GRAHAM Joyner has always been fascinated by the past. As a child he used to wonder about the ornaments around the family house, but as he said, the children were told to play outside. These days, Mr Joyner pursues his family’s history through letters, ledgers and portraits with a passion for uncovering lost ancestors and their life stories. It would ... Read More »
HIS name literally means “fortunate” and 35 year-old entertainer Fortunato Isgro sees himself as exactly that. In reality however, Brisbane-based Fortunato can’t actually “see” himself with the same type of 20-20-vision that most take for granted. Fortunato was born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, or RP, a rare condition where the eye’s normal retina function is compromised, deteriorates and sometimes causes blindness. ... Read More »
WHEN the new academic term began a few months ago we were subjected to the occasional round of ‘padding’ – a lecturer, who had seemingly not prepared sufficient material for the first lesson, allowed the students to dissipate a considerable amount of time by discoursing at some length upon the intimate details of their lives. This was ostensibly undertaken in ... Read More »
RENOWNED sculptor Linda Klarfeld sees plenty of potential creating artworks in her new home on the Gold Coast. “Queensland is the next frontier so, for me, that’s exciting,” Linda said as she prepared for a studio opening at Southport. Her works include both religious and secular themes, and her subjects are the rich, the famous, sporting icons and those closest ... Read More »
LAUGHTER has proven to be the best and only medicine for Ruby Duffell and possibly the reason she’s made it to her 105th birthday. The mother-of-three from Brisbane turned 105 on July 3 at her home in Villa Maria, Fortitude Valley, where she’s lived for nearly a decade. Remarkably, Ruby doesn’t take any medication, not even the suggestion from doctors ... Read More »
THINGS happen in pie shops, as politicians have learned to their cost. It was in just such a humble location that Reg Goves knew he’d landed in a country different to his birthplace. Fresh off a flight from his native India, he set out from his uncle’s place to find food for his wife and three young children. He wandered ... Read More »
DECEMBER 6, 1273. It’s not a date that immediately jumps out at the average person, but those intimately connected with the life of St Thomas Aquinas know its significance. Although he is said to have written one of the world’s greatest intellectual achievements in Western civilisation – the Summa Theologiae – St Thomas Aquinas abruptly ended his writing endeavours before ... Read More »
“MIRACULOUS” is one word that could describe Paul Kraus’ life from the very beginning when he survived the Holocaust to later beating the deadly cancer mesothelioma. And the 73-year-old retiree counts each day as a blessing. His life’s been one of many remarkable twists and turns – born of a Jewish woman in a Nazi labour camp, baptised a Catholic ... Read More »
IN conversation recently I have had occasion to notice an increasing number of people making ready reference to their “conscience” as justification for a particular decision or course of action. On the face of it this would seem a rather laudable development, were it not for the fact that the rapidity and regularity of the invocation has led me to ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
