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We might associate the world events of 2012 with the worsening threat of global warming and continuing misery of Syria; Australian politics with the misery inflicted on asylum seekers; the Church through the lens of sex abuse. That is why in New Year celebrations the old year is ritually banished and the new welcomed.
Last Saturday the Rev. Ellinah Wamukoya was ordained as bishop of Swaziland. Most eyes in Australia however were on the Church of England's General Synod, which stumbled at the threshold of a change that would have embraced the consecration of women bishops. This may prove to be the less significant story.
If the Catholic experience is any guide, the loss of trust in cycling will have lasting effects. Revelations of past drug taking and of official conniving will inhibit the regaining of trust. Measures taken to change the culture will long be viewed with scepticism. Public disdain is a cold environment to live in, but its air is healthy.
Fr Frank Brennan SJ's paper 'Reflections on the death penalty on the tenth anniversary of the Bali Bombings' presented at the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights and Australians Against Capital Punishment Dinner, Red Hill, Brisbane, 12 October 2012, Commemorating the 10th World Day Against the Death Penalty.
Public interest in the aggressive form of atheism represented by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, and the religious response to it, seems to have waned. This half time break gives commentators a chance to grab a pie and sauce and assess who is likely to win.
Though Gillard's leadership has started to come under pressure, no one in Labor will want to overthrow her until the carbon pricing laws package is securely in place. This means no challenge before the first half of 2012. Only then, if opinion polls keep trending down, may Gillard be vulnerable.
When I argued that the Malaysia solution was ethically flawed, I implied that ethical arguments in favour of the solution were unsupportable, and that those who disagreed with me should change their views. That may seem arrogant, but it is the nature of any ethical argument.
Channel 10's Can of Worms is not as lively or incisive as Q+A, but does try to get beyond frivolity. Asked a question about a youth who committed suicide after being bullied online, ex-footballer Jason Akermanis declared suicide was 'the most selfish thing you will ever do'.
The difficulty is not his privately-held heterodox views on climate change, but that Australia's most senior Catholic clergyman vigorously advances a position that could be interpreted as a statement of the official stance of the Catholic Church in Australia.
While it is refreshing to hear politicians speak in unguarded colloquial language from time to time, any human misfortune is demeaned if we believe it is a sufficient explanation to say, as Tony Abbott said of the death of a soldier serving in Afghanistan, 'shit happens'.
Benedict's World Day of Social Communications address shows how an elderly, intelligent man might reflect on the massive changes in social communication. He associates social networking with the young, and trusts in their freedom to use it well.
If the Gillard Government manages to serve a full term, there is a good chance that Parliament will pass a well-designed, effective national carbon pricing policy into law in 2012. This would be a major policy success that Gillard could legitimately boast of going into a 2013 full-term election.
133-144 out of 169 results.