Keywords: World Youth Day
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AUSTRALIA
- Juliette Hughes
- 21 June 2024
Most soldiers don’t like to talk about what they’ve been through, the things they’ve had to see; the things they’ve had to do. Uncle George was more willing to talk as he got older and more willing to be coaxed by a crowd of adoring nieces. But there were some things he'd never say. And the war never went away from him.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Geraldine Doogue
- 18 June 2024
I wonder how many Australians were captivated, as was I, by the 80th anniversary D-Day celebrations? They seemed epochal to me: a reminder of something remarkable and a pointer to something possible, namely new resolve to maintain peace in Europe. Not too many Australians, as it turned out, were similarly mesmerised.
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AUSTRALIA
- Julian Butler
- 28 August 2023
In public discourse, personal experiences can become overshadowed by generalised media narratives. Pope Francis' 'off-script' moments at World Youth Day became illustrative of the disparity between media portrayals and a closer, more participatory view. Can we become open to a tension in perspectives?
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Andrew Hamilton
- 27 May 2021
27 Comments
A wry satisfaction to be enjoyed in reading histories of events of your youth is that it uncovers your prejudices at that time. It reassures you that you have grown wiser but also makes you wonder whether your present attitudes will need revisiting. Save Our Sons, Carolyn Collins’ detailed and even-handed study of women’s campaign against conscription during the Vietnam War, offered such pleasures.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 14 March 2018
16 Comments
At the heart of Pythagoras' contribution was wonder at a world in which human intelligence could understand and handle such different phenomena as music, architecture and the stars through mathematics. The cult of numbers in a cruder form remains characteristic of public life today. The most revered numbers are economic.
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AUSTRALIA
I was 14 years old and angry. My mind was fertile ground for an extremist ideology, like today's IS recruits. One day I met 30 year old Mal, whose chosen brand of neo-Nazi whackery presented a simplistic view of the world. Through my own experience, and my ongoing work with troubled youth, I shudder when I hear politicians talk of their commitment to national security yet at the same time defund community programs working with marginalised young people.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 01 August 2013
31 Comments
Both Francis and Benedict emphasise Christian faith in the Catholic Church as the privileged way of finding meaning in life. But where Benedict might picture the Church as a treasury of all the beliefs, relationships, liturgical details and traditions, Francis might imagine it as like a dispensary from which health workers go out to share their life saving medicines.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 25 August 2011
21 Comments
On Sunday a Gospel story, prison, World Youth Day and a petition to the Australian Bishops calling for renewal in the Church converged in a surprising way. It is daunting to ask others what they think of you, and also to listen to what they say.
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RELIGION
- Bruce Duncan
- 02 October 2008
15 Comments
There is tension in the churches between those focused on piety and those engaged with social justice. Benedict's document on globalisation will presumably stress that concern for social justice is essential to the Church's mission.
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Mullins
- 21 July 2008
20 Comments
It's hard to think of anybody who would not have welcomed Pope Benedict's apology for sexual abuse. By contrast,
nobody could have been pleased to hear an exasperated
Bishop Anthony Fisher refer last week to those 'dwelling crankily
... on old wounds'.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 21 July 2008
11 Comments
Media coverage before a big event, be it World Youth Day or the Beijing Olympics, always focuses on defects and ideological conflict. Controversies regarding state funding and anti-annoyance laws aside, the young people celebrated WYD in their own way.
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RELIGION
- Carmel Pilcher
- 18 July 2008
17 Comments
The organisers of the WYD opening mass did not attempt to integrate Australian elements into the mass, but included them as added extras. The ritual structure of the mass requires creativity to make it connect with different audiences.
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