austraLasia 1347
East Asia focus for Vatican Christmas Concert; elsewhere 'Christ for Christmas' gains momentum
VATICAN CITY: 6th December 2005 -- The annual Vatican Christmas Concert, a fixture since 1993 around this time of the year, was held in the Paul VI auditorium last Saturday. It will be broadcast, at least in Italy, on Christmas Eve. This year the concert was held with the missions of East Asia and the 5th Centenary anniversary of St. Francis Xavier's birth in mind. Francis Xavier is the patron of the missions. He died on December 3rd 1552, just 100 kms or so off the coast of China. The concert, as the Vatican's own communique on the event described it, 'is an encounter between a diversity of countries, cultures, religions, life experiences, ideals, musical genres and styles' which highlight the universality of the Church. Artists, and it is a real stellar line-up of big names, are not paid for their performances, but regard it as a great honour to be chosen. This year's performers included South African singer and human rights activist Miriam Makeba, Irish rock singer Dolores O'Riordan and Canada's Paul Anka. A Brazilian artist, Daniella Mercury, was dropped from the list of performers because she hinted she would use the occasion to promote condoms! The concert itself is attended by the who's who of Church and State from all over the world (though the Pope does not attend). The concert is a 'benefit' concert and this time will strongly support Jesuit missions in East Asia.
In South Asia, a Bengali language TV channel is featuring a 15 day lead up to Christmas in its morning meditation show 'Upashona', with presenter Fr Robin Gomes sdb, the coordinator of the Social Communication Commission for Kolkata Archdiocese. Segments of the presentation, all focused on the person of Jesus, highlight ideas such as Jesus the Real Guru, the Good Teacher, the Healer. Fr Gomes is an experienced presenter, having worked with Radio Veritas, Asia since 1990.
Meanwhile in Australia, Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide, as part of his personal mission to restore Jesus as the central figure in Christmas celebrations, this week blessed replicas of the infant Jesus in the cathedral, for children to place in cribs at Christmas time. This is the third year running that the Archbishop has run this campaign, inviting children to bring their cribs to the cathedral to be blessed, as a reminder of the central meaning of Christmas.
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AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml
East Asia focus for Vatican Christmas Concert; elsewhere 'Christ for Christmas' gains momentum
VATICAN CITY: 6th December 2005 -- The annual Vatican Christmas Concert, a fixture since 1993 around this time of the year, was held in the Paul VI auditorium last Saturday. It will be broadcast, at least in Italy, on Christmas Eve. This year the concert was held with the missions of East Asia and the 5th Centenary anniversary of St. Francis Xavier's birth in mind. Francis Xavier is the patron of the missions. He died on December 3rd 1552, just 100 kms or so off the coast of China. The concert, as the Vatican's own communique on the event described it, 'is an encounter between a diversity of countries, cultures, religions, life experiences, ideals, musical genres and styles' which highlight the universality of the Church. Artists, and it is a real stellar line-up of big names, are not paid for their performances, but regard it as a great honour to be chosen. This year's performers included South African singer and human rights activist Miriam Makeba, Irish rock singer Dolores O'Riordan and Canada's Paul Anka. A Brazilian artist, Daniella Mercury, was dropped from the list of performers because she hinted she would use the occasion to promote condoms! The concert itself is attended by the who's who of Church and State from all over the world (though the Pope does not attend). The concert is a 'benefit' concert and this time will strongly support Jesuit missions in East Asia.
In South Asia, a Bengali language TV channel is featuring a 15 day lead up to Christmas in its morning meditation show 'Upashona', with presenter Fr Robin Gomes sdb, the coordinator of the Social Communication Commission for Kolkata Archdiocese. Segments of the presentation, all focused on the person of Jesus, highlight ideas such as Jesus the Real Guru, the Good Teacher, the Healer. Fr Gomes is an experienced presenter, having worked with Radio Veritas, Asia since 1990.
Meanwhile in Australia, Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide, as part of his personal mission to restore Jesus as the central figure in Christmas celebrations, this week blessed replicas of the infant Jesus in the cathedral, for children to place in cribs at Christmas time. This is the third year running that the Archbishop has run this campaign, inviting children to bring their cribs to the cathedral to be blessed, as a reminder of the central meaning of Christmas.
_____________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml
