Zero Discrimination Day
2023-03-01 00:00 - 23:59 (Australia/Sydney)
Zero Discrimination Day is an opportunity to promote everyone’s right to live a dignified life free from discrimination regardless of their age, gender, sexuality, nationality, ethnicity, skin color, height, weight, profession, education, and beliefs.

While many countries have laws against discrimination, it is remains a problem in reality around the world. Some countries even use discrimination as a way of governing.

1999: International Treaty to Ban Landmines enters into force.
2023-03-01 00:00 - 23:59
Find our more about the Treaty here.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) provides advocacy tools for campaigners, including multimedia resources, ICBL statements, partner resources, and the Landmine Monitor, to keep you up to date on the landmine issue.

World Wildlife Day
2023-03-03 00:00 - 23:59
Find out more on the official United Nations website for the day here.

1970: International Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
2023-03-05 00:00 - 23:59

International Women's Day
2023-03-08 00:00 - 23:59
Pope Francis is making small but significant steps towards greater inclusion of women in decision making and leadership roles in the Church. He has amended Canon Law so that women may be officially recognized as exercising the ministries of Lector and Acolyte. And he has appointed a woman as Under-Secretary to the Synod of Bishops – with the right to vote. This is a good day to pay attention to women’s contributions in our local Church too. Here is a list women theologians in Australia and New Zealand 160+ Australian and New Zealander Women in Theology You Should Know About

In 2020 we marked the twentieth anniversary of the Australian Bishops’ response to research on the participation of women in the Catholic Church in Australia. The research results were published as Woman and Man: One in Christ Jesus (Harper Collins, 1999) and the Bishops’ Social Justice Sunday Statement for 2000 was titled Woman and Man: the Bishops Respond. In 2019 the Office for Social Justice published a collection of essays marking these anniversaries. Titled Still Listening to the Spirit: Woman and Man Twenty Years Later, the book was a collaboration with the Office for the Participation of Women.

In their foreword to the collection, Archbishop Christopher Prowse and Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen acknowledge:

… twenty years down the track, women are still listening to the Spirit and seeking to engage the whole Church in a conversation about a more fulsome development of the participation of women in the Church, for the sake of us all, and for the sake of the Reign of God. There is unfinished business from the action commitments made by the bishops in 2000. There is also an opportunity to contribute to the communal discernment process of the Plenary Council 2020. This collection of essays enrages creatively with both of these elements of the present moment. Archbishop Christopher Prowse and Bishop Vincent Long, Foreword, Still Listening to the Spirit

Buy Still Listening to the Spirit: Woman and Man Twenty Years Later here. Download the discussion guide for the book here.

2003: Invasion of Iraq by USA and Allies
2023-03-19 00:00 - 23:59

International Day of Happiness
2023-03-20 00:00 - 23:59

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
2023-03-21 00:00 - 23:59

International Day of Forests
2023-03-21 00:00 - 23:59

World Down Syndrome Day
2023-03-21 00:00 - 23:59

World Poetry Day
2023-03-21 00:00 - 23:59

Week of Solidarity with the Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination
2023-03-21 08:00 - 2023-03-22 17:00

World Water Day
2023-03-22 00:00 - 23:59
“The earth’s biodiversity, the functioning of the various biomes and of the atmosphere, the cycles of water and climate remind us of how versatile and fundamental this precious creature of God is.” Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, Acqua Fons Vitae, p 13.

World Water Day has been celebrated since 1993. Now a core focus of the day is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. The theme of World Water Day in 2021 is valuing water.

In Aqua Fons Vitae, the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development point out that as well as an economic value, water has a religious value, socio-cultural and aesthetic value, and even an institutional value and a value for peace. You can access a collection of Church statements, tools and initiatives related Aqua fons vitae here.

For Reflection

How do you value water?

Which of the proposals in Aqua Fons Vitae are the most important for your community?

