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Friday, 25 April 2014 13:45
ANZAC DAY AND WARS
Remember, too, the forgotten warEditorial The Age April 25, 2014 Today, Anzac Day, commemorates those Australian and New Zealanders who fell 99 years ago at a muddy beach in a cove at Gallipoli, described as 'a small constrained area surrounded by the sea and steep terrain'. More than 620 Australians…
Tuesday, 15 April 2014 22:46
POEM AND LETTER FROM MANUS ISLAND
POEM AND LETTER FROM MANUS ISLAND Letter and poem from Manus Island Detention Camp with request that it be included in Palm Sunday Rallies this Weekend - 11/04/2014 I am writing from Manus Island Detention Camp. We left our homes because of a variety of reasons. We found Australia thinking…
Thursday, 10 April 2014 06:53
A CALL TO PALMS
A CALL TO PALMS Palm Sunday Activities around other parts of the country. For people in the Illawarra who are unable to get to Sydney you may be interested in going to Jamberoo Abbey. Details of rallies and marches in other Australian cities below: Marches and Rallies in other…
Tuesday, 08 April 2014 11:08
DECLARE PEACE ON REFUGEES
DECLARE PEACE ON REFUGEES PEACE – EQUALITY – NO RACISM Everyone has the right to live in peace, with justice and equality, AND THAT INCLUDES ALL ASYLUM SEEKERS.By declaring war on refugees, the Australian Government is alienating and dehumanising people who come to our country seeking the help we promised…
Monday, 31 March 2014 09:06
OLSH PEACE DECLARATION FOR REFIGEES
OLSH STATEMENT: DECLARE PEACE ON REFUGEES We are all well aware of the plight of refuges in our own country. One has only to pick up a paper or switch on the TV, to read or see something of the current thinking of Australians on the issue of refugees and…
Thursday, 27 March 2014 18:01
DRAWINGS BY CHILDREN DETAINED ON CHRISTMAS ISLAND
An alarming aspect of the pictures drawn by children detained on Christmas Island, and revealed by the Human Rights Commission's national investigation into their plight, is what is blanked out – the children’s boat IDs. In every detention facility I have visited, children sign their artworks with this ID;…
Wednesday, 19 March 2014 22:27
HANNAH ARENDT
HANNAH ARENDT The MSC Justice Desk recently printed quotes from philosopher, Hannah Arendt. The quotes are featured. Around Australia, a film, called Hannah Arendt, who coined the phrase, 'The Banality of Evil' after witnessing the trial of Adolf Eichmann. The SIGNIS review is included below. 'Education is the point at…
Tuesday, 18 March 2014 08:16
GLOBAL FREEDOM NETWORK
GLOBAL FREEDOM NETWORK Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest has launched a global network, along with the Vatican, the Anglican Communion and a leading Muslim institution, to end human trafficking worldwide by 2020, reports CNS/The Sydney Morning Herald. The new accord, signed during a Vatican news conference yesterday, launched the beginning…
Saturday, 15 March 2014 17:32
CLIMATE CHANGE OPINION
CLIMATE CHANGE OPINION Lord Deben was once Margaret Thatcher's minister for the environment. He is now head of the British committee on climate change – the model for Australia's Climate Change Authority. The Tory pulled no punches in his comment on the Abbott government's push to change established climate change…
Thursday, 13 March 2014 09:43
PARADOXES
'The Paradoxical Commandments People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.Do good anyway. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.Succeed anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.Do good anyway. Honesty…
Saturday, 08 March 2014 10:06
NATIONAL LAMENT, LENT 2014
NATIONAL LAMENT, LENT 2014 The CRA Justice committee has organised a time of National Lament during Lent to raise consciousness of the Asylum Seeker Issue facing us and many other countries in the world. Following is the basic outline you may wish to use in your parishes, schools, communities: NATIONAL…
Tuesday, 04 March 2014 19:38
DOWNLANDS COLLEGE: BUY A BALE
Downlands Buys Bales for Rural Families In a fundraiser that started only last week, Downlands College has already raised $3748 for the Buy A Bale campaign, supporting our rural communities in drought. "We know families are hurting and are regularly in touch with current and past Downlands families, to do…
Sunday, 02 March 2014 08:18
ASYLUM SEEKERS, PNG BISHOPS
ASYLUM SEEKERS, PNG BISHOPS Dear Bishops and Friends, This is the statement on the Asylum Seekers issue (edited and sent by Abp.Douglas Young, pictured): The Catholic Bishops Conference is appalled to hear of recent disturbances at the Manus Island detention centre resulting in death and injury for the asylum seekers.…
Thursday, 27 February 2014 08:25
FURTHER ON LIGHT THE DARK, DARWIN
FURTHER ON LIGHT THE DARK FESTIVAL, DARWIN Fr Roy O'Neill MSC has sent a text of Bishop Eugene Hurley for the festival. He was unable to attend and asked Roy to read his message. Our last report stated that 200 attended. It was a larger attendance, around 400. We gather…
Tuesday, 25 February 2014 03:24
LIGHT THE DARK FESTIVAL
