Author: John Sanderson

Media Release from Archbishop Freier, writing as the Primate of the Anglican Church in Australia

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Don’t drop Indigenous recognition, Church pleads

 

Constitutional recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander has dropped increasingly below the Federal Government’s radar, but it is vital if Australia’s Indigenous people are to flourish, according to the head of the Anglican Church in Australia, Melbourne Archbishop Philip Freier.

Dr Freier, who is the Primate of Australia, said the fate of the plebiscite on same-sex marriage – abandoned over fears of a divisive debate – must not be allowed to determine the course of a referendum on Indigenous recognition.

The Anglican Church is moving to support constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Church’s own constitution. The Standing Committee, which governs the church between the three yearly national synods, has asked the national Public Affairs Commission and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council to consider the best ways to do so.

Meeting last week, the Standing Committee resolved to support recognition at the Federal Parliamentary level, including removing powers to make laws on the basis of race while allowing the Commonwealth to make laws to overcome disadvantage, ameliorate past discrimination and protect culture, language and heritage.

Dr Freier said he was concerned at the latest delay to the proposed referendum on constitutional recognition from May 2017 until the year after at the earliest, which followed “a long history of this issue being deferred”. He said he hoped it did not “signify a reduced commitment to this opportunity for important change before the Australian people”.

The probable desire of Indigenous Australians for any constitutional change to include giving the First Nations people treaty-making powers would need strong bipartisan support to succeed, he said.

November 23, 2016

MEDIA RELEASE: AFL’s scheduled Good Friday match in 2017 another win for market, not for people, says Anglican bishop

26 October, 2016

AFL’s scheduled Good Friday match in 2017 another win for market, not for people, says Anglican bishop

The AFL’s decision to schedule a match on Good Friday for the first time in 2017 is another win for the relentless and commodifying logic of the market overwhelming all other considerations, Bishop Philip Huggins, an Assistant Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, said today.

Bishop Huggins, a passionate Geelong supporter, said the decision showed that after years of respecting the sanctity of Good Friday for millions of Australians, including football fans, the AFL had succumbed to market forces for which holy days/holidays were just another opportunity to make a profit.

“We have always been ‘kicking against the wind’ but the AFL has been one entity that has exercised restraint – not least because many people of faith who also enjoy football have conveyed the depth of their feeling about Good Friday,” Bishop Huggins said.

“But now, in 2017AD, this is to change.

“The trouble with this approach to life is that the heart dies a little each time the relentless and commodifying logic of the market overwhelms all other considerations. Even the most sacred days, for which our forebears had the wisdom to make holy(i) days, are then invaded.

“We are then left with a society full of products but short of meaning. That is what is happening and no amount of marketing spin fills the void.”

Bishop Huggins said Good Friday was Good because it spoke to people about the profound love of God, so visible in Jesus.

“The meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection is so profound that our forebears knew they needed separate days – holy days – to take this in and live by the truth it revealed,” he said. “They knew, for their own sakes, that they must keep these days free of distraction.

“Hence, we in the Anglican Church have taken a lead in reminding our community of this wisdom amidst the endless marketing of more products to distract and trivialise the gift of life, even on holy days.

“The fact that faithful fans will be hurt and further alienated is swept aside as a consideration. Behind the rationales lies mere greed – greed and a refusal to think there is any wisdom in traditions that have fed the souls of millions for countless centuries, across all kinds of cultures.”

Bishop Huggins said the AFL’s restraint until now in not scheduling matches on Good Friday when other codes had done so was appreciated and he urged the League to reconsider its decision to change this practice, even at this stage.

 

 

Media release: Melbourne Anglicans act against sexual abuse

The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne will set up an independent body to investigate sexual abuse complaints, based on a company structure with its own board of directors.

The move is included in new sexual abuse Church legislation aimed at improving transparency, independence and avenues of redress for victims, partly in response to the Royal Commission and the 2013 Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry.

The Church’s synod – more than 600 clergy and laypeople – meeting at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne voted to approve the new legislation. The new complaint body is separate from the diocese and the Archbishop, and can work across any number of dioceses.

Urging the synod to adopt the protocols, Melbourne registrar Ken Spackman said: “There’s a need to act, and there’s a need to act now because we know enough to know what we should be doing.”

Mr Spackman said Royal Commission chairman Peter McClellan had spoken twice to meetings of Anglican bishops and “dismissed the difficulties that we have”.

“He has come back to ‘You have the ability to act if you wish, and you should wish’, and we do wish and this is why we are before you tonight.”

The Chancellor, Michael Shand QC, said the bill had seen 21 published versions since preparation began in 2014, and the final version could serve as a model for other dioceses. Legally binding on all church members in the diocese, the bill “mandates a caring and transparent process, one with compassion, integrity, clarity and respect for all involved”.

He said each of the five Victorian Anglican dioceses had incorporated, which meant for each diocese there was a body legally accountable for abuse, and each had conducted independent audits of abuse cases.

He said several Royal Commission hearings heard “horrific evidence of persistent child abuse by (Anglican) clergy and others” that caused incalculable damage to survivors and their families, and called into question the conduct of diocesan bishops at the time.

Mr Shand said the abuse had diminished the church in the eyes of the community and some of its members, had betrayed faithful Christians, and damaged the credibility of the Christian message.

The bill has now been adopted by Melbourne and Bendigo, with Wangaratta, Ballarat and Gippsland dioceses due to consider it next year.