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POPE JOHN PAUL
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The Holy See has an e-mail address for those wishing to send a message of support to John Paul II: john_paul_ii@vatican.va
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News of the Pope from the secular press, constantly updated: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=pope&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d
Ahead of Palm Sunday, Pope John Paul says he is uniting his sufferings with those of Christ http://tinyurl.com/4tzqq Friday March 18, 2005 Vatican City (AP) In a highly personal message to priests, Pope John Paul II said Friday he was uniting his sufferings with those of Christ as he prepares for Holy Week services and the first Palm Sunday Mass he will be forced to skip in his 26-year papacy. ``My thoughts turn to you, dear priests, as I spend this time recuperating in hospital, a patient alongside other patients, uniting in the Eucharist my own sufferings with those of Christ,'' John Paul wrote. ``In this spirit I want to reflect with you on some aspects of our priestly spirituality,'' the letter said...
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FROM THE SECULAR PRESS
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The following two stories are not available on the newspapers' free Websites. They can be read at public libraries and via the 'Newztext' service which libraries provide free to their borrowers:
Anti-abortion campaigner dies The Dominion Post - News - 17 Mar 2005 - Page 4 Marilyn Pryor, a leading figure in the abortion law reform debates of the 1970s, has died at her home in Paremata of motor neurone disease. She was 68...
Priest's help not wanted The Press, 16 Mar 2005, Edition 2, Page 6. Disgraced priest Jim Consedine is back in Christchurch and is involved with Cardijn House in Addington which controversially took in a repeat sex offender...
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If you're Irish . . . hope the boss doesn't find out (photos) Otago Daily Times http://tinyurl.com/47mlh At Bathgate Park, 900 pupils from the city's Catholic primary schools held a St Patrick's sports day. Organiser Stephen Hopkins, of St Patricks School, said green ice blocks for the children were as far as celebrations went. Bishop Colin Campbell attended the event...
Care services 'reaching crisis point New Zealand Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=10116057 Services for sick and disabled people in their homes are "at crisis point" because of staffing gaps caused by low pay which home care companies say they can't afford to increase. New Zealand's first "carers' summit" in Wellington this week was told of an elderly Otago woman who was not showered for three weeks this Christmas because there were no home care workers available when her usual helper went on holiday...
Children join 'famine' http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/waikatotimes/0,2106,3221785a6579,00.html Students from Fairfield, Melville, Te Rapa and Marian primary schools joined together to experience Lent as part of studies they have been doing about the lives of people in under-developed countries....
Churches unite (full text) The Dominion Post - News - 19 Mar 2005 Napier: Four denominations will join to mark Good Friday in Napier. After Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist services in the morning, congregations will gather at the fountain cross by St John's Cathedral for a short service.
Rapist's release under fire http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/0,2106,3217161a6530,00.html A repeat sex offender's controversial release to a Catholic house in Christchurch was approved with the backing of a former prison chaplain. Francis Simmonds, who finished eight years as a lay chaplain in December, sponsored John Clarke's home detention at Cardjin House in Addington to "give him a kick start"...
Blair courts evangelicals as Catholics back Howard http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1437235,00.html Tony Blair is to woo evangelical Christians ahead of the general election as rival faith groups play an increasingly significant part in campaigning strategy. The move towards targeting individual faiths as part of the run-up to the likely May polling day comes after Michael Howard, the Conservative leader, made abortion an election issue for the first time in British politics at the weekend...
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FROM THE OVERSEAS CATHOLIC PRESS & NEWS AGENCIES
A patient alongside patients, the Pope writes to priests, saved so that they may save http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=2812 Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "From Gemelli Hospital, Rome, March 13, 2005", is more than how John Paul II's Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday begins; it resonates with the fact that this year more than before, the Pope was "a patient alongside other patients uniting in the Eucharist my own sufferings with those of Christ." But, the Pope writes, "I entrust to [Our Lady] especially the elderly, the sick, and those in difficulty." Thus, despite a life of pain, sickness, crosses to bear, a priest performs his duties, grateful to God for a life that is saved in order to save. In the letter the Pope sees the priesthood as a life of gratitude, a life given and saved so that the priest can save others, a life that remembers Christ and is consecrated to and centred on Him.
