INTERNATIONAL
AUSTRALIA
“Christian schools angry over ban on teaching creationism.” By Malcolm Brown. Sydney Morning Herald. March 3, 2010. Australian Christian schools will campaign against what they see as the thin end of the wedge – a decision by the South Australian Non-Government Schools Registration Board to effectively ban the teaching of creationism. Under policies published in December, the board said it required ”teaching of science as an empirical discipline, focusing on inquiry, hypothesis, investigation, experimentation, observation and evidential analysis”. The board said it ”does not accept as satisfactory a science curriculum in a non-government school which is based on, espouses or reflects the literal interpretation of a religious text in its treatment of either creationism or intelligent design”.
“Sydney Uni seeks talent beyond affluent suburbs.” By Heath Gilmore. Sydney Morning Herald. March 6, 2010. THE University of Sydney has admitted it needs to address what it calls its ”financial vulnerability” and broaden its intake beyond elite independent and selective high schools to attract the most talented students. Unveiling a green paper outlining its future, its vice-chancellor said the student intake had to be extended beyond ”the relatively affluent eastern and northern suburbs of Sydney”. This was not a case of social engineering, Michael Spence said, but a recognition that the most talented and capable students were being excluded by the university.
GERMANY
“German monastery raided over child sex abuse claims.” By Diana Magnay. CNN.com. March 3, 2010. Authorities have raided a monastery in southern Germany as part of a probe into allegations that priests sexually abused children there, prosecutors said. Eight former students at the Ettal Abbey boarding school have reported that they were abused in 1954 and in the 1970s and ’80s, the abbey has said in a statement. The head of the monastery and the school headmaster stepped down last week. Investigators with the Munich State Prosecutors Office visited the Benedictine Abbey of Ettal on Tuesday afternoon as part of their ongoing investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of underage children by priests there.
Related Stories:
“Pope’s brother’s prominent boys’ choir faces abuse claims.” USA Today. March 5, 2010.
HAITI RELIEF
“Flying Nun Leads Fund-Raising Drives for Haiti.” By Stephanie Raposo. Wall Street Journal. March 3, 2010. Haiti’s earthquake victims—already receiving aid from the U.S. military, international relief organizations and volunteers on the ground—are also getting a hand from kayaking preteens, pajama-wearing office workers and a parachuting nun. Sister Jane Meyer, principal at St. Agnes Academy in Houston and a Dominican sister for more than 50 years, pledged to take a 14,000-foot leap out of an airplane if her students raised $25,000 by Ash Wednesday—a little more than a month after the Jan. 12 earthquake. Sister Jane, who runs three-and-1/2 miles a day, said it would be her first-ever jump. By holding bake sales, T-shirt sales, talent shows, raffles and a student art auction, and by soliciting community donations, St. Agnes Academy blew past the goal ahead of the Feb. 17 deadline and raised $88,684.24.
“Aid groups enlist Google to help in Haiti effort.” Independent (UK). March 3, 2010. Aid workers, with the help of Google Earth, are uploading key information onto the Web to illustrate the needs of hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by Haiti’s earthquake – an innovation that could significantly boost the ability to respond to future disasters. The idea is new and relatively simple: U.N. and non-governmental aid officials can log onto Google Earth from makeshift settlements housing more than 600,000 people in Haiti and provide real-time details about the population and its global positioning. Although there have been some teething problems, officials believe the tool could greatly speed relief efforts.
“In Haiti, O’Malley offers aid, healing.” By Lisa Wangsness. Boston Globe. March 3, 2010. – Cardinal Sean O’Malley picked his way through the ruins of the Notre Dame Cathedral here, his sandaled feet carefully negotiating concrete rubble and sharp splinters of wood. O’Malley’s visit was a gesture of condolence and a whirlwind fact-finding mission to help decide how to distribute some $35 million in aid from a special collection of US Catholic churches, including $2 million from the Boston Archdiocese. He and several other US bishops will also help sketch out a plan for rebuilding Haitian Catholic institutions and ministries, which lost dozens of churches and almost 70 priests, nuns, and seminarians in the quake.
“HAITI: Experts Urge Sea Change in ‘Culture of Aid’.” By William Fisher. Interpress Service (IPS). March 5, 2010. A delegation of human rights experts is preparing to visit Haiti to assess the human rights and aid situation in the earthquake-crippled nation and to urge the international community to follow a series of guidelines they have prepared to help donors’ to “overcome the mistakes of the past.” The team will be conducting its assessments through interviews and onsite visits both inside and outside of Port-au-Prince, focusing on towns that have received a high volume of internally displaced persons since the earthquake. The trip, scheduled for Mar. 9-12, comes in advance of the Mar. 23 hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, where members of the delegation will provide testimony aimed at encouraging the commission to formally investigate the human rights impacts of post-earthquake aid on behalf of the Organisation of American States. It also precedes the much-anticipated Mar. 31 Haiti Donors’ Conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where future aid to Haiti will be discussed. The groups recently issued a list of recommendations outlining a rights-based approach to aid delivery in advance of that conference, and have a long history of working on aid and human rights issues in Haiti.
