POPE Francis has ordered a change to canon law, allowing women to be formally installed as lectors and acolytes. It’s a move that has been welcomed as “very significant” by Brisbane Ursuline Sister Kari Hatherell, who served for nine years as chair of the Australian Catholic Council for Lay Pastoral Ministry. “As an ecclesial community all roles are needed, and ... Read More »
KAREN Doyle is a great believer in Pope St John Paul II’s assertion that women are the answer to all major problems in the future. Mrs Doyle said the former pope spoke often about the need for society to acknowledge the transformative effect women could have. “Throughout John Paul II’s work he said to women, ‘You are an answer’, that ... Read More »
ONE of the things Carole Danby’s looking forward to most after many years in children’s ministry is having oodles of time to play. She can’t wait for all the fun she’ll have in the spare room she’s turning into a special place where she’ll tell stories and play games with her three grandsons, and hopefully help them to know the ... Read More »
SURGING domestic violence cases during the COVID-19 crisis is a pandemic within a pandemic, according to Church workers on the frontline of domestic violence education and prevention. They say Church communities “provided no immunity” to the domestic violence scourge. Months of restrictions have created “a perfect storm” of conditions with stay-at-home orders, school closures, and many workers laid off or ... Read More »
HAYLEY Bowden and Lucy Baker have less hair than when they started Grade 12, but it’s not from the stress of navigating boarding school during a pandemic. The vice-captains and boarders of Stuartholme School, Brisbane’s only Catholic girls boarding school, shaved their heads for cancer to a live-stream audience on October 9. The pair were among 36 Year 12 students ... 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 »
CELIBACY for priests, the role of women, and the inclusion of divorced and remarried Catholics were among “strongly discussed” topics contained in the Plenary Council 2020’s latest report. The final report of the council’s Listening and Dialogue phase captures the voice of more than 222,000 Australians and provides insights into 17,457 individual and group submissions. Plenary council president Perth Archbishop ... Read More »
WATCHING young African girls fight gender inequality to become strong career women in one of the world’s poorest countries has shown a former athlete the power of the feminine genius. Canossian Sister Mel Dwyer, a former nationally-ranked javelin thrower who gave up a chance to be at the Sydney 2000 Olympics for a mission trip to Africa, spent eight years as the ... Read More »
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