News
-
23-Aug-2012
Cardinal Paul Shan Kuo-hsi, the retired bishop of Taiwan, died on Wednesday at the age of 88, the Vatican newspaper reported, reports NCR Online.
» more
-
22-Aug-2012
A US federal judge has dismissed a sex abuse lawsuit against the Holy See on grounds that the Vatican was not an employer of the accused ex-priest and cannot be held financially liable for the abuse, reports the Catholic News Agency.
» more
-
20-Aug-2012
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Lebanon next month will go ahead as scheduled, the Vatican says, despite tensions in the country linked to the raging conflict in Syria, according to an AAP report in The Australian.
» more
-
20-Aug-2012
Pope Benedict XVI has named Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, the Apostolic nuncio to Australia, to be the new nuncio to Israel and apostolic delegate in Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, according to a report by the Catholic News Service published by NCR Online.
» more
-
21-Aug-2012
A master plan to capitalise on a potential $1 billion locked in heritage sites at Parramatta in Sydney's west, including the old King's School and a Roman Catholic Orphan School, was announced by NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell on the weekend, reports the Parramatta Holroyd Sun.
» more
-
16-Aug-2012
The Catholic Church has, or will shortly appeal against the listing of St Patrick's Church Braddon on the ACT Heritage Register for the second time, reports The Canberra Times.
» more
-
23-Aug-2012
The Holy See and Apple have joined forces to make the Pope’s catechesis available in digital format and accessible via tablets and smart phones, reports Vatican Insider.
» more
-
22-Aug-2012
The Archdiocese of Sydney has expressed in a comprehensive written response its “deep concern” over “shameful and shocking” sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, reports The Catholic Weekly. The 4000-word document was issued last week by the Archdiocese in response to a series of allegations of mismanagement and cover-ups of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Sydney.
» more
-
20-Aug-2012
In a letter to parishioners, Church leaders in Victoria have apologised for the sexual abuse of children under the church's care, and said they will continue to take decisive action to protect children, reports The Australian.
» more
-
19-Aug-2012
A priest in the Central West of NSW says he is not concerned that the community he serves is already making plans for his burial, reports the ABC.
» more
-
22-Aug-2012
Overseas priests have been welcomed by Maitland-Newcastle parishioners despite cultural differences, according to a report prepared to determine the future of the program to import priests, reports The Catholic Weekly.
» more
-
19-Aug-2012
The US bishops’ committee tasked with enforcing church doctrine quietly adopted new procedures for investigating theologians a year ago, apparently unbeknownst to the theologians whose teachings and writings would be subject to the protocols, reports NCR Online.
» more
-
22-Aug-2012
France has called on Pakistani authorities to free an 11-year-old disabled girl accusedo of committing blasphemy, reports Vatican Insider, /em>following concerns expressed by Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari himself.
» more
-
21-Aug-2012
A spokesperson for the US State Department has called the arrest of a young Pakistani girl in Islamabad on charges of blasphemy “deeply disturbing” and urged the government to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation, reports Ucanews.
» more
-
21-Aug-2012
Protests have mounted outside a Belgian convent of Poor Clares sisters not to shelter Michelle Martin, the ex-wife and convicted accomplice of serial murderer Marc Dutroux, if she is released early from her 30-year prison sentence, reports The Tablet.
» more
-
21-Aug-2012
Seminaries in Shanghai have postponed the start of the new academic year next month, a move priests said marked the latest fallout following the dramatic resignation last month of a bishop from the state-sponsored Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, reports Ucanews.
» more
-
21-Aug-2012
Scottish campaigners against gay marriage are to protest outside a meeting of senior politicians. The group Scotland For Marriage says it expects more than 100 people to join a demonstration on Thursday when the Scottish cabinet meets in Renfrew, reports the Strathearn Herald.
» more
-
20-Aug-2012
An 11-year-old girl with Down's syndrome could face the death penalty under Pakistan's blasphemy law, after she was accused of burning sacred Islamic texts, reports The Tablet.
» more
-
19-Aug-2012
US Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan says Catholics must act now to protect their right to religious freedom from being diminished in American society, reports the Catholic News Agency.
