The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You

POPE Francis has advanced the sainthood causes of two women and 11 men, including a miracle attributed to Blessed Charles de Foucauld. In a meeting with Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, the Pope also authorised decrees recognizing miracles attributed to Blessed Cesar de Bus, founder of the Fathers of Christian Doctrine, and Blessed Maria ... Read More »

THE life of newly declared St John Henry Newman holds a special significance for one Brisbane congregation – the Brisbane Oratory in Formation. Among the throng at the canonisation ceremony in Rome’s St Peter’s Square last Sunday was Brisbane Oratory’s Italian-speaking Fr Scot Armstrong.  He was selected to witness the event on behalf of his congregation, while others celebrated the ... Read More »

WHEN Pope Francis declares Cardinal John Henry Newman a saint in Rome later this year there’s a good chance a priest from Brisbane will be there as a witness. Cardinal Newman is one of the patrons of Australia’s first Oratory community – in Brisbane – and occupies a special place for the priests and brothers who make up the congregation. ... Read More »

THE former congregational leader for Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor possibly “nudged” the Holy See to consider her foundress, Sydney woman Eileen O’Connor, as Australia’s next saint. Miss O’Connor, who founded Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor, or the Brown Nurses, in 1913, was given formal recognition as a candidate for sainthood after receiving the title of Servant of ... Read More »

FEW women had ever been a professed Missionaries of Charity Sister without meeting Mother Teresa. Few except Sr Milada. The Czechoslovakian-born sister, who has been living in the Brisbane house since May, was one of the rare few sisters who had never met Mother Teresa while she was superior general of her order. While many sisters were sent to Kolkata ... Read More »

OVER the centuries many women and men have been remarkable witnesses to God’s mercy. Because of their faith in God, their untiring, preferential commitment to God’s most vulnerable ones, and their courage in the face of cruel, uninformed criticism, they continue to serve us as models of full-hearted Gospel living.  One such person is the Irish woman Catherine McAuley (1778-1841) ... Read More »

SR Mary Glowrey was the world’s first missionary religious sister who was also a medical doctor. Born in 1887, in Birregurra, Victoria, Mary completed her secondary education in Melbourne, on a scholarship, matriculating at 14 years of age. She won an exhibition to the University of Melbourne and graduated in 1910 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.  ... Read More »

THERE are no official steps for Fr Jerome Davadi to be the subject of consideration for sainthood but there are some people out Stanthorpe way who know what a special man he was. He was born in Montecarotto, in the Le Marche region of Italy, on April 26, 1845. Reseracher Ian Bonaccorso said the name on Fr Davdadi’s birth certificate ... Read More »

CAROLINE Chisholm was renowned during her life (1808-1877) as a most remarkable and praiseworthy person. Her charitable work and social reforms were based on a strong Christian faith. She was particularly motivated by the parable of the Good Samaritan. Caroline and her husband Archibald had nine children, three of whom died in infancy. Two sons died as young adults. The ... Read More »