Religion News Selection
August 21 – 28, 2022
A selection of religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
ABUSE
Judge’s ruling paves way for choirboy’s father to sue church and Pell (Brisbane Times)
Aug 24 – A Victorian court has ruled the father of a former choirboy who prosecutors had alleged was sexually abused by George Pell can pursue civil action against both the cardinal and the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, in a judgment that could pave the way for other families to sue the church.
ANGLICAN CHURCH
‘Warning bells’: Anglican rebels can’t back both sides, bishops say (Brisbane Times)
Aug 24 – Anglican bishops are cautioning church leaders they face serious conflict of interest questions if they support a new breakaway movement, as a former judge says legal warning bells are ringing already over the rebels’ use of the word Anglican.
EDUCATION
Christian schools fear closure if WA discrimination laws strengthened (Sydney Morning Herald)
Aug 23 – The peak body representing Christian schools has “grave concerns” schools will close if new laws dramatically reducing their ability to preference staff and students of faith go ahead.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Catholic Church
‘Two popes too many’: Is the world ready for three living popes? (Brisbane Times)
Aug 22 – London: When, in 1294, Celestine V stood aside as pope after five miserable months in the job, he vowed to the church he would return to his previous life as a hermit and head for a cave in the Abruzzi mountains.
Religious Violence
Protests in India over release of 11 men jailed for gang rape (The Guardian, Australia)
Aug 28 – Hundreds of people have held demonstrations in several parts of India to protest against a recent government decision to free 11 men who had been jailed for life for gang raping a Muslim woman during India’s 2002 religious riots.
Other
Revealed: leaked video shows Amy Coney Barrett’s secretive faith group drove women to tears (The Guardian, Australia)
Aug 26 – The People of Praise, a secretive Christian faith group that counts the conservative supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett as a member, considered women’s obedience and subservience to men as one of its key early teachings, according to leaked remarks and writings of the wife of the group’s founder.
