The private member's bill wants the law reformed to refuse to terminate pregnancies after 28 weeks.

Touted by its supporters as a "world-first", Ben Hood's bill aims to ensure pregnancy terminations after 27 weeks and six days are achieved through the early induction of labour.

The infant would then be offered for adoption.The bill's supporters say about 1000 people attended a rally on the steps of state parliament last Wednesday afternoon when the bill was introduced.

The bill's aim

Hood says his proposed legislation would amend an existing 2021 state law allowed terminations in limited circumstances after 22 weeks and 6 days, subject to the approval of two doctors.

It would address an "unintended consequence" of the 2021 law, he says.

That unintended consequence meant between July 2022 and December 2023, 45 out of 57 terminations beyond the 22 week and 6 day threshold were approved for the "physical or mental health of the pregnant person".

Not one was performed to save the life of the mother. Twelve late-term abortions were performed because of foetal anomalies.

"This bill aims to carefully balance the rights of both pregnant women and the child, particularly after 28 weeks of gestation" Hood says.

It "provides a responsible and considered compromise - protecting the child's right to life while respecting the mother's choice to end her pregnancy".

University of Adelaide law professor, Joanna Howe, says the proposed law change would strike an "effective balance between the competing interests of a mother and her viable child through ensuring that foeticide is banned and the child is delivered alive".

Hood's bill was drafted by a team of eight women who were "legal and medical experts with specialities in neonatology and obstetrics" Howe says.

Abortion advocate and retired obstetrician Brian Peat said babies born alive at 28 weeks would represent a "great impost on the system".

He attacked the bill, saying its true purpose was to encourage mothers to carry a child to term.

House divided

Hood's bill divided the South Australian Liberals.

Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia says it does not reflect Liberal policy. The party has agreed to grant a conscience vote to MPs.

Source

• The Australian

Peter Malinauskas has joined forces with NSW Premier Chris Minns to stage a summit in October to debate tighter and higher age restrictions for social media use, including penalties for digital publishers that fail to comply.

The first iteration of the SA plan would impose a blanket ban on all children under the age of 14 who have access to a social media account, and it would require parental consent for children aged 14 and 15.

Read More

Despite the political risks of taking a stand, some urge these leaders to move beyond mere words and show decisive support for the constitutional change.

Francis Sullivan, who formerly led the Catholic Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council, minced no words in his call for action.

"This is not a time for dilly-dallying. This is a time for leadership," Sullivan declared.

He expressed concern that the constitutional change's legal intricacies are muddying the waters, causing some church leaders to waver despite their earlier, unequivocal support for the Indigenous Voice.

Sullivan weighed in saying, "This is a moral issue for the church, not a legal one."

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has already endorsed the Indigenous Voice in writing, but Sullivan is pushing for that endorsement to be backed by concrete actions before the referendum deadline.

Voice vote a "hell of a mess"

Fr Frank Brennan SJ, a long-time advocate for Indigenous rights, recently spoke at a gathering in Victoria.

Brennan described the Voice referendum as "a hell of a mess," but is still urging people to vote "yes".

"I'm one Australian who stood up and said, ‘I don't think the wording is perfect, I don't think the process has been perfect, but we're left with an invidious choice,'" Brennan said.

"Do we choose some wording which may not be perfect, or do we say No and we put this off to another day?"

Brennan says Catholic social teaching and decades of papal support for Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples provide strong grounds for Catholics to vote Yes on 14 October, he said.

Religious community divided

However, the religious community remains divided on the issue.

While Anglican leaders have voiced support for the constitutional change, some within the church are cautioning that the "view from the pew" may not align with the bishops' stance.

"I think the bishops will find that they have been singing in their own bathroom on this one," Fr Peter Macleod-Miller, the rector of St Matthews Anglican Church in Albury.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently attended a Uniting Church service in Sydney, pledging bipartisan oversight for the Voice's legislative setup if the majority votes in favour.

Simon Hansford, a Uniting Church minister, argued that Christian teachings inherently support the Voice, as they call for aiding those who are marginalised.

Despite considerable support from its member councils and other Islamic leaders, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils has yet to reach a consensus and the Australian Christian Lobby has yet to declare its stance on the matter.

