On what was one of the hottest weekends of Perth’s summer – the 17 and 18 February – thirteen Indonesian Australian married Catholic couples and a Perth based Indonesian Australian Catholic priest enjoyed a weekend of formation.

Addressing the scholarship recipients and their guests, Fr Vincent linked Archbishop Hickey’s decision to open a Scholarship in 2013 to his great love for the Scriptures enkindled through a sabbatical year spent in the Holy Land.

Former La Salle Principal, now CEWA Executive Director, Wayne Bull, with former students Aaron Haji-Ali and Zoe Sparkes, now working at St Mary’s College, Broome, were commissioned for 2024. Joining them was Brother Berkeley Fitzhardinge, former principal of La Salle.

The military and the mystical continue to blend as the youthful protagonist (Timothée Chalamet) of the 2021 original, now an exile, fights for the desert dwellers (led by Javier Bardem) among whom he’s taken refuge on the titular planet while falling for one of their warriors (Zendaya). Although she advocates a purely secular role for her new love, the lad’s priestess mother (Rebecca Ferguson) continues to insist that he is the messiah figure foretold in various prophecies. As he extends his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s celebrated 1965 sci-fi novel, director and co-writer Denis Villeneuve enthralls with sweeping visuals, appealing central characters and an absorbing plot.

In the main speech read by Msgr Pierluigi Giroli, Pope Francis said that “the prideful (person) is one who thinks he or she is much more than he or she really is.

Reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading from St Mark, Pope Francis said that Jesus’ transfiguration – when he radiated before his disciples in a dazzling white light – “reveals to them the meaning of what they had experienced together up to that moment.”

As Russia’s war against Ukraine enters its third year, several church institutions recapped their aid effort over two years of conflict, showing millions of people have been saved thanks to the Catholic Church.

Francesca Cabrini was born 15 July 1850, in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, youngest of 13 children in a well-off farming family. A pious child – the “little saint,” neighbours called her – she longed to be a missionary and played at sailing paper boats filled with violets representing the sisters she meant to send all over the world.

In a brief papal document released on 17 February, the Holy Father said that “these study groups are to be established by mutual agreement between the competent dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the General Secretariat of the Synod, which is entrusted with coordination.”

Cathedral Dean, Rev Dr Sean Fernandez distributes ashes, Wednesday 14 February at the 12.10pm Mass at St Mary's Cathedral, marking the start of the season of Lent. Photo: Ron Tan. Vicar General, the Very Rev Fr Peter Whitely, distributes ashes on Wednesday 14 February. Photo: Ron Tan. Cathedral Sacristan Frances Dennis distributes ashes on Wednesday 14 February. Photo: Ron Tan. Rev De...