Keywords: Natural Disaster
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 12 November 2013
5 Comments
'Having thrown off the shackles of compulsion endured by pre-Vatican II Catholics, we relish that we come to the table not because we are forced, not because of social expectations, not because of the mindset of the mob, but because we are graciously called and freely responding.' Frank Brennan's Camino Address, Parish of Our Lady of the Way North Sydney, 12 November 2013
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INTERNATIONAL
- Fatima Measham
- 12 November 2013
23 Comments
I may have gotten extremely sweary on social media. Part of it was due to gut-deep fear for people to whom I am personally connected, but also generally for a country that runs in my veins. The other part of it was fury that the growing reality of extreme weather events is still being characterised as natural by climate change sceptics who have the luxury of speculating and refuting links outright.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Bronwyn Lay
- 23 October 2013
5 Comments
Human land practices and increasing temperatures alter the earth, and are influenced by politics, law, philosophy and economics. In Lisbon, Western philosophy sought to sever God from nature; now we pretend that the fusion of humans and nature doesn't exist. The term natural disaster shouldn't be trusted. It is superstitious to think humans and nature aren't locked in a reciprocal relationship with political and ethical responsibility.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 03 October 2013
18 Comments
'What a pope; what a man! ... The credibility of the Catholic Church has been enhanced with this new pope. We see in him many of the finest aspects of the presently battered and ageing Church.' Frank Brennan's presentation for Spirituality in the Pub, Pumphouse Hotel, Fitzroy, Vic. on 2 October 2013.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Ellena Savage
- 02 August 2013
1 Comment
Even more disturbing than PNG's poverty and gender-based violence is its military and police human rights record. Evidence of abuses in the form of a military blockade, massacres, rape and torture during the Bougainville Crisis of the 1990s are well-documented. The history of this crisis reveals PNG as incapable of caring for its most vulnerable citizens due to systemic corruption.
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RELIGION
- ANDREW HAMILTON
- 25 October 2012
66 Comments
Being a Catholic priest during public enquiries into sexual abuse within the Church is a bracing experience. Infinitely less hurtful than being the victim of abuse, of course. But it prompts musing about the ways in which evil actions work out in a group and affect the individual members of the group and its perception by others.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Tim Kroenert
- 26 July 2012
12 Comments
As far as US politicians are concerned, blaming Batman for the massacre at Aurora is as good as hiding their heads in the sand. The larger issue is not violent entertainment, but gun control. Ironically, the Batman films take a decidedly thoughtful approach to violence in general, and gun violence in particular.
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ENVIRONMENT
- Fatima Measham
- 19 December 2011
As we drove downtown, we saw people huddling on street corners, covered in mud and looking for shelter. Water shortages and power cuts further disrupted this city of half a million. Mortuaries could not even wash the mud off dead children so they could be quickly identified by parents.
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EUREKA STREET/ READER'S FEAST AWARD
- Meg Mundell
- 03 August 2011
7 Comments
In her field some ethnic markers can be overlooked, but skin colour has an undeniable influence on earnings. These are suspicious times. Even the new finance minister, whose grandmother was Aboriginal, caved in to pressure and became noticeably lighter prior to his new appointment.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilon
- 21 April 2011
10 Comments
Good intentions are not sufficient to give life meaning. Easter's significance comes not from Jesus' choice to die, but in God's gift of raising him from the dead. In the Anzac story, it may be comforting to say young soldiers died that others may live, but the comfort is too easy.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Jack de Groot
- 23 March 2011
2 Comments
As airstrikes are launched against Libya, controversy grows around Australia's detention centres, and NSW prepares for its election, Japan will inevitably slip off our news radar. The rebuilding work of grassroots agencies will continue for years to come.
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RELIGION
- Catherine Marshall
- 21 March 2011
5 Comments
In Japan's relief centres and obliterated streets, there is no news of looting or violence, no shouts of blame, no demands for immediate evacuation and coronial inquests. 'Shinto is a nature religion,' says my guide Yoshiko. 'We give thanks to everything we have.'
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