Vatican Crusade Against "Da Vinci Code"? Hardly Clarifications About Debate Organized by Genoa Archdiocese http://zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=67893 Vatican City, March 16, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Newspapers and agencies worldwide have announced over the past two days that the Vatican has launched a crusade against Dan Brown's best seller "The Da Vinci Code." In fact, what happened is that the Office for Culture and the University of the Archdiocese of Genoa simply organized a debate on the book today, entitled "The Da Vinci Code ... Stories Without History...."
The Da Vinci Code FAQ, or Will the Real Priory of Sion Please Stand Up? An interview with by Massimo Introvigne, Director of the Center of Studies on New Religions, Turin. http://www.cesnur.org/2005/mi_02_03d.htm
Rosary for peace, against wall, says a Bethlehem nun http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=2773 Bethlehem (AsiaNews) - The Elizabethan Sisters working at Bethlehem's Baby Caritas Hospital and local Christians have been praying the rosary in front of Israel's wall every Thursday. By their example, they hope to encourage peace between Israelis and Palestinians and at the same time express their opposition to wall...
Vocations flourish in Australia's Catholic communities: Church commitment in the new millennium http://www.fides.org/eng/news/2005/0503/14_4288.html Sydney (Fides Service) - Vocations are flourishing in the 'newest of the continents' after a drop in vocations in the mid 1990s. Today the number of students in seminaries continues to rise, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference told Fides with regard to the situation in seminaries all over the country...
More in Europe and US join campaign to free Chinese bishops http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=2777 Rome (AsiaNews) - AsiaNews's campaign for the release of 18 bishops and 19 priests held by the Chinese authorities has received the support of a European Member of Parliament and US bishops...
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CATHOLICTV.NET
Wellington Archdiocesan Media Centre
http://www.catholictv.net
Brother Pat Lynch, CEO of the NZ Catholic Eduation Office: Catholic education in 2005; the examinations controversy; the parent-teacher realtionship
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TUI MOTU INTERISLANDS
An indepedent Catholic magazine
http://www.tuimotu.org
From the March issue:
Editorial: Season for change (full text) Lent comes upon us unexpectedly in the Southern Hemisphere. We have hardly shaken off our holiday jandals and put away the suntan lotion when we are confronted by the prophet's clarion call: "Rend your hearts, not your garments..."
Also in this issue: March 2005 The Golden Calf ... What is your false god?: Mike Riddell launches new series Auschwitz: 60 years on: Jo Grayland Quest for the Holy grail: Trish McBride NCEA - Teach your children well: Mike Marshall Maltreating prison inmates: Lisa Beech
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CATHOLIC COMMUNICATIONS NZ
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
http://www.cathcom.org.nz
Pell seeks clemency for death row Australian Archbishop qualifies support for same-sex benefits Archbishop depicts St Patrick as model for modern missionaries Pope marks anniversary of Gaudium et Spes Vox Clara OKs born again ICEL translations body Whyalla school teachers at drug party
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MARIST MESSENGER
Monthly magazine of the NZ Society of Mary
http://www.maristmessenger.co.nz/index.php
Full text from the March Messenger:
My Rosary, My Grandmother's Prayers Maria Parsons tells of her finding the Catholic Faith at 36, and the place of the Rosary in her journey.
Indwelling Auckland writer Jocelyn Franklin supplies a personal Reflection on the indwelling of the Divine in the Eucharist.
Enquiry Centre uses TV Director of the Catholic Enquiry Centre Fr Paul Shannahan write of his outreach using TV.
FOCUS The Year of the Eucharist is like an extended conversation in the church in which everyone can take part.
Also in the March Marist Messenger ..........
