven years and to Sr Ruth Davis for her role as Unit Assistant for the last three years. |
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25 December 2021
 The Christmas liturgy of Holy Name of Mary parish, Hunters Hill/Woolwich, began with its now-traditional outdoor Vigil Eucharist in the grounds of Villa Maria monastery. |
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24 December 2021
 Thank you for your ongoing support of MLA during this, another challenging year. A huge thank you to All who supported our online prayer reflections and provided such depth of sharing, they were rich exchanges and wonderful times to reconnect across the world. |
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13 November 2021
 It said that a joint message signed by faith leaders and scientists at the Vatican on Oct. 4 recognized the importance of the topic.It also noted that the pope had stressed “the ecological debt and the solidarity that industrialized countries owe to the poor” in Laudato si’ |
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31 October 2021
 Many Indigenous leaders concerned with the federal government's determination to forge ahead with new gas fields. And they don't accept assurances from the government and industry that emissions can be dealt with using carbon capture and storage technology. |
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20 October 2021
 Is this what animates EWTN shows like Raymond Arroyo’s? Is this spirit of schism— known by its contempt, arrogance and disdain, but presenting itself as the defense of orthodoxy and tradition—evident in the ongoing hostility and contempt towards Francis? |
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12 October 2021
 Plenary Podcast, Day 3: Wednesday, 6 October 2021. Journey Catholic Radio’s Jude Hennessy in conversation with Bishop Michael Kennedy (Armidale, NSW) , Br Peter Carroll FMS (Provincial Marist Bros), |
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02 October 2021
 On Saturday October 2, Marist Laity Australia Committee came together for two hours to share, pray, discuss and plan. We spoke deeply about the impacts of the COVID pandemic. Where families cannot see loved one’s who are dying and where others are sitting with people as they enter the last moments of their life. This was a rich sharing. |
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29 September 2021
 But in recent days up to some 15,000 migrants mainly Haitians (but other nationalities including Cubans, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans) crossed the river over the span of a week, by wading over a dam on the river and were then blocked from moving forward . So they made camp under the international bridge on the US side thus creating yet another crisis and for anti-Biden critics a reason to make a lot of noise. |
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13 September 2021
 I regret to write to you that the situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating very quickly. In over 40 years of war, I have not seen the situation so devastating as it is today.
The violence in Kabul and the northeast has forced hundreds of thousands of terrified families to flee their homes in desperate search of safety.
I know first-hand what it is like to flee your home in the face of war and terror. When families flee the terror, they have no choice but to escape quickly, with very few or no possessions. |
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05 September 2021
 So much around us can look as if it is broken. We see fractured countries and societies from Afghanistan to Myanmar, from Ethiopia to Venezuela. A huge earthquake tears Haiti apart while the rest of the world, ravaged with Covid and with fears about potential ecological disaster, hardly notices. Sometimes these factures seem to cut right through our own hearts and our own communities. |
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11 August 2021
 Phil Glendenning brings tales of horror about refugees sent back to their countries by Australia. He provides compelling arguments to support the claim that the Australian public is being lied to by its politicians. |
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11 August 2021
 The Taliban have been making major advances across Afghanistan as foreign troops withdraw, taking at least five regional capitals since Friday. In their most significant gain, the Taliban are now reported to have overrun the northern city of Kunduz. |
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11 August 2021
 Follow the story of many people living in Afghanistan. Both from the Talibans community and the democratic Afghanistan. |
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10 August 2021
 United Nations chief warns. The Earth could be just 10 years from heating by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius since industrialisation — a global warming threshold beyond which even more serious and frequent fires, droughts, floods and cyclones are expected to wreak havoc on humanity. |
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31 July 2021
 The Fijian government is taken a very serious stance on vaccination. At the latest count 78% of the population has received one dose of vaccine. They are using Astra Zeneca. About 19% are fully vaccinated. The government has said for public servants that anyone who has not commenced vaccinated by the 1st of November will find themselves out of work. The governments “no jab no job” policy. |
