Queensland Synod News

Frontier Services opened a new wing of its Old Timers Village aged care service at Alice Springs on May 14, completing a $3.5m extension and improvement program at the nursing home. Mrs Jan Trengove, the Chairperson of Frontier Services Board, officially opened the new Nancy Lamb wing. Deputy NT Administrator Pat Miller AO also spoke at the opening which was ...

On the day of David Hicks’ return UnitingJustice Australia, Amnesty International Australia, GetUp and the Australian Lawyers Alliance expressed their relief that his ordeal is almost over. They remain concerned, however, that fundamental questions about his treatment in Guantanamo Bay and the Australian Government’s response to his situation need to be answered. “David Hicks has been held for over five ...

The Russian Orthodox Church and an émigré church that broke ties in 1927 over a Russian church leader’s declaration of loyalty to the then Soviet state have officially reunited at a ceremony in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. "Church divisions are being overcome, and the confrontation in society inherited from the times of the revolution is being beaten back," ...

A group of 19 Methodist ministers in Cape Town, South Africa, is seeking to change its denomination’s policy of not allowing clerics to officiate at the celebration of same-sex unions. Following legislation approved by the country’s parliament in 2006, South Africa allows gays and lesbians to contract legally valid civil unions. The ministers of the Methodist Cape of Good Hope ...

It is said that by nature Jerry Falwell, the US evangelical Christian leader who died this week, was a compassionate pastor but in his preaching an often ferocious critic of feminists and gays. Now, in the days after his death, Falwell is also being remembered as a brilliant political strategist and organizer. "He was probably the major architect of the ...

Moderator of the Uniting Church in Queensland Rev Dr David Pitman has condemned the decision of the Government to abandon a process of consultation already underway and appoint a Commission to redraw Council boundaries across much of the State. “During my recent visit to Longreach, this was the most common topic of conversation everywhere I went,” Dr Pitman said. “People ...

Neither Marxist nor capitalist systems can offer hope to Latin America, Pope Benedict XVI has told the continent’s Roman Catholic bishops, as he urged them to make greater efforts to build up the Church. "Both Marxist and capitalist systems … falsify the notion of reality by detaching it from the foundational and decisive reality which is God," Pope Benedict said ...

Members of the US religious community are reviving the "sanctuary movement" of the 1980s by launching a national drive to protect undocumented workers who face possible deportation from the United States. The sanctuary movement two decades ago offered protection in the United States to refugees fleeing wars in Central America . The new effort will be based on local congregations, ...

A Christian group in Zimbabwe has urged the country’s Roman Catholic bishops to continue to fight for people’s rights despite threats by President Robert Mugabe against the clerics, who recently issued a pastoral letter critical of his government. "We praise the bishops for their stance; they should continue to fight bravely," said the Rev. Ray Motsi, national chairperson of the ...

UnitingCare Australia National Director Lin Hatfield Dodds said everyone had the right to a decent life. “In a rich country such as Australia with a large surplus a decent life includes secure and affordable housing, freedom from poverty, access to necessary supports and services, freedom from pain and ill health and a good start in life,” Ms Hatfield Dodds said. ...