WORLDWIDE PHOTOS LTD The Religious Media Agency

WEEKLY NEWS REVIEW

October 10, 2002

INDEX

AUSTRALIA: 1. ALCOHOL SALES AT PETROL STATIONS (Wesley Mission) 2. CANDLELIGHT CEREMONY OF HOPE (Angl Dio of Newcastle) 3. DEBT FREE DRESS SENSE IN ANGLICARE SHOPS (Anglicare NSW) 4. DOCK WORKERS DISPUTE DELAYS TRANSMITTER (HCJB World Radio) 5. RELIEF APPEAL FOR DROUGHT VICTIMS IN VIC (The Slvtn Army news) 6. KINCHELA’S STOLEN GENERATIONS (World Vision Aust)

OVERSEAS: 7. SHARP DIVISIONS OVER SHARIA LAW (Christian Herald) 8. BLAIR WOOS FAITH GROUPS ON IRAQ (CofE Newspaper) 9. BIBLE SOCIETY’S ALARM OVER PIRACY OF BIBLES (allAfrica.com) 10. ZIMBABWEANS BEGIN DYING OF STARVATION (Church Times) 11. GOSPEL IN BRAILLE (Christian Herald) 12. NORWICH: ‘NEW ERA FOR THE CHURCHES’ (Christian Herald) 13. JOSHUA’S LEGACY (Christian Herald) 14. RAIDERS TAKE THE LOST ARKS (Christian Herald) 15. ANIMALS BLESSED IN CHURCH (Challenge Weekly)

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1. ALCOHOL SALES AT PETROL STATIONS (Wesley Mission) The proposal to permit the sale of alcohol at petrol stations and supermarkets is the triumph of economic rationalism over common sense, Wesley Mission’s Social Policy Consultant Dr Keith Suter said on Wednesday. Dr Suter said that while the proposal had been touted as an impetus for increased competition for bottle shops and hoteliers, overseas experience had shown that the proposal was foolish. He explained that, “The easier it is to obtain alcohol, the greater is the consumption of it. Far more people are killed each year because of alcohol than all the narcotic drugs combined. We should be looking at ways of reducing its availability – not increasing them.” Wesley Mission runs a wide range of programs for alcohol and drug dependent people.

2. CANDLELIGHT CEREMONY OF HOPE (Angl Dio of Newcastle) The Right Reverend Roger Herft, Anglican Bishop of Newcastle, will conduct a blessing at The Cancer Council’s Relay For Life fundraising event this Friday night 11th October. Relay for Life is a fun, outdoor 24-hour event, where teams of 10-15 people take turns to run or walk around a local oval to honour those who have had their lives touched by cancer. The event is a celebration of life, bringing together cancer survivors, carers, family and friends with the common goal of defeating cancer. This year the event will be held on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th October at The Forum Sports & Aquatic Centre at the University of Newcastle. Bishop Roger will conduct the blessing and discuss the spirituality of life and death at the Candlelight Ceremony of Hope at 7.30pm this Friday. During the ceremony, participants families and friends will be invited to light a candle to remember someone who has died from cancer, or to support someone coping with cancer. The candles will burn throughout the night.

3. DEBT FREE DRESS SENSE IN ANGLICARE SHOPS (Anglicare NSW) Families across Sydney are busy implementing stringent saving plans for Christmas, leaving many of them in a fix to find affordable spring fashions. ANGLICARE’s Charity Shops can provide a timely spring solution to this problem. As the cost of living increases, more households across Sydney are struggling to afford life’s necessities. The national household debt now stands at $590.5 billion. “The change of season is a great time to look for bargains and update your old wardrobe with new fashions,” says Kathie Downey, Retail Manager of ANGLICARE Shops.

4. DOCK WORKERS DISPUTE DELAYS TRANSMITTER (HCJB World Radio) The dock workers labor dispute on the West Coast of the U.S. has held up the shipment of a 100,000-watt short-wave transmitter to HCJB World Radio-Australia’s property near the continent’s northern coast. The transmitter, designed and built at the ministry’s Engineering Center in Elkhart, Indiana, is destined for Kununurra near the northern coast of the continent.. “Many of you have prayed about all of the roadblocks that the Australian office has met each step of the way to get a short-wave radio site up and running in Kununurra,” said Dave Pasechnik, director of the center. “God has been awesome throughout this five-year process. Now we need His intervention again.” A team from Elkhart is in Kununurra to install the antennas and the transmitter as soon as it arrives. The goal is to begin the short-wave broadcasts on Dec. 22, reaching across Asia, the South Pacific and parts of Africa with Christian programs.

5. RELIEF APPEAL FOR DROUGHT VICTIMS IN VIC (The Slvtn Army news) The Salvation Army has launched an appeal to support its work amongst farmers in Northern Victoria going through a difficult time because of the drought. They say they will be co-ordinating their efforts with the special ‘community officers’ working with the State Government and ensuring that the personal needs of farmers and their families are catered for in the best possible way. Donations to assist the work of the Salvos in this area can be sent to The Salvation Army Emergency Relief Appeal by phoning the credit card line 13 32 30.

6. KINCHELA’S STOLEN GENERATIONS (World Vision Aust) The first ever reunion of Kinchela’s Stolen Generations took place in the NSW north-coast town of Kempsey last month. More than 50 former residents of the notorious Kinchela Boys Home who were removed from their families as babies and young children converged on Kempsey for a week of events culminating in a celebration and healing ceremony on Saturday, September 7 at the site of the former boys’ home just outside the town. More than 400 Aboriginal boys went through the home over 47 years until it was closed in 1970. The brutality, cruelty and sexual abuse suffered by residents of the home was documented in Bringing them Home, the report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families.

