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A US Coast Guard officer who refused to be injected with a vaccine derived from the remains of an aborted child has won an exemption from the required vaccination.
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Pope thanks "wifes of Christ"
Pope Benedict yesterday thanked consecrated virgins for their "total gift" to Christ encouraging them to "always irradiate the dignity of being the wife of Christ."
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Mail and penny drop for WYD
Preparations for World Youth Day have stepped up a notch with a letter drop to half a million Sydney homes and the release of a commemorative colour coin of the Pope.
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Priest in supermarket trolley protest
Melbourne parish priest, Fr Noel Brady, has launched a protest against unsightly supermarket trolleys left abandond in streets for up to three months.
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Call to follow WA and reject cloning
Sydney archdiocese policy officer, Dr Brigid McKenna, has welcomed a decision by the Western Australian Legislative Council to reject cloning as a victory for "commonsense science and morality."
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US churches offer mortgage help
With US lenders threatening to repossess 650,000 homes in the first quarter of 2008, Catholic parishes are mobilising to offer assistance to mortgage distressed homeowners.
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Feature - A new dawn for Sorry Day
It is time for this country to build new relationships and to be open to future possibilities, we commit ourselves to deep, on-going dialogue with our indigenous sisters and brothers on further ways of moving forward. - Fr Mark Raper, Pathways
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Featured Website - Ron Rolheiser
This is the website of one of the best known Catholic priests in the western world. Fr Rolheiser is best known through his writings and lecturing on spirituality and prising open the Word in such a clear, beautiful and heart-inspiring style.
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Film Review - Shutter
Based on a 2004 Thai film of the same name, Shutter is an American/Japanese production. If you can take the shocks and violence of this genre, this film is worth the admission price for the cinematography alone. - Fr Richard Leonard, Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting
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Opinion - Middle class creep in Irish Church
During the transformation of Irish society from a largely rural and agricultural economy to an industrialised one there occurred a failure of imagination in the Irish Church. - Fr Oliver Rafferty, The Catholic Herald
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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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Bishop says abortion figures a "national disgrace"
Australia’s latest abortion figures are “a national disgrace” according to Sydney auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher, who added that Australia needs to promote "real alternatives" to abortion for pregnant women.
“We are terminating our future,” Bishop Fisher told the Catholic Weekly. “We are losing far too many babies every year.”
The Weekly reports that the figures issued by the Federal Health Department show that there was one abortion for every 2.8 live births in Australia during 2003-04.
According to the statistics, 91,358 pregnancies from a total figure of 485,792 – nearly one in five – ended in abortion. And there were 419 late-term abortions – performed 20 or more weeks into the pregnancy – in the previous year.
Most terminations were carried out in private hospitals or clinics (a third of them in NSW) while the women in question were mostly in their twenties.
“Even a single lost child is a tragedy,” said Bishop Fisher, the Episcopal Vicar for Life and Health. “Ninety thousand a year is a national tragedy. Abortion is like a tsunami that hits Australia every year.
“It is more hidden but it is doing as much damage to our population and to the women (and men) left behind.
Dr Brigid Vout, executive secretary for the Bishops Taskforce on Abortion, said that the figures show that Australians have a long way to go to understand the real reasons why so many women are having abortions.
SOURCE
Abortion figures ‘national disgrace’ – Bishop Fisher (Catholic Weekly 1/5/05)
LINKS (not necessarily endorsed by Church Resources)
Life Office, Archdiocese of Sydney
MORE STORIES
Women converge on Capitol Hill to tell Senate of their pro-life views (Catholic News Service 28/4/05)
29 Apr 2005
