A LONG-running parliamentary committee has recommended Queensland legalise voluntary assisted dying. Support for VAD is contained in a Queensland parliamentary health committee report examining end-of-life issues, tabled on March 31. It drew immediate condemnation from Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, who, together with other faith leaders in Queensland stridently oppose VAD – a form euthanasia. “The Parliamentary Committee’s recommendations on euthanasia ... Read More »

WHEN Deacon Peter de Haas had an idea to write a practical handbook for Catholics geographically isolated from everyday parish life, he never imagined needing to refer to his advice weeks after it arrived from the printers. In 2016 the permanent deacon for Cairns diocese started writing a handbook based on his experience of providing spiritual and pastoral support to ... Read More »

A NEW model of pastoral leadership is being trialled in the central west of Rockhampton  diocese to combat the challenges posed to  sacramental ministry because of the vast  distances between the remote parish communities. Rockhampton Bishop Michael McCarthy appointed Carmelite of Mary Immaculate Father Shaiju Lookose and Heralds of Good News Father Raj Kodavatikanti as priests “in solidum” to the ... Read More »

FORMER Coffs Harbour parish priest Fr Anthony John Casey, who died at the age of 90, was remembered as a gentle pastor and diligent worker at a Requiem Mass held at St Augustine’s Church.  Fr Casey died on January 8 in Ballina. Lismore Bishop Gregory Homeming and many priests of the diocese concelebrated the Mass on January 16.  In his ... Read More »

THE new secondary college planned for the James Cook University campus at Smithfield, Cairns, has been named Newman Catholic College. Cairns Bishop James Foley announced the name following community consultation and recommendations from the Catholic Northern Beaches Parish, whose parishioners strongly endorsed the recognition of the recently canonised St John Henry Newman (pictured). “Having spent considerable time with the writings ... Read More »

TOWNSVILLE Bishop Tim Harris criticised both extreme left and extreme right political narratives for misleading the public from finding a reasoned and nuanced understanding of the costs and effects of climate change. Bishop Harris said this reasoned and nuanced understanding was essential to enacting our “God-given” responsibility to care for creation. He said both the hard-left and hard-right stifled the ... Read More »

WHEN Pope Francis told young lovers in his apostolic exhortation on love to dance towards immense hope, he probably didn’t mean do the tango. But Ben Smith, the director of Life, Marriage and Family for Hobart archdiocese, thinks a dose of social dancing can be effective in teaching young people about the sanctity of marriage. That’s why he’s invited Katrina ... Read More »

IN Yeppoon, Vinnies volunteer member Rick Williams is working for a desperate community that still doesn’t like asking for help despite an ongoing battle with bushfires and drought. Mr Williams said much of his work as a Vincentian at present had been helping locals re-connect vital services required to return their lives to some sense of normality. “Most of the ... Read More »

CAIRNS Bishop James Foley is to step down due to ailing health after 27 years, and is expected to cease duties early next year. “I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s (disease) earlier this year … and I submitted my resignation,” 71-year-old Bishop Foley told The Catholic Leader. One of Australia’s longest-serving current bishops, Bishop Foley has written a letter to Cairns ... Read More »