The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You

FAMILY advocates believe plans to save $4 billion by scrapping family tax benefits shows the Australian government is only interested in “competing” with stay-at-home mothers. National Civic Council Queensland president and father of five Luke McCormack is against the controversial childcare and welfare omnibus bill, which calls for a complete cull of the Family Tax Benefit end of year supplements ... Read More »

EVERYBODY in the Blackall parish could rely on Trish Elliott. A faithful Mass-goer, Trish was always there to make the altar flowers pretty or give a friendly pep talk to a stranger. Even one teenage boy called Trish his “honorary aunty” at her funeral in April 2002. Trish never had any children of her own; she was rendered infertile from ... Read More »

HE prayed he wouldn’t get Daisy. Inside Mithra, a rehabilitation centre for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities from India’s poorest quarters, a line of young Catholic schoolboys await the names of who they are to feed that day. The boys, 15 years old, are on an immersion trip to see the mission that Brisbane-born Sr Mary Theodore ... Read More »

DRIVING through the desert in northern Mexico, Columban missionary Fr Kevin Mullins was stopped and held at gunpoint. “Three guys with ski masks, blue overalls and AK47s jumped out of a van, dragged me out of my car and held one of the AK47s to my temple,” Fr Mullins said. “And I thought it would be a shame for a ... Read More »

POPE Francis’ recent apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia continues to be the subject of considerable controversy, both locally and globally. There appears to be fear among some that the “infamous”chapter 8 is an attempt, among other things, to weaken the indissolubility of marriage. It would seem for some that the whole text boils down to two positions – either that mercy is shown to the ... Read More »

YOUNG Brisbane Catholic Eduardo Cruz can’t get enough of trekking across Spain – it’s a spiritual thing. Since 2013, he’s walked about 1250km and cycled about 470km on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, a pilgrimage following the way of the apostle St James through Spain. It’s been challenging, at times gruelling and sometimes full of beauty and reward. There ... Read More »

THEIR tiny eyes lit up as the string of reindeer tipped upside down in the navy blue sky above the crowd of carollers. Hands glued to the glass, the children laughed playfully as they walked through the scenes of an Australian Christmas, complete with a ride on the Hills Hoist. In Brisbane city, thousands of people catch the joy of ... Read More »

BRISBANE’S Marcus Riley is the new, youthful champion for the ageing. The 40-year-old Catholic father-of-three has headed to United Nations headquarters in New York to advocate for a UN Convention of the Rights of Older Persons. “At the moment there is a silence about older people across international laws,” said Mr Riley, who this year became chairman of the Global ... Read More »

EVERYONE has a role to play in answering Pope Francis’ call to care for the Earth, says eco-theologian Fr Sean McDonagh. That was one of the messages he had for audiences during his recent speaking tour of Australia promoting action on the Pope’s encyclical Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home. “This (Laudato Si’) is not for elites, ... Read More »