We hope to list events related to issues of peace and justice that will be of interest to parishioners.
UPCOMING EVENTS
12-14 September 2024: Season of Creation convocation
Caritas Australia’s Catholic Earthcare team invites the Catholic community – including schools, parishes, diocese organisations, and religious orders – to join its 2024 Season of Creation convocation.
4-6 October 2024: ARRCC National Climate Conference
Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) is holding their National Climate Conference with the theme Earth Wisdom: Hope in Action at Santa Sabina College, Strathfield.
PAST EVENTS
6 December 2023: Laudate Deum and COP28 forum: Live event and webinar
In October of this year Pope Francis issued his Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum. He announced that he would be attending COP28 which ran from November 30 to December 12, but subsequently had to cancel for health reasons. A forum on Laudate Deum and COP28 was held by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney Justice and Peace Office, the parish Ecology Group, and Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) on Wednesday 6 December 2023 (see the flyer on the right).
17 November 2023: School Strike for Climate
The Ecology Group joined the School Strike for Climate on November 17 (see photo on the right), with the crowd marching to the office of the Minister for the Environment to petition for no more coal and gas mines to be approved, echoing the plea from Pope Francis.
19 September 2023: The Letter screening at St Thomas’ Willoughby
St Thomas’ church at 182 High St, North Willoughby held a free screening of the Pope Francis film “The Letter”. See flyer at right.
15 September 2023: The Voice – Our Lady of the Way Parish Event
Our Lady of the Way parish held this event featuring Father Frank Brennan SJ at St Mary’s , Miller St, North Sydney.
26 July 2023: Tri-diocesan Social Justice evening
The Justice and Peace office of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney held the 2023 Tri-diocesan Social Justice evening with a focus on the 2022-23 social justice statement, Respect: Confronting violence & Abuse Details, at 99 Albert Road, Strathfield , NSW 2135.
21 May 2023: Care for Creation liturgy at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Mortlake
To celebrate Laudato si’ Week, the Justice and Peace Office of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney held a special Mass for Creation on Sunday 21 May.
This concluded with the launch of a parish Laudato si’ action kit.
17 May 2023: Hope for the Earth, Hope for Humanity on-line event
Catholic Earthcare held an on-line action event to celebrate Laudato si’ week. The theme this year is “Hope for the Earth, Hope for Humanity”.
29 April 2023: Fratelli Tutti Gathering in Ashfield
The Justice and Peace Office of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney held a gathering to discuss the encyclical and to allow parish groups to exchange ideas on practical steps to promote social friendship.
9 March 2023: Multi-faith prayer service for Divestment
The Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) and the Laudato si’ Movement held a multi-faith prayer service as part of a global week of action on Divestment from fossil fuels.
3 March 2023: School Strike for Climate
Pope Francis, in a meeting with environmental activist Greta Thunberg, initiator of School Strike for Climate, urged her to “continue to struggle” in her campaign for climate action. The 2023 School Strike for Climate was on 3 March 2023 and the parish North Sydney Ecology Group joined with members of ARRCC to participate in the event at the Sydney Town Hall.
4 March 2023 Sydney Knitting Nanas Exhibition “Craftivism”
The Sydney Knitting Nanas environmental action group is opening their exhibition of environmental action protest art at Brush Farm House.
17-22 September 2022: Peace Festival 2022
The International Day of Peace is being marked with Peace Festival 2022, a week of learning, celebration and action.
10 May 2022: Meet the Federal Election Candidates – Voice your Values
The Ecology Group at Our Lady of the Way, on behalf of the parish, organised a meeting in the parish with the candidates for the Federal seat of North Sydney in the upcoming Federal Election. This was an opportunity to meet the candidates, hear their views on key issues, and ask questions. Invitations were sent to faith communities in the electorate to join us in coming together to assist in personal discernment on the many important issues in Australian society today that confront and concern us.
23-25 April 2022: Peace and alternatives to war
The Raising Peace Network put on a series of on-line talks about peace over the 2022 Anzac Day Weekend.
26th September 2021 World Day of Migrants and Refugees:
Archdiocese of Sydney Justice and Peace Office: Call to Lamentation and Commitment
The Justice and Peace Office (JPO) of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney held a candlelit prayer vigil over Zoom to remember all those who have died in Australian immigration detention.
Diocese of Parramatta: Conversation with refugees and asylum seekers
The Diocese of Parramatta hosted an online event where attendees heard personal stories, learned more about the situation in Afghanistan first-hand, and were invited to take action.
10 September 2021 Sydney Catholic Schools’ ‘Raise Your Hands for Afghanistan’
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP invited the Sydney Catholic schools and Church communities to come together online on Friday 10 September for Sydney Catholic Schools’ ‘Raise Your Hands for Afghanistan’ live Q&A and concert.
