Religion and Faith
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Slowing “the roaring river of violence”
‘Avulsion’ refers to river science and how a number of little incidents can slow the river’s flow and, over time, cause the river to go in a different direction – a fallen tree, for example, that slows down the river’s flow, causing further deposits until the resistance to flow leads to change. If enough of Continue reading »
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Palestinians are not terrorists
Australia supports, indeed resources, Ukrainian armed resistance to Russia’s invasion and its attempt to forcibly exert its sovereignty over Ukrainian soil. Very few Australians appear to find fault with this position. For what reason is Israel’s provocative and continuing colonisation of Palestine not seen in the same light? Continue reading »
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The sin of Robodebt
What appears to be absent from the politicians and public servants appearing in the Robodebt Royal Commission is an understanding that it was a moral failure – a sin. Finding the sinners to punish in atonement might make us feel better for a moment, but it might not fix the sin. Continue reading »
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An open call for genocide in Palestine
Some might think that state genocide is a new phenomenon in Israeli occupied Palestine. I can assure you that this is the very essence of Zionism. The point was, and still is, to occupy the land, get rid of the people by any and every means, and change the topography and the demography of Palestine Continue reading »
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Ha’aretz: Israel is now a “formal, full-fledged apartheid regime”
Following yet another Israeli Settler killing spree and the “annexation of the West Bank”, Israel is now a “formal, full-fledged apartheid regime”, writes leading Isreali newspaper Ha’aretz. Continue reading »
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The one hope for peace in the West Bank
Last Thursday, the Australian government condemned Israel for planting more settlements on the occupied West Bank: 10,000 extra units. It’s a big step to criticise Israel because in Australia its organised friends are a powerful lobby. But this was a huge breach of international law. And, as Penny Wong pointed out, a deliberate blow to Continue reading »
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When will it ever end?
Every time we Palestinians, despite all the compromises we offer, try to gain a modicum of justice we find not only is it denied to us, but that we are the ones to blame for this lack of progress for a peaceful co-existence with our occupiers. Continue reading »
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How can this be happening?
The first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine approaches. No direct dialogue has yet been established between the warring parties. Just more hostility. More weapons, always more weapons and therefore more dead people. Continue reading »
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Lessons from the earthquake disasters in Turkey and Syria
At personal, national and international levels, crises provide learning opportunities. How to adapt to loss by seeking change, how to think differently about family, community and nation by, among other things, pondering the meaning of security and sovereignty. Continue reading »
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Australia: peacemaker or warmonger?
What role is Australia playing in the diplomacy that ultimately will end the Ukraine conflict and prevent war over Taiwan? Even the most hawkish cannot seriously believe such conflicts will end militarily. Continue reading »
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Netanyahu’s collective punishment of Palestinians
Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-right government’s reported response to the “terrorism” of the Palestinian who killed seven people at a synagogue in east Jerusalem on 27 January 2023 includes the likely collective punishment of the family of the attacker, such as loss of citizenship, house demolition and deportation. Continue reading »
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Is it really about international religious freedom?
Many well meaning participants genuinely opposed to religious oppression at the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit this week in Washington will not realise that they are pawns in a US State Department geopolitical game. Continue reading »
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Opus Dei: A Catholic sect
Opus Dei is a sect. Its spirituality doesn’t free the spirit, but enslaves it. Continue reading »
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Occupation: are we indifferent to the cruelty imposed on Palestinians?
The actions of Israeli Defence Force troops last Wednesday — entering the Jenin refugee camp and killing nine Palestinians — seemed inexplicable from the brief reports I heard on the ABC and SBS. Continue reading »
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Pell’s legacy haunts Australia’s Catholic bishops
But truth can set them free. Continue reading »
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George Pell: Enigma variations or the real thing?
While opinion leaders, politicians and believers seek to package George Pell in words or in the crypt of St Mary’s Basilica I am interested in some unpacking, using two prys. Two questions. Continue reading »
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26 January echoes with ‘torment’ of First Nation peoples’ ‘powerlessness’
To assist the healing of our history, it is essential that Australia Day be some other day than 26 January. Continue reading »
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Fear to criticise Israel fosters racism and apartheid
An extremist Israeli government insists that apartheid policies will be permanent, that the 2022 slaughter of Palestinians will be repeated, that settler stealing and violence will be ignored and international law derided. In these circumstances, surely no Australian citizen, let alone a politician, could justify such policies? Continue reading »
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‘The bell tolls for Pell and the church I knew’
As some gather to honour the passing of Cardinal George Pell, I lament what the Church has become under clerics like him. When I was a priest (1975-1980), the Church had a credible voice, and priests were respected as pastoral leaders. With some hope for the future, my feelings lately are of sadness. Continue reading »
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George Pell: the Faith vs the Institution
Cardinal George Pell’s vision of a church beyond criticism, its edicts to be slavishly followed, and governed almost exclusively by elderly men sits very uncomfortably with Christ’s proclamation of the Kingdom of God and our contemporary world. Continue reading »
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The Pell memorandum must be confronted
We’ve all had far too much George Pell lately, but his so-called “Memorandum” on Pope Francis’ papacy is about much more than the present papacy and needs to be confronted. Continue reading »
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“Inspired by love and anger”: Oil CEO heads UNCOP28
Perceptions aren’t everything but they can be very powerful. On the face of it, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) appointment of an oil company chief as the next President for the UNCOP28 is not a good look. That’s putting it mildly! There has, in fact, been much colourful criticism. “This appointment goes beyond putting the Continue reading »
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George Pell leaves a diminished church, to successors hardly better
George Pell was, by temperament and personality, about the worst possible choice to be made a bishop, then an archbishop, and ultimately a cardinal — one of the inner circle of the church entrusted with central church administration and the selection of new Popes. Continue reading »
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Incompatible minds: A reflection on George Pell
Why did so many people dislike Cardinal George Pell? It is possibly because he had the opportunity to show leadership but chose instead to reflect power and intransigence. He could have shown compassion and been a unifying force. Instead, he will be remembered as a divisive and damaging figure. Continue reading »
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Why I am still a ‘Methodist’
John Menadue’s dignified and powerful defence of his adopted Catholic faith (‘Why I am Still a Catholic’ reissued 24 December 2022) is made at the expense of his (very respectful) renunciation of the Methodism in which he was brought up. Continue reading »
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The last pope of the Second Church?
In the middle of the last century, theologians began speaking of a “Third Church.” Continue reading »
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Cardinal George Pell
The media reaction to the death of Cardinal George Pell is extraordinary. But his contribution to Australian Catholicism is very much a mixed blessing. Continue reading »
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George Pell’s 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. Continue reading »
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Reflections on Pope Benedict
Benedict the 16th was not one of my favourite Catholic churchmen. But like his predecessor John Paul II, I always cut them some slack, given their personal encounters with chaos and depravity within their European cultures. Continue reading »
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Reflecting on the Ratzinger papacy
Benedict XVI’s life and papacy was a mixed blessing for Catholicism. Continue reading »
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