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

NEWS & NOTES - 15 November 2009

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

'NZ CATHOLIC' - No.329 November 15-28 2009

http://www.nzcatholic.org.nz

Record intake predicted for NZ seminary ... Bishops approve instruction for new Mass ... Description of priests as monsters upsets archbishop ... Jesuit activist says NZ should get out of Afghanistan and into peace ... 44 pilgrims follow Exodus journey ... NZ icon honours Hawaii icon ... Book review: The theolgogy of climate change ... Advertising Feature: Conference and Retreat Centres ...

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

FROM THE SECULAR PRESS

Billboard ad riles church (photo)
Herald on Sunday — A034 — 15 November 2009
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10609388
A billboard suggesting a priest could job-share with a man wearing a fetish mask has been labelled a "mockery of the Christian faith" by the Catholic Church. But the people who put it up have no intention of taking it down.

Community helps with upgrade (photo)
Northern Outlook
http://tinyurl.com/yj5ubcu
Collaboration between St Patrick's School PTA, the Youth Development Opportunities Trust and sponsors is resulting in better security and a visual improvement to the school's premises.

Finn gets red-carpet treatment (photo)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/3058484/Finn-gets-red-carpet-treatment
The red carpet was rolled out and the grape juice flowed at St Joseph's Church Hall earlier this week for the premier of 12-year-old Finn Whittington's movie The First Struggle.

Bill Donnelly — a life well lived (photo)
http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=14669
Bill Donnelly's contribution to his whanau, sport, and Gisborne in general was reflected in the procession of people through Te Poho-o-Rawiri Marae, where he lay in state for two days, and the massive turnout at St Mary Star of the Sea Church — a lot of people didn’t know he schooled at the convent then Marist Brothers.

Teschemakers chapel elements may be moved
http://www.odt.co.nz/the-regions/north-otago/81737/teschemakers-chapel-elements-may-be-moved
An application for consent to remove five stained glass windows from the historic Teschemakers chapel, in the grounds of the former Catholic boarding school, has led two North Otago men to call for the chapel to be left intact.

Dunedin church to receive marble altar from chapel at Teschemakers
http://www.odt.co.nz/the-regions/north-otago/81866/dunedin-church-receive-marble-altar-chapel-teschemakers
The marble altar from the chapel at Teschemakers is heading to the Holy Name Church in Dunedin, according to a Catholic parish newsletter.

City's new priests brush up cooking skills (photo)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/3054368/Citys-new-priests-brush-up-cooking-skills/
Many people may find it strange New Plymouth's newest Catholic priests come from India. But even though less than 2 per cent of Indians belong to the Catholic faith that still makes them 17 million strong and more than 14,000 of them are priests. Father Vijay, 31, and Father Sanjay, 32, are two who decided to come and help fill some of the gaps.

HRH puts shine on golden effort (photos)
Hutt News
http://tinyurl.com/yfrdbf2
Not some stuffy or stand-off Royal: that seeemed to be the consensus of scores of pupils at Sacred Heart College who got to chat to Prince Edward when he took a break from the formal part of the Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award ceremony.

Matty takes off for China (photo)
Hamilton Press
http://tinyurl.com/yk2zhus
Matty Bauernfeind leaves for China this Saturday to receive stem cell therapy, and his classmates at St Peter Chanel Catholic School have been helping to make sure he gets there.

Icon honours priests
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/kaikoura/3051272/Icon-honours-priests
This year the Catholic Church is celebrating the Year for Priests and to commemorate the occasion an icon of St John Vianney is touring the country.

Council may move school to make space for park (photo)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10608557
Auckland City ratepayers will pay up to $15 million to build a new primary school in Hillsborough under a deal being negotiated between Deputy Mayor David Hay and the Catholic Bishop of Auckland, Patrick Dunn.

NZ offer to asylum seekers 'unlikely'
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10608531
New Zealand is unlikely to offer refuge to 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers plucked from a stricken boat, Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman said yesterday.

Building bridges towards unity (photo)
The Catholic Leader (Brisbane)
http://www.catholicleader.com.au/news.php/features/building-bridges-towards-unity_53717
An interview with Monsignor Juan Usma Gomez, a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity with special responsibility for relations with Pentecostals, the second largest Christian community after Catholics. Mgr Usma Gomez visited New Zealand in early November.

