A plug for our national broadcaster…

For the benefit of our overseas readers of Catholica, one of the great benefits of living in Australia is our national, publicly-funded broadcaster, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Given the size of the Australian population compared to many other countries in the world the breadth and depth of programing produced by the ABC is truly extraordinary. One particular area of excellence is in the coverage given to religious affairs each week on the four or five radio networks, on the national television network, and more recently via the internet. On Sunday Nights John Cleary hosts a four-hour program each week which discusses religion, ethics, spirituality, popular culture and values across this nation on the Local Radio network and on the ABC's international transmitters via Radio Australia.

Last Sunday night John spent a total of about three of the four hours examining the difficult issue of suicide with a vast line-up of callers and specialist guests. One of the specialist guests was Fr Daniel Donovan, lecturer at the Australian Catholic University and one of our occasional commentators here at Catholica. Fr Dan rang me last week to alert me to the program but unfortunately I missed it on Sunday night. He rang me again yesterday and gave me a brief overview and suggested I might like to draw attention to it on Catholica.

The social scourge that suicide has become…

Suicide has become a major social problem in Western countries and in Australia there is around one suicide very five hours across the nation. More people now die from suicide each year than through motor vehicle accidents. Many government, church and secular agencies have mounted programs that endeavour to provide programs trying to get support into place and identify people at risk, or to provide support to the families and friends of suicide victims who face almost unbearable grief, and guilt, when suicide does occur.

Attitudes within the Catholic Church have shifted dramatically in recent decades in how we deal with the moral issues, and the pastoral responses to suicide. For the benefit of readers of Catholica I've extracted just a ten minute portion of the interview with Fr Donovan in which he discusses with John Cleary how and why the official understanding in the Church has changed. I do recommend a visit to the ABC's website to listen to the entire program if you have the time — or if you are dealing with a particular situation where the counsel from the people whom John Cleary chose to interview in this broadcast might be of particular value. …Brian Coyne

Also worth a listen on John Cleary's website is his discussion in the second hour of the program, with Hugh Mackay a much lauded psychologist and social commentator whom I have often drawn attention to here on Catholica. The discussion with Hugh Mackay is available as a separate download. …BC

LINKS — FURTHER READING:
Sunday Nights with John Cleary website: www.abc.net.au/sundaynights
ABC's portal webpage to all the religious affairs programs it offers: www.abc.net.au/religion
IMAGE CREDIT: The main headline image has been taken from a blog discussing suicide:
philthompsonlive.blogspot.com/2008/03/suicide.html. LINK to orginal image.

Fr Daniel Donovan is a lecturer in the School of Religious Education at the Strathfield campus of ACU National. He has a long history in the education of primary school teachers in Religious Education. He has given special attention to teaching beliefs and values courses, and to field supervision of students in practicum. Further details about his research interests and contact details can be found on the ACU National website at rel-ed.acu.edu.au/ren2/staff.html.

What are your thoughts on this commentary? You can contribute to the discussion in our forum.

©2008 Daniel Donovan and Australian Broadcasting Corporation

[Index of Commentaries by Fr Daniel Donovan]