Office For Justice, Ecology and Peace

St Joseph the Worker
2021-05-01 00:00 - 23:59 (Australia/Sydney)
Resources including a video, the full text of Bishop Long’s Pastoral Message for the Feast of St Joseph the Worker 2020, and graphics are available here.

Did you know that for over twenty years now the Catholic Church in Australia has marked the Feast of St Joseph the Worker with a pastoral letter? These letters place Catholic Social Teaching in dialogue with current work issues in Australia, making a uniquely Australian contribution to the Church’s teachings on work. Initiated and created by laity and bishops together – they come from and belong to the whole church. Bishop Terry Brady, Pastoral Letter for the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, 2019.

On 1 May the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St Joseph the Worker. The pastoral letters of the Australian Catholic Bishops for this occasion have addressed unemployment, underemployment, insecure and casualised work, the meaning of work, the quest for decent work and much more. Find out more here.

1991: Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) Encyclical issued by Pope John Paul II
2021-05-01 00:00 - 23:59
The Red Vineyard – Vincent Van Gogh

In the 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year), Pope John Paul II affirmed the groundbreaking encyclical Rerum Novarum from Pope Leo Xlll in 1891 where the fundamental rights and dignity of workers and work were clearly stated. It addressed any ongoing perceived conflict between the provision of capital and labour, acknowledging work as central to vocation, with a key social dimension that relates directly to the common good:

“Work thus belongs to the vocation of every person; indeed, man expresses and fulfils himself by working. At the same time, work has a “social” dimension through its intimate relationship not only to the family, but also to the common good, since “it may truly be said that it is only by the labour of working-men that States grow rich.” Centesimus Annus, #6

Employers were also challenged again to provide a living wage and humane conditions for their workers as foundational conditions of just employment:

“A workman’s wages should be sufficient to enable him to support himself, his wife and his children. “If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accepts harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice.” (CA, #8).

Both Rerum Novarum and Centesimo Annos continue to speak powerfully today in regard to human dignity, especially for workers and their families. Just work policies and practices are part of God’s work in and for our world.

To read more about Centesimus Annos: http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_01051991_centesimus-annus.html

2016: Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen appointed Bishop of Parramatta
2021-05-05 00:00 - 23:59
Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv is the first Vietnamese born bishop to lead a diocese outside of Vietnam and the first Vietnamese born bishop in Australia. He was born in 1961 in Dong Nai in Vietnam. Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, his family has been dispersed.

In 1984, Vincent Long became a professed Conventual Franciscan friar (OFM Conv) and studied for the priesthood in Melbourne. After his priestly ordination on 30 December in 1989, he was sent to Rome for further studies and was awarded a licentiate in Christology and Spirituality from the Pontifical Faculty of St Bonaventure.

He served as an assistant and then parish priest for seven years in Kellyville within the Diocese of Parramatta and for seven years in Springvale in Victoria before being elected Superior of the Order of Friars Minor Conventuals in Australia in 2005. He served as Assistant General in Rome from 2008 until 2011, responsible for the Asia-Oceania section of his Order.

In 2011, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne in which role he served for nearly five years. On 16 June 2016, Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv was installed as the fourth Bishop of Parramatta at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Parramatta.

Find out more about Bishop Vincent here.

1971: Paul VI's Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens (A Call to Action)
2021-05-14 00:00 - 23:59

1891: Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of the Working Classes)
2021-05-15 00:00 - 23:59
The Red Vineyard – Vincent Van Gogh

Rerum Novarum was a groundbreaking encyclical from Pope Leo Xlll in 1891 that laid the foundation for modern Catholic Social Teaching. It directly took up the issue of the dignity and rights of workers in a rapidly changing world where industrialisation had created an ever widening gap between the materially rich and the working poor. Rerum Novarum offered a just way forward for employers and workers, naming human rights in every workplace as foundational for a just society. The encyclical emphatically stated that moral virtue was central to authentic Christian life. This includes just work policies and practices:

“…..it is more easy to understand that the true worth and nobility of man lie in his moral qualities, that is, in virtue; that virtue is, moreover, the common inheritance of men, equally within the reach of high and low, rich and poor; and that virtue, and virtue alone, wherever found, will be followed by the rewards of everlasting happiness.” Rerum Novarum #24

To view the Encyclical:

http://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html

To find out more about Catholic Social Teaching:

Catholic Social Teaching an Introduction

Prayer for Workers:

Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers

Lord God, Master of the Vineyard,How wonderful that you have invited uswho labor by the sweat of our browto be workers in the vineyardand assist your workto shape the world around us.

