News
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20-Feb-2013
Sometimes circumstances align to thrust someone into the spotlight, creating an opportunity to either boost or diminish his electoral prospects, even if that's not officially the purpose of what's going on. Today one such papabile steps onto the stage in Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, a 70-year-old biblical scholar, essayist and intellectual omnivore, writes John Allen in NCR Online.
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19-Feb-2013
The old saying in Rome is that he who enters a conclave as pope exits as a cardinal, meaning there's no guarantee one of these men actually will be chosen. John Allen of NCR Online begins a series of profiles of the papabili, or men who could be pope. He starts with Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan.
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21-Feb-2013
Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle wants to bring the Catholic Church closer to people, a vision his fans say comes from a genuine passion for helping the poor and one that could make him Asia's first pope, reports AFP on Yahoo7.
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20-Feb-2013
Pope Benedict XVI’s older brother explained that the pontiff’s decision to resign is good for the Body of Christ because he had become too weak to carry out his ministry, reports the Catholic News Agency.
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20-Feb-2013
Pope Benedict XVI is considering making some changes to the conclave rules and rituals before he leaves office on February 28, the Vatican spokesman confirmed, reports the Catholic News Service.
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20-Feb-2013
The cardinal who is favourite to be the first black pope has linked clerical sex abuse with homosexuality, according to a report by The Times in The Australian.
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19-Feb-2013
When they are not in the Sistine Chapel, seated under Michelangelo's frescoes to vote for the next pope, the cardinal-electors will stay in a modern guesthouse that offers them both privacy and space to gather for relaxed conversation, reports the Catholic News Service.
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19-Feb-2013
The Holy See has asked the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) to accept the agreement proposed by Rome by Friday, February 22, the day the Church celebrates the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, so before Benedict XVI resignation comes into effect, reports Vatican Insider.
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18-Feb-2013
Pope Benedict XVI began a week-long spiritual retreat out of the public eye yesterday ahead of his resignation, with the cardinal leading the prayers saying he hoped they would be an "oasis", AAP reports in the Herald Sun.
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18-Feb-2013
Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, a mainstream conservative churchman who once said becoming pope "would be a nightmare", is now widely seen as the North American candidate for the job, reports AAP inThe Daily Telegraph.
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17-Feb-2013
The new Pope must save the Catholic Church from waning influence amid the evils of modern society - and may well be an Italian - says Cardinal George Pell, one of the 117 men who will elect a new pontiff next month, reports The Sunday Telegraph.
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17-Feb-2013
The Vatican says it could speed up the election of a new pontiff as lobbying for Pope Benedict's job intensified, reports AFP on the Sydney Morning Herald. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, who earlier said the conclave would probably start on or after March 15, said the issue of bringing forward the date ''has been raised by various cardinals''.
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17-Feb-2013
Calling this an unusual time for him and for the church - but not specifically mentioning his resignation - Pope Benedict XVI thanked a crowd of more than 50,000 in St Peter's Square yesterday for their affection and asked them to continue their prayers, reports the Catholic News Service.
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14-Feb-2013
The conclave to elect the next Bishop of Rome could start between March 15 and 19, according to the director of the Holy See's Press Office, reports the Catholic News agency. Meanwhile, the BBC reports that Benedict has hinted he will withdraw into seclusion after stepping down at the end of this month.
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21-Feb-2013
The Sisters of Mercy, whose members vow to serve the poor and needy, are behind a plan to build a massive high-rise complex in Southport on the Gold Coast that is likely to become an education hub, reports goldcoast.com.au
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21-Feb-2013
The Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle will hold a series of prayer gatherings to start afresh amid a slew of child sex abuse allegations, reports AAP in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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19-Feb-2013
Newly released documents in a Rhode Island lawsuit in the US show that the scandal-tarred Legion of Christ shielded information on their founder's sex life from a wealthy widow who donated $30 million over two decades, reports NCR Online.
