News
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The Australian has apologised over a book review by Canberra
Archbishop Mark Coleridge that the newspaper said contained similar
content to a review by another author published earlier in a British
publication.
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The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has called on Germany's
bishops to enforce an earlier ruling that Catholic volunteers should
not take part in an abortion counselling program.
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Controversial Swiss theologian and papal critic, Fr Hans Kung, says
that he has a right to be part of what he describes as Pope Benedict's
"loyal opposition".
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Pope Benedict has formally rejected the resignation submitted by Hong
Kong's Cardinal Joseph Zen after the combative prelate turned 75 and
asked him to keep working to improve relations between China and the
Holy See.
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Saying that faith "carries us through", flamboyant boxing promoter Don
King, who once managed Muhammad Ali, yesterday presented a green and
gold boxing belt to Pope Benedict following the pontiff's General
Audience in St Peter's Square.
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Horse trainers fear that up to 800 horses that train at Randwick will
be forced to move elsewhere for up to six weeks, creating chaos in the
industry in the lead up to the World Youth Day Mass to take place at
the Sydney racecourse next year.
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Britain's Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has called on
"followers of Jesus" to play a part in combating climate change,
endorsing suggestions made in an ecumenical guidebook for London
churches on reducing energy use and introducing recycling.
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Opposition leader Kevin Rudd says that if elected, his new Labor
government will finance a $63 million pilot program in which sports,
science and library facilities will be shared by government and private
schools, including Catholic.
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Refugee lawyer Julian Burnside has accused Immigration Minister Kevin
Andrews, a Catholic, of betraying his religious principles and
breaching international law over the sending of 82 Sri Lankan asylum
seekers to detention camps in Nauru.
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A Vietnamese nun has made it her mission to find and visit
"undocumented" state-run leprosariums in the country's northern
provinces - but there are more still to be "discovered", she says.
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A Muslim militant from Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, was yesterday
sentenced to twenty years in prison for masterminding the beheading
murder of three Christian girls.
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Christian fellowships are now active in most Chinese universities,
resulting in a "Christian explosion" that has "reshaped the religious
landscape" in the communist country, a British academic has found.
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Recalling claims that "Jesus spirit" ended a SARS outbreak in 2003, a
Filipino sister has called on global warming to stop "in Jesus' name".
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As the number of Christians in Iraq continues to dwindle, reports are
emerging that those who remain are being forced to pay Ottoman
Empire-style poll taxes in order to be guaranteed protection and
religious freedom.
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Ill Palestinians who are being prevented from crossing into Israel for
urgent medical treatment are a result of complicated Israeli border
procedures, Caritas Jerusalem says.
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The Church in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is in shock after the road
accident deaths of four Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of
Mary whose car collided with a truck on Friday.
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Former Franciscan priest, Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff has
predicted that the Vatican's "condemnation" of the theology of Spanish
Jesuit Jon Sobrino will only serve to revitalise Marxist theology in
Latin America.
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Zimbabwe's Archbishop Pius Ncube has said he is "ready to face bullets"
in joining an anti-government street protest as Australian Embassy
staff intervene to help a beaten activist flee the Mugabe regime.
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As accusations of a 1980s massacre of 20,000 people by forces loyal to
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe are revived, the Catholic Church has
accused South Africa of failing to use its economic clout to pressure
the authoritarian regime.
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Two weeks after Brazilian President Lula da Silva signed an "alliance"
with the US to promote ethanol-producing crops, Brazil's Catholic
Farmers Pastoral has slammed the deal for enriching landowners at the
expense of landless peasants.
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Defending new cloning laws he is introducing into Victoria's
parliament, Catholic premier Steve Bracks has rejected a warning by
Pope Benedict that Catholic politicians should refer to their religion
above all else in making political decisions.
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Funerals have been held for several victims of the Yogjakarta air crash
in Indonesia including Australian diplomat, Liz O'Neill, who was buried
after an emotional service at a packed St Canice's church in Sydney's
eastern suburb on Friday.
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Retired Broken Bay Bishop Patrick Laurence Murphy, who became the first
bishop of the newly created diocese in 1986, has died after a long
illness.
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In the latest controversy at Sydney's Redfern parish, members of a
longstanding Friday meditation group claim to have been locked out of
the church over the disappearance of an altar cloth.
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Following a review of its services, Vinnies NSW has decided to pull out
of aged care to focus on care of the most marginalised and is
transferring the Society's 19 residential aged care homes to Catholic
Healthcare.
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With NSW moving to parliamentary elections this weekend, the Council of
Churches has revealed that only five state politicians bothered to
answer a questionnaire on key social issues.
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Sydney-based Uniya Jesuit Social Justice Centre, established in 1989,
will close in May after the research institute's board concluded that
it would not be sustainable over the long term.
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Trooper Joshua Porter, who died when his Black Hawk helicopter crashed
into the sea off Fiji late last year, has finally been farewelled in a
Catholic funeral at Toukley on NSW's Central Coast.
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Christian groups are up in arms over a decision by Queensland's Gold
Coast Hospital to turn its Christian chapel into a multifaith
"reflection room" but Southport's parish priest, Fr Peter Pillon, is
backing the decision.
