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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Pell seeks clemency for death row Australian
Sydney's Cardinal George Pell has joined the fight to save convicted Australian heroin trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van, who has been condemned to death in a Singapore court.
Speaking to the ABC yesterday, he confirmed that he had asked Pope John Paul II to intercede on behalf of the 23 year old Melbourne sales executive.
"I have sent off the file to the Holy Father, to Pope John Paul II, asking for his support. Of course, the Pope has been very, very unwell, so things are a little bit up in the air from that end, but I certainly have asked for papal intervention to back this request for clemency," he told the AM program.
Cardinal Pell said there are compelling reasons to spare the life of the young Melbourne man.
"It was a very amateur attempt to smuggle 400 grams of heroin, but also significantly he's more than willing to cooperate with the Australian Federal Police, in an endeavour to convict the people who set him up to do this job," he said.
Nguyen is cooperating with Australian Federal Police efforts to identify the drug syndicate for which he was acting when he was caught carrying the heroin in his backpack. His lawyer, Lex Lasry QC, said his client had told police everything he knew about the bosses of an international drug syndicate.
"People who have met him and talked with him say that his repentance is genuine, they say therefore that he's rehabilitated, and I think with evidence of his sincerity we can cite this willingness to cooperate with the Australian authorities," said Cardinal Pell. "It was his first overseas trip, he's admitted his guilt right from the start. There would still be very severe punishment, something like at least 20 years."
Nguyen's last hope is a rare pardon from Singaporean President Sellapan Rama Nathan. The pardon is granted only when the accused provides evidence leading to the conviction of a principal offender. If a pardon were to be granted, Nguyen would still face 20 years or more in prison.
The Australian Government has also become involved, with Prime Minister John Howard speaking to the Singaporean Government about Nguyen, who was arrested in transit through Singapore's Changi airport in December 2002.
Paragraph 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church determines that "as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."
SOURCE
George Pell lobbies Pope in support of Van Nguyen (ABC Radio AM 17/3/05)
Pell to trafficker's rescue (Sunday Mail 18/3/05)
LINKS (not necessarily endorsed by Church Resources)
Death Penalty - Respecting Human Life (Australian Catholic Social Justice Council)
Community of Sant'Egidio - Death Penalty
Efforts to End the Death Penalty (US Conference of Catholic Bishops)
The Roman Catholic Church's Official Teaching on the Death Penalty - Excerpted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Beliefnet)
Capital Punishment and the Catholic Church
Australian handed death penalty in Singapore (Save a Life)
Judgment - Public Prosecutor vs Nguyen Tuong Van
ARCHIVE
Death row movie nun set to visit Australia (CathNews 14/2/05)
MORE STORIES
Melbourne man facing execution in Singapore for drug trafficking may be spared (ABC Radio AM 17/3/05)
Convicted Australian drug trafficker helping police in drugs case (ABC Radio Australia 17/3/05)
Pell asks Pope to save trafficker (Herald-Sun/The Australian 18/3/05)
Death row Aussie helps Singapore police (Sydney Morning Herald/Australian Associated Press 17/3/05)
Pope asked to help save death-row man (The Age 18/3/05)
18 Mar 2005
