Cardinal George Pell: Pope Francis's money man. Please remember that Judas had control of the money for Jesus.

Covering All Things Catholic View email in your browser

Vatican’s finance czar:  I’m not wasting money By John L. Allen Jr. Cardinal George Pell's pushback came in response to two new books by Italian journalists documenting financial embarrassments in the Vatican and internal tensions related to the reform Pope Francis has promised. Read more → Those books are Avarizia (“Avarice”) by Emiliano Fittipaldi and Via Crucis (released in English as “Merchants in the Temple”) by Gianluigi Nuzzi. Fittipaldi’s book in particular is critical of Pell.

Australian detention centres and their treatment of refugees resemble, increasingly, the persecution of Iran

He graduated from Tarbiat Madares University in Tehran with a masters degree in political geography and geopolitics.

He wrote a paper advocating a federal system for Iran, protecting minority rights. The paper was delivered at a conference in France on his behalf after he was denied a passport to attend.
He had experienced threats and was under surveillance.

His accounts of his incarceration on Manus Island read like a Kafka nightmare.
He was one of several asylum seekers arrested and jailed without charge in Lorangau prison during a hunger strike early this year. He remained peaceful during this action.
He says his communications are monitored by Transfield, the company that operates the detention centre, and that, as a result of his reportage and his human rights activity on behalf of fellow detainees, he has been threatened, regularly searched and is subject to surveillance.
Instead of being imprisoned and harassed, he should be welcomed for his courageous stand for democracy and granted asylum in Australia. It is a profound irony that he is now experiencing levels of surveillance and harassment that have some parallels with his treatment by Iranian authorities.
I said: 'I am a journalist', but I did not get any respectful response. I was wondering why it is not important for them that I am a writer. When they transferred me to Manus, I said to immigration: 'Don't exile me. Don't send me to Manus, I am a writer.' They did not care."


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/iranian-journalist-behrouz-boochani-tells-of-the-horrors-of-manus-island-out-of-sight-out-of-mind-20150921-gjrdi8.html#ixzz3mQdyq43P 
Follow us: @theage on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook

The Homelands Closures - videos by Eleanor Gilbert

Picture from here

150319-StopHomelandsClosure-Nova Peris from Eleanor Gilbert on Vimeo.

Eli Gilbert has uploaded a stack of videos.
You can find them here.

For those of you who don't know of Eli Gilbert and her work,
just a few words.
Eli Gilbert is the widow of Kevin Gilbert -
the great creative activist, Kevin Gilbert.
Kevin Gilbert was the first published Aboriginal writer and printmaker.
For more about Kevin please follow this link.
Eli follows in the footsteps of Kevin's work.
Eli and her trusty video camera, that is.
Eli has been a trusty and trusted recorder of Aboriginal strivings and protest.
Following the heartbreaking incidents of the NT Intervention,
Eli was there in many communities in the NT recording
their voice, their objections, the real happenings
of the whitefella's ignorance and intervention yet again in Aboriginal life.
Please follow the video above to vimeo
and there you will find many more of Eleanor Gilbert's work.
To me, Eleanor Gilbert is a black woman.
She just happens to have a white skin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Kevin Gilbert:

We Will Not Forget
We will Not Go Away
We Will Not Be Silent
We Will Not Die
WE WILL FIGHT
AND WE WILL SURVIVE
ABORIGINAL SOVEREIGNTY
ALWAYS WAS ALWAYS WILL BE.

This Aboriginal Sovereign Position, Legal Entitlement and Draft Treaty 

was written after consultation with Aboriginal Members of the 

Sovereign Aboriginal Coalition attended at Alice Springs

 on 19th to 21st June 1987 

and incorporating the advice of the Aboriginal Sovereign Communities 

throughout these our Sovereign Domains.

First published by Treaty '88 in 1987

#War, #Peace, and #Poppies

Another cross-posting from Advocacy @ St Paul's

Picture below from here

To-day is Remembrance Day in Australia. At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the nation falls silent for two minutes. Red poppies are in lapels and in the laid wreaths at shrines, cenotaphs and memorials across the country. Red poppies are massed against the names of the war dead at the Australian War Memorial in the national capital, Canberra.

There are news reports to-day that the print media reporting on Remembrance Day is muted compared to that of previous years.  Why is this so?  Is this because Australia is immersing itself in military action at this time in the Middle East?

