News
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19-Nov-2009
Reports say the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints has approved a draft decree for submission to Pope Benedict recognising the "heroic virtues" of the late Pope John Paul II and declaring him "venerable".
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18-Nov-2009
Addressing the World Summit on Food Security, Pope Benedict has warned against the "greed" of cereal speculators and defended the right of each nation to defend its food security.
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17-Nov-2009
The Vatican Library has added to its collection a South Carolina State University professor's study on the inculturation of voodoo in a Catholic Mass.
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20-Nov-2009
Tony Windsor, the Federal MP for New England, wants Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to clamp down on the number of religious, not-for-profit and charitable organisations not paying tax in Australia.
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19-Nov-2009
A national study has found that 80 percent of secondary students from non-Anglo backgrounds and 55 percent of students from Anglo backgrounds have experienced racial vilification in schools. But students who attended a Catholic school were 1.7 times less likely to report experiences of racism than students going to government schools.
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16-Nov-2009
Only 13 percent of teachers think the standard of education at Victorian Catholic schools is world class, 25 percent consider the level of education at Victorian independent schools to be so, while 21 percent think state school children get a world class education.
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16-Nov-2009
A Prayer Book For Spouses that was first published by the Catholic Truth Society in Britain with a "prayer before making love" is now available in Australia.
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News - National
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19-Nov-2009
Dr Dan White, executive director of Catholic schools in the Sydney archdiocese, is urging parents to consider encouraging their kids to participate in other ways than "Schoolies Week" to celebrate the end of school.
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19-Nov-2009
Australian churches are being invited to take part in the fifth nationwide National Church Life Survey of churchgoers in 2011, which aims to help churches better connect with the wider community.
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17-Nov-2009
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference reiterated its own apology to children who suffered in institutional care, as a national apology was made yesterday and news media highlighted tales of abuse from former victims.
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16-Nov-2009
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull will apologise today to 500,000 "forgotten Australians" and former child migrants who grew up facing deprivation and exploitation in orphanages and homes.
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16-Nov-2009
The Bishop of Port Pirie Greg O'Kelly is urging for proper perspective on the matter of asylum sekeers, pointing out that Mary, Joseph and Jesus were "technically asylum seekers fleeing to Egypt unauthorised."
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16-Nov-2009
Centacare Catholic Family Services and Victoria Police organised a unique weekend camp to help 15 African dads and their children to adapt to local culture. It included surfing lessons.
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20-Nov-2009
Walking Nuns - The Sisters of Mercy Exhibition that celebrates the 150th anniversary of the order in Goulburn opened to a crowd of some 200 people at the Mt Carmel study hall in NSW.
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20-Nov-2009
Family and friends gathered to mourn murdered Sydney woman Chloe Waterlow during a solemn service in St Canice's parish at Rushcutters Bay yesterday.
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18-Nov-2009
Bishop Peter Ingham of the Wollongong Diocese has apologised for the sexual abuse suffered by a former altar boy, following a guilty plea by retired priest Father Kevin Gerald Sharkey.
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17-Nov-2009
Retired former Fairy Meadow priest Father Kelvin Gerald Sharkey pleaded guilty to repeatedly sexually assaulting an altar boy 40 years ago.
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16-Nov-2009
The case of convicted priest John Denham could produce a total compensation payout greater than the previous known highest Australian payout of $6 million, paid to nine victims of Maitland-Newcastle priest Vince Ryan.
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17-Nov-2009
A Toowooma Catholic primary school principal charged with failing to report a student's complaint of sexual assault by a teacher claimed he had followed the instructions of his superiors.
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20-Nov-2009
South Australia's parliament defeated a bill to legalise voluntary euthanasia as one Liberal MP pulled out his support for it. The conscience vote finished at 11 votes to 9.
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18-Nov-2009
Adelaide City Council said it is "disrespectful" of the Church to propose the demolition of buildings surrounding St Francis Xavier Cathedral to make way for a nine storey glass office building.
