Francis Sullivan
Francis John Sullivan AO chairs Concerned Catholics Canberra Goulburn and Jesuit Social Services. He was the former CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council, Catholic Health Australia and the Federal Australian Medical Association.
Francis's recent articles
17 April 2025
Faith and public policy
Easter is as good a time as any to be reminded that Christianity has a contribution in the formulation of public policy.
16 April 2024
Pope Francis has abandoned transgender Catholics
In a recent official Declaration on Human Dignity, Dignitas Infinita, the Pope has endorsed a document that effectively outlaws sex change for transgender Catholics. The Declaration is both harsh and unrelenting in its tone, dismissive of new science and judgemental of those Catholics who in good faith make life choices contrary to the edicts of the Church. Nothing new here, but just another slap in the face for people who seek to live their God given lives as authentically and honestly as possible.
23 December 2023
Transcendence: Searching for light amidst horrors in Ukraine and Gaza
Is there any light in the Christian message in the face of the horrors in the Ukraine and Gaza? Apart from wishing peace on Earth does Christian belief actually change anything?
26 January 2023
Albanese Government makes good start for the dispossessed, but much more to be done
In 1996 Paul Keating said, when you change the Government, you change the country.
12 January 2023
George Pells death symbolises the demise of a church out of touch and out of time
Pell was an ideological warrior that resisted the changes of liberal society and its tolerance for diversity and individualism.
15 December 2022
30 years on, Keatings Redfern speech demands we back the Voice: Watch it here
On the 30th anniversary of former Prime Minister Paul Keating's historic Redfern Speech, First Nations Australians are still waiting for the vision it articulated to be realised.
9 December 2022
Why is the Catholic Church still investigating itself?
For those still interested, the erosion of episcopal authority from the clerical sex abuse scandal continues at pace.
27 March 2022
What can the under-privileged hope for in the budget...not much?
In a civilized country, where we pride ourselves on a fair go for all, a very significant part of our community is missing out.
9 October 2021
Plenary Council: The Church needs to change with the times
The Catholic Church needs a renaissance to be effective in its mission, as the Plenary Council faces the challenges of an evolving, complex world.
7 October 2021
The dark shadow of scandal still lurks four years after the Royal Commission findings
Unless all the implications of the sex abuse scandal are faced head-on, the Church will struggle to be identified for anything else.
6 October 2021
Plenary Council: Time to test the full range of issues facing the church not just in Australia but France.
The rubber has hit the road at the Plenary Council, but there are still nine months to go before resolution.
4 January 2021
Vale Bishop Geoffrey Robinson
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson died on 29 December 2020 aged 83. In this subdued time of Christmas and New Year celebrations, the sombre news of his passing seems quite apposite. He was a talented, sensitive man who cherished his priestly vocation.
12 August 2020
Endemic secrecy in the Catholic Church
Throughout the child sexual abuse Royal Commission the inquirers regularly asked why institutions not only tolerated child abusers but actively concealed their crimes. Secrecy was endemic in the culture of these institutions.
10 June 2020
The Light From the Southern Cross. A Report on Catholic Church Governance
The Church culture of the past is still the culture we have today. And that is fundamentally what the Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) had to confront. How to navigate the realpolitik of the Catholic Church. No mean task for a group set up without any institutional clout or effective prominence.