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Keywords: Papal Power

  • RELIGION

    The Pope in Alice: 25 years on

    • Frank Brennan
    • 29 November 2011
    19 Comments

    Protocol dictated that he could not wear Aboriginal colours. But local custom won out when he donned a black, red and yellow stole given to him on the track. His speech put strong challenges to the Church, but offered too optimistic a reading of the prospects of Aboriginal Australians taking their rightful place in it.

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  • RELIGION

    What difference does it make now that Mary MacKillop is a saint?

    • Frank Brennan
    • 14 October 2011

    Mary visited Rome as a young religious woman when she was being persecuted by local bishops for being too independent. She got a good hearing from the Pope and great assistance from Fr Anderledy who became the Superior General of the Jesuits. If only Bishop Bill Morris could have received the same sympathetic hearing.

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  • RELIGION

    Making friends not foes of rights and religion

    • Frank Brennan
    • 13 September 2011
    5 Comments

    The Church of the 21st century should be the exemplar of due process, natural justice and transparency. While there can be little useful critique of the final decision of Pope Benedict to force the early retirement of Bishop Bill Morris, there is plenty of scope to review the processes leading up to it.

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  • RELIGION

    Catholic Ireland's watershed moment

    • Gerry O'Hanlon
    • 26 July 2011
    13 Comments

    The surprise in the Irish Prime Minister's frank and undiplomatic speech on sexual abuse is that his target was not the Irish culprits but the Vatican itself. He articulated the anger of the Irish people towards the Vatican, which is undoubtedly on a learning curve on these matters.

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  • RELIGION

    Papal power in Toowoomba

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 05 May 2011
    54 Comments

    Modern societies rightly put much weight on transparency. Its absence is taken to discredit the institutions in which it is lacking. After the forced resignation of Bishop Morris it will be even harder for Catholics to win a hearing on issues that affect the public order.

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  • EUREKA STREET TV

    Paul Collins and the Vatican

    • Peter Kirkwood
    • 07 April 2011
    6 Comments

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  • EUREKA STREET TV

    Paul Collins and the Vatican

    • Peter Kirkwood
    • 07 April 2011

    In 2001 Collins resigned from priestly ministry because of a dispute with the Vatican over his book Papal Power. In the interview he discusses his views on the Church and its governance, as well as eco-theology.

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  • RELIGION

    Reconciling religion, politics and human rights

    • Frank Brennan
    • 04 November 2010
    15 Comments

    Cardinal Pell, with whom I have voiced disagreement, preached superbly at the mass of thanksgiving after the canonisation of Mary MacKillop. 'She does not deter us from struggling to follow her.' As we wrestle with the common good, let's make a place for all our fellow citizens.

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  • RELIGION

    The apology Benedict should have given

    • Garry Eastman
    • 23 March 2010
    12 Comments

    Pope Benedict's letter to the Catholic Church in Ireland released this weekend is a watershed in the way the Church speaks on abuse committed by priests and religious. The Pope's letter would have been better received, not just in Ireland but throughout the world, if he had added a few extra paragraphs.

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  • RELIGION

    Empathy for Irish priests

    • Frank O'Shea
    • 17 March 2010
    26 Comments

    In Ireland, the attitude of locals to the Murphy and Ryan reports into child abuse in Catholic institutions is commonly anger at the apparent obfuscation by Church leaders. This St Patrick's Day, spare a thought for the ordinary priest in modern Dublin.

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  • RELIGION

    The Church as advocate in the public square

    • Frank Brennan
    • 09 February 2010

    'Tonight I want to reflect in light of the National Human Rights Consultation how we as Church can do better in promoting justice for all in our land. Full text from Frank Brennan's 2010 McCosker Oration, 'The Church as Advocate in the Public Square: Lessons from the National Human Rights Consultation'.

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  • RELIGION

    Best of 2009: St Mary's, Bishop Robinson and the value of dialogue

    • Frank Brennan
    • 07 January 2010
    18 Comments

    Bishop Bathersby and Fr Kennedy are pastoral, down to earth men. If there had been more dialogue between them, and between Cardinal Pell and Bishop Robinson, the Catholic Church would be more the Church Jesus would want it to be. March 2009

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