The Catholic Church in Australia is to embark on its first ever national e-conference this year, with parishes and Church groups encouraged to gather on Tuesday June 30 to take part in the innovative conference on St Paul.

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In a letter to clergy for the Year for Priests, Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley has called for a return to the ancient theology of the presbyterate as an "intimate sacramental brotherhood" with a "corporate sense of priestly identity".

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Dural, NSW, artist, Paul Newton, has been commissioned to create 35 paintings for the chapel at the Domus Australia pilgrim house which is to be Rome's first ever centre for Australian pilgrims.

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The Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn has launched a Virtual Pilgrimage website which will follow thirty five pilgrims, led by Archbishop Mark Coleridge, retired Archbishop Francis Carroll and St Christopher's Cathedral Administrator Fr Francis Koloncherry, as they walk in the Footsteps of Saint Paul.

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The author of Heart Whispers, Elizabeth Canham, writes out of her experience of living for five years as a monastic Oblate in a Benedictine community. She has a very readable style, often reflective, sometimes conversational, as she shares her own lived experience and her reflection on the relevance of Benedict's Rule for her own life. - Sr Sue Barker, The Good Oil

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Come, Walk in the Light is the next phase (2009-2011) in the Archdiocese of Brisbane's approach to ministry and evangelisation with Catholic young people. Through the program, the Archdiocese will focus on inviting young people to ... Connect Grow Choose and Go. - Come walk in the light, Brisbane Archdiocese

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The Australian Catholic Students Association will host their annual National Conference in Brisbane this July. All Catholic students studying their HSC or at Tertiary institutions such as University or TAFE are invited to a weekend of prayer, talks, and social fun. - ACSA National Conference, July 10-12 2009

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With the Julian and Gregorian calendars coinciding in 2010 and 2011 resulting in Easter on the same date in East and West, an international ecumenical seminar has reaffirmed the hope that all Christians will be able to celebrate Easter on the same day every year.

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When Pope Benedict told a crowd in St. Peter's that the Virgin Mary 'silently followed her son Jesus to Calvary, taking part with great suffering in his sacrifice, thus cooperating in the mystery of redemption and becoming mother of all believers,' most listeners probably heard nothing remarkable in the statement. Yet for one group of devotees, Benedict's statement was a milestone - a sign that he had moved one step closer to granting their wish for a new dogma on Mary's contribution to human salvation. - Francis X. Rocca @ Pew Forum

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Any disaster that warrants the declaration of a state of emergency has at least three distinct phases. The second stage is the recovery stage. We are in this stage at present. My role as Bushfire Recovery Chaplain derives its meaning and title from this stage. People who have dealt with other national and worldwide emergencies describe this stage in these or similar words: 'In the face of the disaster, we saw the best of human nature. In the recovery stage, we shall see the worst of human nature.'- Fr Greg Bourke, Far East

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This Franciscan site provides quotations and short stories from eclectic sources that promote positive attitudes, and development of holistic human dignity - from tiny seeds to ripened fruit. - www.appleseeds.org

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Launched to coincide with World Communications Sunday, Pope2you is the Vatican's newest attempt to project the Gospel message to the digital generation. - www.pope2you.net

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The Congregation for the Causes of Saints have approved a miracle attributed to Cardinal John Henry Newman, the last step before Pope Benedict promulgates the British cardinal's beatification. 

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Another characteristic of the Madrid World Youth Day will be networks. For the first time, we are going to have a World Youth Day in which really the fundamental means of communication will be the Internet, the social networks, not only as information but also as communication, to create communities. In Sydney, this already began, but I think this is going to be the explosion. - Santiago de la Cierva interviewed by Zenit.

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An internet pioneer, particularly in the Catholic world, Deaconsplace has been online since 1997. With a recent revamp, it continues a broad variety of resources for deacons, their wives and children and other Catholics. - www.deaconsplace.org.au

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The newspaper of the Italian bishops conference has published new evidence that Hitler's security forces had planned to either kidnap or kill Pope Pius XII.

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The Pave the Way Foundation for interreligious dialogue has announced it has found more than 2,300 pages of original documents illustrating Pope Pius XII's efforts to help Jews in the face of Nazism.

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British Catholic couple Austin and Nuala Conway who had sextuplets last month have revealed doctors advised them to abort some of the babies.

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I sense a growing weariness among Christians in the fierce cultural battles currently being waged, such as abortion and gay "marriage." Does it seem like life would be so much easier if we stopped making a big deal about things and just let people do what they wanted? Live and let live, right? Isn't that the compassionate attitude? - Jennifer Hartline, Catholic Online

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Pope Benedict says his new encyclical on the economy and labour issues, due to be published at the end of this month, will focus on ways to make globalisation more responsive to the needs of the poor amid the worldwide financial crisis.

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Aussie icon Kylie Minogue is reportedly considering becoming a Catholic ahead of her rumoured forthcoming marriage to Spanish model Andres Velencoso.

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The Internet Padre is one of the longest established resources for Catholic content on the web. - www.internetpadre.com

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My mother was a very strong, practising Catholic and she instilled in me a deep sense of the importance of faith. However, as an adult, decisions for me were not taken till much, much later;until I was on the road to university. But since I was about 18, Ive been active in whatever local church I found myself in, either in Australia, in China or wherever I worked in the world. - Kevin Rudd, War Cry

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The International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs is fortunately known by an easier to remember name - Pax Romana. Founded in the aftermath of World War I, it is one of the earliest international lay movements. - www.icmica-miic.org

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