SISTER Ursula O’Rourke has a job that takes her to the depths of the mystery of Christ. She’s one of two women on the formation team at Queensland’s Holy Spirit Seminary at Banyo, and she specialises in liturgy. That means she has a hand in preparing future priests for a key role in their ministry – the celebration of the ... Read More »
SUE Hutchinson has an intense passion for social justice and she traces it back to her days of “bouncing around” in the back of a station wagon with her mother at the wheel. Once a week her mother Anne Muller would be a volunteer driver for people with Down syndrome. “I remember … she used to take our funny, old ... Read More »
THERE was an old lady who swallowed a fly, and then there’s Margie Miller. Unlike the dame in the popular nursery rhyme, it wasn’t a fly or a spider or even a bird that slipped down Margie’s throat. “I used to sing in the parish choir before I swallowed a bone,” Margie explains. “I was eating a stew and I ... Read More »
I READ a terrifying story recently. It recounted the story of a couple who, rejoicing in the birth of their first-born child, learnt but a short while later that she suffered from a rare, terminal illness and that she was unlikely to live beyond her first year. As predicted, their daughter died when she was seven months old – she ... Read More »
“CONNECTION” is an ideal architect Sidney Rofe aims for professionally and personally. His mother Mary Rofe, however, remembers “a very quiet boy” who largely preferred his own company. Born in Maryborough, the eldest of eight, Sidney “was happiest with blocks … paper and something to draw with”, she said. The family lived in Townsville and later, Rockhampton, immersed and well ... Read More »
FOR the past five years Divine Word Missionaries priest Fr Manh Le has travelled between remote villages along the Amazon River, with little more than a hammock and a mosquito net. The priest, who was ordained in Brisbane 15 years ago and sent to Brazil, recently returned to Australia and is still adjusting to life. “Every night I stayed with ... Read More »
Cycling into the theological college every day brings with it many unexpected benefits. It is a 22km round-trip and this affords me the opportunity to have many an interesting interaction with my fellow road-users; sometimes we even exchange words as well as hand-gestures. A few months ago, I was rather taken aback by a question posed to me by the ... Read More »
“MYSTERY” is the one word to describe the two big things to happen in the life of Fr Vince Hobbs – priesthood and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. That’s the word Fr Vince would use anyway. When asked why he became a priest, the 83-year-old said: “That’s a mystery that you can’t give a total answer to, because it’s a matter ... Read More »
“ONE day we buried twelve children …” – victims of war and famine, and as Fr Pat Doran thinks of them almost 60 years later the memories come flooding back, and so do the tears. Those children and thousands like them are close to the heart of the Holy Spirit Father nearing retirement from his Brisbane parish. In the little ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
