News

PM Glynn Institute launch

It's official. The PM Glynn Institute has been launched.

The launch took place on Thursday 13 October, at ACU's North Sydney campus. The centrepiece of the event was a panel discussion on the theme 'Fear and anger, hope and confidence: Reframing our shared landscapes', taking its focus from the way fear and anger seem to be appearing more in politics and public debate, while hope and confidence in the future are less visible.

Political and social disengagement, a sense that things are slipping out of our control, and the destructive siren calls from the extremes of politics and religion were some of the other topics explored in the conversation.

Panellists included Professor Greg Craven, Vice-Chancellor and President of Australian Catholic University; Professor Margaret Somerville, Professor of Bioethics at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Sydney; Mr Stepan Kerkyasharian AO, former head of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Commission and the NSW Community Relations Commission; and Professor Sandra Jones, Director of ACU's Centre for Health and Social Research. The discussion was facilitated by Mr Julien O'Connell AM, the Chair of the Institute's Advisory Board and Pro-Chancellor of Australian Catholic University.

The discussion provided an opportunity to open up the brief of the PM Glynn Institute, which is to contribute to deeper thinking and new conversations about important issues facing the Catholic community and Australian society, and to develop well-supported and practical proposals to address them.

The Director of the Institute, Dr Michael Casey, also took part in the panel discussion. 'There has been enormous support and encouragement from everyone we have spoken to about the Institute and its work', Dr Casey said. 'I am particularly grateful for the support we have received from the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Craven, who has driven the establishment of the Institute'.

The Institute held its first public event in September, with a conference to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's declaration on religious freedom. The conference, Protecting Rights, Protecting People, was co-sponsored with the Ambrose Centre for Religious Liberty, and attracted 65 people to its two sessions in Sydney and Melbourne.

For more information on the launch, please email pmg@acu.edu.au.