Wednesday 10 October 2018
For many years, professionalism in social service delivery meant being caring but not immersed, empathic but not emotional, and rational not religious. Increasingly academic research is showing the importance of spiritual leadership, mindfulness and personal belief in sustaining social service workers and quality of care.
Friday 5 October 2018
Mental Health Week, which runs from 7 to 14 October, coincides with World Mental Health Day on 10 October, and is this year themed “Share the Journey”. Perth Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton, and Chair of the Bishops Commission for Health and Community Services, has written a pastoral letter to West Australian Catholics urging parishes to “prayerfully consider the issues around mental health that our brothers and sisters experience in our midst”. Source: eRecord.
Monday 1 October 2018
Summary of Fr Frank Brennan's keynote address to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council Assembly in Perth entitled: 'Strong Faith. Strong Youth. Strong Future — Walking Together in a movement of the Australian people for a better future'.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has used its 2018-19 Social Justice Statement to express deep concern about Australia’s alarming growth in homelessness and insecure housing.
In A Place to Call Home: Making a home for everyone in our land, released 6 September, the bishops have called on Australians to look beyond the immediate challenges of the average household budget and to consider those who are homeless or facing housing stress because of skyrocketing rents and property prices.
This year’s theme is “Ending homelessness together’’. As Church we need to play our part. We at Catholic Social Services Australia are delighted that the the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Social Justice Statement for 2018–19 is entitled ‘A Place to Call Home: Making a home for everyone in our land’. The document will be published in time for Social Justice Sunday at the end of next month. It’s good news that our bishops have joined the call that we all address the growing challenge of homelessness and housing insecurity in Australia.
The latest Census figures show that more than 116,000 Australians are homeless. We Australians with our wealth and secure welfare safety net should be able to put an end to rough sleeping in our major cities. Our member organisations report growing numbers of families and individuals struggling to meet the cost of mortgages or rents and turning to specialist housing services, which are often unable to meet demand. Some of our members are part of the the Australian Catholic Housing Alliance (ACHA) which promotes affordable housing as a viable option for Church land, by sharing collective expertise and extending it to other Catholic Dioceses keen to know more about housing developments.
The latest stats on Homelessness in Australia. The full document available here. Also check out the Australian Catholic Housing Alliance here.
Presentations and Related Articles from the 2018 Catholic social services national conference, Hearing Healing Hope, are available here.
