Archive for March, 2010


More health debate needed

Filed under: ageing, health, social justice — Leave a comment
March 25, 2010

Well, as we all know, the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader have had their first televised debate in the long lead up to the next federal election.  Both leaders played to their strengths, and also their weaknesses.  But neither offered a passionate vision of a preferable future for the health and wellbeing of Australians.

Along with the environment, health is one of the great social and political issues of the day, and there is a danger of losing sight of the big picture through a focus on the details of policies and programs, and funding.

Central to the big picture is an awareness of the challenge of an ageing population, and the extent to which taxpayers are prepared to go to fund medical procedures to prolong life and facilitate well-being.

Political poison, yes, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  There’s a lot more to health, and health policy, than our politicians are prepared to discuss.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 28 March 2010.

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Christians respond to Israeli police ban

Filed under: human rights, persecution, religious freedom — 1 Comment
March 22, 2010

This press release, dated 20 March 2010, arrived yesterday from my friend in Jerusalem, Yusef Daher. Would Australian Christians respond in a similar manner if the Australian state and police denied access to places of worship during Easter? One would hope so.

Here’s the media release:

Holy Land Christians, after hundreds of years of celebrating Easter in Jerusalem as the most important and significant holy week for Christianity, are being denied freedom of worship during this period by the Israeli occupation police.

Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Holy Fire Saturday, and Easter Sunday are the Holiest days celebrated in Jerusalem for Christians. The uniqueness of Holy Fire Saturday in Jerusalem has been celebrated as far back as 1106 AD. The celebrations have been governed for the past decades by the status quo of 1852 covering the processions within the boundaries of the Holy Sepulcher Church in addition to traditions by the local community and pilgrims in its vicinity. Tradition during this holy day claims the right for the local community to wait for the Holy fire on top of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate roof since for generations Palestinian Christians have been welcoming and making space for visiting pilgrims down in the plaza of the Holy Sepulcher.

The tradition also includes the right of local worshipers to reach St. Jacob’s Arab Orthodox Cathedral through the roof of the Orthodox Patriarchate to share the morning prayers of the Holy Saturday, including the sharing of the local community in the “Zaffeh” starting by the Christian Quarter, marching with the Arab Orthodox Priest of St. Jacob’s Cathedral and the head of the local community ending at the Holy Sepulcher. It is also known that the local Choir of St. Jacob’s and representatives of the traditional Jerusalemite Orthodox families are entitled to encircle the Holy Tomb. During the past 5 years all these arrangements have been jeopardized, minimized and made impossible due to the Israeli police restrictions implemented on the ground.

Israeli Police and in addition to their full control of the city on that day restricting and limiting the movement of all Christian worshipers claims that the roof of the church can only accommodate 500 people and thus the permit system was applied during the past six years but now they are not applying it anymore due to the fact that the local community refrained from accepting this system. Their claim that the Patriarchate needs to approve the access in the first place was also challenged through direct communications between the community and the Patriarchate where free access as a historic tradition is granted and the Patriarchate civil engineer testified that the rooftop usually accommodates about 2000 people.

Today when a debate has been initiated regarding the freedom of worship in Jerusalem due to the constant settler aggressions against Al Aqsa Mosque (Al Haram Al Sharif) and despite the fact that Israeli officials such as Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Peres have assured to international media that “only Israel” can keep freedom of religion in Jerusalem, we the Holy Land Christians denounced the Israeli discriminatory policies against our community. At the same time that Christians are denied from their right of freely exercise their religion through road blocks in the old city, police presence with machine guns, as well as rude and hostile attitudes from police and Army officers, the Israeli occupying power allows Jews to freely access their temples even by imposing severe restrictions on the daily lives of Palestinians, including curfews and forced closures.

In response to these unilateral and discriminating Israeli actions, Palestinian Christian organizations in occupied East Jerusalem have initiated a legal process “to preserve the right to freely access our churches and shrines”. The legal actions on the Supreme Court level will be against everyone who is involved in this discriminatory policy, including the Israeli police and the Israeli Jerusalem Municipality.

We call upon the International community, and particularly to the Christian World, including its churches and civil society to put pressure on Israel to end the illegal occupation of East Jerusalem as well as in this particular case to stop limiting Holy Land Christians from exercising their basic religious rights.

We, Palestinian Christians, greet the world with Easter blessings from Jerusalem, from the City of the resurrection. May God end the suffering of the Palestinian people; bring about justice to this troubled land and peace to the whole world.

Jerusalem Heads of Churches

For further information contact:

  • Hana Karkar – 0544546349
  • Xavier Abu Eid- 0598950300
  • Yusef Daher – 0505545179   
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Sydney Coptic candlelight vigil

Filed under: ecumenism, human rights, persecution — 1 Comment
March 22, 2010

By Peter Tadros

On Friday evening, the 19th March, 2010, hundreds of members of the Coptic Orthodox Church and several other non-coptic denominations including, Ethiopian Orthodox, Melkite, Catholic, Anglican, Evangelical and Assyrian Churches, gathered at Martin Place in Sydney for a Candlelight prayer vigil. The aim of the vigil was to honour and commemorate the Christian martyrs in Egypt and to pray for all those Christians who are suffering in Egypt and around the globe.

