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.
[More]
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".
[More]
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.
[More]
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.
[More]
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.
[More]
Bees for Benedict
Italian scooter manufacturer Piaggio has presented Pope Benedict with two new specially made three wheeled vehicles.
[More]
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
[More]
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.
[More]
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
[More]
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
[More]
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
Warning: main(http://www.cathnews.com/cgi-bin/ad_management.pl) [function.main]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found in E:\hshome\eureka0\cathnews.com\news\312\27.php on line 131
Warning: main() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.cathnews.com/cgi-bin/ad_management.pl' for inclusion (include_path='.\;C:\HSphere.NET\3rdparty\PHP\4.4.7\PEAR') in E:\hshome\eureka0\cathnews.com\news\312\27.php on line 131
Storm damage forces early holidays for Melbourne students
Students at a number of Catholic schools including Marcellin College Bulleen were turned away from school yesterday, with some being told not to come back until next year.
Tuesday night's storm unleashed up to 120mm of rain in under two hours just after midnight, leaving a huge mop-up of the city's inner north and northeastern suburbs. Insurance companies and the state Government were still toting up the cost, but early estimates put the damage at more than $10 million.
Marcellin was the most seriously damaged of the schools. Principal Mark Merry said he was shocked by the scene confronting him yesterday morning.
"I knew we were in strife here, but when I arrived the damage was quite breathtaking," Mr Merry said.
Wind had lifted roofs off school buildings, allowing rain and hail to enter and causing ceilings to collapse.
"When I arrived there was still water pouring out of stairwells," Mr Merry said. "Our arts centre and science centre are completely flooded, a number of other classrooms and offices and our function room are also flooded, and our sports grounds are still waist-deep."
He told the school community in yesterday's edition of the principal's newsletter published on the school's website: "This morning I was deeply impressed by our staff who enacted our evacuation procedures, our students who co-operated so well and our parents who responded so swiftly to telephone calls informing them of the early finish."
The 600 Year 9-10 students who arrived for school were quickly ferried from the drenched grounds by parents and shuttle bus services.
"Our main fear was electrical wires in flooded areas, and also fear of further ceiling collapses," Mr Merry said.
The damage bill is expected to run to the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
School was also out for students at St Martin of Tours Primary School in Rosanna.
SOURCE
Damage forces early holidays for students (Herald-Sun 4/12/03)
LINKS
A once-in-a-lifetime deluge (The Australian 4/12/03)
Damage forces students home (The Age 4/12/03)
Huge storm leaves trail of damage (The Age 4/12/03)
Marcellin College, Bulleen | From the Principal
4 Dec 2003
