When our pilgrim group of Sydney teachers was sitting in the ancient amphitheatre at Ephesus, another group of Australians started to sing Advance Australia Fair for the tourists from many nations. They were pleasantly surprised when our group joined them. Mostly young, they were on their way to Gallipoli, with many New Zealanders. Officials estimated Read more
On Easter Monday, the ABC’s Q&A program featured a live debate between evolutionary biologist, author and militant atheist, Professor Richard Dawkins, and Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, on topics of faith, science, history and morality. The show attracted an audience of 863,000, its highest since the coverage of the 2010 Federal election; an indication Read more
Professor Richard Dawkins and Sydney’s Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, battled it out for an hour on Australian Television. In a debate that the Sydney Morning Herald says bordered on barely concealed mutual disdain, boiled over more than once and the Science v God, Atheist v Belief, Logic v Faith debate left all parties bruised. Pell was given Read more
Pressure is growing on Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott to put politics aside and sort out the border protection mess. On Thursday The Australian reported Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has been given the authority to put the Nauru detention centre on the table in talks with the Opposition aimed at ending the stand-off over offshore Read more
Catholics should include sins against the environment when they visit the confessional said the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council on Friday. Father Stephen Alathara, spokesman for the KCBC, said the council had finalized its ecological mission statement, which included the directive about confession, during its annual meeting in Kochi. “Any exploitation of nature amounts to sins against Read more
Caritas Internationalis President Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga says failure at UN climate talks in Durban is a “moral apartheid” that cannot be allowed to happen. “Just as South Africa’s Apartheid era policies sought divisions along race lines, today the world’s environment and energy policies divide man from nature,” said the Cardinal. Midway through the Climate Read more
The Australian Labor Party is set for a religious backlash over its decision to support same-sex marriage and accusations that it has breached another of its election promises, to protect the Marriage Act, reports the Australian. Focusing on the marginal seats of Corangamite, Deakin, Greenway, Reid and Moreton, on Sunday, religious leaders from across Australia warned Read more
High-profile priest Father Bob Maguire says Australia’s Catholic leader, George Pell, is punishing him for being “open to all” by forcing him to retire from his parish.
The church has ordered Father Maguire to resign after 38 years as South Melbourne’s parish priest.
Father Maguire, 77, said Cardinal Pell considers his parish a “dog’s breakfast” and described his exit as a “dishonourable discharge”.
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The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, has questioned the cost benefits of financing action to curb climate change, such as funding clean, renewable energy. Speaking at the annual lecture of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a climate sceptic think tank he said “The cost of attempts to make global warming go away Read more
Once known as “Via Cernaia” by Marist Priests who lived and studied there, the building now owned by the Australian Church has been opened by Pope Benedict XVI as an Australian pilgrim centre and has been named “Domus Australia”. The Pontiff spent 45 minutes leading a brief religious service and then inspecting “Domus Australia”, a Read more