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Good Friday and Easter Sunday invite us to respond with good spirit
Easter is traditionally a time for renewing our hope. It is consequently a time for taking stock of the things that sap our hope. How, for example, can we keep pressing for better times when, having rejoiced that the Berlin Wall has been excised, we now see it metastasise in the walls of Israel, Europe…
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World Social Justice Day (February 20)
World Social Justice Day invites us to look at our own society and how we treat people. It also allows us to honour people who keep hanging in as they try to build a more just society. A commitment to justice in any area of life will always lead us through harsh country along a…
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Indigenous artworks for Dillon and Perry House
Jesuit Social Services recently purchased two new pieces of artwork for our living skills residential programs Dillon House and Perry House. Both properties are home to young people with involvement in the criminal justice system, and seek to develop independent living skills as participants re-integrate back into the community. The artworks were purchased at Confined…
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Artful Dodgers Studios gets Grill'd
The innovative work of Jesuit Social Services gets invaluable community support from far and wide, which now extends to leading hamburger chain Grill’d. Grill’d recently became supporters of our Artful Dodgers Studios when patrons at the Richmond restaurant voted Jesuit Social Services as the organisation most deserving of support. Manager of Richmond Grill’d, Alex Wyllie…
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Ash Wednesday introduces Lent, a time for fasting and for prayer. It has rhythms of fasting and feasting: Shrove Tuesday is followed by Ash Wednesday, and Lenten fasting ends in Easter feast. In a Jewish tradition inherited by Christians fasting was associated with putting on ashes from the bonfire of vanity. Hence the ashes and…
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Australia Day takes us back to our beginnings, beyond the arrival of the First Fleet, to the arrival of Captain Cook at Botany Bay. It also invites us to reflect on what happened later when the European settlers cultivated and developed this new land and encountered both Indigenous Australians and others different from themselves. We…
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We took part in the Block Party held on December 10th in the Atherton Garden Reserve on Napier Street, Fitzroy. Hundreds of people attended this free event, hosted by Yarra Youth Services and the Yarra Council. The event provided entertainment aimed for the residents living in the housing commission apartments nearby, along with people living…
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International Migrants Day (December 18)
International Migrants Day usually comes as a placid reminder of the contributions that immigrants make to our national life. It merges easily into the Christmas celebrations with their emphasis on universal good will and peace. This year, however, the celebration of migrants has a touch of defiance. In Europe political parties that oppose immigration have…
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Global challenges, networking responses
Following the “Networking for Justice” meeting that took place in Loyola, Spain, from 16-20 November, our Chief Executive Officer Julie Edwards travelled to Madrid participate in a roundtable discussion organised at Comillas University on 23 November. The event, titled “Global challenges, networking responses”, was chaired by the Rector of the University, Julio Martínez and the…