A PANEL of three judges has retired to consider whether there are grounds to quash a sexual assault conviction against Cardinal George Pell. During a two-day hearing in Victoria’s Court of Appeal, prosecutors maintained a guilty verdict should stand against 77-year-old Cardinal Pell, who is three months into a six-year gaol term for assaulting two choirboys, in 1996 and 1997, ... Read More »
THE Church is pushing ahead with historic safeguarding measures aimed at tightening protection and governance – in line with recommendations of Australia’s Royal Commission into child sexual abuse. The National Catholic Safeguarding Standards – containing 10 criteria – is the latest tool to be adopted and, according to the presidents of Catholic Religious Australia and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, ... Read More »
CARDINAL George Pell’s lawyer has told an appeal court that his client had a “strong, credible” alibi and that crimes of sexually abusing two choirboys in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne were “literally and logically” impossible. One the first day of an expected two-day hearing in the Victorian Court of Appeal, barrister, Bret Walker SC, said the timing of the ... Read More »
A CANON lawyer has spoken out about the correct form of prayers, after a mainstream media furore about some Brisbane Catholic girls’ schools teaching gender-neutral descriptions to replace traditional terms like “Lord”, “Father”, and “Son” during prayers. “My observation is that many teachers in Catholic schools don’t know the Catholic faith, and Catholics among them don’t practise the Catholic faith, ... Read More »
ATROCITIES perpetrated by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his government may constitute crimes against humanity, a new report from Amnesty International said. “The international community cannot turn its back on the victims of this unprecedented crisis, whether they remain inside Venezuela or have left the country,” Amnesty International’s Erika Guevara-Rosas said. In late January at least 47 people in 12 ... Read More »
JENNIFER Scheers’ teaching skills run so deep that in spite of retirement and some health setbacks, she is still challenging young minds. Most Mondays will find her at the Catholic Early EdCare’s St Augustine’s Long Day Care and Kindergarten in Augustine Heights, volunteering as an adult reader to the kindergarten and pre-kindergarten-aged children. Whilst these two distinct groups can swell up ... Read More »
CLOSE to half a million Queenslanders are living in poverty, new statistics from the St Vincent de Paul Society reveal. On the cusp of its Winter Appeal launch, Vinnies’ Queensland state president Dennis Innes said the effects of poverty were becoming far-reaching in the state, causing an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. “For too many Queenslanders, poverty is leading to ... Read More »
IT’S the Muslims’ sacred month of Ramadan and it can be a busy time for Brisbane Catholic nun Sr Lorraine Victorsen. “Next week I’ve been invited to attend two Iftar dinners” she said. Iftar is the evening meal with which, at sunset, Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast. Later in the month Sr Lorraine, a Sister of the Good ... Read More »
ASPLEYCARE will continue to provide emergency relief for thousands of Queenslanders after the Federal Government confirmed funding until June 2023. Aspleycare president Tom Borger said the support of Federal Member for Petrie Luke Howarth saved the day. “It’s a miracle,” Mr Borger said. “Around November last year I wrote to four of the Federal parliamentarians – Wayne Swan, Luke Howarth, Jenny ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
