Originally posted by snapperhead
is it time for the new SOR google "banner"??
LOL
Ill leave that one up to red....
as a hint. for the various variants, try the websites eg Catholic Church=catholic.org.au etc
Also, try the individual topic areas+australia poverty+australia then build uup your searches eg poverty+australia+christianity (might have to rearriange them but it should still work)
If that doesnt work, maybe, just maybe someone who posts on the SOR board has a website that maybe, just maybe of help..... (*hint* try looking at peoples profiles......)
Was that friendly enuff tenille???
LOL
I have no idea about what you are talking about....
Education:
· Christianity continues to play a significant influence on education in Australia. Most non-government schools are sponsored by a Christian denomination. Choice in education is an enshrined Australian value today, expressed through the fact that more than a quarter of Australia’s children attend Christian schools.
The abolition of government aid to church schools (‘state aid’) in the 19th century resulted in differing responses across denominations. Protestant denominations did not continue with primary schools but established private secondary schools that have made a great contribution to education and leadership in the Australian community.
The Catholic Church established its own parish primary schools and secondary schools, staffed by teaching orders such as the Josephite, Mercy and Good Samaritan sisters and the Marist and Christian Brothers, and paid for by parents and the Catholic community. Without state aid these schools were often ill equipped and under-resourced. Catholics consistently lobbied for state aid, which was a fierce, sectarian issue for much of the 20th century.
Government funding for non-government schools is now a fact of Australia’s political life. In 1962 the controversial Goulburn Catholic school strike paved the way for consideration of renewal of state aid. In 1964 the Menzies government authorised science subsidies for all secondary schools making way for the substantial injection of Federal government funds for non-government schools, which began under the Whitlam government in 1967 By then the question of state aid was more a rational issue rather than a religious one. The Australian Council for the Defense of Government schools (DOGS) formed in August 1964 and opposes state aid to non-government schools and promotes public education. Non-government schools are now funded on a ‘needs’ basis, according to their community’s capacity to support them. However, no non-government school can receive more than 80% of the cost of education in a government school. In effect non-government schools
save the government funding, in 1974 the Commonwealth Schools Commission was established to control funding for all schools.
Christian schools are flourishing in Australia. In 1998, 1694 Catholic schools educated 637,000 or 20% of Australia’s students. Teachers in these schools
are 98% ‘laypeople’, and centralised diocesan education offices manage the most of the schools. Education, along with health care and welfare services, contributes to making the Catholic Church the largest private employer in Australia. The Catholic church also conducts two universities, the Australian Catholic University which has a number of campuses in the eastern states, and Notre Dame Australia, in Western Australia.
About 100,000 students attend 127 schools run by the Anglican Church, which has recently set up a network of inexpensive schools in western Sydney. Lutheran and Seventh-day Adventist school systems have a long history in Australia. In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of other Christian schools that are generally small combined primary and secondary schools. Christian Community Schools and Christian aren’t Controlled Schools are the two largest networks.
The issue of state aid to religious schools continues to be a controversial political matter.
Social Welfare
· There are two major ways in which Christianity has influenced the welfare of Australian society:
~ Through specific services offered to people in crisis.
~ Through the lobbying of local, state and federal governments for
social structures that allow for the fullest development in the
potential of each human being.
· Catholic. The 40,000 members and volunteers of the St Vincent de Paul society make it one of Australia’s largest organisations working against social injustice. Its Disability Services Vocational coordinates the support of employment services for people with an intellectual disability. Home visitation is a response to calls for assistance from people in the local community who are often provided with furniture, clothing and household goods free of charge through the society’s Centres of Charity and opportunity shops. These centres also offer affordable clothing and goods for the wider community. The profit from the sale of stock from the centres is used to provide resources and support to people in need. The society has also developed many special works that include hostels for the homeless. Its Hostels for Homeless Men branch is the largest provider of services and support for homeless people and facilities for the aged in NSW. The Matthew Talbot Hostel in Sydney alone provides crisis accommodation for 200 men.