Sources

• SMH
• The Catholic Weekly

Father Frank Brennan (pictured), a Jesuit priest and human rights lawyer, blames leadership on both political sides for not seeking common ground.

He hopes a "reconciling spirit" will blow through parliament's chambers during the next three weeks while elected leaders lay the groundwork for the three-month campaign.

He says he'd like some changes made to the federal government's proposed Indigenous Voice referendum question.

It's too broad, he says. Its reference to the Voice making representations to executive government will attract many legal challenges.

He suggests changing the wording from "executive government" to "ministers of state" could broaden support for the referendum.

However, given all major political parties' reluctance to consider any proposed Constitutional amendments, the wording of the change "might not be perfect," he says.

Stating his case in Rome

On Saturday, Brennan will deliver a lecture on the referendum at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

His draft lecture notes say he proposes discussing a contemporary Australian perspective on recognising Aboriginal rights.

He will also urge Australians to recommit to "deep inner listening" towards each other and the land.

This will include reminding Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of their responsibility for the debate's tone.

"Neither side of the parliamentary chamber has done what was needed to bring the country together, to bring reconciliation in our land, to bring the country to ‘Yes'," Brennan's notes say.

"The government has assured parliament that it would have the power to legislate whether and how representations by the Voice need to be considered by the executive government, and should "tweak the words" to ensure that public servants performing routine administrative tasks will not be required to consider representations by the Voice."

Voters will face a stark choice in the referendum, his lecture notes continue.

"We can vote ‘No' to a constitutionally enshrined Voice either because we continue to think that all constitutional entitlements should be held ‘in common with all other Australians' or because we are not convinced that the Voice will work effectively," the notes say.

"Or we can vote ‘Yes' because, whatever the imperfections of the wording and the risk of future complications, we think it is high time that Australia's First Peoples were recognised in the Constitution in a manner sought and approved by a broad cross-section of Indigenous leaders."

He also plans to tell his audience that only eight of 44 referendums have succeeded in Australia since the federation and he hopes "this one will be the ninth".

Papal gift

Brennan presented a copy of his new book, "An Indigenous Voice to Parliament: Considering a Constitutional Bridge", to Pope Francis this week.

His dedication on the gift says he is "hoping and praying for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament."

"May the Australian people bring the country to ‘Yes', recognising the rights of our First Peoples who have occupied the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit for tens of thousands of years," he says.

Source

• WAToday

The exercise, named after Operation Cartwheel - a major military operation for the Allies in the Pacific during World War II - aimed at building "expeditionary readiness and interoperability", according to a press release from the US Embassy in Suva.

Around 270 troops from five nations took part in drills conducted in both jungle and urban environments.

The New Zealand Defence Force's land component commander, Brigadier Hugh McAslan, told NZ media that Exercise Cartwheel provided a platform for participating forces to work together, building readiness for military action and other crises.

"We have an obligation to work alongside these folks… We are part of the Pacific," McAslan was quoted as saying. Read more

Writing as a member of the just completed Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in Australia, she spoke of her experience during the moment of "protest" once the motion on women failed to get the required vote.

But her very reasonable question may equally have been the following: "What is it about change and the Church?

It's glib to answer that few like change, so what's news?

Surely, it's not too much to expect that a Church in crisis would be open to considering change, to actually welcome change, albeit gently.

In his patient drive for a synodal Church, Pope Francis speaks of a "different Church" (not a new Church). In doing so, he is picking up the wisdom of Yves Congar OP from all those years ago.

A different Church can only come about only with change.

The motion on the equality between women and men

The papal prescription for that change is synodality. That does not mean a free run, or a lot of hot button demands, or a majority vote as in a parliament, but a genuine listening, active hearing and prayerful consideration to reach a discernment of what is right.

The Holy Spirit is mostly blamed for what is claimed to be the right answer.

Clearly, the Holy Spirit was temporarily rejected during the Plenary Council. One may rail about the unfortunate circumstance of the Australian bishops' rejection of the motion on equality between women and men.

Surely after four years of discussing and preparing the Plenary Council, the bishops were well aware of the equality issue. The terms of the decree had been on the table for months.

Where was the application of a synodal approach? What conversations occurred? What attempt was made to reach a proper accommodation?

