WHEN it comes to everyday heroes, the new chief of Catholic charity Pregnancy Crisis cannot go past the single mothers raising their babies in the group’s Brisbane safe house. The new leader, who cannot be identified for privacy reasons, chose Mother’s Day to shower the mums in the safe house with gifts and cards. “They don’t have anyone that gives ... Read More »
DEBRA Vermeer knew by the second date that she had found the man of her dreams, the man she could promise in marriage to love for the rest of her life. There was just one revelation the journalist wasn’t expecting that morning over breakfast in Sydney 16 years ago. “I had a vasectomy 14 years ago,” her date, Tony Vermeer, ... Read More »
AS Brisbane Catholics take stock of the small blessings in their life, a trend has emerged showing people were recognising the way COVID-19 had reminded them of the importance of family and helped them to re-think their priorities. At time of publication, almost 100 people had contributed to the Archdiocese of Brisbane’s Small Blessings campaign and family was central to ... Read More »
COVID-19 has torn Michele Rankin and her daughter Gabby away from their friends in East Timor but the plight of the people there calls them still. The Brisbane Catholics had been volunteering in Balibo, East Timor, for the past year with Palms Australia, an aid and development agency with Catholic origins. Michele, who had another year to go on her ... Read More »
WHAT are the benefits of working from home? Seeing your kids grow up is definitely one of the advantages of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Catholic father of five, Marco Motta. A data analyst who usually works in a busy office in Brisbane’s CBD, Dr Motta took delight in slipping away from his home desk to supervise ... Read More »
RICHARD and Lynnette Sargeant have held each others’ hands through cancer, a serious accident, and now a pandemic, so it made sense to see out the rest of their lives on a high note by becoming Catholics. With special permission from Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, the married couple of nearly 48 years were received into full communion with the Catholic ... Read More »
ACROSS the Archdiocese of Brisbane Catholic families paid their respects to veterans at dawn on Anzac Day – and took “selfies” to record the moment, while abiding by the COVID-19 social isolation rules. On driveways, balconies and beaches they stood – small acts of remembrance for those who fought for our country. Few words are needed. You can see it ... Read More »
JONATHAN Ries had quit his job as a hospital theatre nurse just as Australia was on the brink of declaring COVID-19 a national health emergency. The former parishioner at the Brisbane Oratory in Annerley quit his job as a theatre nurse at the Queensland Children’s Hospital to study medicine at Flinders University, Adelaide, starting in February. On top of packing ... Read More »
DROUGHT-affected families with children enrolled in Catholic schools will continue to receive Federal Government support with a further boost of $8.2 million announced last week. As the nation’s largest non-government education provider with 1746 schools, Catholic schools have been allocated a further $8.2 million on top of the initial $10 million in funding announced by the Government on November 7 ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
