The Abbotsford Convent wasn't a cruel place, Angela Dyer says. At least not for her. During her four years there, Dyer says, the nuns did not mistreat her, but she does remember the lack of love and her craving for affection. For some, the nuns were angels of mercy, while others remembered a nightmare childhood of beatings. - Katherine Kizilos, The Age

This is the website of the Catholic League, the organisation which holds itself as the defender of Catholic civil rights in the United States. The League views that bias against the Catholic Church is deeply rooted in Amercian society and that "Catholic baiting is the anti-Semitism of the liberals."

The GAFCON leaders claimed that what they regarded as their orthodox views have not been properly respected in the Anglican Communion. They therefore have had to act out in organisational dissent. To claim that at the global level and not to respect and engage with dissenters in your own immediate family is manifestly dishonest. - Reverend Bruce Kaye, Online Opinion

Church lobbies Ruddock to keep East Timorese in Australia


President of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Francis Carroll, has written to the Minister for Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon Philip Ruddock, asking that 1800 East Timorese asylum seekers, who have been in Australia for at least eight years, be allowed to stay.

Many of the asylum seekers have recently received notification from the Immigration Department that they must return to East Timor. They came to Australia for protection many years ago, and have since lived in uncertainty, waiting for a decision.

Archbishop Carroll told Mr Ruddock that it "seems unjust" to "send them away from a country which they now regard as their home".

"They would be unable to continue their education satisfactorily in East Timor," he said. "These children have become very much part of our life and culture and could contribute in many ways to our future."

In his letter, Archbishop Carroll proposes that a special visa category be formed so that these long-suffering people may be able to continue their lives in Australia with right of Permanent Residence.

Most of the East Timorese are Catholics. The Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office says they have become respected and valued members of the Church community, and the Church feels a particular responsibility for them.

In a statement released yesterday, the Office said the asylum seekers' return to East Timor would be very difficult for them and would add to the problems of the new nation.

"Many children in the group have been born in Australia and have begun their education here," said yesterday's statement. "Older children have married and started their families here. Some have acquired employment in fields of work which do not exist in East Timor."

Archbishop Carroll's move was supported by another statement, from the Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes (ACLRI).

SOURCE
Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office/Bishops' Committee for Migrants and Refugees

LINKS
Grant Residency to East Timorese in Australia (ACLRI)
Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office
Bishops' Committee for Migrants and Refugees
Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes

30 Oct 2002