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Social Justice Statement 2025-2026
Signs of Hope on the Edge: Serving homeless people with mental ill-health

Foreword by:
✠ Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB
President, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

In the last few years, Australians have been living through a cost-of-living crisis. The cost of many goods and services has increased dramatically - including housing mortgages and rent.
Many have struggled to cope under the pressure; and one of the worrying results of this crisis is an increasing number of Australians finding themselves relying on friends or family giving them a roof over their head or, even worse, sleeping on the streets.

Homelessness services are not able to offer help to everyone who is in this predicament. Without this help, more and more Australians are being pushed to the edge of society. It is a lonely and frightening place to be.

It is even worse for those who are not only homeless but also living with serious mental ill-health. Not only are there not enough resources to assist people living in homelessness who need help, but mental health services are not able to help everyone who needs support.

This year’s Social Justice Statement, Signs of Hope on the Edge: Serving People Living in Homelessness and Mental Ill-Health, provides a picture of what life is like for people living in homelessness and mental ill-health and the difficulty in providing adequate support for them.
The statement urges every Christian to offer service, as Jesus did, to our sisters and brothers created in the image of God.

Many Australians find it embarrassing, uncomfortable or even confronting to see homeless people on the streets; but we encourage all who are baptised to, instead, offer loving friendship to people on the edge of society. Instead of walking by and not noticing the plight of our neighbours, pay attention to them and their plight, listen to their stories, and serve them with the love we learn from Jesus.

In this Jubilee Year, Pope Francis reminded us, as Christians, of our “fundamental vocation to be, in the footsteps of Christ, messengers and builders of hope.”

We appeal to all Christians to join us in going to the edge of society to befriend our fellow Australians who are living on the streets, who are often struggling with serious mental ill-health, to be signs of hope, to be the good news that God’s unfailing love embraces everyone.

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DOWNLOAD resources for parishes and schools:
https://bit.ly/SJS2025-26

LISTEN on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/32CN...

VISIT the Office for Justice, Ecology and Peace website:
https://socialjustice.catholic.org.au/