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When the Hawke-Keating Government cut back funding for overseas aid, churches said nothing. Last week, 260 Christian young people set out to lobby politicians about Australia's failure to meet its obligations to developing nations.
Many conservative Catholics are sceptical about global warming. For them environmentalism is the new communism. This echoes the paranoia of the '50s and '60s are clear, when anyone with an interest in social justice was suspect.
This week's release of the new social encyclical Caritas in Veritate expands moral teaching to promote a concept of 'human ecology' that covers both human life and the environment. It would seem that Benedict is not a climate change sceptic.
The parish acts as a beacon in social justice and inclusion. It is hard to see why they can't do this without breaking the Church's rules. Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker Movement managed to marry social activism with a conservative religious life.
Theological colleges increasingly need to turn to churches for underwriting, yet church congregations are dwindling, which affects them financially as well. Something has to give ... and in Brisbane, it already has.
The second encyclical from Benedict XVI is not what many expected. Benedict is drawing us to a deeper level of reflection, building a solid foundation. What he builds upon this foundation we are yet to see.
In the past, Australia has produced a number of theologians and biblical scholars of international standing. But the future is bleak, with 37 per cent intending to retire within five years. Structural rationalisation must start now.
Dr Neil Ormerod, Professor of Theology, is Director of the Institute of Theology, Philosophy and Religious Education at Australian Catholic University, Mount St Mary Campus.
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