Respond to the crisis of vocations with intensified prayer, not despair or a lax admissions process, Pope Francis told women and men religious during closing events for the Year of Consecrated Life, reports Catholic News Service (CNS).

Religious women and men were among those recognised in this year's Australia Day honours list for their generous service in the fields of education, aged care, health care and Indigenous languages.

Exactly 170 years later, a large number of Mercy Sisters and their friends, remembered the arrival of the first Sisters of Mercy in Australia by retracing their river journey, reports The Record.

Spotlight is an occasion for holy, righteous anger and every adult Catholic should see it. The time to look away has gone, writes Fr Richard Leonard sj. Why go and see this film? Because victims of child sexual abuse and their families deserve it.

Catholic Mission launched its first campaign of the 2016 Year of Mercy, a direct mail appeal with a focus on Timor-Leste, with the campaign highlighting the efforts of promising young seminarians who are answering God’s call to guide the people of Timor-Leste towards true independence.

The jury of the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting has awarded its annual prize to Jeremy Sim’s Last Cab to Darwin, a deeply humane story of love and the dignity of life, writes Fr Leonard Leonard sj.

To help appreciate and better promote the vocation of religious brothers, the Vatican last month released a 50-page reflection on the importance of their life and mission of evangelization, fraternity and sacrifice, reports the Catholic News Service (CNS).

Pope Francis' message for the 2016 World Day of Peace, marked annually on the 1st of January, emphasised that peace is the fruit of a culture of solidarity, mercy and compassion.

Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) proudly unveils a logo to celebrate the Jubilee Year of Mercy which began on the 8th of December 2015 and will conclude on the 20th of November 2016.

As the world seems more angry, hatefilled and less tolerant, this Christmas the greatest gift any of us can give is the love of God, writes CRA President Sister Berneice Loch rsm.

On 26 November, Redemptorists of Australia, New Zealand and Samoa celebrated the establishment of the Province of Oceania, created to refocus the Redemptorist mission in the region.

On December 8th, the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the inaugural day of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, Marist Sisters all over the world marked a new period in their history as they became one congregation made up of 13 units. Australian sisters celebrated this new beginning with a ceremony for the Design for Life for the Unit of Australia.

The recent Missionary Sisters of Service Chapter gathering adopted a new way of governance, where lay people could be elected into the Governing Body and saw the election of three lay members into the new MSS Governing Body, reports the newsletter Highways and Byways.

‘Review, Reimagine, Renew: Mission making a difference in a changing world’ is a national conference in Melbourne early next year that aims to provide valuable opportunities for reflection and spiritual development, and to build capacity in our Catholic community and beyond to manage change for the common good.

In a media release, the Sisters of Mercy worldwide are invited to enter into a year-long, reflection process as The Year of Mercy is welcomed with a symbolic opening of a local door of Mercy.

Fr Stephen Hackett, a priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, has been appointed the new General Secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

The recent launch of the Franciscan Community Development Program- Timor-Leste, a partnership between Mary MacKillop International (MMI) and the Franciscan Friars’ Province of the Holy Spirit illustrates the collaborative relationship bound by shared values between religious congregations at the local level.

The Augustinians recently marked the 30th anniversary of the arrival of the first friars in Korea - two Australian and two English priests, one of whom still serves in Korea today.

As the Year of Consecrated Life draws to a close, it is fitting to reflect on its major themes and our journey over the past twelve months, writes CRA President Sister Berneice Loch rsm, as she highlights the strong bond that religious Institutes have with each other and reaffirms that more can be achieved by working together. 

Among religious women and men who are recognised for their service to the disadvantaged, the work of Sisters Nora Hanrahan olsh, Annette Shears pbvm and Anne Gardiner olsh were recently highlighted for their dedication to migrants and refugees, the people of Kiribati and Tiwi Islands.

The Dominican family worldwide ushered in the Jubilee of the 800th anniversary of the the Order of Preachers on the weekend of 7 November 2015.

An article by Adelaide priest Fr Mark Hanns msc offering a reinterpretation on current teaching of the Church on marriage breakdown has been published in the British Catholic weekly newspaper, The Tablet.

Two members of the Truth Justice and Healing Council (TJHC) had the opportunity to speak to the Pope's Synod of Bishops on the Family in Rome last month, reports the TJHC eNewsletter.

In the wake of last month's Synod of Bishops, Sister Carmen Sammut msola who heads the umbrella group for some 600,000 global Catholic women religious has said that women are called to carry forth the pastoral work that the official church is sometimes not able to do, reports the National Catholic Reporter.

About 150 participants gathered in Melbourne in October for the International Mission Symposium – an event aimed at celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s decree on Mission, Ad Gentes.

Traditionally, for Catholics, November is a time for remembering the dead, those “who have gone before us, marked with the sign of faith”. Fr Andrew Hamilton sj reflects on endings and beginnings.

The Benedictine community at New Norcia, Australia's only monastic town, has been awarded a $12,727 federal Community Heritage Grant to fund custom-made storage furniture for the collection of historic Spanish Vestments.

Australian Catholic religious orders of women face diminishment as our older members come to the end of their lives and new membership is scarce. We have a powerful belief in life hereafter, and death does not dominate nor diminish the life or ministries of individuals or of the group, writes Good Samaritan Sister Clare Condon.

On Saturday, October 31 everyone is invited to #SayWelcome in cities and towns across Australia and reaffirm that Australians are a welcoming, generous and compassionate people.

Mr Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council (TJHC), identifies and addresses some of the cultural issues within the Church which may have been factors contributing to the abuse crisis in his wide-ranging speech for the Blackfriars Lecture Series.