A CATHOLIC priest who helped rescue a surfer being attacked by a four-metre great white shark, says it was the grace of God that gave him courage to act in the moment. “There’s something deep inside you that wants to help,” keen surfer and newly-ordained priest Fr Liam Ryan, 33, said, after a daring rescue at remote Bunker Bay beach, ... Read More »
Category Archives: Local
Australian priest from small Louisiana missionary order says God may want them to visit Australia
A SMALL religious order known for “evangelising on the streets of the world” hopes to send a mission to Australia after COVID-19 subsides. The Little Friars and Little Nuns of Jesus and Mary is an order with only 34 members, but the significance of the mission was revealed after one of its priests prayed and receiving a sign to come. ... Read More »
Mater seeking heart-felt gifts for the smallest of patients
MATER Mothers’ Hospital is on the lookout for crafty people with a heart for new-born babies. Anyone who can sew and would like to help mothers and babies in the early days of the little ones’ lives then the Mater would like to hear from you. The simple act of a mother holding her baby whenever she wants is something ... Read More »
Two Queensland minor parties won’t budge on blocking proposed euthanasia laws
TWO of Queensland’s small parties could prevent euthanasia becoming law if a minority government is voted in at the coming state election on October 31. Both One Nation and Katter’s Australian Party say they won’t join moves to legalise voluntary assisted dying for the terminally ill (VAD), because it would distract from the bigger issues of dealing with the impact ... Read More »
Mater convent to become nation’s largest Mother Baby unit for post-natal depression
PLANS to turn the former convent for the Brisbane Sisters of Mercy into Queensland’s largest centre for mothers suffering from postnatal depression should be completed by the end of 2022. Former head of Mater Hospital Brisbane, the iconic Mercy Sister Angela Mary Doyle, said during a virtual event in Brisbane that work was underway to open the Mother Baby Family ... Read More »
Women from marriage enrichment movement sewing for carers on the frontline
A GENEROUS group of Catholic women in Queensland have offered a stitch (or more) in time to help nurses providing palliative care during the coronavirus pandemic. The women, who happen to enjoy sewing, stepped up to the challenge when Karuna Hospice Services in Brisbane put the call out for someone to make medical gowns for nurses to wear while they ... Read More »
Aged Care Employee Day is in August, but April always delivers ‘a ray of sunshine’
CENTACARE support worker April Clarke carries with her an air of joy and positivity, and clients light up when she visits. One of them, Shirley Hamilton, calls Ms Clarke a “ray of sunshine”. Ms Hamilton is one of the people Ms Clarke would visit often on her rounds as a Centacare support worker. Friday, August 7, is Aged Care Employee ... Read More »
St Mary of the Cross, who was banished and excommunicated for a time, can teach us courage
THERE was the time she was forced to leave Queensland, then banished from Adelaide, not to mention the unbearable five-months of excommunication by her own bishop – if anyone knows about isolation, it’s St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. And now, in the middle of a possible second wave of coronavirus, Australia’s first saint is facing isolation once more. Hundreds ... Read More »
Nation’s first face-to-face program for veterans in isolation launched in Brisbane
COVID-19 travel restrictions have forced Brisbane archdiocese’s Veteran Care Association to put on hold its successful rehabilitation program, Timor Awakening, in the former conflict zone of East Timor. But rather than drop a program helping to improve the health and wellbeing of hundreds of veteran and their families from across Australia, the association’s leaders have set out on a new ... Read More »