Australian Catholic Youth Festival 2025 (Luke Bulley CP)
After six years, ACYF finally made a comeback, and what a comeback it was! With
over 6,000 in attendance, it showed the resurgence in faith that is happening
amongst our young people in this post-COVID, technology-driven world.
There was a shock on the first night, when
Archbishop Peter Comensoli introduced a
“friend” who wanted to give us a message,
and Pope Leo XIV popped onto the big
screen to give us his blessing. Many
people commented how moving this was
to hear a Pope give a heartfelt message in
English, rather than through a translator!
Pope Leo’s address to the pilgrims:
https://www.instagram.com/acyf25/reel/DRrRkYcFShY/
Our stall (joint Passionist Retreat Team and Vocations) saw nearly 1000 young
people come through over the 3 days (including a big group of 17 of our youth from
St Brigid’s, and our sisters from Adelaide with their schools). Each was welcomed
by Claire O’Donoghue (senior facilitator on the PRT), Fr Erick Niyiragira CP, and
myself, and each folded a small origami love heart, and wrote a commitment on
the back about how they’ll spread more unconditional love in our world. Each of
these was then strung up around the stall, which looked very colourful by the end!

Kevin Hennessy: 50th ordina=on
This Sunday Kevin will celebrate 11.00am Mass in St Mary of the Angels, Geelong to
mark 50 years since his ordinaMon on November 29th, 1975. There will be a light
lunch a?erwards at St Mary’s SporMng Club, Latrobe Terrace, Geelong. A number of
people from Holy Cross are going to aWend this celebraMon. This is an
acknowledgement of the profound contribuMon Kevin made as a professed and
ordained Passionist to Holy Cross. Kevin’s ministry has been wide, varied and most
generous over these 50 years during an era of significant change within the Church.
We extend thanks and congratulaMons to Kevin from everyone at Holy Cross and
wish him well for his future life and ministry.

Feast of Christ the King
This Sunday we complete Liturgical Year C with the feast of
Christ the King. As we know from the exchange with Pontius
Pilate, Jesus was clear that his kingdom was not of a material
kind, but he did confirmed that he was a king, born to testify to
the Truth. We remember when he was with Herod, Herod
questioned unknowingly, “What is Truth?” That question echoes
everywhere now with the challenges of AI.
Jesus was not just a messenger of the Truth - he was ‘the’ Truth. His self-declared
mission was to “proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to
let the oppressed go free and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour”. This is a
statement with Biblical symbolism found in Isaiah 62:1-2.

An Urgent Exhortation
Pope Leo’s forceful call to care for the poor
Commonweal editors October 23, 2025
Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi
te, arrived on the feast day of St. Francis of
Asissi—fittingly for a message “to all Christians,
on love for the poor”. People await a pope’s first
official document for signs not only of where he
intends to take his papacy, but also of how closely
he will follow his predecessor. From this
exhortation, it is clear that Leo is bringing his own
sense of urgency to an issue dear to Pope Francis.
In building on a document that Francis was preparing in the last months of his life,
the new pope has signalled that he is committed to continuity. “I share the desire of
my beloved predecessor that all Christians come to appreciate the close connection
between Christ’s love and his summons to care for the poor,” he writes. “I too
consider it essential to insist on this path to
holiness.” Those who had hoped for signs of a break
with Francis immediately resumed their griping.
Dilexi te is a compelling and accessible read that
leaves no doubt as to where the focus and energies
of the Church—and society—should be. An early
section calls attention to the long-acknowledged social and structural causes of
poverty while warning of new threats arising from the solipsistic desires of the rich
and the rigged system that entrenches inequality:

Influence Is No Longer Enough (Religion in the age of algorithms)
Antonio Spadaro SJ………October 8, 2025
Oxford, winter 2025. Beneath the baroque dome of
the Sheldonian Theatre, the official ceremonial hall
for the University of Oxford, where Arts and
Sciences receive, from above, the Truth that dispels
ignorance—two men, Biz Stone and Evan Sharp,
cofounders of Twitter and Pinterest respectively, are
talking about God - or rather, about the sacred.
The title of the event—Reconnecting with the Sacred in a Technology-Driven
World—might have drawn a smirk from a rationalist of the last century, for whom
technology was the ultimate proof of the eclipse of the divine.

