Posted by Kevin Bates Drawing on Pope John XXIII's encyclical of almost forty years' ago, "Pacem in Terris", the Pope urges us to believe in the possibility of peace and the fact that it will still take major commitments from all of us. At the other end of the spectrum is our Prime Minister, urging us to make peace by spying on each other and being cautious with each other. Today's Sydney Morning Herald, in a thougthful editorial, notes that the Government's new campaign on terrorist-awareness, will only serve to heighten the fear and paranoia that has always lurked beneath the surface of the Australian psyche. Already there are anecdotal evidences for this, such as the people on a Sydney bus the other day who were reported to authorities because they were speaking Arabic on the bus!! Our asylum-seekers are so despairing of any progress here, that they are burning the buildings in the detention Centres. Our fearless leaders then call for their expulsion without any expression of understanding of the underlying causes of these behaviours. As this year ends, the means to peace are still the subject of argument, making peace an ever more distant prospect between us all. May the God of all stories and traditions, still keep a hand on us.
on December 31, 2002, 10:28 am
Pope John Paul has presented us with a call for peace based on God's plan that we should learn to live in love, do justice and practice mercy, while drawing our strength from our closeness to God.
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