Simon Jackman is the chief executive officer of the United States Studies Centre and closely follows politics, religion and US President Donald Trump. He spoke with Donna Lynch about some of these subjects. Q: Have you always had a passion for politics? A: As long as I can remember, yes indeed. Q: I did read that when you were at ... Read More »

A HIGH-level Australian Catholic delegation has met with former Manus Island asylum seekers and refugees now in Port Moresby, and heard shocking stories of their detention. “It was shameful to hear how our government has treated them on Manus Island and how some of them would feel safer in some totalitarian prison back home rather than what they had been ... Read More »

THE Federal Government is considering ordering a royal commission into veteran suicides, but high-ranking returned officer Kel Ryan says the proposal would be unwarranted and costly. Lt Col Ryan, a Vietnam War veteran and parishioner from Goodna, has been involved in veteran issues for more than 30 years, and said during the last two decades there have been many studies ... Read More »

DYING is one of the most widely misunderstood natural processes.  Like a pregnant mother heading towards labour, it was often when people learned more about what they would go through that the fear of it abated, palliative medicine specialist Dr Judith McEniery said. “It’s the same thing with dying, if people knew about the ‘normal’, they would be less afraid,” ... Read More »

A BRISBANE student plenary assembly – the first held in Australia – has identified greater inclusion and equality for women, and a need for priests to be more tech-savvy as key issues for the Church today. “We are facing a crisis and we want to face it together, because the Catholic Church is important for Australia as a whole,” Brisbane ... Read More »

CATHOLIC musician Emma Fradd likes the word revival. “I’m a direct communicator, because I think (revival) signifies that something is dead and lifeless,” Emma said. “And I think a lot of parish music in our country is dead.” Recognising there was a problem was the first step to solving it, and Emma, who is touring Brisbane parishes as part of ... Read More »

“WE have had a lot of good feedback from the wives; and the husbands have come home and been really happy because they’ve actually been able to talk to other men and generally they don’t get that,” Centacare service delivery manager Felicity Arnold said. Ms Arnold helps to run Waminda Men’s Group, one of a number of groups that won ... Read More »

EXHAUSTED fire crews battled flames in catastrophic conditions, as unprecedented bushfires claimed lives and livelihoods, and smoke shrouded east coast towns from Sydney to far north Queensland. Read More »

AUSTRALIAN government officials have turned Witness K and his or her lawyer Bernard Collaery into scapegoats, Josephite Sister Susan Connelly said at a public forum about the espionage case at Brisbane City Hall on October 29. Senior Counsel Bret Walker, who at one stage represented Witness K, and Professor Clinton Fernandes, who had appeared on ABC television as a case ... Read More »