Public commentator, author, and founding editor of online journal Public Discourse, Ryan T. Anderson is currently on his way from New Jersey for a second Australian tour. Ryan’s tour comes just after the publication of his latest book When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment, released in February this year. It seeks to […]
It was 12.35am local time, just after midnight, on the Indonesian prison island of Nusakambangan, 29 April 2015. The night-time silence was shattered by the crack of ninety-six rounds fired simultaneously. This was not the first time the sound has been heard in Nusakambangan, the island where Indonesian authorities carry out state executions. On the […]
Wednesday is fast becoming my least favourite day. Yesterday, Victorian Parliament took another axe to the fifth commandment, with the Upper House at 4:10pm voting yes for euthanasia – 22 votes to 18. The Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill will be returned, with amendments, to the Lower House for a final vote. If passed, the bill […]
This November, Australia will receive a visit from 35-year old Frenchman, Benjamin Blanchard, co-founder and directing manager of the charity SOS Chrétiens d’Orient (Christians of the East), which sends volunteers and aid to the persecuted Christians in the Middle East. In his two-week visit to Australia, Benjamin hopes to raise not just awareness, but $150,000, […]
Up to $15 million of desperately-needed funds for thousands of palliative care patients will be diverted to about 150 people who want assisted suicide each year if the Victorian euthanasia bill becomes law. Professor David Kissane, Head of Psychiatry at Monash University, warned that the two euthanasia Bills facing VIC and, shortly, NSW, redirect much-needed […]
After nearly ten years of waiting in visa-limbo, the Lee family is at last able to “call Australia home”. Following front-page coverage by The Catholic Weekly on 6 August, representation from two Melbourne MPs and advocacy from a multicultural lobby organisation the Lees received a letter granting them a Permanent Residence Visa on 10 August. […]
After TV journalist, Andrew Denton, had his famous “conversion” to euthanasia, he described his father’s last moments in harrowing detail. Likening Kit Denton’s final struggle with heart failure to “waterboarding”, he explained watched his father spend “all day, every day fighting for breath.” “Watching my father Kit die remains the most profoundly shocking experience of […]
Last month, the Department of Immigration’s decision to send 88 Coptic Christians to Egypt was reversed due to media attention and public pressure. Friends, parishioners and associates are hoping for the same result for the Lee family of Melbourne who, in a shock decision announced on Friday 21 July, have been given until August 3 […]
Professor John Bergsma is Full Professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. He is visiting Australia this week, spending two days in Sydney (18-19) and three days in Perth (20-22) on a tour sponsored by Parousia Media. While he might not be a household name in Australia – yet – the Old […]
A major international prize recognising outstanding humanitarian work has been awarded to an American Catholic doctor for his selfless work over a decade in the war-torn Nuba mountains of South Sudan. The Aurora Prize awards a staggering $US1.1 million (approximately A$1,450,000) to a person who displays selfless courage and hope in the service of humanitarianism. […]
After public pressure, media spotlighting and a Change.org petition, the Department of Immigration has granted asylum visas to Sydney-based Coptic Christian family Ashraf Boshra and his wife Amany along with their three daughters, Maria, 24, Mira, 19 and Monica, 13. This comes as a huge relief to the family, who were told just two weeks ago […]
“They killed her last night.” These were the first words Michael Griffith said to me the morning after his play, The Magnolia Tree, premiered in La Mama Theatre, Melbourne on Wednesday 17 May. The Magnolia Tree centres around three disconnected siblings – Jack (Ezra Bix), Vicki (Helen Hopkins) and Deb (Rohana Hayes) – who have […]
