During the last two years, thousands of people have pledged their support to address the issue of Indigenous health and related inequality issues. A significant development towards this goal is the government’s recent establishment of the National Indigenous Health Equality Council. The Institute’s Specific Issues Committee, Indigenous Concerns is highlighting this initiative as well as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma’s speech, “Caring for Culture, Caring for Country”.

The Government has announced that it is establishing an Inquiry into immigration detention. The Institute’s Specific Issues Committee, Asylum Seekers and Refugees has presented many insights into the issues faced by detainees, in particular personal reflections from sisters working in detention centres. The Committee encourages all people of good will to view the latest campaign from GetUp! which calls Australians to petition the government to address the issue of detention and “establish a just and fair immigration policy for the future”.

Did you know that hundreds of women are smuggled into Australia each year to work in the sex trade? The Institute’s Specific Issues Committee, Women and Poverty alerts all people of good will to the recently released book Trafficked by Kathleen Maltzahn. Kathleen is well known for her work in supporting women who have been trafficked and for endeavouring to ensure that the issue of trafficking of women be addressed.

All Hallows’ School in Brisbane is this year partnering with Mercy Works Inc. by supporting two of the agency’s programmes. Through fundraising and awareness-raising activities, the school is concentrating on health projects in Kiunga, Papua New Guinea, and education projects in Karachi, Pakistan. Students have named this initiative the “P & P Project”.

During the recent World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney, over 1,000 students and staff from Mercy schools around Australia and the world gathered for a one-day conference at Monte Sant’ Angelo College in North Sydney.

Sister Veronica Lawson RSM (Ballarat East) offers a reflection on the Gospel for the seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A (Matthew 13:44-52 or Matthew 13:44-46). To access this reflection, click on "MORE" and then click on the picture of the Bible where you can read the Scripture as well as the reflection.

The Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes NSW (CLRI NSW) has made a submission in response to the Federal Government’s Green Paper on Homelessness. CLRI (NSW) includes approximately 3,500 Catholic religious women and men and their associates. Download the CLRI NSW submission.