A ROBOT can now deliver pizza, another can carry out life-saving surgery, while another is ready for dispatch along the Great Barrier Reef to detect and control the devastating Crown of Thorn starfish. The new technologies – robots and artificial intelligence – are making our world more connected, saving lives and even protecting the environment. But as these technologies enter ... Read More »
Category Archives: Analysis
A chat with One Nation Queensland leader Steve Dickson
One Nation is tipped to become a major influence in Queensland politics. The Catholic Leader journalist Mark Bowling spoke to its new Queensland leader about a range of issues in a recent interview. ONE Nation’s new Queensland leader Steve Dickson was an altar boy and schooled by nuns at St Martin’s Catholic school in Carina on Brisbane’s southside. It ... Read More »
Family advocates say government’s support of childcare in Omnibus bill ‘competing’ with stay-at-home mothers
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 »
The transgender phenomenon: Three Catholic ethicists widen the debate
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 »
The heavenly prize Helen Mahoney finds in India
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 »
Australian priest who was held at gunpoint in Jaurez says the murder capital of Mexico is his first love
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 »
Reading Amoris Laetitia through the mouth of Christ: A former Protestant minister’s response
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 »
Step by step: Meet Eduardo Cruz, a young Brisbane lawyer addicted to the Camino
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 »
We asked city shoppers what they thought about Christmas. Their answers might surprise you
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 »