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EDITORIAL COMMENT: Catholica Australia is very pleased to be involved in what may well be a first for the Church in Australia — the public broadcast on youtube.com of two significant addresses by Australian bishops. We believe this is a laudable initiative on the part of the Australian Bishops to reach out to a significantly disadvantaged sector of our community. The initiative demonstrates that our bishops are listening to their flock and endeavouring to respond. Catholica Australia has made an entirely voluntary commitment involving at least three man-days of work, including a 12 hour return trip to Canberra on Monday, to publish this material. (Originally the editor went to Canberra armed with video and still cameras simply to record my fiance and professional partner, Amanda McKenna, who composed the theme song. When I realised no one else from the Catholic media seemed to be covering the event, and following many enquiries from individuals there for videos or photographs to distribute to people in other parts of Austalia who could not be present, I decided to give it the maximum coverage I could within our limited resources.) The two videos in particular I think capture one of the good sides of the bishops we are blessed to have in this country. As I remarked in an editorial the other day, for all the criticisms we at Catholica Australia might make of the institutional Church, we do acknowledge the public evidence that the bishops in this country in the main do endeavour to not only listen to their flocks but, more importantly, they endeavour to represent our interests to the higher powers in Rome (where even our own bishops are very often not listened to). On display through these videos, and also the photographic evidence, I think one can see evidence of the pastoral care and listening qualities of the best of the Australian Catholic Bishops.
I am aware both from enquiries in the last few days, as well as from long-standing friendships with people working in the area of support to people with disabilities, that these videos and photographs will be viewed far and wide around this nation. In a more collective sense I know the Catholica Australia Community that supports me will also generally be very encouraging of this initiative on the part of our bishops.
We congratulate the Bishops for this initiative and we extend our deep hope that people with disabilities and indeed all the dispossessed — including the 85% who are now disenfranchised from their own Church — may derive some sense of welcome from this initiative and from the initiative in the news last Friday where our bishops have indicated they do want to listen to those who are now distanced from the institutional Church.
VIDEO and PHOTO GALLERY: This story, which was originally published on Tuesday, now includes video of the homily given by Bishop Eugene Hurley, Chairman of the Bishops Commission for Pastoral Life, at the Mass to launch this initiative for People with Disabilities. It also includes a video of the address given by Bishop Max Davis, Bishops' Delegate for Disability Issues, to launch the book "We Have a Story" — which relates the life experiences of many people with disabilities and those working with people with disabilities from around Australia. The videos, which are also viewable via the public broadcast website youtube.com, are viewable at the bottom of this page.
We have also added two extensive image galleries. One from the Mass to launch this initiative. This can be viewed at www.catholica.com.au/media/PastoralLifeMass/. A second image gallery contains many photographs from the Launch Ceremony which followed the Mass. It can be viewed at www.catholica.com.au/media/PastoralLifeBookCDLaunch/.
NOTE: This page has heavy multi-media content and is best accessed only on broadband connections.
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At a Mass and luncheon in Canberra on Monday, the Australian Catholic Bishops launched a significant initiative to be more supportive of people with disabilities. The event brought representatives of people with disabilities from all around Australia to share their stories with one another and with the wider Australian church community.
 The Mass to celebrate the launch also brought bishops and priests together from all around the nation who already have a special commitment to people with disabilities.
In a joint statement for the launch Archbishop Philip E Wilson, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, and Bishop Eugene Hurley, Chairman of the Bishops Commission for Pastoral Life, said:
There is still much more we can do, as the Body of Christ, to promote the value of people with disability. We need to identify those groups within our communities that are not participating fully; not because they don't want to, but because we are not inviting, encouraging and supporting them. We, as Church, need to actively invite and welcome all; for when we include everybody in the Body of Christ, we will then be truly one..
To give voice to this laudable intiative the Bishops have published a book in which a wide range of people with disabilities from across the nation have been able to tell their own personal stories of the battles they have faced in their lives. The Bishops have also commissioned a theme song on CD which they hope will be taken up in all parishes around the nation to encourage a sense of solidarity between the abled and the disabled in the Church. Here is a sample of the theme song:
Photos and report by:
Brian Coyne
Editor & Publisher
Catholica
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