Congratulations to CJPC member, Sean Reidy, a contributing author to A New Work Relations Architecture.
This new publication from the Australian Institute of Employment Rights will be launched on Monday 13 February at Avid Reader in Brisbane.
Read more about this program here.
The Catholic narrative at the COPs is related to the financing of Loss and Damage (L&D), the financing of just transition in terms of alternative energies, and the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas). In line with this, earlier this year, the Vatican Dicastery for Human Development adopted the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty calling for the proliferation of coal, oil and gas by ending all new exploration and production of coal, oil and gas, an existing phase-out production of fossil fuels in line with the 1.5ºC global climate goal and a fast track in real solutions and a just and fair transition for everyone.
In this sense, the outcome of COP 27 is deeply disappointing for the Catholic community who hoped and worked for an advanced agreement on fossil fuel phase-out. Instead, what was agreed upon was a copy and paste of the Glasgow accord referencing a phase-down of unabated coal power, phase-out of inefficient oil subsidies, and the inclusion of a transition to low-emission energy, which is essentially gas that is a source of GHG emissions. (Full report available here)
The Season of Creation runs from the World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation – September 1 – to the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi – October 4. It is a time set aside each year to focus on God’s gift of creation and our responsibility to care for it, our common home.
The theme for the Season of Creation in 2022 is Listen to the Voice of Creation.
There are many resources available to support you in your efforts to celebrate the Season of Creation. A key resource is the Season of Creation web site. Here you will find:
⦁ A celebration guide which provides a prayer service template from which you can choose material to use in your context
⦁ Social media and newsletter graphics and wording
⦁ A message from Pope Francis and more.
The site also has a wealth of other resources which you may find useful for preparing a special Mass, a prayer service or other activities during the Season.
A Catholic Season of Creation
The Columbans in Australia have compiled resources to help you to incorporate Season of Creation themes into each Sunday Mass during the Season. You can access their resources and find out more here.
Pope Francis’ Message for the World Day of Prayer
for Care of Creation 2022 One way you can help your community engage in the Pope’s message is to share a quote on each of the five Sundays during the Season of Creation. Here are five examples you can use:
Sunday 4 September
The sweet song of creation invites us to practise an “ecological spirituality” (Laudato Si’, 216), attentive to God’s presence in the natural world. It is a summons to base our spirituality on the “loving awareness that we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion” (ibid., 220).
Sunday 11 September
For the followers of Christ in particular, this luminous experience reinforces our awareness that “all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being” (Jn 1:3). In this Season of Creation, we pray once more in the great cathedral of creation, and revel in the “grandiose cosmic choir” made up of countless creatures, all singing the praises of God. Let us join Saint Francis of Assisi in singing: “Praise be to you, my Lord, for all your creatures” (cf. Canticle of Brother Sun). Let us join the psalmist in singing, “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!” (Ps 150:6).
Sunday 18 September
Tragically, that sweet song {of creation} is accompanied by a cry of anguish. Or even better: a chorus of cries of anguish. In the first place, it is our sister, mother earth, who cries out. Prey to our consumerist excesses, she weeps and implores us to put an end to our abuses and to her destruction. Then too, there are all those different creatures who cry out. At the mercy of a “tyrannical anthropocentrism” (Laudato Si’, 68), completely at odds with Christ’s centrality in the work of creation, countless species are dying out and their hymns of praise silenced.
Sunday 25 September
…There are also the poorest among us who are crying out. Exposed to the climate crisis, the poor feel even more gravely the impact of the drought, flooding, hurricanes and heat waves that are becoming ever more intense and frequent. Likewise, our brothers and sisters of the native peoples are crying out. As a result of predatory economic interests, their ancestral lands are being invaded and devastated on all sides, “provoking a cry that rises up to heaven” (Querida Amazonia, 9).
Sunday 2 October
…Finally, there is the plea of our children. Feeling menaced by shortsighted and selfish actions, today’s young people are crying out, anxiously asking us adults to do everything possible to prevent, or at least limit, the collapse of our planet’s ecosystems.
Intercessory Prayers
Here are a selection of prayers of intercession from which you may choose a prayer to include in the Intercessory Prayers of each Sunday in the Season of Creation or which you may use at a special Mass or prayer service for the Season of Creation:
For all that You have created, that we may always be aware that we are not disconnected from other creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion. Lord, hear us.
