For almost two millennia, the Catholic Church has been the author and repository of some of the highest ideals of humanity. Yet, as humanity is flawed, so is the Church. Few would deny that the Catholic Church has dark chapters in its history. So much is expected of an institution that claims to bridge the sacred and the secular. Do these darker moments unfairly obscure the light? Or is the Catholic Church simply the most ancient of wolves in sheep’s clothing?
Speaking for the proposition will be Helen Coonan, Julian McMahon and Sister Libby Rogerson. Speaking against the proposition will be Father Peter Kennedy, Anne Summers and David Marr.
Featuring
Libby Rogerson
Sister Libby Rogerson IBVM is a Loreto sister currently working with Mary Ward International Australia, the Loreto Sisters’ aid, development and volunteer organisation.
From 1999 to 2009 Sr Libby was coordinator of Social Justice and Director of Caritas in the Diocese of Parramatta. She is a member of the CLRI NSW Justice Committee, board member of Jesuit Social Services, deputy chair Loreto Normanhurst School Council, member of Catholic Social Services Centacare (Parramatta), and a member of the Loreto Sisters JPIC Committee.
From 1993 to 1998, Sr Libby served on the General Council of the Loreto Sisters, based in Rome and visiting Loreto sisters in 14 countries. In 1999, Sr Libby worked with Caritas in East Timor and was awarded the Humanitarian medal for her services. As a former member of the Caritas Australia National Council and Chair of the Loreto Sisters Justice Committee, Sr Libby has in recent years visited projects in Bougainville, Tonga, Vietnam, Southern Africa and Kenya.
Julian McMahon
Julian McMahon was admitted to practice in 1992. After working at Sly & Weigall and the OPP, he joined the Victorian Bar in 1998.
Since then his practice has been in criminal matters. He has acted in numerous complex matters, including police corruption, terrorism, drug, murder, sex, commercial fraud, tax evasion and death penalty cases.
Peter Kennedy
Father Peter Kennedy is a former Catholic priest who was forced to stand down from his position as parish priest in the South Brisbane diocese of St Mary’s in 2009.
Peter has since gone on to form a breakaway congregation in the same area called St Mary’s-in-Exile.
Helen Coonan
Senator Helen Coonan was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing New South Wales from July 1996 to August 2011.
Helen Coonan attended a Catholic boarding school before gaining a law degree and working as a barrister and solicitor. She was elected to the federal Senate as a Liberal senator for New South Wales in 1996. She was Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer from 2001 to 2004 and Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts from 2004 to 2007. She was appointed Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate in 2006 and 2007.
In opposition, Helen Coonan was, in turn, Shadow Minister for Human Services, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Shadow Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and Deregulation. She retired from federal politics in August 2011.
David Marr
David Marr is the author of Patrick White: A Life, Panic, The High Price of Heaven and Dark Victory (with Marian Wilkinson). He has written for the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age, the Saturday Paper, the Guardian and the Monthly, and been editor of the National Times, a reporter for Four Corners and presenter of ABC TV’s Media Watch.
He is the author of five bestselling Quarterly Essays in addition to the latest, Quarterly Essay 65, The White Queen: One Nation and the Politics of Race.
Anne Summers
Dr Anne Summers AO is a journalist, researcher, commentator and best-selling author of nine books, including the classic Damned Whores and God’s Police, first published in 1975, and still in print. Her most recent book ...