AMONG any accolades or commendations that come Peter Maher’s way as he retires as Vinnies’ chief in Queensland none are likely to be more precious than a few words from one of his daughters. Looking back over more than 14 years in the chief executive officer’s chair, a comment from Peter’s daughter Belinda was up there among his most cherished ... Read More »
STUDENTS and staff at St John College, Woodlawn, are busy settling into the new school year but someone special is missing. Eighty-seven-year-old Fr Paul Pidcock is not among them this time, for the first time in about 60 years. He’s in Sydney, having retired from the college late last year. As he adjusted to the idea of not returning to ... Read More »
THE St Vincent de Paul Society’s new chief executive officer in Queensland can’t wait to “get out into the field”. Kevin Mercer’s been appointed to the role to succeed Peter Maher who is retiring. They will work alongside each other in transition until March 1 when Mr Mercer takes over as chief executive officer. Mr Mercer, whose career in Catholic ... Read More »
VULNERABLE children in Uganda are benefitting from Queenslanders’ discarded drink bottles and cans. Money raised through recycling the bottles and cans is being directed to the children through a Brisbane Catholic couple’s charity Uganda Kids. Sue and Paul Fyfe have registered their charity with Queensland’s new Containers for Change recycling scheme, and the benefits have started to flow. The Petrie ... Read More »
AT the age of 23, Carlton Sinn has taken the big step of becoming a Catholic and this will be his first Christmas receiving Holy Communion. When he sits down to talk about his decision he jokes that “Sinn” is “an ironic surname for a Christian fella, but it’s two n’s – an important distinction, I think”. And there’s a ... Read More »
SR Elisabeth Keane loved life as a teacher and mentor of young women, and then she discovered the joys of parish ministry, but now she’s really at home in prison. Every week for the past 18 years, she’s been visiting women at Numinbah prison in the Gold Coast hinterland. And, at a time when she’s celebrating 60 years as a ... Read More »
HE has celebrated Mass on top of Mount Kilimanjaro, sat around the campfire with the Aboriginal people of the Pilbara in Western Australia and now this priest from Tanzania is finding his feet in the heart of Brisbane. Holy Spirit Father Tom Kessy says it’s a struggle for him to adapt to his new life as parish priest at Dorrington, ... Read More »
A HITCH-hiker meets a missionary in the middle of a tropical island –and that’s the beginning of a beautiful love story. That love story was celebrated as one to last forever when the hitch-hiker from Finland and the missionary, whose Portuguese family hailed from Mozambique, were married at a little country church on the outskirts of Brisbane recently. The odds ... Read More »
AS Australia moves on from the hype of another royal visit – that of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – a Queensland couple can share a laugh about the day their family pet stopped the prince’s dad in his tracks. Bill and Marge Hilleard, who for many years raised their family of five opposite the entrance to one of Brisbane’s ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