Brainwave programme educates future parents (photo)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10608342
"If you give children lots of hugs and kisses, are you going to make them soft: true or false?" asked Brainwave Trust educator Wendy Nelson yesterday. "False," replied the boy near the front of the Year 9 class at De La Salle College in Mangere East, the first mainstream school in the country to get Brainwave's education programme on how infants' brains develop in their first three years.

Te Ara Hou Celebrates 10 Years As A Social Work Innovation
http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/te-ara-hou-celebrates-10-years-social-work-innovation/5/29625On 11 November Te Ara Hou, the innovative social services village situatedon Morrinsville Road, celebrates 10 years of working together to address social issues in Hamilton. Te Ara Hou is the result of a joint vision between Council, which initially purchased the village's land, and Anglican, Presbyterian and Catholic social work agencies.

Cook book
Taranaki Daily News, 10 Nov 2009, Edition 1, Page 12.
From the Heart: A Recipe Book from Sacred Heart Girls' College. Reviewed by Deborah Sloan. The New Plymouth Catholic girls' college is putting together a good-quality, full- colour recipe book as a fund-raiser.

Mission complete for money-raising lads
Taranaki Daily News | 13 Nov 2009 Page 5
It can be a difficult task raising money for worthy causes during a recession, unless you come from Francis Douglas Memorial College. The students broke their own record in impressive fashion on their traditional Mission Action Day

Balloon goes up for popular principal
Bay of Plenty Times — A002 — 12 November 2009
Your years at secondary school are defined by many things but for students at Aquinas College it will be their principal, Brendan Schollum, who helped mould and create the most memorable.

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

INSPIRATIONAL TV - http://inspirationaltv.net

** Post-abortion trauma **
Sister Stephanie Kitching talks to Suzanne O'Rourke of the Voice for Life national charitable trust ( http://www.voiceforlife.org.nz/main )

** Give generously **
The Last Judgment (Mark 13, 24-32), a reading and homily by Fr Ted Tyler of the Catholic Diocese of Parramatta, Sydney, Australia.

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

'BEING FRANK' - http://www.beingfrank.co.nz

New Zealand Catholic Blogs. Some current topics ... Here’s to Hope (happiness and hope in Costa Rica) ... The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world (the BBC's "Intelligence Squared" debate) ... A little bit of Friday-night cornerstore evangelisation (Friday night in Kinshasa, Congo) ... School pride (on attending Priuzegiving at Rosmini College) ... God is good? (responding to the massacre at Fort Hood).

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

ALL THINGS CATHOLIC, by John L. Allen, Jr.
http://ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic

Spain takes a page from the US pro-life playbook
http://ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/spain-takes-page-us-pro-life-playbook

Americans who have spent any time in Catholic circles in Europe have likely been subjected to some clucking about our alleged political myopia. Even the most doctrinally conservative European Catholics often lament what they see as an obsession in America with abortion, and an over-identification of the American church with the political right. Conveniently ignored is the fact that the church’s political alignment in a given culture often depends on factors beyond its control. In both Europe and the States, one such variable is how open the political left is to pro-life sentiment. To put the point bluntly, if pro-lifers (including Catholics) can’t find a home on the left, many of them are obviously going to end up on the right...

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

WORLD NEWS OF THE CHURCH

http://www.nzcatholic.org.nz

http://www.romereports.com (video)

http://www.youtube.com/vatican (news of Pope Benedict - video)

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

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 ]

Administration Assistant/Receptionist (part-time), Wellington Catholic Education Centre
http://www.wcec.org.nz
Details in 'Wel-com' November 2009 p.15, and from wcec@wn.catholic.org.nzand Veronica Gray tel: (04) 496 1718 ; fax: (04) 496 1715. Applications close 16 November 2009.

Parish Secretary (part-time), Sacred Heart and San Antonio Parishes, Eastbourne/Petone
Details in 'Wel-com' November 2009 p.8 and from sacredheart@paradise.net.nz Applications close 27 November 2009.