Roundup: Occupy, church and banking, social justice, soldiers and chaplains, worship and optimism, Richard Rohr, gender equality

Tents that shake the establishment’s complacency

Alongside the supremacy of the monarch in statecraft and religion, the pillars of the Christendom order that has prevailed in much of Europe for a good part of its history have been governance, church and banking.

A call for establishing social justice committees

The Social Justice Committee of the Hunter Presbytery is calling on all presbyteries and interested individuals to form social justice committees at presbytery level.

Chaplain burnout

According to the army, since the beginning of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, American chaplains have served a total of more than 20,000 months in combat zones, some have gone on as many as eight tours of duty. One survey revealed that 20 per cent of these chaplains had suffered compassion fatigue or some sort of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Even the toughest troops will ask questions after people die in battle

When soldiers face life and death in the field, they cry out for spiritual direction.

Optimistic? Attending services may be reason

Regular attendance at religious services is associated with a more optimistic outlook and a lesser inclination to be depressed, compared to those who do not attend services at all, according to a recently published study.

Richard Rohr

Without transformation, you can assume you’re at a high moral, spiritual level just because you call yourself Lutheran or Methodist or Catholic. I think my great disappointment as a priest has been to see how little actual spiritual curiosity there is in so many people.

Historic day for equal pay

Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, said the announcement that the Government and the Australian Services Union will make a joint submission to Fair Work Australia, on equal pay for the community and services sector, was an historic milestone in gender equality.