News - National
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15-Jan-2010
Leaders of Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist faiths from around Australia have written a letter to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, calling for stronger action on climate change.
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14-Jan-2010
The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) and the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) have appealed for an end to violence towards international students living in Australia.
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13-Jan-2010
Every day three Sisters of St Joseph sift through letters, emails and phone calls from people around the world who claim "miracles" through the intercession of Mary MacKillop. But no more will be considered.
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13-Jan-2010
An Egyptian man in Australia lives in fear of a backlash against his family because of his conversion from Islam to Christianity. "Mina", 36, is afraid for the safety of his family here and in Egypt, for defying the police and fleeing the country.
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12-Jan-2010
Kathleen Evans, who was miraculously cured of inoperable cancer after praying to Mary MacKillop, has stepped forward and spoken to the media for the first time accounting how she was cured of inoperable cancers in her lungs and brain.
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12-Jan-2010
The St Vincent de Paul Society has been accused of breaching public trust and aspects of the Privacy Act over an agreement with Acxiom, one of the world's largest data companies, to gather information through a Christmas mail out.
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12-Jan-2010
The Federal Government will give more than $70 million to schools run by the Exclusive Brethren, a religious sect Kevin Rudd has described as an "extremist cult" that breaks up families.
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15-Jan-2010
Deacons in white robes and carrying staffs with bronze crosses from Melbourne's Coptic Orthodox Christians took part in a street protest yesterday, decrying violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt.
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12-Jan-2010
Christian Brother Frank McCarthy, reputedly the oldest registered working teacher in Australia, has died, aged 89.
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11-Jan-2010
Good Friday should be preserved as a holy day, the principal of Emmanuel College in Victoria says, in response to news that Old Collegians and Merrivale are proposing to play a game of football on Good Friday this year.
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11-Jan-2010
The Most Rev Anthony Fisher has been appointed the third bishop of Parramatta by Pope Benedict XVI. He succeeds Most Rev Kevin Manning who has been Bishop of Parramatta since 1997 and is retiring.
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14-Jan-2010
Religious leaders, parents and shoppers have complained that it's too early for the Easter Bunny. But Cairns' supermarkets are already starting to sell Easter eggs, citing customer demand.
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News - International
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15-Jan-2010
Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, says he will answer questions about the attack after he is released from prison next week.
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15-Jan-2010
The Apostolic Nuncio of Haiti, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, says "all the great churches, all the seminaries" in Port-au-Prince have been "reduced to rubble".
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14-Jan-2010
Pope Benedict has met the 25-year-old Swiss-Italian Susan Maiolo, who knocked him down at Christmas Eve Mass, today and forgiven her for lunging at him.
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14-Jan-2010
The Bible Society is behind a "no fly" international faith and climate change talks scheduled for today, aiming to connect leaders and the public from across the globe, one month on from Copenhagen.
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13-Jan-2010
Mining giant BHP Billiton has pulled out of a nickel project in the Philippines following a campaign by English Caritas agency, CAFOD, selling its 40 percent stake to local joint-venture partner AMCOR.
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12-Jan-2010
Pope Benedict XVI has criticised the "economic and political resistance" to fighting environmental degradation, and the failure to create a new climate treaty at Copenhagen last month.
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11-Jan-2010
The box office hit film Avatar is "captivating" but lacks "true emotion", according to the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano newspaper.
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11-Jan-2010
The Chief papal liturgist, Monsignor Guido Marini, has endorsed calls in the church for a "reform of reform" of Catholic liturgy.
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14-Jan-2010
Hollywood star Denzel Washington plays a wanderer in his latest film, "Eli", about a nuclear war in America. In the movie, his character looks for guidance in the Bible. The actor says he does the same in real life.
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13-Jan-2010
Weekly Mass attendance and Catholic identification have fallen dramatically in France, according to a newspaper survey. Last year attendance was down to 4.5 percent, compared with 27 percent in 1965. Only 64 percent identify themselves as Catholic, compared to 81 percent in 1965.
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13-Jan-2010
Soccer superstar David Beckham has added a black and white image of Jesus Christ to his collection of 17 tattoos as a tribute to his grandfather, who recently died.
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13-Jan-2010
Pope Benedict's pastoral letter in response to the child abuse scandals in the Church in Ireland will express his "complete abhorrence" of the crime and call on Catholic clergy and laity to renew Gospel values within the Church.
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11-Jan-2010
Portugal's parliament on Friday passed a bill to legalise gay marriage. It will become law if a final vote after a committee review supports it, and then is ratified by the president.
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12-Jan-2010
Malaysian Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim denounced the attacks on churches in the country, as news reports said the ninth attack occurred yesterday amid Muslim discontent about Christian usage of the term "Allah".
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11-Jan-2010
At least six churches in Malaysia have been targets of vandalism and firebombs since Friday, with attacks reported in Kuala Lumpur and other parts of the country.
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11-Jan-2010
Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in the Philippines for an annual festival honouring the "Black Nazrene", a wooden statue of Jesus, to pray for relief from natural disasters.
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15-Jan-2010
Australian relief worker Rachel Colbourne Hoffman and her husband Joel dug their way out of their collapsed apartment building in Haiti and are among 10 Australians confirmed safe by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT).
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15-Jan-2010
Archbishop Philip Wilson, President of the Australian Catholic Archbishops Conference, has urged Australians to pray and donate to an appeal for Haitian quake victims by Caritas.
