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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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Vinnies challenge to governments on housing
The St Vincent de Paul Society has challenged governments at all levels to respond to shock findings of a Victorian Tenants' Union survey that included widespread overcrowding that included families of eight living in housing designed for four.
The survey results were summarised in the Tenants Union of Victoria's Rental Housing Affordability Bulletin "A National Perspective".
Vinnies National Social Justice spokesperson Tony Dalton said that the studies, which highlight the lack of affordable and secure housing for those in our community at the lower end of the economic scale, are most welcome and "have been needed for a good many years".
The authors describe the findings as 'shocking', but they come as no shock to the members of the St Vincent de Paul Society who each day see the real-life situations so clearly evidenced by the report data.
Vinnies volunteers assist over 800,000 Australian households each year, and they see over and over again:
• Overcrowding where extended families of 8 or more people are living, often sleeping on the floor, in housing designed for 4.
• Sub-standard accommodation where garages and sheds have been converted into 'bungalows' for the overflow of people from the house.
• Unsafe accommodation where parents are forced to raise their children in near ramshackle, unsafe conditions, because they can afford nothing better.
• Financial deprivation, where parents opt, for the sake of the children, for accommodation which they really cannot afford, with the result that they must rely of continual support from organisations such as ours for food on the table.
• Transience, where parents who, despite their best efforts at budgeting, default on rents they cannot afford, suffer eviction and go into the emergency housing cycle, disastrously disrupting the children's education and social development as they are moved from school to school.
SOURCE
Vinnies Challenge Governments on Housing (St Vincent de Paul Society 26/10/05)
LINKS (not necessarily endorsed by Church Resources)
St Vincent de Paul Society
ARCHIVE
Wiggles urge followers to 'bring Good Stuff to Vinnies' (CathNews 6/9/05)
Vinnies repeats poverty condemnation (CathNews 1/9/05)
Nuns converge on Canberra to support homeless (CathNews 8/8/05)
Vinnies' incredulous reaction to NSW Public Housing plan (CathNews 3/5/05)
MORE STORIES
Pennies from heaven mount up at St Vinnie's (The Courier Mail 25/10/05)
28 Oct 2005
