Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and representatives of other Orthodox and Anglican churches accompanied Pope Benedict in lighting a candle to launch the Year of St Paul.
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Volunteers refuse WYD powers
Rural Fire Service and State Emergency Service volunteers will not seek "authorised person" status while assisting with WYD in order to avoid "negative interactions with people".
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Vietnam up, US down on WYD numbers
A record number of Vietnamese pilgrims will attend World Youth Day this year but US numbers are down - and 50 Angola pilgrims are stranded in Sydney instead of Adelaide because tour organisers thought the SA capital was only an hour way.
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Celebrate the living spirit: Bishops urge
Australia's bishops have urged Catholics to "celebrate the Living Spirit" to mark Aboriginal and Torres Islander Sunday this weekend.
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Korean priests in Mass protest against US beef
Two hundred South Korean priests have celebrated a street Mass in Seoul to protest an unpopular government decision to resume beef imports from the US.
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Bees for Benedict
Italian scooter manufacturer Piaggio has presented Pope Benedict with two new specially made three wheeled vehicles.
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Feature - Walking away from what they do not know
"People who leave the Church are not leaving because they are rejecting the teachings of John Paul II or Pope Benedict. Most do so because they go to Catholic schools and they think that the kind of warm secular humanism with Christian gloss that they get in Catholic schools is in fact the Catholic faith and it hasn't captured their imagination, their love or their intellect so they are walking away from something that they do not know." - The Catholic Herald
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Featured Website - First Things
First Things is a monthly ecumenical journal concerned with the creation of a "religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society." It is published by The Institute on Religion and Public Life in the United States of America.
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Film Review - Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda is essentially a martial arts comedy and is a total action movie. It has striking effects and action sequences and a particularly impressive concluding fantasy sequence which brings DreamWorks to a new level of technological sophistication. There is a strong cultural feel about the movie and it heavily draws on Chinese culture to bring authenticity to its fantasy. - Peter Sheehan, Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting
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Opinion - God is without circumference
His challenge was to see the beauty in every face, even when the owner of that face had long given up on it. Surely, that is to love others as Jesus did—Jesus the One who never gives up on us. If we are to love as Jesus loved, we need to be forgiving people. Forgiving people are bridge-builders and reconcilers. - Fr Chris Gleeson, Madonna
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OPINION
Beyond knowledge to wisdomI believe this is one of the crisis points for contemporary Christianity. Put bluntly, its representatives do not seem wise. Yes, those representatives can give you any amount of information, some of them can even speak knowledgeably of Christian teachings. Wisdom is another thing altogether. - Fr Michael Whelan [More] - Aquinas Academy
FEATURE
Connected across bordersIt is time for leaders of nations to see their national interests as connected with the interests of people on the other side of the globe. We have reached the point where human existence is at stake and our destiny is inextricably linked. If we are to overcome this crisis of climate change we need to think beyond the confines of national states. - Just Comment [More] - Edmund Rice Centre
FEATURED CATHOLIC WEBSITE
Catholic Education Diocese of ParramattaReturning to our education theme, we shine the spotlight on arguably the most innovative Catholic education website in the country. In addition to all the standard features of any CEO site, Parramatta's includes some interactive opinion polls and a competition for students to attempt to ''Become the Executive Director for the day''. The site is also well regarded for its RE and curriculum resources.
- www.parra.catholic.edu.au
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Vatican decides against Mother Teresa exhumation
Deviating from tradition, the Vatican has decided to do away with the process of exhumation of the body of Mother Teresa which it normally goes through with candidates for beatification and subsequent sainthood.
"Usually, exhumation of the body is done before the ceremony of beatification which is a step to subsequent sainthood. But in Mother's case, this is not being done," Church sources told the Indian news agency PTI.
According to Indian Canon Law expert, Fr A.C. Jose, exhumation of the body is done to establish the identity of the candidate and also to ascertain the condition of the candidates mortal remains.
"If there is no evidence of corruption of the body, as recorded in a number of cases, then it certainly adds to the cause of the candidates sainthood," he said.
While pointing out that exhumation of the body can be done even after the candidate had been conferred sainthood, the sources, however, said that this will not be done in the case of Mother Teresa.
Pope John Paul-II has already deviated from the Church tradition of the customary five-year wait for the Diocesan Inquiry into the life and virtue of Mother, putting the Nobel laureate nun, who died in 1997, into the fast track to sainthood.
More than 450 Missionaries of Charity nuns from all corners of the world are expected join hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at the ceremony in St Peter's Square at the weekend, according to Sr Nirmala, Mother Teresa's successor as leader of the congregation. The nuns will have a special audience with the Holy Father the day after the ceremony.
SOURCE
sify.com
LINKS
Mother Teresa's 'miracle' to receive Communion from pope (Catholic News Service)
Special guests at Mother Teresa’s beatification (Catholic Weekly)
Play's a smash with nuns and children (National Post)
India's leader joins tributes to Mother Teresa (EWTN/Catholic World News)
Mother Teresa's nuns set up camp in Rome (Independent Catholic News)
The Debate Over Sainthood (CBS)
Nun's blood to pope (news24.com/AFP)
200,000 expected for Mother Teresa's beatification (Catholic World News)
Nuns gather Mother Teresa's 'relics' (2/10/03)
Beatification Mother Teresa of Calcutta 19 October 2003 (Vatican website)
Mother Teresa of Calcutta - Official site of the Cause of Canonisation
16 Oct 2003
