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FROM THE SECULAR PRESS
Wellington choir wins top award in Big Sing Otago Daily Times 30-August 2004 http://tinyurl.com/5ekhc Wellington school choir Con Anima, from St Patricks College, took the top prize in the annual Big Sing high school choral competition that wound up with a gala concert in the Dunedin Town Hall at the weekend...
Verdon deadline could blow out The Southland Times 04 September 2004 http://tinyurl.com/43s6r Dunedin Catholic Education Office director Tony Hanning this week conceded he did not know if the office would meet an end-of-month deadline to allow Verdon College to take on year 7 and 8 pupils from next year...
'Religions, Society and History Explored in Book' Press Release: Otago University Press 2 September 2004 http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/CU0409/S00010.htm As the current debate surrounding the Civil Unions Bill illustrates, issues about marriage and sexuality have significant religious dimensions. In a new book, 'Building God's Own Country: Historical Essays on Religions in New Zealand', editor John Stenhouse contends that many features of society and culture - family life, gender roles and relations, racial and ethnic identities and interactions, and weekly rhythms of work and leisure - cannot be understood without looking at New Zealanders' religious beliefs and values ....
Alleged victims use compensation to track priests accused of abuse The Press (Chch) 04 September 2004 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3024367a11,00.html Money from a Catholic Order is being used to hire a private investigator to track errant priests and brothers. The search is being driven by five men who claim they were abused as boys by clergy visiting their Christchurch orphanage run by the Sisters of Nazareth...
Brother's identity revealed (full text) Otago Daily Times Saturday, 28-August 2004 Wellington: The identity of a retired Catholic Brother accused of indecencies against a school pupil 20 years ago was revealed yesterday in the Upper Hutt District Court. Andrew Cody (67), who lives in Upper Hutt, is charged with committing six acts of indecency against a 15-year-old boy at Hato Paora Maori boys' Catholic school at Feilding in 1984. When he made his second appearance in court yesterday. his lawyer, Paul Surridge, did not seek continued name suppression. Cody was accompanied in court by two members of a support group, one a member of his local church. Police were called after a man made threats against Cody outside the court. The case was remanded until October 1 for police to gather further information, including from a man based in Australia. Cody is on bail, with the conditions he does not accompany a person under 17 without adult supervision, or try to contact the complainant. Police said the complainant came forward late last year. - NZPA
Republicans woo Catholics, a critical voting bloc SFGate.com August 30, 2004 http://tinyurl.com/5lu84 The drive to win over Roman Catholics is in high gear at the Republican National Convention, with daily Masses, a private briefing from the party chairman and a special hospitality suite in the convention hall ....
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FROM THE OVERSEAS CATHOLIC PRESS & NEWS AGENCIES
Priests killed, churches ransacked by Hindu fundamentalists http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1404 New Delhi (AsiaNews) – According to John Dayal, national vice president of the All India Catholic Union, an organisation that represent India’s 16 million Catholics, “attacks against religious freedom in India do not draw the attention of Western civil rights organisations even though religious minorities are still victimised by Hindu fundamentalism...”
'Powerful emotions let the soul roam free', by Matthew Abraham The Southern Cross (Catholic Diocese of Adelaide) http://www.adelaide.catholic.org.au/sx/story.asp?storyNum=4 Frank Wolff was one of those rare people who radiated optimism. He made you feel happy just to be around him. And, with the exception of AFL footy umpires, he rarely had a bad word to say about anyone. Recently we gathered around him at home and prayed and each blessed his forehead with holy water from Lourdes. He barely opened his eyes or spoke and his life was clearly ebbing away but his spirit filled the room. Don't tell me we don't have a soul ....
The Reformation: A History, by Diarmaid MacCulloch (book review) Commonweal May 21, 2004 http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/article.php?id_article=178 In 'The Reformation', British scholar Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of an award-winning biography of Thomas Cranmer (1996), has produced an extraordinarily wide-ranging and detailed account of the transformations of Western Christianity in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ....
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MARIST BROTHERS' NEWSLETTERS
http://www.maristbrothers.org.nz
Our correspondent reports ...
1. For those with strong Marist links a new international Marist web page has been launched. It looks most exciting and worth checking out: http://www.champagnat.org
2. Champagnat Newsletter. The school focus is Hato Petera College. The history plus events give a wonderful overview of the College. News from other Colleges is also included.
3. Family Newsletter covers interesting items including Grove community, Charism Committee's report, Overseas travel with an exciting challenge for Brother Henry Spinks; Recent deaths including Brother Basil Neville aged 85. Pacific Islands Ministry is reported on and some important overseas visitors to Marist communities in NZ.
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NZ CATHOLIC EDUCATION OFFICE
'Good News & The News': a Broadsheet of Good Practice in Integrated Schools. July 2004 vol.18
http://nzceo.catholic.org.nz/goodnews/18/goodnews18.shtml
Editorial: Br Pat Lynch, CEO, NZ Catholic Education Office A community developing a new school has the opportunity to put its indelible mark on that school – this is a big challenge requiring faith and wisdom. The focus in the four recently opened schools profiled in this issue of Good News and the News is clearly on the development of Catholic Character, through an initial period of discernment, a thoughtful, prayerful approach, and a constant focus on the values established at the very beginning ....
'You must shine among them like stars lighting up the sky’ (Philippians 2:15) Margaret Jones, Principal St Paul’s School, Richmond When my three new colleagues and I sat down to talk about Special Character at our first staff meeting in January 1999, we were yet to move into our, then, incomplete classrooms nor did we have any students formally enrolled in our new school. But even on that first day together, we were unanimous that our mission statement would be the centre of our future ...
