The Toowoomba Diocese has officially launched the Australian Year of Youth. Secondary students from around the Toowoomba Diocese, came together with Bishop Robert McGuckin, Frs Ray Crowley, Peter Dorfield, Hal Ranger, Jamie Collins and Gonzalo Garcia Duran for a special Mass to mark the beginning of 2018, which Australian Bishops have declared as a year to focus on the importance and life-giving presence of young people in the Church.

Year of Youth Feature starting Page 6

This year marks a decade since the formal apology by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to the Stolen Generations on 13 February 2008. I wasn’t in Toowoomba that day but I understand a good sized crowd gathered at the Empire Church Theatre to view a public screening of the proceedings in Canberra. I’ve see many of the photos and spoken to those who were there and it seems to have been a very powerful moment in our nation’s history. There was a lightness and a real sense of healing for those gathered.

Reflection by Mark Copland page 20

Photo essay by Fr Jamie Collins, documenting the sights between Roma, Injune, Michell, Mungallala, Surat, Wallumbilla and Jackson as he did his Christmas Mass run in 2017.

To put the journey into perspective (travel one way):
Roma to Injune = 90km (about an hour)
Roma to Mitchell, then Mungallala = 88km (about an hour), another 44km (about a half hour)
Roma to Surat = 80km (a little under an hour)
Roma to Wullumbilla, then Jackson = 41km (about half an hour), another 45km (about a half hour)

Feature on page 39