News - National
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09-Dec-2010
Catholics have been asked to write to their Federal MPs in support of traditional marriage, in response to a recent Federal Parliament motion that asked members to gauge constituents' views on how to achieve equal treatment for same sex couples, reports The Catholic Weekly.
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09-Dec-2010
The ACT will be an early adopter of the national curriculum, with Education Minister Andrew Barr saying it will be rolled out in independent, Catholic and public schools from next year, reports AAP in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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09-Dec-2010
Aged care providers lose at least $13 a day on high-care beds in capital costs alone, according to Catholic Health Australia chief executive Martin Laverty in an AAP report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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08-Dec-2010
The Mary MacKillop website, set up by the Sisters of St Joseph in preparation for her canonisation, has recorded some 190,000 visitors and received prayer requests from 80,000 people in just six months, the website's manager said in a recent presentation.
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06-Dec-2010
The ongoing debate about voluntary euthanasia featured strongly among the issues discussed by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference at its Plenary meeting last month, according to a statement from the ACBC.
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03-Dec-2010
A bureaucrat who instructed Medicare and Centrelink staff to avoid religious decorations for Christmas has been branded a Grinch and reprimanded, reports the Daily Telegraph.
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08-Dec-2010
A Victorian kindergarten has banned Santa and his sleigh, holly or any mention of a religious holiday this Christmas, in an effort to be inclusive of all religious and cultural groups, reports the Herald Sun.
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07-Dec-2010
Workers at Gippsland's Maryvale Mill in Victoria could be fined up to $6600 each if they do not ''volunteer'' to work on Christmas and Boxing Day, after an order that failure to do so would constitute an illegal strike, reports The Age.
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06-Dec-2010
Asylum seekers will be moved into presbyteries and other church-owned properties in Melbourne's eastern suburbs before Christmas, as part of the plan to bring families out of detention, reports the Herald Sun.
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06-Dec-2010
A recently published review about female ovarian activity, by the late Professor James Brown of the University of Melbourne, validates the Billings Method, said the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
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09-Dec-2010
The Lights of Christmas, a dazzling light show featuring traditional Christmas imagery and colours, were switched on at Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral last night, the Archdiocese of Sydney announced in a statement.
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08-Dec-2010
Mourners have packed the Tahmoor Catholic Church in the NSW Southern Highlands to farewell a teenage boy who was allegedly murdered by a relative of serial killer Ivan Milat in the Belanglo State Forest, reports the Herald Sun.
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07-Dec-2010
Acclaimed Australian film director Bruce Beresford will address students at the first ever summer camp organised by Campion College in NSW for its Year 11 students, said a media release.
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03-Dec-2010
Brisbane Catholic Education has defended the recent hiring of a former principal which has angered parents of abuse victims from his former school, the ABC reports.
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News - International
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10-Dec-2010
The Vatican was committed to getting countries aligned with the Copenhagen Accord on climate change, according to the first Vatican cable to appear on the WikiLeaks website, reports the Catholic News Service.
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07-Dec-2010
Pope Benedict XVI's comments about condoms represented a "normal and traditional" pastoral application of moral theology, a theologian who advises the Vatican on doctrinal matters has told Catholic News Service.
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06-Dec-2010
Supporters of an iPhone app that contains a Christian statement supporting religious liberty, traditional marriage and right to life issues are petitioning Apple to reinstate it, after the app was removed over protests that it promoted "bigotry" and "homophobia", reports the Catholic News Agency.
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06-Dec-2010
The Vatican City State governor has said Pope Benedict would gladly use a solar-powered electric popemobile as another sign of his efforts to promote sustainable energy if one was offered, reports the UK Press Association.
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03-Dec-2010
Pope Benedict XVI pushed for "more rapid and simplified" procedures to punish errant priests as far back as 1988, but his request was not met, according to documents released by the Vatican, reports the New York Times.
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09-Dec-2010
A small congregation of conservative Anglicans in the western province of Alberta, has become the first in Canada to join the Catholic Church, reports the Independent Catholic News.
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08-Dec-2010
The Vatican has declared the "heroic virtues" of 19th century British priest, Father Ignatius Spencer, a distant relative of the late Princess Diana and her son Princes William and Harry, BBC News reports.
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06-Dec-2010
The archbishop of Munich and Freising in Germany has begged forgiveness as he presented a report that showed more 250 priests and religion teachers abused children in the diocese, said an AP report in the Herald Sun.
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07-Dec-2010
US-based Burnmese priest Father Alexander Cho has been appointed the Bishop of Pyay in Myanmar, and said leadership is needed for the Church under the military regime, reports the Catholic News Agency.
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07-Dec-2010
Pope Benedict and the general secretary of the World Council of Churches discussed the ecumenical concern for the fate of Christians in the Middle-East in a private meeting over the weekend, said the Catholic News Service.
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10-Dec-2010
Catholic Mission's Pakistan Director has called for the repeal of Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws, saying their abuse continues to threaten the life and liberty of Christians and Muslims,according to a media release.
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09-Dec-2010
Christians in Pakistan have praised the country's first-ever audio service of the Bible via mobile phones, which was launched this week, reports ucanews.com.
