Compass

Sunday, 12 October 2008
10.05pm

Two years ago Melbourne ophthalmologist Harry Lew began a mission to revive a story that began in a Polish town almost 70 years ago: a true story so terrible that when it was first published few could bear to read it. The Annihilation of Bialystoker Jewry is a meticulous account of a once thriving Polish town, its 60,000 Jewish residents and their systematic destruction by the Nazis during WW2.

Sunday, 14 September 2008
10.10pm

Australia has more than 1000 independent schools, the majority of them Christian. Recent debate has focused on their teaching, their funding and their impact on our social fabric, but have we listened to those who offer a Christian education? Compass visits four schools in three states, Tasmania, Victoria and two in New South Wales, to find out: How do Christian schools teach values and religion?
How do Christian values inform teaching across the curricula? What are the differences between various 'brands' of Christian education? And most importantly, how do Christian schools prepare young Australians for life?

Sunday, 07 September 2008
10.10pm

Around Australia today there are about 30 Muslim schools. More are planned, but recent raucous opposition to a proposed new Muslim school in Sydney's south-west has again exposed deep-seated fears by some in our community, of Islam and what this faith stands for.

So, what goes on in an Islamic school? Who are the students and teachers? How do their curricula differ from other schools? How much focus is on religious instruction and how does Islam influence what is taught? In A Muslim Education, Compass visits two Muslim schools in Sydney to find out.

Sunday, 27 July
10.10pm

In part two of our special on the Roman Catholic Church in Australia, Geraldine Doogue examines the experience of women in the church. Women outnumber men in the Catholic Church, but rarely are their voices heard. Forty years after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the church still denies women positions of authority, leadership and power. In this episode we meet four women grappling with what it means to be Catholic in the 21st century.

The south-east Queensland town of Jandowae has been without a resident priest for 10 years. Today Catholic nun Sister Mary Cleary leads the parish in every way bar one - she can't say mass. She's now questioning the limitations placed upon her ministry. In Sydney we meet Maree Kennedy, a committed Catholic who has fallen out with her parish priest over the patriarchal language of the mass.

Sunday, 20 July
10.10pm

Five million Australians, one-quarter of the population, call themselves Catholic. At the core of their belief is the Mass, the ritual in which Christ becomes present to the faithful. Only a male unmarried priest can say Mass. The trouble is the Roman Catholic Church is running out of priests and soon won't have enough to conduct Sunday Masses. Though in some places there's been a slight increase in numbers studying for the priesthood, there are still too few to replace ageing and retiring priests. Priests are being brought in from overseas, and some former Anglican priests are filling parish vacancies.

Sunday, 22 June
10.05pm

Can torture ever be justified? What if it could prevent a serious terrorist attack? What if it was your own child at risk? Would you agree to the use of torture if you thought it might be the only way to save their life? In Our Name, a dramatised documentary, examines the morality of torture.

Screening to commemorate the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (June 26), In Our Name is an emotionally powerful and provocative investigation of torture post 9/11. The film combines gripping re-enactments, interviews with leading commentators including Kenneth Roth (Human Rights Watch), Juan E. Méndez, (UN Special Advisor), Darius Rejali (expert on torture in democracies) and philosopher Raimond Gaita to examine the nature of modern torture and the justifications given for its use.

Sunday, 01 June
10.15pm

God's artists have traditionally worked with images of the crucifix, Mary or Jesus, or created golden Buddhas or elaborate sculptures.

Australia's Blake Prize for Religious Art was established in 1951 by a Catholic Jesuit priest and a Jewish lawyer to push the boundaries of contemporary religious art. Both deplored the sentimental religious art found in places of worship at that time.

The prize was named after William Blake, an 18th century English poet, mystic and painter; an eccentric outsider whose works shocked and defied convention.

And from the start the Blake generated controversy. The abstract and experimental works shocked churches and those used to more traditional religious imagery.

Sunday, 18 May 2008
10.05pm

Knocking opens the door on Jehovah's Witnesses. They are moral conservatives who stay out of politics, but their many human rights court victories benefit all who live under democracy. They refuse blood transfusions on religious grounds but they embrace the science behind bloodless surgery.
In Nazi Germany, they could fight for Hitler or go to the concentration camps. They chose the camps. Following two Jehovah's Witness families who stand firm for their often controversial and misunderstood Christian faith, Knocking reveals how Jehovah's Witnesses have helped shape history beyond the doorstep.

This story of music, faith and heroism focuses on the Brunswick Salvation Army Band whose fate in World War II is one of the most tragic and little told episodes of Australia’s wartime history.

