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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Notre Dame becomes a 'public' University
The privately-owned Catholic university, Notre Dame Australia, has been re-designated 'public' for the purposes of Commonwealth funding.
Online Catholics reports today that the Higher Education Funding Act of 1988 was amended in July to add Notre Dame, a private institution created by a WA Act of Parliament in 1989, to the 'Table A' list of universities which are entitled to receive taxpayer funding.
The other private institutions, Bond University, the Melbourne College of Divinity, and the Seventh Day Adventist Avondale College, remain classified as 'Table B'. Table B providers are essentially self funded.
The move follows a succession of changes in legislation by State and Federal Governments, which Online Catholics says "effectively blurs the boundaries between private and public in the taxpayer-subsidised tertiary sector".
When Notre Dame was set up in 1989, the Act specified the institution was private and not entitled to public money, nor was it entitled to borrow. In 1992, the University suffered a financial set back. This was was followed by a change in the WA Act, allowing the Minister for Education to lend money to the University for the purposes of capital works.
Earlier this year, Notre Dame announced a proposed Sydney Campus which is to have as its centrepiece Schools of Law and of Medicine. The Prime Minister allocated a total of 200 places and $4 million to the project, and the Archdiocese of Sydney contributed $20 million in land and buildings, and $5 million in cash.
SOURCE
There's nothing like a Dame (Online Catholics 22/9/04)
LINKS
University of Notre Dame Australia
Higher Education Funding Act 1988 | Notre Dame Amendment
Higher Education Funding Policy (Parliamentary Library)
Changing heritage status of inner Sydney church (CathNews 25/8/04)
Pell under fire from canon law (The Australian 25/8/04)
St Vincent's doctors say Notre Dame link will require consultation (CathNEws 19/8/04)
Prime Minister announces Sydney Campus of Notre Dame (Transcript of Speech 1/8/04)
Cardinal Pell visits Notre Dame (University of Notre Dame Australia 6/8/04)
Notre Dame welcomes support for Sydney Campus (CathNews 2/8/04)
Turf wars sours these holy gates (Sydney Morning Herald 1/8/04)
22 Sep 2004