Where was the benefit of four years of preparation, appreciation of the significance of the issue, the importance of the second assembly of 277 members, the consciousness of the Catholic faithful (a majority of whom are women)?

We all appreciate that the synodal journey is not a straight downhill run. We know that potholes and delays abound.

But, apparently, not even nationwide shame and disbelief among Catholics, women and men alike, served to offer help to some bishops to work out an acceptable course before voting in the negative.

Sister Patty notes that the subsequent good news of the endorsement of the decree may be drowned out by the initial outrage. Fair call.

But there is a bright side.

Humble pie will be food for the journey, with a dollop of trust and goodwill

Plenary members did re-group. They worked to revise the language of the motion and, ultimately, it was enthusiastically supported. Importantly, that included the support of most of the bishops.

The Holy Spirit is still alive and well!

But much more than that, the journey of this decree on the equality of women and men — including its major blemish — may be seen as an outstanding synodal example that has the capacity to open a national conversation among all the People of God.

That means a less hierarchical conversation with more trust and fortitude.

Unavoidably, we go into that conversation with wounds. We may assert they are self-inflicted and demeaning wounds, but against an outcome that should become a watershed for future deliberations.

The event (not the spin) presents an opportunity for a different way of doing things; of trying a journey on the same track and eschewing the parallel precipice.

Humble pie will be food for this journey with a large dollop of trust and goodwill.

A disposition to genuinely embrace synodal change for a different Church will be the shared goal.

• Justin Stanwix is a deacon at St Mary's Star of the Sea Parish, Milton in the Diocese of Wollongong (Australia).
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

In a sermon to churchgoers at Perth's Pentecostal Victory Life Centre, Morrison said in his experience it would be a mistake to trust governments.

"We trust in Him. We don't trust in governments. We don't trust in United Nations, thank goodness.

"We don't trust in all of these things, fine as they might be and as important as the role that they play. Believe me, I've worked in it and they are important.

"But as someone who's been in it, if you are putting your faith in those things, like I put my faith in the Lord, you are making a mistake. Firstly, they are fallible. I'm so glad we have a bigger hope."

Morrison - who is still an MP - was at the Pentecostal church at the invitation of Margaret Court, the controversial former tennis champion who runs it.

The service was to mark the church's 27th birthday. Former federal Liberal MP Vincent Connelly and former WA premier Richard Court (Court's brother-in-law) also attended.

In his 50-minute sermon. Scott spoke of the Coalition's election defeat.

"Do you believe that if you lose an election that God still loves you and has a plan for you? I do. Because I still believe in miracles."

Churchgoers applauded.

For the majority of the sermon, he talked about anxiety.

"All of this anxiousness, all of this anxiety ... all of this feeling about the bills that are pouring in, all of this feeling about the anxiety - and then the oil of God, the ointment of God, comes on this situation and releases you, if you will have it, and receive His gift.

"We cannot allow these anxieties to deny us that. That's not His plan. That's Satan's plan."

Anxiety and mental illness are different, he stressed.

Mental illness has "very real causal factors" such as biological issues which require professional clinical treatment, he said.

At the end of Morrison's address, Court told the congregation: "The Lord certainly has a life for [Morrison] after politics."

Liberal MPs including acting Opposition Leader Sussan Ley have declined to comment.

Source

• The Age

Anthony Albanese, centre-left leader of the Labor Party, claimed election victory on 21 May defeating the conservative Liberal-National coalition that has governed for nine years.

Mr Albanese always described himself as the only candidate with a "non-Anglo Celtic name" to run for prime minister since federation 121 years ago.

He is a 26-year veteran of the federal parliament, yet a gruelling six-week election campaign was the first chance for many Australians to witness his leadership style.

In the final days of campaigning, he took media crews to visit the humble inner Sydney housing estate where he was raised by his single mother, and with an Italian name - Albanese - he appeared in front of ethnic audiences to pledge his support for multicultural Australia.

In recent times, 59-year-old Albanese has described himself as "half-Italian and half-Irish" and a "non-practising Catholic". His late Italian father returned to Italy before he was born, while his late mother was of Irish descent.

Mr Albanese did signal his Catholic credentials by visiting his Catholic primary school and being photographed alongside Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher, after the two men met privately.

