Religion News Australia 2016 - 22 (May 29

Religion News Australia 2016 - 22 (May 29 - June 5)

(05 June 16)
by Greg Spearritt

Religion News Australia

May 29 – June 5, 2016

Religion news stories from Australia

(Research: Greg Spearritt)

abuse / arts & entertainment / international stories / islam / politics / religion & society

ABUSE

Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale's name scratched from St Patrick's College honour board (ABC News)
May 31 - A black line has been put through the name of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale on the board of ordained collegians at St Patrick's College in Ballarat to acknowledge the victims of abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy.

Australian principal accused of 74 child sex charges walks free in Israel (ABC News)
June 3 - The former principal of an ultra-Orthodox girls school in Melbourne has been ruled mentally unfit to face extradition and had her home detention lifted in a move that has shocked and deeply concerned Australian officials.

Abuse principal ‘must return’ (The Australian)
June 4 – (Opinion: Cameron Stewart) Australia must step up pressure on Israel over the extradition of a former school principal accused of sex offences.

Pope Francis to investigate, remove bishops if found negligent in sexual abuse cases (ABC News)
June 5 - Bishops found to be "negligent" when dealing with cases of sexual abuse will be investigated and could be removed from office, a papal decree says.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

God Willing review: Italian comedy follows dad's farcical efforts to 'save' son (The Age, Melbourne)
June 5 – (Review) Tommaso (Marco Giallini), the rigorous Roman doctor at the centre of this pleasant if less than taxing Italian comedy, has no need for a higher power – he's happy answering to himself.

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Catholic Church

Pope meets beauty vloggers, says they do a 'great thing' (Sydney Morning Herald)
June 1 - The Pope has praised beauty vlogs in an audience with YouTube stars on Sunday.

Religious Violence

IS amass Fallujah human shields (The Australian)
May 31 - Elite Iraqi special forces begin their push into Fallujah and encounter stiff resistance from Islamic State.

Also: Isis fighting back as Iraqi forces try to take centre of Falluja (The Guardian, Australia)
May 31 - Iraqi forces faced tough resistance from Islamic State fighters as they attempted to enter the centre of Falluja, where there are fears for tens of thousands of trapped civilians.

Also: ISIS resists Fallujah onslaught (The Australian)
June 1 - At least 50,000 trapped residents see ‘death at the door’ as Iraqi troops advance.

Also: ISIS, Fallujah: Loss of city would be fatal blow to embattled terror group, expert says (news.com.au)
June 1 - ISLAMIC State is facing its toughest fight yet as Iraqi special forces launch a deadly fight to the end to reclaim the strategic city of Fallujah

Also: Islamic State using hundreds of families as human shields to protect Fallujah: United Nations (news.com.au)
June 1 - ISLAMIC State forces are holding several hundred families as “human shields” in the Iraqi city of Fallujah while government forces close in, the United Nations refugee agency says.

Syrian army enters Raqqa province in offensive against Islamic State as Kurds advance from north (ABC News)
June 5 - Russian-backed Syrian troops pushed into the Islamic State (IS) group's bastion province Raqqa, threatening to catch the jihadists as US-backed Kurdish-led fighters advance from the north.

Boko Haram extremists kill dozens of soldiers in Niger military base (The Guardian, Australia)
June 5 - Hundreds of Boko Haram extremists attacked a military post in Niger near the country’s border with Nigeria, killing at least 32 soldiers, Niger’s defense ministry said on Saturday.

Other

Migrant crisis: Dalai Lama says Germany 'cannot become an Arab country'(Sydney Morning Herald)
June 1 - Speaking to German reporters in the de facto capital of Tibet's exiled government, the Dalai Lama apparently said that "too many" refugees are seeking asylum in Europe.

The tiny village home to Italy’s shaman healer (news.com.au)
June 4 - FORGET deep Africa or Papua New Guinea. There’s an artist-healer who inhabits Italy’s rugged Apennine mountains.

Hindu cult in India ran own pseudo-government, torture prisons, police say (ABC News)
June 5 - Police in India say a mysterious cult at the centre of deadly clashes was running its own pseudo-government, army, court and a prison where torture was the norm.

ISLAM

On missing family, religious harmony, and being a Muslim in regional Australia (ABC News)
June 1 - Hussein Megahed looks out his shopfront onto the streets of Armidale in Northern NSW and sees people from all nationalities.

Refugee takes David and Goliath fight to News Corp (Brisbane Times)
June 2 - "ISLAM MUST CHANGE", screamed the Herald Sun headline, and Muslim refugee Aladdin Sisalem - no stranger to conflict with News Corp Australia - took action.

Muhammad Ali taught me to be proud of my skin and Muslim faith (The Guardian, Australia)
June 5 – (Opinion: Omar Musa) Once, when I was a child growing up in Australia, I got teased by another kid because I had brown skin.

POLITICS

Catholic archdiocese defends nuns accused of defacing Sex party poster (The Guardian, Australia)
June 4 - The Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne has defended the Missionaries of Charity after a photograph emerged purporting to show two nuns from the order defacing a Sex party poster calling for the church to be taxed and marijuana to be legalised.

RELIGION & SOCIETY

Australian Christian Lobby likens gay marriage and Safe Schools to 'unthinkable' Nazi atrocities (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 31 - The Australian Christian Lobby has compared same-sex marriage and the Safe Schools program to the Holocaust, dubbing them all "unthinkable things" that happened because societies lacked strong moral guardians.

New Uniting Church leader says husband's suicide made her more compassionate (ABC News)
June 3 - New Uniting Church leader Sharon Hollis says the experience of losing her husband to suicide has made her more compassionate and understanding of human suffering.

Church threat over gay marriage (The Australian)
June 4 - A major denomination will stop co-operating with the state on marriage if same-sex unions are legalised.

Churches are drifting too far (The Australian)
June 4 – (Opinion: Greg Sheridan) Once a beacon of moral authority, religion is facing a crisis of relevance.

The Australian Christian Lobby's position on marriage equality lacks decency and fairness (The Age, Melbourne)
June 4 – (Opinion: Michael Short) Were one to set out to besmirch Christianity, one might very well invent something akin to the Australian Christian Lobby, the Orwellian motto of which is "Voice for Values".

From the Archive…

Religion News Australia 2016 – 21 (May 22 - 29)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 20 (May 15 - 22)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 19 (May 8 - 15)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 18 (May 1 - 8)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 17 (Apr 24 – May 1)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 16 (Apr 17 - 24)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 15 (Apr 10 - 17)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 14 (Apr 3 - 10)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 13 (Mar 27 – Apr 3)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 12 (Mar 20 - 27)

Religion News Australia 2016 – 11 (Mar 13 - 20)