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's Apostolic letter on Eucharist to appear this week
Pope John Paul is set to release an apostolic letter welcoming the Year of the Eucharist at a Rome media conference chaired by Congregation for Divine Worship head, Cardinal Francis Arinze, on Friday.
Catholic World News reports that the Holy Father announced on 10 June that he is declaring a special Year of the Eucharist, to run from October 2004 to October 2005. The year will formally commence with the Eucharistic Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, which opens on Sunday. It will close with the meeting of the Synod of Bishops in Rome, beginning on 2 October 2005. That meeting of the Synod will be devoted to a discussion of the Eucharist in the life of the Church.
The Pope's apostolic letter will follow in a sequence of several magisterial texts on the Eucharist. In April 2003 the Holy Father issued his 14th encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, in which he wrote that the Church "cannot realise her proper vocation without cultivating a constant relation with the Eucharist." In the encyclical, the Pope expressed regret for the liturgical abuses that "obscure true faith and Catholic doctrine."
On 17 October, Pope John Paul is scheduled to preside at a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, at which he will officially open the worldwide observance of the Year of the Eucharist. His homily will be relayed by satellite broadcast to the participants in the Eucharistic Congress in Mexico, which will close that day.
According to informed sources at the Vatican, the Holy Father is considering a trip to Bari, Italy, in May 2005, to attend the national Eucharistic congress there, if his health allows.
Another major international event to be held this month is the Congress for Priests in Malta, for five days from Monday 18 October. The event is being sponsored by the Congregation for the Clergy. Australian participants include Cardinal George Pell, who will be honoured by a special reception by Malta's Emigrants Commission and Friends of Australia Association on the eve of the Congress.
SOURCE
Apostolic letter of Eucharist to appear Friday (Catholic World News 5/10/04)
Welcome to Cardinal Pell (Independent Online 5/10/04)
LINKS
Presentation of Apostolic Letter for Year of the Eucharist (Vatican Information Service 5/10/04)
Apostolic Letter on the Year of the Eucharist to be released on Friday (Catholic News Agency 5/10/04)
International priests' congress set for October in Malta (Catholic World News 23/7/04)
6 Oct 2004
