Brisbane news

‘It has not stopped raining for weeks - torrential rain every day,’ is the word from the Revd Linda Kologaras sixty miles north of Brisbane, but she is in a much better place than many others across Queensland.

Linda was a member of St Michael’s and was ordained to serve as a Non-Stipendiary Minister here in the 1990s. She moved into stipendiary ministry first as a Curate in Immingham and the as the Rector of a parish in Australia. She is now in retirement helping out in the parish of Cooroora. We sent her a message when a member of the congregation here was concerned about how she might be being affected by the floods, and she has e-mailed a reply earlier this week.

Thank you for your concern re-floods. It started many weeks ago about the end of November. Unusual amounts of rain coming from the monsoon in the Northern Territory. For some reason the monsoon came further south which has affected us all over the past weeks - soaking the ground and filling the dams to capacity.

We live on the Sunshine Coast near Noosa - 100ks north of Brisbane. It has not stopped raining for weeks - torrential rain everyday and causing wide spread flooding. Fortunately we built our house very high up and, although we have had times when we were a bit worried it would rise and cause problems, it hasn’t come into the house.

We are so much better off than so many people throughout the state who have lost their lives, their animals, their property, everything. It really is devastating. Please keep us all in your prayers as its not over yet as the floods head for Brisbane itself.

I have been helping out in our parish (four churches) especially since our Priest in Charge has been very ill and then away on holidays to recover. I enjoy keeping my hand in and being part of the community. I would like to do more but I still get quite tired and Alex makes sure I dont overdo things. Give my very best wishes to everyone at St. Michael`s

I’ve just looked at the parish website (http://www.cooroora.com/) and see that periodic flooding is not the only weather danger they face - there are historic pictures of the churches ‘blown off their stumps’ by hurricanes. Among other things, I also notice that the parish has an imaginative project offering rowing training and experience to disadvantaged teenagers.

The picture is another left over from my Retreat last year.