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FROM THE SECULAR PRESS
Remains of saint to visit local churches
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/timaruherald/0,2106,3426619a6571,00.html
The relics of St Therese of Lisieux are to visit Timaru and Waimate churches
next week as part of a pilgrimage initiated by the New Zealand Catholic
Bishops conference...
Preparing to be buttonholed (photo)
http://tinyurl.com/ackkg
Tulips and daffodils from the gardens of Catholic Women’s League members in
Alexandra have been turned into floral creations for Wear a Flower day
today...
Kiwi couple help school
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=29476
A couple on their way home to New Zealand when stopped at a small rural
community Catholic primary school in Veisari. Having seen the state of Saint
Thomas Aquinas Primary School. Brendan and Jane Schollum, who teach at the
Aquinas College in New Zealand, returned on Monday morning with
reinforcements...
Rare honour for teacher (photo)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/northland/0,2106,3424986a6015,00.html
Pompallier Catholic College biology teacher Laura Wallace has been awarded a
prestigious science fellowship. Laura has received the New Zealand Science,
Mathematics and Technology Teacher Fellowship for 2006....
Sea of colours likely at horse thanksgiving
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/waikatotimes/0,2106,3424971a6579,00.html
Organisers of Sunday's inaugural equine mass at St Peter's Catholic Church
in Cambridge say the service is not an attempt at a collective prayer for
the future of racing....
End of an era for Marist priests (photo)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/marlboroughexpress/0,2106,3425109a6008,00.html
An era is about to close in Blenheim with the departure of the Marist
priests who staff St Mary's Catholic parish. Priests from the Society of
Mary have been resident in the Blenheim parish for 141 years....
Pope Moves To Lock Out Gay Priests (audio file)
NewstalkZB 26/09/2005
http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11964-4812988-25,00.html
Newstalk ZB's John Dunne talks to Dr Mike Grimshaw, Senior Lecturer in
Religious Studies at Canterbury University, about the Pope's bid to prevent
gays from becoming priests.
Bishops Begin Discussing Major Issues
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5315198,00.html
Vatican City (AP) - Bishops from around the world begin tackling major
issues facing the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, including whether Holy
Communion should be given to Catholic politicians who back abortion rights
and to divorcees who remarry without getting an annulment. The priest
shortage, and whether celibacy contributes to it, as well as dwindling Mass
attendance also are expected to be discussed at the three-week Synod of
Bishops, during which bishops will offer recommendations to Pope Benedict
XVI on running the church....
Abbess Bernadette Smeyers. August 5, 1903 - September 17, 2005 (Obituary)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-1797518,00.html
The oldest retired Benedictine abbess in the world, Abbess Bernadette
Smeyers founded India's first female Benedictine community and made
pioneering recordings of Gregorian chant...
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'WEL-COM'
Catholic News for the Wellington and Palmerston North Dioceses.
Archbishop's column: Vision for Catholic schools
Next WYD in the south
For the first time World Youth Day will be held in the southern hemisphere
in 2008. Pope Benedict XVI told the tens of thousands of young people
gathered in Cologne for World Youth Day last month that he would travel to
Sydney to meet the world’s young people in 2008. This brought jubilation
from the team which put together Sydney’s bid for the big event. Sydney’s
Cardinal George Pell said it was a great privilege to have World Youth Day
entrusted to the Church in Australia...
In the presence of all peoples
Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres congratulated participants at a
cultural diversity day in Palmerston North last month on ‘continuing to
challenge yourselves’ through Social Justice Week. The day brought together
some 80 people from a variety of cultures to celebrate cultural diversity,
the theme of Social Justice Week which starts today. Joris de Bres said
incidents of racial intolerance over the past year had prompted many
unprecedented acts of solidarity...
