KCP - Catholic Diocese of Broome

'The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and He said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so am I sending you.' - John 20: 20-21

The cover of the 2004 Social Justice Sunday Statement depicts a painting by Geraldine Gill entitled Pentecost. Geraldine is a Kukatja woman from the Balgo region of the Kimberley in Western Australia.
In Sydney, the NSW Governor, Professor Marie Bashir launched the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference (ACBC) Social Justice Statement for 2004, entitled "Peace be with you" - Cultivating a Culture of Peace".
The Australian Catholic Social Justice Council (ACSJC) Chairman Bishop Christopher Saunders said the launch went very well. "Professor Bashir was gracious in her words but firm in her uncompromising views that good people must address the issues that impact negatively on our society", the Bishop said. "I am indebted for her encouragement and her strength to say what it is necessary to say in a world where the poor are being further marginalised and where violence is increasingly rampant. I am also very grateful to the principal drafter, Fr Michael Tate, for his untiring work."

Fr Tate was once a Minister for Justice in the Federal Government and is now parish priest of St Paul's, Bridgewater in the Archdiocese of Hobart. He was also the Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands and the Holy See from 1993-96 and was awarded the Order of Australia in 1996. He was the Dean of the Law Faculty at Hobart University.
The statement was accepted in May this year by the plenary meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, and so it is the Bishops' official viewpoint on the topic of cultivating a culture of peace.
[The ACSJC is a national body of representatives from each State in Australia who meet regularly with a full time secretariat based in Sydney. Bishop Saunders is the Chairman of the body of lay and religious members. The Deputy Chair is Bishop Pat Power of Canberra.]