For Your wondrous gift of creation, that we may join St. Francis of Assisi and all of creation in ceaselessly praising You, our creator. Lord, hear us.
For our sister, mother earth, who cries out because of the impact of our consumerist excesses, that we may put an end to our abuses and take action to end her destruction. Lord, hear us.
For the countless animal and plant species that are dying out and whose praise of You is being silenced, that urgent and effective action is taken to ensure their survival. Lord, hear us.
For our poorest sisters and brothers who feel much more acutely the impact of extreme weather events associated with climate change. That world leaders will hear their cry for dignity and justice and take timely action. Lord, hear us.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples whose traditional lands and places of cultural significance are being devastated by economic interests. That their cries for justice are heeded and result in appropriate action by Government and business leaders. Lord, hear us.
For world leaders who will gather for the COP 27 on climate and the COP 15 on biodiversity later this year. That they will remain resolute in their commitment to do what is needed to prevent the devastating impacts of climate change and halt the alarming loss of biological diversity. Lord, hear us.
For the children of the world who are worried about the impact on the earth of short-sighted and selfish actions. That all adults will share in the responsibility to offer them a future without immense ecosystem collapse. Lord, hear us.
Other Resources
You may wish to use some of the resources below as part of your Season of Creation Masses, services and events or to share them in your newsletters over the Season of Creation.
⦁ Australia’s State of the Environment Report A comprehensive assessment of the state of Australia’s environment was released in July this year:
An Ecological Examen s a tool to help you to deepen your commitment to care for creation and the most vulnerable people on the planet:
Media Release
Tuesday 12 April 2022
The Good Friday Death Penalty Prayer Vigil returns this Friday after a 2 year hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions. The vigil, which has been hosted by the Archdiocesan Justice & Peace Commission in collaboration with Corinda-Graceville Parish, started in 2008.
It will be held on Good Friday, 15 April, at 12 noon at Christ the King Church, Churchill Street, Graceville, in the home parish of Scott Rush who was sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2005. His sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment.
Two other Australians in the Bali 9 group of drug offenders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were also sentenced to death and subsequently executed.
The Commission’s Executive Officer, Peter Arndt, said that the Rush Family plans to attend the vigil.
“Along with the community group, Australians against Capital Punishment, they have always attended the vigil,” he said.
“Sadly for them, it will be 17 years on Easter Sunday since Scott Rush was imprisoned,” he said.
“Even worse, Scott’s family is not permitted to visit him in jail in Indonesia,” he said.
“Since we last gathered for the vigil, things have changed for the better for a Nigerian Catholic for whom we have been praying every year,” he said.
“We have been in touch with the Brisbane legal team supporting Titus Ani and we will share the news about his death sentence being commuted to a term of imprisonment,” he said.
“We cannot think of a better time to pray for those facing execution than the day on which Jesus was executed,” he added.
Mr. Arndt said that prayers will also be offered for the families of those on death row and for the victims of crime.
All are welcome to attend.
For more information, please contact Peter Arndt on 0409 265 476.
Since 2008, the Commission has hosted a prayer vigil on Good Friday to pray for those on death row around the world, for their families and for the victims of crime. COVID-19 has prevented us from gathering for this prayer vigil, but we are pleased to announce that the vigil will go ahead this year. We thank Corinda-Graceville Parish for collaborating with us in hosting this vigil once again.
All are invited to join us for prayer on Good Friday, April 15, at 12 noon at Christ the King Church, Churchill Street, Graceville. We have invited Scott Rush’s family and Australians against Capital Punishment to join us for this vigil. Scott was sentenced to death in Indonesia, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Graceville is his family’s home parish and this is a special time for them and all those with family members on death row. Please share this with your networks.
National Close the Gap Day
This Thursday 17 March is Close the Gap Day. It is a time to focus on closing the gap in the living standards between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and other Australians, especially in health. A coalition of community groups sponsor the day. Find out more here.
Peace in Our World
The suffering of the people of Ukraine worsens as the Russian invasion continues. Many thanks to you all for your solidarity with the people of Ukraine in this time of great hardship. Your prayers and practical support are a sign of your commitment to peace and justice. Fr. Stefan and the Ukrainian Catholic Community continue to welcome you to join them in prayers for peace at daily divine service at the Ukrainian Catholic Church, 36 Broadway Street, Woolloongabba. Divine service commences at 9:00 Am each weekday and at 9:30 AM on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s service is in English.
