• The Sydney Morning Herald reports….the Catholic Church has asked director Mel Gibson to stage a reenactment
of the Crucifixion in Sydney.
The idea is part of a bid for Sydney to stage World Youth Day which attracts around 400 000 people.
The NSW Minister for Tourism, Sandra Nori, says apart from the obvious economic spin-offs for Sydney, the event would invigorate
Australia's religious life. Pope Benedict will announce the Youth Day City for 2008 on August 21.
• One of NSW's biggest church charities is about to post a $5 million operational deficit.
Chairman Dr Peter Jensen says the financial problems will be corrected. The charity spends 60 million dollars annually
in helping families and running eight high-care nursing homes.
Anglicare has announced it will wind back its support for some church-based services and reduce its annual funding of chaplains
by half a million dollars.
• The lead singer of U2, Bono has spoken explicitly about his faith in Christ.
In a new book "Bono in Conversation" by Michka Assayas, Bono says God's grace goes against the idea of karma.
He says "Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because
I've done a lot of stupid stuff." He says "I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross".