Mary MacKillop School: Special Character Focus and High Standards Sr Paula Cronin, Principal Mary MacKillop School in Mangere was officially opened on 1 March 2000. We commenced with a roll of 200 and last year this was extended to 350. All our pupils are either Maori or Pacific Islanders with the exception of one child from Chile ...
Building Special Character at a New Catholic College Brendan Schollum Principal, and Mark Field Director of Special Character, Aquinas College, Tauranga Aquinas College started in 2003 with 310 students and currently has 450 students in Years 7-11. The College does not have a particular religious order as Proprietor nor as a patron. The most significant challenge for the College (after funding) was the development of a living and vibrant Special Character. The students were a very mixed group. Fewer than half had been to a Catholic primary school ...
Building Catholic Culture and Relationships at St Thomas More School, Mt Maunganui Kath Joblin, Principal Building contractors and architects have been constant companions since St Thomas More Catholic School opened in January 2001. The accelerated growth of our school has justified the faith shown by parishioners who originally started talking about a new school in the 1980s. A roll growth from 65 to 150 students in four years illustrates the level of commitment to Catholic education in this area ...
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CATHOLIC COMMUNICATIONS NZ
http://www.cathcom.org.nz
International News: Pope distressed by "innocent victims" at Russian school ... Jesuit says 100% of revenue to East Timor would be fair ... Catholic prisoner could be released from Saudi jail ... Vocations flourish in the Pacific Islands ... Bishop says Indonesian refugee programs plagued by corruption ... Maitland-Newcastle Schools Office under spotlight
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THE NATHANIEL CENTRE. THE NEW ZEALAND CATHOLIC BIOETHICS CENTRE
'The Nathaniel Report'. Issue Thirteen - August 2004
http://www.nathaniel.org.nz/nr_issue_13.html
Full text: 'The Hospice Movement in New Zealand – 25 Years On' The hospice movement has transformed, and continues to transform, the care of the dying and their families. This article recalls how, from small beginnings, the hospice movement in New Zealand has grown into forty-two hospice programmes. It also highlights some ongoing challenges for this movement; preserving the vision, the assisted suicide debate, ongoing education and research and the challenge of funding.
Also in the print edition ... Editorial: 'Engaging with Society' Christians are to engage with the people and the culture as insiders and participants, not as critical and dissociated outsiders. This requires them to stand beside people at their point of need and to be prepared to accompany them.
“The Voice of Your Despair” We all need to be made fully aware of the possibilities of enhancing the quality of life until its natural end. A reflection by Rod MacLeod (Professor in Palliative Care at the University of Otago) on palliative care in New Zealand in the wake of the Lesley Martin trial that asks the questions: “What have we learned?” “What has changed?”
'Palliative Medication: The Need for Common Sense' Written by an experienced Clinical Pharmacist, Anne Denton F.P.S., this piece surfaces some honest and probing questions about the decision making processes within New Zealand regarding the availability of specialised drugs for those who are dying.
'Making a Life-Saving Difference: Organ Donation and Consent' An investigation of two of the key questions that have emerged in the current debate about organ donation in New Zealand: “What sort of consent is required?” “Should an individual’s wishes always be followed?”
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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 September 3, 2004: Russian Catholic struggles; Ordinary Orthodox support their leaders' views; Interviews with the Orthodox spokesman for Catholic dialogue and Catholic Archbishop Kondrusiewicz.
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EVENTS
Schools Of Evangelisation http://www.wave.co.nz/~jlewis/SOE.html (The link to Mexico is now in English)
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. Cost $40 Contact: Huia - huiawhite@in2net.co.nz - or phone Doreen 06 868 4399 or Huia 06 868 4256
Te Aroha - Jesus in the four Gospels - October 30/31 and November 6/7 2004 Let four friends take you to Jesus - each Gospel writer shows us a different aspect of Jesus. Venue: The Catholic Hall, Te Aroha Starts 9 am Saturday through to 5.30 pm Sunday each weekend. Facilitated by members of the Hamilton Diocesan Schools of Evangelisation Cost $80 - or as much as you can afford! Contact: John at jlewis@wave.co.nz, or phone John 07 846 2691
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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 ]
Presenters, 'NZ Catholic' newspaper 'NZ Catholic' wishes to employ skilled communicators to act as presenters for the paper at parish Masses. Details in 'NZ Catholic' September 5-18 2004, p.22 and from Dennis Augustine, 'NZ Catholic', PO Box 147-000, Ponsonby, Auckland 1034
Co-ordinator of Music and Singing, St Patrick's Parish, Palmerston North Details in 'NZ Catholic' September 5-18 2004, p.23 and from Fr Brian Walsh, St Patrick's Parish, 197A Broadway Ave., Private Bag 11-012, Palmerston North. Tel (06) 356 3674; e-mail: stpatricks@clear.net.nz Applications close 24 September 2004
Wellington Catholic Education Centre http://www.wcec.org.nz 1. Consultant in Religious Education (Primary School) 2. Adult Education tutor Details in 'NZ Catholic' September 5-18 2004, p.23 and from Peter Bray, Director, Wellington Catholic Education Centre, PO Box 1937, Wellington. Tel: (04) 496 1710; fax: (04) 496 1715; e-mail: p.bray@wn.catholic.org.nz Applications close 1 October 2004
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