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Two former students from Marist College, Burnie have alleged in
Launceston Criminal Court that Gregory Laurence Ferguson, then a
teacher at the college, abused them in the early 1970s.
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Regulars
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It was supposed to be a race between conservative candidate Nicolas
Sarkozy and socialist Segelene Royal. But an uninvited outsider has
crashed the party. Now, centrist leader Francois Bayrou has a
legitimate shot at moving in to the Elysees Palace. With only five
weeks to go before the first round of elections, the 55-year-old
Catholic, a father of six children and farmer, has figured out how to
position himself as an anti-establishment candidate, hero of the common
man and antidote to voters' dissatisfaction with the government and
politics - Stefan Simons
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Adolpho Ricapa Rodriguez is from Jucul, a village in Peru's Andean
mountain ranges. Families in Jucul live a subsistence existence.
Farmers have to plant crops on mountainsides, often many hours from the
village, requiring them to walk great distances each day to tend them.
In 2000, Caritas helped form a village committee. The Caritas staff
have worked closely with Adolpho and other village leaders to provide
training on new techniques for growing crops and improving the breeding
of their cattle and sheep.
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A good thing about visiting the Benedictines is that they are obliged
to look after you; it's the rules. Abbot Jamison, or Fr Christopher,
seems to enjoy this particular duty. Fr Christopher is an Australian,
born in Melbourne in 1951. His family moved to England when he was just
an infant. He says his decision to enter religious life was partly
influenced by "a very intelligent Catholic community at Oxford". Fr
Christopher regards this particular group as part of "a spiritual
renewal" that sprang from Vatican II. "It was extraordinary," he says.
"We were certainly not looking backwards" - Freddy Gray
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"Compared to some of the people we deal with, Jeffrey Archer is a
lightweight." The reference is to Archer's status as a sinner, not a
writer. I am talking to Francis J Moloney, a man who wears several
impressive hats. He is one of the most respected biblical scholars in
the world and heads the Australian Salesians of Don Bosco. He is also
the collaborator with Archer in a new book about Judas Iscariot. Does
he think the book will be controversial? "I'm expecting trouble from
the extreme right and the extreme left," he says - Michael Duffy
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When Santo Santoro arrived at a Young Liberals meeting three decades
ago, his reputation as a hard worker preceded him. Unlike colleagues
including Alexander Downer, Santoro was not a born-to-rule Liberal with
a plummy accent and a silver spoon in his mouth. Santoro, whose
resignation from federal parliament has bruised the Howard Government,
came to Australia from Sicily aged five with his family. As a Sicilian
Catholic, he did his secondary schooling at Marist College Rosalie,
which catered primarily to working-class boys. It was there that
Santoro's prodigious work ethic became apparent - Andrew Fraser
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The Church teaching on conscience gives no consolation to the
uninitiated, thinking they can simply do their own thing. But neither
does it accord religious authorities the liberty of insisting upon
wooden compliance with their instruction or view of the world. It is
too simplistic to resolve the tension between conscience, authority and
truth to urge: "When in doubt, follow the bishops." The bishops may be
right; they often are. But then again, they may be wrong, as the
Vatican authorities have been in dealing with the AIDS pandemic - Fr Frank Brennan
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This whole issue of the environment and the potential threat from the
way we live, begs for a radical and generous response from Christians.
We need leaders who can point the way and encourage the prophetic ones
to break new ground. Are we so identified with the materialistic
culture or so intertwined with the market economy that we cannot bear
witness to the freedom of detachment? Leaders must help us discern the
signs of the times, they must encourage and support prophetic witness -
Fr Michael Whelan
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Towering rage is the only legitimate reaction to the latest outrage in
the benighted, despoiled, corrupted, starving, bankrupt nation known as
Zimbabwe. The cold blooded killing of an opposition activist at a
prayer meeting in Highfields, a suburb in Harare, and the shooting of
mourners at his wake was merely the latest excess of an evil
dictatorship. Human rights lawyers, civil action groups, church
leaders, and women's groups have carried on the fight for democracy.
Meanwhile, the half-witted talk about such sops as cricket boycotts,
and the puffy-chested pursue democracy by landing bombs upon civilians
- Peter Roebuck
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A teen party with no adult supervision in Sydney's North Shore quickly
ran out of control last month. Police were called, children were
admitted to hospital and stomachs were pumped. Adolescents have gone
wild since Plato's day, but what really seems to have changed is that
teens are now going to such parties with parental permission.
Principals of the private schools whose students attended the party
were left wondering how so many parents could have neglected to
supervise where their son or daughter was going that night - Miranda Devine
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I must admit I found it very hard to celebrate International Women's
Day this year. I have three daughters and I see how vulnerable they are
to messages about sexuality and body image. Many gains have been made
by the women's movement. But at some stage, efforts to end women's
exploitation were overtaken by the movement for sexual liberalism. What
we are witnessing is not liberation but oppression. It is not
liberating for young women to be told that their only power is in their
sexual currency - Melinda Tankard Reist
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