Religion News Selection

June 12 – 19, 2022

A selection of religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

 

EDUCATION

Parents at Sydney Anglican school St Catherine’s reject ‘hurtful’ anti-same-sex marriage statement (The Guardian, Australia)
June 24 – Parents at Sydney Anglican school St Catherine’s are preparing for a fight after publicly rejecting a new requirement for incoming principals to sign a statement that marriage is between a man and a woman, with some same-sex parents saying the statement is deeply hurtful.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Catholic Church

Pope hails families, blasts ‘culture of waste’ after Roe (Sydney Morning Herald)
June 26 – Rome: Pope Francis celebrated families on Saturday and urged them to shun “selfish” decisions that are indifferent to life as he closed out a big Vatican rally a day after the US Supreme Court ended constitutional protections for abortion.

Other

Thousands flock back to Stonehenge to welcome back ‘euphoric’ summer solstice (ABC News)
June 22 – Thousands of people from all walks of life have flocked to greet the summer solstice at Stonehenge to mark the longest day of the northern hemisphere year.

How the Christian right took over the judiciary and changed America (The Guardian, Australia)
June 25 – The supreme court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which reverses the constitutional abortion rights that American women have enjoyed over the past 50 years, has come as a surprise to many voters. A majority, after all, support

ISLAM

Australian Muslims ‘devastated’ by Saudi Arabia’s new Hajj pilgrimage lottery (ABC News)
June 22 – As 1 million Muslims have been preparing to make the journey of a lifetime to Islam’s holiest sites, the Saudi government has made a surprise announcement that has devastated Islamic communities across Australia and the Western world.