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'NZ CATHOLIC' NEWSPAPER

The 'NZ Catholic' newspaper home page address is now: http://www.nzcatholic.org.nz

Please note that the address ends in "...org.nz" and not "...co.nz" as you might expect.

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FROM THE CATHOLIC PRESS

"Healing touch" Australian Catholics, Christmas 2002 http://www.australiancatholics.com.au/articles/02xmas3.html Dealing with claims of sexual abuse by church members would seem to be the last job anyone would want to do. Sr Angela Ryan is part of a skilled team seeking to redress injustice and move all concerned towards healing. Sr Angela Ryan has become the church’s open door to healing for many people who have been sexually abused by church personnel....

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FROM THE SECULAR PRESS

"Novel way to spend a day" (photo) Otago Daily Times 13-January 2003 [Full text follows. The original report with photo is at: http://www.odt.co.nz/cgi-bin/search-display-story-online-new?date=13Jan2003&obje\ ct=0112551549&type=html&WORDS=catholic&DB=Editorial


It was the latest in the series of second-hand book sales that are as much a part of a Central Otago summer as sun and apricots. The Catholic Parish sale, which started on Friday, was as popular as ever, and with some volumes priced as low as 20c, there were plenty of people leaving the Teviot Union Parish hall weighed down with books. There were an estimated 15,000 books on sale, plus magazines, crafts, toys and baking. The parish is hoping to raise $3000 for church programmes throughout the year.

"Bishop warned of potential liability" The Press (Chch) 18 January 2003 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/0,2106,2199197a6530,00.html A law firm has written to the Catholic Bishop of Christchurch, John Cunneen, warning he could potentially be liable over his handling of an errant priest. Father Jim Consedine stepped down as Lyttelton parish priest after 17 years in October amid allegations of sexual misconduct from four women, some dating back to the 1970s....

"Law firm recruits church sex abuse victims " INL/Stuff National News 17 January 2003 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2196681a11,00.html A prominent Christchurch law firm is recruiting victims of a Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, as the order involved prepares to pay compensation. The St John of God Order is negotiating with 70 men alleging they were abused as boys at Marylands, the former residential school in Christchurch....

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IRAQ

"Pope rejects war against Iraq. Pontiff says military action should be ‘very last option’ " http://www.msnbc.com/news/858569.asp Vatican City, Jan. 13 — Pope John Paul II on Monday issued his strongest message yet in opposition to possible military action against Iraq, telling Vatican diplomats that military force must be “the very last option.” Amid a massive buildup of U.S. forces in the Gulf, John Paul called for stepped-up diplomacy and dialogue, saying war was not inevitable....

"Iraqi bishop welcomes latest papal appeals for peace " National Catholic Reporter January 10, 2003 http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word0110.htm Over the holidays John Paul II intensified his appeals for peace, voicing his most transparent opposition yet to the idea of a U.S.-led war in Iraq. Few people were probably listening more attentively than Andraos Abouna, the new auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, who was personally consecrated by the pope along with 11 other new bishops on the Feast of the Epiphany, Jan. 6. Abouna will aid Patriarch Raphaël I Bidawid of Baghdad in shepherding a community of some 600,000 Iraqi Chaldean Catholics, who may soon find themselves at ground zero of the war John Paul is begging the world to avoid....

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CATHOLIC WEB TV

Catholictv.net (Wellington Archdiocesan Media Centre) http://www.catholictv.net

Br Pat Lynch (NZ Catholic Education Office) reports on the Asia-Pacific regional conference of Unesco.

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EVENTS

April 2003

The Eucharistic Convention, Friday 25th April - 6.00pm Sunday 27 April 2003 http://eucharistic-convention.com Venue: The Logan Campbell Theatre, Auckland Showgrounds, Greenlane Road, Auckland New Zealand The Eucharistic Convention 2003 is an annual event organised by lay people within the Auckland Diocese of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. Full details are on the Website.