Building gone but Church ok
Historic Sydney church goes up in flames
By Ramon Williams
Sydney, NSW - At 3.30am on Wednesday, May 10, 2006, several alerts were made, by phone and automatic alarm, reporting that the 149-year-old, Historic St Barnabas Anglican Church on Broadway, Sydney, was burning. Now there is only the shell of a building left. (More)

Barney’s destroyed by fire
Sydney, NSW - Ash continues to rain down on inner city streets following a fire that has gutted one of Sydney’s most historic and well-loved churches. (More)

Building burns; church survives
Sydney, NSW - The land-mark sign in front of St Barnabas Broadway declares in one emphatic word the congregation’s focus following the fire that devastated their house of worship: Eternity. (More)

Catholic empathy for Anglicans after Sydney church burns
Sydney, NSW - After an inner-city Sydney Anglican church was destroyed by fire, Parramatta Catholic Bishop Kevin Manning - whose cathedral was destroyed by fire 10 years ago - has said that God will not let the Anglicans down. (More)

Hopes rise for hit and run victim
Sydney, NSW - A Sydney Anglican youth leader left for dead after a hit-and-run accident is making good progress on his painful journey to recovery. (More)

Adventist Church Responds to Da Vinci Code
Sydney, NSW - The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific has responded to the release of the Da Vinci Code movie with a mass media campaign that includes a DVD, a book, internet websites and seminars in various locations throughout Australia. (More)

Restructure for Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
Sydney, NSW - The Australian bishops voted this week to "reconfigure" the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, which includes a plan to restructure and downsize the current 19 Bishops' Committees to 12 Commissions. (More)

A Pastoral Letter on the Restructure of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
Sydney, NSW - The Bishops of Australia have for some time been seeking to create more opportunities to discuss pastoral issues of national significance during their twice-yearly Plenary Meetings. (More)

Catholic Bishops and Islamic leaders meet together for lunch and dialogue
Sydney, NSW - In a landmark meeting, the Catholic Bishops of Australia invited a group of Islamic leaders to their Plenary Meeting this week, to have lunch together, to engage in Interfaith Dialogue and to visit the tomb of Blessed Mary Mackillop. (More)

Year 13 students kiss and tell
Sydney, NSW - Heather Bray didn’t expect her Year 13 course to teach her how to kiss.
But last week, as part of the nine-month ‘gap year’ program, she learnt how to give the kiss of life during the St John Ambulance Senior First Aid course. (More)

Budget response: Wesley Mission
Sydney, NSW - One of Australia’s largest church-based charities Wesley Mission has described the 2006-07 Federal Budget as a budget largely designed for those with financial independence. (More)

NSW Commission calls for $20pw basic pay rise
Sydney, NSW - In its written submission to this year's NSW State Wage Case, the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations has called for an increase of at least $20 in the minimum wage. (More)

Archbishop moved by mine rescue joy and sadness
Sydney, NSW - The prayers of millions of Australians over the past fortnight have been answered with the successful rescue of Todd Russell and Brant Webb at Beaconsfield in Tasmania yesterday, according to Hobart's Archbishop Adrian Doyle. (More)

Catholic Bishops give thanks for safe rescue of miners
Sydney, NSW - The Catholic Bishops of Australia, meeting in Conference at Mary Mackillop Place in Sydney, today express our joy at the safe rescue of the trapped miners Brant Webb and Todd Russell. (More)

"Jesus, all about life" reaches all
Ramon A. Williams
Sydney, NSW - At the Supporters' Lunch for "Jesus. all about life" held in Sydney, May 4, 2006, the success of the campaign to provide a means for churches and individuals to share the facts about Jesus was shared by the founders and achievers alike. (More)

Putting their mission where their mouths are
Sydney, NSW - Moore College students who have spent years learning the art of evangelism will be expected to put their pen-strokes into practice as they head out on Moore College’s Mission Week. (More)

Pell affirms commitment to dialogue with Muslims
Sydney, NSW - Sydney's Cardinal George Pell has defended himself against accusations from Muslim leaders that he is "ill-informed" following the publication on his website of a speech on Islam delivered to US Catholic business leaders. (More)

Australian Conference Elects New President
Sydney, NSW - Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide has been elected the new president of the Australian bishops' conference. (More)

Unmarried Priests (A) By + Cardinal George Pell Archbishop of Sydney
Sydney, NSW - In 1990 there was a Rome meeting of bishops from around the world on how best to prepare Catholic priests. As always a large contingent of the press was present, many ex-priests, who wanted to allow priests to be married. They waged a strong campaign. (More)

Pell says marriage no cure for pedophile priests
Sydney, NSW - Cardinal George Pell has said that statistics show that marriage will not prevent paedophilia, with 90 per cent of paedophile crimes committed by married men. (More)

Arabic Heritage League Award for Parramatta's Bishop Manning
Sydney, NSW - Bishop Kevin Manning received the 2006 Kahlil Gibran International Award at a celebration on Sunday night to mark the 25th anniversary of the Arabic Heritage League in Australia. (More)

