During his pastoral care visit to Australasia, HG Bishop Raphael led the celebrations of Melbourne Golden Jubilee of the Youth Meeting on Sunday May 12. Bishop Raphael honored the ministers who served the Coptic Church in Australia for the past 50 years.

St. Mark Coptic college in Liverpool, West Sydney, Australia, celebrated the birthday of the blessed Virgin Mary and the martyrdom of St. Mark. The celebration started with the Holy Mass followed by a number of Spiritual and Entertainment shows.

Bishop Raphael of the Central Cairo Churches attends the celebrations of Mother s Day in Melbourne diocese on May 12 at the family conference. This comes as part of the pastoral care visit to Australia from May 9 to 23, and include the states of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the Canberra Federal Capital.

The Cathedral of the Virgin and St. Mina in Australia celebrated Easter and Sham Alnasim holidays after the Holy Mass. The celebrations were headed by Father Abdulmesh Girgis who distributed free food on the attendees including traditional Egyptian food. Sham Ennisim is an Egyptian national holiday marking the beginning of spring.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, celebrated the Maundy Thursday at the Monastery of St. Mina in Mariout, Alexandria. The prayers were attended by Abba Kyrilous, head of the monastery and the monks.

Anba Antonius, The Archbishop of Jerusalem, said that Israel wants to control Deir al-Sultan under the pretext of restoration. He added in his interview with ME SAT Coptic TV that there is a plan to change the identity of the monastery in order to prevent the Coptic Church from restoring it again, and we had to demonstrate to stop that plan.

St. Mary and St. Mina Cathedral in Bexley District, south of the Australian city of Sydney, prepared a special program for children during the Holy Week that they will lead the prayers till the celebration of the Easter holiday. The prayers will be led by a priest and will be concluded on April 29th.

Pope Tawadros II declared his intention to establish childhood bishopric during his meeting with the youth of Alexandria. He said that he is seeking a suitable bishop for the mission and he wants to establish a bishopric for children till 15 years old, and another bishopric for the family.

Synod of the Evangelical Nile organized a seminar in Sharqia about Spreading tolerance through dialogue. The seminar was attended by Pastors of the Evangelical Church and representatives of the Ministry of Awqaf and the leaders of the Academy, and was attended by Rev. Dr. Tharwat Qadis, Chairman of the Academy of Dialogue Dr. Ayman Samy, Vice-Chairman of the Council for Dialogue and Ecumenical Relations of the Evangelical Church, Dr. Ikram Lamai, Head of the Information and Publishing Council of the Evangelical Church, Rev. Rifty Fathy, Secretary General of the Synod of the Nile, and Dr. Ahmed Darwish, Professor at Al-Azhar University. During the meeting with teachers of the school, they discussed how to spread the idea of dialogue and tolerance between religions.

Bishop Daniel of Sydney laid the foundation stone for the expansion of St. Mark Coptic College in Wattle Grove, NSW. The celebration was attended by Mr. Craig Kelly, Federal Member for Hughes, Clr Wendy Waller, Mayor of Liverpool, and Mr. Maid Zaki, Secretary of the NSW Coptic Schools Board.

Bishop Daniel of Sidney laid the foundation stone of the Church of St. Marina in Bennett, west of Sydney. During celebrating the Divine Liturgy, the bishop ordained four new deacons. The bishop has also laid the foundation stone of a new service building on the name of St. Mina and St. Kirillos.

ROME—Italy s lower house of parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a resolution of Wednesday calling on the government to “officially recognize the Armenian Genocide” and elevate the profile of the issue on an international level. The bill was approved with 382 votes in favor, none against and 43 abstentions mainly from members of the opposition center-right Forza Italia party of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

St. Paul s Cathedral in Melbourne, Australia, witnessed the graduation ceremony of a new batch of the students of the Theological Seminary that included 418 graduates, including 12 Coptic men and women. The graduates received diplomas in theology and postgraduate studies in theology, including Father Angelos Rophael, priest of the Church of the Archangel Michael and St. Antonaus. The Coptic minister Shadi Nasim received a master s degree in theological studies.

Sharqia governorate witnessed the first exhibition of Coptic art organized by Zagazig City Council, in coordination with the Art and Life Foundation at the Nile Center for Media in Zagazig. The exhibition was attended by a number of senior officials and 40 artists including the international Coptic artist Adel Nassif.

The Bibliotheca Alexandria hosted today 75 contestants of the Miss Environment contest who are making tour around Egypt. They visited all its sections and museums and expressed their happiness for the good reception and the great culture and civilization, heritage and hospitality they touched in Egypt. It is noteworthy that the Bibliotheca Alexandria used to receive participants in the competition of the Miss Environment in recent years as part of their tours to promote tourism in Egypt.

In what was described as a bold movement, Father Shenouda Mansour, priest of St. Anthony and St. Paul’s Church at Gilford, Sydney, shaved his hair in solidarity with cancer patients. Mansour performed a haircut on his head in solidarity with leukemia patients suffering from chemotherapy.

The Police in Zagazig governorate announced that reports of bomb threats in the Church of St. Phelopatir in Zagazig were found to be negative. The Bomb squad checked the prices of a metal box, no explosive devices were found.

HG Bishop Hermina of Eastern Alexandria, presided over the holy mass at the church of the Virgin and St. George at Ghobrial neighborhood in Alexandria. The ordination ceremony was attended by a number of the clergy at the church and Bishop Hermina delivered a sermon about the divided houses.

Bishop Daniel of Sydney, and Abba Danial, head of the Monastery of St. Shenouda, celebrated today the Golden Jubilee of the Coptic Church in Australia at the church of St. Mark in Sidney. The celebration was attended by the Australian Prime Minister who stood a minute of silence and offered condolences to the families of the victims on two mosques in New Zealand.

St. Mary Church in Samalout, Minya, organized a training session for 1000 servants on the skills of ecclesiastical education. The course included the biblical characteristics of Effective Education and the personality of the servants.

Bishops Gregory and Paisel of southern USA visited today St. Mark Cathedral in Alexandria where they were received by Bishop Bavly of Montazah. They made a tour at the Cathedral of St. Mark and visited the tomb of the Patriarchs and learned about the history of the ancient church.