When we seek personal fulfillment by abandoning truth and objective moral standards, we also increase our unhappiness. I was filling in an online form recently and the security question at the end was “2+9=” and I had to type in the answer to submit the page. I found it interesting that this very mainstream form on the website of this very mainstream company was not only telling me th...

Hold your hats. Gird your loins. Scrunch up your face like you’ve just witnessed your Dad on the dance floor at a wedding. Ready? Good, because I’m writing about religion. Even worse, this column is about religion … and children. But fear not. For my own sanity (and safety!), this column won’t dip its toe into the pool of ethical and moral arguments attached to the teaching of religio...

If you were only looking at the weight of media reporting, you could be forgiven for thinking there was an epidemic of child sexual abuse, perpetrated by the Catholic Church. What is getting less air time is that the three Catholic bishops at the centre of media attention last week are determined to address the issue, even as they attend to cases that happened under different prelates, d...

One of the most outstanding priests the West has given to Australia passed to eternal life in Melbourne on June 27, 2012. Born just before the outbreak of the Second World War, Peter Steele grew up in the Perth suburb of Victoria Park, the eldest in a family of three boys. His parents, Fred (who became a Catholic on marrying his mother) and Jessie, nurtured in him a strong faith which pr...

Harry and Jan Collins have celebrated half a century of marriage. The couple have been blessed with two sons and six grandchildren. [/caption] Harry and Jan Collins (nee Jones) recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at Our Lady of Mt Carmel Hilton with a special Mass, a blessing from Pope Benedict and another from Fr Paul Raj. Later, they celebrated with family and friends a...

On a cold winter’s night, Joan Wester Anderson believed her son and his friends would freeze to death in an isolated cornfield when their car broke down while driving from Connecticut to Chicago. Instead, Mrs Anderson owes her son’s life to a mysterious tow truck driver who appeared out of nowhere and towed the boys to a nearby town; when Mrs Anderson’s son turned to pay the man he had v...

Sid and Marie Gasper of Good Shepherd Parish in Kelmscott have been married for six decades. PHOTO: Juanita Shepherd[/caption] Surrounded by an assortment of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, family and friends, Sid and Marie Gasper celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Mr and Mrs Gasper grew up together in a small town called Syriam in Burma; they have known each ot...

Frank Hacket passed away just a month after celebrating his 60th wedding anniversary. PHOTO: Supplied[/caption] Frank Hackett lived a life of faith, love and family. After celebrating 60 years of marriage to his wife Pat on May 17 at St John of God Hospital Murdoch, he passed away peacefully on June 27 at Frank Prendergast House, Southern Cross Village, at Success. His Requiem Mass w...

Pope says Sunday must be kept free from retail trading seven days as its the day for family and for God. The Pope has made poignant comments about keeping Sundays free, just as legislation allowing general retail shops to trade seven days a week seems likely to be passed by the Western Australian parliament. “Sunday is the day of the Lord and of man, a day which everyone must be able to b...

Much-loved former parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Rockingham for 31 years, Fr Finbarr Walsh passed away peacefully at Fremantle Hospital on May 31, aged 83. His Pontifical Requiem Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Thursday, June 7, was attended by more than 600 people and over 60 priests and was concelebrated by Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, Emeritus Archbishop Barry Hickey,...