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… Read More »Zero Discrimination Day
Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day is sometimes known as ‘Bikini’ Day because it marks the anniversary of the US ‘Bravo’ nuclear bomb detonation at Bikini Atoll in 1954. The explosion gouged out a crater more than 200 feet deep and a mile across, melting huge quantities of coral which were sucked up into the… Read More »Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day
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.
In the USA, the Reboot Network initiated the National Day of Unplugging to encourage people to unplug, unwind, relax and do things other than using digital technology, electronics and social media for twenty four hours beginning at sundown on the first Friday in March. It builds on the Sabbath Manifesto which draws on and adapts… Read More »International Day of Unplugging
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… Read More »International Women’s Day
On this day an earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima Prefecture in Japan killed 18,500 people. Damage to a nuclear power plant in this event caused widespread contamination and the displacement of thousands of people. Reflecting on these events, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Japan called for the abolition on nuclear power: We, the Catholic Bishops’… Read More »2011: Fukushima Earthquake and Tsunami
Deacn Boniface, a respected Elder and the first Aboriginal permanent deacon, passed away in 2019. As the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council's tribute page for Deacon Boniface says: His words and actions spoke loudly to the members of the Wadeye Community - of which he was a deeply loved and respected Elder… Read More »2019: Death of Deacon Boniface Perdjert
This national day is observed in Australia. Find resources to help you to mark this day here.
"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… Read More »World Water Day
William Cooper was an inspirational Aboriginal leader in New South Wales and Victoria in the early part of the 20th century and a founding secretary of the Australian Aborigines’ League.The league was created to lobby state and federal governments on behalf of Aboriginal people. The powerful symbolic gesture of a Day of Mourning on 26… Read More »1941: Death of William Cooper
Jandamarra was an Aboriginal resistance leader of the Bunuba people in Western Australia. Find our more about his story here.
In 1997 Pope John Paul II declared Isidore of Seville the patron saint of the internet. Isidore was a scholar with encyclopedic knowledge. In his writings he sought to collect, systematize and synthesize all existing knowledge. Speaking at a General Audience on 18 June 2008, Pope Benedict XVI, highlighted how Isidore combined contemplation and action.… Read More »St Isidore, patron saint of the internet
The United Nations established this day in 2005 through this resolution. The annual message for the day, together with other resources, are available here.
World Youth Day is celebrated every year in local churches and every two or three years at the international level. The theme for 2020 is "Young man, I tell you, arise!" (Lk 7,14). Lisbon, Portugal will host the next international gathering for World Youth Day in 2022.
The report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families was published on this day in 1997. Read the Bringing Them Home Report here and access information and teaching resources on the Stolen Generations here.