Office For Justice, Ecology and Peace

St Bonaventure
2022-07-15 00:00 - 23:59 (Australia/Sydney)
Saint Bonaventure … played an important role in both the medieval Church and the history of the Franciscan Order. A senior faculty member at the University of Paris, Saint Bonaventure certainly captured the hearts of his students through his academic skills and insights. But more importantly, he captured their hearts through his Franciscan love for Jesus and the Church. Like his model, Saint Francis, Jesus was the center of everything—his teaching, his administration, his writing, and his life. So much so, that he was given the title “Seraphic Doctor.” Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day.

It is through Saint Bonaventure’s writings that we have learned much of what we know about the life of St Francis of Assisi.

Trivia question: how many times did Pope Francis quote St Bonaventure in his encyclical Laudato Si’ on the care of our common home?

Saint Mary Magdalene
2022-07-22 00:00 - 23:59
St Mary Magdalene is remembered as the ‘apostle to the apostles’ because she was the first to announce the resurrection of Jesus. The apostles did not believe her and went to see for themselves. According to John, Mary Magdalene was specially privileged to see and speak to the risen Lord on Easter morning.

For Reflection

Today is a good time to listen to what faithful women are saying about God’s call to the Church in Australia at this time. Still Listening to the Spirit: Woman and Man Twenty Years Later is a collection of essays for the twentieth anniversary of research into the participation of women in the Catholic Church in Australia. It is available in bookshops and ebook platforms and can be ordered from the Office for Social Justice.

Buy it here.

Saint James
2022-07-25 00:00 - 23:59
“Very early in his public life, Jesus called James to follow him. Along with Peter and John, James was one of the favored three to witness the Transfiguration of Jesus, the raising of Jairus’s daughter, and the agony in the garden on Holy Thursday night.” Loyola Press

Find out more about St. James here.

Saint Martha
2022-07-29 00:00 - 23:59
“One of the most precious things in life is to have a home where you can go at any time and find people who accept, love, and understand you. The home Jesus found in Bethany was not only in the house but in the faithful heart of a woman named Martha. She welcomed him and served him, and they developed a special bond of friendship.” Loyola Press

Read more about St Martha here.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola
2022-07-31 00:00 - 23:59
One of the many gifts of St Ignatius to the Church is his understanding of the process of discernment. Discernment is more than simply deliberating and making wise decisions. It is about prayerful attentiveness to God’s presence in us and in the world, and openness to answering God’s call to us, both personally and collectively.

The examen prayer, which St Ignatius asked Jesuits to pray twice daily, is a fundamental practice of discernment. It helps us to cultivate awareness of God’s action in us and in our world, and to pay attention to our response. It is not an examination of conscience, like our reflection in preparation for the sacrament of reconciliation, but rather and examination of our consciousness, and so it is sometimes known as the consciousness examen.

There are many contemporary versions of the examen. They share five steps or elements that can be summarized as expression gratitude, seeking insight, reflecting, noticing, and looking forward.

Find out more about St Ignatius of Loyola here.

Image Credit

Saint Dominic's Feast Day (Australia)
2022-08-03 00:00 - 23:59
“Truth was Dominic’s motto and his goal. Dominic was born in Spain, the youngest of four children. He was outstanding for his love of truth, his clear thought, his organizing ability, and his sensitive, loving nature. For Dominic, love for people was part of his love for God.” Loyola Press

The Transfiguration of the Lord
2022-08-06 00:00 - 23:59

St Mary MacKillop
2022-08-08 00:00 - 23:59
St Mary of the Cross Mackillop is the first Australian to be recognised as a saint. You can learn more about her life here.

For Catholics in Australia, the life and work of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop has become an inspiration and a part of their identity. In Catholic Social Justice Series paper No 72, Charity and Justice: St Mary MacKillop and Australian Society, John Warhurst explores Mary’s unwavering vision: that a commitment to justice must go hand in hand with a commitment to hard practical work on behalf of people on the margins of society.

Saint Lawrence
2022-08-10 00:00 - 23:59
What do you think are the real treasures of the Church?

