Dominican sisters with Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP. Photo: Patrick Lee At a Mass celebrating those in religious life, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP said that when Catholics think of ‘shepherds’ they usually think of bishops and priests.  Yet there is a broader shepherding in which all the faithful share, he said, particularly the religious sisters, brothers, and priests who have built much of Australia’s religious and social infrastructure.  “Many of us were blessed to have known […]

Men praying the rosary during the St Joseph Camino. Photo: GIOVANNI PORTELLI 2025 More than 1,200 men transformed Sydney with a city-wide gathering of faith last year. This August they’re back — bigger, bolder, and hungry for more. Are you in?  In 2025, something stirred among the men of this city. In the dead of night, more than a thousand men laced up their boots, […]

Marcel LeJeune. Photo: Jules Photo Design. When Marcel LeJeune arrived at St Mary’s Catholic Centre at Texas A&M University in 2006, he inherited a ministry with two priests, a part-time deacon, a leaking roof, and no budget to speak of. By the time he left 11 years later, there were 63 staff, a $3.5 million budget, state-of-the-art facilities, 5,000 students […]

There is a particular kind of discipline that the Royal Australian Navy instils in its officers. A capacity to assess, to interrogate, to weigh evidence and act decisively. For Jared Karchel, logistics officer and father of two, that same discipline would eventually lead him not to a command post, but to a baptismal font. “Throughout […]

The Kinna-Puru family. Photo: Supplied. Among the thousands of people across Australia who joined the Catholic Church this Easter season was Kaila Kinna-Puru and her family who attend Our Lady Help of Christians in Culburra Beach on the South Coast.  Kinna-Puru, her husband Cody, and their five children, now aged between one and 11 years old, came to the faith after discovering their youngest […]

Mar Paulos III receiving flowers. Photo: Patrick J Lee. First a bearded and turbaned crucifer in traditional Iraqi garb flanked by altar boys with candles. Then more candles. Then a dozen white-gowned young men with four-metre palm branches. Then dozens of women with white veils and white embroidered gowns. Then a phalanx of deacons with […]

Sydney’s newest Catholics have been welcomed into the Church at St Mary’s Cathedral for a special liturgy and post-Mass luncheon.  The cathedral was packed for the Sunday Solemn Mass, as it coincided with the annual  archdiocesan Paschal Eucharist – Celebration for the Newly Initiated event, which served as a welcome from Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP for those recently baptised and those received into the […]