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18-Feb-2013
An Indian court is set to hear a case against three top Catholic Church leaders including an archbishop over the alleged attempt to poison a fellow priest in an effort to call into question his mental state, reports Ucanews.
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21-Feb-2013
Religious organisations running schools, health and aged-care services face losing key exemptions to Labor's new anti-discrimination laws under recommendations that could see them sued by people who disagree with church ethos, reports The Australian. Australian Catholic Bishops Conference general-secretary Brian Lucas said the recommendations would "undermine religious freedom" and have "some impact" on services provided.
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20-Feb-2013
Ireland ignored the mistreatment of thousands of women who were incarcerated within Catholic nun-operated laundries and must pay the survivors compensation, Prime Minister Enda Kenny said in an emotional state apology for the decades of abuses in the so-called Magdalene Laundries, reports AP in The Australian.
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20-Feb-2013
A spokesperson for the Bishop of Wollongong, Peter Ingham, said the Diocese has categorically denied claims by a Catholic priest who he suspects the church paid his alleged victim in return for evidence against him, reports AAP in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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18-Feb-2013
An association of US Catholics has launched a petition to keep a retired Los Angeles cardinal stripped of public duties from taking part in the conclave that will choose the next pope, AFP reports in the Herald Sun.
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17-Feb-2013
A senior Victorian Catholic priest told the Victorian inquiry into clergy sex abuse, meeting in Geelong on Friday, that the church's abuse procedures have failed and must be closed down. The inquiry has extended its deadline from April 30 to September 30 to allow it to finish its research, reports The Age.
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19-Feb-2013
Two students who allegedly planned to trade drugs on campus have been expelled from a Melbourne Catholic school, reports the Herald Sun.
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19-Feb-2013
The Independent Schools Council of Australia said yesterday more than 30 per cent of the 1100 independent schools across the nation would lose money under the settings provided by the government for implementation of the Gonski school funding model, reports the Australian.
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17-Feb-2013
Plans to build 12 new Catholic schools in Victoria have been thrown into doubt because of uncertainty about federal education funding, according to a Herald Sun report in The Australian.
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17-Feb-2013
The prestigious St John's College at the University of Sydney has parted company with its rector, Michael Bongers, less than a fortnight before students arrive for the start of the new academic year, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
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21-Feb-2013
Health funding in Australia should come from a single source to prevent wrangles over who pays what, says Catholic Health Australia, reports The Herald Sun.
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18-Feb-2013
Catholic public hospitals around the country will have to close 50 beds, reduce the amount of elective surgery they perform and sack staff as a result of a $20 million federal government funding cut, reports the Herald Sun.
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18-Feb-2013
Relaxation of liquor licensing laws on key public holidays has been labelled a "bad idea" by the Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge, according to a report by the Courier Mail in the Herald Sun.
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14-Feb-2013
A West Australian priest has been fined $1000 for biting off the ear of a fellow elderly clergyman in a dispute over a sprinkler, reports WA Today.
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Regulars
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20-Feb-2013
She was a pioneering woman of her time and remains the most influential religious figure in Australian history. Now the story of one of her most endearing friendships. The Southern Cross reports on the little-known details of the friendship between St Mary of the Cross MacKillop and Adelaide philanthropist and socialite Joanna Barr Smith.
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19-Feb-2013
"When I said I wanted to become a priest my father said, 'I'll never get my money back on you unless you become a bishop'," says Archbishop Emeritus John Bathersby of Brisbane, as he reminisces about his life to The Catholic Leader.
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18-Feb-2013
Santosh Benedict, a Jesuit seminarian from India, found intonation the most difficult part in learning the Chinese language. He says he spent six months trying to differentiate the four tones of spoken Chinese, before being able to coverse and listen easily. He was one of the first of many confreres the Society of Jesus plans to invite to study the Chinese language and culture, reports Ucanews.
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17-Feb-2013
After Pope Benedict's papacy of almost eight years, the cardinals who will elect the next Catholic pontiff are more European, more conservative and more "Roman" than the conclave that chose him in 2005, reports Reuters on Yahoo7. With a conservative doctrine assured, cardinals and officials say the focus now revolves around age, nationality and the qualities he can bring to the office.