Delivering his victory acceptance speech he said: "It says a lot about our great country that a son of a single mum who was a disability pensioner, who grew up in public housing … can stand before you tonight as Australia's prime minister.

"I want Australia to continue to be a country that no matter where you live, who you worship, who you love or what your last name is, that places no restrictions on your journey in life."

As a Catholic schoolboy at St Mary's Cathedral College in Sydney, Mr Albanese attended local Labor Party meetings with his mother and grandparents.

He joined the party as a teen, was active in college and then went to work for the party.

He was elected to federal parliament on his 33rd birthday.

While he is no longer a churchgoer, his past association and schooling appear to have been crucial in shaping his values in support of social justice and equal opportunity.

Quoting Pope Francis during a speech delivered in February, Mr Albanese said there was a "powerful overlap between those values and Labor values as we work on how to get through this pandemic".

Catholic organisations have welcomed Labor's election victory, calling on the new government to tackle poverty and fix the aged care crisis. Continue reading

So far the bill has faced stiff opposition from all sides. Its only successful amendment was on Wednesday, which saw the removal of Section 38(3) of the Sex Discrimination Act. This gave religious schools the right to discriminate on sexual orientation, gender identity and marital status in accordance with the tenets of its faith.

The amendment followed weeks of claims that Christian schools will use religious freedom laws to discriminate against LGBT students. Proposals by the Government to address this issue were not considered comprehensive enough by advocates and progressive MPs.

The bill accordingly did not proceed to a Senate vote. As the Senate will not sit again until the Budget is handed down on March 29, the bill will either wait until then or be put on the back-burner indefinitely.

Meanwhile, religious leaders are urging both sides to get it done in this term of parliament amid concerns it could be sidelined.

They are concerned Labor could face difficulties legislating religious protections while balancing concerns of interest groups.

They want the Coalition to have another go when parliament returns for the March 29 budget.

In a homily last Sunday, Maronite Catholic Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay said "Freedom of religion is one of a few rights specifically protected in the Australian Constitution.

"And ... we are mostly disappointed … for the way in which people of faith were spoken about during the debate of the bill and denied protections to practise their faith and their values away from any discrimination".

Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli says many people probably think the main purpose of the religious discrimination bill was to allow religious schools to expel students because of their sexuality or gender. That's because debate about the bill circulated rather than what the bill actually said.

However, expelling kids for such reasons "is antithetical to the notion that all children are created in the image and likeness of God. This was not the intention of the bill, nor what it would have done," he says.

"People of faith might have gained something had the Government found a way to deliver the law it promised", he added.

They would have received "a positive message that being a believer, holding to that belief and living by that belief is a valuable thing in our society".

Furthermore, it would have added religion to sex, age, disability and race as attributes protected under Commonwealth law.

Source

• The Australian
• The Age
• Catholic Weekly
• Image: YouTube

The Queensland government has rejected pleas by the churches for institutional protection from the widest voluntary assisted dying law to go before an Australian parliament.

The legislation leaves the private, church-backed institutions powerless to intervene if a patient insists on being assessed and potentially dosed with death-dealing drugs on the premises.

Faith-based hospitals provide more than a quarter of all hospital beds in Queensland.

The bill notionally gives individual health workers and institutions the capacity to opt out of the assisted dying scheme. That is, except in cases when it would cause unnecessary suffering to transfer the ­patient concerned to another centre, a loophole that has been seized on by church leaders to argue they will be roped into the program.

Some ministers at Monday's cabinet discussion wanted the churches' push for a right of conscientious objection addres­sed.

However, cabinet agreed the legislation would remain intact and be augmented by clinical guidelines setting out how Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) was to interact with the faith-based hospital and care sector.

The numbers in the single-chamber Queensland parliament, where the government commands a five-seat majority, mean the legislation will pass the conscience vote.

While some are said to be wavering, not one Labor MP has signalled an intention to vote no, while the two Green MPs and Noosa's independent support VAD. Three Gold Coast Liberal National Party parliamentarians say they support assisted dying.

Amendments to the bill, granting institutions the capacity to conscientiously object are being mooted.

Catholic Health Australia's mission director, Rebecca Burdick Davies, is disappointed a "flawed bill" has been retained.