As we seek to respond to this call,make us attentive to those who seek workbut cannot find it.

Help us listen to the struggles of thosewho work hard to provide for their familiesbut still have trouble making ends meet.

Open our eyes to the struggles of those exploitedand help us speak for just wages and safe conditions,the freedom to organize, and time for renewal.For work was made for humankindand not humankind for work.Let it not be a vehicle for exploitationbut a radiant expression of our human dignity.

Give all who labor listening heartsthat we may pause from our workto receive your gift of rest.

Fill us with your Holy Spiritthat you might work through us to let your justice reign.

Amen.

Copyright © 2019, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. All rights reserved. This text may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration for nonprofit educational use, provided such reprints are not sold and include this notice.

https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/prayers/dignity-of-work-and-the-rights-of-workers-prayer

Artwork:

The Red Vineyard by Vincent Van Gogh

Music:

God of Day and God of Darkness – Marty Haugen

1931: Pius XI's encyclical Quadragesimo Anno (Reconstruction and the Social Order)
2021-05-15 00:00 - 23:59

1961: John XXIII's encyclical Mater et Magistra (Christianity and Social Progress)
2021-05-15 00:00 - 23:59

2005: Death of Fr Ted Kennedy
2021-05-17 00:00 - 23:59

2015: Pope Francis' Encyclical Laudato Si' (On Care for our Common Home)
2021-05-24 00:00 - 23:59

Mary Help of Christians, Patron of Australia
2021-05-24 00:00 - 23:59

Mary Help of Christians, Patron of Australia
2021-05-25 00:00 - 23:59
Mary Help of Christians – Artist Uknown

Mary Help of Christians is the Patroness of Australia. The establishment of the feast has an interesting history, and a unique place in the Catholic history of Australia. The feast focusses on Mary’s help to those in need through her intercession to confront sin and to stand against anti-Christian forces.

Pope Pius VII established the feast in honour of Our Lady Help of Christians in 1815. After being imprisoned by Napoleon Bonaparte, he established the feast in thanksgiving for his release. Australia, a new colony at that time, had no Catholic priests and therefore no Mass available. The faithful recited and relied on the Rosary to sustain the Catholic community. In 1844, Australia became the first country in the world to have Mary Help of Christians as Patroness. – From the ACBC Resource Entrusting Australia to Mary Help of Christians, 2020.

Learn more here:

Entrust-to-Mary-Help-of-Christians-ACBC-ResourceDownload

Prayer:

Mary Help of Christians, Patroness of Australia and of the Military Ordinariate Almighty God, deepen in our hearts our love of Mary Help of Christians. Through her prayers and under her protection, may the light of Christ shine over our land. May Australia be granted harmony, justice and peace. Grant wisdom to our leaders and integrity to our citizens. Bless especially the men and women of the Australian Defence Force and their families. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Mary Help of Christians, pray for us.

Artwork:

Mary Help of Christians – Artist Unknown

Music:

Sing of Lady by Liam Lawton

Mary Help of Christians by Liam Lawton

National Sorry Day
2021-05-26 00:00 - 23:59
Our Home (2019) – Patrice Muthaymiles-Mahoney OAM (1975 – )

Sorry Day has been observed since 1998, one year after the Bringing Them Home report was presented in the Australian Federal Parliament. This report detailed the impact of the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. Sorry Day offers an opportunity to reflect on the hardship faced when children were taken into institutional and foster care by governments and church agencies and placed with non-Indigenous families. These Stolen Generations suffered greatly from being removed from their loved ones at such an early age, and for many the scars were life-long. However, Sorry Day is also an opportunity to “acknowledge the strength of Stolen Generations Survivors and reflect on how we can all play a part in the healing process for our people and nation.”

