Sunday, December 23, 2007

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Dear readers,

'News & Notes' will take a break for about three weeks, restarting in
mid-January as soon as there is something to report.

Every best wish and all God's blessings for a happy Christmas and new year.

Mike Leon

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CHRISTMAS 2007

Wide choice of services at churches
http://tinyurl.com/2swobs
Taking time to appreciate and celebrate Christmas for its true meaning is
the message many will be receiving at Dunedin church services this holiday
season. Dunedin’s larger churches and cathedrals will be marking the festive
season with their popular carol services and midnight Masses.

Little church lights up (photo)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4328636a20379.html
The little Catholic Church at Kauwhata Marae has existed without electricity
for more than 110 years. However, during the festive season, until December
27, the church of St Peter and St Paul on Te Arakura Road is being lit up by
Christmas lights covering the interior and exterior walls, and a Nativity
scene...

Churches unite for real Christmas (photo)
http://tinyurl.com/2rlwya
Church leaders of the Wakatipu Basin have banded together to give a special
message to people of Queenstown this holiday season, and that is to remember
the true meaning of Christmas ...

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CATHOLIC COMMUNICATIONS NZ

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

Cakes earn $14,000 to help families at Christmas time (20 Dec 2007)
The Catholic Caring Foundation is the charitable foundation of the Catholic
Bishop of Auckland, providing funding for grass-roots organisations that
work with the marginalised in society. Again this year, the Foundation ran
the Bishop’s Bake Christmas Cake Appeal - a hugely important annual
fundraiser...

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FROM THE SECULAR PRESS

God in the House (photo of Helen Clark meditating)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4332757a13135.html
Overt religious beliefs seem to rest uncomfortably with the political
aspirations of our parliamentarians. Philip Matthews looks at why so many of
them are uncomfortable with talking about whether they believe in God.

Community groups support Royal Commission of Inquiry into Criminal Justice
Sector
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0712/S00280.htm
Influential community leaders support the Ombudsmans call for a Royal
Commission of Inquiry into the Criminal Justice Sector...

Colombians seek refuge in Hamilton
Hamilton Press
http://tinyurl.com/2khnr4
Hamilton's Refugee Resettlement Service last week hosted the arrival of one
of the largest groups of refugees to arrive in the city...

Revegetation of a gully
http://tinyurl.com/32tms9
A Master's degree wasn't enough for Tatiana Kalnins, but the journey to the
pinnacle - a PhD - has led to a project to replant part of the Marian gully
with native vegetation...

The aftermath of sexual abuse (photo)
The Eastern Courier, East Tamaki
http://tinyurl.com/3c6233
After decades of living with the effects of sexual abuse, an Auckland man
turned his experience to helping others cope with similar situations ...

Pupils light way for successors
Waikato Times â€" News â€" 17 Dec 2007 â€" Page 3
Senior pupils at St Joseph's Catholic School in Fairfield handed over
responsibility to next year's senior students at a special mass last week.
The final school mass for the year saw outgoing Year 8 pupils carry candles
to the altar, before handing them over at the end of the service to next
year's leaders, who carried them out of the church.
[This story is not available on the newspaper's free Website. It can be read
at the public library, and via the libraries' free Newztext service for
borrowers.]


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'THE FIFTEENTH STATION' - NZ's first Catholic podcast

http://station15.libsyn.com/

In the programme for 15 December 2007 ...

'Christmas hope'
Our first Christmas podcast and there's quite a bit to talk about. The
Pope's new encyclical on hope has been released, and it makes for popular
reading. We talk about the 4,210 NZ pilgrims are heading over to see him
next year at World Youth Day, and whether or not movies like the Golden
Compass can be bad for the faith of those who watch them. And we talk a bit
about Christmas traditions and interpretations of the season. We wish all
our listeners a happy and Holy Christmas.

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'BEING FRANK'

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

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

Current topics:

Somewhere in a galaxy far far away… (22 December)
As we approach the end of advent and I have been pondering the incarnation
and the birth of Our saviour, I began to think a little about the
implications of extra terrestrial life. (Weird, I know…not really the most
obvious correlation). I mean, if there was other life (with spiritual souls)
on other planets somewhere in another galaxy â€" what does this mean for us as
Christians? ...

It Was A Very Good Year (21 December)
Well, it’s obvious that another year is about to draw to a close and people
on the blog have just about had enough of each other. Fortunately, I don’t
have any frustrations and agendas to air on the site. Some might say I don’t
have anything useful to air at all. Very funny...

Who/what do we care about? (20 December)
I was having a “discussion� with friends the other day about animal rights
versus human rights and how I obviously thought the abuse of humans was
worse than the abuse of animals. I thought my friends were disagreeing with
that, but as we continued to “discuss�, I came to understand they were
actually pointing out that one is simply an extension of the other...

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INSPIRATIONAL TV

http://inspirationaltv.net/

Lay leaders among us, Part Two: 'Meet the people'
Joan manages a unique programme called "Launch Out" which forms lay people
to work in partnership with priests in ministry.

'Angel in the City'
Rev. Frank Nelson, the Dean of Wellington's Anglican Cathedral, reads the
Christmas story and discusses it with Sr Stephanie.

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MAGAZINES & NEWSLETTERS

** 'Marist Messenger' - December 2007
http://www.maristmessenger.co.nz/

** NZ Catholic Education Office. 'Lighting New Fires', Christmas Edition
http://www.nzceo.catholic.org.nz/pages/resourcesubpages/lighting-new-fires.html

** 'Inform' - the newsletter of the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch -
December 2007
http://www.chch.catholic.org.nz/?sid=25

Marist Brothers' New Zealand Province.
** Schools' Champagnat Newsletter - December 2007
http://www.maristbrothers.org.nz/Schools%20Champagnat%20Newsletter.htm
** Marist Family News - December 2007
http://www.maristbrothers.org.nz/Marist%20Family%20News.htm

** NZ Catholic Bioethics Centre. 'The Nathaniel Report' - Issue 23
http://www.nathaniel.org.nz/?sid=163

** 'Tui Motu InterIslands' - December 2007
http://www.tuimotu.org/

** St Columban's Mission Society, Aust. & NZ Region. 'The Far East' -
November/December 2007
http://www.columban.org.au/?MID=200510192652

** Carmelite Monastery of Christ the King, Christchurch. Christmas
Newsletter 2007
* http://www.karmel.at/christchurch.nz

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ALL THINGS CATHOLIC
Analysis and commentary by John R. Allen

http://ncrcafe.org/node/507

Catholics helped pass U.N. vote favoring global death penalty ban; Notes
about: Episcopalians, Kolvenbach and Vatican PR
It would probably be pushing things a bit far to suggest that Tuesday's vote
in the General Assembly of the United Nations in favor of a global
moratorium on the death penalty is a victory for the Catholic church. It is,
however, a result difficult to imagine without the Catholic contribution...

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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/ ]