Letters

11 September 2011

You can send your letters to letters@eurekastreet.com.au

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Bill Morris and the 'haemorrhaging' Church
- Pat Power
- 28 October 2011
40 Comments
As a close friend I have been aware for a number of years of his problems with the Holy See. I admired how he tried to have an honest conversation with Vatican officials and finally with the Pope himself. I do not believe he always felt there was genuine reciprocity in the dialogue.
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University truth
- Paul Beirne
- 13 September 2011
2 Comments
'Melbourne College of Divinity's application to become a specialised 'university of divinity' followed a four-year process that was thorough, comprehensive, consultative and detailed. It was by no means 'an act of faith'.' Paul Beirne, Dean of MCD, responds to Neil Ormerod's article 'Future bites for theological colleges'
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Frank Brennan responds to Paul Keating
- Frank Brennan
- 02 June 2011
1 Comment
I will happily commend Labor and the Greens should they follow Keating's challenge to further improve the native title package passed by the Howard Government. I don't claim any divine guidance for this. It's called politics.
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Former state governor derides Good Friday football
- James Gobbo
- 03 April 2011
9 Comments
The proposal that a match at the MCG could project an Easter message is ludicrous. The Easter message calls for time and prayerful reflection. Even Islamic and Jewish leaders have supported the special status of Good Friday.
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Refugee persecution is stupid
- June Factor
- 18 March 2011
8 Comments
A Sydney Morning Herald editorial 71 years ago declared that to persecute refugees 'is stupid from the purely practical point of view'. The practical and humanitarian reasons it outlines for welcoming refugees remain relevant today.
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Jenny Macklin to Frank Brennan
- Jenny Macklin
- 17 March 2011
18 Comments
Dear Father Brennan, I do not accept the way you have characterised the Government's actions in relation to the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and the Intervention, and am concerned that your article could mislead people into considering that the Government's measures in the NT are discriminatory.
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Aid argument not 'anti-Catholic'
- Gary Johns
- 15 October 2010
My article is not against the 'ethical and values-based mission of the Catholic Church'. Unfortunately, there is not and never will be aid enough for all. Also, unfortunately, some aid will be misspent, and some will be spent on projects that do no good.
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Defending Abbott and Santamaria
- Gerard Henderson
- 17 August 2010
8 Comments
How times change. Early in the 20th Century, it was Protestant Orangemen who warned Australians not to vote for a Catholic. In the early 21 Century, such warnings are now delivered by a former Catholic priest in a publication of the Jesuit Order. –Gerard Henderson, The Sydney Institute
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Disagreeing with Gerard Henderson
- Bruce Duncan
- 12 March 2010
1 Comment
Dr Henderson does Maritain a grave injustice in so cavalierly dismissing him as favouring the 'you-beaut idea to advocate Catholic/communist dialogue'. Maritain was strongly opposed to communist ideology, but he also recognised it contained positive elements, some of which he said were drawn with the Gospels.
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Santamaria and the bishops in politics
- Gerard Henderson
- 11 March 2010
2 Comments
Towards the end of his life, the French philosopher Jacques Maritan thought it was a you-beaut idea to advocate Catholic/communist dialogue between the Vatican and Stalin's heirs in Moscow. Santamaria made mistakes, yet on the issue of Soviet totalitarianism he was smarter than Maritan.
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Helping Frank Brennan
- Jim Wallace
- 02 February 2010
5 Comments
The Australian Christian Lobby never claims to represent the views of all Christians any more than the Greens represent the views of all tree-lovers or Fr Brennan represents the views of all Catholics — just ask Cardinal Pell!
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Lessons from the Parliament of the World's Religions
- Herman Roborgh
- 05 January 2010
2 Comments
Other religions need not be a threat. As the Dalai Lama said, the problems facing the world are related to the ego and the emotions. And all the religious traditions of the world provide a path to confront one's selfishness and emotional struggles.
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Malcolm Turnbull's blinding clarity
- John Ryan
- 30 November 2009
2 Comments
Turnbull has forced his party to see thereis no way forward without serious internal reform. Maybe he will not beable to lead them on, but while lesser members seem blinded byseemingly irrational caution, Turnbull has called the game with ablinding clarity.
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Towards a national conversation about marriage
- Mick Mac Andrew
- 26 November 2009
3 Comments
I cannot accept that marriage is only about the recognition of people who love, however deeply, one another. The Commonwealth Government should instigate a genuine information campaign about marriage and allow all opinions to be tested against a rigorous criteria.
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Bringing theology home to the academy
- Gerard Goldman and Terry Lovat
- 24 November 2009
It has been suggested, but surely not seriously, that the public university’s prime motive in including theology among its disciplines might be around financial benefit.
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CPRS a vital lever
- Damien Quinnell
- 19 November 2009
Right now, Australian’s elected politicians will decide our fate when they vote on one of the most important pieces of legislation to come before the Federal parliament in recent history. All of us will be directly affected by what is about to happen when the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is re-introduced into Federal Parliament.
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Obama's 'Not Bush' Nobel not good
- Michael Brull
- 27 October 2009
4 Comments
