The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You

AFTER earthquakes and tribal violence in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands, 270,000 people need immediate life-saving assistance, almost half of them children, while security remains “unpredictable”, according to a United Nations report. “Access to clean water, food, sanitation, nutrition and health services remain immediate concerns,” a report by the UN’s child relief agency, UNICEF, said. UNICEF has grave concerns for the ... Read More »

BISHOP Tim Harris has pledged to continue to deepen Townsville diocese’s relationship with Port Moresby archdiocese following a recent visit to the Papua New Guinea capital. In 2012, the late Bishop Michael Putney and the Archbishop of Port Moresby signed a significant and unique sister diocese agreement. The agreement allowed for the co-operation between the two dioceses in areas like ... Read More »

“ONE day we buried twelve children …” – victims of war and famine, and as Fr Pat Doran thinks of them almost 60 years later the memories come flooding back, and so do the tears. Those children and thousands like them are close to the heart of the Holy Spirit Father nearing retirement from his Brisbane parish. In the little ... Read More »

ON a recent family trip to Caloundra, acclaimed foreign correspondent Sean Dorney shuffled down the beach to the surf, assisted by his wife and daughter, unable to raise his legs more than a few centimetres above the sand. “If you are walking behind me the tracks look as if a turtle has been scraping through the sand,” Mr Dorney said. ... Read More »

PAPUA New Guinea’s first indigenous person raised to beatification in the Church, Blessed Peter To Rot, will have a shrine built in his memory near Brisbane. Located in Marian Valley in the Gold Coast Hinterlands, it will be the first shrine in Australia dedicated to Blessed Peter To Rot, a lay catechist who was murdered for his defence of marriage ... Read More »

DURING the welcome Mass for Cardinal John Ribat late last year, many people spoke kindly of the shepherd who was now the first cardinal to be appointed from Papua New Guinea. Apostolic nuncio for Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands Archbishop Kurian Mathew Vayalunkal said: “We are here to share our joy and express our gratitude to God for ... Read More »

A GROUP of 20 Poland-bound pilgrims from Papua New Guinea used a two-day stopover in Brisbane to say thank-you for supporting their journey to World Youth Day. For most of the pilgrims it is the first time travelling outside their remote communities.  Last month The Catholic Leader featured a story about the PNG pilgrims – the remoteness, poverty and hardship ... Read More »

TEN young people from a remote parish in Papua New Guinea are daring to dream they might still make it to Poland for World Youth Day. For the past 18 months, the youngsters from the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Alotau have enthusiastically run raffles and fundraisers, overcome bureaucratic obstacles and prepared themselves spiritually for the biggest journey of their ... Read More »

SIR Julius Chan played a pivotal role in shaping Papua New Guinea’s first 40 years of independence.Playing the Game is his fascinating account of the exciting birth of PNG as a nation, and the challenging years that followed.It is also the story of a man who grew up with a fight-to-win determination, shaped by his humble upbringing, and his formative ... Read More »