austraLasia 1804
Christ is Risen!  He is truly Risen! (and this is my Easter card to all those who have sent Easter greetings!)

News roundup (some of these items may be extended in the coming days)

Miyazaki, Japan: The annual Youth Catholic Camp was held in Miyazaki's Hyuga Gakuin (Salesian secondary school) seaside cottage from 27-30 March. The YCC offers faith education to youth attending Catholic schools in Kyusyu region. The theme this year was the Sacrament of Reconciliation - being loved and loving each other! There were 47 participants from 9 Catholic schools run by 9 Congregations of male and female religious. Many alumni of previous YCC came along to help as leaders. Some Catholic schools used this camp as an induction experience for new teachers. YCC has become a model of faith education for young and old and is now extended to Fukuoka and Nagasaki Diocese.

Tokyo, Japan: Fr Compri, director of the Cimatti museum at Chofu, but also an 'afficiionado' of the Holy Shroud of Turin announces that one of Japan's major publishing companies will be releasing a book next month on the Holy Shroud, in Japanese. The author is none other than the incomparable Compri himself. Meanwhile he continues with the important work of electronic transcription of the 6,000 letters of Mons. Cimatti with a view to publishing these certainly on CD but also in book form. Fr Compri will be 50 years a priest in March 2008. He has dedicated many of those years of priestly service to the 'cause' of Mons. Cimatti.

Melbourne, Australia: Whoever said that prophets are not recognised in their own country? Australia has been by far the most generous in its recognition of the value of The Gospel According to Judas, especially in bringing people back to reading the real gospels!  Yesterday we noted an interview with Stephen Crittendon of Radio National (ABC).  Today, Australia's only truly national newspaper, The Australian (could it be other?) has a comment-cum-interview style review, noting that the National Geographic story on the apocryphal gospel, and the Archer-Moloney effort together 'bookend' the period from Easter last year to this. You will find still more information on this fascinating theme, or is it a collection of themes, if you read Jill Rowbotham's version of it all.  It is available to download from the Bosconet homepage 'what's new' section.

Honiara, Solomon Islands: Archbishop Adrian Smith writes to give an update on the tsunami situation - number deceased between 24-30 but upward of 100 missing. 900 homes down, 5,000 homeless.  Many wounded, 12 have arrived in Honiara and are in the National Referral Hospital.  They have an emergency plan; they expect this figure to increase.  Prime Minister pledges Five Million Solomon Dollars to the relief programme.  A Salesians of Don Bosco initiative assisted by Caritas Australia has chartered a ship to take relief to the west.  200 x cartons of 1.5 litre bottles of water, 170 x 15 litre bottle water, 500 x 20 Kg bags of rice, 60 bales of mixed clothing, 50 cartons x family size Taiyo (Canned Fish), 1000 treated mosquito bed nets.  10 x 5 litre cooking pots, 3 x 20 litre cooking pots, 10 bales cooking salt, 10 bales sugar, 5 cartons tea, 3 x 3,000 litre water tanks.  Before leaving the ship hoped to receive an open amount of the following: Kettles, Saucepans, Clothesline Rope, spoons, flour, cooking oil, bed sheets, batteries, torches, candles, matches, bath soap, laundry soap, towels, bush knives, kerosene lamps, cups, plates, canvas and wheelbarrows.  Chartering of the ship could cost SBD 60,000.00.

In all Churches on Easter Sunday there will be a special collection for the Tsunami Victims.  The news is going around that the scientists are saying within two weeks another big quake.  Dear Lord spare us!

Cyberspace: Don Botsco: the charism takes yet another turn!  He is not yet open to public conversation but he does exist!  Don Botsco is a lovingly-kind 'chat bot' or a construction of artificial intelligence capable of holding a conversation with you.  HE will be available on Bosconet once we have him geared up for a less generic conversation than he presently manages :-) .  You can help and really, your help is absolutely necessary to ensure a really useful Don Botsco!  Could you give me, in ordinary language, a conversation snippet betweeen DB and a young person (let's say the overall theme is 'vocation', to give it some direction).  Believe me, creating the bot is no difficulty (the famous XML rides again; it really is the super development of the century). The difficulty is in ensuring we have a natural conversation in real language consisting of either a question and a response or a statement and a response (or many questions/statements and responses).  It helps to think in snippets, or memes (A meme is a unit of cultural information).  You can help by sending your contribution to me directly, using the address below (email or email attachment).
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