8 September 2021 Social Justice Gathering on Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor.
The Justice and Peace Office of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney held a Social Justice Gathering focussing on Australian Catholic Bishops Conference 2021-22 Social Justice Statement, Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. A recording of the event can be viewed.
5 August 2021: on-line launch of ACBC statement on Social Justice 2021-22
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference launched its Social Justice statement 2021-22 Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor on 5 August. The Justice and Peace Office of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney has information on the on-line launch event.
27 September 2020: Webinar : A Time for Grace
Pope Francis in his annual letter for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2020 wrote:
“The pandemic has reminded us how we are all in the same boat. Realizing that we have the same concerns and fears has shown us once more that no one can be saved alone. To grow truly, we must grow together, sharing what we have, like the boy who offered Jesus five barley loaves and two fish… yet they proved enough for five thousand people (cf. Jn 6:1-15)!”
The Justice and Peace Office of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, Jesuit Refugee Service Australia, and Nangami organised a webinar exploring a time for grace.
A recording of the webinar is available here.
2 July 2020 On-line Rally: Freedom from Detention
A number of refugee support organizations joined to hold an on-line rally on this subject on Thursday 2 July 2020.
This rally focused on the plight of 1400 asylum seekers who remain locked up in detention.
23 June 2020 JRS on-line event: Between Welcome and Exclusion
Marking Refugee Week 2020, Jesuit Refugee Service Australia held a webinar exploring what “a Year of Welcome”, the theme this year, has in reality been like during the COVID-19 crisis. The sub title of the webinar was “Australia and the Politics of Asylum during COVID-19”. Dr Eve Lester, Myer Innovation Fellow, University of Melbourne, Father Peter Smith of the Justice and Peace Office of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, and Carolina Gottardo, Director of JRS Australia were joined by a refugee with lived experience, in delivering eloquent talks followed by Q & A with the on-line audience of 65 attendees.
14-20 June 2020 Refugee Week screenings of The Staging Post
Cisarua Learning held screenings of the inspirational film The Staging Post twice daily during the week. These screenings were designed for school and community groups and included an introduction by the star of the film, Muzafar Ali. The screenings were followed by a live discussion with the refugees from the Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre in Indonesia, to help attendees learn how the community in Cisarua managed the COVID-19 Pandemic, kept their school alive online, and also stepped up to become leaders in their community.
6 May 2020 On-line JRS event on COVID-19 impact
Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) held an on-line event on 6 May 2020 where JRS Australia staff who have been working on the front line talked eloquently about how the COVID-19 crisis is impacting asylum seekers and migrants on temporary visas, in vulnerable situations in our community.
3 February 2020 Bushfire Crisis and Laudato Si’ panel
The Justice and Peace Office of the Sydney Catholic Archdiocese held a discussion evening Bushfire crisis and Laudato Si’ to bring us together as a community to reflect, in the light of the beautiful papal encyclical, on the catastrophic bushfire events of this summer.
30 October 2019 North Sydney for Refugees community forum
North Sydney for Refugees held a community forum In Search of Fairness and Dignity to provide the North Sydney electorate with information regarding the cuts to the Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS) program for asylum seekers and the ‘Medevac’ repeal.
10 October 2019 Interfaith Service for Tamil family
The NSW Ecumenical Council held an Interfaith Service for Asylum Seekers and Refugees hosted by Pitt St Uniting Church. The Interfaith Service was in support of the Tamil family being held in the detention centre on Christmas Island – the family who calls Biloela home.
20 September 2019 Global Climate Strike
Nangami members marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, took ferries across the harbour, and made their way by other routes to meet with Jesuit Refugee Service members and Jesuit Mission members on the steps of St Mary’s Cathedral in the city, before joining the 80,000 children and adults who participated in Sydney in the Global Climate Strike, organised and led by schoolchildren.
Andrew Hamilton SJ in this article in Eureka Street, reflects on the strike as follows:
“The critical response by federal government ministers and their media voices to the event invited deeper comparison. It was aggressive and sought the moral high ground, insisting that children should be at school, that teachers were conniving in breaking rules governing lesson attendance, that valuable school time required to prepare people for their place in society was being wasted and that the demonstration appealed to emotion whereas schools should be about cultivating reason. The tone was hectoring and didactic — we are adults and you are children.
Reflection on the demonstration and the criticisms made of it prompts a more radical and subversive question. Who actually were the adults here? When assessed by conventional wisdom about the path from childhood to adulthood, it might seem that supposed adults were behaving like children and children like adults.”
6 September 2019 Action for the Climate Emergency Forum at Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College
At the Vatican Dialogues summit on June 14, Pope Francis stated:
“Faced with a climate emergency, we must take action accordingly, in order to avoid perpetrating a brutal act of injustice towards the poor and future generations.”
