Queensland Synod News

The Harare diocese of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe says it is "shocked and dismayed by the continuous police interference with Sunday services", and the increased brutality that is causing casualties. "Many of our parishioners were assaulted and beaten, several of our parishioners of St Monica’s Church in Chitungwiza were brutally assaulted and had to be admitted to hospital [on ...

Polish police have found and questioned a group of rebel Roman Catholic nuns, who had disappeared after being expelled from their convent. The authorities discovered the nuns living together in eastern Poland. "Questioning these former nuns will be an important step towards finding out about this highly unusual and complex matter," regional prosecutor Andrzej Lepieszko told journalists in Lublin on ...

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia has today written a letter of congratulations to the newly consecrated Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Perth, the Right Reverend Kay Goldsworthy. Rev. Henderson said the appointment of Australia’s first Anglican Bishop was an historic occasion. “The Uniting Church in Australia has long been committed to gender equity in all areas ...

Published by the Uniting Church Assembly, with full endorsement from the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress, the booklet, Building Partnerships: a guide to covenant renewal with Indigenous people throughout the Uniting Church in Australia, was produced for use in congregations, presbyteries and community service organisations as a way to explore relationships across the church and invite conversation and action. ...

UnitingCare Australia’s National Committee has signed off on the merger of UnitingCare Australia and the Uniting Missions Network (UMN), the two entities that carry out the national work of the Uniting Church’s agencies and missions engaged in community services. The national functions of these two organisations will now be carried out by UnitingCare Australia, subject to a renewed Mandate for ...

The Australian Christian Lobby group (ACL) has launched a campaign against a Bill of Rights for Australia on the pretext that such a charter would undermine existing freedoms people now take for granted. "A bill or charter of rights can … be a Trojan horse for minority agendas which have failed to make the grade with voters," said Jim Wallace, managing ...

Next week, churches from around the State will celebrate the unprecedented pastoral care opportunity provided through school chaplains, who are bringing the hope and love of Christ to a young generation. Over 250 new chaplains have been appointed in the past year alone, as demand for this powerful role continues to grow. The boom in chaplaincy numbers throughout the state ...

The Uniting Church in Australia has congratulated the Rudd Government on its decisions to abolish the Temporary Protection Visa regime and to increase the number of places in the offshore Humanitarian Program. Rev Elenie Poulos, National Director of UnitingJustice Australia, wrote to Senator Christopher Evans, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, commending the Australian Government’s decisions. The Uniting Church has campaigned ...

The Uniting Church in Australia has taken the unusual step of writing to the president of the United States, George W. Bush, criticising his recent decision to veto legislation that would have outlawed torture techniques such as "water-boarding". The church leaders said Bush’s veto of the legislation put the United States in the same company as the "Gestapo, the Japanese ...

In Lesotho, South Africa and many other African countries, devices that restrict consumers to only using water that they have paid for in advance are being promoted as a way to fund better water infrastructure. Church water experts warn, however, this approach endangers the access of the poorest of the poor to this indispensable necessity of life. Pre-paid water meters ...