There are a variety of appeals providing practical support to Ukrainians affected by the invasion, including the many who have fled to other countries. One appeal which you can support here.
You can keep in touch with further action and appeals by the Ukrainian Community of Queensland here.
We invite you to also pray for those in other parts of the world who continue to live with violence and oppression including Myanmar and West Papua.
An update on the situation in Myanmar is available here.
A number of UN experts recently expressed their concerns about the on-going violence, human rights violations and displacement of Indigenous Papuans in West Papua. Their letter to the Indonesian Government is available here.
Chris Gibbings is at the helm of an initiative to provide an opportunity for everyone to vigil with the people of Ukraine and those affected by violence in other parts of the world. The Commission will be one of those individuals and groups who will hold a space of vigil and prayer every week as part of the World Peace Prayer initiative. If you would like to get involved by joining the vigil at a particular time or you, your group, parish, school or office would like to hold the vigil space at a particular time , go here.
In collaboration with the ACBC Office for Justice, Ecology and Peace, the Commission has immersed itself in an initiative to develop resources to assist Catholics who want to ground their social and environmental action in a culture of encounter. It is called Signs of Our Times. The initiative’s web site is continuing to develop and we hope it will be fully launched in a couple of months. Pastoral themes to underpin Catholic social and environmental action and resources for reflecting with scripture and the Church’s tradition are already available. We intend to upload some video material soon.
As part of our commitment to provide support to Catholics wanting to take action, we will continue our accompaniment of the Aboriginal community of Cherbourg this year. This is being done in collaboration with the Archdiocesan Murri Ministry Team. We thank Coordinator, Ravina Waldren, for her support, guidance and participation. Our journey with the people of Cherbourg will be documented on the initiative’s web site over the course of 2022. In due course, we hope to invite Catholics in the Archdiocese to participate with us. Take a look at the Signs of Our Times web site
Respect @ Work
Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, delivered a report on sexual harassment in the workplace last week. It contained 55 recommendations. Ms. Jenkins provided an update on the implementation of these recommendations during the Jessie Street Lecture on 7 March.
During the lecture, Ms. Jenkins referred to a survey on the implementation of a number of the report’s recommendations. The survey is being conducted by the Attorney-General’s Department. It is simple and easy to complete. The deadline for completing the survey is this Friday 18 March. Please consider completing the survey at https://consultations.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/respect-at-work/
Solidarity with Refugees
The Commission is working with a number of organisations to plan election advocacy for fair and just refugee policies. This includes the Time for a Home Coalition. When plans are completed, we will update you.
Death Penalty Vigil
The pandemic prevented the Commission from holding our annual death penalty prayer vigil on Good Friday last year. With the easing of restrictions this year, we plan to hold a Good Friday vigil in solidarity with all those on death row around the world. We are in the process of confirming the venue for the usual time of 12:00 PM and will advise you soon. So, please put it in your diary as a date claimer -15 April at 12:00PM.
There are so many opportunities for us to pray, reflect, learn and act in the spirit of Laudato Si’ this Lent and beyond. Here are just a few from which you can choose:
Recordings of two webinars run by the Commission last year
Cultivating a Sense of Place: Contemplative Ecology in a Time of Loss with Prof. Douglas Christie and Dr. Sandie Cornish
Engaging with Laudato Si’: Caring for Our Common Home, a workshop with Dave Copeman, Dr. Ian Elmer, Dr Sandie Cornish and Dr. Paul Chandler
This newsletter is authorised by Commission Chair, Ms. Maree Rose.
Peter Arndt
Executive Officer, Catholic Justice & Peace Commission, Archdiocese of Brisbane
194 Charlotte St., Brisbane QLD 4000
GPO Box 282, Brisbane QLD 4001
P: +61 7 3324 3441
M: +61 409 265 476
February 2022
Do You Remember the Apology to Members of the Stolen Generations?