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08-Dec-2010
The imam of the oldest mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, has offered a reward to anyone who kills Asia Bibi, a Christian woman condemned for blasphemy - if the court fails to hang her, said a report from Guardian in The Age.
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10-Dec-2010
A bishop who does not have papal approval has been elected president of the Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China, and a Vatican-approved bishop became head of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, reports ucanews.com.
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08-Dec-2010
China's government-sanctioned Church has begun its National Congress of Catholic Representatives in Beijing, amid opposition from the Holy See and resistance from many Catholics, reports ucanews.com.
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07-Dec-2010
Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun has criticised an article by a priest that describes the illicit ordination of a bishop in China, as "a victory", saying it glosses over key facts related to the event, reports ucanews.com.
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Regulars
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10-Dec-2010
In November last year, one of the world's leading exorcists quietly slipped into Sydney at the invitation of the Catholic Church, reports The Australian. Waiting for him were 27 other priests, including Bishop Julian Porteous, the Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney.
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09-Dec-2010
Catholic actor Liam Neeson said he thinks the magical lion of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series not only represents Christ but also symbolizes other great spiritual leaders, he told the Catholic News Service.
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08-Dec-2010
The Catholic Church is Africa’s primary care giver for AIDS victims. In 2002, Canadian Jesuit Father Michael Czerny (pictured), founded the African Jesuit AIDS Network based in Nairobi, Kenya. He talks about the challenges he and his colleagues face.
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07-Dec-2010
Studies suggest Catholic couples who use natural family planning are in the vast minority. Estimates based on a 2006-2008 study by the US National Centre for Health Statistics showed that Catholic women were, essentially, just as likely as others to use some form of contraception, reports NCR Online.
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06-Dec-2010
Nance Millar, about to turn 84, has just written a book aimed at making schools more inclusive by involving parents in their children's education. She is now determined to make parental involvement a part of all teacher training courses across Australia, reports Catholic Communications.
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10-Dec-2010
Today is Human Rights Day, designated by the United Nations to recognise the work of human rights defenders worldwide who act to end discrimination. The official UN website carries a broad range of information, links, events and video.
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09-Dec-2010
The now famous website carries a wealth of fresh, topical news articles on the impact of St Mary's canonisation, both on a communal and personal level. In addition to the news articles, and a recent newsletter, there is the MacKillop blog, with a number of regular contributors.
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08-Dec-2010
No Greater Love, a documentary recording the life of Carmelite nuns at a London monastery, has taken the grand prize at the International Festival of Cinema and Religion in Italy. The website has a trailer and extensive details about the making of the film.
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07-Dec-2010
Yesterday, December 6, was the Feast Day of St Nicholas, celebrating a man whose life is considered to be the true story of Santa Claus. This website carries an extensive account of his life, deeds and significance.
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06-Dec-2010
The launch of a canonisation cause for Mary Glowrey in India last week shines a spotlight on the Australian missionary. This website, by AD2000, has an extensive biography of Glowrey, her life and work.
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09-Dec-2010
This film sets out to tell a tale of a haunted elevator, of the presence of the devil, the power of vengeance and judgment for evil deeds. And that is what it does, efficiently and effectively.
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08-Dec-2010
This animated comedy film is an enjoyable romp through past animated movies about superheroes and supervillains, with some unusual twists. An infant Megamind (Will Ferrell) is a super-baddie infant who competes with super-goodie MetroMan (voiced by Brad Pitt),
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07-Dec-2010
This is the third film in the seven-part epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. Narnia is the fictional realm where animals talk, magic abounds, and good battles evil. The Dawn Treader is the ship captained by Caspian, who was the key character in the previous film, The Prince of Caspian.
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06-Dec-2010
Robert Downey plays an architect with a bad temper. Zach Galifaniakis plays an out-of-work actor. Both have to be in Los Angeles on the same day. This is a lowbrow but likeable version of the 1980s hit Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
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10-Dec-2010
J K Rowling has given Christians a valuable resource to introduce some of the central beliefs of the Catholic faith to a generation that knows the life of Harry Potter far better than it knows the life of Jesus Christ, writes Joe Egerton in Thinking Faith.
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09-Dec-2010
Commentators have tended to ignore the more significant papal refrain in Light of the World. Namely that "people can get condoms when they want them anyway". And that's the essential point. The Pope recognises that not all Catholics follow the teachings of the church, writes Gerard Henderson in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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08-Dec-2010
The extraordinary distortion by the secular press of his passing remarks about condoms is now generally seen for what it was: a sign of the fact that papers have to have splash headlines, writes William Oddie in The Catholic Herald.
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07-Dec-2010
The truth of God's existence or non-existence is not just some personal option, but something which either is true for all or false for all. There is no middle ground in that regard, writes Neil Ormerod in ABC Religion and Ethics Online.
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06-Dec-2010
A strategy of appeasement with regard to Islamist violence against Christian communities in the Middle East is not only unwise, it is demonstrably deadly, writes George Weigel in Ethics and Public Policy Center.
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10-Dec-2010
The Sydney Chamber Choir will present a performance at Parramatta’s St Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday. The one-hour concert will feature a selection of Christmas music from American, English and Spanish composers. Entry fee is by donation.
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