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\501\44.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\501\44.php on line 131
Chinese bishop released and seminarians avoid arrest
Chinese authorities have released Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo (pictured). However, the police tried to raid an underground seminary in Baoding but seminarians were warned in time and able to get away.
According to the Kung Foundation, the police had arrested the 69-year-old clandestine prelate on 5 January in a church in Wu Qiu (Hebei). Local Catholics told AsiaNews that he was arrested to prevent him from celebrating Epiphany with his faithful.
“It’s always the same story,” they said. “We are used to it by now. Just before an important feast—Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, the Assumption — the Bishop is taken into custody and disappears for a few days. This is religious freedom Chinese-style for you.”
The Chinese government guarantees freedom of worship but only for some religions in places and by clergy registered with Religious Affairs Office. For Catholics, this means being subject to the Patriotic Association whose goal is to set up a Catholic Church separate from Rome.
In Hebei, the province with the largest concentration of Catholics, many refuse to submit to government’s control and prefer to meet in private homes.
Before Christmas, the police threatened to detain anyone who celebrated the holiday outside established structures.
The underground seminary in Baoding, with its dozens of theology students, was shut down in 1996 after a police raid led to the arrest of its rector and the detention of Bishop Francis An Shuxin. At that time, students were sent home.
Since then the seminary has been moving from place to place to avoid further arrests. However, Bishop An Shuxin is still detained but no one knows where.
SOURCE
Bishop Jia Zhiguo released, seminarians avoid arrest (AsiaNews 10/1/05)
LINKS
Cardinal Kung Foundation
ARCHIVE
Chinese Bishop Jia, 69, Arrested (CathNews 10/1/05)
China denies detention of Bishops (CathNews 25/6/04)
China arrests another Catholic bishop (CathNews 8/4/04)
Cardinal declares China has "one Church with two faces" (CathNews 30/10/03)
Released underground Bishop warned not to say mass (3/4/02 CathNews )
11 Jan 2005
