A committee from Western Australia’s Legislative Council recommends preserving the confessional seal. 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 Read more
The Australian state of Victoria has reported more than ten times the anticipated number of deaths from assisted suicide and euthanasia in its first legal year. 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 Read more
Australia’s Catholic bishops have identified a looming mental health crisis as their priority social justice focus this year. 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 Read more
Thirty five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and human rights organisations have called on the global Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB), based in the Netherlands, to strip Rio Tinto of its status as a global human rights leader, following the company’s blasting of a 46,000 year old Aboriginal sacred site in the Pilbara region, Western Read more
Australia’s bishops and religious are considering recommendations for changing the governance of the Church. 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 Read more
Australians have turned to prayer during the coronavirus pandemic, with many wanting to spend more time growing their faith once restrictions are lifted, according to a new study. 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 Read more
Scott Morrison has used the threat of withdrawing independent and Catholic schools’ recurrent funding to enlist their support in keeping non-government schools open during the Covid-19 crisis. 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 Read more
The bishop of Broome, Western Australia, Christopher Saunders, has voluntarily stepped down after the Vatican ordered a review into the Broome diocese. 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 Read more
The head of the Australian bishops’ conference, Archbishop Mark Coleridge, is in Rome for high-level discussions before the Church in Australia’s first plenary council since Vatican II. The plenary council is set to begin in Adelaide October. During his two-week trip to Rome, Coleridge will meet with senior curial figures and Pope Francis. They will Read more
Papua New Guinea (PNG) should discuss resettling Manus Island refugees in New Zealand, says the Catholic Church in PNG. The general secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG, Giorgio Licini, wrote to PNG’s Prime Minister James Marape in January about this. In the letter Licini reminded Marape of New Zealand’s long standing offer to Read more