In October I made my fifth speaking trip to Australia. It was a whirlwind tour with Fr. Larry Richards: five cities, twenty-two talks, and three interviews in ten days! We traveled from Sydney to Melbourne, back to Sydney, to Brisbane to Toowomba and back to Brisbane on our East Coast leg.
The final leg took us to a conference in Perth where we were joined by Donald George Sproxton, auxiliary bishop of Perth, who gave a rousing homily at the opening Mass and remained for our talks the first day.
The trip was exhausting but worth every single minute. There is no way I can express what a blessing it was to see these thousands of Australians who love Our Lord, Our Lady, the Church, and Catholic Answers. Fr. Larry and I heard many testimonies of how his ministry and that of Catholic Answers have changed the lives of thousands of people Down Under. It was also a reminder for me to give thanks for and to pray for all the supporters of Catholic Answers, without whom these trips would not be possible.
In November I attended a gathering in Rome at the Vatican truly that was worthy of the word ecumenical.
The speakers included Cardinal Francis Arinze and Msgr. Keith Newton, the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Among the Protestants were Michael Ferris from the Alliance Defense Fund and Dr. Everett Piper, president of Wesleyan University in Oklahoma.
I can happily report that every person there was also challenged with the truth that the ultimate goal of true ecumenism is achieving a unity that can only be had through the Eucharist, the sacrament of unity, and in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, the principle of unity for the body of Christ.
—Tim Staples, Director of Apologetics
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