Queensland Synod News

Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver, and reviled as the ultimate symbol of betrayal, is getting a chance to redeem himself according to Vatican scholars, Europe’s media are speculating. "Judas was doing God’s business and so might just as easily be deemed a saint as an ultimate sinner," wrote Peter Stanford, ...

The Uniting Church has urged the Federal Government to take seriously the claims of the West Papuans who arrived in Cape York yesterday and ensure any allegations of human rights abuses are properly investigated. Uniting Church President Rev Dr Dean Drayton said while it was impossible to know the background of specific cases, many West Papuans continue to live in ...

The Church of England has edged a step closer to accepting women bishops and the ability to have a female Archbishop of Canterbury as spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican communion following a report by a denominational group. The 57-page document entitled "Women in the Episcopate: the Guildford Group Report", issued on 16 January by a group of bishops, was ...

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the 23rd president of Liberia, pledged to work for economic stability, create a brighter future for youth and children and empower women in her inauguration speech 16 January. "We will work to change," she said. The first woman elected head of state in Africa, Johnson-Sirleaf acknowledged many challenges lie ahead for her country. "I understand what you ordinary citizens ...

Protestant leaders in Austria are urging the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to suspend the death penalty and spare the life of an elderly convict on death row. "A country which uses the death penalty violates its citizens’ human dignity," the Evangelical Church in Austria said in advance of the scheduled execution of 76-year-old Clarence Ray Allen, blind and wheelchair-bound. ...

An auxiliary Roman Catholic bishop in Detroit, Michigan, has declared he was sexually abused as a teenager by a Catholic priest while he attended seminary. The statement by Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, aged 75, is believed to be the first time that such a prominent US Roman Catholic cleric has said he was a victim of sexual abuse by a priest. ...

Israel has frozen a US$50 million tourism deal with US Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson after he suggested that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke was divine punishment for Israel’s pullout from the Gaza strip. "We will not do business with him, only with other evangelicals who don’t back these comments," said tourism ministry spokesperson Ido Hartuv on 11 January. Israel had ...

Queensland’s largest non-profit health and aged care provider Blue Care has defended its decision not to open its new $7.5 million aged care facility at Yeppoon in central Queensland due to staffing shortages. Blue Care Acting Executive Director Bob Gilkes said overseas staff have been hired to help open the 60-bed Capricorn Gardens, which has struggled to find a full ...

Pope Benedict XVI has praised dialogue with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), saying the dialogue is helping to surmount "tragic divisions" between Christians going back to the 16th century Protestant Reformation. The Pope was speaking at the Vatican on 7 January to a delegation of the Geneva-based alliance led by its president, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk ...

In his The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life, Thomas Moore said, "Travel gives rise to its own kind of spirituality; to a grand appreciation for community, to a passionate love for this earth, and to an urgent longing for transcendence." Uniting International Mission is offering a short term exposure trip to the Philippines Easter 2006 (8-28th April). This trip is part ...