If we mute our response to Remembrance Day and its memory of "the war to end all wars", is it time to ask the penetrating questions?

• Do we put the same financial, acquisitive, organisational, and human effort into waging peace as we do to waging war?  

• Are we prepared to stand up and say to our government that we want it to pay as much attention to training for peace, preparedness for peace, arming for peace, strengthening the ramparts of peace as we do for training for war, preparing for war, arming for war, strengthening the ramparts of war?

One of the most interesting bodies of literary work in English in the 20th century is the "Testament" series by Vera Brittain - Testament of Youth, Testament of Friendship, Testament of Experience. The experience/s that impacted Brittain's life in World War 1 made her a lifelong pacifist and fighter for peace.  Between the two world wars, she was active in the establishment and the promotion of the League of Nations. She also became a member of the Peace Pledge Union and its offshoot, the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship. The secretary of the Australian chapter of the latter, is Bishop Philip Huggins.

The Peace Pledge Union is notable for its White Poppy campaign.  Many people in Britain wear two poppies - the red for remembrance, the white for peace.

Listen to the song in honour of Vera Brittain

written by Sue Gilmurray

Eureka Day, 3 December - Geraldine Robertson gives insight into women and Eureka - Susan Kruss in Calico Ceilings expresses her respect for women at Eureka in history poetry, and drawings - and women are involved in M.A.D.E.

Picture from here

From Geraldine Robertson at Women's Web

wmnsweb@iprimus.com.au

Dear All,

3rd December is the 159th anniversary of the Eureka Stockade. 

Are those of our foremothers who were on the goldfields to be remembered just as token 'them' who were 'assisted to find a job' as the Australian Government website on Eureka states?

Are not we 'the people' too?

I think it is outrageous, so have been busy compiling a response.
I hope you like and find good use for EUREKA? We Were There.

It is on a new page called Eureka on www.womensweb.com.au Eureka page.

I hope you have a joyful and relaxing holiday season,
Geraldine

'The peoples, as well as the Governments, have sown the wind of misunderstanding and of hate and are reaping the whirlwind ...
'We MUST not, DARE not, be idle.'
Woman Voter 18 December 1919
‘History will proclaim you false if you are silent now. “Come out and be separate” from all that makes for war.’
Woman Voter 29 September 1914

Geraldine Robertson
Tel: 03 9486 1808 Mobile: 0410 514 034wmnsweb@iprimus.com.au
Women's Web - Women's Stories, Women's Actions www.womensweb.com.au
Prejudice and Reasonwww.prejudiceandreason.com.au
Women Working Together suffrage and onwardswww.womenworkingtogether.com.au
Vasculitis the Disease that Deceiveshttp://www.vasculitis.net.au
Betrayal women's paid work 1874-1974http://home.vicnet.net.au/~betrayal
Our Foremothershttp://home.vicnet.net.au/~mothers

Calico Ceilings by Susan Kruss

A wonderful look at women at Eureka

Beautifully illustrated.

Insightful poems.

Picture from here

Postscript:

Women are still at Eureka.

This year the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (M.A.D.E.) opened in Ballarat on the historic Eureka site.  It is a wonderful small museum.  It is not limited to the Eureka story and the events surrounding Australia's famous rebellion.

As well as Eureka, M.A.D.E. also centres on social justice, democracy, and human rights which topics were seminal to the idea of the Eureka Rebellion even if they were not fully articulated at the time.  These ideas took hold in the Australian psyche through workers rights, universal suffrage, and a fair go for everyone.  And a woman is in charge at M.A.D.E.  

M.A.D.E Director Jane Smith interviews 
the M.A.D.E Project Director, Katherine Armstrong of Lateral Projects, 
and M.A.D.E Curator, Eithne Owens, 
on the thinking and process that led to the birth of Australia's newest museum.

Museum of Democracy at Eureka (M.A.D.E)
http://www.made.org

Edward Koiki Mabo - his life and struggle for land rights is in a new edition from University of Queensland Press

The decision in the High Court of Australia in Mabo v Queensland No. 2 1992 (Cth) which gave legal recognition to the traditional land interests of Aboriginal Australians is a major factor in Australian life to-day.  Across the nation, Aboriginal nations, clans, families are working to make the most of their life in modern Australia based on this recognition and how access to their own land can provide economic benefits and security.

