Welcome to Eureka Street

back to site

Keywords: Father Frank Brennan

  • AUSTRALIA

    Building constitutional bridges: In conversation with Frank Brennan

    • David Halliday
    • 28 June 2024

    It's been eight months since the Voice referendum, and people are starting to grapple with what its defeat means for Australia. There are few voices in Australia as qualified to conduct a postmortem of the outcome of the Voice referendum campaign as Frank Brennan. We examine what lessons can be learned and crucually, whether there’s reason for hope for Indigenous constitutional recognition.

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Frank Brennan on John Molony's Don Luigi Sturzo: The Father of Social Democracy

    • Frank Brennan
    • 26 July 2016
    3 Comments

    John traces the political ascent and descent of Sturzo whose first public office was as mayor of his own town. The chapter headings mark each step up and down the Everest of Italy's experiment with democracy and fascism: the emergence of political Catholicism in Italy; the dream takes shape; democracy without direction; democracy in decline; the search for a leader; the stick and the carrot; the voice of the watchman; and enter the night. Sturzo goes into exile; Mussolini takes over; and the Vatican is well pleased because the Roman Question is finally resolved in 1929 with the Lateran Treaties negotiated by Mussolini and Pope Pius XI, each of whom got what they were looking for.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Speaking for others in the public square

    • Frank Brennan
    • 22 June 2015
    4 Comments

    Walking towards the courthouse, I heard a cry, 'Hey, Father Frank, over here! You've got to support us mob.' I was torn. I was chairing a national consultation at the request of the Commonwealth Government. I did not want to politicise our presence in town.   But then again, I did not want to abandon Ben and his colleagues in their hour of need. They all stood in front of an Aboriginal flag.  Some were crying out for justice for their deceased loved one.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Incompetent dealing with priestly paedophilia

    • Frank Brennan
    • 22 January 2013
    50 Comments

    Bishop Harry Kennedy was not the only one out of his depth in the saga of paedophile priest Fr F; practitioners in law and psychology were found wanting. Other than Kennedy, most of the senior clergy involved appear to have done their job credibly according to the values and practices of the time.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2012: No lowly scapegoats in 'necessary' Royal Commission

    • Moira Rayner
    • 08 January 2013
    14 Comments

    One of the informing moments of my career as a lawyer came from the survivors of a family who disclosed that an authoritarian father had beaten and raped every one of his children — under the very eye of their mother. The Royal Commission isn't about punishing predators. It must find a way to institutionalise the right of every child to be heard. Tuesday 13 November

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    No lowly scapegoats in 'necessary' Royal Commission

    • Moira Rayner
    • 13 November 2012
    58 Comments

    One of the informing moments of my career as a lawyer came from the survivors of a family who disclosed that an authoritarian father had beaten and raped every one of his children — under the very eye of their mother. The Royal Commission isn't about punishing predators. It must find a way to institutionalise the right of every child to be heard.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Child abuse dobbing laws

    • Frank Brennan
    • 24 July 2012
    42 Comments

    Most, if not all priests, would prefer to go to jail than disclose material from confession. The seal of the confessional is a red herring when it comes to protecting children. If confessional reporting were mandatory, chances are that the perpetrator would simply not come to confession.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    What gay parents are worth

    • Frank Brennan
    • 07 June 2012
    135 Comments

    When Joe Hockey said on Q&A that the 'very best circumstances' for a child entailed having 'a mother and a father', Penny Wong, who has a child with her partner Sophie Allouache, replied 'I know what my family is worth.' It was a galvanising moment in the same sex marriage debate, which is not going away.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Aussie priest's theology of the scrub

    • Frank Brennan
    • 09 November 2011
    10 Comments

    I had time to spare, so I grabbed a bite to eat and found a bench in the park opposite the cathedral. I was approached by four young Aboriginal people. I told them I'd come for a funeral: 'You might have known him, Father Mick Hayes?' 'He, that tall grey one? He knew me when I was a little fella.'

    READ MORE
  • INFORMATION

    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.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    The perils of redefining marriage

    • Frank Brennan
    • 24 November 2010
    67 Comments

    Many same sex couples tell us their relationship is identical with marriage. We can ensure non-discrimination against same sex couples while at the same time maintaining a commitment to children's right to be born of and reared by a father and a mother.

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Rethinking indigeneity in the age of globalisation

    • Frank Brennan
    • 01 November 2010
    3 Comments

    There is an emerging Aboriginal middle class. The contested questions in those communities relate to the expensive delivery of services including health, housing and education. The contested issue in the urban community is over self-identification as Aboriginal by persons of mixed descent.

    READ MORE