GOLD Coast parishioners are still coming to grips with the death of a 23-year-old man believed to have fallen through the skylight of a church. Police say it appears the man “had been climbing on the roof” of St Vincent’s Church, Surfers Paradise, about 2am on February 24, hours before Sunday Mass. It is understood the man, from Wales and ... Read More »
THE tragic death of a baby girl found washed up on a beach has highlighted a shocking crisis of homelessness on the Gold Coast. Fr Peter Dillon, parish priest at Surfers Paradise, where the baby girl was found in the early hours of November 19, said behind the Coast’s “glitter” strip was a grim reality for too many people sleeping ... Read More »
DESPITE world attention on the Commonwealth Games, parishioners at Surfers Paradise have been taking a mass influx of athletes and visitors all in their stride. Surfers Paradise is one of the largest Catholic parishes in Australia and many locals were finding it eerily quiet as they braced for a Games influx, with Carrara Stadium – the main athletics venue – ... Read More »
“LIFE can change in an instant,” Bishop-elect Tim Harris said at his final Mass in Surfers Paradise parish on February 26. He will be ordained the sixth Bishop of Townsville on May 3. “I’ve been living and reflecting (on) this very thing the last few weeks, following the nuncio’s phone call (announcing the appointment to Townsville),” Bishop-elect Harris said to ... Read More »
TOWNSVILLE’S sixth bishop was sitting in his presbytery kitchen when he learnt his predecessor had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Over the kitchen table at the Clear Island Waters church presbytery in 2012, Bishop Michael Putney told the parish priest and one of his former students in the seminary Fr Tim Harris that he was dying of cancer. “I ... Read More »
HOMELESS people sleeping at a Gold Coast church will be among the first to receive support from a new safe space for people on the streets. Members of the St Vincent de Paul Society’s Surfers Paradise conference have offered to pool together donations from the annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout and future financial gifts to build a centre that will get ... Read More »
MISSIONARY Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament Father Regimon Gervasis has thanked the people of Surfers Paradise for their prayers, friendship and smiling faces as he left the parish. Fr Gervasis has been appointed parish priest of Hervey Bay. More than 600 people attended a farewell Mass and morning tea on August 28. Parish priest and South Coast dean Fr Tim ... Read More »
GENEROUS Gold Coast Catholics contributed to the new altar and chapel inside Sacred Heart Church in Clear Island Waters, which was formally dedicated earlier this month. The church belongs to the same parish at Surfers Paradise where Bishop-elect Anthony Randazzo grew up and received his primary education. The bishop-elect returned to his childhood parish when it celebrated the dedication of Sacred ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
