ACPA announces 2023 Conference and theme 

“Speaking with the Heart, the Truth in Love” is the theme for this year’s Australasian Catholic Press Association Conference. 

Inspired by Pope Francis’ 2023 World Communications Day Message and taken from St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (Eph 4:15), the Conference is set to take place in Perth, Western Australia, at Rendezvous Hotel Scarborough, commencing Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 September 2023. 

The Conference is open to all Catholic communications professionals across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, with member and non-member rates available for the first time.

ACPA President and Diocese of Townsville Communications Media Manager, Mr Neil Helmore, said the Conference is this year looking to increase the knowledge of Catholic communications professionals and how they can listen, speak, and communicate with heart. 

“As Pope Francis has said, proposing, not imposing ourselves, opening our hearts and minds to understand the profound meaning of what has happened, and to tell that story in the creative ways that we do,” Mr Helmore said. 

“The Conference is always an insightful opportunity to come together with like-minded professionals, as we walk together in the journey of announcing the gospel as best we can,” he said. 

Mr Helmore highlighted that as Pope Francis explains, communicating in a cordial manner means that those who read or listen to us are led to welcome our participation in the joys, fears, hopes and suffering of the women and men of our time. 

“Those who speak in this way, he notes, love the other because they care and protect their freedom without violating it,” Mr Helmore said. 

“The theme this year will most definitely help us come together and grow in our discernment with a number of speakers already locked in that provide guidance and insight into building our skills as communications professionals,” he said. 

This year’s conference will include a tour of the Swan Valley, as well as conference Mass to be held at St Mary’s Cathedral. 

The Awards Dinner will be held at The Westin in the heart of Perth, on Thursday 7 September. 

“We look forward to gathering together as Catholic communicators, as colleagues and as missionary disciples charged with spreading the Good News with truth and love,” Mr Helmore concluded. 

For more information, go to https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1040425