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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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Catholic ethicists oppose cell research fasttrack
Catholic bioethicists have weighed in on a debate prompted by comments from Victorian Treasurer John Brumby, who says current laws, which only commit the use of spare IVF embryos for stem cell research, are stalling the development of important areas of research.
Mr Brumby appeared before a committee reviewing national cloning legislation in Melbourne yesterday, where he called for new laws to allow for therapeutic cloning of stem cells.
The Age reports that some ethicists outside the Catholic Church have argued that it would be immoral not to lift the ban. Australian ethicist Professor Julian Savulescu, director of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University, says it "could save millions of lives."
However, Dr Bernadette Tobin, director of the Plunkett Centre for Ethics, run by the Australian Catholic University and St Vincents Hospital in Sydney, says the creation of embryos in order to destroy them is ethically unacceptable.
"It is not a religious argument,: she contends. "Human embryos are deserving of our protection."
The report in today's Age says big advances have also been made with non-controversial adult stem cells, the semi-specialised cells found in many organs in the body. Earlier this year Australian researchers funded by the Catholic Church and led by Professor Alan Mackay-Sim of Queensland's Griffith University showed that stem cells from the nose can turn into nerve, heart, liver, kidney and muscle cells.
Dr Gregory Pike, director of the Catholic Church-linked Southern Cross Bioethics Institute in South Australia, says the benefits of embryonic stem cell research have been overstated, and it is unnecessary because adult stem cell research is showing so much promise. There are also concerns that embryonic stem cell transplants could lead to cancers.
SOURCE
Call for relaxation of stem cell restrictions (ABC Radio PM 29/9/05)
The cell division (The Age 30/9/05)
LINKS (not necessarily endorsed by Church Resources)
Southern Cross Bioethics Institute
ARCHIVE
Pell calls for stem cell research ban (CathNews 21/9/05)
Pell announces new grant for adult stem cell research (CathNews 26/7/05)
Cardinal Pell hails stem cell discovery (CathNews 22/3/05)
Sydney Archdiocese announces Church funding for adult stem cell research (CathNews 26/3/03)
MORE STORIES
Cardinal tells Govt of embryo research fears (Catholic Weekly 2/10/05)
Bid to ease stem cell cloning law (The Age 29/9/05)
30 Sep 2005
