Church News

Video Christmas message 2014 by the Anglican Primate of Australia

18 December 2014

Christmas: the promise of a different future

Video Christmas message 2014 by the Anglican Primate of Australia, Melbourne Archbishop Philip Freier

As the world becomes more focused on its sea of troubles it is easy to believe the fracture lines between peoples are inevitably etched deeply on our future.

The world into which Jesus was born had this same heavy weight of foreboding. His own people, the Jews, chafed under the heel of the Roman Empire, and his family knew displacement and exile.

Christmas celebrates God’s action in human affairs to give a different future, one of peace, reconciliation and hope.

Christians understand that the birth of Jesus is the fulfilment of God’s promise to renew our relationship with him. Even at his birth Jesus serves to unify many of these deeply etched identities in the ancient world, be they poor shepherds watching their flocks or oriental monarchs.

Christmas tells us about the unfolding of God’s promise then and now. It tells us about the direction of God’s working amongst people. And it challenges our imaginations as we look at the world.

Australians of every background can find good reason to be dismayed about contemporary events near and far. Conflict is part of the human condition. But Jesus’ birth points us all to a different reality. His birth reveals a power to change and transform that is greater than ourselves.

The baby of Bethlehem remains the glory of God’s people and a light to enlighten all those who live apart from God. He is the one sent from God to change human existence one person at a time and for all of us together.

Have a blessed celebration of Jesus’ birth and may your Christmas bring you the knowledge of his love and peace.

To view the Christmas message, visit www.melbourneanglican.org.au/christmas

The Anglican Primate of Australia speaks on the Sydney hostage tragedy

HOW DID HE HAVE A GUN?

A statement by the Anglican Primate of Australia, Melbourne Archbishop Philip Freier

Anglicans, like all Australians, share the shock and grief at the tragedy that unfolded yesterday and this morning at the Lindt Chocolat Café in Martin Place, Sydney.

Such an event makes everyone feel a little less safe as we go about our daily activities. It is important now that we value and build community harmony as we all struggle to come to terms with the siege, and the death of two hostages and the hostage-taker.

One question we hope the authorities will address at the appropriate time is how Man Haron Monis came to have a gun. He was known to the police, was on bail on charges of being an accessory to the murder of his wife and on 40 counts of sexual assault, and had threatened the families of Australian soldiers killed on active service. Did he acquire the firearm legally? Is it time to re-examine our firearm regulations and their enforcement?

It is certainly time for a renewed effort to make Australian society free of gun violence.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all who were caught up in this appalling incident.

The Most Revd. Dr Philip Freier, Anglican Primate of Australia and Archbishop of Melbourne

Times for Christmas Services

CHRISTMAS SERVICES FOR 2014

Sunday 21st December at 9pm
 Service of Carols and Lessons by Candlelight

Wednesday 24th December – Christmas Eve
6pm   Special Christmas Service for Children followed by a sausage sizzle
11.30pm  Midnight Mass and Carols.

Christmas Morning Service
9am Sung Eucharist, traditional service followed by refreshments in the courtyard

MEDIA RELEASE: New migration bill ‘a disaster for human dignity’

anglican

27 November, 2014

New migration bill “a disaster for human dignity”

The Government’s proposed new migration laws are the most draconian since White Australia, and will deprive asylum seekers of human dignity and the most basic human rights, according to ethicist Revd Dr Gordon Preece, chairman of the Social Responsibilities Committee of the Melbourne Anglican Church.

“When a massive increase in the bill of human misery is being prepared for asylum seekers, we self-interestedly ask for whom the bill tolls, forgetting that as part of humanity, it also tolls for us,” Dr Preece said.

He urged the Senate to speak up for unrepresented and de-voiced asylum seekers as they did last week for victims of unscrupulous financial advisers, and to reject the proposed Migration and Maritime Powers bill, which has passed through the lower house.

“Will the Senate again refuse railroading by short-term national self-interest for the sake of justice, compassion and prudence?”

Dr Preece said the bill was barbaric, because it unilaterally removed references to the universally recognised cornerstone of refugee protection, the UN Refugees Convention. It would be a disaster for human dignity and for accountability.

For example, asylum seekers’ babies, even if born here, were rendered stateless, creating “profound, negative effects on children’s identities and development, and greater risks of children experiencing labour and sexual exploitation, trafficking, poverty and discrimination,” (UNICEF Australia), he said. They would be denied health care, legal protection, education and job opportunities, on top of a detention system that 80 per cent of paediatricians labelled child abuse.

Dr Preece said the Senate should again stand against a short-term nationalistic self-interest. “Turkey have welcomed 1.8 million Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Its PM told the G20: ‘we cannot close our borders because they are … our neighbours, but before everything they are human beings’.”

For more information, contact:
Dr Gordon Preece on 0401 653 328 or preece.gordon@hotmail.com<mailto:preece.gordon@hotmail.com>

Melbourne Anglican communications adviser Barney Zwartz on 0422 373 891, or bzwartz@melbourneanglican.org.au<mailto:bzwartz@melbourneanglican.org.au>.