· Methodist. In 1963, the Methodist Sydney City Mission established LifeLine, a 24-hour telephone counseling service. In 1964, a Methodist minister, the Rev. Ted Noffs established the Wayside Chapel at Kings Cross. In 1967, the Wayside Chapel established a Drug Referral Centre and a Drug Addiction Research Foundation. Much important community knowledge and action in the area flowed from Noffs’ pioneering work. His
wide-ranging ministry also includes family relationships, international understanding, racial and sectarian tolerance and understanding, personal crises and confrontation with a drug problem. Aboriginal issues were of primary importance.
· Anglican. In 1901, Archdeacon William Boyce was an active temperance worker and crusader for a wide range of social reforms including aged and invalid pensions, changed labour laws and slum clearance. Later, Archdeacon Robert Hammond devised and implemented a scheme of linking unemployed men with land and home ownership. By 1939, 110 cottages had been built on 225 acres now known as Hammondville. Hammond engaged in rehabilitation of those brought before the courts, sheltered 114 homeless families, served over 250,000 meals a year, provided clothing, furniture, free hot showers and haircuts for the destitute. His vision and energy have left an enduring legacy in what today is the Hammond Care Group.
In more recent times, Anglicans have placed greater emphasis on contributing to the policy debate in governments. Through its expert committees, the Anglican Church looks at complex social issues in the light of the Bible, church doctrine and ethics, in order to work out appropriate responses. It provides emergency support for refugees, English language classes for recent immigrants, and cross-cultural workers among ethnic groups.
About 80 different Anglican groups come under the umbrella organisation of Anglicare. Anglicare provides approximately 25% of welfare services in Australia including:
~ The Good Samaritans (whose volunteers, for instance, ran the
Women’s Room at the Kosovar Refuge Safe Haven at Singleton.
~ The Brotherhood of St Lawrence which works with the poor and
the unemployed.
~ Being one of the largest providers of aged care in Australia.
~ 29 chaplains in prisons and Life After Prison Ministry.
~ Juvenile justice centres.
~ Medical and psychiatric hospitals.
~ Emergency services.
~ Clothing bins collect material that is sorted and opportunity
shops, sold to selected markets overseas or converted into
industrial wipers. Nearly $1.2 million has been distributed over a
ten-year period from opportunity shops to other Anglicare
ministries.
· Baptist. Although Baptists have a long history working in social welfare areas, one of their most successful welfare ventures, Baptist Inner City Ministries (BICM), only began formally under that title as recently as 1987. BICM works with:
~ Street sex workers- there are over 200 people involved in street
sex work each week in NSW and these are the most vulnerable
and marginalized of all people involved in the sex industry. The
BICM Woman’s Space offers hospitality and acceptance to the
women of this group through a drop-in centre in Sydney’s inner-
city suburb of Woolloomooloo.
~ The Fair Wear campaign for fair wages for migrant women
outworkers who have previously been exploited by the clothing
industry.
~ People with gambling, drug and alcohol addictions, with
mental and physical health needs, experiencing violence,
homelessness, long-term unemployment or Australian residency
and discrimination problems.
~ A back shed café and opportunity shop.
~ A fruit and vegetable co-operative and distribution of food
hampers.
~ Scripture teaching at the local school.
~ An Aboriginal Community Development Officer who works to
motivate Indigenous people to move into community activities,
teaches students at the local school about Aboriginal culture,
conducts Indigenous burial services as asked and assists with
referrals in cases of needs related to mental health and alcohol.
· Lutheran. Lutheran Community Care contributes significant work in child welfare, general hospital visiting, psychiatric hospitals, distributing used goods and clothing to those in need, professional social work and counseling.
· The Uniting Church. In Australia has the most extensive Christian welfare network with 1,500 centres with 20,000 staff. The largest centre is the Wesley mission
(there may be some dodgey spelling in there im nout sure, im sure you can work it out)
