National Briefs
‘Be generous’ to aid Afghans
SYDNEY Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP has called on Catholics to support a special appeal for Afghan refugees. It will raise desperately needed funds and commit Archdiocesan agencies and partners to providing pastoral, educational, health and welfare assistance to Afghan families and individuals fleeing their homeland. He has asked Immigration Minister Alex Hawke for the government to be generous in its intake of Afghan refugees. Donations can be made online here.
The Catholic Weekly
Anna Dimo, pastoral support worker at the St Bakhita Centre in Homebush. Photo: Giovanni Portelli
Migrant families under stress
DOZENS of stricken families in Sydney’s western suburbs are in need of urgent support as Catholic migrant outreach is stretched to its limits during the COVID-19 outbreak. Kylie Cullen from the Catholic Immigration Office says dozens of new migrant families and individuals are under extreme stress. She is calling for donations of essential food and other grocery items, cleaning products, and technology devices. Kylie is helping Anna Dimo, the pastoral care coordinator at St Bakhita Centre in Homebush West, who has been working day and night to counsel people over the phone and to help deliver emergency aid in Blacktown, Mt Druitt and St Mary’s.
The Catholic Weekly
What the new development is planned to look like.
The new and the old
WORK is set to start next year on an eight-storey commercial block on church land next to historic St Patrick’s in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. Restoration of St Patrick’s Church will be undertaken at the same time as construction. “The driving force behind this project is the need to ensure the parish can financially support its ageing St Patrick’s Church, which has been part of the community for more than 140 years,” a Brisbane archdiocesan spokesman said.
The Catholic Leader
Indigenous success stories
DISCOVERING reasons for indigenous university student success is the goal of a new research program at Australian Catholic University. Game Changers is a pilot program looking at the drivers and barriers of transition, retention, and completion of higher education. Research will be led by indigenous PhD student and Wailwan and Gomeroi woman Georgia Durmush and mentored by ACU Prof Rhonda Craven, a well-respected indigenous education academic who has close familial ties to the Wonnarua Nation.
Australian Catholic University