Sunday, December 4, 2005

4 DECEMBER 2005

****************************************************

'NZ CATHOLIC'

http://www.nzcatholic.org.nz

No. 228, December 4-17, 2005

Homosexual candidates "not singled out" by document
Wellington - A highly-anticipated Vatican document stating men who "practise
homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the
so-called 'gay culture' " are not fit to be ordained as priests is anything
but discriminatory, according to a New Zealand bishop....

National charity proposal deferred
Wellington - The future of a national Catholic charity remains uncertain
following the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference meeting in Wellington
last month....

"Events-based" ministry new trend for youth
Auckland - The youth ministry in Auckland diocese will soon become
events-based rather than full-time ministries once the zoning of parishes
takes place, says Auckland parish ministry co-ordinator Manuel Beazley....

Also In Issue 228:

NATIONAL
MPs get new prayer room ... Southlanders offer help after marae is burned
... Radio NZ charter to retain "spiritual" ... Scholarship awards for
principals ... Owairaka's church to be replaced ... Infections show sex
education is "not working" ... New scholar named ... Prison "blowout"
stretches scheme for buying toys ... Four camps planned by Dove Fellowship
... Nitschke considers moving to NZ ... Fewer use night shelter ... Three
priority areas chosen for Hamilton ... Agreement signed for school services
... New school hall blessed ... Coolock House to be hospice ... Bellringer
honoured ... ERO File

FEATURES
"Dream" visit to the Futuna of Peter Chanel ... Belfast priest had part in
end to violence ... Exorcism film worth seeing but will not appeal to all
... Dabbling with demonic powers is dangerous ... 11 professed as Secular
Franciscans ... Rangiora parish replaces original forgotten windows ...
Eminent conductor for summer school ... Colourful parade of national dress
... New leadership model adopted by Brigidines ... Procession and flowers
mark cathedral feast ... Troubadour says music appeals over doctrine

OPINION
Bev McDonald: Jesus came among us just as we are ... Ronald Rolheiser: Our
struggle for community ... Parish Diary ... Others Say ... Editorial:
Marriage bill will be a test for MPs ... Malcolm Evans ... Iva Verse ...
Letters ... God the Creator but not "designer"? ... Bible and evolution not
incompatible

INTERNATIONAL
Honorary doctorates for Drs Billings ... Pakistani crowd hits Christians ...
Pope sees positive steps with Jews ... Divine Worship head speaks on liturgy
... The Pope: New text of Mass hoped for soon ... Film on monastery a hit
... Document on lay ministry approved by US bishops ... French monk
beatified ... "Miraculous cure" at Lourdes officially recognised ...
Conflict predicted over use of water ... Pope takes control over Assisi
basilicas ... Digging for family ... Pope to visit Israel ... Disagreement
over new labour laws ... International loans slated

REGULAR FEATURES
Young Adults, Books, Monitor, Clips, Net Scene, Tape Deck, Scripture, Papal
Prayer, Feasts, The Doolans, God in the Garden, Caption Contest, Who Said?,
40 Years Ago, Dio. Diary, Cryptic Crossword, Photo Prayer, What We Believe,
Holy Lives, Kit's Corner, Wit's End.

ADVERTISING FEATURES
NZ Catholic Christmas gift donation appeal

*************************************************************

FROM THE SECULAR PRESS

Visa mystery wipes out trip of a lifetime
Otago Daily times
http://tinyurl.com/8tzp5
It was supposed to have been the trip of a lifetime. Pupils at Catholic
schools were invited to apply to go to Calcutta to tackle missionary work
with Mother Teresa’s order. But, as of yesterday, the Indian government had
not issued the group visas to enter India for the four-week visit...

Abortion rise linked to schools
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/0,2106,3499230a6530,00.html
Sex education in schools is to blame for a rocketing abortion rate among
teenagers, a Christchurch pro-life group says. Doctors this week voiced
alarm after the number of abortions performed at a Christchurch clinic on
under-16s tripled, attributing the increase to binge drinking, drug use and
peer pressure...