Bishop Manning receives Arabic Heritage League Award
Sydney, NSW - The Bishop of Parramatta, the Most Rev Kevin Manning has received the 2006 Kahlil Gibran International Award from the Arabic Heritage League. (More)

Nuncio reflects on emerging style of Benedict XVI
Sydney, NSW - The emerging style of Benedict XVI as a "Pope of dialogue", could offer a model of "reaching out" which had relevance for all Episcopal ministry, the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Ambrose De Paoli, told Australia's bishops at the beginning of their current plenary meeting in Sydney. (More)

Worlds apart brought together
Sydney, NSW - Mehmet Saral is a well-known face in two different worlds – the Gallipoli mosque at Auburn and an Anglican home group in Beverly Hills. (More)

Seekers and the city
Sydney, NSW - Naomi McGrath has shed her painters smock and donned a power suit to help seek and save the lost in Sydney’s CBD. (More)

Historic meeting of separated Josephites
Perthville, NSW - "Black" and "brown" Josephites joined together at a meeting in the NSW Central West at the end of last month that sought to understand the differences that drew them apart, with a view to working closely together in the future. (More)

Historic gathering of Josephites at "link Site"
Perthville, NSW - When a large group of Sisters of St Joseph, gathered recently at Perthville NSW for a conference entitled “Understanding Our Past. Moulding Our Future”, the focus was on a common desire to work towards closer connections and unity in mission amongst all the groups of Australian and New Zealand Josephites. (More)

Catholic Social Services worried about childcare quality
Canberra, ACT - Catholic Social Services is worried that changes to the Government's childcare benefit scheme will result in low income parents missing out on much-needed childcare places as providers chase profits in high-income areas. (More)

Federal Budget Reveals The Use By Date of Dual Public Hospital Funding
Canberra, ACT - ‘Last night’s federal budget bypassed increasing public hospital funding despite the widespread public angst over waiting lists and hospital conditions,’ CHA’s CEO Francis Sullivan said. (More)

Christian leaders seek end to political spin
Canberra, ACT - Putting a spin on things, rather than speaking the truth, has become the norm, according to a group of Australian Christian leaders who last week issued a statement on what it means to believe in and follow Jesus Christ in Australia today. (More)

Christian leaders call for accountability on 'violence, fear and deception.'
Canberra, ACT - A group of Christian leaders in Canberra have called for an examination of public life, in a statement issued last week.
“Christian faith has deep connections to social and political issues, including how we respond to violence, fear and deception,” said the group, who include members of the Uniting, Baptist, Catholic and Anglican Churches. (More)

Amnesty, Vic ALP moves on abortion provoke Catholic ire
Melbourne, Vic - A number of pro-life organisations have spoken out against Amnesty International's declared intention to spread abortion rights around the world, and in Victoria the ALP Catholic Right failed to stop Premier Bracks' resolve to go to this year's election with an abortion decriminalisation platform. (More)

Dorothy Day intercession to be sought on Respect Life Sunday
Melbourne, Vic - Intercessory prayer on Respect Life Sunday this weekend in the Archdiocese of Melbourne will seek favours from Dorothy Day, the modern saint best known for her work as a social activist with the US-based Catholic Worker movement. (More)

Adelaide's Wilson elected as Bishops Conference President
Adelaide, SA - Adelaide's Archbishop Philip Wilson has been elected as the new president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. (More)

Federal Budget support for Hobart Cathedral
Hobart, Tas - Hobart's Archbishop Adrian Doyle has welcomed Federal Government support announced in Tuesday's Budget for the restoration of the historic St Mary's Cathedral in Hobart. (More)

Joy and sadness at Beaconsfield rescue success
Hobart, Tas - The prayers of millions of Australians over the past fortnight have been answered with the successful rescue of Todd Russell and Brant Webb at Beaconsfield this morning, the Archbishop of Hobart, the Most Rev. Adrian Doyle, said today. (More)

Australian miners rescued after 2 weeks
Beaconsfield, Tas - Two Australian miners who survived for two weeks in a kennel-size cage trapped 3,000 feet underground walked out of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine early Tuesday and punched the air, freed by rescue crews drilling round-the-clock by hand. Associated Press (More)

Pastoral associate calls finding miners alive "a miracle"
Beaconsfield, Tas - The pastoral associate of Beaconsfield parish in northern Tasmania, Sr Frances McShane, has said she believes that finding two miners alive in the local gold mine was the result of masses and prayers offered for them and their families from all over Australia. (More)

During Australian mine drama, town's residents show signs of faith
Beaconsfield, Tas - Most Sundays, only about 40 regulars attend Mass at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in the small Tasmanian mining of town of Beaconsfield, said Franciscan Father Brian Lester. (More)

National mass count continues this Sunday
Australia - The national "census" on church attendance will continue this Sunday in all parishes and other Mass centres throughout Australia. (More)