Thanks to Fr Frank Brennan and all who contributed to our Winter Breakfast on 30 July 2022. Fr Frank spoke on ‘The Christian Churches and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine’. He summarised his presentation as follows: The Russian invasion of Ukraine cannot be justified. There is no end in sight to the conflict. Both sides will want to avoid a nuclear conflagration. Christians and all people of good will should try to understand the perspective of both sides in the conflict. We Australians know something of the perspective from Ukraine. We know little of the Russian perspective. Putin may be a mad, evil loner. But then he may not be. We need first to understand the different mindsets at play. We need to understand the religious landscape. We might then ask, ‘What should Pope Francis do or say?’ We should critique the actions of both sides. We should agitate for reform of the international regime for maintaining good order, conceding that NATO’s intervention in Kosovo and the US alliance’s war in Iraq have made the use of force without approval of the UN Security Council more likely. We need to make prudential assessments of the likely outcome in what will be a protracted war. We should support the Australian government’s commitment to providing Ukraine with military hardware, its enforcement of sanctions, and its willingness to assist more refugees from the conflict. Listen at https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/a-christian-response-to-ukraine-invasion
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AuthorAlan Ray, Highfield Road Uniting Church Archives
February 2024
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