The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You

QUEENSLAND’S religious leaders’ strong and united stand against legalising euthanasia has been bolstered by a major Vatican declaration in support of dying patients. A letter signed by 16 faith leaders, including Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, urges greater support for palliative care, and warned that voluntary assisted dying was “not dying well”.  “We believe that the Queensland Government should maintain the ... Read More »

A NEW Year’s Eve in the nightclubs of Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley was enough for Jonathan Hohl to do something the next day that would change his life. He went to Mass. It’s not something that he was used to doing but he felt compelled to go on that day, and he’s been going every Sunday since. That was three years ... Read More »

WHEN Jacqueline Ramsey got her first job as a teacher in 2008, she could have never imagined standing at the front of a classroom in a white habit. But that is exactly the life Sr Mary Dominica Ramsey has chosen with the Conventual Sisters of St Dominic in Ganmain. The former Queensland teacher from a family of nine professed her ... Read More »

THE Frassati Fraternity in Australia, based in Brisbane’s Annerly Ekibin parish, has built a community of faithful Catholic men. For 10 years, it has reached out to guide young men under the patronage of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. The fraternity recently held its first muster since its formation in 2011; the muster was a time to come together, count their ... Read More »

IT was the end of 12 years of schooling, and Brisbane’s Catholic school Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were farewelled at a graduation liturgy at St Stephen’s Cathedral on October 11. Vashti Borthwick-Beetson, from St Columban’s College, Caboolture, offered a heartfelt student reflection on behalf of all graduates at the liturgy. She thanked everyone who had helped them achieve ... Read More »

A FORMER soldier who served in East Timor 20 years ago has told how a recent return to that country on a spirituality-inspired rehabilitation program has helped ease decades of suffering from trauma. “I feel like a weight has been lifted, and I can now look at things in a different way,” Townsville veteran Murray Sutherland said.  “A lot of ... Read More »

NICOLE Morgan read a news story about Stanthorpe’s water threat, which reported the town’s dam was nearing five per cent capacity and the situation was getting “pretty dire”. It sparked a call to action for Ms Morgan. Ms Morgan, who works for Centacare as a business development manager, thought to herself, “You know, we have 1700 staff at Centacare, if ... Read More »

THE multicultural community of St Mark’s Parish, Inala, turned out in force recently for the installation of new parish priest Divine Word Missionaries Father Boni Buahendri. Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge celebrated the installation Mass, in front of a packed congregation of more than 600. Fr Buahendri, originally from Indonesia, said he felt “very warmly welcomed”. “It was really wonderful,” he ... Read More »

“A LACK of dream, a lack of belonging; the best way to combat youth crime is not to build bigger detention centres,” Sunnybank parishioner Protais Muhirwa, who founded Active Refugee and Migrant Integration in Australia five years ago, said. “It’s wrong, it’s very wrong; when they release them they’re worse criminals. “The best way to combat terrorism, it’s not to ... Read More »