"He's well aware of the shortcomings of this bill which purport to offer choice but in fact deny it. Guidelines will always fall short of legislation," she says.

St Vincent's Health Australia, a Catholic provider that runs private hospitals is concerned about staff being forced to witness voluntary assisted dying if the bill stood.

"If passed in its current form, doctors and nurse practitioners will be able to enter Queensland hospitals - un-accredited by the hospital, unannounced, without permission - and assist patients in their premature death," chief executive Toby Hall says.

The guidelines are yet to be ­finalised, but would require VAD doctors to inform private hospitals they were visiting and consult with in-house medical staff about whether the terminal patient could be moved to one that ­embraced voluntary euthanasia.

They will also canvass ways to minimise the ­impact on other patients - or residents in the case of nursing homes - and means by which faith-based care centres could ­advertise their objection to VAD.

In June, Liberal-governed South Australia became the first state to extend conscientious ­objection from individual doctors to faith-based hospitals. This allows them to refuse to authorise or permit "any part" of the VAD process.

State laws in Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania are largely silent on institutional conscientious objection.

Source

• The Australian
• Image: iStock

The proposal seeks to ban any discussion of gender diversity in the state's classrooms.

The state's main Catholic education body supports One Nation leader Mark Latham's the bill.

The large Parramatta diocese, however, is lodging a strong objection.

Latham's bill proposes to prohibit the promotion of gender fluidity in schools, including the classroom and teachers' professional development courses.

He says this is about "re-establishing the primacy of parents in shaping their children's development and sense of identity".

The Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta put forward a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into the anti-trans education bill.

The Diocese described the proposal as "counter to promoting and respecting the human dignity of all".

It is "an unacceptable incursion into the professional judgement of Catholic schools and school systems," the submission continued.

If passed, the bill would probably cause discrimination and harassment to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) students," the submission said.

It warned "prohibitions on what can be discussed within the learning process can stigmatise these matters and people whose life experiences are connected to them".

LGBTQI rights group Equality Australia says there is "nothing in this bill which merits further consideration by NSW Parliament,".

They say it denies the existence of trans and gender diverse people, allows parents to withhold important lessons about the world from their children and makes teachers fear dismissal if they acknowledge that trans people exist.

In contrast, Catholic Schools NSW, representing the state's 600 Catholic schools, 30,000 staff and 257,000 students, said parental primacy was paramount.

It supports the anti-trans education bill, with the caveat it must not prevent schools providing pastoral care to LGBTQI students.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, led by Archbishop Anthony Fisher, also supported the bill.

But the Parramatta diocese - which controls 80 schools with 43,000 students in western Sydney and the Blue Mountains - submitted that if parental "rights" clashed with the best interests of children, the latter must prevail.

"The bill not only fails in this regard but conspicuously and deliberately ignores these rights and actively detracts from them," it said.

Greg Whitby, the head of Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta, said his schools had a duty of care to their students, informed by a Catholic world view and with parents "deeply involved".

"It's not for a school or a central office or dare I say even politicians to make those decisions," he said.

"If you seek to codify those things, you are putting a personal perspective on what's right and what's wrong."

Catholic Schools NSW chief executive Dallas McInerney doesn't think the bill denies the existence of trans and gender diverse people.

"[It] is more focused on learning and curriculum and less on the culture wars or individuals. It is around what belongs in scholarship and school instruction and what doesn't.

"Our support for the bill is contingent upon our schools being able to extend all support - pastoral, physical, counselling - [to] these kids in our schools."

Source

• Brisbane Times
• Image: Star Observer

Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli said any coercive practice "is an affront to human dignity."

He said he firmly rejects such harmful acts but added that "nobody is protected when governments seek to determine what prayers are OK to say, or what faith reasonably proposes."

"Who I pray to, how I pray, what I pray for, and most particularly, who I pray with is not of concern to any government," Comensoli says.

"Most mainstream Christian churches reject coercive practices or activities that do harm to LGBT people, and we're ready to work with government to find ways of ensuring that people are protected.

"But the bill goes well and truly beyond that."

Banning and criminalising "conversion therapy" is the most egregious attack on religious freedom the country has ever seen, Australian faith leaders and legal experts say.

