Sunday, September 23, 2001

"My advice is that, first of all, there should be prayers offered for
everyone - petitions, intercessions and thanksgiving - and especially
for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live
religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet."
St Paul's First Letter to Timothy 2:1-3

Dear friends,

On the New Zealand Catholic bishops' "What's New" page, at
http://www.catholic.org.nz/cathcom/frwhatsnew.html you will find links
to the following items:

PAPAL VISIT TO KAZAKHSTAN 22-25 September

This visit was planned long ago, and in the normal course of events
would have passed almost unnoticed by both East and West. However as
things have turned out, the whole world's attention is focused on
Central Asia, and the Pope's visit and his messages to the people of the
region will receive unprecedented attention. If you see the hand of God
in the timing of this visit, you are not alone.

On the What's New page you will find a link to a dossier complied by the
Fides missionary news service describing the people and culture of
Kazakhstan and the position of the Catholic Church in that country where
over half the population are Moslems and the majority of the Christians
are Russian Orthodox. There's also a link to the Website of the Catholic
church in Kazakhstan.

WORLD NEWS OF THE CHURCH

This is a link to the bishops' main News page which in turn has links to
recent media releases on behalf of our bishops from Catholic
Communications New Zealand, and to ten Catholic or secular news services
providing hourly, daily or weekly news of the Church; including
statements on current events by Pope John Paul and other church leaders
around the world.

WAR AND CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING

Faith Central, the New Zealand resource site for Catholic secondary
schools, has a new section called "America at War: Catholic social
teaching on war and peace"

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, our bishops agency for justice, peace and
development, has a new feature on "Terrorism and retribution: the
Church's response".

God bless us and keep us,

Mike Leon
'kiwicath' forum manager