Queensland Synod News

Archbishop Desmond Tutu says he has been saddened by his Anglican church’s position about the ordination of gay priests, in his biography which is to be released in the United States and Europe on 7 October, his 75th birthday. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, who gained the award in 1984, at the height of the struggle against apartheid, is also ...

Uniting Church school Scots PGC College at Warwick has introduced voice over internet protocol (VOIP) technology for use by its boarding students, in both boys and girls boarding houses. This a new Internet communication software has allowed both Australian and international boarders to talk with their parents, friends and relatives over the internet in real-time and face-to-face via a webcam. ...

Randwick Racecourse has been chosen to host the largest gathering of people ever held in Sydney – the overnight Vigil and Final Mass to be celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI during World Youth Day in July 2008 World Youth Day is the largest youth event in the world. “We needed a site that could accommodate up to 600,000 people and ...

The leaders of nine migrant communities have publicly declared they will not join the proposed Assembly of Confessing Congregations and have sent an open letter to their communities urging them to consider the impact it will have on the unity of the Church. The open letter, signed by leaders of the Indonesian, Tongan, Samoan, Tamil, Vietnamese, Filipino, Niuean and Fijian ...

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital’s new chaplain provides spiritual and emotional support to terminally ill patients. Father Keith Foote joins the RBWH chaplaincy department and palliative care unit as a volunteer non-denominational chaplain to support patients in their journey towards their final days. Fr Foote said listening to people who know they are terminal was one of the greatest gifts. ...

A Roman Catholic priest who won 220 000 zloties (US$70 000) in a Polish television game show has said he plans to use the money for a new church in his parish that has been under construction for the past three years. "I watched the programme by accident, although there are no accidents in life, and I thought – why ...

When Nelson Mandela was released from jail in 1990, he held his first press conference at the home of Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town. Many people had expected Tutu to take up a political career, like other clerics who had been vociferous in opposing apartheid. "Tutu stayed away from the press conference and kept out of the formal ...

German chancellor Angela Merkel has criticised as "self censorship" the cancellation of a Mozart opera in Berlin because of concern that a scene featuring the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad could lead to attacks by Muslims. "Self censorship because of fear is intolerable," Merkel said in a 27 September interview with the Hanover-based Neue Presse, following the decision of ...

In his first sermon as Moderator of the Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania, Rev Jason Kioa, seriously questioned the proposed ‘English Test’ for Australian citizenship and challenged politicians to overcome the fear of terrorism “by building communities of trust”. “The best thing Australian governments – both State and Federal – and opposition leaders and religious leaders…can do to overcome ...

A New Zealander with a decade of leadership experience in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand has been called by the Assembly Standing Committee to the position of National Director of Uniting International Mission. Rev. Dr Kerry Enright has spent the last decade as the equivalent to the General Secretary in the Uniting Church and will conclude his term ...