Sunday, December 16, 2007

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CHRISTMAS 2007

First airings for Christmas cantata (photo)
http://tinyurl.com/2l34wf
Three months of hard work will have its pay-off this sunday when the
Taumarunui Community choir has their first performance of a new Christmas
cantata ...

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FROM THE SECULAR PRESS

Historic link for new library (photo)
http://tinyurl.com/2nvwba
St Patrick's School in Kaiapoi has a new library and information centre
named the Barbier Centre after the nun who founded the order which
establisehd the school in 1926...

Local medics bound for remote islands (photo)
http://tinyurl.com/3y4hf5
Two Wairarapa women hope to head to Indonesia early next year to a remote
island where New Zealand doctor, Derek Allen, works with the poor, the sick
and the needy ...

New Zealand's Catholic chaplains embrace Antarctica's adventures
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0707048.htm
Christchurch, New Zealand (CNS) -- Not many changes from his last trip to
Antarctica, reported a priest from New Zealand: The ice runway is nearer to
the base, it's colder than 10 below zero, but the sky is blue, he added...

Nun Briefs Parliamentarians On Timor-Leste Crisis (photo)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0712/S00175.htm
Security is still the most pressing problem for Timor-Leste according to nun
and refugee camp organiser Sister Guilhermina Marcal currently visiting New
Zealand...

Catholics encouraged to watch 'Compass'
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/4319133a6530.html
The distributors of a film that has outraged Catholic groups in the United
States have invited New Zealand Catholics to previews to "make up their own
minds"...

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'BEING FRANK'

http://www.beingfrank.co.nz/

A blog about Catholic life in New Zealand, sponsored by 'NZ Catholic'
newspaper.

Current topics:

The culture of death - first hand (15 Dec)
"About three weeks ago, I found out that my 15-year-old sister was pregnant.
I quickly got her in contact with the crisis pregnancy centre and they have
done an absolutely wonderful job! Thanks be to God, she has decided to keep
the baby. However, I haven’t had extensive contact with my family and this
new situation has meant that I have been exposed, first hand, to the reality
of the culture of death..."

Decorated fur trees… (12 Dec)
Yesterday my Outlook inbox was graced with the presence of an email from a
colleague, addressed to all the members of our workplace, asking if it were
possible to adopt more inclusive language at this time of year in
acknowledgement of those who don’t celebrate Christmas...

Today, tomorrow, Timaru… (11 Dec)
Last week I picked up a parish bulletin from a South Auckland parish. As I
was reading through the bulletin, I came across something that I was
completely astounded by; in fact I had to read the notice twice to be sure
that what I was reading was really on the page in front of me: "The priests
of the South Auckland Deanery expressed concern to the Bishop over the
possible confusion that could arise next year on February 6th when ‘The Day
of Ashes’ and the Waitangi Day celebration would coincide. We wanted to
honour both days… and approached Bishop Patrick Dunn with a suggestion that
for the South Auckland Deanery parishes ‘we transfer the liturgy of Ash
Wednesday to Thursday 7th February..."

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INSPIRATIONAL TV

http://inspirationaltv.net/

'Lay leaders among us'
Joan manages a unique programme called "Launch Out" which forms lay people
to work in partnership with priests in ministry

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ALL THINGS CATHOLIC
Analysis and commentary by John R. Allen

http://ncrcafe.org/node/507

Marini's book on liturgy: The future of the liturgy is the future of
Christianity
When I’m on the lecture circuit, there’s a story I like to tell to
illustrate the sometimes surprising diversity inside the Vatican. It’s set
in the summer of 2002, when Pope John Paul II was in Mexico City to canonize
Juan Diego, the Aztec visionary in the Our Lady of Guadalupe devotion. At
the moment in the canonization Mass when John Paul read out the Latin
formula declaring Juan Diego a saint, pandemonium broke out in the Basilica
of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Confetti fell from the ceiling, drums beat and
horns blared, and a knot of indigenous dancers began to gyrate down a
catwalk. Inside, it felt like Michael Jordan had just hit the winning shot
in Game Seven of the NBA Finals; an American TV correspondent standing next
to me, who happens to be Jewish, shouted in my ear, "If they did it this way
every Sunday, even I would show up!" ...

Also: 'Daily News & Updates: In World Peace Day message, Benedict paints a
Catholic shade of green'

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WORLD NEWS OF THE CHURCH (Regularly updated)

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

http://www.nzcatholic.org.nz/

http://www.romereports.com/ (video)

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EMPLOYMENT

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

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