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Turn Off Your Gaydar, Please
A few years ago I was visiting Father Geoff, a retired Catholic priest who was recovering from stroke in rehab. His nephew, a practising Catholic, was visiting him too. As the visit progressed, the nephew began a hypothetical monologue about him, not to him. There are aspects of Father’s life he keeps hidden from family, the nephew said rhetorically into the air above Father’s head. If only he came out, the nephew opined, he would still be loved and everything would be fine. Father remained stony-faced and silent, refusing to make eye contact.
Although the nephew had good intentions, they seemed neither well thought out nor respectful, making this performance difficult to witness. If Christians want Father’s sexual identity, whatever it is, to become a progressive talking point, the propriety of such an attack on sense and sensibility is questionable. What’s the difference between pressuring a sick old priest to come out and forcing him to drink the Kool-Aid of identity…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins