PAVING the way for a successful start to a teaching career for those new to the classroom is what Lauren Roach’s role is all about. Mrs Roach is a newly-appointed project officer for teacher support with Catholic Education in Rockhampton diocese. It’s a new position in the diocese this year. “My role is to assist early-career teachers in the first ... Read More »

TOWNSVILLE Catholic Education has signed up for a Tesla battery storage project on the way to having its schools powered 100 per cent from renewable sources. The agency recently accepted a tender from Queensland-based commercial solar business GEM Energy to deliver the project over the next 10 years. TCE executive director Jacqui Francis said this was a third stage of ... Read More »

PLANS are moving ahead in Cairns for the first Catholic school to be built within an Australian university precinct. The Queensland Government has pledged $15 million for the construction of Newman Catholic College within James Cook University’s Smithfield campus, with the new high school due to open in 2022 for Year 7. Stage one of Newman Catholic College will soon ... Read More »

QUEENSLAND veterinarian Lukas Orda, 25, was aboard Gulf Livestock 1, which was carrying 43 crew members and 5800 head of cattle in the East China Sea, when it capsized on Wednesday. His wife Emma, who had recently given birth to their first child Theo, posted a photo of the pair on social media – “Please come home really soon, we ... Read More »

A FIRE that destroyed a Bundaberg pub and backpacker hostel recently sparked Catholics against human trafficking into action. When news of the fire broke, a member of Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans (ACRATH) was quick to respond by visiting the Queensland regional town and offering support. No lives were lost but many of those who survived the fire ... Read More »

BJ Perrett and Thomas Popovic, both twins, have formed a strong friendship among the brotherhood of Holy Spirit Provincial Seminary, Banyo. Thomas, whose twin Matthew’s also in priestly formation, first met rural BJ, a twin to Eve, at the Quo Vadis (Where are you going?) discernment weekend in 2017. A recent mid-semester trip in BJ’s home parish of Stanthorpe, in ... Read More »

MELBOURNE Archbishop Peter Comensoli lowered his surgical mask to kiss the altar at St Patrick’s Cathedral and fastened it again to incense the sanctuary at last Sunday’s Mass. Masking and unmasking was becoming a familiar sight for the five thousand Catholics who tuned in to the livestream as Melbourne archdiocese introduced new rules for liturgical celebrations on July 22. Those ... Read More »

IRISH priest Fr Tom Keegan, who sailed from Ireland in 1953 to minister in Toowoomba diocese, has died aged 92 on July 25. A vigil service will be held tonight, July 30, at 7pm and a funeral tomorrow, July 31, at 10.30am. Both services will be held at St Patrick’s Cathedral and livestreamed from Toowoomba diocese website, YouTube and Facebook. ... Read More »

THE coronavirus pandemic kept Emerald’s new priests away from their flock for a while but not from their garden. Divine Word Missionaries Fr Truc Quoc Phan and Fr Firminus (Yon) Wiryono are new to Emerald, in the Central Highlands of Queensland, and to Rockhampton diocese Fr Truc, who is parish priest, arrived on March 14, just before the pandemic lockdown ... Read More »