Felix and Rita Calleja survived the terrors of the German bombing of Malta during World War II to start a new life and family in Australia. PHOTO: Paul Calleja[/caption] Seventy years ago Felix Calleja and Rita Grech stood at the altar of the Hal Lija Church of the Transfiguration in Malta and took their marriage vows, promising to be true in good times and in bad, for richer, for poorer, ...

During 35 years of legal practice, Gus Irdi has never yelled “I object” in an open court room but he is eager to debunk the myth of the stereotypical, power-hungry lawyer. The man behind Irdi Legal and a graduate of the University of Western Australia in Law and Jurisprudence, Mr Irdi tells Juanita Shepherd how his faith has helped him during his career and the struggles and triumphs he has...

A Morley woman has come out swinging against the best selling book Fifty Shades of Grey, saying erotic fiction is not the harmless fun it purports to be. Consecrated virgin Maureen Togher shared her personal experience with hundreds of online friends last week, citing the book’s massive sales and her own desire to prevent harm to others. Dubbed “mummy porn” by much of the mainstream m...

A s referred to in last week’s editorial, a crisis of childcare is really a crisis of motherhood, of parents, of families and of children, therefore a crisis of society, a symptom that something is deeply wrong in our very midst. That Perth and Australia have a crisis of childcare is because the society we have constructed does not actually deeply value any of these things for their real...

It is no papal title but for Melbourne-based artist John Paul being a two-time winner of the Mandorla Art Award is a great achievement. The 58-year-old artist received $25,000 prize money for his winning painting titled Palm Sunday, in the 2012 Mandorla Art Award, which he also won in 1990. The exhibit judges said Palm Sunday looks like a medieval stone carving brought to life and dem...

Bridget  Curran’s first book The Miracles of Mary was a hit, inside and outside the Catholic Church. A best-seller, it received an imprimatur from Archbishop Hickey and was later translated into Italian, Indonesian and Portuguese. She has also worked on documentaries and TV shows for the ABC, SBS and Channel 7, including Who Do You Think You Are?, Who’s Been Sleeping in My House? and My Asi...

By Brian Peachey Marist Brother Redmond Casey, who has celebrated his Diamond anniversary of religious life was a teacher in Bunbury, Northam and Subiaco, then known by his religious name, Brother Pius. He was the fourth eldest in a well-known Casey family of eight children. Born in Perth in 1933 and educated at St Ildephonsus College in New Norcia, he entered the Marist Juniorate ...

Josephite Sr Elizabeth Murphy, who died on July 20, was a teacher par excellence who reached the top of her profession and also worked with the Order in Peru. She was 88. Known to her family as Mary, she was born on July 4, 1924, the eldest of six children of Frank and Phyllis Murphy, and was educated in her primary years at Highgate with the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. When the f...

It was 1952, post war Europe, economic depression was widespread and jobs hard to come by. Young men, like Giovanni (John) Clissa, went seeking their fortune in faraway shores such as Australia. John and his bride Stella Nina (Nina) had been married barely a few days when the young groom left the isolated village nestled in the Apennine Mountains of central Italy. He was almost 19 yea...

Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey sent the following letter to The Record. It was published in the August 1 edition of the paper. Gerard Henderson is right to warn us to be wary of the ABC. (The Record July 25). I speak as a long-time fan of the ABC. This year ABC Radio is celebrating 80 years of broadcasting. I have been a listener of almost 70 of those years. It was the only radio...