Catholic order feeling shame
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/manawatustandard/0,2106,3498691a6003,00.html
A Catholic order is saying a major mea culpa for the sexual abuse of
students in its care at the Feilding boarding school it founded. A spokesman
for the Society of Mary (Marist) Phil Cody said members "feel shame, sorrow
and sadness" after the conviction yesterday of a former teacher at Hato
Paora College for the sexual assault of five boys...

Former Catholic brother admits abuse (photo, and related video report)
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411365/634535
A retired Catholic brother has pleaded guilty to seven charges relating to
the molestation of four boys at a Feilding high school in the 1970s and
1980s. John Lewis Stevenson, 66, also known as Brother Bernard, was a
teacher at Hato Paora Maori Boys Catholic School at the time of the
assault...

'Dirty secret' sequel
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dominionpost/0,2106,3497844a6479,00.html
He lived for more than two decades with a "dirty secret", but a Lower Hutt
victim says he can finally start rebuilding his life after a retired
Catholic brother admitted sexually abusing him as a boy...

Pope's restrictions on homosexual priests defended
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=85199
The Catholic Church in New Zealand is defending the Pope's controversial
restrictions on homosexual priests. Pope Benedict says homosexuals and those
who support gay culture should be barred from entering the priesthood.
Catholic Communications director Lyndsay Freer supports the ruling and says
the Pope's decision is more about reinforcing the importance of celibacy...

Ministry to allow imports of stem cells
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=0002D555-4B3B-138D-AB4383027A\
F1011B

Stem cells from human embryos could be imported into New Zealand and used
for research for the first time under strict guidelines proposed by the
Ministry of Health...

Plimmerton priest coming to Blenheim
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/marlboroughexpress/0,2106,3494190a6563,00.html
The new priest for St Mary's Catholic parish in Blenheim was named at Sunday
services yesterday. Father Alan Roberts will take over the running of the
parish at the beginning of February. The handover will mark the end of an
era, as he will be replacing Marist priests who have worked in the Blenheim
parish for 141 years...

************************
The following two stories are not available on the newspapers' free
Websites. They can be read at the public library, and via the libraries'
free 'Newztext' service for borrowers.

Bishops to keep up Popetown fight
The Dominion Post â€" News â€" 3 Dec 2005 â€" Page 8
Catholic bishops will continue to fight cartoon series Popetown, despite the
Broadcasting Standards Authority rejecting its latest complaint. The
authority declined an application by the Catholic Bishops Conference for a
formal hearing into the show set in Popetown, a fictional Vatican City. A
further complaint about Popetown, which is no longer on air, would be sent
to the authority before Christmas, Catholic communications director Lyndsay
Freer said...

Pianist loves to shares musical gift
The Marlborough Express â€" Kaikoura â€" 30 Nov 2005
11-year-old St Joseph's School pupil Cameron Woodill has been playing the
piano for four and a half years. Cameron has done a number of public
performances, including playing the organ for special occasions at
Kaikoura's Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and for schools masses twice a
month...

**************************

Hanged Australian died 'courageous' death
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10358265
Australian Nguyen Tuong Van went to his death in Singapore's Changi Prison
unshackled but clutching the rosary beads of his Catholic faith...

John Paul, Two
Dueling networks race to tell the late Pope's life story (3 pages)
http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2005/11/27/john_paul_two/
TV is set to unroll two dramatizations of the pope's life, appearing within
days of each other on competing networks. Minoli and Parkin's ''Have No
Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II," airs on ABC on Thursday. The Lux Vide
version, the miniseries ''Pope John Paul II," starts next Sunday on CBS and
continues the following Wednesday...

