BRENNAN Sia’s journey from pharmacist to priest will soon be complete, as he prepares to be ordained for the Perth Archdiocese on September 27. The 31-year-old admits he hasn’t been thinking too much about the occasion, preferring to keep his mind focused on his role as deacon. “At the moment I’ve been more occupied with the work in the parish but I think very soon I’ll have to start ...

TWENTY-three couples took part in a special Mass at Bateman parish on August 3 to celebrate reaching significant wedding anniversaries this year. About 300 people gathered for the annual Mass, which had a particular focus on marriage, and the married couples and their families shared dinner in the parish hall at its conclusion. Each of the couples present, who were celebrating 25, 30,...

Being a good priest is about giving – giving until it hurts. So says the parish priest of Good Shepherd Lockridge, Father Francis Ly, some 32 years after arriving in Australia as a Vietnamese refugee and a year shy of his 30th year in the priesthood.

The International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fátima is coming to parishes in Perth, Mandurah and Bunbury this year from August 16 to August 22.

A spiritual and psychological study into the “greatest saint of modern times” underpinned research by PhD graduate, Dr Judith Schneider, from The University of Notre Dame Australia’s Fremantle campus.

PARISHES are struggling to pay for necessary expenses as the cost of living continues to increase around the country. Combined with parishes’ increased costs, members of congregations are finding it difficult to put money in collection plates as a result of their own rising household expenses. While some Catholics may not know where their donations are going, a number of parishes in P...

ORGANISERS are preparing for the sixth annual Camino Salvado pilgrimage from Subiaco to New Norcia in August. Registrations for the 160km walk have already reached the 24-person limit, with many on a waiting list hoping for a cancellation. This year there will be two pilgrimages, the first commencing on August 25 and the second on September 8. Described as a walk for people “of fai...

METHODS of Natural Family Planning are on the rise around the world, according to experts who gathered at the World Organisation of the Ovulation Method Billings (WOOMB) international conference earlier this year. The conference, which marked the Golden Jubilee of the Billings Method, was held in Malaysia in April and attracted about 250 delegates from more than 20 countries. Four tea...

UNITY between the major world religions is the key to restoring traditional values and morals to society, according to leading Jewish academic, Rabbi Shimon Cowen. Visiting Perth briefly in June to launch his book, Politics and Universal Ethics, Rabbi Cowen told The Record that despite their differences, Christians, Muslims, and Jews share much common ground. “There is a group of ethi...

AFTER SEVERAL years of preparation, St Joseph Pignatelli Parish in Attadale is almost ready to begin construction of its new church. The original parish church, built in 1955, was only meant to be temporary, but the parish never had the funds to build a permanent church. But thanks to a generous bene-factor, the parish has now raised more than half the funds required, and hopes to com...