Queensland Synod News

Lifeline Community Care Queensland welcomes Treasurer Andrew Fraser’s mini-Budget announcement to commit $3 million over two years to fund generalist financial counselling services in Queensland. Lifeline Community Care Queensland Executive Director Trevor Carlyon said tomorrow’s landmark decision would give significantly more Queenslanders the opportunity to access financial information, strategies and options suitable to their particular needs. “Meeting the demand for ...

It gained global fame in English literary masterpieces such as the 14th century plays of Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Canterbury Tales", and the 20th century play by T.S. Eliot, "Murder in the Cathedral". The ravages of time and neglect have left Canterbury Cathedral, a World Heritage Site and one of the world’s best known Anglican church buildings, as an endangered structure. ...

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has called for immediate intervention by the Nigerian government after the deaths of hundreds of people in religious and ethnic violence in the West African nation. "Without a swift, firm government declaration to demand an end to such violence and actions to investigate and implement preventive measures to head off such unrest ...

Episcopalians in North America unhappy with what they say is the "liberal turn" of the U.S. branch of Anglicanism have announced they are forming an alternative denomination, or province. The 3 December announcement of the formation of what its proponents are calling an "emerging Anglican Church in North America" is among the most dramatic developments in a recent history of ...

The Zimbabwean government has declared a cholera outbreak which has claimed at least 500 lives so far across the country as a national emergency, as churches continue to plead for action and humanitarian assistance to deal with the epidemic. "The emergency appeal will help reduce morbidity and mortality," health minister David Parirenyatwa told journalists on 3 December. "Our central hospitals ...

Lebanon-based Armenian Orthodox leader Aram I has at a Vatican meeting with Pope Benedict XVI proposed that the world’s churches set a common date for Easter, when Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. "There are no special doctrinal problems to achieve this goal, but only problems of the calendar," Aram, who heads the Catholicosate of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic ...

Lifeline Community Care Queensland’s 5000 volunteers give 1.4 million hours per year of their time, highlighting the extraordinary giving spirit Queenslanders have for supporting those in need in their community. For 20-year Lifeline volunteer Jo Plant, giving back to the community she has lived in for over 40 years is its own reward. Jo moved to Inala in 1962, and ...

Mt Gravatt resident Ben Dolle has experienced first hand the important and vital role volunteers play in today’s society after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2004. “I needed to get to radiation appointments and my wife didn’t drive,” Mr Dolle said. “We had absolutely know idea how I was going to get there and then someone suggested we call ...

THE UNITING Church has today expressed its disappointment with some of the recommendations handed down from the recent parliamentary inquiry into immigration detention in Australia. “The Uniting Church has been advocating for many years for policy which upholds the human rights of asylum seekers and treats these already traumatised people with care, dignity and respect,” said Rev Elenie Poulos, National Director ...

The Uniting Church Partner, the Church of North India, has strongly condemned violent attacks in the city of Mumbai and appealed to the churches and religious communities to pray for peace and reconciliation. Mumbai is the commercial and business capital of India and one of the world’s largest cities with an estimated population of more than 18 million people. In the ...