HOLY Land Commissary for Australia and Kedron parish administrator Franciscan Father Mario Debattista said 600 years of the Commissariats of the Holy Land was a significant milestone but warned the caretakers were in dire need of donations. Fr Debattista said total donations from Australia to the Holy Land from last year were down below one third of what it was ... Read More »
FIFTY years almost to the hour of the wedding bells, John and Lorraine McNamara re-joined their bridal party and celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on September 5. Among their almost 50 guests, including family and friends, was Redcliffe parish priest Fr Bob Harwood, who gave a blessing to the anniversary couple. “It was an excellent day, absolutely wonderful,” Mr McNamara ... Read More »
THIRTY-one pilgrims, including Rockhampton Bishop Michael McCarthy, found themselves humbled and spiritually reawakened walking the roads Jesus walked. Fr Noel Milner, who has worked with parishes from Brisbane to Blackall, led the group with Bishop McCarthy to the Holy Land. “It is always a great spiritual privilege to go on pilgrimage – to walk where Jesus walked, as they say,” ... Read More »
A VISIT to Jerusalem can be an opportunity for pilgrimage, reflection and quiet prayer at holy sites. It is also an extraordinary window into the reality of an ancient city in a conflicted land. It’s easy to lose yourself in the winding, cobblestone alleyways of old Jerusalem amidst the jostle, the lively conversations in Arabic and Hebrew, and with the ... Read More »
SPONSORED BY OUR LADY HELP OF CHRISTIANS, HENDRA WE read and hear about Jesus and the Holy Land, and imagine what Israel would look like mainly drawing from Bible stories and illustrations. The Holy Land landscape is nothing like the Australian landscape. Visiting the places where Jesus was born and raised, the important areas of his ministry and finally ... Read More »
By Emilie Ng SLIPPING out of a driveway in Sydney, Paul Swan and his mother Joan make a reverent plea to the Virgin Mary. The pair is headed to visit John Swan, Joan’s husband and Paul’s father, who has been battling Parkinson’s disease for almost 13 years. With the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a special saintly relative ... Read More »
IRAQI and Syrian refugees who have fled persecution in their homelands and the Palestinian Christians struggling to survive in the land of Jesus deserve the prayers and material support of Catholics around the globe, a Vatican official said. Catholics can “become promoters of dialogue through peace, prayer and sharing of burdens” with Middle East Christians, prefect of the Congregation for ... Read More »
POPE Francis condemned the “unacceptable episodes of violence” in Jerusalem, episodes that “do not spare even places of worship”, after an attack in a synagogue left four worshippers, a policeman and the two attackers dead. At the end of his general audience on November 19, the day after the attack on the synagogue, Pope Francis said he was following “with ... Read More »
PRAYING for peace in the Holy Land alongside leaders of long-antagonistic nations, Pope Francis called on God to act where human efforts had failed, to end what he described as violence inspired by the devil. “More than once we have been on the verge of peace, but the evil one, employing a variety of means, has succeeded in blocking it,” ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
