Heads of Churches in Victoria welcome Archbishop Peter Comensoli (1 March 2019)
On Friday March 1st some fifteen senior leaders of Churches from across Victoria gathered at Bishopscourt in East Melbourne to welcome Archbishop Comensoli.
Thanks was extended to Archbishop Philip Freier for hosting the event. This was the first such gathering in a number of years and brought together both regional and metropolitan leaders...
2018 Annual Shoah Memorial Service (19 March 2018)
The
annual Christian ecumenical Shoah Memorial Service was held Monday 19
March 2018 at Melbourne Grammar School. The evening was organised by a
joint committee of members of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne
Committee for Interfaith Relations, the Catholic Archdiocese of
Melbourne Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission, and the Uniting Church
Synod of Victoria and Tasmania Working Group on Christian-Jewish
Relations. Approximately 100 people gathered in a
darkened St Peter’s Chapel.
The service is a Christian commemoration of the tragedy
of the Holocaust, but a Shoah survivor is always invited to speak and a
member of the Jewish community recites the Kaddish, the traditional
Jewish prayer for those who have died. This year Philip Bliss OAM, chair
of the Council of Christians and Jews, prayed the Kaddish and Sarah Saaroni
OAM, a child Shoah
survivor, was the voice of memory.
Reformation 500: Joint Lutheran and Catholic Commemoration in Melbourne (28 October 2017)
A special Lutheran and Catholic joint commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation took place on Saturday night (28 October) at St John’s Lutheran Church Southgate, featuring messages from Archbishop Denis Hart and Bishop Lester Priebbenow and the presentation of a Bach cantata “O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe” (BWV 34). The service was attended by more than 200 local members of the Catholic and Lutheran churches.
According to an historical legend, on 31 October 1517 in the University town of Wittenberg in Saxony, an Augustinian friar and biblical scholar Dr Martin Luther posted the document which later became known as “The 95 Theses”. This document raised questions about the indulgence campaign which was being promoted by the Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg to raise money for the rebuilding of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. This scholarly document ignited a movement that became known to history as “The Protestant Reformation”.
Melbourne Catholics and Anglicans look towards a church fully reconciled (Thursday, 1 June 2017)
Yesterday the
University of Divinity held a number of events at Trinity College
Theological School for the University of Divinity Academic Symposium.
The symposium celebrated 50 years of the Anglican-Roman Catholic
International Commission (ARCIC), a significant collaboration between
the Anglican and Catholic colleges of the University of Divinity.
The
aim of the day was to review and explore the work of ARCIC over the
last 50 years, particularly the most recent ARCIC publication Looking toward a church fully reconciled.
Annual Ecumenical Holocaust Memorial Service (May 3, 2016)
The
annual Christian Holocaust Memorial Service was held on Tuesday night (3 May 2016)
at Our Lady of Sion College in Box Hill. During the service, Grace, a student
of the College, said:
‘At a Holocaust Memorial Service
it must be asked: What have we learned and what must we do? The opposite of
love is not hate, but indifference. From those who were not indifferent, we can
learn what we can achieve if we stand up for people in need and be a voice for
others who do not have one.’
This year
is the 25th anniversary of the Service. In May 1991, the late Sr Verna
Holyhead sgs gathered a small group of Christians and Jews together in the wind
and the rain outside the Jewish Memorial in Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney for a
Holocaust Memorial Service.
Former bishop of Mosul in Iraq, Amel Shamon Nona, appointed Bishop of Australia and New Zealand Eparchy of Chaldean Catholic Church ”
Pope Francis has appointed Most Rev. Amel Shamon Nona as Eparch (Bishop) of the Eparchy of St Thomas the Apostle of Sydney of the Chaldeans (Chaldean Catholic Diocese of Australia and New Zealand). Born in 1967, Archbishop Nona was ordained a priest in 1991 and ordained bishop and installed as Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul in January 2010. In October 2013, in the wake of violence from the forces of ISIL, the Archbishop told CAN “My diocese no longer exists. ISIS have taken it from me. I don’t know whether we will ever be able to return to Mosul.”
Christians in many parts of the world began today a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Christians in the Northern Hemisphere began today a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The theme for the week of prayer in 2015 comes from the gospel of John: "Jesus said to her: 'Give me to drink'". It was proposed by a group of Brazilian Christians called together by the Conselho Nacional de Igrejas Cristãs (CONIC). As in previous years, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the WCC, through the WCC's Commission on Faith and Order, have jointly published a brochure to help groups and congregations prepare ecumenical celebrations. It also contains Biblical reflections and prayers for the eight days.