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In Australia it would beggar belief to see elderly nuns directing garden hoses against the fires that threaten their convents. But that is what happened last week in Greece. Australia and Greece resemble each other in many ways, but not in the way they cope with fire.
The Black Saturday bushfires had the same relationship to previous fires as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima did to other bombing raids. Defects of communication and organisation, while regrettable and costly, were irrelevant: there's no assured safety for those who live near bushland.
There were many mistakes made on Black Saturday and the Interim Report of the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission points them out. For now the commissioners avoid the 'bigger fire questions', but in the end these will have to be faced.
Last week a Supreme Court judge gave a sensible decision regarding the case of a quadriplegic man who wants his carers to discontinue feeding him. 'Right to life' and 'right to die' advocates have had a field day. You'd think they had not read the judgment.
A religious purpose is at the heart of Catholic Social Services. Because of this purpose, organisations need to be able to recruit people who support the social mission of the Church, and whose conduct will not compromise or undermine the witness of the Church.
Victoria's Equal Opportunity Act allows religious and quasi-religious groups and individuals to 'discriminate' lawfully. It's hard to see the relevance of the beliefs or lifestyle of a cleaner or clerk in an independent, para-religious school.
Five generations ago, rural Irish migrants built and paid for St Brigid's church at Crossley in south-west Victoria. Today, the people of Crossley and Killarney are fighting to save the gathering place from private ownership.
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.
It's frightening how precisely experts predicted the weather and its impact on the seemingly inevitable Black Saturday fires. A new documentary questions the adequacy of the response, given the veracity of these warning signs.
An American priest reportedly claimed that swine flu was God's punishment for sin. The idea that God might use natural disasters to punish people is repugnant. But at first glance the Scriptures do seem to represent God as doing just that.
The Victorian bushfires forced people to think about the costs and values associated with living in the bush. The financial meltdown will in turn make us consider our care for the needy, and how, and indeed whether, we must pay for it.
The Victorian bushfires occurred during a time of financial uncertainty, but Australians gave their money generously. It was as if they were consciously and calculatingly investing their funds in the solidarity of the community.
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