Month

August 2018

Bishop Long in Blackheath for Migrant and Refugee Sunday

Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen visited Sacred Heart Church Blackheath on Sunday 26 August for Migrant and Refugee Sunday. Bishop Long fled Vietnam on a refugee boat in 1979, following two of his brothers who had already left, and reached Malaysia, where he spent 16 months in a refugee camp where he learned English. He reached in Australia in 1980. In his homily he discussed Pope Francis' invitation to be “Welcoming, Protecting, Promoting and Integrating towards Migrants and Refugees”.

What is ‘The Global Compact” and why is it important?

Peter Dutton announced to Ray Hadley that Australia was not signing 'The Global Compact". So what it is? It is the first universal instrument to provide common frameworks, guiding principles and approaches to deal with international migration. It has been developed over 18 months of multi-stakeholder consultations and six rounds of negotiations between UN member states with conflicting interests. The final draft, completed on 18 July 2018, Read two concise informative summaries that explain what it is and why it is important.