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17-Nov-2009
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd must act in the interests of the Australian community and veto the ACT legislation on same sex civil unions and support marriage, as he has done before, Archbishop Mark Coleridge said.
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News - International
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19-Nov-2009
The sisters from Bangladesh's Missionaries of Charity were praying when conjoined twins Krishna and Trishna were wheeled into surgery at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital, reports the Daily Telegraph.
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20-Nov-2009
A woman left $40,000 worth of rare coins hidden under leaves at the Maryland National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes at Mount St Mary's University while she left town, so the Blessed Virgin Mary would watch over her treasure.
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20-Nov-2009
A newly restored 6th century reliquary said to hold fragments of the cross on which Jesus was crucified is going on display at St Peter's Basilica.
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18-Nov-2009
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin warned the archdiocese will soon face a shortage of priests to serve its 199 parishes and it could result in the number of Masses being reduced, the Herald.ie website reported.
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19-Nov-2009
Vietnamese priest Father Nguyen Van Ly, jailed for "anti government activities", suffered a stroke in prison and is partially paralysed, news reports cite his relatives saying.
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17-Nov-2009
Philippines authorities have charged several members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front over the kidnapping of Father Michael Sinnott.
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18-Nov-2009
The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said it was still "more a time of sowing than of reaping" for the Church in China, but hope exists for reconciliation for the Catholic community in the country.
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Religion
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18-Nov-2009
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said in a sermon last week that the future of the Anglican Church is "chaotic and uncertain" as dozens of married priests consider leaving for the Roman Catholic Church.
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Regulars
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20-Nov-2009
The path to nationhood for the East Timorese people was never going to be easy. After a few centuries of oppressive colonial rule by Portugal, including Japan's occupation during World War II, the East Timorese suffered Indonesia's brutal 24 year occupation and the killing and starvation of over 100,000 people. - Stephanie Thomas, The Bilum
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19-Nov-2009
Did Jesus ever say "Mum, I wish it wasn’t so hot?" Did He ever say "It’s too wet to go to school today?" Did He ever sleep in when He shouldn’t have? Did He ever kick his dirty clothes under the bed instead of putting them in the laundry basket? - Bill Farrelly, Marist Messenger
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18-Nov-2009
Sadly, martyrdom has received a good deal of bad press in recent times. Misguided religious extremists believe that they can gain a high place in heaven by destroying themselves and others in the name of religious martyrdom. It is the polar opposite of the true martyrdom of good people being prepared to give their lives so that others might have a richer life. - Fr Chris Gleeson, Madonna
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17-Nov-2009
Like many others, the UCA martyrs were killed for the way they lived, that is, for how they expressed their faith in love. They stood for a new kind of university, a new kind of society, a "new" church. The Jesuits and their colleagues concluded that they could not limit their mission to teaching and innocuous research. - Fr Dean Brackley, Thinking Faith
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16-Nov-2009
A line drawing of Jesus carrying his Cross adorned his light blue T-shirt as he stood, waiting for Mass to begin, occasionally moving to make space for the steady stream of men heading towards the makeshift confessional. One or two of them appeared incredibly sad, one of them perhaps not far from tears. - Sr Janet Fearns, Catholic Herald
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20-Nov-2009
Marymount Mercy Centre is a spirituality centre owned and operated by the Sisters of Mercy of Parramatta situated in Castle Hill, a north-western suburb of Sydney.Marymount provides a beautiful venue for its present purpose of sponsoring the New Life personal and spiritual renewal programs, a Conference Centre, and a Retreat location.
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19-Nov-2009
The Seminary of the Good Shepherd serves men who are in formation for diocesan priesthood for the Archdiocese of Sydney and a number of dioceses from the province of New South Wales and beyond. It was opened in Homebush in 1996 by Cardinal Edward Clancy following the closure of the historic St Patrick's, Manly which had served as the archdiocese's seminary from 1889 to 1995.
