Good afternoon Chair and Honourable members, and thank you for the invitation to address you today. Might I begin by commending the Legislative Council for establishing this Select Committee.

Good afternoon Chair and Honourable members, and thank you for the invitation to address you today. Might I begin by commending the Legislative Council for establishing this Select Committee.
Some years ago I was part of a Channel 4 TV programme in Britain, a panel discussion about the new genetics. I was asked what I thought about prenatal testing.
When most people hear the word ‘Samaritan’, they think of The Good Samaritan, rather than the not-so-good one of today’s Gospel. At first glance the two are unconnected by anything but nationality.
Thank you for those kind words of introduction Professor Ramsay. Vice Chancellor Celia Hammond, the newly arrived Dean of Philosophy Christian Brugger, my Auxiliary Bishop, Richard Umbers, colleagues and friends.
Last September the British photographer, Jim Grover, spent a day snapping people crossing Westminster Bridge: locals and visitors, adults and children.
Some years ago I was praying in the crypt of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, many metres below the putative chair we celebrate tonight, now suspended below the main window of the Holy Spirit. As she pointed at the sepulchre, a large black American lady asked if I knew what it was.
Backed by a rendition of the 1988 song ‘It’s got to be perfect’ by British band Fairground Attraction, a current TV ad opens with a nappy-clad child rummaging through a woman’s handbag, removing a lipstick and using it to
draw on a wall.
This past week the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began its review of the overall performance of the Catholic Church in Australia in this area. And what has been revealed has already been harrowing.
My dear friends, The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has begun its final three-week review of the performance of the Catholic Church in Australia. And what has been revealed has already been harrowing.
The Word of God has converted hearts, transformed lives and inspired action in millions of people for two millennia and more. It has also played a major role in shaping our language and culture, and so our thinking and communication; the King James Bible stands with Shakespeare as the two principal sources of modern English.