News & Stories
Why we walk on Palm Sunday
MARCH 3 2016 By Andrew Hamilton Palm Sunday is a poignant day. It celebrates the exuberant and optimistic beginning to the final week in Jesus’ life. Those who celebrate the feast know that Jesus’ journey will lead to suffering and death. So we naturally associate it…
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An Act of Solidarity
FEBRUARY 22 2016 On Thursday February 18, about five hundred people gathered at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne to plead for the 267 people seeking asylum threatened with return to Nauru. Sr Brigid Arthur addressed the crowd on the Cathedral steps, and during the service in the Cathedral,…
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The Ethics of Sanctuary
FEBRUARY 18 2016 By Andrew Hamilton Offering sanctuary to women and children seeking protection from despatch to Nauru would break the law. That is a fact. The important question is whether it would be right to break the law in this case. Of course people break…
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Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum Condemns Offshore Detention Plans
MEDIA RELEASE – THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2016 The Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum (CAPSA) has condemned the Australian Government’s plans to return 267 vulnerable people to Nauru following yesterday’s High Court ruling that offshore detention is lawful. This number includes 91 children and 37 babies born in…
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Fr Andy Hamilton: on why Christmas is a time of hope in dark times, for all
The stories of Christmas tell us how the lives of simple people collide with the exactions and the cruelties of kings. In Luke’s Gospel a pregnant Mary must make a long, hot journey so that the Romans can make a census for taxation purposes. Her journey ends and…
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Jump Up &Down 4 Kids
Early this year, Australian Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs lamented that she could not understand why more Australians were not “jumping up and down” about the policy of keeping children locked up in immigration detention. She believed that if Australians really knew the impact on children of being…
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We CAN do better: write to your MP calling for more compassion
More than 500 people have written to their local MPs as part of our “We CAN do better” action calling for better treatment of people seeking asylum. If you have received a response from your MP, please share it with us on Facebook or Twitter at @CAPSA_Ican. Australia’s…
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Please give if you can to the Christmas Toy Drive 2015 for asylum seeker children
Greens Senators Sarah Hanson-Young and Janet Rice are hosting a Christmas Toy Drive 2015. Here’s their statement asking for your help: It’s that time of year again when we ask you to buy an extra toy to give to one of the 4500 children who are either locked in a detention centre,…
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