'Light the dark' vigils across Australia following asylum seeker's death Phil Reilly MSC, centre, at the Sydney festival, John Hill at right of photo Roy O'Neill MSC led a group of 200 in Darwin. Thousands of Australians raise candles as part of protest organised to push for greater…
Thursday, 20 February 2014 08:47
COMMISSION STATEMENT ON MANUS ISLAND
AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCEAustralian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office,2014.Media release: The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) expresses great sadness at the tragic loss of life at Manus Island yesterday. One Iranian asylum seeker died and others were injured in a riot involving 77 asylum seekers on Monday evening.…
Monday, 17 February 2014 07:37
PAX CHRISTI, VOWS OF NON-VIOLENCE
PAX CHRISTI AND NONVIOLENCE VOWS Seattle archbishop blesses Pax Christi nonviolence vows ....and yet not one bishop in NSW, and possibly in Australia is a member of Pax Christi Australia In the presence of parishioners, friends and visitors, members of three local chapters of Pax Christi, an international Catholic peace…
Tuesday, 11 February 2014 17:10
WANGARI MAATHAI
WANGARI MAATHAI NAIROBI, Kenya — Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist who began a movement to reforest her country by paying poor women a few shillings to plant trees and who went on to become the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, died here on Sunday. She was…
Saturday, 08 February 2014 04:31
SOCHI OLYMPICS AND RIGHTS
SOCHI OLYMPICS AND RIGHTS "The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." - Olympic Charter
Wednesday, 05 February 2014 21:57
CANA: CELEBRATING COMMUNITY
AN INVITATION FROM ANNE JORDAN pbvm, PETER CARROLL msc AND JULIE SNEDDON FOR SYDNEY AND NEW SOUTH WALES. Over the last few years we have watched homelessness increase. People leaving jail, refugees, those suffering with mental health issues and addictions are also part of this population and are struggling to…
Saturday, 01 February 2014 11:26
POPE FRANCIS TO THE CARDINALS=ELECT
PROPE FRANCIS' LETTER TO CARDINALS-ELECT 'Dear brother, 'On the day that your designation as part of the College of Cardinals is made public, I wish to send you a cordial greeting along with the guarantee of my closeness and prayer. It is my hope that, joined with the Church of…
Tuesday, 28 January 2014 11:25
FOREIGN AID SPENDING CUTS
FOREIGN AID SPENDING CUTS Aid groups accuse Coalition of broken promise after it announces new cuts All funding for environment programs to end, as Coalition focuses aid on countries it needs to support its asylum policy Joe Hockey: promised aid would be shifted towards NGOs.Aid groups are accusing the Coalition…
Monday, 27 January 2014 10:32
BOOK LAUNCH INVITATION
For Sydney visitors to this site: Book Launch Invitation In the Absence of Treaty This book explores the current inadequacy of the process used in engaging with Aboriginal people, which results in control slipping away from them. It provides concise but incisive account from recent reports about the reasons for…
Wednesday, 22 January 2014 11:41
CLOSURE OF DETENTION CENTRES
ACMRO welcomes closure of four immigration detention centres The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) has welcomed the decision by the Federal Government to close four immigration detention facilities in Australia. Detention centres in far-North Queensland (Scherger), Tasmania (Pontville), Western Australia (Leonora), and South Australia (Port Augusta) are set…
Sunday, 19 January 2014 06:43
WITH OPEN ARMS...
WITH OPEN ARMS 'I need to say something about our Australian Government and Refugees... and of how much shame I feel being an Australian overseas. January 19 and 26, 2014 mark two very important days for all of us. The first is World Day of Migrants and Refugees and the…
Thursday, 09 January 2014 12:38
FUNDAMENTALISM
FUNDAMENTALISM: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM Robert J. Burrowes Countercurrents January 8, 2014 Fundamentalism is a widespread problem. It often manifests in a religious context - making it highly visible - but there are plenty of secular fundamentalists too. If we are to understand fundamentalism we should not view it as a…
Thursday, 02 January 2014 09:09
QUOTATIONS FROM ELIE WEISEL
QUOTES FROM ELIE WEISEL, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel; born September 30, 1928) is a Romanian-born Jewish-American professor and political activist. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald concentration…
Friday, 27 December 2013 10:29
JAMES BALDWIN QUOTES
QUOTES FROM JAMES BALDWIN, AMERICAN AUTHOR 'I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.' James Baldwin The Fire Next Time 'Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the…
Monday, 23 December 2013 09:21
KIRIBATI PRESIDENT AND NOBEL PEACE PRIZE NOMINATION
PROMOTING THE PRESIDENT OF KIRIBATI, ATENE TONG, FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE From the Media Release from the Edmund Rice Centre Phil Glendenning is part of this committee formed of prominent individuals from the international community to honour the Pacific leader and to promote his climate message. 'In this part…
