All About Australia, by Joseph R. Wood

By Joseph R. Wood, The Catholic Thing, Jan. 6, 2022

Dr. Joseph R. Wood serves in the School of Philosophy and Theology of the University of Notre Dame Australia, and is a Fellow at Cana Academy.

I’ve recently arrived in Australia to take up a new teaching position at the University of Notre Dame Australia. This is my first visit, so the first few days in Sydney (I’ll eventually move on to Perth) have been full of first impressions.

Our editor suggested I write about why I took this position at my advancing age. But 45 years ago as a first-year cadet at the Air Force Academy (a “doolie,” from the Greek doulos or slave), I was trained always to answer “why” questions with a sharp “No excuse, sir/ma’am.”

That won’t fill a column. So I’ll stick with my first impressions. …