From http://thenewliturgicalmovement.blogspot.com/2008/07/report-on-chant-australia.html![]()
Notes and thoughts about catholic things by a Sydney, Australian Catholic living in London. He seems to like the sung latin mass, it's reverence, beauty. He believes that his religion is incarnational, from the latin - enfleshed, that realises we are bodily beings and what happens to our bodies and senses affects our spirit. He tries remember that the church is about God and for the people. The common man. Your average John and Amy in the pew.
http://www.maidenlane.org.uk/index_files/Page345.htm | |
The West End Churches
July 23 2008 > Crime down during WYD: NSW Minister
Crime down during WYD: NSW Minister
New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says that Sydney's crime rate during the World Youth Day week was the lowest it has been in a long time.
Zenit reports Mr Scipione attributed the drop to the presence of the
pilgrims and a general "sense of spirituality" in the air. He told Sky
News that extra police forces on hand seemed almost unnecessary, since the pilgrims were well-mannered and well-behaved.
Zenit also quotes Sydney Cardinal Pell as saying that the standing of the Catholic Church has been raised as a result of the success of World Youth Day. Cardinal Pell told reporters the public will be more ready to realise "that we Catholics have something to say on (life) subjects and will potentially give us a respectful hearing."
"This World Youth Day has demonstrated that the great majority of
Australians are quite open to what we have to say," he said.
If Mr Scipione had done his research, he would have known that the local crime rates have fallen during every world youth day despite an influx of hundreds of thousands of the age-group most commonly involved in crime; and he would not have sent such huge superfluous numbers of police to the events. Some joined in the spirit but many just stood around looking glum, in spite of being constantly told for the first time in their careers, "Thank you, you're doing a great job."
The Pontiff mentioned Australia at the top of a list of secularized countries during an impromptu question-and-answer session with priests of the Italian Diocese of Aosta in 2005.
He said a secularized society is one that is "tired of its own culture, a world that has arrived at a moment in which the need for God is no longer felt, and much less so of Christ, and in which, consequently, it seems that man might construct himself."
"In this climate of a rationalism shut-in on itself, which considers the model of the sciences as the only model of knowledge, everything else is subjective," Benedict XVI continued. "Naturally, Christian life also becomes a subjective option and, therefore, arbitrary. It is no longer the way of life."
"This happens especially in Australia," he added, "also in Europe, somewhat less so in the United States."
The Central Statistical Office of the Church announced last week that Catholicism is the largest religion in Australia, with 27.56% of the total population belonging to the Church.
Nonetheless, the office noted that while the Catholic population grew by 125,260 between 2001 and 2006, it failed to grow in proportion to the country's total population.
A national survey conducted in May 2006 revealed that the total number of people at Mass on a typical weekend was 708,600, or about 14% of the census Catholic population. That low number was already down a bit from 2001's count of 15%.