Tag: Baptism

The number of Catholics and permanent deacons in the world rose in 2023, while the number of seminarians, priests, men and women in religious orders, and baptisms all declined, according to Vatican statistics.

When children are baptised, their parents and the church are giving them the greatest gift ever: the gift of faith, Pope Francis said before baptising 21 infants in the Sistine Chapel.

How it started, and how it’s going. After celebrating their wedding day with the Tyburn nuns in Riverstone last year Jacinta and Alan Yousif returned to have their daughter Aleena baptised in the convent chapel.

At the Paschal Eucharist Mass on 21 April, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP welcomed a record number new Catholics as “fully fledged brothers and sisters in Christ” into the “one spiritual family.” The archbishop called the new Catholics “international superstars,” relaying news that this year’s “bumper crop” of 250 new catechumens and candidates had made international headlines

At the Easter Vigil this year, St Peter Chanel and St Joseph the Worker parish welcomed 16 children from the parish schools as new members of the church through the Rite of Baptism, many of whom had first learned about God through their school.

Priska Surantono’s 5-year journey to Catholicism began in the most unlikely of places—Mecca. In July 2019 she made the Islamic pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, known as Umrah, where adherents come before the Kaaba, a shrine considered the holiest site in Islam, for prayer and worship.

I understand that the Holy See has issued a new document in Italian on the validity of the sacraments. Is there anything new in it that we priests should be aware of in our pastoral ministry?

Dear Father, you wrote that we grandparents should not baptise our grandchildren when their parents have not had it done. But what can we do then? I really feel for these beautiful children growing up without any faith.

My married children do not practise their faith and, in spite of the encouragement of my wife and me, they have not had their...

This is the homily given by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at the Solemn Mass for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 25 June 2023.

Dear Father, are Catholics supposed to believe that original sin was committed by a single pair of humans, called Adam and Eve? If so, how was the sin passed on to their offspring? I have never understood this.

The Sydney Centre for Evangelisation (SCE) has produced a landmark new resource on the sacrament of baptism, highlighting the central part it plays in the life of Christians and helping Catholics and non-Catholics alike in answering some common questions they may have about it.