“Employees at VTA donate $10,000 for Haitian earthquake relief.” By Lisa Fernandez. San Jose Mercury-News. March 6, 2010. About 170 employees from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority privately raised and donated $10,000 to the American Red Cross and UNICEF for their Haitian earthquake relief efforts.
IRELAND
“Catholic diocese seeks cash to pay Irish victims.” By Shawn Pogachnik. Washington Post/Associated Press. March 2, 2010. A Roman Catholic diocese at the center of Ireland’s child-abuse scandals appealed Tuesday to its parishioners to cover some of its more than euro10 million ($14 million) in bills to victims and lawyers. Bishop Denis Brennan of Ferns, the southeast Irish diocese that was first to face state investigations into decades of cover-ups involving pedophile priests, spelled out its abuse-related costs Tuesday in a rare admission. Brennan said the diocese has already paid euro8 million to settle lawsuits from 48 abuse victims. But it has yet to settle 13 pending cases, and also has remortgaged the bishop’s residence to cover euro2 million in its own lawyers’ bills for defending the church. The diocese’s chief financial officer, Eugene Doyle, said the church had no option but to ask its faithful to help foot the bill. He estimated that the diocese’s 100,000 members in 80 parishes would be asked to contribute euro60,000 ($85,000) annually for the next 20 years, or euro1.2 million total – but stressed that no money would be taken from normal weekly collections.
ITALY
“Vatican Enmeshed in Gay Sex Allegations.” By Rachel Donadio. New York Times. March 4, 2010. A singer in an elite Vatican choir and a jailed Italian public works executive who served as a papal usher were let go by the Vatican this week amid allegations that they were involved in what prosecutors believe was an organized network of gay prostitution, Italian news media reported. The reports emerged as part of a sweeping investigation into corruption in the awarding of public works contracts by Italy’s Civil Protection Agency. Mr. Balducci, a consultant to the Vatican on major construction projects, is one of four people to be jailed in the inquiry, which has dealt a serious blow to the well-respected director of the Civil Protection Agency, Guido Bertolaso.
MEXICO
“RELIGION-MEXICO: Legion of Christ Scandal Escalates.” By Emilio Godoy. Interpress Service (IPS). March 6, 2010. A new scandal has increased the pressure on the conservative religious order Legion of Christ, one of the most influential in the Catholic Church, to compensate the victims of alleged sexual abuse by its founder, Mexican priest Marcial Maciel, and carry out internal reforms. Maciel (1920-2008) led a double life, maintaining relationships with at least two women and fathering up to six children. And according to new allegations, he sexually abused one of his biological sons and an adopted son. But despite allegations that he abused numerous young seminarians in the order’s schools in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s and several investigations conducted over the years, he was never held accountable for any case of sex abuse.
UK
“HSBC boss Geoghegan to give £4m bonus to charity; Money to be given to charities between now and 2013; Bank reports 24% fall in pretax profit for 2009 to $7bn. ” By Jill Treanor. Guardian (UK). March 1, 2010. HSBC’s (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) chief executive Michael Geoghegan intends to hand his £4m bonus to charity in an attempt to deflect public criticism surrounding payouts to bank bosses. As the bank reported a 24% fall in pretax profit for 2009 to $7bn, Geoghegan said that the money would be given to charities around the world between now and 2013, the period when the bonus is due. The bank faces a total bill for salaries and bonuses of $18.5bn, down 11%, and will pay $335m to the Treasury for the one-off tax on bankers’ bonuses over £25,000. The shares fell 2.5% to 702p after the figures were announced.
Related Story:
“Bankers’ donations should pave the way for charitable giving; We need more examples of generous donors at a time when big value donations are falling, says Martin Brookes.” No by-line. Guardian (UK). March 5, 2010.
“What are the challenges facing the third sector? Charity Effectiveness.” Interactive podcast. Guardian (UK). March 2, 2010. Over the next few months Society Guardian will be looking into the issues facing the charity and voluntary sectors as we tackle challenging times economically, as well as facing uncertain times politically. We’ll be hearing from leading figures in the not-for-profit sector as well as some lesser known organisations with stories to tell. For our first podcast we brought together a respected panel to discuss issues around the identity of the not-for-profit world, and the challenges ahead. We also look at the key challenges of funding, capacity – skills and leadership; contract culture; and image and public perception. The panel:
-David Brindle, public services editor, Guardian
-Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of NCVO;
-Dame Mary Marsh, Director, Clore Social Leadership Programme;
-Paul Palmer, Associate Dean – Ethics, Sustainability and Engagement, Charity
Effectiveness
-Nirjay Mahindru, Chief Executive, InterAct Reading Service
If you have views on what we have discussed, and want to contribute to the debate please e-mail us at charityeffectiveness@guardian.co.uk
