Monday, 23 April 2012

‘I was hungry and you fed me.’ Mt 25:35

CATHOLIC MISSION today launched its 2012 Church Appeal with the theme ‘I was hungry and you fed me.’ This campaign will appear in parishes around Australia throughout the coming months and aims to highlight the missionary response to both the spiritual and physical needs of the people in this humanitarian crisis that has crippled Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa following the devastating drought and famine.

Thursday, 2 February 2012

An interview with Bishop Giuseppe Filippi, Bishop of Kotido, Uganda

Wednesday,18 January 2012

CATHOLIC Health Australia is pleased to see Mental Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler today issue a draft “roadmap” for mental health reform over the next 10 years, and now waits eagerly for a similar way forward to be presented for aged care reform.

Monday 16 January 2012

By John Pontifex
ACN

THE Punjab government in Pakistan stands accused of “brutal injustice” for sending bulldozers into a Church-owned site and demolishing homes for poor, elderly and homeless people, a school for poor girls and a church.

Thursday, 12 January 2012

STORIES of survival and perseverance aren’t hard to come by in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake reduced much of the island nation to rubble on 12 January, leaving more than 200,000 dead and a further 600,000 injured or homeless.

Sunday 15 April 2012

WHEN Bob Nichols was born in 1922, Daniel Mannix was Archbishop of Melbourne, bread and milk were delivered by horse and cart, the world was recovering from the Great War and the Depression was only a few years away.

Tuesday, 10 April 2012

BRUCE DAWE is one of Australia's most prolific poets. Born in Fitzroy in 1930, he grew up in the Depression era and counts himself lucky to have made it to secondary school. Dawe has worn many hats in his life, including that of a labourer, postman, trainee telegraphist with the RAAF, teacher, poet, university lecturer, husband and father. He believes the path his life has taken has been due to a mixture of luck and coincidence. It was at the University of Melbourne that Dawe's ability to write was recognised and encouraged and also where he found Catholicism, to which he converted in 1954. Religion is a thread woven throughout his poetry.

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

EXCEPTIONAL numbers of finishing year 12 students have decided to carry their passion for social justice into young adulthood. More than 20 students from Caroline Chisholm Catholic College, Braybrook are heavily involved with the St. Vincent de Paul Society, serving people in need within their local area.

Monday 23 January 2012

FOR most Victorian students, getting to school for the first day of class in 2012 will be easy.

Sunday 1 April 2012

By James McAlpin

Makes 12 buns.

Ingredients:

• 150g sultanas (soaked in orange juice for 1 hr before adding to the flour)
• 150g currants (soaked in orange juice for 1 hr before adding to the flour)
• 100g candied orange peel, coarsely chopped (soaked in orange juice for 1 hr before adding to the dough)

Dry ingredients:

• 750g (5 cups) plain flour, sifted
• 55g (¼ cup) castor sugar
• 2tsp (14 g) dried yeast
• 1tsp allspice
• ½tsp cinnamon
• ½tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Wet ingredients:

• 1 orange, finely grated rind only
• 250 ml water (or liquid from the
• soaked fruit)
• 100 ml milk
• 100 g unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
• 1 egg
• Flour Paste
• 100 g plain flour
• Enough water to create paste
• Glaze
• 55 g (¼ cup) castor sugar
• 10 ml water
• ¼ tsp mixed spice

Equipment:

• Small pot
• Large bowl
• Small bowl
• Flour sifter
• Scales
• Rectangle ovenproof container
• Oven

Method:

Soaking dried fruit:

• Place all dried fruit in a small bowl and cover with orange juice.
• Heat in the microwave, or on the stove, until the orange juice is warm.
• Remove from heat and soak the fruit for at least an hour.
• Pour off the excess liquid (this can be kept and added to the dough).
• The fruit is now ready to be mixed into the dough.

Making the dough:

• Sift all dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix together, making a small well in the middle in preparation for the liquid.
• Melt the butter, combine with the milk, water (or soaking liquid) and egg in a small bowl, and whisk together; this will form your wet ingredients.
• Pour the wet indigents into dry ingredients and combine. The mix will look dry and you will think you need to add more liquid; however, once you start to mix, the dough will form its shape.
• Place the rough looking dough onto the bench and start to knead it together. Slowly incorporate the dried fruit and keep kneading. I recommend kneading for about 10 minutes. As you keep kneading you will notice the dough changes colour, increases in temperature and becomes smooth.
• Place the dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel, and allow to rise—it should double in size in one to two hours, depending on the outside temperature.
• After the dough has risen, place back on the bench and 'knock back'. You are removing all the risen air in the dough. Cut the dough into 150-gram pieces, roll into small buns and place on a baking tray.
• Allow the buns to rise again for about 30 minutes.
• Place the flour paste in a piping bag and pipe the white cross over the buns. Bake in the oven at 195C for 15-20 minutes.

Glaze:

• Place one tablespoon of apricot jam and enough water to cover it in a small saucepan.
• Heat the mixture until the jam dissolves. Allow to cool, ready to brush over the buns to give them a lovely shiny glaze.

Serving:

• Allow the buns to cool on a wire rack.
• Brush the buns with the glaze.

Photo by Fiona Basile.