The Archbishop needs a good defrocking as far as I'm concerned. The horror of the commission was not the uncovering of the shame - it was that the shame ever happened, and this twat needs a good stiff kick in the arse to remind him of that fact. It also takes a special kind of deliberate willful ignorance to interpret the SSM act as infringing on his precious religious liberties - and I don't recall him arguing for it to be permitted for those religions, like mine, which have no objection whatsoever to gay marriage. Guess it only matters if it goes one way, eh?http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-22/catholic-church-writes-off-2017/9283172 wrote: One of Australia's top Catholics has declared 2017 an "annus horribilis", the Latin phrase for "horrible year", in his Christmas message.
Sydney's Archbishop Anthony Fisher made reference to same-sex marriage and the findings of the royal commission into child sexual abuse.
"Like any year, this one has had its challenges for our world, our country and each of us individually," Archbishop Fisher said.
"For people of faith you might say it has been an 'annus horribilis', as our Christian conceptions of life and love have been challenged in the marriage and euthanasia debates, freedom of religion in Australia put in doubt and shameful crimes and cover ups in our church uncovered by the royal commission.
"But the Christmas story insists there is a star in the dark sky, light amidst the fears and failures."
The Archbishop alluded to the strength of the faith through its young people, referring to the thousands who attended the recent Australian Catholic Youth Festival.
He said there was new hope for 2018.
"A throng of young people standing up for faith and ideals says to us that whatever the past failures, we can have hope for ourselves, our families, our church, our nation, our world," Archbishop Fisher said.
"Our young people are not naive about the shames in our past or the trials in our future, but they want to be part of the answer to both.
"They are generously responding to the call to be priests and prophets, servant leaders and saints, the spiritual heroes we need for our times."
Relating marriage equality to royal commission 'wrong'
Equality Campaign spokesman Clint McGilvray said the Archbishop's remarks on marriage equality and the sexual abuse inquiry in the same context were "completely wrong".
"One is celebrating the best of Australian values, the best of who we are and what we are," Mr McGilvray said.
"In terms of the other, I mean that is a terrible thing what's happened and the church has to address that.
"As a Catholic I know the majority of Catholic Australians voted yes because it is in line with the values of our faith, and it's also in line with the values of a 'fair go' and treating everyone with the same dignity and respect."
There is indeed a bright star as he says, though. But when he goes to meet that bright star, he may have a lot to answer for.