Little is actually known about St Lawrence, but the following legend, recounted by Franciscan Media, persists:

As deacon in Rome, Lawrence was charged with the responsibility for the material goods of the Church, and the distribution of alms to the poor. When Lawrence knew he would be arrested like the pope, he sought out the poor, widows, and orphans of Rome and gave them all the money he had on hand, selling even the sacred vessels of the altar to increase the sum. When the prefect of Rome heard of this, he imagined that the Christians must have considerable treasure. He sent for Lawrence and said, “You Christians say we are cruel to you, but that is not what I have in mind. I am told that your priests offer in gold, that the sacred blood is received in silver cups, that you have golden candlesticks at your evening services. Now, your doctrine says you must render to Caesar what is his. Bring these treasures—the emperor needs them to maintain his forces. God does not cause money to be counted: He brought none of it into the world with him—only words. Give me the money, therefore, and be rich in words.” Lawrence replied that the Church was indeed rich. “I will show you a valuable part. But give me time to set everything in order and make an inventory.” After three days he gathered a great number of blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned, and widowed persons and put them in rows. When the prefect arrived, Lawrence simply said, “These are the treasure of the Church.” The prefect was so angry he told Lawrence that he would indeed have his wish to die—but it would be by inches. He had a great gridiron prepared with coals beneath it, and had Lawrence’s body placed on it. After the martyr had suffered the pain for a long time, the legend concludes, he made his famous cheerful remark, “It is well done. Turn me over!” Franciscan Media

Saint Clare
2022-08-11 00:00 - 23:59
Clare was born of a wealthy family in Assisi, Italy. As a teenager she became aware that Francis, the handsome, wealthy leader of youth in Assisi, had greatly changed. Clare’s community wanted to live according to the rule of Francis. Her community still exists today, the Sisters are called the Poor Clares. Loyola Press

Saint Maximillian Kolbe
2022-08-14 00:00 - 23:59
Pope John Paul II said of Father Kolbe, “He won a victory of love. He loved both his fellow prisoners and those who put him to death. There is no greater love than this.” Loyola Press

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
2022-08-15 00:00 - 23:59
On this day, the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Assumption of Our Lady when according to our faith, the Holy Mother, “having completed her course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” The Catholic Weekly provides some historical background information here.

Saint Alberto Hurtado SJ
2022-08-18 00:00 - 23:59
“Christ roams through our streets in the person of so many suffering poor, sick, dispossessed and people thrown out of their miserable slums: Christ huddled under bridges, in the person of so many children who lack someone to call father, who have been deprived for many years from a mother’s kiss upon their foreheads…Christ is without a home!” St Alberto Hurtado SJ

Alberto Hurtado SJ (1901-1952) served the poor in Chile and founded the Hogar de Cristo or “Home of Christ” for the poor and abandoned young people. He was a staunch advocate of workers rights. Find out more about his life here.

As the Hurtado Jesuit Centre in the UK explain:

“Alberto Hurtado realised the great dangers of his time. In opposition to exploitative capitalism and communist revolution under way in various countries of the world, he, inspired by the social teaching of the Church, promoted a different path: a Christian Social Order, based on the two great virtues of love and justice. But he did not want charity without justice. He said: ‘Many works of charity can bear our society, but all this immense effort of generosity, much to praise, fails to repair the ravages of injustice. Injustice causes far more evils than can be repaired by charity. ‘ ‘We must be righteous before we are generous.'” Hurtado Jesuit Centre

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
2022-08-20 00:00 - 23:59
St Bernard of Clairvaux is a Doctor of the Church and one of the founders of the Cistercian order. He earned a reputation for being able to settle disputes, and was called to various countries to give advice on affairs of Church and of government. Find out more here.

The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
2022-08-22 00:00 - 23:59
The feast of the Queenship of Mary was instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1954. Find out more here.

1999: Death of Dom Helder Camara
2022-08-27 00:00 - 23:59
“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.” Dome Helder Camara

Dom Helder Camara (1909 – 199) was a Brazilian archbishop from 1964-1985. Richard Rohr explains that “under his guidance, the Catholic Church in Brazil criticized the country’s military dictatorships and worked for social change. Camara spoke and wrote against using violence to repress rebellions that resulted from injustice and poverty in other countries as well. In 1971, he published Spiral of Violence, which shows how basic structural injustice leads to escalating rebellion, which then leads to new repression. If you don’t nip this spiral in the bud, recognizing violence at its lowest structural level, it is much harder to stop it at the later stages.”

The process for recognising Dom Helder Camara as a saint has begun.

Saint Augustine of Hippo
2022-08-28 00:00 - 23:59
“You have made us and directed us toward yourself and our heart is restless until we rest in you.” Confessions 1.1

Saint Augustine was one of the great founders of monasticism in the Western Church. The Augustinians in Australia describe his spirituality in the following way:

“In Augustinian spirituality love for God is experienced as love for one another. Where love for another person is present God is present too. ‘Honour God in each other’. We come to God through love of one another, since love for a human being is much more concrete than love for God. In the teaching of Augustine human love has divine love running within it.