» more
-
19-Aug-2012
A secret police bugging operation caught a senior Catholic figure on tape saying it was not up to him to report a paedophile priest and encouraging a victim not to go to the authorities for fear of bad publicity, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
» more
-
19-Aug-2012
South Africa's bishops have condemned the killings at a platinum mine in Marikana and called for a judicial inquiry into the circumstances that led to the violence, according to a report by the Catholic News Service published in NCR Online.
» more
-
16-Aug-2012
The diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in NSW has agreed, or is in the process of agreeing, to financial settlements thought to be worth more than $15 million to more than 100 victims of alleged pedophile abuse, reports The Australian.
» more
-
22-Aug-2012
Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne has written to the Catholic bishops over the heads of the National Catholic Education Commission, which has been broadly supportive of Gonski, reports The Australian.
» more
-
20-Aug-2012
The National Catholic Education Commission has welcomed yesterday’s announcement by the Prime Minister that ‘every independent school in Australia will see their funding increased’ under the Government’s new funding model, the NCEC said in a statement.
» more
-
19-Aug-2012
Prime Minister Julia Gillard will today reveal that every independent school in Australia will receive an increase in government funding regardless of its wealth, reports the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age.
» more
-
22-Aug-2012
When 16-year-old Paralympian Gemma Rose Foo faces challenges, she talks to God - and "he sometimes talks back to me, and that calms me down," reports the Catholic News Service.
» more
-
23-Aug-2012
Rock ‘n’ roll is innately religious and expresses a desire for the infinite, according to one of Ireland’s leading music journalists, reports The Catholic News Agency.
» more
-
23-Aug-2012
“Sometimes songs can capture something that you can’t get in narratives or in textbooks,” says songwriter and author Brendan Graham, who will deliver this year’s address at the annual Great Irish Famine commemoration on Sunday, reports The Catholic Weekly.
» more
-
21-Aug-2012
The right forearm of St Francis Xavier will visit Australia next month in a national tour of the Catholic relic, reports The Canberra Times.
» more
-
20-Aug-2012
The estate of Margaret Mitchell's nephew, Joseph, has left a 50 percent share of the trademark and literary rights to Gone With the Wind to the the Archdiocese of Atlanta, reports the Catholic News Service.
» more
Regulars
-
23-Aug-2012
The Australian outback has an alluring quality that attracts many people to it. While most tend to make the trek for a visit, there are others for whom the outback has an enduring appeal. Good Samaritan Sister, Gerri Boylan, fits into this latter category, reports The Good Oil.
» more
-
22-Aug-2012
Since 2004 a big part of Bernie Victory’s life has been organising and participating in the annual Centacare Kokoda Challenge. This year Bernie will cross the infamous trail not once, but twice, bringing to ten his total number of Kokoda adventures. Ahead of what could well be his last trek, the Centacare Catholic Family Services assistant director talks to The Southern Ccross about his involvement with this very successful fundraising initiative.
» more
-
21-Aug-2012
Baroness Hollins, a Catholic who is former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and current president of the British Medical Association, believes the pressure to legalise physician-assisted suicide betrays society’s trepidation concerning death. She also worries that legalisation would exacerbate society’s fear of disability. “I think it’s potentially a return to eugenics," she tells the Catholic Herald.
» more
-
20-Aug-2012
The percentage of Catholics practicing their faith is declining almost everywhere around the globe. Almost all bishops report it, but it's difficult to prove statistically, according to a Catholic News Service report on NCR Online.
» more
-
19-Aug-2012
The University of Notre Dame's superb icon of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, created by Sydney-based artist, Christopher Wolter, is finally complete, reports the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney.
» more
-
23-Aug-2012
The Australian Pastoral Musicians Network comprises clergy and other pastoral leaders, musicians and singers, teachers and educators, parishes and dioceses, composers and publishers. The APMN website carries details of workshops, internet resources, events and other items of interest.
» more
-
22-Aug-2012
Catholics for Israel is a Catholic apostolate, faithful to the Magisterium of the Church, of Jewish and Gentile Catholics from Israel and from the nations. Its mission includes building bridges between Israel and the Church.
