A commission of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference gave a statement to a senate committee in their nation last month.

The committee was making an inquiry into the harm of Internet pornography.

"Children have a right to be children, away from the pressures applied by advertising and other images on television and the Internet for them to dress and act as mini-adults," the bishops' commission stated.

"Bombarding children with sexualized images can hurt their normal development."

Continue reading

Former Australian cabinet minister Senator Eric Abetz put up the motion in the senate on Thursday.

This was on the same day as it was confirmed that Tasmania's anti-discrimination commissioner is to conduct an investigation into the pamphlet.

The pamphlet, which is a letter from Australia's Catholic bishops, was distributed to Catholic schools throughout the nation earlier this year.

It outlines the Church's stance against changing Australia's Marriage Act to include same-sex couples.

The senate motion by Mr Abetz was brought with some crossbench support.

The motion stated that: "The senate, while not expressing a view on the contents of the booklet issued by the Australian Catholic bishops conference entitled ‘Don't Mess with Marriage', fully supports the rights of members of the Catholic Church, including Archbishop Julian Porteous [of Hobart], to distribute it."

Labor and the Greens joined forces to block the motion before it got put to a vote.

Mr Abetz said that the two parties shut down the basic right of freedom of speech.

"Free speech is a key pillar of our society and the tricky tactics used by Labor in an effort to shut down debate and run a protection racket for the extreme Greens flies in the face of the open discussion we should be having about marriage," he said.

Labor senator Claire Moore said it was "simply not appropriate for the senate to determine a position on this matter", while a case was being decided.

Greens senator Robert Simms said: "The Australian Greens support free speech in this country, but we recognise that freedom of speech is a limited concept in any democracy.

"We believe that the right to express a view should be balanced against the rights of members of our community to feel safe and secure from persecution and discrimination."

Mr Abetz has promised to bring back the motion to the senate.

Sources

• Guardian Australia
• Guardian Australia
• Sydney Catholic
• Image: Sydney Morning Herald

Victorian Greens Senator Richard Di Natale moved on February 13 that the prayer be replaced with the following words: "Senators, let us in silence pray or reflect upon our responsibilities to the people of Australia, to the states and territories which we represent, and to all future generations."

But the 76-member Senate overwhelmingly rejected the move when senators from the governing Liberal-National coalition and the Opposition Labor Party failed to support the motion.

Senator Di Natale, who had described the prayer as "an anachronism", told Parliament that Australia had a clear separation between Church and state.

"We live in a country of many different faiths - in fact, a country where many people have no faith - and a modern Australian parliament should reflect that," he said.

"We do say that there should be some opportunity for reflection or, indeed, prayer, if people feel that way, and that is why we would like to see a minute at the start of each day in this place being offered for that reason."

The Government's upper house leader, Senator Eric Abetz of Tasmania, said the move was "the latest Green attack as part of their ongoing attempt to rewrite our history and deny our heritage", while Queensland Labor Senator Claire Moore said her party did not support the motion because the place of the Lord's Prayer was part of a review already being conducted by the Senate's Procedure Committee.

A petition from the Presbyterian Church of Australia in 1901, the year the six Australian colonies formed a federation, led to the inclusion of a prayer at the commencement of each sitting day.

The Senate President precedes the Lord's Prayer with the words "Almighty God, we humbly beseech Thee to vouchsafe Thy special blessing upon this Parliament, and that Thou wouldst be pleased to direct and prosper the work of Thy servants to the advancement of Thy glory, and to the true welfare of the people of Australia".

Sources

• The Tablet
• Christian Today Australia
• Image: Lifesitenews

The recent United States elections resulted in the highest-ever number of Catholics in Congress, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

The 161 Catholics make up 30.4 per cent of all seats in the Senate and House of Representatives — well above the Catholic share of 22 per cent of the adult population. Catholic Democrats outnumber Catholic Republicans — by 18 to 9 in the Senate and by 73 to 61 in the House.

Continue reading