Our stories

Building a just society means elevating everyone by supporting all people to reach their full potential. Every success story is crucial because none of us can flourish, until we all do.

Refusing to make vulnerable people into problems
- 18 April 2016
Pope Francis recently visited a detention camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. Andy Hamilton SJ reflects on his refusal to make vulnerable people into problems. There is so much to like about Pope Francis’ journey to Lesbos. There also so much for Australians to be humbled by. He undertook his travel at a time…
Jesuit Social Services' Annual Dinner
- 5 April 2016
On Saturday March 19, we hosted our annual fundraising dinner at the MCG Members’ Dining Room. The largest event on our annual fundraising calendar was a big success. The night featured an engaging Frank Costigan QC Address delivered by Michael Coutts-Trotter, Secretary of the New South Wales Department of Family and Community Services, who spoke…
Good Friday and Easter Sunday invite us to respond with good spirit
- 23 March 2016
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…
World Social Justice Day (February 20)
- 19 February 2016
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…
Indigenous artworks for Dillon and Perry House
- 17 February 2016
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…
Artful Dodgers Studios gets Grill'd
- 16 February 2016
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…
Ash Wednesday
- 9 February 2016
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…
Australia Day
- 23 December 2015
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…
Christmas message of hope
- 22 December 2015
The stories of Christmas tell us how the lives of simple people collide with the exactions and the cruelties of kings. In Luke’s Gospel a pregnant Mary must make a long, hot journey so that the Romans can make a census for taxation purposes. Her journey ends and her care begins with the birth of…
Block Party
- 19 December 2015
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…