The Australian Catholics Page

24/09/2026

Australian Catholics, get behind Jo Howe, a fellow Catholic wife and mother fighting the good fight to end abortion. Stand with her family seeking justice after vicious defamation. Pray and support them 🙏😇✝️

This past week has been the hardest I’ve experienced since beginning this work to end abortion in Australia.

And that’s saying quite a lot. Since July 2022 I’ve been investigated at work countless times because of vexatious complaints by online pro-abortion activists, banned from the South Australian parliament by a cabal of pro-abortion politicians spreading vicious lies, called names like “liar” and “bully” by senior politicians and media outlets, received threats to dox my home address and endured death threats and r*pe threats against me and my children mailed in the post.

However, nothing prepared me for last week where pro-abortion Labor politicians, mainstream media outlets and big social media accounts circulated a clip of my husband appearing on my podcast The Dr Jo Show and made out that he was an advocate for marital r*pe, had repeatedly r*ped me in marriage and was a p**dophile.

In an instant, this decimated the furniture design and architectural commentary career James had spent 11 years building in the Australian design industry. He started out in furniture design by building a crib and change-table for our new baby when I was pregnant with our third child Paige. He went on to receive international recognition, celebrated in prestigious design magazines, exhibited widely and won and was named as a finalist in many design awards (including the coveted Australian Furniture Design Award). Overnight James lost tens of thousands of Instagram followers, clients and contracts and severed hundreds of vital professional relationships.

These falsehoods were wilfully propagated by ideological opponents of ours because they were determined to destroy our prolife work.

The podcast clip had been completely taken out of context to portray James in the vilest way imaginable.

I encourage you to watch the whole podcast episode here to see for yourself.

🔗https://youtu.be/dJtZzPWs74o?si=nJ7O9ByaziXxLVGb

Last Friday afternoon I put my head into my mother-in-law’s lap and I wept. I told her what was really on my heart. “If I’d know that answering the call to end abortion in Australia would see James being accused of being a r*pist online and his career and reputation destroyed, I NEVER would have done it.”

It was a moment of weakness. She hugged me tight and allowed me to cry and cry. I’d needed to have a good cry as I’d been trying to hold it together all week.

She didn’t try to argue me out of that thought. She just held me and I appreciated that.

Now that the dust has settled somewhat, James and I have decided to fight back and we are pursuing legal action against the people who published defamatory posts, articles and news reports. James deserves to have his reputation restored, and the monsters who wilfully did this must face justice. We have begun discussions with several solicitors to select one to represent us and we have set up a Give Send Go to support our legal costs and James’s transition to a new career. The Give Send Go allows you to donate funds and pray for us and we’d be grateful for your support on both fronts!

🔗https://www.givesendgo.com/help-me-sue-for-defamation

This has been the hardest week of my life but I have now rejected the thought, “If I’d known that this would happen, I never would have done this prolife work”.

That thought has no place in my life. I am not going to give it opportunity to take root in my mind. I have resolved that nothing will stop our family from its mission to end abortion in Australia.

Finally, please don’t tell me this: “Jo, leave this one, you don’t need to take the haters to court or make videos, that just gives them airtime and it’s a distraction from your work to end abortion.”

Equally, don’t tell me: “this is not your fight, it’s James’s.”

I reject both statements. If you say them to me, prepare for me to snap back. I am finding it difficult to be charitable with people who claim to be on my side but blame my husband for his persecution.

We are pursuing legal action because that is the only way to make these vile liars receive justice and to clear my husband’s name. I love my husband more than anyone in the world and I will die in a ditch over this. When I answered the call to end abortion, I told God, “there’s no point saving all the babies, if my own family is destroyed in the process.”

My first and most important vocation is as a wife and mother. This season where my husband’s entire career and reputation have been destroyed is one that calls me to prioritise fighting for him and with him. But there’s more to it than that. My husband and I are one. We are partners in this work. If they take him down, they take me down. They know that perfectly well. You should too.

And so, if you tell me that it’s not my fight, be prepared for some sharp words.

If you tell me, my husband could have worded himself better, I will say to you: “how dare you. Do you do what my husband does? Are you as brave as he is online, coming daily on my podcast to fight for babies and for Australia? Have you frequently given entire months of your life to support your spouse to make videos, word media responses, do letterboxes, run rallies, build colossal structures to hang artwork, enter seething mobs of pro-abortion psychos with a video camera, or drive hundreds of kilometres from speaking event to speaking event?”

My husband is the one who believed in me and encouraged me to take on this prolife fight.

Make no mistake: I could not have done this without him. James knew the cost it would have on me personally and our family better than I did at the start, and yet he still encouraged me to do it. He is the bravest, most courageous man I know.

The people who have clipped him last week have wilfully taken him out of context because they want to destroy us and our prolife work. My husband and I don’t claim to be perfect, and because we’re not perfect, we will express ourselves imperfectly. However, anyone watching the original podcast can see my husband was not speaking as an advocate for marital r*pe. Telling is the fact that every single comment prior to the online pile-on on social media and in the mainstream media, was supportive of the episode and not one single person even raised that the episode had advanced the case for marital r*pe.