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31 July 2021
 Listen to the audio of the Marist Voices is a publication to share and promote the life of the Marist laity. |
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24 July 2021
 Everything at this time - for at least the past 15 years and, particularly, in these past years - makes us feel that something is moving: within us, among us, in our 'branches' (Laity, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers), in the Christian churches, in our Church and in the whole world. The papacy of Francis, a new springtime of the Church that relaunches us decisively from the Gospel and from the Council. Our Western world, secularized almost to the point of no longer recognizing its roots, its culture, its values. Our Congregation, stirred by the new breath of Justin Taylor's 'Reset' - yet almost indifferent to it. The pandemic, that has sown deaths, which shaken many to the point of anguish, which seems to destabilize every 'ordinary' to which we had become accustomed or even resigned, in a one-way street of? well-being. But precisely this dramatic planetary event is placing us - we, here, today - before the mystery of the Passion and Death, which brings with it seeds and signs of Resurrection and new life: 'We are all in the same boat'. 'Nobody saves himself alone'. |
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21 July 2021
 By Marist Father Ben McKenna SM. We Marists SM are committed to having an International 'Omnes Gentes' community in Paramatta. Covid has slowed us down, and while we are waiting it is worthwhile to ponder on a summary reflection of the Bishop of Paramatta, +Vincent Long OFM Conv, in his recent Helder Camara lecture. 'My hope for the [Australian] Plenary Council' |
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08 July 2021
 Cardinal John Ribat is the first Cardinal from Papua New Guinea. He shares to Mark Riedemann his first impressions after he was notify of election. He comments on the heroic work of missionaries in these lands, and yet this is still a land for first evangelization. The local Church is trying to develop their own vocations in this country were modernity and “stone age” costumes clash. |
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08 July 2021
 Sr Jane O'Carroll is a Marist sister. She serves in the Auckland Catholic Diocese as Bishop Pat's Pastoral Assistant and is Vicar for religious. Jane is also a member of Te Ropu Tautoko. Te Rōpū Tautoko exists to co-ordinate and manage cooperation between the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care and the Catholic Church in Aotearoa, represented by the Catholic Bishops and Congregational Leaders of Aotearoa New Zealand. In this short video Sr Jane explains the role and function of Te Rou Tautoko. |
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04 July 2021
 It’s a good time to reflect, each of us, on the role of the Eucharist in our personal, community and missionary lives. As Marists, how is the Eucharist “the source and summit of our whole Christian lives”? (Lumen Gentium, 11) |
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02 July 2021
 There is a sense in which the Church must change into a more Christ-like pattern of humility, simplicity and powerlessness as opposed to worldly triumphalism, splendour, dominance and power. Christians in the post-Royal Commission are like the Jews after the exile. The future of the Church, like the New Jerusalem that the exilic prophets often speak of, will not be revitalised by way of simply repeating what was done in the past. It will not be simply a restoration project or doing the old things better. Rather, we must have the courage to do new things; we must be open to the Spirit leading us to new horizons even as we tend to revert to the old ways. |
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14 June 2021
 We pray for peace in the country of Myanmar in Asia. We pray that greatly needed food arrive to the people who are hungry. We pray for medical supplies comes for those who are sick. We pray for the people who wish to stir up violence. May they stop. We pray that that there is an immediate halt to violence that they stop. We pray that peace may enter the hearts for the people of myanmar. We pray that the UN special envoy should be aloud in Myanmar. |
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13 June 2021
 We continue to hear sad stories from the Myanmar refugees in Thailand. MMC funds a hostel program for young refugees and an education and health program in Ranong. Some of these programs have been disrupted due to the uncertain and violent times in their country. The refugees from Myanmar attending our program in Ranong Thailand are directly across the border from Myanmar and these young people are deeply concerned for their families and relatives back in Myanmar. |
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04 June 2021
 'On Pentecost Sunday our Superior General, Fr John Larsen, together with the General House community, planted a ginkgo tree, one of five present during the annual two-day meeting of Marist Superiors-General and councillors held this year at Manziana, a Marist Brothers Centre north of Rome, May 14-15. The Marist Project has long been understood as a tree of many branches to which all types of people can belong |
