DOTA Goes Spiritual

With special guests:

• Archbishop Barry Hickey and
• Fighting Father Dave.

The mainstream churches have long ignored the many issues confronting fathers in Australia today, so we decided to take a look at the issues of fathers and the various churches.

Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey has written that the absence of fathers is the biggest family and social problem in our society. “If Father Christmas was offering me gifts, I would ask for peace in every family and a father at the heart of every family,” he was quoted as saying in the publication Perth Now. “The absence of fathers is the biggest family and social problem we face today. It is the biggest cause of lifelong difficulties for fathers, mothers and, most of all, for children.”

“The absence of fathers is bigger than anger, aggression, alcohol, drugs, crime and under-achievement by children because it is the biggest single contributor to all of them. This is borne out worldwide by every large-scale, long-term study of family. I know that Father Christmas isn’t going to solve this problem for me, but I keep praying for it,” Archbishop Hickey said.

Fighting Father Dave is Parish priest, community worker, martial arts master, pro boxer, author, father of three. His website is www.fatherdave.org. Author of Sex, the Ring and The Eucharist, is the only Australian in the Holy Order of the Anglican Church who has ever had to box professionally in order to raise the funds to keep his ministry going. He is known as “Sydney’s Fighting Father,” who combines his work as a Parish Priest with a ministry to street kids, heroin addicts and other ‘undesirables’ from the underside of Australian Society. He uses boxing and the fighting arts to teach young people self-control.

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Take Heart

Ken Thompson

With Special Guests:

• Ken Thompson and
• Maggie Dent.

This is our second-last show for the year, so best wishes of the season to all our listeners. First up we talk with Ken Thompson, the NSW Deputy Fire Commissioner, who has come to understand what many men in this country experience through the loss of his son Andrew. Andrew John Thompson, now aged four, was illegally abducted by his mother Melinda Thompson (also known as Melinda Stratton) from Australia to Germany in April this year. This is a criminal offence under the Family Law Act. The Family Court has ordered that a warning must be issued stating that no one is to approach Melinda Thompson and that any information should be provided immediately to local police and/or Interpol. Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Andrew and Melinda should contact local Police, Interpol, or the Australian Federal Police on +61 (0)2 6126 7777. If you wish to assist Ken Thompson in the search for his son by taking part in an email-circulation effort, please call +61 (0)417 416 024.

Maggie Dent is an author, publisher and a parenting and resilience specialist. She writes a free email newsletter that promotes the healthy raising of children. This week we play Maggie’s keynote address from the Men’s Advisory Network Second National Conference held recently in Fremantle, Western Australia. Titled Dear Boys: About the Healthy Mothering of Boys, her poignant and often hilarious keynote explores the vital role in boys’ lives of healthy mothering. It is especially helpful for mothers and teachers who are confused by the boys in their lives. The impact of abandonment, avoidance and misunderstanding can shape a boy for the rest of his life in very negative ways. This will show you how to engage, connect and enjoy these interesting lads from early years to adulthood.

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Women Who Speak Out For Men

Barbara KayWith Special Guests:

• Barbara Kay and
• Malia Blom.

Barbara Kay is a columnist for the National Post, Canada and the author of such courageous and widely-circulated male-friendly articles as On domestic violence, no one wants to hear the truth, The plight of divorced dads and The last white ribbon.

Malia Blom is executive director of the Boys and Schools program in the USA. Boys and Schools is dedicated to improving the lives and futures of boys. Their outreach efforts focus on raising public awareness regarding issues related to boys’ health and achievement. The Boys and Schools program is a project of the Men’s Health Network, a non-profit educational organization committed to improving the health and well-being of men and boys.

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The Best of 2007 - Part 2

With special guests:

• Dr Warren Farrell, famous social commentator and author of best selling books including Father and Child Reunion: How to Bring the Dads We Need to the Children We Love
• Dr. Amy J.L. Baker, US author of Adult Children of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Breaking the Ties that Bind. The world’s first study of child victims of Parental Alienation Syndrome
• Terry Hicks, a special father who loves his child unconditionally, and has dedicated his life to help protect his son, David Hicks from harm and appeals for “a fair go” for his child
• Christina Hoff Sommers, author of Who Stole Feminism and The War Against Boys interviewed at the Boys and the Boy Crisis conference in Washington DC
• Eric Burch, US serviceman and musician

Plus the Dads on the Air speech given at the Lone Fathers National Convention at Parliament House in Canberra in August 2007.

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Post-Election Variety

With special guests:

• Diane Winterling, Bronwyn Hudson and Ann Cheek from Belair Primary School in Adelaide, talking about how they’ve made their school more “boy friendly”. Interviewed at the Working With Boys, Building Fine Men conference in Newcastle in July
• Tom Golden, author of Swallowed by a Snake: The Gift of the Masculine Side of Healing, talking about how and why males and females differ in processing emotion and stress. Interviewed at the Boys and the Boy Crisis Conference in Washington DC in July
• J. Steven Svoboda from Attorneys for the Rights of the Child, talking about protecting boys from infant circumcision. Also interviewed at the Boys and the Boy Crisis Conference.

Plus an Australian Federal Election wrap-up and post-mortem.

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Dads in Schools

With special guests:

• John Andrianus and Dave Turnidge from the Boys in Schools Program, part of the Fathers in Communities Project at the Family Action Centre, University of Newcastle. Begun in February 2006, this 2-year project has 3 objectives: to create stronger families through supporting men in their roles as fathers, create a greater awareness for families and schools of the importance of the role of fathers and to provide guidelines and resources to assist in that work.

Also, Greg Andresen reports in from the Men and Family Relationships National Forum in Adelaide.

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The New Australian Spinster

Prof Gordon Finley

With special guests:

• Professor Gordon Finley, from Florida International University, talking about the social implications of the current gender imbalance in Higher Education.
• Max, from a new website www.taxfundedprejudice.com
• Warwick Marsh, from the Fatherhood Foundation, reporting from the National Summit on Marriage, Family and Fatherhood at Parliament House, Canberra
• John Pierson, Canberra bureaucrat, recorded at the Lone Fathers National Convention

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Dissident Voices

Christina Hoff Sommers

With special guests:

• Christina Hoff Sommers, author of Who Stole Feminism and The War Against Boys interviewed at the Boys and the Boy Crisis conference in Washington DC
• Independent MP Ann Bressington from South Australia who is calling on the Federal Government to take action to protect children from being caught in the middle of divorce and separation disputes
• The Hon Philip Ruddock MP, Australia’s Attorney General, answering questions from dads at the recent Lone Fathers National Conference in Canberra.

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New Zealand Special

With special guests:

• Celia Lashlie, author, He’ll Be Okay: Growing Gorgeous Boys into Good Men
• Jim Bailey, outspoken critic of the government-promoted mistreatment of fathers at the hands of the judiciary and the bureacracy
• Jim Bagnall, chairman of the Separated Fathers Support Network

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