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.

Time to end the Pacific Solution
- 5 October 2015
Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO, Jesuit Social Services board member, has called on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to close Australia's offshore detention facilities. Addressing the Melaleuca Refugee Centre in Darwin on 29 September, Brennan said there is no longer an excuse for "maintaining the chamber of horrors" that is the Pacific solution at Nauru and…
Learning life skills
- 16 September 2015
A graduation lunch was held last week for participants who completed the BOSS (Building on Skills and Strengths) Certificate 1 in Education for Adults at the Holy Eucharist Primary School in St Albans, where the program was conducted. The program, run by Jesuit Community College, is designed to improve literacy, numeracy and employability skills whilst…
World Suicide Prevention Day
- 10 September 2015
Suicide is usually a very solitary act. But its solitariness doubles its effect on other people. Family members and friends are devastated that the person they loved has so definitively broken off their relationship. The breaking of this relationship, too, can affect the way in which they relate to one another. They can retreat into…
PM's refugee intake announcement
- 10 September 2015
[written by Andy Hamilton SJ for Eureka Street] The Prime Minister's announcement that Australia will accept 12,000 refugees from Syria, in addition to the capped intake, deserves an unqualified welcome. It is a generous decision and a welcome demonstration of leadership. For those of us who are concerned with people who seek protection from persecution…
For those who've come across the sea
- 9 September 2015
The 2015 Social Justice Statement of the Australian Bishops, For those who've come across the seas, is a must read. It tackles a difficult topic – over seventy per cent of Australians approve of the harsh measures taken to repel people who seek protection from us, and both parties support these measures. It comes at…
World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
- 1 September 2015
Churches have always been good at naming days and weeks. We need to think only of Christmas and Easter, Advent and Lent, and saints' feast days by the dozen. So it did not make the news when Pope Francis added another day to the calendar. So when Pope Francis made September 1 an annual day…
What price life?
- 28 August 2015
Last week, Mr Elferink, the Northern Territory Minister for Health, was interviewed by the ABC. According to the report, he argued that the money spent on the health of the elderly, and particularly on those in the last year of their lives – a million dollars for each person - would be better spent on…
Big hearts needed for Refugee and Migrant Sunday
- 28 August 2015
Refugee and Migrant Sunday is a celebration of the contribution and dignity of people who arrive as refugees and migrants. It is celebrated by the Churches together on or around the last Sunday of August each year. Refugee Sunday is a day for big hearts. It takes a big heart to keep looking at the…
Jesuit social ministries meeting
- 10 August 2015
CEO, Julie Edwards, and Central Australia Program Manager, John Adams, attended the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) Social Apostolate meeting in Kuala Lumpur last week. The annual gathering is an occasion to exchange information, build networks and learn new knowledge. This meeting hopes to deepen the knowledge of the participants on the history of…
House and home
- 9 August 2015
In English we make a difference between a house and a home. A house is a building that puts a roof over your head. A home is a nest of relationships that sustain and provide feathers to wing your heart. We own a house. We belong in a home. Homelessness week reminds us of this.…