Keywords: Sexual Abuse Crisis
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RELIGION
- Bruce Duncan
- 14 November 2024
The Synod is possibly the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council. And despite its focus on internal Church reform and participation, can it effectively address broader social and moral issues in the world while still promoting a more inclusive and accountable Church?
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AUSTRALIA
- Smeeta Singh
- 06 September 2024
Australia is quietly confronting a national crisis: one in every four Australian children has been a victim of child sexual abuse, but you would never guess the scale of this crisis, given the lack of urgency from our national discourse.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Eddie Hampson
- 08 August 2024
Blanche DuBois is a character defined by her fragility, and her descent into madness is a harrowing testament to the pressures of a society that offers little mercy to women. But when Blanche is portrayed as a figure of power and defiance, she lacks the vulnerability of her predecessors and the logic of her descent into ‘madness’ isn’t as clean-cut.
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RELIGION
- John Warhurst
- 29 May 2024
We are now witnessing a changed dynamic within the movement for church reform. The balance within its component parts has changed towards a more pessimistic view. A minority is still hopeful; a few even remain optimistic, but most are struggling.
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AUSTRALIA
- James Massola
- 14 July 2023
5 Comments
Catherine Holmes' Royal Commission report exposes the staggering mismanagement and human cost of Australia's Robodebt scandal. The scheme burdened over 500,000 Australians with non-existent debts and is linked to at least three suicides. This report unravels the culture behind the disaster and the potential repercussions ahead.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Peter Craven
- 14 June 2023
Ian McEwan's Lessons marked a sharp twist in a five-decade literary career, and presents an opportunity to reflect on his expansive body of work. The one-time literary rogue and Booker laureate now stands as the unquestioned doyen of modern English fiction, his audacious work perpetually navigating undercurrents of unease.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Tim Kroenert
- 20 April 2023
2 Comments
For Father Bob, being a priest entails getting his hands dirty, giving everything of himself, and doing what he thinks is right, even if doing so upsets power structures; especially if it upsets power structures, if they have contributed to the plight of the downtrodden. (From 2013)
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RELIGION
- David Halliday
- 17 March 2023
8 Comments
Over 17,000 women worldwide have called for Church reform in a newly published survey by Catholic Women Speak Network. Respondents from 104 countries expressed dissatisfaction with a lack of transparency in governance and voiced the need to be seen, heard and valued.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Justin Glyn
- 08 February 2023
4 Comments
Despite the revelations of abuse by its founder Jean Vanier, the communities of L'Arche have remained intact and welcoming with safety protocols in place. The challenge for L'Arche has been in transcending its founder and facing a painful process of re-evaluation, with the aim of living an ethos of equality and inclusivity.
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RELIGION
- Michael McVeigh
- 17 January 2023
11 Comments
The two Catholic leaders who passed away this summer both lived in the public spotlight for much of their lives, but they also each lived a private life of which we only ever gained glimpses. Those of us who didn’t know them tend to fill in the details based on which aspects of their public persona best align with our own attitudes.
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RELIGION
- Miles Pattenden
- 12 January 2023
Many Catholics will have found the news from Germany this past week painful. A law firm, Westpfahl Spilker Wastl, has presented findings in its investigation into historic sexual abuse in the Munich archdiocese. Running to 1,000 pages, the report is shocking: it lists at least 497 victims for the period 1945–2019 and identifies 235 probable offenders including 173 priests and nine deacons.
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AUSTRALIA
- Juliette Hughes, Kathy Chambers
- 05 January 2023
With very little public debate or consultation, Victoria has repealed almost all laws relating to prostitution. Alone among all recreational activities, sex for payment is now unrestricted, even regarding health and safety. If we really care what happens to people, what place does sex work have in our society?
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