News - National
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18-Jan-2010
One of Tony Abbott's most controversial initiatives as Health Minister - funding a pregnancy hotline to minimise abortion - will be scrapped within six months and replaced by a general parents helpline, says a report in The Australian.
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22-Jan-2010
The Henry tax review recommendation to end Fringe Benefits Tax concessions, which allows charity-run hospitals and nursing homes to top up payment to staff, could strip salary perks of some of the lowest-paid workers.
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21-Jan-2010
Australian Quakers said they will lobby the government for an amendment to the federal Marriage Act so that same-sex couples can legally marry, following a similar decision last year by the British Quakers to support such unions.
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19-Jan-2010
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has denied the government is favouring private over public schools, saying some Commonwealth funding was based on enrolment. Education Minister Julia Gillard says Labor has stuck with the Howard Government's system for funding private schools, to give certainty to schools.
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20-Jan-2010
More than 300 members of Australia's Coptic Christian community marched through Sydney yesterday to protest against the killings of Copts in Egypt this month.
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19-Jan-2010
A church in Sydney's Redfern neighbourhood has become the battleground for a clash of traditions, following a row over a baptismal font and removal of chalk writings referring to an "Aboriginal Christ". The row reflects a deeper clash between traditional Catholicism and the more vernacular version practised in St Vincent's parish.
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18-Jan-2010
The number of top HSC results in Catholic schools has almost doubled in recent years, with 80 students making the honours list in 2009 compared to 45 in 2005.
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21-Jan-2010
Brisbane priest Father Tim Harris said there is growing support for former parishioner, Scott Rush, who is on death row in Bali, since a statement by fellow "Bali Nine" Renae Lawrence that he was just a first time courier.
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19-Jan-2010
The Toowoomba primary school principal who was sacked in a child sex abuse case has lost hope of getting his job back, despite the Queensland Independent Education Union launching an unfair dismissal claim on his behalf.
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18-Jan-2010
At least five families have now started legal action against the Catholic diocese in Toowoomba over the handling of sex abuse allegations at a local school.
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18-Jan-2010
A spike in tourism is expected in Mary Mackillop's home town, leading to a special tourism forum by the Wattle Range Council which will focus on the local impact of her impending canonisation.
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21-Jan-2010
The ACT Opposition says the lack of support from the Legislative Assembly has forced the Territory Government to delay the purchase of Calvary Public Hospital.
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20-Jan-2010
The ACT Government says it will not appropriate the funds it needs to buy Calvary Public Hospital until the sale is approved by the Vatican, as the Little Company of Mary Health Care needs Rome's endorsement to proceed.
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News - International
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20-Jan-2010
Some details of the case under investigation regarding a possible miracle attributed to Venerable Pope Pius XII have been made public and the story involves Pope John Paul II, the Catholic News Agency reports.
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18-Jan-2010
Pope Benedict XVI has told an audience at a Rome synagogue that the Vatican "itself provided assistance, often in a hidden and discreet way" to Jews during persecution by the Nazis in World War II.
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20-Jan-2010
Mehmet Ali Agca, 52, who attempted to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981, has been freed from prison. A military hospital checkup has showed he has a psychiatric disorder, his lawyer said.
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22-Jan-2010
An American military contractor is supplying rifle telescopic sights inscribed with bliblical references, for use by US and Iraqi troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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22-Jan-2010
While Pope Benedict has urged for persistence in achieving unity with the Society of St Pius X, the group's Bishop Richard Williamson says talks with the Vatican could end up a "dialogue of the deaf".
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21-Jan-2010
Pope Benedict has summoned Ireland's Roman Catholic bishops to a Vatican summit next month to shape the pontiff's response to child abuse scandals.
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21-Jan-2010
Vienna's Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has faxed a letter of apology to Medjugorje's Bishop Ratko Peric over a December visit to the site of alleged Marian apparitions.
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19-Jan-2010
A leading Scottish bishop has accused the Devon-based Benedictine monks of betraying Christian values, blaming their Buckfast fortified wine brew for alcoholism.
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22-Jan-2010
Malaysian police have detained eight people over an arson attack of the Protestant Metro Tabernacle church in early January, and declared the case "solved".
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19-Jan-2010
The Malaysian government has said that it is allowing the use of the word "Allah" in the Malay language by Christians in its Christian-majority Borneo states.
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20-Jan-2010
Kolkata is mourning the death of veteran Marxist leader and former West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, who is said to have had a special association with Blessed Teresa.
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22-Jan-2010
De La Salle Brother Denis Loft has joined fellow De La Salle Brother Bill Firman in Southern Sudan to assist in rebuilding the war-devastated region.
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22-Jan-2010
The Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, has called on volunteers to use the "moral authority" of the Church to distribute aid arriving for victims, and not be hampered by logistical complications and lack of security.
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21-Jan-2010
Seven days after the Haiti earthquake, rescuers have pulled a 69-year-old woman alive from under the ruins of Notre Dame Cathedral in Port-au-Prince. The rescue came amid calls for Haiti's debts to be cancelled.
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20-Jan-2010
Rachel and Joel Colbourne-Hoffman, the Australian-American couple who survived the collapse of their apartment building in the Haiti earthquake, have pledged to return to Port-au-Prince, and encouraged people to continue to support Haiti.
