Religion News Selection

May 10 – 17, 2020

A selection of religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

 

ABUSE

Clergy abuse survivor draws support for petition to defrock Pell (ABC News)
May 11 – A petition started by a clergy abuse survivor has received more than 30,000 signatures supporting his call for Cardinal George Pell to be defrocked.

Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale sentenced to 10 years’ jail for sexual abuse of boys in 1970s (ABC News)
May 14  – Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale will spend at least another three years in jail after pleading guilty to 14 new offences committed against young boys under his care.

Catholic brother nicknamed ‘The Rat’ jailed for sex abuse of four Traralgon schoolboys (ABC News)
May 16  – Marist brother Gerard Joseph McNamara, 82, has begun his second stint in prison after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting Traralgon school boys in the 1970s.

EDUCATION

The dog fight over school funding that went all the way to the High Court (ABC News)
May 13  – The battle over school funding heats up every year.

ISLAM

Drugs and alcohol are forbidden for Muslims, but this rehab clinic is taking the shame out of addiction (ABC News)
May 14  – When Mohammad began taking drugs in his late teens, his behaviour wasn’t just illegal, it was forbidden by his faith.

The coronavirus surveillance that’s triggering memories for Sydney’s Uyghur community (ABC News)
May 14  – When Fatimah Abdulghafar takes a walk outside her home in Merrylands in Western Sydney, she feels watched.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Church in Australia selling bleach as a coronavirus treatment fined $151,200 (ABC News)
May 17  – The Australian chapter of an international church selling and promoting bleach as a cure for COVID-19 has been issued infringement notices totalling $151,200.