Going Deeper

https://www.reconciliation.org.au

Prayer

Almighty and loving God, you who created ALL people in your image.

Lead us to seek your compassion as we listen to the stories of our past. You gave your only Son, Jesus, who died and rose again so that sins will be forgiven.

We place before you the pain and anguish of dispossession of land, language, lore, culture, and family kinship that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have experienced. We live in faith that all people will rise from the depths of despair and hopelessness. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families have endured the pain and loss of loved ones, through the separation of children from their families.

We are sorry and ask God’s forgiveness.

Touch the hearts of the broken, homeless, and inflicted and heal their spirits.

In your mercy and compassion walk with us as we continue our journey of healing to create a future that is just and equitable.

Lord, you are our hope. Amen.

Aboriginal and Islander Commission of the National Council of Churches in Australia, (NATSIEC) 2003.

Artwork

Our Home (2019) by Patrice Muthaymiles-Mahoney OAM (1975 – )

Music

Took the Children Away by Archie Roach.

Took The Children Away – Archie Roach

1886: Catholic and Anglican Martyrs of Uganda
2021-06-03 00:00 - 23:59

2004: Queensland Bishops issue 'Let the Many Coastlands be glad!' Pastoral Letter on the Great Barrier Reef
2021-06-08 00:00 - 23:59
“The Holy Spirit is clearly guiding us into a deeper sense ofcompanionship and care in regard to all the varied forms of life onplanet Earth. Not only is the Reef a precious ecosystem in itself, but alsoan integral part of the one web of planetary life that connects us all –the human species and all species of the land and sea, rainforest andreef, mountains, plains and inland desert.” Catholic Bishops of Queensland, Let the Many Coastlands be Glad!, 2004

Today is a great day to read Let the Many Coastlands Be Glad! again.

For Reflection

Imagine you were helping the Queensland Bishops to draft a pastoral letter on the Great Barrier Reef today. What has changed for the Great Barrier Reef since Let the Many Coastlands Be Glad! was published? Are there new issues to address? How might you take the teaching of Pope Francis into account in updating the Queensland Bishops’ teaching?

Sts John Fisher and Thomas More
2021-06-22 00:00 - 23:59

Nativity of John the Baptist
2021-06-24 00:00 - 23:59
John the Baptist is the herald for the Messiah, his cousin Jesus. He forms a bridge between the Old and New Testaments, and like Jesus, pays the ultimate cost for speaking truth to power. John challenged what was evil and immoral in his day, witnessing to the promise of a loving God. John was often portrayed as mad and wild, wandering through physical and social deserts, and existing mainly on the bounty of the land. The prophet’s road is one where we find inspiration and courage, and baptism is our ongoing call to live lives that bring justice and peace to those around us. The cost can be high for embracing God’s love in the everyday reality of our lives. The cost of not embracing it is even higher.

Who are the prophets in our midst who we would rather not hear? How can we lift them up and work with God’s love, alive and active in our world today? What do we need to change to follow the baptismal call to conversion of life?

Prayer:

John the Baptist, Witness to Truth

God, source of our hope, through John the Baptist you gave us an example of a man close to the concerns of your own heart, and alive to the needs of his time. May we too draw on his courage, forthrightness and love of you and your people. May we live into his characteristics and become more fully witnesses to Christ’s love for today’s world. We ask this, confident of your generosity and encouragement. Amen.

Adapted from the Sisters of St Joseph, Evening Prayer, 2010.

