Sunday, August 15, 2004

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ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Faith in Mary, A-Bomb survivor http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1286 Nagasaki (AsiaNews) – On Sunday, August 15, celebrations for the Feast of the Assumption, prayers for peace, and remembrance for the dead will bring together the people of Japan. On this day, whilst all will commemorate the end of World War Two, Catholics will celebrate the Assumption of Mary, and Buddhists will observe the day of the dead ...

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POPE JOHN PAUL IN LOURDES

"Suffering is not useless. It is an offering for the world " http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1294 Lourdes(AsiaNews) – The time of physical suffering is not “less fruitful”. This is the personal testimony that John Paul II gave today in Lourdes: “I share with you a time of life marked by physical suffering, but not less fruitful in God’s plan”....

Pope reveals why he is going on pilgrimage to Lourdes http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1273 Castelgandolfo (AsiaNews) - “I shall carry in my heart the gratitude and the pleas of the entire Church, if not the entire world, whose peace and salvation cannot come but from God.” With these words Pope John Paul II revealed his thoughts on the eve of his pilgrimage to Lourdes scheduled for August 14 and 15...

Further reports of the papal visit in the secular press, regularly updated: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&ie=UTF-8&q=lourdes&scoring=d

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FROM THE SECULAR PRESS

Catholic Education Office backs embattled NCEA system NZPA 14 August 2004 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3003465a7694,00.html The Catholic Education Office (NZCEO) today backed the embattled National Certificate of Educational Achievement qualification, saying rogue behaviour at one school was nothing new...

Garin fails to meet roll target Nelson Mail 14 August 2004 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/0,2106,3003479a6510,00.html Garin College, Nelson's only Catholic secondary school has half the number of students it expected when it opened two years ago...

Disgraced priest now back in Christchurch The Press (Chch) 14 August 2004 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/0,2106,3002138a6009,00.html Catholic authorities are keeping quiet about the future of disgraced Lyttelton priest Father Jim Consedine after his return to Christchurch from a year's exile...

A place for God in EU constitution, by Ian Harris http://tinyurl.com/5gapg Otago Daily Times 10 August 2004 If ever New Zealand puts itself through the agony of devising a written constitution, three things are certain. Interest groups (and not only Maori) will demand safeguards to give them special status. Lawyers will make hay. And champions of religion and secularism will go head to head. That, at least, is what has been happening in Europe during the past two years, as the team cobbling together a constitution for the enlarged European Union sorts out what it wants to do about God....

Noting Vatican icon a copy, Russian Orthodox leader reiterates there's no need for pope to visit CBS August 13, 2004 http://cbsnewyork.com/international/Russia-Vatican-ai/resources_news_html Moscow (AP) The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church emphasized Friday that Pope John Paul II is not welcome in Russia, reiterating that an icon the pontiff once hoped to return personally in a conciliatory gesture is a copy of a revered 16th-century work...

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'NZ CATHOLIC'

No. 193, August 8-21, 2004

http://www.nzcatholic.org.nz

Foreshore bill called unjust, unnecessary Wellington - Citing human rights and social justice concerns, the Catholic agency Caritas has called for the Foreshore and Seabed Bill to be withdrawn from Parliament....

St Joseph's may be the only school in town Patea - A sudden demand for enrolments may be in prospect for St Joseph's School in Patea if it becomes the only school in the South Taranaki town of 1300 people...

French bishop sees benefits in relics Auckland - Bishop Jean-Yves Riocreux, who was instrumental in the return of the remains of Bishop Pompallier to New Zealand in 2002, says two other "significant pastoral experiences" involved the relics of saints....


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FROM THE OVERSEAS CATHOLIC PRESS & NEWS AGENCIES

The flame of faith, by Isabel de Bertodano The Tablet (UK) 14 August 2004 http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi/tablet-00925 The Olympics return this weekend to Athens, the city where they began. From their origins as homage to Zeus, to a nineteenth-century celebration of man's perfection, to the present, religion has always played its part ...

Why Sunday Mass? Australian Catholics, Spring 2004 http://www.australiancatholics.com.au/articles/04springexp.html Why do I have to go to Mass on Sunday? For generations children have asked their parents this question. Today many adults ask it too. It is an old and a new question, for though Mass remains the same, Sunday has changed....

