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Homelessness Week 2020 - The way forward must be built on respect. And respect begins with a home.
Homelessness Week 2020 (August 2-8) is taking place in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and ANDY HAMILTON SJ writes that the week is a crucial reminder of the naivety and recklessness of the policies that have produced homelessness. The way forward must be built on respect, and respect begins with a home. Homelessness Week…
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Statement regarding Victorian lockdowns and restrictions
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on every Australian, directly or indirectly, including in Victoria where a second period of lockdowns and restrictions is in effect. This includes the Victorian Government currently restricting the movements of people living in 12 postcodes across Melbourne, and locking down nine sites across three public housing estates. We…
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Refugee Week – the Year of welcome
For Refugee Week, ANDY HAMILTON SJ reflects that in time of isolation, the need for us to unite in care and outreach to people who seek protection is more important than it has ever been. The theme of Refugee Week in 2020 is the Year of Welcome. Welcome is about generosity, opening our arms and…
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Understanding the impacts of change and working for a better future
Jesuit Social Services has maintained its focus on advocacy in a changing environment due to COVID-19. As governments at all levels respond to the pandemic with measures to bolster support to vulnerable people or curtail the movements of the community for safety, it is essential that we understand the impacts of these changes and ensure…
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The time of COVID-19 – Andy Hamilton SJ
Andy Hamilton SJ Last summer changed our lives forever. The bushfires and the arrival of COVID-19 challenged our easy assumptions that we had the world under control. We had thought we needed only to tweak the controls of the economic engine to keep travelling smoothly. The bushfires across Australia reminded us that our land was…
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For World Environment Day, ANDY HAMILTON SJ writes that the COVID–19 pandemic offers a valuable opportunity to pause and reconsider our relationship with our environment and the communities it sustains. This year many people may find contemplating World Environment Day too big a stretch, as we are only beginning to adjust to the ravages of bushfires,…
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Reconciliation Week: In This Together
Reconciliation Week offers us the opportunity to come to terms with past actions and develop a deep understanding of what it truly means to be “In This Together”, writes ANDY HAMILTON SJ. The theme of Reconciliation Week this year is In This Together. The celebration of the week is likely to be subdued, a victim…
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The National Apology to the Stolen Generations and the response to the Coronavirus inspired hope for a better future, but sadly the demand of Indigenous Australians for an effective say in Government policies to do with them is still unmet. Read ANDY HAMILTON SJ’s Sorry Day reflection Sorry Day is worthy of acknowledgement, especially in…
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Laudato Si: Listening to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor
This week marks the fifth anniversary of Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ encyclical on care for our common home. ANDY HAMILTON SJ reflects on how the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need to care for each other and our common home. In May five years ago Pope Francis published his Encyclical Letter Laudato Si. The document…
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For the World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, ANDY HAMILTON SJ writes that the national unity displayed in our collective response to the COVID–19 pandemic points to the strength of a community that rises above imagined social divisions and fosters inclusion. The threat of COVID–19 has stretched Western societies in many ways,…