» more
-
21-Aug-2012
Maitland-Newcastle Diocese Catholic Schools Office has launched the Cyber Safety Resources for Parents site to give users a ‘‘one-stop access point’’. Parent liaison officer Linda McNeil said the site would show users how to be proactive and cyber savvy, while ensuring kids were educated to use the internet safely.
» more
-
20-Aug-2012
New Liturgical Movement is a website dedicated to Sacred Liturgy and Liturgical Arts. It carries a rich array of articles, commentary, artwork, photos and drawings around the theme of liturgy.
» more
-
19-Aug-2012
A young American couple's blog about their courtship is just one of the features of this site, which also includes advice and resources about parenting and books. The site is an initiative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
» more
-
23-Aug-2012
This is a comedy-drama that takes place on a fictional New England Island (called “New Penzance”) about a relationship between two young children, Sam Shakusy (Jared Gilman), and Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward). They meet at a church musical performance, and make a pact to come together again the following summer at a Scout camp, and they determine to run away together.
» more
-
22-Aug-2012
This is the fourth film to contain the word "Bourne" in its title. Jason Bourne, a CIA agent and former assassin, who suffers from extreme memory loss, features in the novels of Robert Ludlum, and the previous three films have all starred Matt Damon in the title role. Five years later, a new character emerges, and the hero of this movie is Jeremy Renner, who plays a colleague of Bourne, Aaron Cross.
» more
-
23-Aug-2012
I'm not sure why US women's orders, in the face of large-scale decline in numbers of both religious and priests in Europe as well, should merit special attention on this subject from the Vatican. I do think, however, that the subject in general needs to be rethought and perhaps reframed. Even by religious orders themselves, writes Joan Chittister in NCR Online.
» more
-
22-Aug-2012
Pascal's Wager - that there is infinitely more to be gained by believing in God (than by not doing so) and one should act as such - is often derided. Yet, Pascal's intention was to move beyond the intractable debates over God's existence, much like we face today, to re-focus talk about God in its proper context: in the context of our lives and existence, writes Joel Hodge in ABC Online.
» more
-
21-Aug-2012
In a new report, ostensibly on medical care for maternal health, Amnesty calls on governments to repeal abortion laws and conscience protection for medical workers who may object. They also call for public health systems to train and equip health care providers to perform abortions. Aren’t there enough prisoners of conscience without the human rights group bowing to feminist pressure? asks Francis Phillips in The Catholic Herald.
» more
-
20-Aug-2012
A week ago, I noticed a piece in The Age about a bogus Catholic mass. The only remarkable thing about this tiny, sad celebration was that the congregation included a german shepherd dog, whose owner gave it a piece of the consecrated host. The tone of the entire article was one of cheesy levity. How can a supposedly expert journalist report an act of desecration as if it were an amusing belch at a children's birthday party, asks Greg Craven in The Australian.
» more
-
19-Aug-2012
All major political parties now hope they can confine people in Nauru for years on end without any prospect of court supervision and without any need for Parliament to revisit the matter. We have reached a fork in the road between decency and deterrence. As a nation we have taken the low road, inviting the newest signatory to the Refugees Convention to emulate our indecent behaviour, writes Frank Brennan in Eureka Street.
» more
-
20-Aug-2012
On Thursday Caritas Australia will launch its Walk As One advocacy campaign, which seeks to raise awareness to issues confronting indigenous people worldwide. The event will feature a speech by Caritas Internationali president, Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga, performances from Australian indigenous artists and the Cardinal himself, who plays the saxophone.
» more
-
21-Aug-2012
Maximilian Kolbe - priest and prisoner who died in the darkest days of World War 11, was a martyr to the truths of evil of Nazism. The Polish, prisoner 16670, died in Auschwitz on August 14, 1941. When a prisoner escaped from the killing camp, the Nazis selected 10 others to be killed by starvation in reprisal. Fr Kolbe is remembered through this video from Rome Reports.
» more
-
19-Aug-2012
On Monday August 13, ethicist Peter Singer appeared on the ABC's Q&A television program, stating that he believes people with severe disabilities have a “lesser right to life&rdquo because they are not capable of reasoning. In this podcast, Sydney's Bishop Peter Comensoli comments on Peter Singer's claims about the human person, and clarifies the Christian teachings on human life.
» more