World Meteorological Day
2023-03-23 00:00 - 23:59

International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims
2023-03-24 00:00 - 23:59

International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing UN Staff Members
2023-03-25 00:00 - 23:59

1975: Biological Weapons Convention
2023-03-26 00:00 - 23:59

Earth Hour
2023-03-28 20:30 - 21:30

World Autism Awareness Day
2023-04-02 00:00 - 23:59

International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action
2023-04-04 00:00 - 23:59
The United Nations established this day in 2005 through this resolution.

The annual message for the day, together with other resources, are available here.

International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
2023-04-06 00:00 - 23:59
Find out more about why the United Nations declared this day here.

A Crown for Australia: Striving for the Best in Our Sporting Nation

Today is a great day to revisit the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Social Justice Statement 2014–2015. It challenges us to look at the place of sport in our lives. Where are its strengths and how can we ensure that sport can thrive and in return can nourish our society? Equally, what are the influences that are undermining and distorting sport’s ideals? Most importantly, how can we work to realise sport’s potential to unite communities, overcome differences and be a force for social justice and reconciliation?

Prayer for Good Sports

God of all sports (and none);from our small minds,how amused you must bewhen our prayers about sportare about our own success or our team's.Whose side are you on?How do you choosewhen supporters from both sidesimplore your divine intervention?Remind us that in prayerour hearts are opened to youand our minds lifted beyond ourselves.Just as prayer changes us,not you, O God,so sport too, can lift us beyond ourselves.So we pray:We give thanks for the gift of our bodies,for the ability to run, walk, jump,swim, catch and throw.We pray for patience and discipline,that we may learn the joy of mastering new skills:achieving success, and cheerfully bearing failurein the company of others.We pray that our relationships be enrichedthrough the friendships we form.May we learn to include others across bordersof language, colour, gender and religion.We pray that we care for others.May we especially look out for thosewho are differently abled,and those often left on the boundaries.Through our vigilancemay we always play fair,and ensure that no one is abused or exploited.We ask this through Jesus your son. Amen.

International Day of Reflection on the Genocide in Rwanda
2023-04-07 00:00 - 23:59

World Health Day
2023-04-07 00:00 - 23:59

International Mother Earth Day
2023-04-22 00:00 - 23:59
Tree of Life – Mieke Boynton

Mother Earth is a common expression for the planet earth in a number of countries and regions, which reflects the interdependence that exists among human beings, other living species and the planet we all inhabit. Resolution establishing Mother Earth Day adopted by the General Assembly on 22 April 2009

The United Nations designated this day in 2009. It was already celebrated in a number of different countries prior to this. You can find a range of related resources for the celebration of this day here.

Artwork:

Tree of Life – Mieke Boynton

Music:

Tend the Ground – Curtis Stephan

Tend the Ground – Curtis Stephan

World Book and Copyright Day
2023-04-23 00:00 - 23:59
Did you know that this date was chosen by the United Nations because it was on this date in 1616 that Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare and Inc Garcilaso de la Vega died?

Read the UNESCO resolution proclaiming the day here.

Access resources for celebrating the day here.

1945: First united Nations Conference opens
2023-04-25 00:00 - 23:59

1986: Nuclear accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine
2023-04-26 00:00 - 23:59

World Day for Health and Safety at Work
2023-04-28 00:00 - 23:59
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) began to celebrate this day in 2003 however the trade union movement internationally has marked this day as the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers since 1996. This celebration is an integral part of the Global Strategy on Occupational Safety and Health of the ILO.

As part of the 2020 World Day for safety and health at work campaign, the ILO will produce a global report, highlighting how a comprehensive OSH [occupational safety and health] framework at both national and workplace level could address violence and harassment in the world of work. This includes for example incorporating provisions related to violence and harassment into OSH laws, regulations and collective agreements and developing specific standards, code of practices and guidelines to support the implementation of programmes and preventive measures in the workplaces. At the workplace level, sound OSH management systems can include the assessment and control of psychosocial risks including the interplay with violence and harassment. ILO, World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2020 – Violence and Harassment in the World of Work

International Workers Day
2023-05-01 00:00 - 23:59

World Press Freedom Day
2023-05-03 00:00 - 23:59
