Origins of the Catholic Church in Australia. Essay

James Delaney said “a major influence on social, moral, and political life at the time was the church.” (Delaney). This quote relates to the time

The Sisters of St Joseph have made many contributions to the Catholic Church, some of which include providing education for the poor, caring for children and the elderly, and providing pastoral support. They have also set up spirituality centres where they can provide support and opportunities for people to

Immigration has had the most dramatic effect on the current religious landscape of Australia, leading to an increase in some groups and the decline of others. The origins of the decline of the first doctrines that came to Australia can be traced back to the to the relaxation of the White Australia Policy. This in turn led to an increased population of Immigrants in Australia from countries other than Britain, Italy, Ireland and European countries in general.

The Church of Christ, founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879, preached that the true practice of Christianity heals sickness; she establishes her views in the book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”.

“The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati is an apostolic Catholic community of women religious that exists to carry out the Gospel of Jesus Christ through service and prayer in the world” (qtd. in “About the Sisters of Charity”). The Sisters are led by their mission statement to be “[u]rged by the love of Christ and in the spirit of [their] founder, Elizabeth Ann Seton, [the] Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati strive to live Gospel values. [They] choose to act justly, to build loving relationships, to share [their] resources with those in need, and to care for all creation” (qtd. in “Mission Statement”). Through this mission, they dedicate themselves to “the education of children, care of orphans, the poor and the sick” (qtd. in “Sisters of Charity Cincinnati”). These values are exemplified in numerous ways but specifically have been shown with the creation of educational institutions, orphanages, and their selflessness during the civil war.

According to source 2 Christianity remained the dominant religion in Australia, although non-Christian religions continued to grow at a much faster rate. Since 1996, Christianity grew from around 12.6 million to 12.7 million, but compared to the other religions and the total population this number fell from 71% to 64%. Within Christianity, Anglicans dropped from 22% of the population to 18.7%, and therefore resulted in a decrease growth of -4.7 within the time period of 10 years. “Over the same period of time non-Christian religions increased from around 0.6 million to 1.1 million people, and collectively accounted for 5.6% of the total population in 2006” (king, 2010, p.221).

Unemployment and financial struggles grew with this increasing population. Male dominance was considered the norm so women were left with unjust opportunities for unemployment and equality in the workplace (Women's Diaries, 1997). The Golding Sisters felt it was their duty to bring peace and equality to society so established such foundations as the Women’s Organising Society. By 1900, five million women were in the labor force (Women's Diaries, 1997). The Golding Sisters worked hard to remove discrimination from society, resulting in multicultural immigrants participating freely in Church activities and masses. The Church became what 19th Century Irish bishops hoped for; a Church based on the Irish model (Dixon, 2005). Their work was often described as a ‘practical expression of the Catholic faith’ (Fawkner & Kelly, 1995). Thus, the Golding Sisters should be commemorated for their works that changed the society and church for the better by receiving the Good Christian award.

Christianity is still currently the most popular religious tradition in Australia, however has seen a steady decrease in numbers due peoples interests in other religions and a non religious focused society. By 1947, Christianity had long been established in Australia due to European settlers who brought their traditional Churches. In 1947 it was recorded that 88% of Australians considered themselves Christians. Moving forward to 2013 Christianity is still the most dominant religion in Australia however it’s followers have decreased significantly to 61% recorded in 2011. This is mainly due to peoples dissatisfaction with traditional religious

Within the 1600s the dutch were the first europeans to reach australia, although in 1770 James Cook claimed australia for britain. Australia still had been distant, forty thousand years ago the first settlers had probably been citizens from southeast asia. But it was known that the first years of settlement were nearly disastrous. Supposedly the land had been cursed with spoiled soil, unfamiliar climate,

Immigration has easily had the largest and most significant effect on Australia’s religious landscape and has managed to see Australia become a vast multi-cultural and religious community. Immigration has taken several years to make significant changes to the Australian religious landscape. After the early settlers arrived and began to set up churches and

The practises, beliefs and values of Christianity and Islam have an impact on Australia society; however, the media exploits the perceived tension between the two groups which has led to discrimination and violence. Over many years the way of which an individual lives their life has been shown to be affected by the religion of which they follow. This affects the way of life throughout the community surrounding these people, as well as having an impact on the social issues throughout this particular community. Christianity has a huge impact throughout Australia, this includes through schools, dress codes, the way of which people live in their day to day lives. Christianity has always been a highly popular religion throughout Australia as

Social Justice is a very well needed in the world, however it is very difficult to achieve because every individual has their own views. Nevertheless, several key figures have contributed to this ideology and that of Catholic social thought in order to take action in recent centuries. For example, Dorothy Day, whom is known as a key activist, organized the Catholic Worker movement of 1933 which sought to promote social justice, peace, and simplicity.

The Early Church is noted for its magnetic nature and for a free structure of biblical authority under Peter and for its teacher enthusiasm/nomad evangelists as neighborhood, specific places of worship starts to be built up. Be that as it may, Catholics trust that the Church is and has dependably been both profound and noticeable as an organization that is one, heavenly, catholic and mission. Numerous of the disagreeing religious administrators framed free groups that came to be known as Old Catholic on the grounds that they tried to stick to the convictions and practices of the Catholic (all inclusive) Church of the mission time existing before 1054 (see Declaration of Utrecht). The Old Catholic groups worked together

Australia’s religious pluralism makes our nation’s tendency to privilege the Christian faith all the more problematic. It is unegalitarian and potentially divisive, and risks embodying a form of majoritarianism that imposes a basically Christian “values” on everyone, including minorities, irrespective of their beliefs.

The Catholic Church took on a more significant role as a” provider of social services from the mid-nineteenth century”(Considine and Dukelow ,2009,p.15. The Church strongly endorsed the principle of Subsidiarity, supporting the belief that areas concerned with provision should be managed at local level, by various community based groups.