Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus)
Children all over the world know him and love him. In Germany, he’s Kriss Kringle. In France, he’s Pere Noel. British children call him Father Christmas. Of course, you know… Read More »Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus)
Children all over the world know him and love him. In Germany, he’s Kriss Kringle. In France, he’s Pere Noel. British children call him Father Christmas. Of course, you know… Read More »Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus)
7 December will mark the anniversary of the release of Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. Promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1965, this key document in Vatican II called all to holiness and to integrate their life so that their deeds and words align privately and publicly. It also put human dignity and value at the centre and stood against a split between worship and mission.
"It begins, I think with that act of recognition. Recognition that it was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life.… Read More »1992: Redfern Speech by Prime Minister Paul Keating
Celebrate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by reading a simplified version or the illustrated booklet of the Declaration, or watching the Declaration in sign languages.
Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1778. In 1824 she used her inheritance from an Irish couple she had served for twenty years to build a large House… Read More »1831: Founding of Sisters of Mercy by Catherine McAuley
The Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (NTA) is a law passed by the Australian Parliament that recognises the rights and interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in land and waters… Read More »1993: Passage of Native Title Bill by the Australian Senate
At the end of the 19th century, Australian colonies had concerns about who was migrating to Australia. With a rise in the number of migrants from China and the Pacific,… Read More »1901: Enactment of Immigration Restriction Act (White Australian Policy)
In The Wik Peoples v The State of Queensland & Ors; The Thayorre People v The State of Queensland & Ors HCA 40 ('Wik'), the High Court held that native… Read More »1996: Wik High Court decision
"Pope John Paul II’s 1987 social encyclical Sollicitudo rei Socialis marks the twentieth anniversary of Populorum Progressio. Sollicitudo rei Socialis is also known by the English title On Social Concerns. It was the first major Catholic… Read More »1987: Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (‘On Social Concerns’)