Sunday, April 5, 2009

******************************************************
NEWS & NOTES - 5 April 2009 - Passion Sunday (Palm sunday)
******************************************************

'NZ CATHOLIC' - No. 313, April 5 - 18 2009
In this issue .. Caritas helps Maasai fight land injustice ... Priest a symbol of Indonesian govt harassment ... Easter Mass times ... Rite III - Right or Wrong?: General absolution proved popular in Taranaki ... Advertising Feature: 2009 Eucharistic Convention

***********************************
FROM THE SECULAR PRESS
************************************

A voice for justice in every sphere
The Press | 4 Apr 2009 | | | Released: 11h. 9min. ago | Page: 51
Pat Matheson was a woman of paradox. She was a strong character who would argue her views forcefully, yet many Canterbury women admired her gentle support. She was an outspoken critic of directions in the Catholic Church but remained faithful and loyal...

`Heavenly gift' of Otumoetai College students
http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3796768&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=
04.04.2009
St Thomas More Catholic Parish in Mount Maunganui has been awarded the ultimate gift before Easter with the creation of frames to hold the 14 Stations of the Cross. Twenty senior students from a technical skills class at Otumoetai College spent five weeks hand-crafting the frames from environmentally friendly produced hardened pine.

Bobo helps explain the reason for Easter
Taranaki Daily News — News — 3 Apr 2009 — Page 3
More than 2500 school kids took a dramatised tour through Central Baptist Church this week, where they watched Jesus live, die and rise again, all in the space of 35 minutes.

Faith healers more popular than God
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2311203/Faith-healers-more-popular-than-God
Kiwis who believe the words of fortune tellers and faith healers out-number those who have no doubt that God exists, a survey suggests.

St Joseph's packed for Max Clegg's funeral (photo)
http://tinyurl.com/cqy899
Upper Hutt Leader
A great tree has fallen in the forest of people, mourners were told at Max Clegg's funeral last Wednesday.

Blue school goes green for charity (photo)
North Waikato News
http://tinyurl.com/cwr3cb
For a school that is ususally a sea of blue, St Anthony's Catholic School enjoyed a change of colour last month.

Children’s voices raised in prelude to Easter
The Press | 2 Apr 2009
The voices of more than 500 children rose to the dome of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch yesterday. Pews were packed as children from 12 Catholic schools sang four hymns to celebrate the coming of Easter.

Slumming it for charity (photo)
Newslink
http://tinyurl.com/dj726z
Sleeping under tarpaulins and cardboard boxes - that's how students and pupils of St Peter's College, Gore, spent the night to raise awareness of Burmese refugees on the Thai border.

New Zealanders are becoming less religious, survey shows
Press Release: Massey University
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0904/S00021.htm
There has been a sharp rise in the number of New Zealanders with no religious affiliation, new research shows.

NZ can play a role in facilitating dialogue over West Papua, says religious leader
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=45654
A West Papua religious leader and academic says the New Zealand government could perform a role in facilitating dialogue over Indonesia’s troubled Papua region as it did for Bougainville back in the early 1990s.

Faithful companion helps Sister do her good deeds
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch/2305637/Faithful-companion-helps-Sister-do-her-good-deeds
Sister Eleanor Corston has an unusual best friend and constant companion. The Christchurch nun has a medical condition that means she can see only about a metre away, and she needs to be constantly accompanied by her five-year-old golden retriever-labrador guide dog, Kyla.

Nuns' arrival to be remembered at Catholic city school milestone
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/2305827/Nuns-arrival-to-be-remembered-at-Catholic-city-school-milestone
The doors of Sacred Heart Girls' College in New Plymouth were first opened in September 1884. The 125th jubilee will be celebrated later this year, and organisers are hoping for a big turnout of old girls.

Sacred Heart Girls mark 125th jubilee
http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/Default.aspx?s=3&s1=2&id=10534
Sacred Heart Girls' College, New Plymouth is celebrating 125 years of Catholic education for girls in Taranaki - 1884 to 2009 - on September 25 and 26, 2009.

Christians to carry Cross to Newtown on Good Fri
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0903/S00398.htm
For Christians in south-central Wellington, this year’s Easter celebrations will have a new flavour, with the inaugural inter-church Good Friday “Way of the Cross” pilgrimage to Newtown on 10 April.
********************************************

INSPIRATIONAL TV - http://inspirationaltv.net

** Hidden Strength **
Sister Mary Scanlon reflects on Lent and living alone

** Praying in the Garden **
A reading and discussion of Mark 14:32-42 with Dr Raymond Pelly and Rev. Frank Nelson at St Paul's Cathedral, Wellington.

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

New Zealand Catholic Blogs. Some current topics ...

** Is there a difference between you and your cat? (Christians and evolution) ... It Has Begun (President Obama on abortion and stem cells) ... "Six hours nineteen minutes right ascension ..." (NZ-ers' religious affiliations) ... Blood on your Hands (joint efforts to reduce abortions) ... Syncretism and inculturation (the view from Africa) ... More questions than answers (fundamentalist Christians and the Catholic Church)

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

ALL THINGS CATHOLIC, by John L. Allen, Jr.

Vatican speaking for voiceless global poor
(In this article, John Allen also reports from the National Association of Church Personnel Administrators

Let’s begin with a pop quiz: Which of the following headlines about Pope Benedict XVI does not belong in a list of recent events which became a cause célèbre? A. Pope lifts excommunication of Holocaust-denying bishop B. Pope says condoms make AIDS worse C. Pope increasingly ‘isolated,’ insiders claim D. Pope emerges as voice of the poor in economic crisis ...

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

WORLD NEWS OF THE CHURCH
http://www.youtube.com/vatican (news of Pope Benedict - video)

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

EVENTS

Eucharistic Convention - Friday 17th April - Sunday 19th April 2009
Westlake Boys High School, 30 Forrest Hill Road, Takapuna, North Shore, Auckland
Full details and booking:
http://www.eucharistic-convention.com/p_2009/p_2009_menu.htm

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

EMPLOYMENT

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

[Vacancies for Catholic youth workers are advertised on the Vacancies page of Connect.org.nz: http://www.connect.org.nz ]

Adult Formation Co-ordinator, Catholic Diocese of Hamilton
http://hn.catholic.org.nz/cdh/Our_Place.html
Details in 'NZ Catholic' April 5 - 18 2009 p.23, and from the pastoral team leader, Chanel Centre, tel. (07) 856 6989; e-mail: peterr@cdh.org.nz Applications close 17 April 2009.