News
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05-Oct-2009
Charities are appealing to Australians for donations for victims of the the tsunamis and quakes in nearby countries, but back to back natural disasters, and fears donations may not be spent wisely, may induce "compassion fatigue".
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07-Oct-2009
Greg Wells, who has a seven year old and a nine year old at Toowoomba's Holy Name Catholic Primary School is furious that his children were shown diagrams of male and female genitalia and a birthing video at school.
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06-Oct-2009
The University of Notre Dame's Sydney campus will add a Bachelor of Theology degree to its 2010 curriculum.
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News - National
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09-Oct-2009
The Rudd government appointed National Human Rights Consultation committee's final report that was released yesterday recommended the country adopts a Human Rights Act.
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09-Oct-2009
Australian Catholic University academic Patricia Hansen and child welfare advocate Frank Ainsworth have come out strongly against protecting the anonymity of children killed by their parents, saying it protects the perpetrators.
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05-Oct-2009
Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell quoted Aristotle, Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein and the astronomer Fred Hoyle, who famously said he believed "the universe is a put-up job", in a talk titled "Without God We Are Nothing".
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05-Oct-2009
Some 57 percent of Australians support a woman's right to an abortion any time they want one, a third backs the procedure in "special circumstances", while only 4 percent is totally opposed, an Australian Election Study showed.
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08-Oct-2009
Pauline Nugent, Dean of Health Sciences at the Australian Catholic University, has been named 2009 Telstra Victorian Business Woman of the Year for her leadership and the rapid expansion of health courses and research activity at the university.
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08-Oct-2009
Federal Senator Julian McGauran and four others were invested as knights and dames of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral.
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06-Oct-2009
Renowned anti-religion campaigner Richard Dawkins will visit Melbourne in March for an atheist convention billed as the world's largest.
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06-Oct-2009
Using fake documents and sad stories about suffering, cancer surgery and her mother dying, Olivia Raymond convinced 83 year old Melbourne priest Father Paul Kane to give her nearly $400,000 from parish accounts and $50,000 of his own.
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08-Oct-2009
About 80 signs from the "Jesus All About Life" campaign have been stolen or ripped down in the Central Coast, the Central Coast Express Advocate reported.
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08-Oct-2009
The Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is inviting parishioners and the broader community to share their feelings about clergy abuse, at gatherings throughout October and November, to seek a way forward.
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07-Oct-2009
Rockhampton's Bishop Brian Heenan says urgent repairs expected to cost $6 million to restore the city's 110 year old St Joseph's Cathedral are due to start next week.
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06-Oct-2009
An external workplace investigator will probe into claims that a Centacare employee was told to remove her crosses and another case of alleged conflict of interest, said executive director of Centacare Brisbane, Peter Selwood.
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07-Oct-2009
The Federal Government's School Enrolment and Attendance Measure, to link school attendance with welfare payments in six Northern Territory communities, is being hampered by a critical lack of resources.
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09-Oct-2009
Canberra and Goulburn Archbishop Mark Coleridge is urging Catholics to "vigorously and creatively" have their say on the proposed sale of Calvary Public Hospital to the ACT Government, saying he remained "by and large unconvinced by the arguments" for it.
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News - International
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09-Oct-2009
The Irish Catholic Bishops met representatives and victims who suffered child abuse at the hands of clergy and religious in Catholic run schools, orphanages and workhouses, a meeting described as the first step of many to bring closure.
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09-Oct-2009
Sarajevo Cardinal Vinko Puljic says the Bosnian church is awaiting new guidelines from the Vatican on the claimed apparitions of Our Lady at Medjugorje.
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07-Oct-2009
Italian scientists say they have managed to produce a cloth with an image similar to that of the Shroud of Turin.
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06-Oct-2009
The Scottish Government plans to set up sex clinics in all secondary schools, offering pupils free condoms and pregnancy tests in an attempt to curb teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The Church there likens the plan to "pouring petrol on a fire".
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09-Oct-2009
Caritas Australia's Indian and Nepalses partners have begun helping in the "worst flooding in 100 years" in India's Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh states, and in Nepal's Accham and Dadeldhura districts where rains triggered landslides.
