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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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Vatican paper sees G8 summit as race against time for Africa
The Group of Eight industrial nations' summit underway at Gleneagles in Scotland must be a race against the clock to save Africa, according to the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
"In sub-Saharan Africa, a child under 5 dies every 30 seconds from malaria," stated an article in Wednesday's Italian edition of the Vatican's semiofficial newspaper.
"In southern Africa, one out of every three persons dies of malnutrition and, in the region, the population that depends on emergency food aid has increased in one year from 3.5 million to 8.3 million," reported the paper.
"The G-8 leaders must undertake a race against the clock to help the populations of Africa," said the front-page article. "Because time for Africans, above all for children, is not a path to the future but, too often, a cruel itinerary toward death."
"There can be debates on the strategies to be adopted," it added, "but we cannot allow the luxury of new deferments."
CAFOD, the Caritas Catholic aid and development agency for England and Wales, said Gleneagles is the last opportunity for G8 leaders to show that they are serious about ending extreme poverty. If they fail to deliver, the disappointment will be measured in premature and preventable deaths and blighted lives across Africa.
George Gelber, head of policy, said: "In a world that spends one trillion dollars a year on arms and armies it is inconceivable that the richest countries cannot find the extra $50 billion dollars a year a twentieth of this sum that will help put an end to the cycle of poverty and despair across the developing world.
"But it's not only money we are asking for we are demanding a dramatic change to rules that deny developing nations the chance to earn their own way in the world."
Caritas partner and head of the Justice and Peace Commission in Zambia Mulima Kufekisa said: "All across Africa people are demanding a new approach. More of the same is not an option.
"With Africa and climate change at the top of the agenda and with millions of people in the UK and around the world calling for an end to paper promises, there is more pressure then ever before to deliver the resources that could lift millions out of poverty and create a more just world."
Henry Northover, policy analyst, said: "It should be clear that this is only the beginning. The peoples of Africa are demanding an end to the handout mentality. They want policies that will deliver the economic justice and rights that will enable them to take their place as equal citizens in the world.
"This means ending the unfair trade rules that rob Africa of $1.3 billion a day in export earnings, providing an extra $50 billion in aid now and resolving the debt crisis once and for all. This time, there can be no broken promises."
SOURCE
G-8 Summit Seen as a Race Against Time for Africa (Zenit 6/7/05)
CAFOD calls on G8 to seize the moment (Independent Catholic News 7/7/05)
LINKS (not necessarily endorsed by Church Resources)
Caritas Australia - Make Poverty History
CAFOD
ARCHIVE
Church joins rally to end poverty (CathNews 5/7/05)
MORE STORIES
Trócaire urges G8 leaders to deliver a fair deal to the poor (catholicireland.net 7/7/05)
8 Jul 2005