The warmth of friendship is likewise essential for Augustine.’Without a human being who is our friend, nothing in the world appears friendly to us.’ Life shared with others culminates in friendship – the gift of loving and being loved. In his spirituality it is as important to relate to one another as it is to pray with them. Thus as we strive for union with others we do so in a shared love for God.

Augustine models for us prayer of the heart, longing to know and to see God. In prayer we progress to God who is human happiness itself.

In Augustinian spirituality all good things come back to the one thing: love, the very centre of Christian existence.”

Social Justice Sunday
2022-08-28 00:00 - 23:59
From 2020 forward, Social Justice Sunday will be celebrated on the last Sunday of August. Previously it was celebrated on the last Sunday in September.

A Long Tradition

The celebration of Social Justice Sunday is a long tradition in the Catholic Church in Australia. For almost every year since 1940, our bishops have joined together to issue a major social justice statement at this time.

Of course, the bishops also make statements on matters of social and ecological justice at other times throughout the year too. These are often issued by individual bishops delegated as spokespersons for particular issues, or by commissions of bishops. By contrast, the social justice statement issued in time for Social Justice Sunday is approved by and issued in the name of the whole bishops’ conference. It is hoped that these statements will inspire reflection and action throughout the whole year.

Social Justice Statement 2020-21

The Social Justice Statement 2020-21 is titled To Live Life to the Full: Mental health in Australia today. You can download Statement and accompanying prayer card on this page of our website and via the ACBC Online Shop.

The 2020–2021 Statement, To Live Life to the Full: Mental health in Australia today, encourages faith communities, governments and each one of us, to make mental health a priority. It is a timely message in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic is affecting many members of our parishes, schools and communities.Understanding mental health will help us to be aware of those who need our support. The Statement encourages us all to reject stigmatisation, to work for the transformation of social determinants of mental ill-health, and to call for policies and service provision that meets the needs of the poorest and most marginalised members of our community.

Previous Statements

View and download Social Justice Statements and associated resources from 2014 – 2019 here.

The Social Justice Statements from 1988 – 2013 have been published together in a book called Building Bridges.

Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
2022-08-29 00:00 - 23:59

1815: Founding of Sisters of Charity by Mary Aikenhead
2022-09-01 00:00 - 23:59
“In 1815, Mary Aikenhead, with Alicia Walsh, after completing their novitiate, founded the Religious Sisters of Charity in Ireland. They were the first, so-called Walking Nuns who visited the sick in their homes and tried to alleviate the wide spread poverty. Mother Mary Aikenhead’s dependence on Divine Providence – “God will provide” – was the driving force in all that she achieved for God’s poor. This is the legacy the Sisters of Charity of Australia hold dear.” Sisters of Charity, Australia

World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation
2022-09-01 00:00 - 23:59

Saint Gregory the Great
2022-09-03 00:00 - 23:59
“Gregory was born about A.D. 540 in Rome, the son of a wealthy senator. Like most of the nobility of his time, he was well educated. But unlike many, he was generous and concerned about those who were poor. One of the four key Fathers of the Western Church, Gregory is sometimes accredited with Gregorian chant, the Church’s liturgical chant form, was known for liturgical reform and for encouraging the Stations of the Cross and daily Mass during Lent.” Loyola Press

Season of Creation begins
2022-09-04 00:00 - 23:59
The idea of celebrating a Season of Creation began in the Lutheran Church in Adelaide, Australia in 2000. Now many different churches all over the world take part. In 2016 the Catholic Church joined in. The season embraces the four Sundays of September before the Feast of St Francis of Assisi – 4 October.

Norman Habel explains: “The season of Creation offers an opportunity for churches to introduce new visual elements into their worship and to be ecumenical and connected with creation in a particular context.” More information here.

Pope Francis’ Prayer Intention: Respect for the Planet’s Resources

Pope Francis’ prayer intention for September also focuses on care for creation. He calls us to respect the planet’s resources and to share rather than plunder them.