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08-Oct-2009
Indonesia may declare four villages lost under landslides that followed last week's earthquake as mass graves. At least 400 are believed to have been buried alive in mountainside villages.
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08-Oct-2009
The kidnapping and death of a Christian health worker in Iraq's Kirkuk is worrying the Christians in the area and is contributing to the exodus of Christians from the country, said the city's Archbishop Louis Sako.
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06-Oct-2009
An advertising campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi will be carried out in Sri Lanka to deter asylum seekers from trying to enter Australia illegally by boat, labelled by The Daily Telegraph as a taxpayer funded "secret war".
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07-Oct-2009
Speaking at a press conference during the African Synod, Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson says there's no reason why the next pope can't be black.
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05-Oct-2009
Pope Benedict warned that Africa, which he described as a "spiritual lung", was at risk from the "toxic spiritual rubbish" of materialism that the developed world continues to export, as well as from increasing religious fundamentalism.
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07-Oct-2009
The Sisters of Mercy in Samoa and Caritas Australia published stories from survivors about the natural disasters that struck Indonesia and the Pacific last week.
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05-Oct-2009
Queensland born Sister Doris Barbero, who helped move 300 children from the St Joseph's Primary School to safety in Samoa's Leava'a when the earthquake struck, said the natural disaster isn't a work of God.
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05-Oct-2009
Caritas Australia pledged $250,000 for its initial response to communities throughout the earthquake, tsunami and typhoon hit areas of the Asia-Pacific.
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Regulars
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09-Oct-2009
Proponents of same sex marriage argue that it is mainly about adult satisfactions -love, affection, intimacy, mutual support - just as (they say) it is for most opposite sex couples. In these proposals, children are strictly optional, a matter of private judgment. Children have nothing to do with the definition of marriage, or with those features of marriage that attract the law's attention and earn marriage the law's protection and support. - Gerard V. Bradley, Public Discourse
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08-Oct-2009
To put it bluntly, I feel that American women religious are being bullied. The fact that the visitation is apparently being paid for by anonymous donors, and that the leaders of our communities will not be permitted to see the investigative reports that issue from it, does not engender trust. And indeed, the dynamics of the visitation and investigation so far have been experienced by women religious as secretive, unfriendly, and one-sided. - Sister X, Commonweal
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07-Oct-2009
It is understandable that some same-sex couples feel inclined towards marriage. They argue that their love and aspirations are essentially no different to anyone else's. But the institution of marriage is not and has never been solely about creating an avenue for people to express their feelings or to fulfill personal needs. If it were simply about emotions and needs, then why would we need laws governing who can and cannot marry? - Paul Russell, The Southern Cross
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06-Oct-2009
The Boyle matter raises questions about what responsibility the Church has once it knows there is an abuser in its midst, to actively seek out other victims and try to help them before their lives disintegrate in a vicious spiral. Should the Church report abusers to the police? What can and should it do with abusive priests? How can it balance its responsibilities for justice to both alleged victim and accused? - Barney Zwartz, The Age
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05-Oct-2009
The Victorian Government has decided that some forms of discrimination are less important than others. This is a fraught area. Religious freedom is a bedrock principle, but generally in a democracy it means, and should mean, the freedom of individuals to practise whatever religion they choose. - Sunday Age
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09-Oct-2009
The Catherine of Siena Institute is a program of the Western Dominican Province of the United States dedicated to equipping parishes for the formation of lay Catholics for their mission in the world. It provides programs, resources, and leadership training which is faithful to Church teaching.
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08-Oct-2009
Catholic.net is a US website related to the National Catholic Register weekly newspaper in that country. Known for its strict adherence to Church doctrine, both the website and the paper are proud proclaimers of the faith.
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07-Oct-2009
One More Soul is an Ohio based non-profit organisation dedicated to spreading the truth about the blessings of children and the harms of contraception. It carries a wide variety of educational resources, including CDs, DVDs, pamphlets, booklets, books, and more.
