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Dean, St John’s Anglican Cathedral, Brisbane

The Very Rev'd Dr Peter Catt

About The Very Rev'd Dr Peter -

The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt is Dean of St John’s Anglican Cathedral, Brisbane. Dr Catt holds a Bachelor of Divinity and a PhD in Evolutionary Microbiology. He is Chair of the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce and President of A Progressive Christian Voice. He also serves on Anglican and Ecumenical Social Justice Committees at a Diocesan and national level.

The Very Rev'd Dr Peter writes on -

Articles by The Very Rev'd Dr Peter

Seeking the gift of discernment

“It seems to me discernment also involves seeking to ‘see’ clearly. It is hard to recognise our own blind spots. Discernment is therefore the gift I seek daily in my prayers,” says The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt

St John’s Cathedral community shining a light on modern slavery

“The Anglican Church was part of a very broad coalition in Australia that called for the introduction of modern slavery laws, so the Public Affairs Commission of our Church put in submissions, as did the Social Responsibilities Committee. Those laws now require us to examine the products that we buy, making sure we understand where they come from, ensure that we are not complicit in the practice of modern slavery; we can ensure that things that are hidden in darkness can be brought into the light,” says The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt

An anti-slavery bill was put before British Parliament in 1791, but was defeated. Attention then turned to other methods, and the Saccharist movement was born. This was a boycott against all sugar produced on slave plantations in the West Indies, intended to undermine the economic case for slavery. Christian woman Elizabeth Heyrick (pictured) canvassed large areas of Leicester and promoted a boycott of West Indian sugar (Image sourced from alchetron.com/Elizabeth-Heyrick)

Why 18th century Christians refused sugar

“Few subject to the modern slave trade are able to liberate themselves in the way the Haitians did in 1791. Most will only taste freedom if we intervene to change the system that binds them. They need people of good will to emulate the sugar-refusing activists of the 18th century,” says The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt

''Mother Earth''

“I will be giving thanks for the gift that First Nations knowledge has given me by helping me to understand the sense of connection I have to the place in which I was born and lived the first third of my life,” says The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt

''Let Us Be Midwives!''

“After World War II the Geneva Conventions were developed in part to establish, as part of international law, that the bombing of civilian facilities is illegal. Russia is breaking this piece of international law on a daily basis in Ukraine,” says The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt

Welcoming the stranger

“The idea of welcoming the stranger continues to find resistance today in so many ways. In the face of that resistance, our faith urges us toward building a more inclusive world, enriched by encounters with those who are different,” says The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt

Finding freedom

“The observance of Refugee Week invites us to recall their humanity, to ponder how their humanity might touch ours, and to challenge the narrative that we like to tell ourselves about being a generous country,” says The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt