The Australian Catholic Social Justice Council’s (ACSJC) Briefing for October is now up on the website. The Briefing covers issues of Catholic Social Teaching in October 2019, highlighting resources, media items and diary events. It can be read here (ACSJC_Monthly Briefing_No 216)
Welcome to the monthly news and information briefing from the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, the social justice and human rights agency of the Catholic Church in Australia. This email contains highlights only. The full Briefing is online.
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Speakers at 3 September’s Social Justice Statement launch stressed that social media is not a danger in itself. Canberra teacher and journalist Beth Doherty said that ‘across social networks there exist myriad opportunities to share truth, beauty and goodness, and yet often it is used to spread lies, filth and evil’. Meanwhile University of Sydney Media lecturer Margaret Van Heekeran told the audience that the Church has been standing up to fake news since Pope Pius XI instructed a 1934 gathering of journalists that ‘to report the thoughts and facts of the world is a great mission’. Together with Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen, they launched the Bishops’ 2019–2020 Social Justice Statement, Making It Real: Genuine human encounter in our digital world. Read more |
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| Anti-Poverty Week will be held 13-19 October. The Raise the Rate campaign led by ACOSS will be the focus of a Day of Action on solutions to end poverty, on 17 October. This campaign is aimed at increasing the rate of Newstart and associated allowances by $75 a week. Read more
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We are encouraging people to order the annual Social Justice Statement online. The ACSJC is now taking orders for this year’s Statement, Making It Real: Genuine human encounter in our digital world’ The ACSJC website is making resources available for download free of charge ahead of Social Justice Sunday. These include Social Justice Sunday Liturgy Notes, a PowerPoint presentation and community and education resources. Read more |
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Mental health issues affect more than one in five Australians every year so it is important to encourage Australians to stop and think about their mental wellbeing. Mental Health Week creates an opportunity for people to think about the ways in which we can enhance our social and emotional wellbeing by building our personal resilience and support networks. This year’s theme is ‘Share the Journey’. Read more
NATIONAL | NSW | ACT | VIC | QLD | SA | WA | TAS | NT |
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Catholic Religious Australia has criticised proposed laws making it easier to deregister unions and ban officials, warning they will have a ‘destructive impact’ on workers. The body representing the nation’s religious orders told a Senate inquiry that the Morrison Government’s Ensuring Integrity Bill reduced union rights and imposed ‘double standards’ as the same requirements were not faced by corporations. ‘From the perspective of social justice and the common good this Ensuring Integrity Bill strikes at the very heart of the Union movement – namely the ability of the workers to organise and run their own unions and determining who leads them.’ Read more |
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SIEV X was a dilapidated Indonesian fishing boat that was en route from Sumatra to Christmas Island carrying over 400 asylum seekers. It sank in international waters on this day in 2001, just south of the Indonesian island of Java, killing 353 people. The tragedy was politically controversial in Australia, as it occurred during an election campaign at a time when asylum seekers and border protection were major issues. Read more |
AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC SOCIAL JUSTICE COUNCIL PO Box 7246, Alexandria NSW 2015. Tel: (02) 8306 3499, Fax: (02) 8306 3498, Email: admin@acsjc.org.au Website: http://www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au. ACSJC Briefing is sent by email at the beginning of each month (except January). To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an email to admin@acsjc.org.au.