Artwork:

The Baptism of Christ (c. 1448 – 50) byPiero della Francesca (c. 1415 – 1492)

Music:

Benedictus by Steve Angrisano

Day of the Seafarer
2021-06-25 00:00 - 23:59
Courage, I am with you. Matthew 14: 27

The International Day of the Seafarer is co-ordinated each year by the International Maritime Organisation. In 2021, the focus is again centred around encouraging governments to support seafarers amid the pandemic. The organisation is calling for a fair future for seafarers. Major issues include fair treatment, fair working conditions, fair training, and fair safety: ILO’s Maritime Labour Convention

A new declaration calling for seafarers to be considered essential workers is gaining support across international boundaries, with almost 70 countries signing on. Catholic agency Stella Maris Australia supports this declaration; the Catholic agency provides spiritual and practical support to seafarers, while also engaging in international advocacy on their behalf. The agency also actively supports local efforts to approach the Australian Government in regard to the ongoing rights and wellbeing of seafarers. The Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change calls for better practices in facilitating changes of crew, and for early access for seafarers to COVID-19 vaccinations. Many seafarers are affected by expiration of contracts, the inability to disembark at some ports, and physical and mental health challenges. The Neptune Declaration states:

“This is not an acceptable way to treat seafarers, who are the frontline workers of the maritime industry, carrying 90 per cent of global trade….Fatigue after extended periods at sea has significant consequences on the physical and mental wellbeing of seafarers.”

Click here to access the Neptune Declaration.

For resources from Stella Maris for Sea Sunday, July 11, 2021: stellamarisaustralia.org

Prayer:

A Prayer for Seafarers

Be with Seafarers, Lord, on all their voyages, to cheer them and keep them safe in all dangers. Let nothing afloat or on shore cut them off from you. May they please you in everything they do. Bless all on board their ship, whatever their responsibility. Enable everyone to do their duty. Help them to be good shipmates and bring them back again safely to their homes and to those who long for their return, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

From The National Liturgy Office of New Zealand.

Photo:

International seafarers with staff of Stella Maris, Melbourne.

Music:

Eternal Father, Strong to Save by John Bacchus Dykes.

Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
2021-06-29 00:00 - 23:59

2009: Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth)
2021-06-29 00:00 - 23:59
“Knowing that we, as persons and communities, are part of God’s family gives us a vision and energy to serve a truly integral human development.” Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, n 78.

Read a general introduction to Caritas in Veritate here.

St Thomas, Apostle
2021-07-03 00:00 - 23:59
We feel great kinship for the apostle Thomas because, like him, most of us curiously combine faith and doubt. We sometimes share the enthusiasm St. Thomas expressed when upon Lazarus’s death Jesus decided to go to Bethany. “Let’s go too,” Thomas said to the other disciples,“that we may die with him” (see John 11:16). But also like him we sometimes wonder where Jesus is headed and where he is taking us (see John 14:5).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday
2021-07-04 00:00 - 23:59
Access resources for the celebration of this Sunday produced by the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council here. We provide an overview here.

These videos were produced in 2020 however they still contain useful messages for the celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday.

Bishop Don Sproxton’s Message for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday is the first Sunday in July. NAIDOC Week follows because it is always celebrated in the first full week of July.

Here is an online Acknowledgement of Country that you can use at your own events.

Online Acknowledgement of Country from NATSICC

Find out more about NATSICC’s concerns for First Nations communities facing COVID-19 and the ways in which NATSICC is responding here.

1945: Blessed Peter To Rot
2021-07-07 00:00 - 23:59
On this day in 1945 Blessed Peter To Rot was martyred in Papua New Guinea. Find out more about his life here.

St Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions
2021-07-09 00:00 - 23:59
Augustine Zhao Rong was a Chinese soldier who accompanied Bishop John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse of the Paris Foreign Mission Society to his martyrdom in Beijing. Not long after his baptism, Augustine was ordained as a diocesan priest. He was martyred in 1815. Beatified in groups at various times, these 120 martyrs were canonized together in Rome on October 1, 2000. https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-augustine-zhao-rong-and-companions/

Find out more here.

St Bonaventure
2021-07-15 00:00 - 23:59
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
2021-07-22 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
2021-07-25 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
2021-07-29 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
2021-07-31 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

The Transfiguration of the Lord
2021-08-06 00:00 - 23:59

St Mary MacKillop
2021-08-08 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.
