Whose Nostra Aetate? The Church, Judaism, Israel and Leo’s pontificate
At times, separate events, in unexpected ways,
communicate the situation in which a global religious
community and the institution governing its faithful
find themselves. This happened in just eleven days in S
ept. 2026, between Rome and New York. The first
moment: On Sept. 16, three Vatican dicasteries—the
Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Dicastery for
Promoting Christian Unity, and the Dicastery for
Interreligious Dialogue—published the 8,600-word
document titled Note. A Journey of Hope. Sixty Years of Interreligious Dialogue and
Fraternity in the Light of the Conciliar Declaration “Nostra Aetate”.
This document is relevant because Leo XIV, as a good American Catholic, has always
been clear about the importance of Nostra Aetate, Vatican II’s 1965 declaration on
the Church’s relationship with non-Christian religions, particularly for its
foundational role in opening a new era in relations with the Jews. This new Vatican
document gestures toward recognizing the importance
of rabbinic Judaism for Jewish-Christian dialogue, not
just biblical Judaism as in Nostra Aetate paragraph 4.

St. Gemma’s Senta Bilong Helpim (Care Centre) in Vanimo, PNG is for children with
disabilities was established in Waromo in 1994. The goal has been o provide relief
for vulnerable children with physical and mental disabilities. Prior to SBH being
established children with significant disabilities would be ostracised by their
communities and not receive medical treatment or even basic human compassion.
Through the care and compassion offered at SBH hundreds of
children have experienced a significantly improved quality of life
and dignity. Some, who in the past would have been excluded
from their communities, have gone on to lead fulfilling and
productive lives. In addition to providing care at SBH there have
been occasions where pro bono surgery has been organised
through Australian surgeons to assist,

What AI is doing to the way we think
Tom Kea%ng (Eureka Street) 2nd September, 2026
Debate about ar%ficial intelligence has, by
now, se`led into two established grooves. The
first is economic, concerning which jobs will
go, which will change, and what the
produc%vity dividend might be. The second is
environmental, concerning the electricity that
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data centres draw, the water that cools them, and the minerals dug up to build them.
Both of these ma`er, and both deserve the scru%ny they receive. But they share an
assump%on: each approach treats ar%ficial intelligence as a new input into a world
whose purposes are already fixed, and considers only what it will cost us to run.
There is a third ques%on, which is harder to see and, I believe, more consequen%al
than either. It is not what these systems will do to the labour
market or the power grid, but what they will do to us as knowers:
to how we come to believe things, what we accept as
understanding, whom we trust, and whether we keep the habits
of mind on which a thinking society depends. Call it the
epistemological ques%on. A society can restructure employment
and can, with effort, find the energy. A society that loses its grip
on the difference between informa%on and understanding has
lost something far harder to recover, not least because it may lose the very means of
no%cing the loss.

Tim Horlock
Last Saturday night, Tim was a
guest in Sydney of ‘Invocare,’
the company who owns and
operates La Pine funerals for
whom Tim has worked for 26
years. Tim was awarded
recognition for his 25 years of
service. Tim has been able to
assist so many people as a funeral director and/or as a celebrant, and this has been
a gift to so many people who appreciate his genuine pastoral care. Congratulations,
Tim. It seems they did not offer Tim a warm jumper. Perhaps they had heard he
does not need one!

Province Assembly
There have been two gatherings of professed Passionists over the past two weeks,
both with over 30 participants. Thirty-one of us gathered at Holy Cross last week to
explore our life and mission, as a step in preparation for our Provincial Chapter in
July next year.
Provincial, Denis Travers gave an extensive report that highlighted the development
and growth over the past few years and the
projected growth over the coming five years.
It was recognised by the Assembly, that one
need as a result of this group will be effective
mentoring of our young Vietnamese and
Papua New Guinean men as they move into
full-time ministry. Possibilities of new ministries, not bound by tradition but shaped
by it, and responding to ‘the signs of the times’ were central in our sharing. Already
our communities are multi-cultural, but there remains much to learn about one
another’s cultures so as to live and minister together with respect and appreciation,
not as seniors and juniors.

