"Quit griping about your church: if it was perfect, you couldn't belong." (Marist Messenger February 2004)
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LENT 2004
"Receive children, the future of humanity": Message of His Holiness John Paul II for Lent 2004 (full text) http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=311
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand http://www.caritas.org.nz/lent.asp The theme of Caritas' Lent appeal for 2004 is “The Spirit of Hope is at Work in the World” taken from Pope John Paul II’s World Day of Peace Message, 1998. The donations Caritas receives from this appeal help fund development projects around the world. Donations by credit card are most welcome and may be made by opening the Lent appeal link.
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CATHOLICTV.NET
http://www.catholictv.net
New videos from the Wellington Archdiocesan Media Centre ...
** Stations of the Cross, with Father Bernie Hehir, featuring the life-size bronze sculpture Stations of Lourdes: Part One - Stations I - VII
** Highlights from the St. Patrick’s Day Annual Irish Parade through Wellington.
Also on this site ...
International Videos (right-hand column): "The Face: Jesus in Art "
(This link opens the US Catholic bishops' video page. "The Face: Jesus in Art" is towards the bottom of the page. Two links are provided, one each for Real Player and Windows Media. People with dial-up connections (non-broadband) should select the Real Player option to see the pictures.)
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FROM THE SECULAR PRESS
Ian Cross: "The God Boy" (book review) NZ Herald 23.03.2004 http://tinyurl.com/3e4gp Set in small-town New Zealand during the 1950s, The God Boy is New Zealand's equivalent of Catcher in the Rye or To Kill a Mockingbird. So it is appropriate that Penguin has chosen to launch its New Zealand Classics series by reissuing this haunting coming-of-age tale first published in 1957. The story is told from the view of a young Catholic schoolboy called Jimmy Sullivan, now aged 13, who lives in an orphanage run by nuns...
Dyson looks ahead The Press (Chch) 27 March 2004 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2856967a6160,00.html [Cabinet Minister] Ruth Suzanne Dyson was born in Lower Hutt, 1957, and raised a Catholic. She left school at 15, and later gained qualifications through night school and correspondence. Her dad, Bill, represented New Zealand in waterpolo and was a champion swimmer and surf lifesaver....
'The politics of affairs', by Rosemary McLeod Sunday Star Times 21 March 2004 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2851337a6220,00.html Adulterer: It's a word that thunders with Biblical overtones of sin and a giant hand pointing accusingly from the sky, even as marriages fall by the wayside and sexual morality - unless it involves coercion or children - is a dim collective memory. Are we really shocked by marital infidelity? Do we even think it matters? Did it even make National's leader Don Brash look perversely sexy last week?
Refugees plead for Tampa detainees The Dominion Post 27 March 2004 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2857055a10,00.html Refugees stranded on the Pacific island of Nauru continue to live in desperation and despair, according to a group who arrived in Auckland after being accepted by New Zealand. "We were dead, though we were breathing," said one by way of introduction, through a 12-year-old translator....
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CATHOLIC COMMUNICATIONS NZ
http://www.cathcom.org.nz
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
ACU refuses to raise HECS fees
Church body urges $26.60 per week Minimum Wage increase
Pope's new book describes confrontations with communists
Study shows US bishops' increased consultation with laity
Australian bishops honour Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan
CathNews celebrates fifth birthday
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FROM THE OVERSEAS CATHOLIC PRESS & NEWS AGENCIES
Theologians, historian explore decline in confessions Catholic News Service http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/20040324a.htm WASHINGTON (CNS) -- "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It's been two weeks since my last confession. ..." With that ritual formula once familiar to all Catholics, Boston College historian James O'Toole opened a daylong symposium on how the sacrament of penance has changed and how its chief form, individual auricular confession, has almost disappeared from American Catholic consciousness in the last 40 years....
East Timor's Mother Teresa Sojourners http://tinyurl.com/2unta East Timor is now free from the tyranny of Indonesian occupation, but it is engaged in a new war - against poverty. In this battle are the same heroes of faith who struggled for the island nation's independence. One such person is Sister Lourdes - East Timor's Mother Teresa....
In new book, pope describes confrontations with communist authorities Catholic News Service http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/20040324.htm Rome (CNS) -- In "Get Up, Let Us Go," his soon-to-be-published book about his 20 years as a bishop in Poland, Pope John Paul II tells of almost daily confrontations with communist authorities and describes his efforts to adopt a new and more open style of pastoral ministry....
“Get up. Let us go!”: new book by pope http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=540 Rome (AsiaNews) – An “autobiographical reflection” of his last 50 years: this is how the pope’s new book, “Get up. Let us go!” was described. John Paul II’s latest work will surely become an international best seller....
New book charts history of Eastern Churches in 20th Century http://www.indcatholicnews.com/eastch.html A new book: 'Faith and Martyrdom: The Eastern Churches in Twentieth Century Europe; (Proceedings of the meeting on contemporary Church history, Vatican City, October 22-24, 1998), was launched in the Vatican yesterday....
