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The Bendigo diocese hopes to make LGBTQIA+ people feel safer in church through a new handbook based on learnings from a parish program.
“The Gay and Pray” ministry started as response to the harms LGBTQIA+ people faced, and their high suicide rates, at Woodend and Daylesford parishes.
Bendigo synod members endorsed it as a program that could help churches develop a welcoming and understanding attitude toward the community, four years later.
“It is hard not to be profoundly disturbed by the footage of a young man, clad in black, approaching a bishop at the pulpit and stabbing at him repeatedly before congregants intervened,” writes Josh Roose, Associate Professor of Politics at Deakin University.
A week on from the attack, it is a good opportunity to reflect on the deeper issues and questions that emerged from this incident as the aftermath of an attack is when the dangers of social cohesion are greatest, with urgent questions needing urgent answers.
At the Paschal Eucharist mass on 21 April, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP joyfully described the “bumper crop” of 250 new Catholics as “international stars,” relaying news that this year’s record number of new Catholics had made global headlines.
In what Archbishop Fisher called “great news for our city”, the Archdiocese of Sydney’s boom in conversions, as reported by The Catholic Weekly in late February, made headlines in Italian newspaper Avvinere, apparently delighting the Vatican.
Beaming with pride, Archbishop Fisher welcomed the neophytes no longer as “Catholics to be” but “fully fledged brothers and sisters in Christ” into their new “one spiritual family.”
From towering cathedrals and bustling convention centres to the humble abodes of worship in serene village fales (Samoan homes), these churches are more than mere structures: they are the heartbeats of Samoan society.
But as beautiful and as glorious as these houses of worship may be, some say they have come with a hefty price tag that often places a burden on communities who donate money they don’t have, to financial planners tasked with building expensive constructions without a plan.
Catholic men set to become priests later this year are trending younger than average and said their parents often influenced their decision to pursue the vocation, according to a new survey.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released the survey commissioned by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University last Monday. It examined the backgrounds of nearly 400 men scheduled to be ordained into the priesthood.
Executive Council voted overwhelmingly on the 20 April in support of a resolution lamenting the ongoing deadly violence in the Holy Land since Hamas’ 7 October attack on Israel, though some council members raised concerns about the resolution’s reference to the “potential genocide” of Palestinians.
Other council members questioned whether it was appropriate for Executive Council to approve such a statement just two months before the 81st General Convention will convene and consider a dozen of its own resolutions related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bishops and deputies are scheduled to meet in June in Louisville, Kentucky.
India’s main opposition party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using hate speech after he called Muslims “infiltrators” — some of his most incendiary rhetoric to date about the minority faith in a campaign rally days after the country began its weekslong general election.
At the rally on Sunday in the western state of Rajasthan, Modi said that when the Congress party was in government, “they said Muslims have the first right over the country’s resources.” If it returns to power, the party “will gather all your wealth and distribute it among those who have more children,” he said as the crowd applauded.
“They will distribute it among infiltrators,” he continued, saying, “Do you think your hard-earned money should be given to infiltrators?”
An Iranian woman who embraced Christianity after surviving an abusive marriage and the oppression of Islam is challenging Christians in the West to “rise up” and pray for the “spirit of the antichrist” to be removed from the Middle Eastern country.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Lily Meschi, director of partner relations at Iran Alive Ministries, challenged Christians in the West to amplify the voice of Christianity to support Iranian seekers of Jesus amid a complex socio-political landscape.
“As Christians, we need to rise up and truly pray for the spirit of opposition, the anti-Christ spirit, to be removed from that country so that they can freely receive the virtuous faith that ultimately gives them true freedom,” she said.
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, together with other UK church leaders, have expressed “deep misgivings” about the passing of the Safety of Rwanda Bill this week. They have deplored the “unjust maligning” — for political gain — of churches that have supported refugees.
The Bill, which was passed by both Houses of Parliament shortly after midnight on Tuesday, is expected to receive Royal Assent in the coming days. For deterring illegal immigration, it determines that the Republic of Rwanda is “a safe third country, thereby enabling the removal of persons who arrive in the UK under the Immigration Acts”.
In recent years, churches in many Christian denominations have split over LGBTQ+ issues.
In the past six months, hundreds of congregations voted to leave the United Methodist Church over same-sex marriage and whether LGBTQ+ people should be clergy.
The Church of England, the original and largest member of the Anglican Communion – the third-largest Christian denomination worldwide – held a General Synod in London in February 2024 that debated such issues. Bishops, priests and laypeople from every diocese of the Church of England voted down several amendments that liturgical same-sex blessings, and they essentially agreed to disagree on the issues.
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