Catholic

Statement of faith

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH was described by Pope John XXIII as "the loving mother of all, benign, patient, full of mercy and goodness?. The Church, he said, seeks nothing more than to spread everywhere "the fullness of Christian charity ... promoting concord, just peace, and the human solidarity of all."

The Council understood the Church to be a mystery, or a sacrament. It is a visible sign of the invisible presence of God in the world. Therefore, the Church has a missionary obligation to practice what it preaches.

The Catholic Church understands itself as the People of God. The Church is the entire community of the baptised, marked by a rich diversity of gender, of class, of education, of social status, of race, of ethnicity, and of culture.

The Church is also called to the service of human needs in the social, economic, and political orders. The Church is to be a servant church.

The Catholic Church emphasises this message of justice and peace. Scripture challenges us to put our faith into action, to live by our words, to "let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream," "to beat [our] swords into plowshares and [our] spears into pruning hooks," "to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with [our] God."

The Church is also ecumenical, which means, literally, that it embraces "the whole wide world." This means formal ecumenical dialogues, joint prayer, collaboration in social ministry, and cooperation in theological and pastoral education.

The Church is not an end in itself. The Church exists always and only for the sake of something greater than itself; namely, the Kingdom, or reign, of God.

The Church is a sinful church on pilgrimage through history. The call to penance, reform, and renewal is also a universal call. The future that the Church hopes for is the future that we all hope for, when God will be "all in all."

Who is the Catholic Chaplain at UTS?

Fr Peter Maher is the Catholic Chaplain at UTS and UTS Multi-faith chaplaincy representative. He is also Tertiary Chaplains Co-ordinator for the Archdiocese of Sydney, Pastoral Animator to the Australian Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs (ACMICA) and Parish Priest at St Joseph's Newtown. He is on the Council of St John's College within the University of Sydney. His qualifications include Batchelor of Theology, Catholic Institute of Sydney and Master of Education in Adult Education, University of Technology, Sydney.

The Catholic chaplaincy at UTS is part time, so activities are limited, contact details and current activities can be viewed on our website. See Resources and links (LINK: www.utscatholic.org (open a external page)

The Catholic chaplaincy is supported by the Archdiocese of Sydney( open a external page).