Benedict appoints first Australian Jesuit bishop In a surprise appointment by Benedict XVI, Jesuit Greg O'Kelly, presently headmaster of St Ignatius' College in Adelaide, has been named Auxiliary Bishop for the city of churches. [More] Study says British Catholicism facing "pastoral catastrophe" A bracing 260-page report on the state of the Church in Britain has found that mass attendance has slumped by 40 per cent and Catholic marriages by 60 per cent over the last 30 years. [More] Sofia's parents thank God for sharing "angel" Murdered eight-year-old Sofia Rodriguez-Urrutia Shu was buried yesterday in Fremantle, WA, as her parents thanked God "for letting us share one of his angels for eight beautiful years." [More] A love that shines Mary MacKillop was devoted to educating the poor and helping the needy. But that was how she fulfilled the Lord's second great commandment, to love her neighbour. The impetus for this came from her fidelity to the first and greatest commandment, to love God with all her being. The fervour of Mary MacKillop's love of God inspired her love for others. Her devotion to the will of God never wavered, so she was just as much a saint in her last years of paralysis and inactivity as she was in the prime of her life - Fr Chris Gleeson [More] - Madonna Magazine The role of deacons in the life of the Church The Church has never been without the ministry of deacons from the time of the New Testament up to the present. Married or single men can be ordained as deacons for life, as a permanent ministry in the life of the Church. Vatican II restored this permanent ministry and has allowed each bishop to decide when this ministry will be restored in his diocese. One wonders what the Spirit might be saying to the Churches as this ministry is restored in all of the major Churches of the Christian communion - Anthony Gooley. [More] - Catholic Leader WorkChoices and Catholic social teaching Some of you may be aware that I have been active in the industrial relations debate, and the reasons for that are based solely on Catholic teaching, my personal conviction about it, and my responsibility as a bishop to uphold the principles it enunciates. When I, or other bishops, speak out on social questions, we are not doing so to be meddlesome or to impose solutions on governments. The Church speaks on this matter because work is an activity of the human person, and the Church is legitimately interested in the life of the human person - Bishop Kevin Manning [More] - Diocese of Parramatta