*******************************************************************

FROM THE OVERSEAS CATHOLIC PRESS & NEWS AGENCIES

Advent a Time to Hope for Renewal, Says Pope
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=80679
Vatican City, Nov. 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Upon embarking on the liturgical
season of Advent, Benedict XVI invited Christians to renew their confidence
in the possibility of building a better world. Speaking from the window of
his study on the first Sunday of Advent, the Pope appealed for the building
of a "new earth," an appeal launched 40 years ago by the Second Vatican
Council...

Father Cantalamessa on Advent's Wake-up Call
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=80686
Rome, Nov. 27, 2005 (Zenit.org).- In his commentary on today's liturgical
readings, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the
Pontifical Household, talks about how Advent helps us to kick bad habits...

Adelaide Archbishop puts Christ back into Christmas
http://www.cathnews.com/news/511/157.php
As part of his personal mission to restore Jesus as the central figure in
Christmas celebrations, Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson yesterday blessed
replicas of the baby Jesus for children to place in their nativities.
Children from across Adelaide Catholic parishes and schools attended a
special ceremony aimed at re-discovering Jesus at Christmas celebrations at
St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral in Adelaide...

Ambiguous tendencies, by Robert Mickens
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi/tablet-01114
The much-anticipated Vatican guidelines for the admission of homosexuals to
seminaries were finally released this week. But they seem to have raised
more questions than answers as to their true meaning. Our Rome correspondent
explains the thinking behind the thinking ...

Vatican document on homosexuals and seminaries: full text
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=62701

A conversation with Good Samaritan and ‘woman of hope’ Sr Patty Fawkner
(photo)
Catholic Weekly (Sydney)
http://tinyurl.com/8fpdo
If the theological virtue of hope is the opposite of fear, then Sr Patty
Fawkner’s instincts are on the money in her optimism about the future of
religious life and her concern about what she sees as a climate of fear
about our Muslim brothers and sisters. From talking with her it is clear
that she sees the impossibility of being both hopeful and fearful â€" she
speaks of her fellow Good Samaritan Sisters who remain vibrant, engaged
women despite their declining numbers, and of the nagging suspicion that
white Australians have “always had� about their new neighbours casting a
shadow on their natural generosity...

Fifty-seven new priests ordained in Hanoi, Pope appoints a new bishop
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4750

Sydney archdiocese launches World Youth Day 2008 web site
Sydney (Fides Service) - http://www.wyd2008.org is the address of web site
opened by the hosting Catholic Church in Australia for the 23rd World Youth
Day scheduled to take place in Sydney 15 - 20 July 2008...

Cardinal Kasper Clarifies Issues on the Divorced-and-Remarried. "There Is
Not, in Fact, an Easy Solution"
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=80762

Nuns beaten in Xian: the government asks the diocese to pay for the school
that it already owns
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4760

Vatican Message for World Day Against AIDS
"Certain Suggestions at the Level of Guidelines for Action"
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=80826

Nonbelievers Too Can Be Saved, Says Pope
Refers to St. Augustine's Commentary on Psalm 136(137)
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=80888

**************************************************************************

CATHOLIC COMMUNICATIONS NZ

Global Catholic News, plus sound files from Vatican Radio

http://www.cathcom.org.nz

Chinese Catholic web-sites “blacked-out� on the assault against nuns in Xian
UN urges 'exceptional response' to AIDS crisis
U.S. Catholic Church Responds to Vatican
Canadian Catholic peace activist is kidnapped by militants in Iraq
Pope Spurs World to Meet 0.7% of GDP Target
Pope chooses Polish Dominican as theologian of papal household
Speaker says AIDS struggle also helping to beat poverty
Pope avoids condom issue in AIDS message

************************************************************

"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.

This week ...
Gays in the seminary: Interpreting and applying a tough-sounding document;
Theologian named for papal household; Remembering Fred McManus, ecumenist,
liturgist, canon lawyer; The latest on limbo

********************************************************************************

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 ]

********************************************************************************