Loading...


 
Year of Paul an ecumenical opportunity: Pope
Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and representatives of other Orthodox and Anglican churches accompanied Pope Benedict in lighting a candle to launch the Year of St Paul.
[More]


Volunteers refuse WYD powers
Rural Fire Service and State Emergency Service volunteers will not seek "authorised person" status while assisting with WYD in order to avoid "negative interactions with people".
[More]


Vietnam up, US down on WYD numbers
A record number of Vietnamese pilgrims will attend World Youth Day this year but US numbers are down - and 50 Angola pilgrims are stranded in Sydney instead of Adelaide because tour organisers thought the SA capital was only an hour way.
[More]


Celebrate the living spirit: Bishops urge
Australia's bishops have urged Catholics to "celebrate the Living Spirit" to mark Aboriginal and Torres Islander Sunday this weekend.
[More]


Korean priests in Mass protest against US beef
Two hundred South Korean priests have celebrated a street Mass in Seoul to protest an unpopular government decision to resume beef imports from the US.
[More]


Bees for Benedict
Italian scooter manufacturer Piaggio has presented Pope Benedict with two new specially made three wheeled vehicles.
[More]


Feature - Walking away from what they do not know
"People who leave the Church are not leaving because they are rejecting the teachings of John Paul II or Pope Benedict. Most do so because they go to Catholic schools and they think that the kind of warm secular humanism with Christian gloss that they get in Catholic schools is in fact the Catholic faith and it hasn't captured their imagination, their love or their intellect so they are walking away from something that they do not know." - The Catholic Herald
[More]


Featured Website - First Things
First Things is a monthly ecumenical journal concerned with the creation of a "religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society." It is published by The Institute on Religion and Public Life in the United States of America.

 


[More]


Film Review - Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda is essentially a martial arts comedy and is a total action movie. It has striking effects and action sequences and a particularly impressive concluding fantasy sequence which brings DreamWorks to a new level of technological sophistication. There is a strong cultural feel about the movie and it heavily draws on Chinese culture to bring authenticity to its fantasy. - Peter Sheehan, Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting
[More]


Opinion - God is without circumference
His challenge was to see the beauty in every face, even when the owner of that face had long given up on it. Surely, that is to love others as Jesus did—Jesus the One who never gives up on us. If we are to love as Jesus loved, we need to be forgiving people. Forgiving people are bridge-builders and reconcilers. - Fr Chris Gleeson, Madonna
[More]




OPINION
Beyond knowledge to wisdom
I believe this is one of the crisis points for contemporary Christianity. Put bluntly, its representatives do not seem wise. Yes, those representatives can give you any amount of information, some of them can even speak knowledgeably of Christian teachings. Wisdom is another thing altogether. - Fr Michael Whelan [More] - Aquinas Academy



FEATURE
Connected across borders
It is time for leaders of nations to see their national interests as connected with the interests of people on the other side of the globe. We have reached the point where human existence is at stake and our destiny is inextricably linked. If we are to overcome this crisis of climate change we need to think beyond the confines of national states. - Just Comment [More] - Edmund Rice Centre



FEATURED CATHOLIC WEBSITE
Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta
Returning to our education theme, we shine the spotlight on arguably the most innovative Catholic education website in the country. In addition to all the standard features of any CEO site, Parramatta's includes some interactive opinion polls and a competition for students to attempt to ''Become the Executive Director for the day''. The site is also well regarded for its RE and curriculum resources.
- www.parra.catholic.edu.au



Warning: main(/usr/www/users/cathtele/adshow.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in E:\hshome\eureka0\cathnews.com\news\707\76.php on line 158

Warning: main() [function.include]: Failed opening '/usr/www/users/cathtele/adshow.php' for inclusion (include_path='.\;C:\HSphere.NET\3rdparty\PHP\4.4.7\PEAR') in E:\hshome\eureka0\cathnews.com\news\707\76.php on line 158

Vatican signs up for a carbon offset forest


The Holy See has accepted an offer from a climate solutions company to plant a forest in Hungary which will offset the Vatican's carbon dioxide emissions and make it the "first entirely carbon neutral sovereign state".

The Vatican is pushing its green agenda, joining a reforestation project aimed at offsetting its CO2 emissions for this year, PR Inside reports.

Cardinal Paul Poupard of the Pontifical Council for Culture accepted a certificate from Hungarian-based firm Planktos/KlimaFa stating that the reforestation of a large area of the Bukk national park in Hungary would compensate for all its emissions this year.

"This donation means an entire section of a national park in central Europe will be reforested," Cardinal Poupard said.

"In this way, the Vatican will do its small part in contributing to the elimination of polluting emissions from CO2 which is threatening the survival of this planet.

"As the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, had recently stated, the international community needs to respect and encourage a 'Green Culture,' characterized by ethical values. The Book of Genesis tells us of a beginning in which God placed man as guardian over the earth to make it fruitful. When man forgets that he is a faithful servant of this earth, it becomes a desert that threatens the survival of all creation…"

Monsignor Melchor Sanchez de Toca, the undersecretary for the Pontifical Council of Culture, told The Associated Press that polluting emissions from the Vatican would be offset by the reforestation.

"To eliminate emissions, there are two ways: either you reduce them by renouncing the use of cars or heating systems, for example, or you do something good to compensate them, such as planting trees," he said.

The company is planting the trees and the Vatican's acceptance of the move is purely symbolic.

"These are small initiatives that try to send a signal," Monsignor Sanchez de Toca said.

"We hope that other churches contribute with small gestures to spread the concern for the protection of the environment.

Just how much of the national park will undergo the reforestation project will be determined by this year's energy usage in the Vatican and its other emission reduction efforts, the Planktos/Klimfa statement said.

The reforestation project is part of a broader effort by the Vatican to go green.
Some of the Holy See buildings will start using solar energy next year, with photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity being placed on the roof of the Paul VI auditorium, which is used for the pontiff's general audiences.

Last summer, Pope Benedict XVI called on Christians to unite to take "care of creation without squandering its resources and (share) them in a convivial manner". He said lifestyle choices were damaging the environment and making «the lives of poor people on Earth especially unbearable.

The Vatican is also considering solar energy for other Holy See buildings, though historic landmarks like St Peter's Basilica will not be touched.

According to Planktos CEO and KlimaFa Managing Director, Russ George, "the Holy See's increasingly creative environmental leadership is both insightful and profound. Not only is the Vatican steadily reducing its carbon footprint with energy efficiency and solar power, its choice of new mixed growth forests to offset the balance of its emissions shows a deep commitment to planetary stewardship as well. It eloquently makes the point that ecorestoration is a fitting climate change solution for a culture of life."


SOURCE
The Vatican to Become World's First Carbon Neutral Sovereign State (Digital 50, 12/7/07)
Planktos/KlimaFa's New Vatican Climate Forest Initiative to Fully Green the Holy See (Planktos/Klimafa Media Release, 12/7/07)

LINKS (not necessarily endorsed by Church Resources)
Pontifical Council for Culture
Planktos
Klimafa

ARCHIVE
Worms tackle environment at Korean "Green Church" festival (CathNews, 8/6/07)
Vatican goes solar (CathNews, 28/5/07)
Green pope says save Amazon (CathNews, 14/5/07)

MORE STORIES
US leads search for climate solutions (BBC News, 9/7/07)


13 Jul 2007