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Keywords: Church Groups

RELIGION

The careful choreography of plenary
- Francis Sullivan
- 25 October 2021
32 Comments
The First Assembly of the Fifth Plenary Council held few surprises. The program made sure of it. Proceedings were carefully choreographed and the agenda was deliberately anodyne. It took several days before participants found their feet. The upshot was a week devoid of strategic focus.
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RELIGION

In a state of synodality
- Brian Lucas
- 21 October 2021
32 Comments
One takeaway from the First Assembly of the Plenary Council that might come as no surprise is that the controlling elite in the Church, the bishops, are not dependent on popular support. They are appointed not elected. They are generally irremovable. They come from a culture that is about preserving ‘the tradition’ (which can easily be expanded to include historical novelties that are not really part of the tradition). Moving into the new world of synodality brings obvious challenges.
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RELIGION

Raising women’s voices
- Tracy McEwan, Patricia Gemmell
- 06 October 2021
15 Comments
Annabel Crabb’s ABC TV documentary series Ms Represented had us gasping, laughing and raging all at once. The series struck an achingly familiar chord as women from different political parties and generations voiced their common experience of sexism and misogyny in Australia’s parliament, elucidating just how hard it is for women to have a voice at the table in Australian institutions of power.
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RELIGION

How the Plenary might resolve the unresolvable
- Nimmi Candappa
- 30 September 2021
25 Comments
At one level a lot is riding on this Plenary Council. Only the fifth such Council in the Australian church history, there is a great sense of anticipation among a wide variety of groups: those estranged from the church, priests looking for direction, women bereft of opportunities to express their faith and seeking a look-in, parents of uninterested children, those ostracised from the church, as well as those not wanting any changes at all.
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FAITH DOING JUSTICE

Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel
- Andrew Hamilton
- 29 September 2021
7 Comments
In the Catholic calendar the Feast of St Francis of Assisi falls on next Tuesday. Although he gave up on wealth, power and influence Francis probably had a bigger effect on his world than any of his contemporaries. He continues to attract people to challenge the values of our society and to spark renewal in Christian institutions at the risk of going stale.
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AUSTRALIA

Anti-lockdown protests expose need for new conversations
- Julian Butler
- 28 September 2021
9 Comments
Walking down to the local Saturday morning street market, I wasn’t expecting to find myself amidst the beginnings of a violent protest. Seeing some police, I thought they were out and about to ensure the public weren’t taking too many liberties with the slightly eased restrictions that had come into effect for Melbourne the previous night. But half a dozen on each corner of Church St and Bridge Rd in inner-city Richmond suggested something more.
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ECONOMICS

Labor’s embrace of Liberal tax policies leaves poor worse off
- Chris Smith
- 31 August 2021
11 Comments
In July, Anthony Albanese announced a significant change of stance on Labor tax policy which was disappointing, if not surprising. An elected Labor government, Albanese promised, would keep the coming high income tax cuts he previously opposed. This decision to not oppose the government proposal to restructure the income tax system through reduced marginal rates is supporting a government policy that will lead to a significant redistribution of wealth towards high income earners.
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AUSTRALIA

Proselytising ‘No Religion’ for the Census
- Joel Hodge
- 10 August 2021
13 Comments
Whatever one thinks of the Census21 campaign, I agree with the implicit aim: all people should be honest in answering the Census questions. It doesn’t matter whether one is affiliated to a major religion, no religion, or has another spirituality not listed, it is crucial that we give compete answers that reflect our real lives.
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RELIGION

Critical Race Theory and the question of social sin
- Andrew Hamilton
- 05 August 2021
60 Comments
Critical Race Theory, which has recently been banned ineffectively by the Australian Senate from the National Curriculum, has everything going for it as a lightning rod. It has an acronym (CRT), opacity and an air of self-importance. It is also associated with a controversial social movement: Black Lives Matter. The theory does not need to be understood before generating heat.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Why we need to think communally in lockdown
- Catherine Marshall
- 29 July 2021
6 Comments
The despair induced by daily infection and death tallies would be, in normal times, ameliorated to some extent by one’s workaday routine. And the crisis would be borne in togetherness — an impossible response, since the pandemic calls on us to withdraw into ourselves rather than draw together.
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RELIGION

The challenges of representing Catholic Australia
- John Warhurst
- 20 July 2021
70 Comments
The Plenary Council First Assembly is only two months away, but uncertainty still remains about the role that its 282 members will play. Not just about what work they will do but what conception of the role they will bring or will be imposed upon them by the authorities.
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RELIGION

St Benedict and communities: not to retreat from the world, but to engage deeply in it
- Andrew Hamilton
- 15 July 2021
14 Comments
Benedict’s rule anticipates and handles the weakness inherent in enthusiastic movements led by charismatic leaders to leave the world. They import into the communities the power-based relationships in the world that they left.
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Keywords: Church Groups