The night began at 7pm sharp, with an opening prayer by the Vicar of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Sydney , Father Tadros Simon, followed by an opening prayer from the Hon. Reverend Fred Nile leader of the Christian Democratic Party. This was preceded by an opening speech by the Reverend Tara Curlewis, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches Australia and the Australian National Anthem. Following on was a speech from Mr. Amir Chahine, General Secretary of the Assyrian Universal Alliance and an introductory speech by the youth of the Australian Coptic Movement.

At the conclusion of the introductory speeches, there was an extended period of hymns, sung by the Coptic and Ethiopian choirs, including the choirs of St Mary’s and St Mina’s Cathedral of Bexley, St Mark’s Cathedral of Arnclife, St Abanoub church of Blacktown and St Mary’s Ethiopian Orthodox of Kings Park.  This was then followed by brief segue speeches, commemorating certain watershed incidences in the modern era, regarding Coptic martyrdom. Distinguished guests including non-Coptic clergymen and politicians all presented these speeches, highlighting these specific atrocities.

When these speeches and hymns closed, a solo hymn was sung by a member of the youth, with the crowd following on. This was then accompanied by a 15 minute video presentation, detailing not only the attacks at Nagaa Hammadi on the 06/01/2010, but also the daily persecution of Copts in Egypt. The presentation was extremely moving and brought several members of the vigil to tears.

Accordingly, two powerful speeches were delivered by one of the Coptic reverend fathers, Father Shenouda Mansour and Dr. David Clarke MLC. Both speeches further stirred emotion and piqued the night with their impassioned comments. The messages in both speeches, clearly being that the atrocities being committed will no longer be tolerated and that action must be taken. The Reverend Fred Nile also delivered a moving speech with the same undercurrent, presenting a strong, political and religious front to those watching the vigil. Additionally, the closing prayers delivered by the Reverend Tara Curlewis were in the same vein.

The night was a huge success on many levels. There was a sizeable turnout of people, given the circumstances of the night and the short notice. The program was well laid out and there were no issues to be had whatsoever. The presence of dignitaries and distinguished guests ensured that there was clout in this vigil, and finally, the presence of the people themselves drove this vigil to the success that it was. Those who had come from work, those who had work the following day, pregnant women, women with children, the elderly and those with disabilities all coming along and showing their support, not only displayed the passion these people have, but also the determination to support the Coptic diocese of Sydney and the Australian Coptic Movement in bringing about justice to the oppressed.

On behalf of ACM and the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Sydney and its Affiliated Regions, we thank our distinguished guests, dignitaries, volunteers, organisers, the people and importantly the Lord, for affording us a successful night. We pray for a holy Passion Week and Feast of the Cross, and just as Christ cried out to his Father during his time of need, so do we, in time of our persecuted brothers’ and sisters’ needs.

Please pray for us, and may god accept our prayers that were on behalf of the oppressed Christians.

The Australian Coptic Movement

Fr Gabriel Yassa: 0411 555195
Mr Peter Tadros, Secretary: 0411 344771
Email: info@australiancma.com.au
Website: www.coptic.org.au

PHOTOS OF THE EVENT (by Ramon Williams): http://community.webshots.com/user/ramon_williams

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Earth Hour 2010 and a Sydney vigil

Filed under: climate change — Leave a comment
March 19, 2010

It doesn’t seem like a year since we switched off the lights for sixty minutes and participated with millions of others around the world in Earth Hour.

But it is.  On Saturday March 27, from 8:30 to 9:30 pm, households and businesses everywhere will turn off non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness of the need to take action on climate change.

And in Sydney, there will be an Earth Hour “Vigil of Light and Hope” on Observatory Hill, overlooking the Harbour Bridge, from 7.30 Saturday night, organised by ARRCC, the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change.

I spoke at the Vigil in 2009 on the importance of Christian commitment to ecology and creation care, but it appears that the Christian presence at this year’s vigil has all but evaporated. Let’s hope this is not a barometer of declining real interest in climate issues by Christians in NSW. 

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 21 March 2010.

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Easter eggs and social justice

Filed under: Easter, social justice — Leave a comment
March 19, 2010

The Easter long weekend is just around the corner, the discipline of Lent is making itself felt (at least for some of us), and there are holiday plans to be made, and of course the shelves of our stores are groaning under the weight of all that Easter chocolate.

But wait a minute, what if the chocolate that goes into making Easter eggs comes from cocoa beans harvested by workers who don’t receive a fair wage for their labour? Would that affect what you bought?  Would it bother you enough to do something about it? 

Well, now you can. 

The Fair Trade Association has worked hard to identify a range of Fairtrade certified chocolates, including a range of Easter eggs. Look for the distinctive blue, green and black Fairtrade logo on certified products, and contribute to a more just Easter for cocoa farmers and their families in developing countries.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 21 March 2010.

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