October 21, 2019
Almost 23 per cent of Australia’s population identified as Catholics in the 2016 census. There are about 1.3 billion Catholics in the world. So, would your coming to the Diocesan Synod on Saturday, 23 November really make any difference to how we live our lives in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle as Catholics, and would that make a difference to our local communities, the life of Australians or indeed the global community?
October 15, 2019
Thanks to Helen Belcher for her message to you last week about the Plenary Council and our own Diocesan Synod. I trust by now that you are aware of both, and are keen to be involved. Some of our parishes are inviting people to engage in the Plenary Council Listening and Discernment process before Christmas, while others are going to wait until February. It is important that as many of you as possible respond to the process at a national, diocesan and parish level. We are attempting to ‘Listen to what the Spirit is saying’.
October 01, 2019
The Journey, a Catholic Program, is broadcast each Sunday night on Rhema FM 99.7 at 6.30pm. It is a work of the Diocese of Wollongong, undertaken in partnership with Pulse 94.1FM Wollongong, and aired on a growing number of Christian radio stations around Australia.
September 24, 2019
How wonderful it is to see, feel and smell that spring has arrived. From 1 September to 4 October, Christians around the world are praying and caring for creation. It’s the “Season of Creation”. The beginning and the end date of Season of Creation are linked with the concern for creation in the Eastern and the Western traditions of Christianity, respectively.
September 17, 2019
Once again it is Sunday evening and I have returned home from Mass at the Cathedral where we prayed the prayers of the Perpetual Day of Remembrance. I hope these prayers were prayed in every Mass across the Diocese over the weekend. If you missed them please go to The Office of Safeguarding website, where you will find a very short but powerful YouTube video, along with the resources that were produced for this day, September 15. The theme chosen for this year’s Perpetual Day of Remembrance was Shine the Light of Christ, with the strong message of, 'together, we can shine the light of Christ, a light of solidarity and hope.'
September 06, 2019
The Diocese are seeking Animators to assist the diocesan community in the second stage of preparing for the Plenary Council, through Listening and Discernment.