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14-Jan-2010
Port-au-Prince Archbishop Serge Miot is among thousands who are dead after a major earthquake destroyed the Haitian capital, including its cathedral, late Tuesday afternoon.
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Regulars
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15-Jan-2010
A rarely viewed world map compiled in 1602 by Jesuit missionary to China, Matteo Ricci, has gone on display at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The map identifies Florida as "the Land of Flowers" and puts China at the centre of the world.
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14-Jan-2010
The murder of Father Gerry Roche in Kenya is a reminder of the vulnerability of missionaries living in remote and impoverished corners of the world. Yet the dangers have not dimmed the determination of priests, Religious and lay people to continue their work of evangelisation and practical support.
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13-Jan-2010
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster says secularists are "just as dogmatic as the worst religious believer and sometimes more stridently so". His remark comes as the bishops of England and Wales prepare to discuss the rise of aggressive secularism with Pope Benedict XVI.
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12-Jan-2010
A group of bearded, athletic men with shoulder-length hair wander into the bare room, joking nervously with one another. A small number of attractive women join them and a man makes an impassioned rallying speech in German. Electric doors open, and we go through out into a huge theatre where scripts are given out to the group. Welcome to the first rehearsal of the Passion play of Oberammergau.
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11-Jan-2010
Veteran astronomer Jesuit Father George Coyne has been honoured by the American Astronomical Society for his work in building a Vatican-sponsored summer school for young astronomers and promoting discussions on the intersection of religion and science.
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15-Jan-2010
The strength of this book review site lies in the topicality of the titles and also the breadth of categories it offers. The range includes children, teens, theology, great men and women.
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14-Jan-2010
See what the international Catholic aid and relief agency is doing to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake
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13-Jan-2010
The Priests, whose first self-titled CD became a runaway hit, have released a second CD, Harmony. On their website, you can hear excerpts from the album, find about more about how the three Northern Ireland signers came together and what their singing means to them.
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12-Jan-2010
The National Musuem of Catholic Art and History contains a wealth of fabulous images, exhibits and slide shows . Although the content comes from an American collection, it is accessible to everyone, with Cubist Angels sculpted by Dali, documents from Columbus's Santa Maria and a Travelling Sisterhood exhibition.
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11-Jan-2010
This site captures the dynamism of Catholic llife in our northern neighbours in Asia, including Pakistan, Thailand and India, with news, features and multimedia.
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15-Jan-2010
Bran Nue Dae has been a long time coming. What began life as songs written by Aboriginal musicians about growing up black in White Australia during the 1960s, morphed later into a popular stage musical. Those who missed the stage show will be delighted at the deft way the film mixes political irony and satire with a love story and zany optimism.
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14-Jan-2010
This is a romantic comedy about love, divorce and attachments of various kinds. It stars Meryl Streep as Jane, a divorced mother of three, who finds that she is becoming romantically involved again with her ex-husband, Jake (Alec Baldwin), who is intent on pursuing her after an unexpectedly enjoyable dinner together. Ten years before, Jake betrayed his relationship to Jane, and left her to marry a young woman, Agness.
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13-Jan-2010
It is a reasonable complaint that most of the movie action leads are male, from James Bond to Harry Potter. Hermione does make her claim but ultimately, follows Harry. So, on that count alone, The Secret of Moonacre stands out from the other action adventures and imaginary stories.
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12-Jan-2010
This movie is a quality comedy-romance with serious dramatic overtones as it tracks a corporate hatchet-man, whose job it is to terminate the positions of other corporate employees. It offers excellent comedy, drama and romance. The film’s messages are aided very intelligently by controlled direction, and by two wonderful performances by George Clooney and Vera Farmiga.
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11-Jan-2010
Here is a checklist of dispositions needed for enjoying Old Dogs: A very high tolerance level in general. A very high level for corny comedy, A fan's attitude to Robin Williams, no matter what he is in, and a fan's attitude to John Travolta who has to be both comic and insensitive, then sensitive.
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15-Jan-2010
Each time I walk through a forest park and absorb the smell of the trees and the undergrowth, I feel myself enveloped and held in a calm and tranquil peace. I feel united with my God. Being touched in this manner is a spiritual experience for me. But is this a real experience of the activity of the spirit or is it some form of hallucinatory experience?
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14-Jan-2010
A week ago, the conservative American commentator Brit Hume got into hot water when he said on a TV news show that Tiger Woods should consider converting to Christianity. What Hume said wasn’t bigoted: Indeed, his claim about the difference between Woods' Buddhism and Christianity was perfectly defensible.
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13-Jan-2010
Educators once believed in the classical education very strongly. What does it say that we are now fixated about becoming Asia-literate, but that there is no concern about the obvious decline in Western cultural literacy levels?
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12-Jan-2010
Because of the use of the term feminism, many think New Feminism is a Trojan horse trying to justify radical feminism with a Catholic veneer. They fear that if we help women achieve the dignity and status they deserve, men will suffer. As a male representative of those who follow the New Feminism, here are ten goals and resolutions I have for the new year.
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11-Jan-2010
How quickly things change. First, Jesus’ birth is celebrated by the Magi and angels. Then the celebration is cut short, as Christ and his family become refugees. In the 21st century, environmental refugees are the new refugee challenge and because of global climate change, their numbers are growing quickly.
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