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22 May 2021
 On Monday May 24, we will celebrate 200 years of Catholic schools in Australia. Most schools will celebrate with a mass. Yet, in this moment, do we remember the first 40 years of British settlement (From 1788 to 1820), where the Catholic church, many other churches, religions and Aboriginal customs were outlawed. Thus, many religions, and many churches began in Australia like the early Christian church, with oppression. Where the government of the day sought to stop their practise. With many lay people hidden in homes continuing religious traditions. Do we celebrate with the 200 years anniversary the many people who risked their lives for their religious faiths and traditions? This causes us to think, where in the world today are religious groups oppressed? As Catholics and people of religion, are we not called to identify and help the oppressed groups? |
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16 May 2021
 Yesterday the leadership teams of the 4 religious branches of the Marist Family gathered in Manziana, in the outskirts of Rome. The meeting was originally planned to take place last year at the Marist Brothers house, L’Hermitage, near Lyons, but because of the pandemic the meeting was postponed. |
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16 May 2021
 Key note speech by Nicky Gumble. |
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13 April 2021
 Tributes to a beloved Australian Poet. My Easter has been coloured by the passing from this life to the next of someone who had a profound significance in the shaping of my Marist vocation. |
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06 April 2021
 Floods & landslides in Indonesia & East Timor leave scores dead | DW News |
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14 March 2021
 In a simple ceremony on March 11 an indigenous cross was blessed by Fr Paul Glynn SM in the grounds of Villa Maria monastery, Hunters Hill. The cross is an initiative of Holy Name of Mary parishioner, Maryanne Knoblanche, who for thirty years has accompanied members of the indigenous Catholic community at Mt Druitt in Sydney's outer west. |
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14 March 2021
 On the second day of his trip to Iraq, Pope Francis has held talks with the country's influential Shia Muslim cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. The historic meeting took place at Sistanis home in the holy city of Najaf. No press were allowed inside for the talks, but a few white doves were released as the Pope entered – underscoring his message of peaceful co-existence between Muslims and Christians in Iraq. The Christian community there has dwindled after years of war and persecution. Those that remain hope a show of solidarity from Sistani could help secure their place in Iraq. |
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23 February 2021
 We hope you had a wonderful Christmas Season filled joy and surrounded with love from family and friends.As we refocus for the year, we take this opportunity to provide a brief update on some planned activities for 2021. |
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10 January 2021
 The heart of our response as Marists to the crises in the natural world around us is a profound “ecological conversion”. Pope Francis writes: “what is needed is an ecological conversion whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationships with the world around them”. (L.S. 217). “Ecological conversion” happens when we meet Christ both in Word and Sacrament and at the same time also in the cry of the poor and the cry of the land. |
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03 January 2021
 In the Apostolic Letter that appointed Fr Paul Martin SM as the tenth Bishop of Christchurch, Pope Francis referred to Paul’s background in education, his pastoral ministry, and, more latterly his management of the Society of Mary’s world-wide finance. These are indeed some of the skills and experience that Paul brings to his new position. However, those who were present at his grand ceremony of Ordination to the Episcopacy in Christchurch saw more than a glimpse of the real man who will fill this position. |
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01 January 2021
 This Christmas is certainly different from the many years of our celebrations. COVID 19 has undeniably changed the world from the moment of its out break. The world was not prepared to face this pandemic. But slowly people have faced it positively despite the challenges it brought to them. It is also undeniably true that this pandemic has taught us lessons; lessons that are already present but we have neglected before. COVID 19 would be part of our lives in the years to come, but it showed us and brought us closer to essential things that truly matter faith in God, family, friends, support, love, generosity. These essentials thrive along the way. |
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29 December 2020
 During our EMLC delegates' Zoom meeting in July, we had the pleasure of getting to know the new European Provincial Delegate for Marist Laity, Fr Antonio Aira (Italy), who has taken over from Fr Jan Hulshof. With Father Antonio, it was decided to continue with the circular letter that Father Jan looked after for several years—thank you to him for all he did for this networking. |
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