US researcher says baby boomers remain churchgoers http://www.cathnews.com/news/408/68.php A researcher base in Georgia in the US says that the baby boomer generation is continuing to attend churches, although "boomers" who previous left have apparently now quit for good....

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CATHOLIC COMMUNICATIONS NZ

MEDIA RLEASES

Cardinal expresses sympathy to Jewish community (full text)

The Catholic Archbishop of Wellington, Cardinal Thomas Williams, has written to the Jewish community in Wellington expressing his deep sadness at the desecration of the graves in the Jewish section of the Bolton Street and Makara cemeteries. The Cardinal described the vandalism as shameful and atrocious, and on behalf of the Catholic people of the Wellington Archdiocese expressed profound sympathy to those who have family members buried in the two cemeteries as well as to the Jewish community as a whole. Many Catholic churches around the country offered prayers at weekend Masses for those Jewish families who had been affected by the desecration of the graves and the burning of the prayer chapel.


INTERNATIONAL NEWS

http://www.cathcom.org.nz/index.php

British decision prompts Vatican to renew stem cell warning

Austrian Seminary shut over porn scandal

Pope warns Russian youth against hedonism, drugs

Vinnies plea for landlords to help sponsored refugees

Canadian tax authority warned churches to be silent on politics

Zambia's Catholic Church sanctions herbal medicine

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"THE WORD FROM ROME"

http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/

A weekly column in the National Catholic Reporter by the paper's full-time Vatican correspondent John L. Allen

Summary of the column for August 13, 2004: John Paul goes to Lourdes, but not looking for a miracle; Mary and feminism; history of the Immaculate Conception; Ratzinger on Turkey's candidacy to join EU; what’s wrong with papal handicapping?

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EVENTS

The Tudor Consort with Gate Seven Orchestra: “Seven Last Words from the Cross” Saturday 21 August, 8pm, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington (the performance will be recorded by Concert FM). Press release: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/CU0408/S00067.htm Orchestra site: http://www.tudor-consort.org.nz

Worship and Healing Conference, 27-29 August 2004 St Patrick's College, Silverstream Sponsored by the Archdiocesan Service Group for Catholic Charismatic Renewal Details from Cherylynn Passmore, tel: (04) 526 6914; fax: (04) 526 2189; e-mail: cherylynn.passmore@xtra.co.nz


Schools Of Evangelisation http://www.wave.co.nz/~jlewis/SOE.html

Gisborne: New Life weekend September 17 - 19 2004 Venue: St Mary's Parish centre Campion Road, Gisborne. Starts 7 pm Friday - to 5 pm Sunday presented by members of the Hamilton Diocesan and Gisborne Schools of Evangelisation Teams. Contact: Huia - huiawhite@in2net.co.nz - or phone Doreen 06 868 4399 or Huia 06 868 4256

There is a link to our own family web site which goes through to the SOE's for NZ, Australia and Mexico (where they began - Sorry only in Spanish there at the moment!)

Visit to Hamilton by Canadian Musician and Evangelist Greg Magirescu. Concerts and testimony Thursday August 19, 7.30 pm at the Catholic Hall, Te Aroha Friday August 20, 7.30 pm at the Cathedral, Grey Street, Hamilton Saturday August 21, 7.30 pm, St Columba's, Frankton, Hamilton, 7.30 pm Sunday August 22, Tauranga - to be arranged Monday August 23, St Mary's Church, Rotorua, 7.30 pm

Visiting Schools for lunch time concert and testimony -Sacred Heart, Hamilton, Thursday 19 August Aquinas College, Tauranga, Monday 23 August John Paul 2 College, Rotorua, Tuesday 24 August

Seminar on Liturgy and Music Saturday August 21, 10 am - 3 pm Marian School - new buildings Contact: Father Michael Armstrong 07 854 9221

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EMPLOYMENT

[Teaching vacancies in New Zealand Catholic schools are advertised in the Education Gazette: http://www.edgazette.govt.nz/vacancies ]

[Vacancies in Catholic Youth Ministry are advertised on the Job Bank page of the National Council for Young Catholics: http://ncyc.org.nz ]