The number of tourists to Australia in World Youth Day month, July 2008, jumped by 47,000 compared with the same month last year, figures show.
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Qld, Vic school teachers in new abuse cases
A former Catholic College Bendigo staff member has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two young boys twenty years ago while a Darling Downs Catholic school teacher has been charged with seven counts of rape.
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Catholic Healthcare pilots squalor phone hotline
Catholic Healthcare is to launch a Sydney telephone hotline to coordinate responses to people living in domestic squalor.
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Poland's Wyszynski proposed Wojtyla
Cardinal Stefan Wyszinski declined to be nominated as pope during a 1978 conclave, proposing instead his compatriot Karol Wojtyla, the late Polish primate's journal reveals.
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Vatican denounces Congo "massacre of the poor"
Describing recents events in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a "massacre of the poor", Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi called for world support to end the violence and assist refugees.
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Feature - A positive legacy comes from grief
David and Samantha Meyn of East Maitland have gained wisdom beyond their years after losing their son Harrison, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of 6, in July 2006. Oscar, now 7 and Campbell, 3, speak often of their older brother and love to draw attention to the photos displayed at home. - Tracey Edstein, Aurora
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Featured Website - Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education
The western Sydney based Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education is the organisation behind the documentary on Australia's treatment of asylum seekers, A Well Founded Fear, which airs on SBS TV tonight. The Centre is a ministry of the Christian Brothers and has a history of advocacy and campaigning on social justice issues.
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Radio - The Rhythm Divine: The Rapping Priest
Fr Stan Fortuna is a Catholic priest and a founding member of the Community of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, an order established in the heart of the South Bronx in 1987. But he is also a musician known worldwide as "the rapping priest". Even after 20 years it's not a title he's totally comfortable with.
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Opinion - A moment in history for Anglicans and Catholics
2008 has been a year of potentially historic breakthroughs between Anglican Christians and the Chair of Peter. Many Catholics have noted with great interest the growing number of Anglicans who have approached the possibility of coming into full communion with the Catholic Church. - Deacon Keith Fournier, Catholic Online
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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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NZ refuses Bakhtiyari pleas
New Zealand has refused to offer refuge to Australia´s highest-profile asylum seekers, the Bakhtiari family, who are facing imminent deportation.
According to The Age, New Zealand Immigration Minister Paul Swain said his country would not accept Ali and Roqia Bakhtiari and their six children because they had been judged by Australia as failing to meet refugee requirements.
As reported in yesterday´s CathNews, Mr Swain said he had received a letter from the Australian Catholic welfare agency Centacare asking it to accept the family but he had not received a formal request from Canberra.
"Australia has determined that these people are not refugees," Mr Swain said. "New Zealand will not be accepting these people as refugees. I will not be considering this request nor will I be intervening.
"The New Zealand government does not intervene in the Australian refugee determination process."
Centacare director Dale West wrote to the New Zealand government on Friday requesting consideration of asylum for the family. He said he had been given indications New Zealand would at least consider the request.
"They have received my letter and the indications are that the New Zealand government will consider our request for the Bakhtiari family to go to New Zealand," Mr West told ABC radio.
"I don´t hold any great optimism, I don´t hold any particular pessimism."
The last-ditch plea to New Zealand followed the federal government´s dismissal of an appeal from the Bakhtiari family to be returned to Afghanistan.
The family claims to be from Afghanistan but the government believes they are from Pakistan.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said she is amazed the family would voluntarily return to Afghanistan after arguing for so long that they could not return there.
Immigration officials on Saturday removed Roqia Bakhtiari and the six children from the Adelaide house where they had been living and put them in detention in an immigration housing facility at Port Augusta in South Australia´s north.
The head of the family, husband and father Ali Bakhtiari, remains in the nearby Baxter detention centre.
The family has exhausted all avenues in its bid to secure refugee status in Australia and Senator Vanstone has given no guarantee they will remain in Australia for Christmas.
Mr West said there were humanitarian grounds and compassionate reasons to consider before forcing the Bakhtiaris from Australia.
"I think there are a number of people who believe that this family deserve special consideration," he said.
"The system has determined that the family is not able to stay in Australia and so what we´re left with is an appeal to Minister Vanstone, in the first instance, to support the family in their wish to leave voluntarily to a country where they certainly believe that they will be in a safer set of circumstances than if they are forcibly removed from Australia."
SOURCE
NZ refuses Bakhtiyari pleas (The Age 21/12/04)
LINKS
Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
St Ignatius College
Centacare Adelaide
Baxter Watch
ARCHIVE
Headmaster blasts ´totalitarian´ act on family (CathNews 21/12/04)
Students rally behind detained Bakhtiyari family (CathNews 20/12/04)
Headmaster optimistic over Bakhtiyari claims re-examination (CathNews 31/8/04)
Centacare director ´devastated´ by Govt demands (CathNews 30/6/04)
Bishop´s increased concern over Baxter situation (CathNews 13/12/04)
MORE STORIES
Family loses fight after four years (The Age 21/12/04)
Vanstone defends timing of Bakhtiyari move (ABC North and West SA 20/12/04)
Early morning brings dreaded arrival (The Age 21/12/04)
NZ asked to give Bakhtiyaris a lifeline (The Age 21/12/04)
Welfare agency asks New Zealand to open its doors to Bakhtiari family
Letters: Please let the Bakhtiyari family stay - Fr G.J. O´Kelly (The Age 21/12/04)
21 Dec 2004
