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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 Welfare not surprised as tax report overlooks battlers
Catholic Welfare Australia said the Treasurer's tax report released yesterday appears to overlook the disadvantage caused by debilitating effective marginal tax rates for people moving from welfare to work.
Executive Director of Catholic Welfare Frank Quinlan (pictured) said the Report of the International Comparison of Australia's Taxes fails to compare the experience of low income people including the experience of people moving from welfare to work in developed countries.
"The Report does not consider the fact that single parents and people with a disability who combine part-time work with benefits face an effective marginal tax rate of up to almost 80 per cent.
"That means that when you take into account the loss of benefits and concessions, many of Australia's most vulnerable workers will take home just one dollar for every five dollars earned."
He said that further disadvantage is caused by the cost associated with earning an income, such as childcare.
According to The Age, the report found that married mothers returning to work are losing 67 cents out of every dollar they earn to child-care fees and income tax, while sole parents who take a job are hit even harder, pocketing only 32 cents per dollar earned.
"This anomaly undermines the principal aim of the welfare to work legislation which is to increase participation in the paid workforce," Mr Quinlan said.
"We maintain our call for a more comprehensive investigation into Australia's complex, outdated tax system in the lead up to the 2007 election."
The tax report by business leaders Peter Hendy and Dick Warburton also found Australia was the eighth-lowest-taxed country among the developed countries.
SOURCE
No surprises in Treasurer's tax report as battlers are overlooked – again (Catholic Welfare Australia 12/4/06)
Working mothers lose almost 70% of pay to child care, tax (The Age, 13/4/06)
LINKS (not necessarily endorsed by Church Resources)
Catholic Welfare Australia
ARCHIVE
Reform tax on poor, Catholic welfare chief says (CathNews 16/3/06)
MORE STORIES
Room at the top for tax cuts: Costello (Sydney Morning Herald 13/4/06)
13 Apr 2006