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06-Oct-2009
All Life From God is a website primarily for women who are facing a decision about an unplanned pregnancy. The site's mission is to be an information resource to educate and encourage people to choose life. It provides materials to inform people of the importance of choosing life, the realities of abortion, and the availability of help for those who need support in their decision to preserve life.
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05-Oct-2009
Santa Teresa Spirituality Centre was officially opened yesterday and is a redeveloped retreat centre overlooking beautiful Moreton Bay and now owned by the Archdiocese of Brisbane. Images on its website give an indication of its idyllic location.
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07-Oct-2009
A fine, often beautiful, film that can be recommended. It won the 2008 Best Foreign Film Oscar over Waltz with Bashir and The Class, strong competition. However, you might be wondering during the first ten minutes. It begins slowly and solemnly with ceremonial and ritual for the dead. Then, without warning, it becomes quite farcical and you wonder where you are. - Fr Peter Malone, Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting
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06-Oct-2009
This is the final episode in a series looking behind the scenes at the personnel who keep Vatican City running smoothly. It focuses on Christmas preparations.
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08-Oct-2009
The next two editions of ABC Radio National's Hindsight program reflect upon the sectarian nature of Australian society to the mid 20th century with its bitter rivalries between Irish Catholics and Protestants. In Part one, Not in Front of the Altar the focus is on those couples who married across the Protestant/Catholic divide which was, for many families, to consort with the enemy. Mixed marriage couples describe how they bridged the gap, despite conflict with family and church authorities.
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09-Oct-2009
The debate occasioned by the writings of the "new atheists", headed by Richard Dawkins, has become polarised, and the quality of argument, on both sides, has not always been very high, with many theologians and philosophers preferring to remain fastidiously aloof from the fracas. David Fergusson, however, finds the work of the new atheists "intensely interesting" and aims to establish "a conversation ... between those occupying the middle ground of scepticism and faith, where each side recognises that it has something to learn from the other." - John Cottingham, The Tablet
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05-Oct-2009
The late Brazilian Archbishop of Recife, Dom Helder Camara (1909 - 1999) was one of the great prophets of the twentieth century: living through an era of military dictatorship, he championed the poor of Brazil and the rest of the world, and influenced the Second Vatican Council, subsequent gatherings of Latin American Bishops, and even the latest papal encyclical, Caritas in Veritate. - John Battle, Thinking Faith
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09-Oct-2009
More than 40,000 people participated in the National Human Rights Consultation. Despite the burdens of the global financial crisis and the complexities of an emissions trading scheme, Australians are able to walk and chew gum at the same time. They are very interested in discussing the protection of human rights, even in times of economic uncertainty. The four member consultation committee has now reported to government, making 31 recommendations. - Frank Brennan, The Australian
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08-Oct-2009
In our view, there is no specifically Christian answer to the question of whether Australia should adopt a charter of human rights. Opinions tend to fall along the left-right divide. That said, there are some Christian principles that should inform the churches as they think about human rights. - Greg Clarke and John Dickson, Online Opinion
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07-Oct-2009
What is the Spirit prompting us to address by bringing us to the situation where a shortage of priests is threatening the life of parishes and access to the Mass and the Sacraments in many parts of Australia? It may well be that this is a time of grace, given to propel us to think more deeply and to look with new eyes at issues of mission and ministry. These include the role of the presider at Eucharist, the model of priesthood and of preparation for priesthood that have become embedded and culturally accepted. - Moira Gordon, Aurora
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06-Oct-2009
Politics in church circles is conducted in highly respected tones, but it is politics nonetheless. It involves real things, material as well as spiritual, and is often fought as bitterly and with as little quarter in the wider wicked world. So, too, with the question of the sale of the Little Company of Mary of Calvary Public Hospital at Bruce to the ACT Government which moved closer even if it faces political hurdles. - Jack Waterford, Canberra Times
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05-Oct-2009
Freedom of religion is a fundamental human right. Its existence and importance is acknowledged in international covenants as well as our own Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities. It is a freedom that cannot be ignored or read down. It applies equally to participation in religious observance and to the delivery of services by religious people and agencies. - Archbishop Denis Hart, Sunday Age
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