PM’s Department Report validates what family advocates already know: The consequences for a society that rejects the child are becoming clearer. By Anthony Barich Australia’s dramatically declining fertility rate is jeopardising its own economic and social future and its ability to care for its aged, according to a major Federal Government report. Families in Austral...

While the Church needs more holiness and fewer bureaucrats, women have every right to be heard, says Australian theologian Tracey Rowland. By Tracey Rowland   I THINK that a general problem with the Church in western countries is that its management structure is more and more resembling that of a modern corporation and when that happens, ‘participation’ g...

How I pray now: Elaine McNeill speaks with The Record's Debbie Warrier.     Elaine McNeill. Photo: Debbie Warrier. In the morning I pray for the conversion of my family, the sick and myself. I say all those special prayers for the souls in purgatory because I’m banking on them helping me - it’s a two-way street. On Mondays, I usually go to Mass an...

In seeking to love, the self matters, argues Christopher West.   By Christopher West   A friend of mine – I’ll call him “Joe” – recently came to me in distress asking me to help him process the counsel he had been receiving from a Catholic therapist. “You need to love God more,” was his therapist’s repeated advice....

Fr Don Calloway A visiting priest tells The Record's Mark Reidy how Christ pulled him back from the precipice of self-destruction.   By Mark Reidy   The “Evolution of a Monkey” would be an apt title for the remarkable conversion story of American priest, Fr Don Calloway. Speaking at the Holy Spirit Church in City Beach on August 29, Fr Don de...

In this Year for Priests, we feature a West Australian Catholic pastor every week. This week: Fr Brenton Taylor - Bluff Point. By Anthony Barich   As a self-described “happy little heretic” living the life of a highly-paid advertising agent in Perth, Father Brenton Taylor fought God’s call to the priesthood with every fibre of his body. To Fr Brenton, now 6...

                      Recent unearthing of local archives has revealed strange items that say a lot about the faith of their original owner and wearer.   A handwritten note by Bishop Griver’s successor, Bishop Matthew Gibney, and signed by him sets out t...

Fr Anthony Paganoni, Scalabrinian, continues a series for The Record this week reflecting on what, if any, future the Church has in Europe and why this is important for us. This week: Across denominational and ethnic boundaries. By Fr Anthony Paganoni CS   It is not only within the Catholic Church that a re-awakening is taking place. Some of the Catholic lay moveme...

There’s a growing range of products that claim astonishing results in aiding general health or treating often- incurable diseases, and highlighting their connections with the faith of the Church. But can they really deliver? Maybe - maybe not. Such products include complementary medicines or dietary supplements and appear to claim success where science has either failed or not yet succe...

New book of prayer released in the UK exhorts prayer before action. LONDON (CNS) - A prayer for couples to recite “before making love” has been included in a new British book of prayers for married couples. The 64-page Prayer Book for Spouses contains prayers for every station of family and married life, including engagement, planning a family, raising children and caring for sick ...