Writer
Frank Brennan
Frank Brennan AO is a Jesuit priest and Rector of Newman College at the University of Melbourne. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the PM Glynn Institute at Australian Catholic University and an Adjunct Professor at the Thomas More Law School at ACU.
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Frank Brennan. A tribute to the cautious, quirky, humorous, honourable Wayne Goss
Those of us brought up in Queensland owe a lot to Wayne Goss. I first met him when he was instrumental in setting up the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) in Brisbane in 1974. He was the articled clerk. Roisin Hirschfeld was a young social worker at the ALS. They later married and their two children Continue reading »
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Frank Brennan SJ. The genie may be out of the bottle but it is still in the ecclesiastical kitchen.
The Vatican has now released the official English translation of the “relatio synodi”, the concluding document from the Synod of Bishops convened by Pope Francis to consider “pastoral challenges to the family in the context of evangelisation”. (http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2014/10/18/0770/03044.html) In my last post (https://johnmenadue.com/blog/?p=2565), I dealt with an earlier document, the “relation post disceptationem” which was Continue reading »
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Frank Brennan. My tribute to Gough
Gough Whitlam once asked me why there were so many social reformers to emerge from Queensland in the early 1970s. I told him it was simple. We had someone to whom we could react: Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen; and we had someone to inspire us: him. I have written elsewhere about his contribution to Aboriginal Continue reading »
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Frank Brennan SJ. The Vatican Synod has let the genie out of the bottle. Deo Gratias
Let there be no doubt. There is change, and a great deal of uncertainty, in the air in Rome. And it is not just coming from Pope Francis. The Catholic Church retaining some of the attributes of a royal court in its mode of governance provides its senior prelates with every opportunity to emulate the Continue reading »
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Frank Brennan SJ. We think we have a problem!
Eureka Street has run an article by Frank Brennan which highlights the far greater problems that the US has in managing its land border with Mexico. Frank Brennan also reflects on sending refugees to Cambodia, our locking up of children in Immigration detention facilities and the holding of 157 people including over 30 children in Continue reading »
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Frank Brennan SJ. A Jesuit Bicentenary
Everyone knows that we Jesuits have had a rocky history. We were fabulously successful in educating the European elite for quite some time. Things went off the rails badly in the eighteenth century. We lost out to the Vatican Curia over the dispute about accommodating some Confucian and Hindu traditional rites in prayer and liturgy Continue reading »
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Frank Brennan SJ. How the Bishop was forced to resign because he played too much for the local team
I have followed the Bishop Bill Morris saga closely. My one new insight from reading Bill’s book – “Benedict, Me and the Cardinals Three” – is that he was sacked because he was too much a team player with his local church. By sacking their local leader, the Romans hoped to shatter the morale and Continue reading »
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Frank Brennan SJ. Homily for Trinity Sunday with the Royal Commission in town.
On Friday afternoon, I called into the Canberra Magistrates’ Court to watch an hour or two of proceedings at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The court was packed with lawyers. These are shameful times for us Australians as we realise how great has been the problem of child sexual abuse in Continue reading »
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Frank Brennan SJ. Why I am not just “getting over” the boats stopping.
Some people keep saying, “The people have spoken. The Abbott government is right. The boats have stopped. So just get over it.” I am getting a little weary of this populist refrain. I am quite prepared to accept that the majority of Australians want the boats stopped. Then arise the questions: how can this be Continue reading »
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Frank Brennan SJ. Cardinal Pell at the Royal Commission
Last September I addressed the Canon Law Society of Australia and New Zealand on issues the Catholic Church would need to address with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and in the follow-up to the Victorian Parliament’s Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Organisations. I said: Continue reading »
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Towback of boats to Indonesia. Frank Brennan SJ
It is essential that we receive unambiguous public confirmation that Indonesia is agreeing to the tow-back of boats. Unilateral action by the Abbott Government is just not on. It would fracture our relationship with Indonesia, would be counterproductive and contrary to our international legal obligations. All you need do is consider Recommendation 19 of the Continue reading »
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A reflection on Pope Francis’s Exhortation. Guest blogger: Frank Brennan SJ
Pope Francis has published his first and very prolix papal teaching document entitled Evangelii Gaudium (the joy of evangelisation). With a tone of delightful self-mocking he observes, “I am aware that nowadays documents do not arouse the same interest as in the past and that they are quickly forgotten.” On the scale of papal Continue reading »
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Asylum seekers – a regional solution and Bob Carr’s nonsense. Guest blogger: Frank Brennan SJ
This morning Frank Brennan was interviewed by Fran Kelly on ABC Breakfast. See link below to the interview. (John Menadue) http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2013/07/bst_20130702_0821.mp3 Continue reading »