Chanel principal a world swim champ
A chance challenge to a swimming race started Chanel College Masterton
Principal Jo Matthews on the path that lead to a silver medal at the World
Masters’ Games in Canada last month. Jo won silver in her age group in the
200 metres butterfly which makes her the second fastest person in the world
in this category. Jo says she has always been a sporting person and
specialised in sports teaching in her teacher training...
Brother jailed for sex abuse
A brother of the Society of Mary convicted last month of sexually abusing
boys in his care some 20 years ago, has expressed concern about the welfare
of the young men involved. Brother Andrew Cody has begun a two and a half
year jail sentence after admitting the abuse before a judge in the
Wellington District Court on 26 August...
Te Tiriti - we need continued patience on all sides
In 1995, the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference recognised the patience
of Maori people in working to have historic injustices righted. They
acknowledged that over 150 years after the signing of the Treaty, the
patience of many Maori was ‘being stretched to breaking point’. After
requiring patience on the part of the Maori people for so many generations,
the rest of New Zealanders equally need patience. It is only 20 years since
the jurisdiction of the Waitangi Tribunal was extended to historic claims.
Many New Zealanders can hope to see most historic claims settled within our
lifetimes...
Mothers' prayer group reaches the Antipodes
A worldwide prayer movement for mothers worried about the pressures on today’s
children has seen its prayer book translated into 25 languages. Veronica
Williams who started the movement, Mothers’ Prayers, with her brother and
sister-in-law in England, has just been in New Zealand and spoke to 35
mothers in Wellington last month. Since her visit eight new Mothers’ Prayers
groups have formed...
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FROM THE OVERSEAS CATHOLIC PRESS & NEWS AGENCIES
Oceania/Australia - Local Church launches ‘Catholic Australia’ newsletter on
the web: first issue focuses on World Mission Sunday
Sydney (Fides Service) - With a brand new publication “Catholic Australia� a
newsletter on the Internet, the Catholic Church in Australia aims to provide
Catholic parishes, schools, religious communities, lay associations and
movements with regular updated service of information on church structures
and events. Besides news on events, the monthly newsletter will devote space
to a variety of subjects, ranging from Church History, Spirituality and
Theology, to pages for the laity, young people, education, study, catechesis
and reflections on matters of interest and the relation between life and
faith as well as a special section for questions and answers:
http://www.catholicaustralia.com.au/page.php?pg=subscribe-index
Catholicism for the next generation
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi/tablet-01087
The success of Catholic schools seems to present a contradiction: at a time
when classrooms have never been so full, the churches they serve have never
been so empty. For all their popularity with parents, and for all their
much-praised success in generating communities of love and trust, Catholic
schools have had no success at all in halting the precipitous downward slide
in church attendance. These are the issues at the heart of a new study from
the U.K. Catholic Education Service, 'On The Way to Life' ...
Quiet as a tomb no more: Vatican hopes crowds visit sarcophagi museum
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0505552.htm
Vatican City (CNS) -- By far, the Vatican Museums' most popular destinations
are the Raphael Rooms and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. However the early
Christian funerary art gallery called the Pio Christian Museum is hoping to
come back to life with a new initiative sponsored by the Vatican Museums,
the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and the United Bible
Societies...
A Hushed St. Peter's; Theology of the Pietà ; The atheist of St Peter's
New Rules Mean a Quieter Basilica
http://zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=76999
Rome, Sept. 22, 2005 (Zenit.org).- In Italy, the "tramontana" is the brisk
wind that blows away the lazy days of summer and brings the crisp, busy days
of autumn. This September, it seems that a tramontana is gusting through St.
Peter's, as new rules and policies are enacted through the basilica....
Theology and the Genius of Women
Interview With Professor Josep-Ignasi Saranyana
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=77440
Pamplona, Spain, Sept. 30, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI this week pointed
out to some visiting bishops that a contradiction often exists between the
theoretical exaltation of woman's "genius" and the discrimination they face
in daily life. Father Josep-Ignasi Saranyana, director of the Institute of
Church History of the University of Navarre, in Spain, explained to Zenit
that many differences about the idea of woman also exist in theological
currents...