I love my husband. I thank God for my husband. As I have said many, many times before, the single biggest blessing in my life is my husband and my children. There is nothing I will not to do (so long as it is moral and truthful) to protect them.

Thank-you for your ongoing support and belief in me and our family.

I am truly grateful to those of you who have left supportive comments and DMs for me, texted me, emailed me and encouraged me during this storm. There are too many of you to reply to and I am overwhelmed by how much you all care for me. I am grateful to be part of our movement and I look forward to being in touch again soon.

Love Jo Howe xx

03/09/2026

Sister Anna Ali, a Kenyan Catholic nun of the Most Holy Eucharist, shared profound testimony of mystical encounters with Jesus while studying in Rome. Starting in early August 1987, Jesus appeared to her in her room.

She personally took the photographs after asking Our Lord if she could capture His image, as she could not draw. Jesus consented, appearing as a living person to help more souls believe.

The images spread widely on prayer cards. One is a close-up portrait of a light-skinned man with sorrowful eyes, long dark hair, beard, and red cloak. The second shows the same figure with tears of blood, evoking Christ’s Passion and mercy.

Sister Anna used her own camera (often a Kodak), which reportedly never worked properly again due to the intense light.

These images have inspired deep prayer and devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus and the Sacred Heart for many worldwide.

The Catholic Church has not given them official supernatural authentication. They are regarded as subjective personal icons or devotional images that can aid private prayer, but are not considered authenticated relics or apparitions. The Church encourages prudent discernment and fidelity to approved teachings.

As we contemplate His loving yet sorrowful gaze, may we draw closer to Jesus in the Eucharist. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28)

O Jesus, Divine Mercy, have mercy on us. Draw us to Your Sacred Heart. Amen. 🙏

11/08/2026

⚠️ TODAY IS CENSUS DAY : TUESDAY 11 AUG 2026

⁉️DID YOU KNOW that the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) religion question measures self-identified affiliation (not Mass attendance or belief).

⁉️DID YOU KNOW that the National Centre for Pastoral Research (NCPR), an agency of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, acquires and analyses this data after every Census. It produces detailed Parish Social Profiles and diocesan reports for all ~1,200+ parishes. 

✝️ How your parish will use the data…

• Local demographics: Number of self-identified Catholics living within parish boundaries, their age profile, family structures, income levels, education, country of birth, languages spoken, and household composition.

• Trends over time: Comparisons with previous Censuses show growth, decline, ageing, or increasing cultural diversity in specific areas.

• Pastoral planning: Helps priests, parish councils, and dioceses assess needs, decide where to focus ministry, plan outreach, and allocate limited resources (including clergy for Eastern Catholic communities such as Maronite, Melkite, Syro-Malabar, and others). 

Wider effects beyond the parish…


• Catholic schools and services: Census figures contribute to understanding local populations and feed into broader planning for schools, welfare agencies, health, and aged care. Socio-economic data derived from the Census also underpins government funding models for non-government schools. 

• Resource and influence arguments: Accurate counts support recognition of the size of the Catholic community when discussing public policy, infrastructure, and community needs.

Important context

The religion question is optional, yet most people answer it. In 2021, just over 5 million Australians (20%) identified as Catholic. The data deliberately captures cultural or nominal Catholics as well as practising ones — it does not measure Mass attendance (which is significantly lower). Church leaders have emphasised that accurate identification still matters for realistic planning of parishes, schools, and social services. 

In short, the Census gives every parish a data-driven picture of the people living in its area. Parishes and dioceses use this information to make better decisions about how they serve their communities over the following five years.

09/08/2026

Australian Mel Gibson’s, production company has carried a remarkably Catholic-looking detail in front of millions of moviegoers for more than three decades: its logo is taken directly from an ancient icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Icon Productions, founded by Gibson and producer Bruce Davey in 1989, takes its name from the Greek word eikōn, meaning “image.” Gibson has explained that the inspiration came from a book of Russian icons he kept in his home. Since 1994, the company’s familiar logo has featured a close-up of Our Lady’s eye from the Vladimir Mother of God, one of the most famous and venerated Marian icons in Christian history.

The original icon, traditionally known as the Theotokos of Vladimir, depicts the Virgin Mary tenderly holding the Child Jesus against her face. It is a medieval Byzantine image and became one of the most celebrated representations of the Mother of God in the Christian East. Icon Productions takes only a small section of Mary’s face—primarily her eye and surrounding features—and places it above the company’s name.

And this is the company behind films including Braveheart, We Were Soldiers, Hacksaw Ridge and, most famously, The Passion of the Christ.

Long before The Passion reached theaters, Gibson was already placing an image of the Mother of Christ at the beginning of his films.

Millions have seen the logo. Far fewer knew whose eye they were looking at. ✝️🇻🇦

04/08/2026

27/07/2026

A national relic tour for the Catholic Church’s patron saint of the internet – Carlos Acutis, who died at only 15 – is attracting thousands of Australian faithful. It runs until October. Religion: https://bit.ly/4fylCiV