February 13 is the anniversary of the Australian Parliament’s 2008 apology to members of the Stolen Generations. Do you know much about the Stolen Generations and the work that is being done to promote healing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders affected by the policy of forcible removal of children? Link-Up Queensland does this work in our State. Why not check out their web site, learn more and find out how you can support their work:
Learning about Aboriginal History
Boe Spearim is a Brisbane broadcaster who has produced a series of podcasts telling stories about the Aboriginal engagement with colonisers. Check out his Frontier War Stories
The Commission and the ACBC Office for Justice Ecology and Peace gave you a sneak peek at our new resource to help Catholics to embrace a culture of encounter in their social and environmental action. The resource is grounded in the Bible and the social teaching of the Church. Take a look at the resources that are already available on our special web site and stay tuned for the hard launch of Signs of Our Times in a few months time:
Get Involved in Reducing Waste on Clean Up Australia Day
Last Sunday, Pope Francis lamented the amount of plastic waste which ends up in the sea. He said: “It kills biodiversity, it kills the earth, it kills everything!”
On average, each Australian produces 130kg of plastic waste. Less than 12% is recycled. 130,000 tonnes of plastic waste ends up in the sea every year and things are getting worse. Plastic waste can be fatal to sea birds, turtles and whales. WWF has lots of information on Australia’s waste problem and actions you can take to minimise waste and its harmful impacts. Take a look at WWF’s Don’t Let Nature Go to Waste campaign.
One small action you can take to protect birds in our waterways is to cut the elastic loops on face masks before you dispose of them. More and more birds are being found with masks tangled around their beaks. We can stop this with a moment of care each time we throw away our masks.
Please consider registering for one of the many Clean Up events all around SE Queensland.
Getting Involved with the Laudato Si’ Action Platform
If you haven’t already looked at the information and resources which have been developed for the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, please do so soon. Around 200 Catholic organisations from around the world have collaborated with the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development to develop this resource which offers discernment tools, resources for action and planning guides to help families and households, schools, parishes, hospitals, aged care homes, religious orders, universities and businesses to develop a plan of action to respond to the challenges of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. Have a look and please consider enrolling:
Tapping into Our Spiritual Heritage to Learn How to Care for Our Common Home
In the last chapter of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis encourages us to tap into our rich heritage to help us cultivate a spirituality to support us on our journey of ecological conversion. Barbara Fraser wrote about eco-spirituality in a recent article for NCR. It’s well worth a read and would be a useful resource for private reflection or for a group conversation. Read the article here.
Taking Time to Pray and Reflect on the Place of Animals in God’s Creation
For something different this Lent, you might like to take a look at the app produced by British group, Sarx, to help you to reflect on our relationship with animals. Find out more about 40 Days with God’s Creatures
It’s Time to Set the Refugees Free
Religious leaders came together in Melbourne recently to launch a campaign calling on PM Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese to work together to release all those refugees still in detention in Australia. Why not take this story to your local Federal mP or Senator and urge them to advocate for the release of all those refugees still in detention? A report on the #SetThemFree campaign is at:
Clean Up Australia Day is Just 4 Weeks Away on Sunday 6 March!
The Catholic Justice & Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane invites you to consider joining a local clean up event or organising your own. Individuals, families and households, parishes, schools, youth groups, businesses and offices can all get involved.
Clean Up Australia Day is Sunday 6 March. Schools Clean Up Australia Day is Friday 4 March. There are already many registered events across South-East Queensland listed on the Clean Up Australia web site. You can organise your own clean up event on those days or any day of the year.
Why Should Christians Get Involved?
In his 2015 encyclical on caring for our common home, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis invited us all to commit ourselves to a journey of ecological conversion, a journey in which we renew our relationships with God and all that God has created, human and non-human alike. Part of that journey involves turning our backs on extreme consumerism and working to minimise the waste of the earth’s resources, a sad consequence of this consumerist mindset.