Arthur Gullidge was a prolific and acclaimed Australian composer who in 1933 became the leader of the Brunswick Salvation Army Band.

The Salvation Army’s Brunswick Citadel was built in Melbourne in 1884, just a few years after William Booth founded his new Christian church-cum-charity in Britain along military lines, for the poor and destitute of the new industrial world.

In the 1900s among those attracted to the Brunswick headquarters of this progressive new church was a young John Curtin, who would go on to become Australia’s wartime Prime Minister. Curtin would also have a part to play in the story of Brunswick’s wartime band.

9.25pm Sunday, 20 April 2008

This story of music, faith and heroism focuses on the Brunswick Salvation Army Band whose fate in World War II is one of the most tragic and little told episodes of Australia's wartime history.
Arthur Gullidge was a prolific and acclaimed Australian composer who in 1933 became the leader of the Brunswick Salvation Army Band. The Salvation Army's Brunswick Citadel was built in Melbourne in 1884, just a few years after William Booth founded his new Christian church-cum-charity in Britain along military lines, for the poor and destitute of the new industrial world.
In the 1900s, among those attracted to the Brunswick headquarters of this progressive new church was a young John Curtin, who would go on to become Australia's wartime Prime Minister.

9.25pm Sunday, 30 March 2008

Blind writer, philanthropist and artists' muse Barbara Blackman, now in her 80th year, talks to Geraldine Doogue about her rich, eventful life and spiritual journey.
Born in 1928 in Queensland Barbara was raised by her mother. Her father died when she was 3 years old. "I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I was born with something better, a question mark," she tells Compass.
But from an early age her eyesight was poor. Eventually diagnosed with optic atrophy she was declared blind by the age of 22. "It seemed to me I was given a life sentence for a crime I had not committed."
Undeterred, Barbara was awarded a scholarship to study philosophy and psychology at Sydney University and soon afterwards met the young artist and her husband-to-be Charles Blackman.
Barbara became the inspiration for Charles's famed 'Alice in Wonderland' series of paintings.

When Tamworth said "no" to a group of African refugees the fall-out touched a nerve in the Australian psyche. In this story Compass explores what happens when a community says 'yes'.

The town of Dorrigo's (pop. 969) extraordinary journey began 3 years ago when tensions were running high over Australia's refugee intake.

For local B&B owner, Helen Proud, the debate was a call to arms. She and a handful of locals approached the Sanctuary Foundation, a charity that helps refugees come to Australia.

Nine months later a family of eight stepped off the plane into their lives.

Martha Malou, Martin Majak and their 6 children ranging in age from a 9 year old to a baby not yet one, had come from a refugee camp. When they arrived they couldn't speak English and the children had never sat in a classroom.

Following the success of Compass's three-part dinner series with Australian women, Geraldine Doogue now turns her attention to men to find out what matters to them and what doesn't in the 21st century.

While the first Compass dinner series focused on women from different parts of Australia (Kellyville, Longreach and Melbourne), the men's series focuses on three phases of a man's life - fatherhood, career and retirement.

In the final episode of our men's dinner series, Geraldine invited five men who have moved into a later stage of life. Most are retired or they have stepped back from full time work or their main career.

So what are they doing? Have they become grumpy old men? Or, are they having a ball in this, their second or maybe third life?

Following the success of Compass's three-part dinner series with Australian women, Geraldine Doogue now turns her attention to men to find out what matters to them and what doesn't in the 21st century.

While the first Compass dinner series focused on women from different parts of Australia (Kellyville, Longreach and Melbourne), the men's series focuses on three phases of a man's life - fatherhood, career and retirement.

In the second episode Geraldine meets the big end of town - high flyers in the worlds of business, sport and media.

Home loans baron John Symond; sports powerbroker John O'Neill; broadcaster and journalist Mike Carlton; micro-financier Chris Cuffe; media buyer Harold Mitchell; and the late mobile phone king 'Crazy John' Ilhan* join Geraldine for dinner to talk about their success.

Is the search for meaning the same for those with power, wealth and/or influence? How do personal beliefs, ethics and morality influence their decisions at work?

Following the success of Compass's three-part dinner series with Australian women, Geraldine Doogue now turns her attention to men to find out what matters to them and what doesn't in the 21st century.

While the first Compass dinner series focused on women from different parts of Australia (Kellyville, Longreach and Melbourne), the men's series focuses on three phases of a man's life - fatherhood, career and retirement.

What does it mean to be a dad in today's modern world?

Gone are the days when a man brought home the bacon and was the unquestioned head of the household. Today the role of dad can be anything men choose to make it and in this episode we meet an eclectic group of dads who've come together to bare their souls about all things babies, bath-times and bedlam!