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18-Nov-2009
Catholic Authors is a website working to "rescue" Catholic books and to promote and celebrate the culture which they contain. It is devoted to English speaking Catholic authors, past and present and contains a wonderful collection of biographical sketches of a large variety of authors; some of them are household names such as Tolkien, Chesterton, and Belloc, some are more obscure.
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17-Nov-2009
Catholic Answers is a major apologetics site and includes a large number of pamphlet style questions and answers about the Faith, as well as sample articles from the magazine This Rock.
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16-Nov-2009
The Intercessors of the Lamb is a US based Catholic community of Priests, Brothers, Sisters and Laity in full obedience to the Holy Father and to the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church. They are dedicated to the contemplative formation of all Christians for the powerful ministry of intercession. Their goal is to develop and foster a deep interior life in the hearts of God's people so that they might become within themselves, "a house of prayer" as God is within Himself.
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18-Nov-2009
This film is an impressive comedy-drama about crooked siblings that had its world premier at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, 2008. It tracks two con artists, the Brothers Bloom, from childhood to adulthood; the brothers fake various exploits through their life mostly to bring them profit. - Peter W. Sheehan, Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting
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19-Nov-2009
Biblical Hebrew is an enigmatic language. According to Jewish tradition it's the Holy Tongue, employed by God when He spoke the world into being. This edition of Encounter asks "how has the language of Torah shaped Jewish thought and what does it say today, to Jews and non-Jews alike?"
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20-Nov-2009
To call Shlomo Sand's book "challenging" would be an understatement. The challenge begins with the English title: it goes further than a literal translation of the original Hebrew, which would be "When and How Was the Jewish People Invented?" What is undoubted is that what Sand is attempting to expose has wide appeal: it is unusual to find a book by a university academic labelled "International Bestseller". - Emma Klein, The Tablet
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17-Nov-2009
Today we usually seek novelty whenever we visit a bookshop. We are, as scholars sometimes put it, literary nomads, always in search of fresh pastures. This is the modern disease. During the medieval and early modern periods people were far more interested in looking backwards: to Rome, Greece and the Bible. - Jonathan Wright, The Catholic Herald
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20-Nov-2009
We must consider the impact legalising euthanasia would have on institutional, governmental and societal levels. We need to explore not only the practical realities, such as the possibilities for abuse, that allowing euthanasia would open up, but also, the effect that doing so would have on important values and symbols that make up the intangible fabric that constitutes our society. - Margaret Somerville, MercatorNet
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19-Nov-2009
We live today in a highly polarised world and within highly polarised churches. The bitterness, mean spirit and lack of respect that characterises much of our political, ecclesial, and moral discourse today is not normal and is far from healthy. We shouldn't delude ourselves in thinking that it is healthy or, worse yet, in the name of truth or justice or God, try to rationalise our lack of respect for those who think differently than we do. We aren't holy warriors, just angry people with a highly selective compassion. - Fr Ron Rolheiser, ronrolheiser.com
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18-Nov-2009
A prophet is someone who listens attentively to the word of God, a contemplative, a mystic who hears God and takes God at God's word, and then goes into the world to tell the world God's message. So a prophet speaks fearlessly, publicly God's message, without compromise, despite the times, whether fair or foul. - Fr John Dear, National Catholic Reporter
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17-Nov-2009
Rudd offered his apology via a carefully crafted speech in the presence of hundreds of former residents of these institutions, some euphoric and some distressed, in the Great Hall of Parliament House. He accepted that this was "an ugly story" and that "its ugliness must be told without fear or favour." - John Honner, Eureka Street
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16-Nov-2009
We naturally want to engage with and seek to understand people of other faiths in order to ensure that our relationships with them are harmonious and peaceful and that their human right to freedom of belief is respected, just as we wish our rights to be respected. At the same time, we also always keep in mind that we have been commissioned to give constant witness to our faith in Jesus Christ as the true and unique revelation of God. - Archbishop Denis Hart, Kairos Catholic Journal
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16-Nov-2009
Australian Catholic University will be hosting a public lecture on the life of Dr Mary Glowery, Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart. She was known throughout her extraordinary life for being an authentic witness to hope.
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