The Holy Father points to many ecological problems including the build-up of millions of tonnes of waste :
…Each year hundreds of millions of tons of waste are generated, much of it non-biodegradable, highly toxic and radioactive, from homes and businesses, from construction and demolition sites, from clinical, electronic and industrial sources. The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish…
These problems are closely linked to a throwaway culture which affects the excluded just as it quickly reduces things to rubbish. To cite one example, most of the paper we produce is thrown away and not recycled. It is hard for us to accept that the way natural ecosystems work is exemplary: plants synthesize nutrients which feed herbivores; these in turn become food for carnivores, which produce significant quantities of organic waste which give rise to new generations of plants. But our industrial system, at the end of its cycle of production and consumption, has not developed the capacity to absorb and reuse waste and by-products. We have not yet managed to adopt a circular model of production capable of preserving resources for present and future generations, while limiting as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderating their consumption, maximizing their efficient use, reusing and recycling them…
Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 21 – 22
For the Pope, many of the ecological problems we face, including the build-up of waste, are connected to our being caught up in a destructive whirlwind of consumerism:
The current global situation engenders a feeling of instability and uncertainty, which in turn becomes “a seedbed for collective selfishness. When people become self-centred and self-enclosed, their greed increases. The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume. It becomes almost impossible to accept the limits imposed by reality. In this horizon, a genuine sense of the common good also disappears…
Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 204
Pope Francis encourages us to look to the rich heritage of Christian spirituality as a resource we can offer for the renewal of humanity in the current climate of ecological and social crises:
Christian spirituality proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life, and encourages a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption. We need to take up an ancient lesson, found in different religious traditions and also in the Bible. It is the conviction that “less is more”. A constant flood of new consumer goods can baffle the heart and prevent us from cherishing each thing and each moment. To be serenely present to each reality, however small it may be, opens us to much greater horizons of understanding and personal fulfilment. Christian spirituality proposes a growth marked by moderation and the capacity to be happy with little. It is a return to that simplicity which allows us to stop and appreciate the small things, to be grateful for the opportunities which life affords us, to be spiritually detached from what we possess, and not to succumb to sadness for what we lack. This implies avoiding the dynamic of dominion and the mere accumulation of pleasures.
Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 222.
Helping to Clean Up Australia Is a Start
You can join community clean up events in your locality or register your own clean up. Registration is easy and Clean Up Australia will send you kits to help you to run a clean up event efficiently and safely.
You can search for local events, register an event and get other information about organising an event for your parish, school, youth group or office at: https://www.cleanup.org.au/
We Need to Go Beyond Cleaning Up Waste
Beyond cleaning up the accumulation of waste in our environment, we need to explore how the spiritual practices of centuries of our Christian tradition can help to change our lives and the life of the world for the better. Spiritual renewal is needed to address major ecological problems like the waste of the earth’s resources and the accumulation of rubbish in the environment. In the weeks leading up to Clean Up Australia Day and after, we will endeavour to offer you some help to do this.
Listening to the word of God is an essential part of our journey of ecological conversion. In this regard, you may find it useful to listen to the recently released Revolution of Tenderness podcast, Interpreting Scripture from an Ecological Stance with biblical scholar, Sr. Veronica Lawson: https://anchor.fm/office-for-social-justice/episodes/Interpreting-Scripture-from-an-Ecological-Stance-with-Sr-Veronica-Lawson-e1ds5vo
We also need to assist in the transition to what the Pope calls a circular model of production” where everything is a resource and there is no such thing as waste. Clean Up Australia offers information and resources to help you to step up your commitment to reducing waste and promoting a circular economy: https://www.cleanup.org.au/waste-challenges
In 2020, the Commission collaborated with Clean Up Australia to present a short webinar exploring some of the steps we need to take to promote a circular economy.
In the coming weeks, we will offer more to support you in the lead up to Clean Up Australia Day. Stay tuned!
Authorised by Ms. Maree Rose, Chair of the Catholic Justice & Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane
Another year over, a new one just begun. It’s been another eventful year in many ways, hasn’t it? In my own life, there certainly have been some very joyful moments such as the birth of our sixth grandchild. There have also been some very stressful and difficult times for us in our family. I’m sure you could say the same about your year too.
COVID seems to have dominated our lives for another year and it refuses to go away. It seems to me that, while we have been preoccupied with our own health, the collective health of Australian society and the world have suffered. If you watch the TV and look at Facebook, it seems like we have quarantined ourselves, individually and collectively, from the rest of the world. It’s all about being safe, getting vaccinated and, now, lining up for a booster shot. Don’t get me wrong! I think it’s a good thing to protect ourselves and those around us from COVID-19 as best we can, but, when I look at what I’ve done this year, I’m left with the nagging feeling that I’m still too wrapped up in myself and indifferent to the struggles of people, near and far, of the planet itself and all the creatures we share it with. How did you go this year?
