2025-2026 Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Social Justice Statement: Signs of Hope on the Edge cover.

This year on Social Justice Sunday (31 August), the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Social Justice Statement: Signs of Hope on the Edge: Serving homeless people with mental ill-health, reminds us of the raw truth: homelessness and mental ill-health are deeply entwined crises. They leave thousands of Australians isolated, invisible, and suffering. Yet, at the heart of this year’s message is not despair, but hope. Hope that springs from encounter. Hope that is born when we choose to see, to notice, and to respond.

This statement could not have come at a more urgent time. Across Australia, the cost-of-living crisis has pushed countless families and individuals to the brink. Housing prices soar, rents escalate, and homelessness services are overwhelmed. Behind every statistic is a story: a family sleeping in their car, a young person turned away from crisis accommodation, an elderly widow who has lost not only her home but her sense of belonging.

The Bishops use the story of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar on the edge of Jericho in the Gospel of Mark, to illuminate all people who sit on the margins today. These people not only long for shelter or medical care but for recognition, dignity, and friendship. The Bishops remind us that Christ’s gift of healing is mirrored in our willingness to stop, listen and walk alongside those the world so often ignores.

Pope Francis, in declaring the Jubilee Year of 2025, urged us to be “pilgrims of hope”. The Bishops echo this call, reminding us that the Eucharist we celebrate compels us into the streets, to befriend the poor, the sick, and the forgotten. Social Justice Sunday is not merely a commemoration — it is a commissioning. We are called not to walk past, but to walk with. Not to avert our eyes, but to notice with love. Not to offer only charity, but to foster relationships of dignity and belonging.

In a society that too often measures worth by productivity or wealth, the Social Justice Statement boldly proclaims the Gospel truth: every person has a name, a story, and an unshakeable dignity as a child of God.

This year, let us take Social Justice Sunday as a turning point. Let us commit as individuals and communities to stand with people living in homelessness and mental ill-health. Let us advocate for structural change: affordable housing, integrated mental health care, stronger protections for the vulnerable. And let us, in our daily encounters, offer the radical hospitality of Christ.

Access the Social Justice Statement and find out more here.

Emilia Nicholas
Josephite Justice Network