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19-Jan-2010
The Haiti catastrophe has reignited Australians' generosity after the "compassion fatigue" that followed the overwhelming response to Victorian bushfires, says UNICEF. Meanwhile, Caritas Australia said aid work is progressing despite tough conditions on the ground.
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18-Jan-2010
Port-au-Prince has turned into a multi-denominational open-air church as differences between faiths collapse under the weight of tragedy in Haiti.
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Regulars
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22-Jan-2010
The story behind the return of an artificial limb to the St Vincent de Paul Society makes up one of the interesting tales unearthed with the establishment of the society's state archives, library and a new exhibition.
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21-Jan-2010
President Obama has spoken of how his faith guides him and the importance of hard work to mark the birthday of Martin Luther King at a Washington church. "Folks ask me sometimes why I look so calm," he said. "I have a confession to make here."
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20-Jan-2010
The 120-year-old Aya Triada church, Istanbul's largest Christian Orthodox house of worship, has enough room for hundreds of the faithful. But on most Sundays, only a handful of congregants can be found in the church's pews.
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19-Jan-2010
The attack on Pope Benedict during the entrance procession of Midnight Mass by Susanna Maiolo, a mentally ill woman who vaulted over the barriers before lunging at the Pope, poses serious questions about the Holy Father's safety.
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18-Jan-2010
Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Papal Nuncio to Haiti, wrote this eyewitness report hours after the quake struck on January 13. “I have just returned this morning. I found priests and nuns in the streets, without homes. The Rector of the seminary survived, as did the Dean of Studies, but the seminarians are under the rubble. Everywhere, you can hear cries from under the rubble."
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22-Jan-2010
The Care Leavers Australia Network is for people who grew up in Ausrtalia's orphanages, children's homes or foster care. This site provides resources, news, features and special events for people from this background and also offers an insight into some of their special needs
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21-Jan-2010
This site has been featured before but the passing of Mother Teresa's Indian soulmate, the former West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, gives us a fresh reason to reflect on her work and the world she lived in.
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20-Jan-2010
An exhibition about the contribution of nuns to American life is now on at the Smithsonian Musuem in Washington and this website allows you to take a virtual tour. It includes rare artifacts and photographs from more than 400 communities are on view to explore the role of Catholic sisters in American life.
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19-Jan-2010
This website about the life Mary Mackillop, has photos of Australia’s first saint, details of pilgrimages, and other aspects of her role in Australian life. There's also a Twitter link, to share this with friends.
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18-Jan-2010
The Catholic Earthcare website is a useful tool for those who wish to take a hands-on approach in support of the Pope's call to help preserve the world. It has sections for parishes, schools and also, how to conduct your own environmental audit.
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21-Jan-2010
Afficionados of the Broadway musical have known about Nine for nearly 30 years The stage musical based on Italian director Federico Fellini’s autobiographical fantasy 8½ won five Tony Awards in 1982. Now Rob Marshall, whose screen adaptation of Chicago was such a spectacular success, has brought the work back to the big screen.
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20-Jan-2010
This is a beautifully made film which offers so much to reflect on. It is a pity that it won't appeal to a wide audience who may not be attracted by its post-apocalyptic scenario, by its grim quest as a surviving father and son make for the coast.
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19-Jan-2010
Even if you are not into political satire, you might well enjoy this fast-paced look at spin, international pressures, civil service activities and inactivities, gossip and rivalries. The film also sends up official bullying and badgering of ministers and their staffs and deals, double deals and deceits between the Americans and the British.
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22-Jan-2010
Catholic priests in Australia are overworked and in increasingly short supply, and some dioceses have started recruiting clergy from overseas. This episode of Encounter on ABC Radio examines the ethics of taking priests from countries such as India, where they may be in great need.
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18-Jan-2010
It is so easy for the patronising nod to be bestowed on those sentimental people who think that small, furry creatures have any claim on one's lofty thoughts. But our sense of moral outrage tells us we should. It tells us that something is not right, not just, not Christian.
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22-Jan-2010
Prince William's visit reminds us that after his father, he is next in line to be our king. William will ascend to the pinnacle of our democracy not on the basis of his fitness for office or by winning the support of the people, but due solely to the good fortune of his birth. This idea is inconsistent with what is otherwise a democratic and egalitarian system.
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21-Jan-2010
The Venerable English College in Rome has revealed that it uncovered a mysterious parchment, suggesting that Shakespeare was a recusant Catholic for most of his adult life. It is perfectly understandable that Catholic scholars should seek to appropriate the Bard.
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20-Jan-2010
Among all our follies and fantasies, a calamity like Haiti presents us with a respite from our polemical obsessions. It calls us to experience a naive and unsophisticated impulse of collective humanity - untutored in the dark arts of our contemporary ideological sophistry.
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19-Jan-2010
The Pope's visit to the Great Synagogue of Rome on Sunday came after a year of tension in Jewish-Catholic relations. Rabbi Eugene Korn reflects on the problems and says the time is right for a reconciliation.
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18-Jan-2010
One reliable way to gauge the impact of a papal message is the amount of energy that pundits invest in analyzing, dissecting and recasting it. The more spin a statement breeds, the more important it probably is. By that test, Pope Benedict XVI’s teaching on the environment would seem to be pretty important indeed.
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