Province Assembly
Thirty-two professed Passionists gathered at Holy Cross this week to explore
our life and mission, and look ahead to our Provincial Chapter in July next
year. In 2027. These Chapters are held every four years to make decisions
around the issues we face, and to elect a Provincial and Council to respond
to initiatives mandated or advised by the Chapter.
There have been massive changes in recent years, and this is highlighted by
the fact that there are 22 ordained Australian Passionists and 20 (plus one
deacon) ordained Vietnamese Passionists. This is not to mention the number
of Vietnamese in formation. Any projection of five years from the time of 2031
Chapter will see a very different make up of our membership. To achieve
what is required will involve suitable mentoring, financial resources that at
this stage beyond what we at this stage, as well as brave thinking, planning
and action.

Words of encouragement
Pope Francis offered words of encouragement in November 2013 in his Apostolic
Exhortation, ‘The Joy of the Gospel’. There are many laity who are in a position to
encourage family members and friends with this instruction.
“Pastors and the lay faithful who accompany their
brothers and sisters in faith or on a journey of openness
to God must always re-member what the Catechism of
the Catholic Church teaches quite clearly: 'Imputability
and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even
nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit,
inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social
factors'. Consequently, without detracting from the
evangelical ideal, they need to accompany with mercy
and patience the eventual stages of personal growth as
these progressively occur.

Disarming technology: the verb governing Leo’s pontificate
Antoio Spadaro SJ…..August 13th, 2026
The theme Leo XIV has chosen for the
sixtieth World Day of Peace is “Disarming
Technology, Serving Peace: Politics as
Preventive Responsibility.” Paul VI establis
hed the day, and it was first observed on
Jan. 1, 1968. Sixty years later, the object in
need of disarmament has shifted once
again: no longer the arsenals alone, nor the
passions alone, but the technical apparatus that has been quietly taking over the
space where decisions are made.
The continuity with last year’s Message — Peace Be with
You All: Toward a Disarmed and Disarming Peace — is plain
enough, but the grammatical shift says more than most
commentary will. There, disarmed was an adjective
attached to peace: the quality of a style, an interior form.
Here, ‘to disarm’ returns as a transitive verb, and it has
been given a specific object. It is the verb that has governed
this pontificate since May 12, 2025, when Leo XIV told a
journalists’ audience, “Let us disarm words, and we will
help to disarm the earth.” Words, then hearts, and now machines.

The Canaanite woman (last Sunday’s gospel)
Each of the four gospels is a distinct portrait of
Jesus and his mission, written to different
communities several years apart. between 70-
100CE. Some stories were changed or details
excluded depending on the audience. The gospel of
the ‘Canaanite woman’ makes clear that Matthew
who was writing for a strong Jewish community,
did not have a positive opinion of Canaanites. That
reflects a long history of the two peoples.
The account not included in last Sunday’s reading, begins with
some teachers of the law and Pharisees travelling from
Jerusalem to Galilee (a trip of four or five hours) to challenge
Jesus’ teaching. They ask Jesus, “Why do your disciples break
the tradition of the (Jewish) elders by don’t perform the ritual
washing of their hands before they eat!” It is a long journey to
make to express concern about rules such as this. Of course,
such issues were concerns in the community to whom
Matthew addressed his gospel.

Community news
Jerome will celebrate 60 years as a professed Passionist on Thursday 20th. It is well
known that after so many years of devoted missionary life, Jerome is not
experiencing the best of health, but we have much to be grateful for and to
celebrate about who he is and what he has contributed to our Province, especially
though his years in PNG. This was highlighted in the interviews Erick and Tri did for
the weekly newsletter in May and June. The community will celebrate with him and
we will acknowledge this milestone at Sunday Mass on August 23rd
Brother Jerome Dunn C.P.
Jerome is a proud Victorian, from Highett, Melbourne. When he left school he
worked as an apprentice printer for the Herald and Weekly Times and gained his full
qualification. He was actively involved in the YCW movement and was inspired
through that to volunteer as a lay missionary in Papua New Guinea and in 1962 he
was the first lay missionary to arrive in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, where the
Passionists had a foundation Jerome spent over fifty years in PNG as a missionary.