Hurdling the WYD feeding challenge

The organizers for the World Youth Day Program in Sydney finally announced the 'feeding' plan of the participants in July this year.

WYD pilgrim services director Geoff Morris said the food would come with a distinct Australian flavour, with the iconic Vegemite sandwich and ever-popular Tim Tam appearing in lunch packs.WYD pilgrim services director Geoff Morris said the food would come with a distinct Australian flavour, with the iconic Vegemite sandwich and ever-popular Tim Tam appearing in lunch packs.

The organizers calculated that one million breakfasts will be distributed to about 700 accommodation sites; 1 million lunches to about 300 sites where the faithful will be undertaking catechesis (Catholic teachings led by a bishop) and 900,000 hot dinners to six CBD sites where evening functions will be held.

There you go. One very important concern that most of the pilgrims asked are answered six months before the program proper.

Remember -- leave no rubbish lying around and, stay healthy!

Take a rain check on climate change, says Pell

Controversial Sydney Cardinal George Pell, a well known climate change sceptic, is stirring the environmental possum again in an interview entitled "Global warming and pagan emptiness".

"I am certainly skeptical about extravagant claims of impending man-made climatic catastrophes," Cardinal Pell says.

"Climate change both up and down has been occurring, probably since earth first had a climate."

While Cardinal Pell recognises that temperatures rose 0.6 degree last century and had adverse impacts "in particular locations", he says that "when averaged out across the globe, it is difficult to see this being the main culprit for any overall global warming, let alone bringing us to the verge of catastrophe".

According to Cardinal Pell, "some of the more hysterical and extreme claims about global warming appear symptomatic of a pagan emptiness, of a Western fear when confronted by the immense and basically uncontrollable forces of nature".

"In the past pagans sacrificed animals and even humans in vain attempts to placate capricious and cruel gods. Today they demand a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions", he adds.

Well, it may well be that "pagans" are demanding a in reduction dioxide emissions but I wonder what Cardinal Pell has to say about the Vatican going carbon neutral.

Last year the Holy See signed up to accept carbon credits to offset the carbon emissions of the Vatican state and church. In fact, the Vatican was reported to have become the "first entirely carbon neutral sovereign state".

I don't think anyone has suggested that the Vatican has gone pagan!

Nor are Cardinal Pell's "pagans" totally alone in supporting the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions - they seem to be in the company of the pope himself - on this issue at least!

In any case, the cardinal is right about one thing - we all need to step back a bit and think clearly about these issues.

About Ruddy Time!

As I arrived in Australia in November it was amongst a fury of government lobbying just before a general election and as predicted (although with not as big a margin as hoped) the previous government got kicked out and ex-Prime Minister John Howard lost his seat.
Everyone was elated at the prospect of change.
One of Kevin Rudd's first major steps as the new Prime Minister was to go to Bali and ratify the Kyoto Protocol! Congratulations Australia. Now that only leaves America! Let's hope their next leader follows in the footsteps of Mr Rudd.

WHO....

Did you know that in December 2005 the World Health Organisation introduced a new criteria to their employment admissions. NO SMOKERS!!
Doing their bit for the environment and people's health but shouldn't there also be freedom of choice...? What do you think?

New Year’s Eve colourful debates

New Year found us highly spirited. In my two months of stay in Melbourne, it was my first time to experience seeing the train fully packed. People seem to spring out of nowhere and I got so amused seeing the federation square teeming with people.

The all time heat record high of 41 degree Celsius did not deter the mood of the revellers. I was truly hoping for a cool change of the weather but the New Year’s Eve heat just went on steadily.

The colourful display of the fireworks skipped a beat in my heart. It was really very fantastic. However, a part of me was also sad. The carbon emitted amidst all the ohhs and the ahhs of the crowd spelled an irreversible heat all around. No wonder why the cool change was very elusive.

Viva Kiva!

Here is a site with a really fantastic service that we could perhaps make use of in our YPD network.

Kiva provides a mechanism for connecting those with money to lend to those in developing countries who need finance for their projects.

It is doing record business after publicity on the Oprah Winfrey show and backing from Bill Clinton.

Anglican church chief slams ungodly waste

The primate of the Anglican communion, Canterbury Archbishop Rowan Williams has taken "God doesn't do waste" as the theme for his New Year's message.

"Despite constant talk about recycling and thinking 'green', we're still a society that produces fantastic quantities of waste," Archbishop Williams says.

"Look at the number of plastic bags flapping around by the roadside, in town and country alike and you see what I mean.

"In a society where we think of so many things as disposable; where we expect to be constantly discarding last year's gadget and replacing it with this year's model, do we end up tempted to think of people and relationships as disposable?

"Are we so fixated on keeping up with change that we lose any sense of our need for stability?"

Ekklesia reports that Dr Williams, who is also spiritual head of the 78 million strong worldwide Anglican Communion, says that those who have learned to discard rubbish and materials too easily are likely to do the same to people and relationships.

The archbishop's New Year message is filmed both in Canterbury Cathedral and at a nearby recycling centre, where he stresses his concern for the environment and the emphasises the moral and religious necessity of protecting it.

Dr Williams says that short-term exploitation of the earth's resources which produces fantastic quantities of waste has implications for other areas of life.

"A lot of the time, we just don't let ourselves think about the future with realism," he continued.

"A culture of vast material waste and emotional short-termism is a culture that is a lot more fragile than it knows.

"How much investment are we going to make in a safer and more balanced future?" he asked.

Dr Williams is also making his message available on YouTube as well as BBC television.

The Archbishop adds that "[God] doesn't regard anyone as a 'waste of space', as not worth his time - from the very beginnings of life to its end, whether they are successful, articulate, productive or not".

He concludes: "A life that communicates a bit of what God is like is a life that doesn't give up."