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Perspectives

1. Religion at the Academy Awards  

   08-Feb-2013

   As we bow to the golden statue called Oscar, devoting ourselves to the saintly thespians, joining in rituals of exaltation, and reading our sacred gossip columns, we might stop to ponder the continuing place of religious themes, topics, and tropes in the year's top movies, writes S Brent Plate in The Huffington Post.
   

   
   

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2. We have worked all night long but have caught nothing  

   08-Feb-2013

   

   Luke 5:1-11

   Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, ²he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

   
   

   
   

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3. Spirit moves us to believe  

   08-Feb-2013

   We live in an age of doubt, when many people seem to thrive on conflict and negativity. It can get you down. One of the worst features of our 24/7 media cycles and the information and opinion overload that we all experience is the insidious way it dulls our sensitivity to faith in God and others, writes Br Mark O'Connor on the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne website.
   

   
   

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4. Maryknoll missioner Kyungsu Son in Peru  

   08-Feb-2013

   Father Kyungsu Son recently finished a three-year assignment in Guayabo on Peru's desert coast. One of a growing band of Asian missioners abroad, he says his challenge is the art of listening.

   
   

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5. How did we forget about hell?  

   08-Feb-2013

   In the late 1990s I wrote a history of the Knights Templar and, after a year or two immersed in the Crusades, was struck by how real was the fear of hell among Catholics at the time, and by what extreme measures they were prepared to take to save their souls. So central to their faith was this fear of damnation that present-day post-Vatican II Catholicism seemed in this respect like a different religion, writes Piers Paul Read in The Catholic Herald.

   
   

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6. Tornado miracle, abortion vigil, refugee call  

   08-Feb-2013

   Miracle escape in Qld tornado, disaster hits the Rockhampton diocese, pancakes and Mass to launch 40-day abortion vigil, and the Jesuit Refugee Service calls for neutral review of asylum seeker process. 

   
   

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7. Drones, Peru rebellion, Arab Spring turns sour  

   08-Feb-2013

   Pax Christi issues a statement condemning the use of drones, Cardinal Muller stands up for Peru's rebel university, the persecution of China's Christians gets worse and the Arab Spring turns into Islamic winter for Christians.

   
   

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8. Life of drama  

   08-Feb-2013

   Irish by heritage, Catholic by heritage too, mother of six, Julie-Anne Ford was a woman with a passion for words, ideas, books, family, and people, she was also a prime mover in the ABC’s drama and features department. There her passions benefited the cultural life of Australia as she produced many memorable radio features and directly commissioned eminent writers. 

   
   

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9. St Francis, radical visionary  

   08-Feb-2013

   Two new books on one of the Church’s great, radical reformers show that the impact of the life of St Francis of Assisi continues eight centuries about he shook up early 12^th century hierarchs. Joan Acocella wrote this review of them for The New Yorker.

   
   

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10. Sr Melissa throws her heart into Malawi   

    08-Feb-2013

    Canossian Daughters of Charity Sister Melissa Dwyer, once a javelin thrower with Olympic aspirations, now uses her love of athletics to inspire young African women, reports The Catholic Leader.
    

    
    

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