AUSTRALIA’S new $688m HomeBuilder package has been described as “hitting the jackpot” by some potential homeowners, but there are warnings that the initiative has failed low-income families. The package offers a grant of $25,000 to build a new home worth less than $750,000 or to spend between $150,000 and $750,000 renovating an existing home. The scheme is limited to owner-occupiers ... Read More »
A BRISBANE group planning to mark the 50th anniversary of Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the city last weekend had no idea they would end up celebrating it with Pope Francis. COVID-19 restrictions put paid to celebrations that were to have been held at Bardon but CCR members in Brisbane celebrated with the Pope and people from around the world instead. ... Read More »
A GROUP of five, young asylum seekers ask that they not be identified. The reason is simple. They, and their families fear deportation if they speak out against how they are treated under Australia’s immigration system. Each of the five are at school, live with families, siblings or friends in community detention in Brisbane, waiting they hope, to start life ... Read More »
A BRISBANE parish priest opened his homily at a National Reconciliation Week 2020 prayer service with a challenging statement on racism. Bracken Ridge parish priest Fr Gerry Hefferan was speaking at the annual Ecumenical Murri Reconciliation Service which was live-streamed from St Joseph’s Church on June 3. Addressing the congregation (limited to 20 because of COVID-19 restrictions) and the online ... Read More »
MILLIONS around the world have accepted that life after coronavirus will require a digital upgrade, and Caloundra parish priest Fr Peter Brannelly believes parishes are no exception. After three months of live-streaming daily and weekend Masses on Facebook – attracting thousands of views each week – Fr Brannelly is preparing to make the digital upgrade permanent. He said parishes needed ... Read More »
COLUMBAN Father Noel Connolly, a member of the Plenary Council 2020 facilitation team, has died in Sydney aged 75. Fr Connolly, a Queenslander, a Columban missionary priest for almost 51 years, a theologian, writer, teacher and administrator, died on June 6 at Concord Hospital in Sydney. Writing on behalf of the Columbans in Australia, Fr Jim Mulroney said Fr Connolly ... Read More »
A BRISBANE Catholic indigenous leader has described the Black Lives Matter rallies as “a wonderful experience of humanity”. Cynthia Rowan was among the crowd of up to 30,000 that packed inner city Brisbane on June 6, to protest police brutality against Indigenous Australians and call for justice for those who have died in custody. “We call ourselves Australian and we ... Read More »
THE tabernacle was all that was salvaged when St Leo’s Church at Haden, north of Toowoomba burnt to the ground last weekend. Priest-in-residence Fr Dave O’Connor in Crows Nest parish said by the time he arrived at the church in the early hours of Sunday morning the fire had all but destroyed the 89-year-old timber building. “I got the phone ... Read More »
BRISBANE Archbishop Mark Coleridge has called on Australia’s leaders to put humanity, not the economy, at the heart of planning the nation’s post-pandemic recovery. “Our Australian response can take many different forms, but our priorities need to be clear… the human being must be the focus of any response,” Archbishop Coleridge, who is president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