7. SHARP DIVISIONS OVER SHARIA LAW (Christian Herald) Christian and Muslim leaders, who have met to discuss religious tension in Nigeria, remain sharply divided on the strict Islamic Sharia law that has been implemented in 12 Nigerian states. At a meeting of Nigeria’s Inter-religious Council (NREC), Christian leaders told their Muslim counterparts that the Sharia laws, which call for punishments such as stoning, amputation of hands and floggings for certain offences, were not right for Christians.

8. BLAIR WOOS FAITH GROUPS ON IRAQ (CofE Newspaper) The Prime Minister is to invite Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury-designate, to a “faith summit”, called to win the backing of religious leaders for any future war on Iraq. Downing Street has been annoyed by church leaders’ outspoken criticism of plans to launch an attack on Saddam Hussein and is afraid that it is losing the moral argument in the eyes of the public. John Battle MP, Tony Blair’s adviser on “inter-faith” affairs, is organising the meeting of 20 religious leaders, which will include representatives from the Muslim Council of Britain. To add to the Government’s problems in persuading the country that attacking Iraq is the way forward, the retiring Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, has made his reservations public for the first time. In an interview for Australian television, Archbishop Carey said that there are currently “no grounds whatsoever for war against Iraq.”

9. BIBLE SOCIETY’S ALARM OVER PIRACY OF BIBLES (allAfrica.com) The Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) has raised alarm over the piracy of Bibles, being produced by it, in Yoruba, Efik, and Isoko languages among others. The Society, which made this known at a media briefing addressed by its General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Rev. (Dr.) Fred B. Odutola, in Lagos, alleged that the Bibles were being reproduced illegally in India and repatriated to Nigeria by “some unscrupulous Nigerians”. He said the perpetrators were lately affixing Nigerian BSN logo on the fake Bibles, saying that although the police have stepped into the matter, they feel compelled to warn their numerous customers, who may have unknowingly been buying from them that the guarantee to accept defected copies will not extend to pirated Bibles.

10. ZIMBABWEANS BEGIN DYING OF STARVATION (Church Times) James Nichol in Harare has reported for Church Times in England, that in a particular village in Zimbabwe, “people were living on wild fruit, some on leaves and grass. Three people had been buried that week: all had died of starvation. In Matabeleland, 12 such deaths have been confirmed.” According to a report published recently by the SADC Vulnerability Assessment Committee in collaboration with the Zimbabwean government 4,580,000 people require food aid now. By March next year, it will be 6,700,000 people, or 49 per cent of the population. At least 50,000 people in every district are in danger of starving; in some, it is more than 150,000. These figures include the evicted farm workers, which the report numbers at 489,000, each with a family. Another 750,000 people have been evicted since then.

11. GOSPEL IN BRAILLE (Christian Herald) The Torch Trust for the Blind, Malawi, has sent Braille Bible volumes in the Hausa language to Nigeria. The volumes were produced near Blantyre in Malawi by an African workforce. Set up two years ago, the operation has already produced the entire New Testament and the major Old Testament books in Chichewa Braille as Chichewa is the principal language of Malawi. It is moving on to produce Braille Bibles for Zambia in the Bemba language.

12. NORWICH: ‘NEW ERA FOR THE CHURCHES’ (Christian Herald) Seventy Norwich churches have joined together with Norwich City Council to help focus on some of the social issues facing the city – such as teenage pregnancies, anti-social behaviour and crime. The alliance was forged at a meeting between the council’s leadership, senior officers and 140 representatives of Christian churches and organisations from across Norwich. The council invited the churches to meet after discussions with Nicholas Vesey, vicar of St Luke’s with St Augustine’s, New Catton.

13. JOSHUA’S LEGACY (Christian Herald) The death of an eight-year-old boy in Britain, has led to the launch of a new Christian-based project to help children deal with loss. Joshua Deriaz suffered sudden onset of a malignant brain stem tumour early last year, dying just 21 days after diagnosis. His mother, Sarah, and father, Paul, struggled to come to terms with their son’s dramatic decline – and how to explain it to his sister Sophie, then aged nine. The family also became aware of the need for educational resources to help schools when an unexpected death occurs within their community. They have launched the initiative through the Christian educational charity “cre8ed”.

14. RAIDERS TAKE THE LOST ARKS (Christian Herald) Television producer Marcia Engel, currently filming a new biblical drama series in South Wales, is concerned that two replica Arks of the Covenant have been stolen in recent months. The original prop was stolen from a carpentry workshop in Penclawdd, while the replacement disappeared from a farm in the Vale of Glamorgan. The third “Ark” is now locked away for safety. Jacob’s Ladder, a co-production between HTV and EO (Evangelische Omroep) in the Netherlands, is scheduled for screening in the spring of 2003.

15. ANIMALS BLESSED IN CHURCH (Challenge Weekly) In Auckland, New Zealand, the church of St-Matthew-in-the-City reverberated to a different kind of sound last Sunday. There were barks, meows, quacks, neighs and other animal noises at the church, which held the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) annual Blessing of the Animals service. The event, which attracts hundreds of people and their pets every year to the 100-year old church in Hobson Street in Auckland’s inner city marked the start of International Animals Week. The life of St Francis, patron saint of animals was also commemorated.

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