Western Australia's methamphetamine crisis and violence in society
were the biggest issues facing political parties in the March State
election, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe of Perth told The West Australian
newspaper on 21 January.Archbishop Costelloe said there was a rawness and brutality in modern society that was leading to the elderly being bashed in their homes and young men being killed by a single punch on a night out.
“Society is kind of being cut loose from its moorings,” he said. “Society is strongest when it has strong values that are pretty well recognised, accepted and adhered to by the vast majority of people in society.
“The solid foundations of society are no longer what they were. It’s easier to kind of get a bit lost. I would think that drug abuse and drug addiction is probably a sign of a lost person.”
The Salesian Archbishop also attributed social problems to the breakdown of family life and the break-up of families.
“People have lost that safe place, that secure foundation from which to launch themselves into the wider world.” he said.
Archbishop Costelloe said the Church in Perth was looking at doing more community work on affordable housing and youth justice, while it also wanted to introduce daily meditation into Perth's Catholic schools.
"We’re trying to help our young people develop that capacity for reflection and just to be able to slow down and think about some of the deeper issues,” he said.
The Perth Archdiocese has 116 schools educating more than 57,000 students.