35 Catholic Missionaries Killed in 2003 (full text) Vatican City, March 22, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Last year saw the lives of 35 Catholic missionaries -- bishops, priests, religious and lay people --ended violently. So says the news agency Fides of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples which published the names of the dead, on the occasion of the Day of Prayer and Fasting in Memory of Martyred Missionaries, to be observed on Wednesday. In 2003 the greatest number of victims was recorded in Africa, particularly in Sudan and Uganda, where rebels continue to combat the established government, and in war-torn Congo. Notable in Burundi was the killing of Archbishop Michael Courtney, apostolic nuncio. The list of missionaries killed, updated only in Italian, is published by Fides at: http://www.evangelizatio.org/portale/martirologio/martiri/2003.html.
Madrid Question: Where Was Christ on March 11? Cardinal Responds During State Funeral http://zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=51185 Madrid, Spain, March 24, 2004 (Zenit.org). Addressing the families of the deceased, the Spanish royal family, numerous presidents, and heads of state during the state funeral for the victims of the March 11 attacks, Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela posed a pressing question: "Where was Jesus, the Son of the living God, brother and Savior of man, Lord of life and death, on that terrible Madrid morning ...
Cardinal Ruini on Christian Response to Muslim Terrorism President of Italian Episcopate Lays Out 3 Key Elements http://zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=51051 Rome, March 22, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The Christian response to Muslim terrorism involves the condemnation of all attacks against life, rejection of hatred, and the unity of the international community to address its causes, says Cardinal Camillo Ruini....
Hamas Chief's Assassination Condemned by Holy See Says the Killing "Cannot Be Justified in Any State of Law" http://zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=51042 Vatican City, March 22, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The Holy See condemned the assassination of Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, who died during an Israeli airstrike...
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'THE PASSION'
Passion ignites world audiences http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3560773.stm The Passion of the Christ, which has aroused controversy around the world, opens in UK cinemas on Friday....
Gibson’s “Passion” arrives in the Middle East http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=544 Doha (AsiaNews) – The “Passion of the Christ” has made its debut in the mostly-Muslim Gulf Arab States. “We submitted 'The Passion of the Christ' to the censorship committee, which has no objection to its screening” said Abdul Rahman Mohsen, the director general of a private Qatari cinema company. The censorship committee previews and may edit scenes or images depicting prophets from holy books. Although “The Passion” narrates the experience of "Prophet Issa" (Jesus), the film has been released [uncut] ...
Could cinema be the saviour of Christianity? The Telegraph (UK) http://tinyurl.com/yutld Is Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ anti-Semitic, as London's Curzon cinema group claimed yesterday? Too violent? Too literal in its adaptation of the biblical text? Did Pope John Paul II really say, "It is as it was", or was that just a piece of studio spin? ...
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"THE WORD FROM ROME"
http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/
A weekly column in the National Catholic Reporter by the paper's full-time Vatican correspondent John L. Allen
Summary of the column for March 26, 2004: Canonist criticizes U.S. bishops sex abuse norms; Martyrs of the Eastern Catholic churches in 20th century Europe; A conversation with the former Archbishop of Canterbury; John Paul's latest book
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EVENTS
Jesus 4 Real Ministries http://www.jesus4real.org.nz "A voluntary lay ministry committed to building up the faith in Catholic teenagers" Camp for Years 11-13: Wednesday 14 April to Sunday 18 April, Paraparaumu (near Wellington). Full details on the Website and from Anne and Andy Lovell, tel (06) 364 3141
Auckland Catholic Eucharistic Convention, 16th to 18th April 2004 http://www.eucharistic-convention.com Logan Campbell Theatre, Auckland Showgrounds, Greenlane Road, Auckland. Two-page write-up in 'NZ Catholic' March 21-Apr 3 p.14-15 Full details on the Convention's Website.
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EMPLOYMENT
[Teaching vacancies in New Zealand Catholic schools are advertised in the Education Gazette: http://www.edgazette.govt.nz/vacancies ]
[Vacancies in Catholic Youth Ministry are advertised on the Job Bank page of the National Council for Young Catholics: http://ncyc.org.nz ]
Lecturer in Relgious Education, Catholic Institute of Theology, Auckland Details in 'NZ Catholic' March 7-20 2004 p.22 and from The Registrar, Catholic Institute of Theology, 16 Waterloo Quadrant, Auckland 1001. Tel: (09) 379 6424; fax (09) 379 6426; e-mail cit@auckland.ac.nz Applications close 31 March 2004
Presenters, 'NZ Catholic' newspaper 'NZC' wishes to employ good communicators in Northland, Auclland, Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Nelson-Marlborough, West Coast, Otago and Southland. Details in 'NZ Catholic' March 21-Apr 3 p.13 and from Dennis augustine, NZ Catholic, PO Box 147-000, Ponsonby, Auckland 1034
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