The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You

AUSTRALIAN Catholic Bishops Conference president Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge has offered a heartfelt apology to traumatised victims of child sexual abuse and their families. Today (August 31) as the ACBC and Catholic Religious Australia publishes a joint response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse, Archbishop Coleridge says “there is no-one in the Church who hasn’t ... Read More »

NEW Prime Minister Scott Morrison counts himself as a devout Christian and stands for protection of religious freedoms. Raised in the Uniting Church, he’s a regular worshipper in the Pentecostal Horizon Church, along with his wife Jennifer and two daughters in the heart of Sydney’s southern Sutherland Shire – home turf for rugby league’s Cronulla Sharks, which Mr Morrison also ... Read More »

PANADOL won’t be literally out of reach for children who visit a small medical clinic in East Timor thanks to a group of young Catholics from Brisbane. Members of the St Stephen’s Cathedral Young Adults Ministry will send more than $5000 in donated medicines to a clinic in Maliana, Timor Leste, which serves impoverished families who can’t access basic healthcare. ... Read More »

YOUNG Roma religious education teacher Ryan Baines delivered an inspiring talk at the University of Southern Queensland recently with the simple message, “Do what gives you life”. That was a theme in his hour-long tale on second chances, faith and discovering new horizons. He was delivering the annual Concannon Oration, organised by Concannon College. About 200 people gathered to hear ... Read More »

RAIN across parts of southern Queensland has lifted spirits in many dry farming regions – but no more so than in the south-east town of Esk, where a Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving for Rural Communities and Rain has been cause for galvanising and jubilant celebration. In Esk, 100km north-west of Brisbane, last Sunday’s ecumenical event, initiated by the St ... Read More »

TORRENTIAL rain may have brought an entire Indian state under water, killing hundreds and leaving thousands stranded, but the people of Kerala have showed awe-inspiring resilience. Kerala’s monsoon season gave way to the state’s worst floods in 100 years, claiming the lives of 445 people and destroying entire properties. More than 220,000 people have been forced to take up refuge ... Read More »

MULTICULTURAL communities are to be “centre stage” of the Church – not isolated and on the margins – if the future of the Church is to become what Jesus wants. In his homily for Brisbane archdiocese’s annual Multicultural Mass last Sunday, Archbishop Mark Coleridge repeated his desire to see multicultural groups included more in the heart of the Church. Archbishop ... Read More »

PAEDIATRIC endocrinologist Dr Quentin Van Meter believes the harmful sex-change experiment that led to the tragic death of an identical twin in 2004 will be repeated under the latest standards of treating people with gender dysphoria. Bruce and Brian Reimer were patients at the John Hopkins Hospital in the late 1960s, where Dr Van Meter trained as a fellow several ... Read More »

RECRUITMENT started last week for a pilot study that is part of a major research project to track the health of 10,000 Queensland families during the next three decades. Mater Research, a Catholic institution and part of the Mater Group, is planning the largest group cohort study in the state since the 1980s, in collaboration with Queensland universities and hospitals. ... Read More »