On Friday 6 September Nangami combined with the OLW Ecology Group to hold an Action for the Climate Emergency forum on this theme.
Hosted by Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College, who generously provided one of their lecture theatres, attendees heard from Thea Ormerod of Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC), Corinne Fisher of Pacific Calling Partnership, and climate activist and author Cathy Delaney. The evening ended with a lively Q&A with a panel of young student leaders, chaired by Clare Vernon of Catholic Earthcare.
The speaker presentations can be viewed in this slide set.
15 June 2019 Refugee Week Picnic at Parramatta Park
Jesuit Refugee Service organised a picnic at Parramatta Park on June 15 to celebrate Refugee Week.
22 May 2019 Movie night at the Ron Dyer Centre
On Wednesday 22 May the Nangami group joined with JRS and Jesuit Mission to hold a movie night featuring Jolyon Hoff’s documentary The Staging Post, followed by a discussion and Q&A.
The movie is a 60 minutes-long uplifting story about a group of refugees in Indonesia who start a school as their children had no access to education. As both Jesuit Refugee Service Indonesia and Jesuit Mission are involved in this education project, the Nangami group co-hosted this movie fundraiser with Jesuit Mission and Jesuit Refugee Service Australia. The proceeds of the movie will go to support the people we serve in both ministries.
Following the movie, there was a discussion and Q&A with representatives from Jesuit Refugee Service and Jesuit Mission as well as individuals involved in the filming.
30 March 2019 Fundraiser for Emerton Ignite food store
Nangami members were some of those who helped organise or participate in a fundraiser for the Jesuit Social Services Ignite Food store at Emerton, held at St. Aloysius’ College in Milsons’ Point: a “Night for Ignite” on March 30.
14 March 2019 Sydney Town Hall Assembly
On March 14 Nangami members joined close to 2000 attendees of the March 2019 Assembly, an event at Sydney Town Hall to seek commitment to action from state and federal governments to enable access to affordable housing and affordable renewable energy.
The Assembly was organised by the Sydney Alliance, Vinnies NSW, and the Everybody’s Home Campaign.
Speakers were passionate in their calls for action by state and Federal governments on this issue and members of political parties who attended were given the opportunity to affirm their commitment to concrete actions that were proposed at the meeting.
13 February 2019 North Sydney Affordable Housing Forum
On 13 February 2019 parishioners gathered at the Ron Dyer Centre to participate in this forum, an initiative of Sydney Alliance and St Vincent de Paul, facilitated by Geraldine Doogue AO.
The Sydney Alliance has been campaigning for action to provide affordable housing in Sydney.
Many people in our community are struggling to pay rent, to find an affordable place to live, and some are at risk of homelessness.
We heard statistics that presented the hard facts and then, having been reminded by Geraldine Doogue that this was about people , not just statistics, heard personal stories that brought all this home.
8 November 2018 Table Talk at St Mary’s North Sydney
Pope Francis has asked us to “welcome, protect, promote and integrate refugees and migrants.”
How can we do this?
On November 8 2018 we held our inaugural event , a Table Talk in the Ron Dyer Centre at St Mary’s in North Sydney.
Over a hundred people from our parish and elsewhere attended this event, at which we formed small groups of six people who engaged in animated conversations about people seeking asylum.
We heard from two refugees who told their personal stories; many in the audience found themselves moved to tears by the resilience of spirit these two remarkable individuals demonstrated during their amazing journeys. One group of listeners even asked if the DNA of these two formidably resourceful people could be bottled!
The event was facilitated by Jesuit Refugee Service in partnership with Sydney Alliance.
With participants expressing a strong desire for actions to follow up from the conversation, the Nangami group met on 14 November to consider how to put into practice the suggestions for actions.
And earlier events…
Justice for Refugees hosted a rally for refugees on Temporary Protection Visas on Monday 12 August 2019 to demand an end to the harsh conditions which include preventing them from bringing family members here to join them.
The University of Sydney held a two day conference Children, Migration and the Right to Health on 25-26 July 2019.
On 21 January 2019 St John’s Church in Darlinghurst, Sydney held a Change the Heart Prayer Service in Sydney.
Churches in other cities held the service at various locations.
On Tuesday 20 November 2018, Teachers for Refugees hosted a rally at Customs House square, Circular Quay, Sydney to campaign for all asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island to be brought to Australia.
On 2 November 2018, churches around Australia held prayer vigils for the nationwide movement to get children out of detention in Nauru. Common Grace provided a list of the locations and times of these nationwide prayer vigils .
On 16 October 2018, Rural Australians for Refugees held a rally in Canberra on the lawns behind Old Parliament House.
Calendar of events
The Australian Catholic Social Justice Council calendar offers a comprehensive list of daily events.