University of Queensland Press (UQP) has now re-issued with some updating the original book written by Koiki Mabo and my friend Noel Loos. My friend Noel is retired these days but had a hectic time with the filming and subsequent media interviews relating to the television documentary, Mabo.

Here is the original blurb about Noel Loos from the UQP website:

Professor Noel Loos teaches the history of black-white relations in Australia at James Cook University in Townsville. He has conducted close research into Aboriginal mission history, frontier conflict, the place of Aborigines in colonial society, and the evolution of government policies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people. In the 1970s he pioneered the development of teacher education programs in Queensland for Aboriginal and Islander people. Professor Loos has published widely on indigenous history and politics, including: Invasion and Resistance; Aboriginal-European Relations on the North Queensland Frontier 1861-1897 (1982); Succeeding Against the odds: Townsville’s Aboriginal and Islander Teacher Education Program (1989); and Indigenous Minorities and Education: Australian and Japanese Perspectives of their Indigenous Peoples, the Ainu, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (1993). A Friend of Koiki Mabo for 25 years, Professor Loos edited Edward Koiki Mabo: His Life and Struggle for Land Rights, which was published by UQP in 1996

The site for Noel's papers at the National Library of Australia.

The Alice B Toklas Cookbook, Illustrated with a recipe for Hashish Fudge - from @brainpicker

One of my favouritest peeps on the interwebs is Maria Popova from the site Brainpickings.  Maria unearths the most wonderful things. I follow her on Twitter (@brainpicker) and to-day she has sent a tweet about the Alice B Toklas Cookbook, Illustrated.  Alice B Toklas is well-known for her relationship with Gertrude Stein.  I have provided one of Alice's recipes for your enjoyment, amusement, and titillation. ~~~~~~

Morocco-based painter and writer Brion Gysin, a friend of Gertrude’s in the 1930s, wrote in with a recipe for hashish fudge, complete with notes on growing cannabis at home. Naively, Alice included it and a publicity crisis ensued. Harpers, the book’s publisher, eventually sent a telegram to the Attorney-General to check if they were in legal trouble and, if so, whether they should halt the printing. (They were not; they did not.) Some even argued Alice had included the recipe as a publicity stunt.

HASHISH FUDGE
(which anyone could whip up on a rainy day)

This is the food of paradise — of Baudelaire’s Artificial Paradises: it might provide an entertaining refreshment for a Ladies’ Bridge Club or a chapter meeting of the DAR. In Morocco it is thought to be good for warding off the common cold in damp winter weather and is, indeed, more effective if taken with large quantities of hot mint tea. Euphoria and brilliant storms of laughter; ecstatic reveries and extensions of one’s personality on several simultaneous planes are to be complacently expected. Almost anything Saint Theresa did, you can do better if you can bear to be ravished by ‘un évanouissement reveillé‘.

Take 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, 1 whole nutmeg, 4 average sticks of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon coriander. These should all be pulverised in a mortar. About a handful each of stoned dates, dried figs, shelled almonds and peanuts: chop these and mix them together. A bunch of Cannabis sativacan be pulverised. This along with the spices should be dusted over the mixed fruit and nuts, kneaded together. About a cup of sugar dissolved in a big pat of butter. Rolled into a cake and cut into pieces or made into balls about the size of a walnut, it should be eaten with care. Two pieces are quite sufficient.

Obtaining the Cannabis may present certain difficulties, but the variety known as Cannabis sativa grows as a common weed, often unrecognised, everywhere in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa; besides being cultivated as a crop for the manufacture of rope. In the Americas, while often discouraged, its cousin, called Cannabis indica, has been observed even in city window boxes. It should be picked and dried as soon as it has gone to seed and while the plant is still green.

Dale Hess - Calendar - 2013-04-29 - War and Peace, Exhibitions, Writers and Film, and morel

Tuesday 30 April, 6.30 pm – 8.30 pm: Debate on Anzac Day.

Anzac Day is more puff than substance’ is part of the ‘Intelligence squared’ debate series at the Wheeler Centre. For the proposition: Marilyn Lake, author of What's wrong with ANZAC; Jeff Sparrow, editor of Overland; Graham Wilson, historian and author

Against the proposition: Brendan Nelson, former politician, now director of the Australian War Memorial; John Martinkus, journalist and cinematographer. Venue: Wheeler Centre, 176 Little Lonsdale St., Melbourne.

