1998

13th October 1998
Newcastle Nun to speak about mission at Bishops' video launch
The Most Reverend Michael Malone, Catholic Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle will officiate at the Newcastle launch of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference pastoral video entitled Faces - The Mission of the Australian Church on Tuesday 13th October at the Showcase Cinema, Newcastle.

A recent recipient of the Order of Australia for her tireless community work, Sr Carmel Hanson RSJ will speak at the launch. Sr Carmel, a psychologist with the St Vincent de Paul Society has worked with disadvantaged groups for 29 years and currently lives and works at the House of Hospitality in Adamstown.

"This video explores the lives of three ordinary Australians and like Sr Carmel, each has an extraordinary mission in life," said Bishop Malone. "Through their stories the individuals in the video bring to life the four major themes identified by Catholics in the original consultation as being relevant to mission today - openness, reconciliation, justice and spirituality."

The video is designed to inform the people of Australia of the breadth and vitality of the mission of the Australian Catholic Church. It is in documentary format and provides a variety of models of mission at the local, national and international levels. It is intended that it will be used as a resource for parish, school and community groups.

The first person featured on the video is Lyn Brown, from Gosford, who assists refugees and migrants to settle into their new home - Australia . Next, the video highlights the work of Eddie Kneebone from Wodonga, who promotes reconciliation in his region by educating both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples about the history and culture of the area. Finally, one of this year's recipients of the honour of Member of the Order of Australia , Patricia Pak Poy RSM, talks about her campaign throughout the world for the banning of landmines.

"Though in the past some notions of mission have conjured up negative images the work of mission is much broader and much closer to home than we often realise. In this video we celebrate the very effective and powerful mission of the Australian church in the 1990's", said Bishop Malone.

The launch of the video culminates two years of consultation and production facilitated by Catholic Mission on behalf of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference. It is the first time that the Bishops' have produced a pastoral statement in video format.

The Newcastle launch will coincide with a national launch at Parliament House, Sydney and diocesan launches across Australia .

Faces - The Mission of the Australian Church will be launched on Tuesday 13 October at the Showcase Cinema, Wolfe Street Newcastle , commencing at 6.45pm. All media welcome.

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