A reflection from Fr Brendan Byrne SJ
The episode in Luke’s Gospel where Jesus raises of the son of the widow of Nain (7:11–17) is an appropriate choice for the commemoration of ‘All Soul’s’. This scene, unlike so many others in the Gospels, does not begin with someone asking Jesus for help. As he approaches the Galilean village of Nain with his disciples, he simply comes across the funeral procession and, moved with compassion, takes action.
‘Moved with compassion’ translates a Greek word (esplagchnisthe) indicative of strong emotion. The lame translation ‘Jesus felt sorry for her’ (the Jerusalem Bible reading in our Lectionary) is hardly adequate. Luke uses the same Greek expression to convey the response of the Good Samaritan for the wounded man that he sees by the side of the road (10:33); it is also the reaction of the father of the Prodigal Son when, from afar, he catches sight of the young man returning to the family home (15:20). In other words, we have to do here with a great wave of divine compassion welling up in the face of human tragedy – here the death of a young person, and the grief and future desperate situation of his mother. Without a husband and lacking other sons, who will provide for her in her later years?

St Paul of the Cross Feast Day
Last Sunday, October 19th we celebrated the Feast of St Paul
of the Cross and it was great to see so many stay for coffee
and fellowship. We are grateful to Ross and his Coffee Cart
and to our generous benefactor who makes it possible for
whoever is present to have a free coffee.
Chris led Eucharist and gave a helpful reflection on the spirit
of Paul of the Cross which has seeped into the lives of those
who come for Eucharist each week. A spirit of peace and
confidence in God’s love is the entrée for true community.
At the end of Mass, Chris’ 70th birthday was acknowledged
with a large birthday cake which was shared afterwards.
We were joined by Srs Brigid and Karen and by seven members of the Passionist
Retreat Team, led by Luke Bulley CP, with Tri CP among them.

Pope Leo a careful canon lawyer
Thomas Reese SJ (From Flashes of Light 7th October 2025)
When Pope Leo XIV was elected, many people
asked me about him. My response was that we
would have to wait six months to a year before we
really understand who he is. Four months after his
election, in an interview with Elise Ann Allen of
Crux, Leo began to reveal himself. He came across
as a smart but careful canon lawyer who is not going to reject the reforms of Pope
Francis, but neither is he going to quickly move beyond them.
Careful lawyer, cautious voice
Leo revealed himself as much by what he did not say as by what he
did. No memorable quote is in the interview as there was in
Francis’ first interview, when he said, “I am not going to obsess
over abortion.” Nor is there any response like “Who am I to
judge?” which Francis said at a 2013 press conference answering a
question about gay priests.

Pope Leo praises ‘healthy secularism’
CathNews New Zealand, October 3rd, 2025
Pope Leo XIV has expressed support for a “healthy
secularism” which affirms the value of religion while
preserving its distinction from the political sphere.
Source: Crux. The Pope made this point during a
September 29 meeting with a “Working Group on
Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue” sponsored
by the European Parliament. “European institutions need people who know how to
live a healthy secularism, that is, a style of thinking and acting that affirms the value
of religion while preserving the distinction – not separation or confusion – from the
political sphere,” Pope Leo told the group.
Vatican commentator John L. Allen said the reference to “healthy secularism”
echoed the key theme of a sana laicità, first laid out by Benedict XVI in an address
to Italian jurists in December 2006, and further developed thereafter. “The core of
the idea is that a ‘healthy’ secularism is one in
which Church and state are separate, but in which
religious institutions and believers are encouraged
to play important roles in public life, bringing their
values to bear on political choices. That’s as
opposed to an ‘unhealthy’ secularism, in which
religion is regarded as a threat to peaceful coexistence and religious institutions and
leaders are pressured to limit their activities to strictly spiritual and liturgical
matters,”

Br Jerome’s party gate crushed by Vinh and TP:
We celebrated Br Jerome’s birthday last week with plenty
of joy and laughter. Having reached the grand age of 85
and turning 86 this year, Jerome decided it was time to
start counting backwards — which explains why his cake
proudly displayed the number 84! He got a t-shirt as our
typical cheap birthday present, thanks to Brian for getting
it before he left. Tri prepared a delicious fish and chips dinner
for the occasion, and we were joined by Fr TP (far left in the
photo) and Deacon Vinh (on Jerome’s felt), who are currently
serving in Endeavour Hills. Their visit was especially
meaningful, as they were once guided by Br Laurence during
their novitiate years.