Until Sunday 12 May: Exhibition on Peace.  This exhibition asks the question: what is peace? It examines international, national and local efforts that seek to ensure stability and opportunities for creative collaboration in our world.’ Venue: Shrine of Remembrance, Birdwood Avenue, Melbourne. 

Until Sunday 28 July: Exhibition:  The Enemy Within: Prisoner of War Camps and Internment Camps in Victoria. During the Second World War Victoria hosted eight Prisoner of War and Internment Camps. This exhibition explores the impacts on prisoners of war and internees who lived and worked in camps. Venue: Shrine of Remembrance, Birdwood Avenue, Melbourne.

Mindful in May:

Elise Bialylew, who participated in the OWIC course, would like to tell you about her project Mindful in May. Mindful in May is for both beginners and more experienced meditators, aimed at bringing the benefits of meditation to you whilst improving the lives of others. The funds raised during Mindful in May will be given to Charity Water, an innovative, not for profit organisation that builds clean water wells for those in need. For further information see:http://www.mindfulinmay.org/

Saturday 4 May, 9 am - 11.30am: Breakfast:Fusion: an exploration of ancient Persia & contemporary Iran.

Speaker: Kristin Diemer (Sociologist and Photographer) is a co-facilitator at OASES Graduate School & research fellow at the University of Melbourne. 

The first time I travelled to Iran I was struck by marked contrast between what I saw, what I know from Persian family and friends, and what I hear in the media (both inside and outside of Iran). On this second journey, eight years later, the contrast remains but alongside it I found an emergent and vibrant fusion between ancient Persia and the contemporary world external to Iran. 

Come along on a journey of discovery, the imagery and sounds of Iran in 1392 / 2013. Cost: $25/$15 including delicious buffet breakfast. Venue: 2 Minona Street, Hawthorn, VIC 3122. Phone: 03 9819 3502; register by e-mail, phone on 9819 3502, or online.

Tuesday 14 May, 6.30 pm: MAPW Dinner and Meeting: Moving Towards a Ban on Nukes. 

The next meeting of MAPW's Victorian branch is at La Notte, 160 Lygon St., Carlton. The meal costs $35 ($20 for students). The speaker will be Tim Wright from ICAN who will talk about the significance of the international conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear war held in March in Oslo.

Thursday 16 May, 8 pm:  In support of the Lake Eyre to West Papua Land and Sea Convoy for Peace and Justice

The Kinship’ brings to you a night of high quality hip-hop, strut-hop, folk-hop and any other kind of hop you can shake your booty to. It features a stellar line-up: Izzy Brown (Combat Wombat), Rachel By The Stream, Project NRT (feat. members of Pataphysics), Mattriks, Nodes. Show your solidarity and come join us for a night of epic tunes, phat beats and awesome lyricism; celebrating the infinite possibilities that open up when we work together. All proceeds go to the convoy! Thu 19th May, Doors open 8 pm - $10. The Gasometer/484 Smith St/ Collingwood. MORE INFO: http://lizardsrevenge.net/lake-eyre-to-west-papua/.

Friday 17 May, 7.30 pm: Screening of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. The film shows some of the stories of asylum seekers who arrive by boat. Amanda Bater, who has worked with asylum seekers for the past ten years, will explain the experiences of being an asylum seeker. Venue: the Parish Hall, Sacred Heart Church, 13 Fernhill Road North,Sandringham. A cup of tea and coffee will be served so we would appreciate knowing in advance if you are coming. Gold coin donation. Phone: 9598 1511 or email:domecc.sand@bigpond.com. Further information: www.deepblueseafilm.com orwww.asrc.org.au.

Sunday 19 May 3 pm to 6 pm: MAPW Fundraiser Concert. Songs for Peace, a concert with "The Sweet Nothings", Polly Christie and Andy Rigby 

Seasons Bistro, Riddells Creek, Victoria. There will also be a silent auction. If there is anything you can donate towards it please email jenny.grounds@mapw.org.au.

Tuesday 21 May, 8.30 pm: William Dalrymple: The Return of the king: the battle forAfghanistan. In 1839 The British launched an invasion of Afghanistan largely as a result of false intelligence. William Dalrymple has told the story of the first Anglo Afghan war and the subsequent "war of retribution" using Afghan sources. As well as being a great read the book draws parallels which shed light on the current situation. Venue: Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins Street, Melbourne. Cost: $20; $12 concession. Further information: Wheeler Centre

Sunday, 16 June, 1 pm Shared meal; 2 pm discussion: Resisting war to make peace.

