ON the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu nurse Dominic Viratos sometimes treks many hours across Pentecost Island delivering life-saving vaccines to vulnerable children. A slow journey from the island’s Catholic mission hospital in Melsisi through thick jungle often takes him to remote villages where no vehicle can travel. Delivering vaccines by foot means that the tiny hospital, founded by Marist ... Read More »
A VISIT to Jerusalem can be an opportunity for pilgrimage, reflection and quiet prayer at holy sites. It is also an extraordinary window into the reality of an ancient city in a conflicted land. It’s easy to lose yourself in the winding, cobblestone alleyways of old Jerusalem amidst the jostle, the lively conversations in Arabic and Hebrew, and with the ... Read More »
HISTORIC St Stephen’s Cathedral is set to become the new centrepiece of Christmas celebrations in Brisbane, with a free light and sound spectacular each night the last two weeks of Advent. People of all ages are expected to gather on the grassed courtyard outside the cathedral to witness “Lights of Christmas”, a visually exciting multi-media show projected onto St Stephen’s ... Read More »
AS the summer swelter approaches and household power use spikes, energy consultant Anne Armansin has a tip for Queenslanders struggling to pay rising energy bills. “Fans first, not air conditioning,” Anne Armansin, who works in partnership with the St Vincent de Paul Society, said. “And if you are using air conditioning, maintain a temperature no lower than 24 degrees Celsius.” ... Read More »
WHEN Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mercy Sister Denise Coghlan speaks to schoolgirls she encourages them to be part of a world that is bigger than themselves and gives everybody a fair go. Living in Cambodia and internationally recognised for her efforts to ban landmines and cluster bombs, Sr Coghlan is back in her hometown Brisbane, attending a chapter meeting of ... Read More »
THE Australian government is poised to move all children now held in immigration detention on Nauru to Australia by the end of the year. Former attorney general, George Brandis, now the high commissioner in London, confirmed the plan in an interview with LBC radio. “There are hardly any children on Nauru and in New Guinea and we expect that by ... Read More »
IT’S amazing how a haircut can add a new lease of life. “When people have a haircut, or a colour, they feel great,” Family Support Centre co-ordinator Liza Dykstra said. Last week the St Vincent de Paul Society-run centre at Inala introduced a free hairdressing service and it wasn’t long before the waiting room was filled with eager clients – ... Read More »
AFTER Queensland MPs vote to legalise abortion, a respected Catholic trauma counsellor has used her regular newsletter to warn of the grief and long-term psychological impacts of the life-ending practice. “What has happened to all of us that we have allowed this to happen?” post-abortion grief and sexual abuse counsellor Anne Lastman wrote in her newsletter Broken Branches. Mrs Lastman was ... Read More »
A BRISBANE deacon has called for the Church to consider ending its centuries-old tradition of not allowing married men to become priests. Deacon Gary Stone, a chaplain to the ex-service community, married for 47 years and with four children, says there are simply not enough priests to celebrate the sacraments, and it is time to return to an earlier Church ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
