National Briefs

JESUITS in Vietnam are responding to a flood crisis, with 84 people confirmed dead and 34 missing in the wake of the country’s third typhoon in under a month. Several days of torrential rain combined with overflow from nine hydroelectric dams has resulted in floods that have left 200,000 people isolated and more than 75,000 houses collapsed or submerged. Forty parish halls will be used to distribute 2000 packs of food supplies and drinking water to victims.

The Catholic Weekly

MANY indigenous Queenslanders hold grave concerns about voluntary assisted dying (VAD), finding it frightening and at odds with their culture, according to Church leaders. If Queensland politicians pass VAD laws, Townsville Bishop Harris has warned fear of euthanasia would weaken cultural ties and “lead to indigenous people shying away from medical help when it’s needed, particularly in remote regions”.

The Catholic Leader

THE coronavirus pandemic is tending to “dial everything up to 11” in mental health, Catholic psychologist Paul Stevenson says. “Where people have anxiety or depression, what COVID tends to do is to exacerbate the symptoms of that and particularly because a lot of the symptoms for those conditions are about hopelessness and helplessness, and being out of control,” he said. “There is a pervasive kind of anxiety that I (notice) in just about everybody that I see, regardless of the reason that they come to see me.”

The Catholic Leader

VICTORIA’S Catholic Bishops of Victoria have announced the merging of CatholicCare Melbourne and Gippsland, Centacare Ballarat, and CatholicCare Sandhurst, to form CatholicCare Victoria. On 1 January 2021, the Archdiocese of Melbourne, the Diocese of Ballarat, the Diocese of Sandhurst and the Diocese of Sale will unite in common mission to advance the ministry of Catholic social services in Victoria. It is described as “a landmark endeavour for the Church and for the people of Victoria, particularly the most vulnerable”.

melbournecatholic.org.au