Some ways of celebrating

Watch Pope Francis’ video message for the Season of Creation.Share the video explaining Pope Francis’ prayer intention for September.Prepare prayers of intercession for use at Mass on the Sundays of September.Plan a prayer service or liturgy that embraces your local environment.Review the carbon footprint of your household, parish, school or organisation.Use the social media collateral available here.Participate in the Caritas Catholic Earthcare Convocation.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa)
2022-09-05 00:00 - 23:59
“The cry of Jesus on the Cross, ‘I thirst’ (Jn 19: 28), expressing the depth of God’s longing for man, penetrated Mother Teresa’s soul and found fertile soil in her heart.” Pope John Paul II, 19 October 2003

Mother Teresa served the poor for 69 years and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Find out more about Mother Teresa from Franciscan Media.

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
2022-09-08 00:00 - 23:59
“The Church has celebrated Mary’s birth since at least the sixth century. A September birth was chosen because the Eastern Church begins its Church year with September. The September 8 date helped determine the date for the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.” Franciscan Media

Image: The Birth of the Virgin | fresco by Giotto

Saint Peter Claver
2022-09-09 00:00 - 23:59
“When he was 29 years old, Peter left his home in Spain and went to Cartagena (in what is now Colombia), South America. There he continued his studies and was ordained a priest. Cartagena was the main market for the slave trade in the New World. Whenever a ship carrying Africans arrived in port, Peter was there. He would hurry down with a jug of water, and a basket full of medicine, fruit, bread, and clothing. His first concern was to tend to their human needs — to ease their suffering and somehow restore their sense of dignity. He saw the suffering Jesus in the people he served. A man of deep prayer, unbounded energy, and steady devotion, Peter Claver realized that it was his relationship with Christ that nourished his spirit and gave him the courage to go on when so many problems surrounded his work. When he died the city that had opposed so many of his efforts honored him.” Loyola Press

Learn More

Today is a good day to learn more about modern slavery.

Anti Slavery Australia provides free legal services for those in situations of modern slavery, undertakes research and advocacy, and provides training and capacity building for organisations working against modern slavery.

The Anti-Slavery Taskforce of the Sydney Archdiocese helps church organisations to eliminate slavery from their supply chains.

Pray

O God, who made Saint Peter Claver a slave of slaves
and strengthened him with wonder charity and patience
as he came to their help,
grant, through his intercession, that,
seeking the things of Jesus Christ,
we may love our neighbor in deeds and in truth.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen

Exaltation of the Holy Cross
2022-09-14 00:00 - 23:59
“The cross is a sign of suffering, a sign of human cruelty at its worst. But by Christ’s love shown in the Paschal Mystery, it has become the sign of triumph and victory, the sign of God, who is love itself.” Loyola Press

1981: Pope John Paul II's encyclical Laborem Exercens ('On Human Work')
2022-09-14 00:00 - 23:59
“Pope John Paul II issued Laborem Exercens to mark the ninetieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum. It is also known by the English title On Human Labour. John Paul II’s own experience as a manual labourer and his personalist philosophical ethics shape this social encyclical.

Unemployment and the impact of technology on work are major concerns of this encyclical. As well as affirming a right to work, to a just wage, and to form unions, Laborem Exercens introduces the concept of an ‘indirect employer’…

Laborem Exercens concludes with a spirituality of work. This spirituality focuses on the role of work in the transformation of nature and in personal fulfillment, the provision of the basis of family life, and contributing to the common good. John Paul II values the subjective over the objective dimensions of work. Work is valuable because it is the free act of a human person who is a subject and not an object.”

Sandie Cornish, Introduction to Laborem Exercens, Social Spirituality.

Saint Robert Bellarmine
2022-09-17 00:00 - 23:59
Robert Bellarmine was a Jesuit scholar who was eventually made a Cardinal. His major work Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith, helped to discredit the divine right of kings theory. This paved the way for Catholic Social Teaching’s contemporary understanding of the Pope’s role in temporal affairs, and of the role of the laity.

Find out more about his life here.

Migrant and Refugee Sunday
2022-09-25 00:00 - 23:59
The theme for Migrant and Refugee Sunday 2020 is “Forced Like Jesus Christ to Flee”. Read Pope Francis’ Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees here.

From this year forward, Migrant and Refugee Sunday will be celebrated in Australia on the last Sunday in September. This brings the practice of the Church in Australia into line with the practice of the Church around the world.

The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) produces a Migrant & Refugee Kit it to help parishes, schools and Catholic organisations to celebrate Migrant and Refugee Sunday.

The Migrant and Refugee Section of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development also offers resources for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. The 2022 theme is ‘Building the Future with Migrants and Refugees’ You can read Pope Francis’ Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2022 here.
