Aboriginal poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, formerly known as Kath Walker, from Stradbroke Island in South East Queensland, was one of Australia’s best-known writers and leaders. What is not commonly remembered is her experience on a hijacked BOAC aircraft in 1974 when Palestinian terrorists threatened passengers and took the life of a young German banker.

Kath Walker pleaded for the banker’s life and the lives of the other passengers. The experience and the man’s execution haunted her deeply. Brisbane writer and academic Sam Watson is Oodgeroo’s bloodline nephew. He has been inspired by her stories and her poetry throughout his life and in 2009 his play Oodgeroo: Bloodline to Country was performed in Brisbane. This Encounter tells the story of the play and Sam Watson’s own experience of Aunty Oodgeroo for her time and his own.

The resident padre on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, Fr. Jim Martin loves the lives of the saints because they are both holy and flawed, and he’s particularly thrilled with the beatification of Mother Mary MacKillop, the ‘saint of troublemakers’. Dr. Philip Almond casts doubt on the Catholic approach to saints, while Sarah Dunant the British author of Sacred Hearts, reveals the intimate lives of Renaissance nuns in Ferrara, Italy.

How can ninety kilometres of hard slog through Victoria’s gold-mining territory become a holy experience? Where does the tradition of making a spiritual journey lie? Encounter joins the sore-footed faithful on a three-day pilgrimage between Ballarat and Bendigo.

An iconic artist of Sydney, Martin Sharp’s psychedelic colours mask a disturbing vision of the forces of darkness in conflict with the forces of light. In an intimate conversation with Rachael Kohn about his art and life, Martin talks about his religious view of what really happened in the Luna Park fire of 1979, where six children and an adult were killed on the Ghost Train. And he also explains the significance of Tiny Tim as a Christ-like figure.

The Global Atheist Convention, being held in Melbourne in March, has drawn a wide range of Australian and international speakers under the theme, 'The Rise of Atheism'. ABC Religion's Margaret Coffey and Gary Bryson are attending the event, and in this blog bring their reports and analysis on the issues which the convention raises. And you're welcome to join the discussion.
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Noel Debien, ABC Radio Religion Unit 2010

At the direction of Vatican, the church is about to publish a new English version of the Roman Missal, that is, the Mass. It is creating quite a stir. Some see it as an attempt by Rome to undermine the advances of Vatican II by reintroducing the hierarchical resonances of the Latin Mass. Others see it as a long overdue remedy; to restore to the English some of the theological rigour lost in the previous translations.
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August 2nd: an Encounter program on the life of an ascetic
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