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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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Minister says full employment is Catholic "first principle"
Defending the Government's industrial relations reform proposals, Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews has suggested that Catholic Social Teaching gives priority to right of all to have a job, over the employment conditions of those who already have jobs.
Mr Andrews told ABC Radio's Religion Report this week that Pope John Paul II said in his 1981 encyclical Laborem Exercens that "governments must turn their attention to the fundamental issue, which is the question of finding work, the issue of suitable employment for all those who are capable of it".
"And he sets that out as a fundamental ethical principle in that way, and that's one of the major motivating factors for us in making these changes," said Mr Andrews.
"If we didn't make some changes in 1996 to the Workplace Relations Act, according to an Access Economics survey there'd be something like 350,000 people without a job today, who have got a job," he said. "So I don't think we can ever dismiss the need to ensure that the conditions for creating employment are made out in the economy, and that will always change from time to time as we adapt to changing circumstances."
Mr Andrews said that the conditions of workers are determined by local conditions in each country.
"If you talk about collective bargaining, for example, in the UK there are no rights to collective bargaining as we have it in Australia, but nobody says that the system - from a Christian point of view - is immoral in the UK," he said.
Catholic barrister Dr Jim Macken, who sat as a judge on the bench of the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission for 15 years, spokeon the same program. He disputed the Minister's interpretation of the industrial applications of Catholic social teaching.
He said: "You can easily create a position of over-full employment by simply dividing all your full-time jobs into two part-time jobs and then say 'See? We've abolished unemployment.' The issue is not the creation of employment - we've got nearly full employment now in Australia - it's the creation of employment in a situation in which men can economically and materially and spiritually grow. It's not just the creation of work."
SOURCE
Industrial relations and Church teaching (ABC Radio The Religion Report 17/8/05)
LINKS (not necessarily endorsed by Church Resources)
Hon Kevin Andrews MP
ARCHIVE
Remote area voice sees PM ´off target´ on IR (CathNews 12/8/05)
Commission answers PM´s denial of existence of Catholic position (CathNews 10/8/05)
PM dismisses voice of Church (CathNews 8/8/05)
Melbourne Archbishop coordinating IR response (CathNews 3/8/05)
Minister tells churches to stay out of IR fight (CathNews 11/7/05)
Pell voices wages concerns (CathNews 4/7/05)
Canberra bishop speaks out on job insecurity fears (CathNews 1/7/04)
Church leaders worried about Howard IR changes (CathNews 29/6/05)
Bishop hits back at Minister´s claims on IR reforms 1/6/05)
Catholic body seeks meeting with Minister over workplace laws (CathNews 30/5/05)
MORE STORIES
Federal Industrial Relations Reforms (Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Brisbane 15/8/05)
Tony Smith: The parable of the Bees (Online Catholics 17/8/05)
19 Aug 2005