Their assessment is the bill's definitions are so broad they could crush any Christian expression of human sexuality.

As it's drafted, homilists, Scripture teachers and parents will face penalties of over US$148,600 or individuals could spend up to 10 years in jail if they fall foul of the new law.

It's not about praying for people who have neither asked for nor wanted conversion therapy.

Any religious practice, including praying for a person at their request in relation to issues concerning their sexual orientation or gender, is included in the draft bill as a criminal offence.

Activities relating to gender transitioning from a person's biological sex to a new gender identity are exempt.

The new law would also empower Victoria's Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to respond to reports of change or suppression practices from any person, not only those directly involved. The Commission would be empowered to launch its own investigations, too.

Any coercive practice "is an affront to human dignity," says Archbishop Peter Comensoli of Melbourne (pictured) says.

Not only does he firmly reject such harmful acts, he says "nobody is protected when governments seek to determine what prayers are OK to say, or what faith reasonably proposes."

John Steenhoff, managing director of the Human Rights Law Alliance also spoke out strongly against the proposal.

The bill is "a direct attack on religion beliefs, and in particular Christianity, and will target those who hold to traditional convictions on sexual orientation and gender identity issues," he says.

"It is far too broad and will legislate extreme ideology, particularly around gender ideology," he says.

In his opinion, the bill represents "thinly veiled ideological compulsion."

Professor of Law Michael Quinlan, also has strong views about the proposal.

Quinlan is the dean of the School of Law, Sydney, at the University of Notre Dame.

Victoria is taking a "very draconian and authoritarian approach which no government should take," he says.

"The proposed Victorian legislation is not only an affront to freedom of religion, it is also an affront to freedom of choice.

"I don't think it should ever be a crime to pray."

Source

• UCA News
• Image: YouTube

In its report on the Children and Community Services Amendment Bill 2019, the Council's legislation committee says:

"Ministers of religion be excused from criminal responsibility [of mandatory reporting] only when the grounds of their belief is based solely on information disclosed during religious confession."

The amendment bill currently says priests must break the confessional seal to report known or suspected child sex abuse.

The committee says whether preserving the confessional seal is appropriate needs further consultation.

It suggests the Council "consult with ministers of religion on non-statutory provisions that would facilitate the effective use of information received during religious confession."

The bill aims to implement some of the recommendations the Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse made in 2017.

Of the over 600 public submissions about the bill, 90 percent were opposed to breaking the confessional seal. Many were from Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

Numerous priests noted the law would be unenforceable, as confessions are usually anonymous.

Archbishop Timothy of Costelloe and Fr. Abram Abdelmalek, an Oriental Orthodox priest, told the committee "they support the introduction of mandatory reporting for ministers of religion, with the exception of the confession."

"The proposed law would render priests who remain faithful to the obligations that they assumed at the time of their ordination… liable to prosecution and conviction as criminals for being faithful to their commitments.

"To make the free practice of an essential part of the Catholic faith illegal seems to me to be something that modern secular societies have always understood to be beyond the limits of their authority."

If a priest heard a confession of child sex abuse they would be responsible to do their best to convince the perpetrator to stop it, Costelloe says.

This may involve persuading the perpetrator to give themselves in to the authorities - and accompanying them to help them do so.

"It is very clear that the priest has a fundamental responsibility to do everything he can without breaking the seal of the confession..."

Asked if Catholic priests would comply with a law requiring the violation of the sacramental seal, Costelloe told the committee:

"Every priest knows what his obligations are, and he knows what the penalties are of not being faithful to those obligations, and he also knows the basis of those obligations, and the basis of the obligations are divine law."

He won't be asking priests to break divine law.

The "well-intentioned" law could make matters worse for victims, Costelloe said.

This is because there is "no chance" a perpetrator could be convinced to do something about it. Nor will victims disclose abuse in the confessional as it wouldn't be confidential.

Several Australian states and territories have adopted laws forcing priests to violate the confessional seal. New South Wales has upheld the seal.

The Vatican has reiterated the seal is inviolable and absolution cannot be conditioned on future actions in the external forum.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Virtue Online

The state of Victoria's Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board reported 124 deaths by assisted suicide and euthanasia since 19 June 19, 2019 when the procedure became legal.

There were 231 permits issued for the procedure that year.