We are about to celebrate the birth of Jesus. He is the centre of our faith. In him, God became one of us. Just like us, he certainly had fun, but he also knew how much of a desperate struggle life can be. What is special about him is that he didn’t get wrapped up in his own worries. Jesus lived the love of God with every breath he took. He put aside his own worries and concerns and brought hope and love into the lives of people he encountered on the streets.
I don’t think I’m anywhere near that yet, as much as I’ve tried. I still have plenty of self-centred, self-indulgent and just plain selfish moments. What was your experience this year?
While we’ve been pre-occupied with getting fully vaccinated and rushing to get our booster shot and preparing to vaccinate our kids, most of us probably didn’t notice that over a quarter of a million Indonesian children have contracted COVID-19 and about 700 have died from the disease. Compare that with 1 Australian child who has passed away because of COVID.
If you’re like me, you’ve been busy this week buying food for a Christmas lunch with all the trimmings. I suspect not many of us have wondered what Christmas Day will be like for the thousands of people surviving on the meagre Job Seeker benefit or the age or disability pension. What about the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families who will be missing family members at the Christmas table because they have taken their lives or have gone to jail? What about the women and kids who have fled family and domestic violence or people sleeping rough on the streets?
My wife and I have already had a holiday at the beach this month. Many of you will enjoy a week or two by the sea as well, but many Torres Strait Islanders and Pacific Islanders are worried sick about rising seas taking their homes and hundreds of families in the Philippines are mourning the loss of family members and mopping up after another devastating typhoon. I ask myself whether I really care about them. Should I be doing more to offer hope and what does that look like?
My family has lived in the same comfortable home in Ipswich for 36 years. We have a car and can go wherever we want – well, except when we were in lockdown. Yet, there are many refugees still locked up in detention centres in Australia or offshore after 8 years of waiting. Many have been released into the community, including kids, and left to fend for themselves. Millions of refugees have fled violence and persecution and are either internally displaced or in another country including tens of thousands of civilians in West Papua. Violence and oppression are still happening in places like Hong Kong and Myanmar even though the media has stopped reporting it for the most part. How does Jesus being born make a difference for them?
I could go on, but you get the idea.
John and Yoko said “war is over if you want it”. They are right! War and injustice and oppression can be over if we want it. And Jesus is our hope if we are prepared to follow him.
I’m taking a break at the moment and will be back fully on 1 February. Our Commission members are also taking a well earned break. Thanks to our Chair, Maree Rose and the members of the Commission for their strength, wisdom and commitment. They are truly wonderful people!
Thanks to you all as well. Whether you’re in a parish or a school or in a religious congregation or a special group or you’re simply doing your best somehow to make a difference. You are truly precious!
As for 2022, I know I need to be more faithful in following Jesus. For me, that means putting aside my own needs more, getting away from the office and my laptop, and being with people in the midst of their struggles. Are you feeling like Jesus is inviting you to make some changes in your life too? I hope we can help each other to face up to the challenge – wherever it takes us.
In the meantime…A very Merry Christmas And a Happy New Year Let’s hope it’s a good one Without any fear.
Peace to you all this Christmas!
Peter Arndt
Executive Officer
Catholic Justice & Peace Commission
Archdiocese of Brisbane
New Refugee Agreement between PNG and Australia
On October 6, the Australian and PNG Governments came to an agreement that would result in the end of Australia using PNG as an offshore immigration processing centre. Read the full text of the Joint media release between the Hon Karen Andrews MP and the Hon. Westly Nukundj MP – Finalisation of the Regional Resettlement Arrangement here.
While the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and Solomon Islands welcomes the end of offshore processing in PNG, it expresses serious concerns about the continuing impact of Australia’s shifting of its responsibility to Pacific neighbours and the on-going hardship placed on the refugees in both PNG and Nauru.
Please read the comments from the Church in PNG and e-mail the Minister for Home Affairs, Karen Andrews, who announce the new arrangement. Urge her to stop shifting responsibility to support and resettle the refugees to our Pacific neighbours. Encourage her to bring all the refugees back to Australia so that we can take direct responsibility for the refugees: Karen.andrews.mp@aph.gov.au
Please continue to send a similar message to the Minister for Immigration, Alex Hawke, who was recently promoted to Cabinet. His e-mail address is: Alex.hawke.mp@aph.gov.au
Please continue to pray for our Pacific neighbours and for the refugees. In October, please especially pray the Rosary.
Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of Brisbane 
