The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You

DOCTORS, health professionals and carers have challenged Queensland’s political leaders to commit to a massive spending boost for palliative care. Ahead of the October 31 election, Palliative Care Queensland, the sector’s peak body, AMA Queensland and community groups from across the state have called for a more-than tripling of funding – from the current $110 million each year to $385 ... Read More »

How we respect and treat some of our most vulnerable – our sick, aged, and terminally ill – is a vital consideration for many Queenslanders preparing to vote. After years of heated and polarizing debate, it will be the state MPs we elect on October 31 who decide whether to back legislation aiming to legalise voluntary euthanasia. Voluntary Assisted Dying ... Read More »

A GENEROUS group of Catholic women in Queensland have offered a stitch (or more) in time to help nurses providing palliative care during the coronavirus pandemic. The women, who happen to enjoy sewing, stepped up to the challenge when Karuna Hospice Services in Brisbane put the call out for someone to make medical gowns for nurses to wear while they ... Read More »

QUEENSLAND Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has wiped euthanasia from her government’s legislative agenda for this term  – announcing in parliament that a scheme to allow assisted dying for the terminally ill needs “further, careful consideration”. The Premier’s decision means voluntary assisted dying (VAD) legislation will not go before lawmakers before Queensland heads to the polls on October 31. Instead, Ms Palaszczuk ... Read More »

TOWNSVILLE Bishop Tim Harris has spoken out strongly against euthanasia and defended comments he made likening a push to allow voluntary assisted dying in Queensland to “a mentality that existed in Nazi Germany”. Bishop Harris said it was an important time to have a conversation on the “grim” topic following the Queensland Government’s committee hearings, which could result in new ... Read More »

“WHEN you’re told your child is going to die, you’re suddenly parenting without a future, and so you’re not parenting … You’re actually saying goodbye.” That was the horrible reality Priyanka Saha and her husband Will Calvert had to deal with as they prepared for the birth of their first child almost three years ago. “We had a very normal ... Read More »

THE deepest expressions of love were found in moments of intense suffering, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge told the Queensland parliamentary inquiry into aged care, end-of-life and palliative care and voluntary assisted dying. “Loneliness, depression and acute physical pain are a powerful cocktail which seems to be fuelling the call for euthanasia,” Archbishop Coleridge said. “Yet there is a power stronger ... Read More »

A DIRE lack of palliative care services is one of the key issues Queensland Parliament’s aged-care inquiry has heard at public hearings across the state. The inquiry is examining the adequacy of Queensland’s end-of-life care including palliative care, and is looking into support for laws to allow voluntary assisted suicide. Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge will present a submission to the ... Read More »

The following is a transcript of a verbal submission by Shalom College, Bundaberg principal Dan McMahon to a Parliamentary Committee’s inquiry into Aged Care. Mr McMahon was jeered at by members of the public while he delivered the submission. He said he was one of three out of 30 submissions that didn’t support legalising Voluntary Assisted Dying. I AM very ... Read More »