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21-Feb-2013
Pro Bono Australia is a useful one-stop shop for information about the community sector. It publishes news, the Australian Directory of Not for Profit Organisations, and has space for NFPs to advertise for staff or find events.
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20-Feb-2013
Catholics in Coalition for Justice and Peace is a coalition of individuals and groups, working for the emergence of just social structures in Australia and overseas. The website carries details of campaigns, letters and other activities.
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19-Feb-2013
Solar Alternatives and Associated Programmes (SAAP) is an Indian NGO venture launched by local Jesuits and operating in the fields of solar and solar thermal energy in Patna in the state of Bihar.
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18-Feb-2013
The Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Goonellabah are an enclosed community of nuns, living near Lismore in northern NSW. They live according to the Rule of Carmel, which was first used by hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. The community was founded in 1966.
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17-Feb-2013
Online Catholic news service Ucanews has a robust news coverage of events and trends in the subcontinent and Asian region, along with anlaysis and opinion.
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21-Feb-2013
Don’t be fooled by the title. What appears to be simply a revamp of the classic Grimm’s fairy tale is one of the nastiest films made for some time, and it is harmful and dangerous on a number of levels.
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19-Feb-2013
This is the mosty stylised of several film versions of Tolstoy's novel produced to date. The film starts off as a play with actors on a stage in a run-down Russian theatre, and uses the theatre, its stage, its auditorium, and its footlights throughout the film. Tiny models become real trains. Groups suddenly move into musical-mode. Characters play out their roles on the stage and step into real life, that is just beyond the ageing theatre's glowing footlights.
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17-Feb-2013
Comic actors, Barbara Streisand and Seth Rogan, star in a road movie that explores the mother-son relationship in The Guilt Trip.
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20-Feb-2013
In a Compass special on ABC News 24 this Sunday, Geraldine Doogue hosts a panel discussion on Pope Benedict's eight years in office; and what kind of church will emerge under a new Pope?
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21-Feb-2013
I loved Catholic school because it was an epicentre for community. Every classmate knew their friends' families -- after all, there were only 20 of us, reminisces John McCarthy in NCR Online.
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20-Feb-2013
How can churches be places that celebrate the tension of young adulthood? With its disappointments, surprises, insecurities and uncertainties, the harsh reality of life is something many young adults are faced with, and not what they expected, says Jocelyn Sideco in NCR Online.
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19-Feb-2013
The challenges facing the successor of Pope Benedict XVI come into sharper focus when we widen the historical lens through which we view this papal transition. Benedict XVI will be the last pope to have participated in the Second Vatican Council, the most important Catholic event since the 16th century. An ecclesiastical era is ending. What was its character, and to what future has Benedict XVI led Catholicism? writes George Weigel in Ethics and Public Policy Centre.
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18-Feb-2013
Within 15 minutes of Benedict XVI announcing his departure from the papacy, the Pope's conservatism was wheeled out. Yet on the biggest issue facing today's world - the shape of our economic order - Benedict was a radical. The Jesuit magazine America said Benedict's 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) ''may be the most radical since John XXIII's Pacem in Terris [Peace on Earth] 50 years ago", writes Andrew West in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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17-Feb-2013
In a society where religion is often dismissed by the elites as irrelevant to public debate, the news that the Pope had resigned was not ignored by the hoi polloi. People have been talking about the papal abdication all through the past week. Even the ABC thought the resignation of the spiritual leader of more than a billion people a newsworthy topic, writes Angela Shanahan in The Australian.
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18-Feb-2013
The Dome of the Rock juts out of the Jerusalem skyline. The complex, known by many names, including Mount Temple, is among the most important sites for three of the major world religions. Because of its importance to Muslims, Jews and Christians, access can be limited. But a virtual walking tour offers access to virtually anyone with a computer and an internet connection.
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