The dynamic role that migrant communities play within a synodal Church will be the focus of a national conference in August 2026.
The Eighth Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) National Conference will take place at Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney from 25–26 August 2026.
The conference will be staged alongside the meeting of the Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry and its advisory council.
The theme of the conference is “Migrant Communities in a Synodal Church”.
“The conference is first and foremost an acknowledgement and celebration of the faith, gifts, contributions, and resilience of migrant communities, as well as the richness they bring to the Church in Australia and wider society,” commission chair Archbishop Christopher Prowse said.
To further illuminate the aims, the conference will focus on three sub-themes: fostering a culture of encounter; migrant communities as evangelisers; and migrant communities as missionaries of hope.
“These can be summed up in three words: encounter, discipleship and mission,” Archbishop Prowse said.
The keynote speakers will be Cardinal Fabio Baggio CS, Under-Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Dr Trudy Dantis, Director of the National Centre for Pastoral Research at the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Bunbury Bishop George Kolodziej SDS will address participants during the conference dinner.
“It’s an opportunity for parish and school community leaders, migrant chaplains and members of the Church more broadly to gather for spiritual conversations, emphasising the Church’s call, together with migrant communities, to move towards new horizons of encounter and grace,” said ACMRO National Director, Fr Khalid Marogi.
Participants will be able to engage with members of the Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry and its advisory council.
For more information regarding the Conference program and speakers, please click here.
To register, please click here.
For further information regarding the conference, please contact Don Gomez at info@acmro.catholic.org.au or 02 6201 9848.
