AS well as fronting the Royal Commission this week, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge has spent time speaking extensively to journalists about child abuse and the Church. Speaking to the ABC’s Radio National Breakfast, Archbishop Coleridge told presenter Fran Kelly, the Church was doing all it could to change the culture of the past to protect the children of today. “The data is ... Read More »
THE priest who exposed systemic child sex abuse in the Catholic Church in the United States has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse the Church’s views on human sexuality were a major factor in the abuse crisis. Called as an expert witness, former Dominican Dr Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer and consultant in the areas ... Read More »
Political decision: Queensland MPs responded to two questions about the proposed abortion Bills. LIBERAL National Party members are likely to vote against changes to Queensland’s abortion laws when Parliament resumes this week, with one calling the proposed Bills a “liberalisation” of current law. The Catholic Leader asked all 89 Queensland Members of Parliament how they would be voting for the ... Read More »
OUR Lady of the Southern Cross College staff and students figured prominently in Dalby’s Australia Day awards. A teacher and two students won awards. Katherine Black, a teacher at the college since 2009, won the Senior Sports Coach Award for her achievements in women’s cricket. She has coached the Queensland Country women’s cricket team in 2015 and 2016, with the ... Read More »
RELATIVES of a Brisbane-born nun who spent her final years in Chennai caring for children and adults with disabilities have launched a new charity to support the Indian mission. Friends of Mithra is an Australian-registered charity set up to fund the works established by Sr Mary Theodore, a Brisbane-born Lebanese religious sister who died in 2012. Sr Mary Theodore, who called ... Read More »
IN accepting her award as 2017 Senior Australian of the Year, Sr Anne Gardiner did so “on behalf of all Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, who have lived and ministered among Australia’s indigenous people for more than a century”. “I am most humbled and grateful to receive this award,” Sr Gardiner, a diminutive 85-year-old who has dedicated ... Read More »
MASSIVE increases in the number of women accessing domestic violence services means Queensland’s community legal centres are unable to keep up with demand. Last year community legal centres helped almost 60,000 vulnerable Queenslanders, but had to turn away more than 55,000. A new report from Community Legal Centres Queensland titled Enough is Enough shows six times as many people seeking ... Read More »
QUEENSLAND Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has promised to allow Government members a conscience vote on two contentious abortion bills. The Premier’s promise follows speculation that some Labor MPs had urged colleagues to consider the bills as decriminalisation matters rather than the abortion vote that requires a mandatory conscience vote under Labor’s national platform. Deputy Premier Jackie Trad is an abortion supporter ... Read More »
FR Peter Casey, a priest for 47 years, is retiring as a parish priest but he’s not about to put his feet up. Any mention of the word “retirement” is met with friendly correction. “No – not retirement – lesser duties,” he said from his parish office at Camp Hill in Brisbane. “Through the Clergy Support office I’ll be available ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