Out of the shadows. Opus Dei: secrets and power inside the Catholic Church,
by John L. Allen (book review)
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/book_review.cgi/past-00255
In my experience the most frequent reason given for disliking Opus Dei among
bien- pensant English Catholics is that it is “right-wing� in ecclesiastical
terms. John Allen does not see it that way. “It’s not quite right to call
this a ‘traditional’ alternative to a more ‘liberal’ post-conciliar
Catholicism, since from a historical point of view Opus Dei is not
traditional at all....�
A new wave of persecution against Hebei Catholics
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4205
While ties between the Vatican and Beijing appear to be improving, bishops
and priests in the region which is home to China’s largest Catholic
community are subject to armed threats and forced to sign up to the
Patriotic Association...
Being Christian under Taleban rule
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=4203
M is a Catholic Afghani and a refugee in Italy. He told his story to
AsiaNews, an account of discrimination and threats under the Taleban regime
owing to his family faith. His father was killed because he converted, and
to save his son, he did not tell him that he had been baptised. It was only
when he arrived in Italy that the boy discovered he was a Christian. "Now I
want to live for Jesus even when I am with my Muslim friends"...
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CATHOLIC COMMUNICATIONS NZ
Global Catholic News, plus sound files from Vatican Radio
Study suggests religion can damage society
Pope says civilisations must protect human dignity
Clergy say IRA decommissioning methods can serve as model
Poll finds divides between Vatican, US Catholics
European Bishops to tackle questions of evangelization in light of Vatican
II
Vietnamese government opens access to seminaries
Vatican Begins Nationwide Inspections At St. Louis Seminary
Behind the Vatican's Proposed Gay Seminarian Ban
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"THE WORD FROM ROME"
http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/
A weekly column by the National Catholic Reporter's full-time correspondent
in Rome, John L. Allen Jr.
This week ...
The cardinals' view of Joseph Ratzinger; Preview of the synod on the
Eucharist; Homosexuals and the seminaries; Benedict and Küng in cordial
confab
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ST THERESE OF LISIEUX: 2005 NEW ZEALAND PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE
19 September - 16 October 2005
http://www.theresepilgrimage.org.nz
The Pilgrimage continues on Sunday 2 October at Blessed Sacrament
Cathedral, Christchurch; Monday 3 October at the Carmelite Monastery, 52
Hallswell Rd, Christchurch; Tuesday 4 October at Holy Name Church, Ashburton
and Sacred Heart Basilica, Timaru; Wednesday 5 October at the Catholic
Church, Oamaru and Alexandra; Thursday 6 October at St Patrick's Church,
Arrowtown and St Theresa of Lisieux Church, Invercargill North; Friday 7
October at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Gore, the Little Sisters of
the Poor Home, Dunedin, and St Joseph’s Cathedral, Dunedin; Saturday 8
October at St Patrick's Church, Waimate and St Theresa of Lisieux Church,
Riccarton.
The Website for the Pilgrimage includes a full itinerary, a diary of the
Pilgrimage, a biography of St Therese, an article on the spiritual
significance of relics, and information on Carmelite spirituality.
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OTHER EVENTS
The Chris Skinner National Cathedral Tour, 19 September - 11 October 2005
Wellington priest Fr Chris Skinner together with Peter Van Gent Productions
proudly announce a 12-venue tour of New Zealand's finest cathedrals in
September and October. Chris will perform his hit songs including You Raise
Me Up and He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother -- recordings described by
industry veterans as being better than the originals! As a singer/songwriter
and recording artist, Fr Chris has been writing and performing his songs for
many years, his latest album Golden Light is a favourite among fans. Many
songs flow from his personal experience and listening to the stories of
others. Chris is a priest of the Society of Mary in New Zealand. Venue
details and booking page at: http://tinyurl.com/88me6
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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 ]
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