* Cardinal Thuan * The Call to follow Jesus * If I were God for a day * Fr Joseph Seon (part 2) * Stations of the Cross * A minute or two * Children's Corner * Humour: Can you bear it ?
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WORLD YOUTH DAY, COLOGNE, GERMANY 16-21 August 2005
Official site of the New Zealand National Pilgrimage to WYD, Cologne http://www.worldyouthday.org.nz En route to World Youth Day, our representatives will follow the path of St Paul to the sites of the early Christian communities in Greece and Turkey, as well as a visit to Gallipoli and Anzac Cove. Then its off to Cologne, Germany for World Youth Day 2005. The Catholic Church's mega event -hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world coming together, united around Pope John Paul, listening to the Word of God, assisting at celebrations and participating in a festival of joy... See the NZ World Youth Day Website for further info., or write to: Bill Dysart, C-58 Osier Road, Greenmeadows, Napier. Email: ymachb@clear.net.nz
Pope appears in video to gathering of young people in Rome basilica http://www.napanews.com/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=422CB15D-D99D\ -4306-A237-904CD896E544 Rome -- A gaunt-looking Pope John Paul II appeared in a live video Thursday evening to hundreds of young people who filled a Rome basilica to show their support and express hope that the ailing pontiff will travel to a World Youth Day event in Germany this summer...
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Other WYD links:
The official international WYD Site: http://www.wjt2005.de/index.php?id=6&si=1
The Vatican's WYD Website: http://www.vatican.va/gmg/documents/gmg_2005_en.html
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"THE WORD FROM ROME"
http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/
A weekly column by the National Catholic Reporter's full-time correspondent in Rome, John L. Allen Jr.
Summary of the column for Mar. 18 2005 : Papabili at an 'agenda-setting moment'; science, philosophy and theology; Jesuit Fr. Michael Buckley on relations with non-Christian religions and on the impact of Pope John Paul's declining health; Cardinal Bertone on the Da Vinci Code; Caritas in North Korea; Jack Miles on religion and foreign policy
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EVENTS
The Eucharistic Convention, Auckland Friday April 1st to Sunday 3 April 2005 http://www.eucharistic-convention.com The Eucharistic Convention is an annual event organised by lay people of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Auckland, New Zealand.
Catholic Festival, Auckland St Patrick's Cathedral and vicinity, Saturday 9 April 2005. Opening Mass 11 am. http://www.catholicfestival.org The Catholic Festival is a celebration of our faith that will be joyful, prayerful, reflective, informative and educational. The Festival is an opportunity for all Catholics to display the gifts that God has given them, thereby stengthening their faith and Catholic identity, to celebrate our rich cultural diversity and to grow together in unity. The Festival is also an opportunity for the many groups and religious communities to promote their apostolates and seek members and vocations...
Mariapolis 2005 Feilding Agricultural High School, North Street, Feilding. Wednesday 20 - Sunday 24 April 2005 The Mariapolis is the annual gathering of the New Zealand members and friends of the international Focolare Movement - http://www.focolare.org/en/It's a time to relax, and refresh the spirit in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, and an opportunity to focus on the importance of Gospel values. The Mariapolis is for everyone - all ages, all cultures, single people, couples and families. Further details from: Focolare Centre, PO Box 11-826, Wellington. E-mail: focolare@paradise.net.nz
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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 ]
Catholic Chaplain, Taranaki Base Hospital, Palmerston North 20 hours per week (negotiable). Details in 'Wel-com' March 2005 p.13, and from The Bishops' Office, Private Bag 11012, Palmerston North. Tel: (06) 357 1980
Credit Controller, Catholic Schools Board Limited, Archdiocese of Wellington, Diocese of Palmerston North http://www.catholicschools.co.nz Details in 'Wel-com' March 2005 p.4, and from Kay Hahn, Catholic Schools Board Limited, 22-30 Hill Street, PO Box 12-341, Wellington. Tel.: (04) 499 0184; fax: (04) 499 4804; e-mail: kay@catholicschools.co.nz Applications close 31 March 2005
