On 5 August 2019, Fr Fabio Baggio CS, Under-Secretary of the Migrant and Refugee Section of the Holy See  and Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, Bishop of Parramatta and Chair of the Bishops Commission for Social Justice, Mission and Service marked the start of a three-day national conference on missionary clergy and religious in Australia. Bishop Long spoke about Nurturing of Culture of Encounter and Hospitality. Bishop Long, the chairman of the Bishops Commission for Social Justice — Mission and Service, emphasized that we are all responsible in a way that “We are all living in an interconnected world and what we do has an impact beyond our own environment.”

Bishop Long also mentioned in his speech how Australia has been generous in the past by embracing migrants and refugees. “I believe that Australia has changed for the better with each successive wave of new arrivals. Australia is what it is today because of their love of freedom and fundamental human values. Australia is what it is today because of their determination and drive for a better future. Migrants and refugees bring energy, drive and dynamism to this country. They also contribute hugely to the renewal and revitalisation of the Catholic Church.”
Also speaking at the Bishop Joe Grech Memorial Colloquium was Fr Fabio Baggio, under-secretary of the Migrant and Refugee Section of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development.

Fr Baggio highlighted the theme of the Holy Father for the celebration of 105^th World Day of Migrants and Refugees “It is not just about migrants”.

Fr Baggio stated “Pope Francis intends to emphasize that his repeated appeals in favour of migrants, refugees, displaced persons and victims of trafficking must be understood within his deep concern for all inhabitants of the existential peripheries. The hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the prisoner who knocks today at our door is Jesus himself who asks to be met and assisted.”

To read the full length of Bishop Long and Fr Baggio’s speech, please click here.

The ACMRO 6^th National Conference on Missionary Clergy and Religious in Australia: Challenges and Opportunities was held in South Bank, Brisbane and was open to the public. Priests, religious men and women, and all those who work with missionary clergy and religious who have come to minister in Australia from overseas.

ACMRO welcomed Fr Aniedi Okure, OP, Author of the Book: ‘International Priests in America: Challenges and Opportunities’.

We express our sincerest gratitude to Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Brisbane and President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference who opened and closed the Conference and attended most of the events. Our gratitude is also directed to Mr Clyde Cosentino, Director of the Brisbane Office for Evangelisation and each and all of the great Staff who made the Brisbane gathering possible.

The conference provided delegates an opportunity to receive formation on some of the issues, which missionary priests and religious face when ministering in Australia. The conference also provided an opportunity for missionary priests and religious to deliver and obtain mutual support through sharing experiences with each other.

To view the conference materials, please click here.

The 105th World Day of Migrants & Refugees was celebrated with a special Multicultural Mass at the Cathedral of St Stephen in Brisbane on Sunday, 25 August. This year, the Multicultural Mass was celebrated by Bishop Ken Howell and concelebrated by Cultural Community Chaplains and Eastern Catholic Rites clergy. The Mass was truly a wonderful liturgical celebration and lived up to its colour, music and worship. Some 1200 people from many cultural Catholic communities across the Archdiocese attended in their traditional costumes.

To read more about the Archdiocesan Multicultural Mass, please click here.