The new head of the Anglican Church of Australia has delivered his first sermon as the youngest ever primate of the Church, in which he firmly denounced the evils of materialism.

|TOP|Archbishop Aspinall delivered the sermon last Thursday where he described materialism as an evil “dragon” within society.

He warned: “If we think that material prosperity is the only kind of prosperity there is, if our wellbeing as a community and a society is entirely tied up with material wealth, then I think we are being deceived.”

The new archbishop also went on to warn of the dangers of unchecked advances in the field of science.

“I am fond of scientific progress, I think science has done a lot, but again, we can be deceived by some aspects of scientific advancement,” he said.

Dr Aspinall spoke specifically of the recent advances made on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research.

He also said that in the current climate of terrorism and uncertainty, promoting unity rather than creating barriers will achieve far more for society: “In the long-run what we need is to give expression to our underlying unity and we need to address the ignorance and the prejudice that gives rise to hatred and violence.”|QUOTE|

Dr Aspinall declined to comment on the current debate on homosexuality within the Anglican Communion but gave his commitment to work on the ongoing divisions.

“But I think the deepest struggle we have as a church at the moment, is dealing with the polarisation that’s gone on,” he said.

“The very fracturing and isolating of one group from another that’s going on in the world around us is also happening in the church.

“And it’s struggling with that issue I think that is my top priority in that area.”

Meanwhile, the social arm of the Catholic Church of Australia has launched Project Lisa, a practical support service for pregnant women, in an effort to end the “tragedy” of abortion as opposed to simply pointing out that it is wrong.

The initiative comes amid reports that the morning-after pill Postinor-2 have seen soaring sales since restrictions on the availability of the drug were relaxed in 2004.

Bishop Anthony Fisher said the result was frightening: “Of course we see the abortion rate in Australia as a tragedy. But we want to be doing more than just saying no to women. We want to be doing something practical to help.”