The Board's report says 104 of those who died under the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 committed assisted suicide. A further 20 people were euthanized by a medical practitioner.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrew had predicted there would be ‘a dozen' deaths in the first 12 months."

Victoria Health Minister Jenny Mikakos, of the Australian Labor Party, also expected the number of people seeking assisted suicide or euthanasia to be low initially, and increase in later years. Like Andrew, she thought as few as 12 people would access the scheme.

"We anticipate that once the scheme has been in place for some time, we'll see between 100 and 150 patients access this scheme every year," Mikakos said shortly before the law took effect.

Applicants under the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 ranged in age from 32 to 100, with an average of 71 years of age.

Forty-four percent were female, 55 percent were male and 1 percent were "self-described."

Most applicants - 78 percent - had diagnoses of malignant cancer and 15 percent had neurodegenerative diseases.

Anti-euthanasia advocate and director of HOPE, Branka van der Linden, called the number of deaths and the rate at which they were occuring "alarming.

"Half of those who applied for lethal drugs made their final request for euthanasia less than three weeks after they first requested it," van der Linden said.

"That's not a lot of time for reflection, for alternative options to be offered and explored, or for the necessary support to be provided."

Archbishop Peter Comensoli of Melbourne said the number of suicides was "heartbreaking."

The attitude toward death contradicts the extreme cautionary measures being put in place for the coronavirus pandemic, he noted.

"The whole state is making sacrifices to protect people from COVID-19 while on the other hand public hospitals are encouraging assisted suicide," Comensoli told The Catholic Weekly. "The contradiction is baffling for many doctors."

Tasmania is currently debating a bill that would legalize assisted suicide for Tasmanian residents 18 years of age and older, who "have decision-making capacity, (are) acting voluntarily, and have a relevant medical condition."

Tasmania rejected a similar bill in 2013.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: ABC News

During the past year Australian's resilience has been tested with the country coping with droughts and deadly bushfires followed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the uncertainty that goes with it.

"People experiencing mental ill-health are not some ‘other' people, they are ‘us'," Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president and Brisbane Archbishop, Mark Coleridge says.

In the foreword to the bishops' 2020-21 social justice statement, To Live Life to the Full: Mental Health in Australia Today, Coleridge writes:

"People in our families, faith communities, workplaces and society are suffering mental ill-health - and they can be of any age or socioeconomic background."

"It is surely time for us to make mental health a real priority, so that all people may know the fullness of life which Jesus offers (John 10:10)."

Australia's recent bushfires were implicated in over 400 deaths. They displaced entire small towns, and destroyed homes and businesses.

Their impact that has caused "environmental-related anxieties," and "led to resignation and loss of hope",,the bishops' statement says, noting:

• Suicide rates in rural and remote communities are 66 per cent higher than in major cities
• The greater frequency and intensity of weather-related disasters amplify the impact climate change is having on mental health
• The Covid-19 pandemic makes us recognise our vulnerability and we realise that we are not in control
• Our daily routines have been disrupted
• Over a million people have lost their jobs or been stood down
• Our workplaces and churches have been closed
• We have been forced to isolate ourselves from others
• Many people will be distressed or relive previous trauma through the impact the virus is having in their lives

Besides commenting on recent crises, the bishops also address other issues contributing to the mental health crisis.

"Mental health can be seen as a continuum," they say.

"At one end are people who are feeling well and coping with the demands of daily life. This is the case for 60 per cent of all Australians," the statement says.

"At the other end are people experiencing mental illness."

The interplay of poor mental health, homelessness and incarceration, and the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people on key measures of disadvantage including mental ill-health are all issues the bishops' social justice statement raises.

Besides costing Australia billions of dollars in expenses and lost revenue, the bishops say the real cost of mental illness denies a person's human dignity and their right to live life to the full.

"It is a rejection of the gifts that they have to offer and their membership in the Body of Christ.

"Our parishes, organisations and communities should be places of acceptance, care and healing, not places of rejection or judgement.

"Furthermore, as Pope Francis constantly reminds us, we have to take the initiative to go out to those pushed to the edges, rather than waiting for them to come to us seeking welcome."

