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
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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
[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
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Archbishop dismayed by Howard moves to OK embryo stem cell research
Hobart's Archbishop Adrian Doyle has said that it is "disappointing" to hear that the Australian Government's moratorium on embryonic stem cell research is to be discontinued.
Prime Minister John Howard wrote to all premiers and chief ministers in January requesting a further year to be added to a three-year moratorium on stem cell research. But he failed to reach an agreement with the states, meaning embryos created after 5 April 2002.
The ABC reports that Archbishop Doyle (pictured) was one of a number of church leaders to express dismay at the reversal.
"Something that was in place, which was just holding things back, is no longer going to be there to stop these kind of goings-on," he said.
Meanwhile Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who heads the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has hit out at human cloning and the "arrogance" of mankind that thought it could conquer death through its own efforts.
Cardinal Ratzinger made his comments during the Good Friday at the Vatican.
"The arrogance that makes us think that we ourselves can create human beings has turned man into a kind of merchandise, to be bought and sold, or stored to provide parts for experimentation," he said. "In doing this, we hope to conquer death by our own efforts, yet in reality we are profoundly debasing human dignity."
SOURCE
Embryo research ban's end disappoints churches (ABC News 27/3/05)
Church leader slams cloning 'arrogance' (Daily Telegraph 26/3/05)
ARCHIVE
Cardinal Pell hails stem cell discovery (CathNews 22/3/05)
Sydney Archdiocese announces Church funding for adult stem cell research (CathNews 26/3/03)
Ethicist stresses moral inviolability of embryonic stem cells (CathNews 5/10/04)
US cardinal talks up benefits of adult stem cell research (CathNews 19/10/04)
Adult marrow breakthrough at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital (CathNews 30/1/03)
Catholic Health calls for delay in embryo research bill (CathNews 24/6/02)
St Vincent's Hospital research sidesteps moral dilemma (CathNews 16/4/02)
MORE STORIES
Cardinal [Cormac Murphy-O'Connor] ‘deeply alarmed’ by select committee report and calls for broadly-based National Bioethics Commission (Bishops Conference of England and Wales 24/3/05)
Catholic Stance on Tube-Feeding is Evolving (Pew Forum/Washington Post 27/3/05)
Stem cell study green light (Townsville Bulletin 26/3/05)
Nasal stem cells get ethical okay (New Zealand Herald 28/3/05)
Banned: choosing a baby's sex (Sydney Morning Herald 25/3/05)
Right to choose gender of IVF babies defended (Agence France-Presse/Sydney Morning Herald 25/3/05)
PM 'abandons more embryo restrictions' (Sydney Morning Herald/Australian Associated Press 26/3/05)
29 Mar 2005
