33^rd Sunday of the Year

Around the world people are reckoning with the revelations of the Pandora Papers where shadowy offshore accounts held by wealthy elites have hidden their money in tax havens. Politicians, oligarchs and celebrities have been named and shamed as they find themselves facing outrage and possible prosecution. In a powerful address recently to the World Meeting of Popular Movements, Pope Francis said that the economy “is escaping all human control.” But, the Pandora Papers remind us that allowing billionaires to steal from the rest of us and get away with it has been a choice aided by decades of poor legislation.

32^nd Sunday of the Year

Widows figure prominently in today’s readings as pictures of poverty and powerlessness – people exploited not just by Israel’s religious institutions but by institutions through to the present.  Jesus' concern was for vulnerable people – people who suffer at the hands of international money markets, global agribusiness and corporate monopolies. The extremes of poverty, oppression, violence, inequality and the Covid-19 pandemic all bear a female face – women often being its victims as evident in places of conflict, war, famine and wholesale illness.

Pacific Islanders in Australia and overseas have cautiously welcomed the Morrison Government’s commitment to net zero climate pollution by 2050. However, they also believe that without a firm plan for more immediate action by 2030, Australia is unlikely to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.