Source

• The Tablet
• The Catholic Leader
• Image: Australian Catholic Social Justice Council

The destruction of the caves at Juukan Gorge in May devastated the Traditional Owners, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) people, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities around Australia, leaving many in disbelief. Read more

If implemented, the wide-ranging recommendations would reshape the administrative and financial control of dioceses and parishes. These controls would be reallocated between the clergy and laypeople, with an increased role for women.

Last month Australia's bishops considered the report, "The Light from the Southern Cross: Promoting Co-Responsible Governance in the Catholic Church in Australia."

The 86-recommendation report was the work of the Implementation Advisory Group's Governance Review Project Team. It was initiated by the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference (ACBC) a year ago.

It responds to a key recommendation of Australia's landmark Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The governance report was written by 14 people, handpicked lay and clergy and women — from Australia as well as international experts.

The report had originally been delivered to the Australian bishops in early May and kept confidential to allow the prelates time to digest its contents.

However, it was leaked to La Croix International on June 1.

A spokesman for the bishops said: "The version that has been published is not the final document."

"One of the reasons for the delay of the report's release was the need for some corrections and clarifications. That process has commenced and is likely to take several weeks."

"There is also a need to discern how and when various recommendations might best be considered, not least in light of the upcoming assemblies of the Plenary Council."

Two of the report's authors say any changes would be minor tweaks.

The report recommends bishops would be required to have a 'college of consultors'.

These consultors would include laymen as well as laywomen. They would be consulted on appointments and finances. In addition, bishops would be required to consult with independent subject matter experts when appropriate.

Dioceses and parishes would have to establish pastoral councils and introduce more transparency. This will include regularly auditing finances and child safeguards. Bishops' conference would be required to make the process of selecting bishops transparent.

"The absence of public consultation, together with the opaqueness of the selection process, leaves all but the select few consulted in the dark and calls into question its efficacy," the report says of the current process.

Source

• UCA News
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Crux Now

McCrindle Research said that about a third of Australians increased their prayer and other spiritual activities during the March and April lockdown, with 26 per cent wanting to retain that aspect of life going forward.

In looking at how people have been affected by COVID-19, it also showed that many enjoyed and would like to maintain a slower and more sustainable pace of life (49 per cent) with an emphasis on close relationships. More than half of Australians (52 per cent) spent more time with their family or household members and want this to continue. Read more

After Morrison's discussions with both sectors on Wednesday, the Association of Independent Schools New South Wales has written to its members backing his position to keep schools open and noting the prime minister had warned "there were certain expectations attached to the recurrent funding provided by the Australian Government to Catholic and independent schools".

It comes as the shadow education minister, Tanya Plibersek, has written to her counterpart, Dan Tehan, suggesting that while the opposition has been "responsible and constructive" in its comments on school closures it wants assurances the government is "properly preparing for … when they do occur" including ensuring essential services workers can continue to go to work. Read more

The review was announced during an ongoing police investigation into an allegation of sexual misconduct against Saunders.

The allegation was made 18 months ago and involve claims that Saunders sexually abused boys several decades ago.

No details have been publicly released about the abuse allegations, other than that the two alleged victims are male.

Dates, locations and the nature of the alleged abuse has not been publicly released.

Western Australia Police say they do not make comments about accusations against specific individuals.

Church authorities are not drawing a connection between the police investigation and the Vatican's decision to review the Broome diocese.

"The Holy See, conscious of the particular situation in the Diocese ... and concerned for the pastoral care of the clergy, religious and laity ..., has appointed Most Reverend Peter W Ingham, Emeritus Bishop of Wollongong, Apostolic Visitator to the Diocese... " Costelloe announced.
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"Bishop Christopher Saunders … has voluntarily stood aside from the ordinary administration of the diocese for the duration of the visitation," he said.

This will "allow the Apostolic Visitator the freedom to carry out his duties," while the "day-to-day running of the Diocese will be the responsibility of Monsignor Paul Boyers."

Saunders testified before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2017.

At that time, he said the church had failed to respond appropriately to the problems raised by the commission.

He also told commissioners data indicating one in 10 priests in the Perth Archdiocese were abusing children had left the organisation in a "state of shock".

He suggested greater psychological testing for priests and seminarians as a key method to help stop and expose abusers.

Source

• ABC
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: ABC