In this reflection for the CatholicCare Sydney staff newsletter for October 2015, Sandie Cornish considers the importance of the language that we use to speak about people and policy matters. We need to take Pope Francis’ lead and choose language that is loving, liberating and truthful. How we speak about… Read More »Loving, Liberating and Truthful Language
In this reflection for the April 2015 CatholicCare Sydney staff newsletter, Sandie Cornish ponders the effect of William Morris’ criteria for retaining household objects. William Morris & a Minimalist Approach to People “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”… Read More »A Minimalist Approach to People?
Pope Francis’ World Day of Peace Message for 2015, No Longer Slaves, but Brothers and Sisters,focuses on slavery today and the need for solidarity. Relationships & God’s Plan for Us Pope Francis places the social, or relational, nature of human beings at the centre of God’s plan for us. He… Read More »World Day of Peace Message 2015
The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Migrant and Refugee Office have put Australia’s Senators on notice that they have a moral choice to make. Legislation coming before the upper house of the national parliament places the human dignity of asylum seekers at risk: “The Asylum Legacy Caseload Bill undermines Australian values stating… Read More »Asylum Seekers at Risk, Especially Children
Catholic Social Services Australia invited me to reflect on recent developments in civil society from the perspective of Catholic Social Teaching. Here’s what I said to their Leadership Forum in Canberra on 21 October 2014.
Catholic Social Teaching has a lot to say about recent developments in the relationship between civil society and the state. I will comment on three matters: the notion of entitlement; what Catholic Social Teaching has to say about the role of civil society and of the state; and Benedict XVI’s thinking on the logic of gift in the market.Read More »Civil Society & the State
When allowing or not allowing people to cross the frontiers into our countries, or to enter our cultures, communities, or personal lives, do we effectively judge some people to be useless, out of place or disposable? People are not things to be used. Everyone has a place in the human… Read More »Church without Frontiers