Everyone progressive, liberal and leftwards breathed a sigh of relief at the end of two long Bush Administrations. I too share the hope for change from the Bush era. Sadly, Obama's not the change we're looking for.
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In defence of people smugglers
- Chris Bisset
- 15 October 2009
4 Comments
Kevin Rudd calls them the 'vilest form of people on the planet'. How dare these impoverished, yet slightly entrepreneurial fishermen let their social consciousness blind them from considering the interests of white Australians?
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We’re not racist, we're just havin' a larf!
- Meaghan Paul
- 09 October 2009
10 Comments
I applaud Harry Connick Jr for pointing out the error in our Australian way of thinking. Laughing at someone else's expense is not harmless.
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Latin Mass correction
- James McCarthy
- 10 September 2009
1 Comment
Andrew Hamilton's article 'Disunity in the Year of the Priest' alleges that three unnamed priests of the Sydney Archdiocese said their first Mass in Latin. Fr Hamilton clarifies his point and accepts responsibility for a factual error.
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In defense of Catholic schools
- Stephen Elder
- 25 August 2009
1 Comment
The misguided claims made by Ross Fitzgerald in a recent article in Eureka Street, How Catholic schools are failing the poor, cannot go unanswered.
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Catholic schools save governments money
- Dan White
- 24 August 2009
2 Comments
Ross Fitzgerald claims Catholic schools 'have become the instrument through which tax dollars are siphoned off public schools and given to the private sector'. His argument is a misrepresentation of the facts.
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The Sydney Institute favours neither side of politics
- Gerard Henderson
- 07 August 2009
12 Comments
Sarah Burnside asserted in Eureka Street that 'conservatives can draw on a plethora of high-profile think-tanks, including The Sydney Institute, to research and enunciate their ideas'. This is false. The Institute is a forum for debate and discussion and does not do research for any organisation or political party.
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Outrage over Aboriginal 'cooked alive' doco
- Brian Haill
- 18 June 2009
3 Comments
Was I the only Australian sufficiently outraged by the latest ABCTV 4 Corners program, 'Who Killed Mr Ward?', to put pen to paper? Too often white Australians' animals fare better than do Indigenous people. We are a racist nation.
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Students victims of 'violent' policies
- Andrew McGowan
- 16 June 2009
When our universities enrol international students based on balance-sheet needs rather than strategies of international partnership and engagement, a whole branch of education policy is revealed as bankrupt.
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Swine Flu: The Musical
- Brian Haill
- 03 June 2009
3 Comments
Victoria, with its spate of swine flu cases, is no longer 'The place to be'. Prudence is one thing, but absurdity also needs to be recognised. Exhibit A: Archbishop Hart's instruction to priests not to offer chalices of wine during Communion.
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Fable of the furtive veteran
- Mick O’Donnell
- 24 April 2009
1 Comment
There he was, this hunched over figure of a man, sitting in one of the furthermost pews, detached, eyes withdrawn, his face pale, features old and weather beaten. John O'Malley was always a mystery.
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Why I hate the Church I love
- Bill Farrelly
- 10 March 2009
11 Comments
How can the Catholic Church possibly justify the excommunication of the mother of a nine-year-old girl in Brazil for authorising the abortion of twin girls her daughter was carrying as the result of being raped by her stepfather?
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Jason's story
- Rob Salter
- 03 March 2009
4 Comments
The $3 billion blowout in Federal Government spending on disability pensions highlights the financial side of a crisis in our midst. The story of Jason, a relative of mine who is an addict and on a disability pension, reveals a personal side.
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St Mary's 'beyond compromise'
- Greg Windle
- 23 February 2009
7 Comments
While it is tragic that the Church has refused to countenance ongoing discussion about homosexuality, women priests, and a host of other issues, neither can I see how the stance taken by St Mary's on these and other matters can advance the causes of religion or reason.
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No justice for St Mary's
- Justin Coleman
- 20 February 2009
18 Comments
The Archbishop has relied upon the evidence of those whom you rightly alluded to as 'spies'. The parish reply was not 'We will defy you' but 'Your information is flawed. Please come and see for yourself.' Do club members have to accept every idea of every coach who is thrust upon them?
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The Pope: first among equals
- Andrew McAlister
- 05 February 2009
During Vatican II, which was first called 30 years ago last month, the pastoral leadership of the church attempted to bring Roman Catholicism into the 20th century. Why did the notion of a supreme Pontiff survive?
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The father of my soul
- Joanna Thyer
- 23 December 2008
2 Comments
Always on for a challenge, one of the first things Brian said to me that day was 'Who's your favourite character in the Bible?' and then 'We need women priests.'
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'They've never faced an angry man'
- Phil Pyke
- 19 December 2008
2 Comments
This was a known criminal with a history of violence. I drew my weapon, and yelled at him to get down on the ground. He ignored me, raised his arm, and possibly the weapon. Everything went into slow motion as I began to pull the trigger. I've often wondered what would have happened if I had shot him.
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Life of Brian, AIDS activist
- Brian Haill
- 01 December 2008
It's close on a quarter of a century ago that I first became enmeshed in the world of HIV/AIDS. I found myself labelled an 'activist', catapulted into confronting my church over its attitude to condoms. Last week saw a return to the beginning.
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