EUTHANASIA legislation is a top priority for Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk but the rushed promise needs to get past Townsville Bishop Tim Harris first. The North Queensland bishop told The Catholic Leader he believed the returned Queensland Labor Government was “helping to facilitate a culture of death” with the promise to introduce voluntary assisted suicide legislation in February. “We’re now ... Read More »

POPE Francis has sent a monetary gift to families of crew members aboard a cattle ship, including two Australians, which sank in the East China Sea on September 2. While the gift was still on its way from Rome, Mount Isa parish priest Fr Mick Lowcock said he had received no updates on the situation with Mount Isa Catholic Lukas ... Read More »

CAIRNS Bishop James Foley – a Labor supporter all his life – says he’s disenfranchised by the party’s stand on abortion and euthanasia – and has doubts about how he will cast his vote in the Queensland election. A moral voice for Catholics in the state’s far north, Bishop Foley has written a letter to the Cairns Post and featured ... Read More »

MANY indigenous Queenslanders hold grave concerns about voluntary assisted dying (VAD), finding it frightening and at odds with their culture, according to Church leaders. If Queensland politicians pass VAD laws, Townsville Bishop Harris has warned fear of euthanasia would weaken cultural ties and “lead to indigenous people shying away from medical help when it’s needed, particularly in remote regions”. After ... Read More »

TOWNSVILLE Bishop Tim Harris has added to the voice of Queensland Church leaders by criticising Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for “playing with peoples’ emotions”, after she promised to rush through Voluntary Assisted Dying legislation if Labor wins the state election on October 31. Ms Palaszczuk used a campaign launch on October 18 to announce Labor would fast-track VAD legislation by introducing ... Read More »

SIX of Queensland’s Catholic bishops have written a pastoral letter warning of the consequences of legalising euthanasia. The letter, to all Catholic Queenslanders and the wider community, stresses the sanctity of life and recognising that all of creation is sacred. “Societies in which life is cheap suffer from many maladies and injustices,” the bishops said.  With Queensland gearing up for ... Read More »

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 »