It appears that the two Sydney Church properties destined for use by Notre Dame University - St Benedicts, Broadway and Sacred Heart Church, Darlinghurst - may not be Cardinal Pell's to give, or even lend, due to a conflict between civil law and canon law.

Environmentalists this week welcomed as "tremendous" the statement by Queensland's Bishops last Friday when they publicly declared support for protection of the Great Barrier Reef. The bishops said that a ecological awareness is a 'key moral issue' for the Christian.

Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Pat Power, has supported those calling on politicians to acknowledge the truth in regard to the invasion of Iraq. His comments add weight to the list of eminent Australians who have called for greater value on truthfulness in public life.

President of the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC), Wilfred Cardinal Napier, is to be the Dom Helder Camara Lecturer for 2005, announced Br Mark O'Connor, fms, yesterday.