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It is easy to wring our hands and blame the media for bias and shoddy practices. But the truth is we like our fix of gossip and outrage, viewed through our favourite political spectacles, and are not always concerned how we get it. That is why tabloids sell.
Speech given by Fr Frank Brennan SJ at the 'Law and Religion: Legal Regulation of Religious Groups, Organisations and Communities' Conference Dinner in Melbourne on 15 July 2011.
The Scottish National Party government has rid Scots of the sense of inferiority hammered into them by the British state. Australians, given their outrage over the banning of The Chaser's royal wedding commentary, know something of how this feels. The British state is past its use-by date.
Barack Obama has committed his people to a legal and ethical mistake which will be a continuing obstacle to the West's integrity in its pursuit of freedom, democracy, internationally recognised standards of justice and human rights, and lasting peace.
The conventional homily on the miracle of the lame man focuses on his faith and hope. But Irish poet Seamus Heaney draws attention to the faith, hope and charity of the man's friends, who will go to any trouble to help their mate in his hour of need.
Currently the churches and the Greens have a mostly dysfunctional relationship. More than a few Greens owe their passion for social justice to a strong Christian upbringing. But while they both want values to triumph over pragmatism in government, they regard each other as the enemy.
Not until yesterday had I enjoyed a Mass during which I heard reggae music, washing machines, and an argument about basketball. What could be more beautifully human and holy than sitting over food and telling stories and insisting on miracles, in the company of a child and a dog?
In the past, Christian Democratic Party leader Fred Nile saw conservative Muslims as allies. Now he, like the Australian Christian Lobby, prefers to play sectarian wedge politics. Most homophobic Muslims would rather stay silent on gay marriage than support sectarian bigots.
In an extraordinary move, the Vatican has denied approval for Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Lesley-Anne Knight to stand for a second term. There is outrage in the Confederation, and with good cause.
Outside: the fish factory that never sleeps. The people working in it are illegal migrants, paid a pittance and treated as sub humans. Only the strong return from the fishing trips. If you are ill and cannot work, you can be tipped into the sea along with the other rubbish for the seagulls.
I have two lasting memories of North Korea. The first was the obstetrics unit of a hospital; it looked like a medieval torture chamber. The second was orphanages where malnourished 14-year-olds looked only eight. The latest escalation of tension can only mean such sights will become more frequent.
In the 1970s Latin American theologians began to explore the connections of faith to a public world marked by great injustice. Some of them initially criticised such popular expressions of faith such as devotions, fiestas and processions. The miracles dimension of the coverage of Mary MacKillop's recent canonisation uncovered a similar tension.