Pax Christi invites you to hear Professor Michael Hamel Green of Victoria University who will introduce conversation around his experiences as a war resister, conscientious objector and peacemaker. N.B. Many of you have experiences to share.  Please feel free it invite others. Venue: Kildara, rear 39 Stanhope Street, Malvern. Further info: 0424 950 852.

Tuesday 16 July, 5 pm – 9 pm: An evening with Wes Howard-Brook and Sue Ferguson Johnson.

Pax Christi invites you to hear Wes Howard Brook, who teaches biblical studies Seattle University, USA, and Sue Ferguson Johnson, who is a spiritual director.  Together they run “Abide in Me Ministries”. They will speak on restoring one's sense of bonding around the earth itself, focussing on creation, to help everyone to come out of their identity with violence and empire and into a life of peace and love. The first session will be between 5 pm - 6.30 pm, then a shared meal between 6.30 pm -7.30 pm. Please bring food to share. The second session will be between 7.30 pm – 9 pm. Venue: Kildara, rear 39 Stanhope Street, Malvern. Further info: 0424 950 852.

http://www.wellspringcentre.org.au/courses_reconciliation.html

Sunday 18 August to Wednesday 21 August:

JCMA’s 10^th Winter Conference: Sorry is the Hardest Word: Forgiveness and Repentance. JCMA conferences are intended for anyone from one of the three Abrahamic faiths. Participants include men and women, academics, those working in support or welfare roles, tertiary students, and members and leaders of faith communities. Sunday Taster Opportunity:1 pm - 9.45 pm. Cost: $55. Sunday, the first day of the conference, will provide an overview of the main themes. People who unable to attend for the whole conference are welcome to come to this Sunday taster. Applications closing date: Friday 19 July 2013. Conference Centre, Pallotti College, Millgrove Melways 289 A2. An application form for registration is available from www.trybooking.com/CFGA.

Friday 23 August – Sunday 25 August: Pax Christi Australia National conference:

Peacemaking, an Alternative Narrative! Venue: Edmund Rice Centre, Homebush, Sydney. More details soon.

Bill Gammage - a great Australian showing us how me might become truly Australian

Picture above is from here. Please read the review.

I am reading the winner of the Victorian Premier's Award for non-fiction. A much awarded book! It has generated many awards including the Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History.

If you read nothing else this year, please read this. Bill Gammage says that, until we understand this country, we can't truly call ourselves Australians. Bill is a historian - but not only. He knows his plants, Australia's vegetation. In recent years, more has come to light on life and land before white settlement. The Australians before 1788 managed this continent in a unique way - a way of which we need to take note. 

Bill points out the connection of land management to The Dreaming, the belief system of the first Australians.

Australia to-day is a an increasingly secular society.  The New Atheism has provided an invigorating element to Aussie secularism. My view is that we cannot bring the fullest knowledge of our environment into view while ignoring the environmental spirituality which existed and continues to exist for Aboriginal Australians and the environmental spirituality which is part and parcel of the world's great religions.  

Just as the Australian landscape described by Gammage and managed so brilliantly by the pre-1788 inhabitants is layer upon layer - so is human knowledge and spirituality across the globe.  It is layer upon layer - science, human impact, other species, human usage, spirituality, design, human management. 

I first got this book from my local public library. The hard copy. It is a long time since I have seen a more beautiful book. The size, the layout, the font, and - above all - the most magnificent colour plates an instance of which is above. I have bought the book for myself - but, as an OAP, could only afford the paperback. But it has the lovely colour plates. Become truly Australian. Begin to understand by reading The Biggest Estate on Earth.

Professor Henry Reynolds who wrote the Foreword to the book

with the author of The Biggest Estate on Earth, Bill Gammage.

Photo has been edited by Miss Eagle. It came from here. 

Lastly, I want to thank Bill Gammage - 

for helping us to know ourselves and our land.

Find more videos regarding Bill Gammage here

~~~~

ABC broadcast

Bill Gammage, author of The Biggest Estate on Earth, historicises the notion of terra nullius, the land rights movement and Mabo, on the 20th anniversary of that landmark High Court decision.

Report on Vic Premier's award - The Australian

Review - John Clare in The Sydney Morning Herald

Review - James Boyce in The Monthly
Bill Gammage's comments - Tracker
Australia's original landscape gardeners - The Global Mail