Keywords: Australian Jesuit
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Andrew Hamilton
- 11 November 2022
3 Comments
In Justice in Kelly Country, author Lachlan Strahan writes on the life of his great-great-grandfather, a policeman whose career stretched over thirty years. When a significant part of that story is intermeshed with such a fiercely contested story as Ned Kelly’s, telling it introduces the further complexities of the writer’s sympathies and judgments.
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AUSTRALIA
- Julian Butler
- 08 November 2022
3 Comments
In the midst of the spring racing carnival, online betting companies have been told their advertising will next year need to include warnings about the risk of gambling. The new requirements fall well short of regulation that might meaningfully curb what is become a social norm and cultural marker for many.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Michael McVeigh
- 28 October 2022
1 Comment
A large part of ending violence against women and children is about convincing men that there’s a more healthy way to live; that there’s a society in which they can feel comfortable in themselves, pursue their dreams, and find love and comfort with others, and feel respected for who they are.
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AUSTRALIA
- Julian Butler
- 18 October 2022
It might be a bit stale and trite to say so, but Australians do a good job of being at their best in a natural crisis. Solidarity is experienced in a way absent from much of our common conversation. Why is that?
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 10 October 2022
8 Comments
Two weeks ago, Bishop Hilton Deakin died. My memories of him are inextricably tied to the Mass he celebrated in 1999 at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, certainly the most emotionally charged event that I have seen there, following the violence orchestrated by the Indonesian military following the Referendum on Independence in East Timor. During the struggle for Independence, many East Timorese had joined the Catholic Church.
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AUSTRALIA
- Julian Butler
- 06 October 2022
4 Comments
There is no popular groundswell for constitutional change in the direction of a republic just at this moment. The parliamentary recess, the proclamation by the Governor General of our fealty to the new King, and the public holiday were all a bit embarrassing. The parade being over, we can go back to gawking at the Royal Family much like Americans do. The question of what monarchy means for us feels best left alone for a while.
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael McVeigh
- 30 September 2022
Too often our society’s approach, and our Church’s approach, to First Nations people is to judge, to destroy, and to impose. But there’s a different logic that sees any encounter between cultures as a gift. That logic seeks understanding rather than offering judgement; it looks for mutual growth rather than destruction; and it gives each person autonomy in choosing their own path forward.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 29 September 2022
8 Comments
Recently many people have expressed disquiet about the trend to authoritarian rule throughout the world. They have good reason for doing so. In the world we are entering, the freedom of citizens in the State depends on the will of Governments that will have no enforceable obstacle to withdrawing such freedoms on suspicion of future misconduct and not just for punishment of past, proven misconduct.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 21 September 2022
1 Comment
July marked the tenth anniversary since offshore refugee processing was introduced in Australia, a step that marked a change in Australian policy from an uneasy balance between respect for people in need and the pressure to deter further arrivals. The principle of deterrence is deeply corrupting because it is based on the conviction that it is acceptable to punish one group of people in order to deter others.
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AUSTRALIA
- Julian Butler
- 13 September 2022
1 Comment
Those who suggest that gatherings like the Jobs Summit are not worth the time overlook the possibility of long-term solutions being found through people coming together and talking. Much of the talking was done, of course, prior to the Jobs Summit. But the date in the diary focusses the mind; preparatory conversations start to refine a common understanding of what is being sought, and maybe even why.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 06 September 2022
3 Comments
The policy of the Labor Government can be described as steady as she goes. This does not mean that it will simply follow the policies of the previous government. Its reading is that the ship of state has been becalmed, responding haphazardly to the political winds with no sense of direction or destination. It had become the ship of fools. The new Government then has committed itself to show that there are captain on board and a competent, disciplined crew that can work together.
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AUSTRALIA
- Julian Butler
- 29 August 2022
The absence of trust undermines our ability to meet basic human need, to feel supported, to share resources and to effectively divide responsibilities. Mistrust imposes its own ‘price’ on every ‘transaction’, every engagement with others becomes more costly as we need to account for the perceived insincerity and unreliability of others.
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