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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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US seminary visitation "mired in controversy"
An investigation of all 229 seminaries in the US begins this week in an effort, according to Vatican officials, to ensure that future priests remain celibate and obediently accept church teaching on all sexual matters.
The Tablet's correspondent Robert Mickens reports that the "Apostolic Visitation" – requested in 2002 in the wake of the US clergy's sex abuse crisis – is already mired in controversy after it was discovered this week that investigators will be looking specifically for "evidence of homosexual-ity" in the seminaries.
The request for such evidence is part of a 13-page working paper, or "instrumentum laboris" (IL), that the Congregation for Education in Rome formulated to guide the visitations. It has fuelled speculation that the Vatican is set to issue an official ban on homosexuals entering seminaries, even if they have never engaged in sexual activity. An unconfirmed report last week from Catholic World News said Pope Benedict had already approved the stricture in the form of an "instruction", which would be published later this year by the Congregation for Education.
Several American commentators have claimed that the Vatican is orchestrating a gay witch-hunt, while several prominent Church leaders have expressed fears that homosexually oriented priests were being unfairly targeted as scapegoats for the sex abuse crisis.
"The public discussions that have taken place so far have indicated a kind of discrimination, not against behaviour, but against identity," said Fr Bob Silva, president of the National Federation of Priests' Councils in the US.
Mickens says the IL, which was leaked to The Tablet, includes more than 50 possible questions that Vatican-selected visitors are free to ask seminarians and faculty members. But it singles out six particular queries that "must be answered" in the final report visitors send to Rome, including: "Is there evidence of homosexuality in the seminary?" Among the other five mandatory questions is one that asks for specifics on psychological testing used in admissions procedures, another on whether "seminarians or faculty members have concerns about the moral life of those living in the institution", and a third that asks visitors to judge whether the seminary provides "adequate formation that will enable the seminarians to live in celibate chastity".
SOURCE
US seminary visitation mired in controversy (The Tablet 24/9/05)
LINKS (not necessarily endorsed by Church Resources)
Instrumentum Laboris
MORE STORIES
NZ gay community worried about ban (TVNZ One News 25/9/05)
The Forum: The investigation of US seminaries: what not to expect (Catholic World News 23/9/05)
The NZ Impact of Church's Gay Ban (GayNZ.com 25/9/05)
John L. Allen: Homosexuals in the seminary (National Catholic Reporter 25/9/05)
Gay ban has Catholics worried (stuff.co.nz 25/9/05)
Don't dare to speak its name (The Tablet 24/9/05)
Vocations Director suggests one year preparation period for priesthood candidates (catholicireland.net 25/9/05)
Vatican to bar homosexual priests-New York Times (Reuters 22/9/05)
Officials outline gay Vatican ban (Gay.com UK & Ireland 22/9/05)
Vatican to Tighten Rules on Gay Men in the Priesthood (New York Times 22/9/05)
Vatican officials: No publication date for gay seminarians document (Catholic News Service 22/9/05)
Vatican to bar homosexual priests-NYT (Leading the Charge 22/9/05)
Gay priests face ban worldwide (Sydney Morning Herald 23/9/05)
Vatican gay review derided (Sydney Star Observer 22/9/05)
'Vatican to bar gay priests' (London Telegraph 22/9/05)
Married priests call on pope to end celibacy rule (Expatica/DPA 19/9/05)
Report: Pope bans gay seminarians (Newsday 20/9/05)
Pope approves barring gay seminarians (Catholic World News 19/9/05)
Homosexuality question for seminary visitations sparks flap (Catholic News Service 16/9/05)
Outrage at Vatican's US hunt for gay seminarians (Sydney Morning Herald/Boston Globe 17/9/05)
Catholic probe to look at gays in U.S. seminaries (Big News Network/Reuters 15/9/05)
Vatican to Check U.S. Seminaries on Gay Presence (New York Times 15/9/05)
26 Sep 2005
