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Dear readers,
This is the last News & Notes for 2012. I will restart in the third or fourth week of January, depending upon how much there is to report.
A very happy Christmas to you all and every best wish for the new year.
God bless,
Mike Leon
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'NZ CATHOLIC' - Christmas 2012
In this issue: Pro-life doctors could be jailed ... Eight twins, twelve kids, lots of love ... 2012 in review ... Christmas season Mass times ... NZ bishops' submission on marriage ... Bumper Cnhristmas crossword
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FROM THE SECULAR PRESS
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CHRISTMAS 2012
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Church leaders' Christmas message: It's a matter of faith
Church leaders say our annual celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ is a reminder that life has a meaning beyond our knowledge and understanding. This is their combined Christmas message
Carols and candy a hit (photo caption)
Cambridge Edition
Inn character (photo caption)
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Priceless relic found in convent rubble (photo)
Catholic nuns from the under-deconstruction Nazareth House convent in Christchurch have been given a surprise early Christmas present. A sacred ceremonial monstrance thought to date to the early 1900s has been returned intact after a demolition crewman stumbled across it by chance.
Long-serving priest dies at 100 (photo)
Marist priest George "Chalky" Duggan died in Upper Hutt recently, aged 100. Long-serving Marist priest George "Chalky" Duggan, once described as "chief among the divine publicists" by a Wellington journalist, has died in Upper Hutt, aged 100.
His glass weas briming to the end (photo)
A poor joke could have cost him a long and loving marriage. Huntly lad Terry O'Reilly met Trish O'Mahony at a Catholic Church dance in Hamilton. She asked him what he did for a living. ''I'm a clown in a circus,'' he replied – and she rather lost interest.
Traditional Italian blessing of modern fishing boats (photo)
Holy water is being used in a bid to improve Otago commercial fishing catches. Catholic priest Fr Mark Chamberlain blessed three Careys Bay fishing boats yesterday morning, before sprinkling holy water on the decks and anointing them with oil.
Plan to demolish Euphrasie House (photo)
A community group is fighting to keep an old Hamilton East building from being demolished to make way for a modern diocesan centre. Euphrasie House was built in 1939 as a convent and used as a hostel for students at Sacred Heart Girls' College until it closed last year.
Former Catholic brother to fight extradition on abuse charges (photo)
Convicted sex offender Bernard Kevin McGrath, a former Catholic brother, plans to fight his extradition to Australia.
Family, friends mourn drowned teenager
About 200 people gathered at Catholic Cathedral College to remember drowning victim Tominiko Junior Pelenato. Tominiko, 16, drowned on Saturday afternoon while swimming in the lake at the Pegasus Town development in North Canterbury.
Scholarships lure students north (photo)
Two Taranaki teenagers have ended a dry spell for their college after both won lucrative University of Auckland scholarships. Francis Douglas Memorial College dux Jonathan Ritchie and proxime accessit Sam Fastier are two of the region's five recipients of the $50,000 scholarship.
Caritas mobilises in Pacific for cyclone relief
Caritas agencies in the Pacific are mobilising to provide cyclone relief and assistance to thousands of people in Samoa, Fiji and elsewhere affected by Cyclone Evan.
Earthquake attraction starts to take shape (photo)
Historic pieces of Christchurch's damaged infrastructure have begun arriving for a new exhibition at Canterbury Museum.
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INSPIRATIONAL TV
'Experience it':
Luke 1: 39 - 44 Great joy, a reading and commentary by Sr Stephanie Kitching
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NEW ZEALAND CATHOLIC PODCASTS
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LIGHT OF THE WORLD - Otago Catholic Access Radio
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16 December – Fr Tom Pfiefer omi recalls his work as a missionary in Oaxaca, Mexico. And each week, Kevin Flaherty reads from The Joy of Knowing Christ, published by The Word Among Us Press.
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STATION XV
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Station XV: Episode 63 — Papal Preponderance and Preoccupation
It's been a big month for Pope Benedict — the man himself, and a caricature of him in New Zealand. The panel chats in this Christmas episode of The 15th Station about the Pope's new book on Jesus, Benedict featuring in an ad for a power company that seems to promote gay marriage (and the reaction from the Church to that), as well as his new document looking at Catholic identity. There's also reflection on a New Zealand Anglican bishop getting a new post at the Vatican and a new take on the New Evangelisation.
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'BEING FRANK' - New Zealand Catholic blogs
** Sharing in the Christmas spirit at work… (Christmas in a Moslem country)
** Reconciliation (a parish celebration of Reconciliation (Rite 2))
** Waiting… (on seeing the Hobbit)
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NEW ZEALAND CATHOLIC PERIODICALS & NEWSLETTERS
'NZ Catholic' is a national newspaper published by the Catholic Bishop of Auckland. http://www.nzcatholic.org.nz
Catholic Diocese of Hamilton. 'Kete Korero'. http://proudtobecatholic.org.nz/news-events/kete-korero/
Catholic Dioceses of Palmerston North and Wellington. 'Wel-com' http://www.welcom.org.nz
Catholic Diocese of Christchurch. 'Inform' http://www.chch.catholic.org.nz/?sid=25
Catholic Diocese of Dunedin. 'The Tablet' http://www.cdd.org.nz/the-tablet
The Nathaniel Centre. The New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre. 'The Nathaniel Report' http://www.nathaniel.org.nz/?sid=5
NZ Catholic Education Office. 'Lighting New Fires' http://www.nzceo.catholic.org.nz/pages/resources/resources_lighting_new_fires.html
NZ Catholic Education Office. 'Good News and the News' http://www.nzceo.catholic.org.nz/pages/resources/resources_good_news.html
Society of Mary. 'Marist Messenger' http://www.maristmessenger.co.nz
St Columban's Mission Society. 'The Far East' http://www.columban.org.au/?MID=200510192652
'Tui Motu Interislands'. An independent Catholic magazine. http://www.tuimotu.org/articles
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NEW ZEALAND COMMENTARIES ON THE SUNDAY READINGS
Living the Word - Fr Frank Bird sm http://livingtheword.org.nz
Reflect - Veronica Lawson rsm http://www.welcom.org.nz/?sid=394
Daily Reflections (right-hand column) http://www.maristmessenger.co.nz
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FACEBOOK
Pompallier's People: The Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand
Bishop Patrick Dunn
Catholic Discipleship College
SMNZ Marists - the Society of Mary in New Zealand
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NEWS OF THE CHURCH IN NZ AND THE WORLD
http://www.romereports.com (video)
http://www.youtube.com/vatican (video news of Pope Benedict)
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EVENTS
Parachute Music Festival, Hamilton, 25-27 January 2013
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EMPLOYMENT
[Teaching vacancies in New Zealand Catholic schools are advertised on the Website of the Education Gazette: http://www.edgazette.govt.nz ]
[Job vacancies at the Archdiocese of Wellington are listed on http://www.wn.catholic.org.nz/jobs ]
[Catholic overseas volunteer vacancies are listed on the Vacancies page of http://www.mahitahi.org ]
Director, Pastoral Services, Archdiocese of Wellington
Details in Wel-com December 2012, p.2 and from info@wn.catholic.org.nz
Leader, The Logos Project
Details in 'NZ Catholic' December 16 - 26 January p.11, and at http://www.logos.org.nz/index.php/80-news/116-leader-wanted Applications close 21 January 2013
