Welcome to Eureka Street

back to site

Keywords: Julian Butler

  • INTERNATIONAL

    The end of politics as usual

    • Julian Butler
    • 11 November 2024

    As Americans confront the start of a second Trump presidency, the questions go deeper than policy. This victory, far from an anomaly, reflects deeper fractures and discontent in a polarized nation. How can a society move forward when politics seem unable to address, let alone heal, its divisions?

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    The US election will be won by the candidate with the strongest story

    • Julian Butler
    • 07 October 2024

    As the US election approaches, the focus has shifted from personal narratives to policy positions and voter strategies. Candidates like Trump and Harris have crafted compelling stories, but voters now seek clarity on the issues. With much of the debate settled, the question remains: how will these stories shape the outcome?

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Gerry O'Collins: Seeking the good, true and beautiful

    • Julian Butler
    • 26 August 2024

    Gerry had a wonderful way of making people feel welcome. He wanted to see people at their best and his company allowed others to be so. Gerry’s life was peopled by some of the most significant figures in the global Church, and in political and cultural society more broadly, but he wore those connections lightly. 

    READ MORE
  • INTERNATIONAL

    Violence and virtue in an age of monsters

    • Julian Butler
    • 22 July 2024

    Trump's public persona, controversial as it may be, does not in any way justify or diminish the severity of such violence. However, we must also recognize that there exists a broader culture of violence to which individuals can simultaneously contribute and fall victim. 

    READ MORE
  • 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
  • RELIGION

    When does news become a distraction?

    • Julian Butler
    • 17 June 2024

    There's a fine line between consuming news as a numbing distraction, and engaging with news that reminds me of human community. Even with the best of intentions to be informed and engaged, too often I find myself if not despairing, then at least lost in the volume. 

    READ MORE
  • RELIGION

    Does Vatican II offer a blueprint for political healing?

    • Julian Butler
    • 15 May 2024

    Next year marks the 60th anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council. What lessons might our contemporary democratic community take from the Church over that period that might that help our common conversation? 

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Tunes, tales and true connections

    • Julian Butler
    • 02 April 2024

    There is beauty in returning to places that experience has made so full of memory that they have become layered with meaning. Just as there is in hearing music that you have listened to at different moments of your life, and that is filled with meaning, not just for you, but even moreso for the artist standing before you and in myriad different ways for the audience with you. 

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    The Rainbow and the Blue

    • Julian Butler
    • 04 March 2024
    2 Comments

    Having first marched with the Mardi Gras Parade in 1998, the NSW Police will march this year, albeit out of uniform. This decision comes amidst community distress following a tragic double homicide, sparking calls for the police's absence. However, those seeking to keep the police out of Mardi Gras may have missed the complexity of this case and the more nuanced status of identities in our contemporary context.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    40 Days: Community

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 20 February 2024

    In an individualistic culture, Lent could be seen as an individual practice of self-betterment. Historically, however, it was a communal activity designed to make the community more attentive and aware of those around them and of their world.

    READ MORE
  • AUSTRALIA

    Lessons from the referendum

    • Frank Brennan
    • 07 February 2024
    12 Comments

    The referendum result was a disaster for the country and a tragedy for First Australians and there has been little appetite for public discussion about lessons to be learnt from this abject failure. If we are to move forward, it’s time to begin the conversation about past mistakes.

    READ MORE
  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Reading the places we know

    • Julian Butler
    • 29 January 2024
    2 Comments

    In fiction, place often feels secondary. But when place comes alive in writing, it is a delight. When it’s a place that has shaped you, or continues to shape you, then your own mythology expands.

    READ MORE