On a warm but pleasant evening, Kolbe Catholic College hosted Our Lady of Lourdes Rockingham’s Parish Christmas Eve Family Mass on the grassy surrounds of ‘The Avenue”. Approximately 400 turned out to attend Mass and to watch more than 20 young children act out the nativity scene before Fr Benny spoke about the importance of the birth of Jesus during his homily. Past and present students an...

A Christmas message from Most Rev Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB In the Christmas story, when the angels appear to the shepherds to tell them of the birth of Christ, the angel’s first words are “do not be afraid” (Luke 2:10). They are the same words with which the angel Gabriel greets Mary when he tells her of God’s plan that she should be the mother of the messiah (Luke 1:30). A...

A local Catholic historian has received national recognition for his elucidating research on Perth’s first Bishop, John Brady. The Australian Catholic Historical Society has awarded Perth man Odhran O’Brien the James MacGinley Award for arguing that the popular view of Brady as a quarrelsome administrator was less complex than it ought to be. In his award-winning essay, Mr O’Brien wr...

It’s been a big year for St Joseph Pignatelli Parish in Attadale which celebrated the 50th anniversary of its church earlier this month. On December 9, 1962 the church of St Joseph Pignatelli was blessed by Archbishop Redmond Prendiville. The parish had been founded eight years earlier with the Jesuits as the first parish priests. It was this connection which led to the church bein...

By Fr Jean-Noel Marie Our pilgrimage began on November 9 against a backdrop of noise and violence between Israelis and Hamas. We had set out on a journey of a lifetime, eager to walk in the footsteps of the prophets and Our Lord, Jesus Christ. We were determined to cross into the land of the Prince of Peace - the land of the impossible. We, too, had an army of people, at home, prayi...

By Bishop Donald Sproxton The birth of a baby is a time of promise. With the safe arrival of the child, there is a mix of relief and joy, as well as wonder. The mum and dad marvel at the little hands and feet, fingers and toes, and they whisper a quiet prayer of thanks for their healthy baby. Some time later, the parents begin to think and ponder on what will become of their new...

By Fr Raymond J De Souza One of the joys of my life these past 10 years has been the spiritual direction of young women on campus. The soul of a young woman, searching for her own mission and vocation in life, and for a foundation upon which to build her life, has a certain aptitude for discovering the Lord’s love and offering a response to it. Working with the young women at Newma...

Recently my five-year-old son asked me why Christmas is so important and while I think I gave him some good answers I suspect there may be more. How would you answer him? Actually, the Catechism of the Catholic Church answers your son’s question under the heading “Why did the Word become flesh?” It is a somewhat more sophisticated way of putting it but in the end it is the same questi...

Tragedy upon tragedy, evil of evils. The story which flashed around the globe last week of the killing of 20 primary school-age children and six adults at Sandy Hook School in Connecticut was all so sickening. The shock is universal and anyone who tries to contemplate what happened can only cry. There would be no shame in it. In this whole terrible episode, the silence of the ch...

Dave Brubeck, the influential and prolific pianist whose composition Take Five became a standard in the annals of jazz, died on December 5 at age 91, one day before his 92nd birthday. He died of heart failure. He was reportedly on his way to visit a cardiologist in Norwalk, Connecticut, with his son Darius when he suffered a heart attack. Brubeck played his “cool” brand of West Coast ...