Bishop John

Dear Bishop John,

Some time ago you asked if I could make you a crook at the King Island Men’s Shed.

We have finally finished it today. Here is a photo of the finished crook.

The blokes at the shed have been very interested in it and making it has given me lots of opportunities to talk about all sorts of things.

I hope it serves you well when you visit here.

Rod Oldfield

Rector of King Island, BCA Missioner

Dear Rod,

I’m looking forward to being with you to celebrate the 100th anniversary of All Saints Church, King Island in 2013.

Have that crook ready to party! 🙂

Shalom, John

Sobering, indeed frightening letter (I have bolded some text for clarity): Friday, December 7, 2012

Assisted Suicide leaves no room for doctors’ errors or erroneous prognostications

Jeanette Hall’s letter ( “Assisted suicide prompts some terminally ill patients to give up on life prematurely“), about how she would have died from assisted suicide if her doctor hadn’t talked her out of it, hit a nerve. Her stated motivation was that she had been diagnosed with cancer and given six months to a year to live. That was 12 years ago.

Doctors do not know the future. They are often wrong. Indeed, this has happened twice in my family.

The first time was with my father. At age 66, he collapsed as he was leaving a doctor’s appointment in the hospital at Glasgow. A week or so later his doctor recommended that we “pull the plug.” I instead moved my father to another hospital. He fully recovered and lived nine more years. The doctor was wrong.

 The second time was with me. When I was 62 years old, I was paralyzed due to a disease and put on a respirator. After four months, my doctors offered to take me off the respirator. They said that there was no chance of recovery. They said that if I lived, I would always be respirator dependent and a quadriplegic. Instead, I eventually lost my paralysis and even went back to work. My doctors, excellent doctors with years of experience, were wrong. It is now 14 years later.

Proponents of assisted suicide sometimes claim that assisted suicide is no different than pulling the plug. This is untrue. When you pull the plug, the patient doesn’t necessarily die. If the patient does die, he or she dies due to his or her illness, not a lethal overdose.

I hope that we can keep assisted suicide out of Montana.
Jerry and Dora Lou Jacobson, Glasgow

Article, here.

The Anglican Church of Australia has responded to the Australian Government’s Consultation Paper calling for comment on the Terms of Reference for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The Anglican Church commented under the headings:

• Scope of the Terms of Reference
• Form of the Royal Commission
• Number and qualifications of Commissioner/s
• Duration and reporting arrangements for the Royal Commission

The full Anglican Church of Australia submission to the Consultation Paper is here.

Also, Anglican Church welcomes the National Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse.

I welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement of a National Royal Commission into child sexual abuse.

On my first day as Anglican Bishop of Tasmania in July 2000, I apologised to survivors of child sexual abuse by Anglican Church workers. Child sexual abuse is always wrong.

For the last 10 years I have been calling for a Royal Commission into child sexual abuse. I am grateful that at last the Royal Commission will happen and I look forward to its terms of reference.

My hope and prayer is that this great evil will be thoroughly investigated, recommendations made to build a safer Australia for children and that these recommendations be implemented. I continue to pledge my full support to creating a safe society for all children.

My sincere thanks and congratulations to our Prime Minister.

The publicity surrounding this announcement will more than likely bring forward further revelations of child sexual abuse. We encourage people to contact the police. We also have a Help line number, 1800 017 286, for people to speak with Ms Annette Sims, the Director of Professional Standards. Please note the responsibility of all clergy and church workers is to report child abuse to the police or Department of Health and Human Services – 1300 737 639.

By way of background to our pastoral ministry, the Diocese of Tasmania conducted an Independent Pastoral Inquiry into child sexual abuse by church workers, Not the Way of Christ, which was released in 1998. This was followed by implementation of its recommendations, the establishment of the Pastoral Support and Assistance Scheme and the commencement of the Safe Church Communities program. The latter delivers both screening and training for church workers, including clergy, who work with children.

In 2009 the Anglican Church of Australia released the report of a major independent research project commissioned to help strengthen its child protection protocols. The study was prepared by leading child sexual abuse experts, Emeritus Professor Kim Oates AM of the Medical Faculty of the University of Sydney and Professor Patrick Parkinson of the University of Sydney Faculty of Law. The document, Study of Reported Child Sexual Abuse in the Anglican Church, can be found at: http://www.anglican.org.au/governance/commissions/documents/professional-standards/study%20of%20reported%20child%20sexual%20abuse%20in%20the%20anglican%20church%20may%202009%20full%20report.pdf

All media inquiries about sexual abuse are to be directed to The Revd Stephen Carnaby, Diocesan Media Officer, 0417 343 710. As in the past, I will undertake responsibility as the spokesperson for the Diocese of Tasmania on child sexual abuse.

The Diocese is registered to receive communications from the Royal Commission.

You will find some media comment in the following:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-13/churches-back-royal-commission/4368106?section=tas

http://www.examiner.com.au/story/1087542/churches-right-place-to-start/?src=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/11/14/366031_tasmania-news.html

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/abuse-inquiry-to-run-for-as-long-as-it-takes-gillard-20121113-2997y.html

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/11/14/365983_tasmania-news.html

I value your prayers for wisdom, justice and healing.

I found this article which explores the danger and  of leaving the complexity of euthanasia with our politicians:

Populism and rushed policy decisions are increasingly being made with the hope of turning the polls around and winning votes. And this may well be the case in Tasmania where the state government is struggling and many predict a wipe-out at the next election.   In a bid to turn this around in the past few months not only has Premier Lara Giddings announced plans to legalise same sex marriage but has given her support to a bill legalising voluntary euthanasia. Despite the promised discussion paper not yet released, let alone a full inquiry held, Premier Giddings says she hopes to have euthanasia legislation before the Tasmanian Parliament before the end of the year.

Confident the bill will pass, Dr Philip Nitschke, director of Exit International has already announced plans to launch a Tasmanian home-visit clinic program and to have this up and running by this time next year. Modelled on a Dutch version of assisted suicide which has operated out of a van since March this year, Nitschke’s program would allow doctors to travel to patients’ homes and lawfully prescribe and administer the lethal drug Nembutal.

“The distinguishing characteristic of euthanasia as a public policy problem is its moral dimension which challenges the fundamental principles on which society is based,” Professor Prasser says and quotes from the 1994 House of Lords inquiry which found it impossible to set secure limits on voluntary euthanasia:

“to create an exception to the general prohibition of intentional killing would inevitably open the way to its further erosion whether by  design or inadvertence, or by the human tendency to test the limits of any regulation.”

Article, Euthanasia too complex to be left to politicians.