anglican focus

The news site of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland: nourishing and connecting our faith community

Baptism

The Rev'd Dr John Rolley with parishioners baby Anne and her parents Tien and Ross at The Parish of Goondiwindi on Sunday 26 March 2023
The Baru Beat

Godly Goondiwindi gazette

“Other than God’s call to serve in Goondiwindi, one other thing especially attracted me to this parish – the parishioners’ dedication to wider community life. Everyone counts in rural communities. People engage, make things happen, and see needs and action them. Community involvement is central to the local culture and often critical to its survival,” says The Rev’d Dr John Rolley

Features

John the Baptist: Jewish prophet, itinerant preacher and Christian saint

“While John the Baptist’s ascetic life isn’t attainable for a city-dwelling Holy Hermits Online member like myself, I am inspired by his life of simplicity, his call for people to be just and charitable and how his ministry emerged from a period of hermit-like solitude,” says Jeremy Fraser from Holy Hermits Online, as John the Baptist’s feast day approaches

Reflections

“Religion at its best is an expression of something that is deeply embedded in the human person”

“There seems to be an innate spirituality that has its origins in and expresses our essential humanity, which bubbles up when we get in touch with the source of our being. For me this helps to explain why the use of water is to be found in a wide range of religious practices and why buildings like St Paul’s in London, and St John’s here in Brisbane, draw into a prayerful stillness people who claim to have no faith,” says The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt

Reflections

Celebrating the baptism of a palliative care patient

“When I arrived at the patient’s bedside, I found him struggling for breath and on oxygen and yet delighted to see me. I introduced myself, explaining that I was from Pastoral Care. I needed to repeat this for him because N95 fitted masks and shields, along with general ward noise, often make it very hard to communicate these days. He very clearly responded that he was very pleased to see me, stating that he had been waiting a long time for such a conversation – seven years in fact,” says hospital chaplain, The Rev’d Canon Cheryl Selvage

Video

St Bart's Kids team: Carrie's story

“I was introduced to Jesus by my parents from a young age, but when I was 12 I made the decision to be baptised…I think you just live with a great and very different purpose than if you were living for yourself,” says St Bart’s Kids team member Carrie Roberts