The Catholic Leader - 21 April 2019 - Issue 5548

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The Catholic Leader, April 21, 2019
News
“While I sometimes laugh, it is not a bad ques-
tion to ask of ourselves sometimes when dealing
with challenging students and families in our
communities.”
She said Fr Pascoe has been understanding,
open and welcoming.
Mrs Pellowe, a pastoral leader and Chinese
teacher, said her two children also attended
Catholic schools, and seeing their engagement
had “inspired” her.
“I think from a very long time I have always
had an inkling that something is missing in my
life,” she said.
“I have always had faith and a belief in God,
and was a Christian, however I honestly didn’t
have the connection that I have gained through
my work at St Columban’s.
“Secondly is the actual fact that I myself am
working in a Catholic community.
“It is a funny feeling. Our school is a great
community – one where you feel connected and
like you belong. Kind of like an extension of
family.
“The only problem is that although I felt like
I was a part of the ‘family’, I was still on the
outer – able to engage with Mass and liturgies,
but not fully.
“Sort of watching from the sidelines I guess.
“This gradually over the past four or so years
has kind of sat with me and it wasn’t until I
was chatting with Raechel and I expressed this
with her that I really thought I could become
Catholic.”
Fr Pascoe said it was the role of Christians to
evangelise.
“Even in the midst of the pain and the suffer-
ing the Church is going through, that shouldn’t
stop us from being the Church and that is to be
on mission and draw people closer to Christ,” he
said.
“That is what we are called to do.
“There’s a really joyful expectation looking
forward to Easter.”
FOR two years Emma and Henri Lucas have
been donating fresh loaves of bread to pension-
ers and single parents after Sunday Mass at St
Fabian’s Church, Yeerongpilly.
Their generosity has since yielded the support
of St Vincent de Paul’s St Fabian Conference,
which has been delivering its own bread to the
area for nearly fifteen-years.
“Two years ago, when I was in Year 6 at St
Sebastian’s Yeronga, we asked our local Vinnies
if the leaders of the school could help in their
bread run,” Emma, who is now in Year 8, said.
“This was a way for us to help a charity in our
community.
“Vinnies agreed and this was done every Sun-
day throughout a term in 2017.”
Emma said that Year 5 and 6 students were
able to volunteer with two parents acting as driv-
ers and supervisors.
“I thought this was an excellent way to get to
know and be kind to people I did not know and
help them by giving them some bread to eat,”
she said.
“The people we delivered bread to thanked
us and said they appreciated our generosity and
kindness.
“When Mum asked me to do it again this year
with my brother Henri, I was delighted and keen
to help again.”
Henri is only in Year 4, but he understands
fully the gravity of his work.
“I thought that it was great helping people in
need to get fresh bread, I cannot wait until I do it
again,” he said.
“The bread smells delicious and everyone
seems to be smiling when we arrive.”
St Fabian’s Conference, which is attached to
the parish at Yeerongpilly, now delivers donated
bread to companions in the area on Friday and
Sunday.
Fridays’ deliveries reach people who rent a
single room for up to $200 a week and share
communal facilities to cook, shower and wash
laundry.
About 35 small loaves of bread, or packets of
six bread rolls, are given out on Fridays.
On Sunday, loaves of bread and bags of bread
rolls are available to seventy-five pensioners
(age and disability pensions) plus some single
parents to choose what they need.
– Nicholas Holt
Lucas siblings multiplying loaves of bread for pensioners
Breaking bread: Henri Lucas with his sister Emma ready to hand out bread.
Drawing people closer to Jesus
MORE than five hundred years after her death,
St Rita of Cascia’s guiding light continues to
give hope to abuse survivors.
In partnership with St Vincent de Paul Society
and Centacare, the Brisbane Diocesan Council
has established a new special works conference
named after St Rita of Cascia (the patron saint of
abuse victims) to support women and children
escaping domestic violence.
“Five years ago we started to undertake a
program for assisting women and their children
that have been through domestic violence and
need assistance,” St Rita’s Conference president
Don Gore said. “The St Rita of Cascia Confer-
ence was established to complement the support
program families can access when they move out
of a refuge into Vinnie’s ‘Transitional Assisted
Housing Program’.”
The conference built three townhouses to
will be used for families affected by domestic
violence.
St Rita of Cascia special works conference
would provide sustainable tenancy support for
women and children who have survived domes-
tic violence.
In the past year, women in Queensland lodged
11,000 domestic violence orders – 77 per cent of
the total DVOs in the state.
Mr Gore said that the families would receive
material and pastoral care from members – with
family practitioner and counseling services pro-
vided by Centacare – until they were in position
to move out into the wider community.
“We now need to recruit new conference
members to help us achieve that,” Mr Gore said.
“At the time of signing up for the program, the
conference members would (with the property
manager) ensure that the family has the right
support they require to be able to move into the
property smoothly.” – Nicholas Holt
Saintly cause helping
abuse victims in Brisbane Forging strong links
By Mark Bowling
NINE Timorese war veterans will
stand alongside Australian veterans
during next week’s Anzac Day Mass
in Brisbane’s St Stephen’s Cathe-
dral.
The attendance of Timorese veterans is
becoming a tradition and has an extra poignancy
in 2019 – 20 years after the country’s vote for
independence.
Timor Leste President Francisco Guterres
joined a contingent of veterans visiting Queens-
land in 2017, taking part in Anzac Day com-
memorations in Brisbane, and also visiting
Lavarack Barracks in Townsville.
Close links between Aussie diggers and
Timorese fighters date back to World War Two,
and continued after Timor Leste’s often-brutal
transition to independence.
During the Pacific conflict against the
Japanese, more than 60,000 Timorese perished,
many, as they supported Australian Commandos.
More than 35,000 Australian troops served in
Timor from 1999-2012, and since independence
in 2002, Australia has helped East Timor rebuild
its armed forces, and there is a warm friendship
between the veterans of both nations.
Relations have matured further with ongoing
collaboration of veterans in healing and rehabili-
tation through the SE Queensland-based Veteran
Care Association and its Timor Awakening pro-
gramme, led by former Marist Ashgrove student
Michael Stone.
The Timor Leste delegation to Brisbane this
ANZAC Day will be led by Jorge Alves, a clan-
destine intelligence commander during Timor’s
independence struggle against Indonesia, and
now a leader of his country’s veterans taskforce.
QLD RSL and Veterans Care Association
have supported Timorese veterans in efforts to
form their own returned soldiers league.
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of
Timor-Leste’s UN-supported vote for independ-
ence.
As with previous delegation visits to Queens-
land the visit provides an opportunity for
Timor-Leste veterans and officials to learn from
Australian institutions, communities and initia-
tives that commemorate military history and sup-
port veterans and their families.
They will attend Brisbane’s Anzac Day dawn
service, march in the Anzac parade, and attend
Mass at St Stephen’s Cathedral Mass starting at
8am.
Forging links: Timor Leste president Francisco Guterres greets Brisbane Archbishop Mark Col-
eridge during a 2017 visit to Queensland to strengthen veteran ties and take part in Anzac Day
commemorations.