Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher’s attempt to theocratise the Australian Catholic University must fail (“ The abortion speech, the student walkout and the Catholic civil war ”, December 4). The ACU has a legal status and constitution, it is not Fisher’s to regulate.
The two lawyers, Damien Tudehope and Greg Smith, in my view, need not be taken too seriously. Both are former Liberal MPs for Epping, part of the northern district’s bible belt and both would know the decriminalised status of abortion. It appears they are trying to beat the anticipated federal legislation on educational institutions.
Shame on them. Anne Eagar, Epping Anthony Fisher, Archbishop of Sydney Credit: Steven Siewert ACU’s website states: “You don’t need to be Catholic to work at ACU. But you do need a set of personal values.
” Maybe those who walked out were ascribing to their own personal values and should not be vilified but championed for upholding another of the university’s codes – personal integrity. Isobel Lanesman, Cremorne It’s the 21st century, not the Middle Ages. How is it appropriate for a patriarchal religion to fund and seek to control the beliefs promulgated at a university? Australia is a secular democratic society.
ACU is partly funded by taxpayers. If the Catholic Church wishes to use tertiary education to further its ideological aims, it should not expect government support a.