Anniversary
1891: Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of the Working Classes)
Rerum Novarum was a groundbreaking encyclical from Pope Leo Xlll in 1891 that laid the foundation for modern Catholic Social Teaching. It directly took up the issue of the dignity and rights of workers in a rapidly changing world where industrialisation had created an ever widening gap between the materially rich and the working poor.
National Sorry Day
Sorry Day has been observed since 1998, one year after the Bringing Them Home report was presented in the Australian Federal Parliament. This report detailed the impact of the forced… Read More »National Sorry Day
2017: Uluru Statement from the Heart made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders
250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders have endorsed the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart after an exhaustive and comprehensive two-year consultation process around Australia that was designed and led by Aboriginal people. Targeted structural change is called for through the Statement by establishing an ongoing First Nations Voice to Parliament, and a Makarrata Commission ‘to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history’. In 1967, Aboriginal people were counted as citizens of their own nation. Today, they seek to be fully heard, to walk with others, and to build a better future for all Australians.