Honouring women who see need and run towards it
This year’s International Women’s Day honoured women who care and who will continue to care, women who will see need and run towards it, and it will be at cost.
We are called to act on climate change, ‘the greatest moral threat facing humanity’
During our recent Chapter, never have I been more aware of the existential threat that climate change poses for people I know and love, writes Congregational Leader Sister Patty Fawkner.
Calls are growing for a Church more inclusive of the LGBTIQA+ community
When I agreed for our chapel to be used as a venue for a Thanksgiving Mass, I did not anticipate the fracas that would ensue, writes Congregational Leader Patty Fawkner.
It’s time to say enough is enough!
All hate speech should be condemned, but it is far easier for me to call out racism than to examine the racism that lurks within my heart, writes Patty Fawkner.
Learning to cultivate the gift of solitude
Solitude doesn’t just happen. Like a garden, it needs cultivating. It requires a tolerance for time spent alone, a tolerance for silence and stillness, writes Congregational Leader Patty Fawkner SGS.
A precious encounter enables me to reclaim God as Father
I endeavour to avoid referring to God as Father, but the memory of a past experience has caused me to rethink my relationship with God as Father, writes Patty Fawkner.
Saying Yes to the Voice will herald a better future for us all
Tanya Plibersek, my local federal member, recently invited her constituents to a Community Forum to discuss the Voice to Parliament. I was keen to attend, writes Congregational Leader Patty Fawkner.
Remembering George Pell
Like many, I was stunned to learn of the death of George Pell last month. The polarising impact of this conservative culture warrior continues beyond the grave, writes Patty Fawkner.
Celebrating the wonder and the mystery of Christmas
Christmas, the feast of the Incarnation, the feast which celebrates the Messiah coming into our messy word, is also a feast celebrating me and my humanity, writes Patty Fawkner SGS.
In developing diversity competence skills we make space for difference
As the cultural environment is enriched by diversity and diminished by uniformity, so the glue that binds us together is honouring and understanding our differences, writes Sister Patty Fawkner SGS.
Bearing witness is intrinsic to the path of reconciliation and healing
The First Nations Voice to Parliament is an opportunity for us to bear witness to the crimes, the cruelty and misguided policies of the past, writes Sister Patty Fawkner SGS.
It takes courage for us to be loving critics
“Pity the leader caught between unloving critics and uncritical lovers.” These words were spoken by John Gardner, a senior government official in US President Lyndon Johnson’s administration, writes Patty Fawkner.