Okay, I’ve checked the calendar, and it is definitely St Stephen’s Day, not April Fool’s Day. So someone pease tell me that this is a joke?
See: http://www.robertblairkaiser.com/
(Actually, I guess there is always the possibility that it IS a joke, only the author doesn’t realise it…)
I propose that
1) We replace the absentee monarch of Australia (who is also the Monarch of Great Britain) with an elected Australian monarchy.
2) The elected monarch exactly replaces the current monarch in the current constition.
3) The elected monarch has exactly the same powers, duties and responsibilities as those of the current absentee monarch. All the monarch's functions are carried out by his/her personal representatives (as is currently the case): federally by the Governor General, and in the states by the State Governors.
4) The Governor General and the Governors continue to be selected and appointed as they currently are, that is, by the premier with the approval of the monarch.
5) The monarch is elected to sovereignty over Australia for life, but his/her sovereignty is strictly non-hereditary.
6) The elective body is the "college of electors" comprised of the state governors and federal governor general.
7) The election of the monarch must be a unanimous decision on the part of the college of electors.
I suppose the departure of Morris West from this world left a vacuum that was going to be filled by someone. Now, who’s going to play Mahoney in the film adaptation?
I suppose it isn’t a joke, because you can buy it on Amazon. You can read the reviews here…
http://www.amazon.com/Cardinal-Mahony-Robert-Blair-Kaiser/product-reviews/0964664291/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
I won’t be buying it myself, but I think a lesson from the existance of a book like this is that we cannot overestimate the damage the clerical scandals and the cover ups have done to the Church.
Not only have they damaged the victims, they have scandalised the faithful, and given false reasons for people to leave the Church.
When Jesus told us that people who mistreated children would be better off thrown in the sea with a millstone around their necks, I think he was not joking.
These scandals and coverups must never, never, never happen again and everything must be done to make reparation and to stop them in the future.
From the shill for the book:
“give people a voice, a vote, and citizenship in their church.”
uh, wrong categories here.
Someone should clue this fellow in that it is God’s voice which matters in the Church. And that we are members in a body, which has a head, not citizens in a republic. And that the truth can’t be determined by vote. And that the model of a democratic republic is not applicable to every situation and institution.
Susan Peterson