While students around Perth returned to school for yet another year on February 3, two new Catholic schools opened for the first time. St Elizabeth’s Catholic Primary School in Hocking and Mother Teresa Catholic School in Baldivis commenced classes for the first time, with many happy children taking the first steps of their schooling life there. St Elizabeth’s began kindergarten class...

Altar servers from around Australia gathered in Brisbane for the Guild of St Stephen’s national conference from January 17-19. The event marked 60 years of the Guild in Australia, and attracted 105 servers, including 14 participants from WA. Director of the Guild of St Stephen Fr Danai Penollar told The Record he was pleased with the level of interest in the conference, which focused ...

Since his ordination 40 years ago, Highgate parish priest Fr Peter Bianchini has had a passion for the ongoing formation of clergy. During that time he has been heavily involved in various programs to assist clergy, including taking on the role of director for the Perth Archdiocese in the Clergy, Life and Ministry Council. It is just one of many councils operated by the Australian Bis...

Twenty-three-year-old Julian Sieber is making his way to Sydney as part of the relocation of The Catholic Guy ministry. The Como parishioner will join at least 10 others in making the move across the country, and he told The Record he was excited about his new role as national director of creative media for The Catholic Guy and Impact Catholic Ministry. “I look forward to working on s...

Catholic priests are perhaps the lowest paid ministers of religion in Australia, according to limited figures available to the public. Parish priests in the Archdiocese of Perth are allowed to accumulate $29,000 a year from first collections at Mass, with any extra funds distributed to low-income parishes and inactive clergy. For priests who earn between up to $50,000 for the year, 60...

FATHER John Piumatti says he learnt just as much from living in Rome as he did studying there for the past two years. The former parish priest of Willagee returned to Perth recently, where he has been posted at St Mary’s Cathedral. In 2011, he travelled to Italy to commence studies of a licentiate in spirituality at the Angelicum University, less than four kilometres away from the Vat...

WHEN the parish of St Lawrence and Mary Immaculate opened its Perpetual Adoration chapel on December 8, it was a dream come true for parish priest, Fr Irek Czech SDS. Since becoming parish priest of Balcatta and Gwelup in 2010, the Salvatorian priest had often thought about introducing Perpetual Adoration. “The thought about it was like a seed within me, which had to grow for some tim...

EUCHARISTIC Adoration was once referred to as “the best, the surest, and the most effective way of establishing everlasting peace on the face of the earth” by Blessed Pope John Paul II. In Perth, there are four perpetual Adoration centres – St Bernadette’s in Glendalough, Holy Spirit Parish in City Beach, St Joseph’s in Bassendean, and now St Lawrence’s in Balcatta. But many other par...

The Catholic Church in WA is leading the nation in raising the number of people attending Mass on a weekly basis.

Tanzanian priest, and the brains behind a self-sustaining school in that African country, Fr Melodious Mlowe says the school is operating well one year after opening.