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Theotokos Newsletter - Dec 2001|
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Theotokos Catholic Website Newsletter - Dec 2001 - No.1 http://www.theotokos.org.uk Dear Friend, Apologies for the impersonal greeting! You are receiving this Theotokos Newsletter because either I have been in touch with you at some time in the past year, or you have contacted me at the Theotokos Catholic Website - www.theotokos.org.uk - or a friend may have forwarded it to you. I'm hoping to put out a Theotokos Newsletter periodically - 3 or 4 times a year probably - and this is the first one. If you don't wish to receive it in future, then you can unsubscribe by replying to this email with "unsubscribe" as the subject. Hopefully, though, you will find it an increasingly useful resource. If you have any problems clicking on any of the links below, just copy and paste the URL into your Web browser - not all email programs can access the internet directly. Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year, Donal Foley p.s. If you have received this Newsletter from a friend, and would like to subscribe to future issues, then simply send an email to Please feel free to recommend this Newsletter to anyone you think might be interested in its contents and the topics covered on the Theotokos site. Just click on "Forward" in your email program, and select their address (in addition, a little note from you to them would help!). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Contents December 2001, Issue 1 1. Theotokos news 2. Books 3. Websites worth visiting 4. Security/virus info - Badtrans is bad news! 5. Petersnet Documents/Resources 6. Services worth using/supporting ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Theotokos News The Theotokos Catholic Website started in July 2000, and has had over 10,000 visitors since October 2000 - when the present counter was installed. The idea behind the site has been to look particularly at a number of issues which tend not to be covered too well in the usual approach to things Catholic - but it also seeks to cover some more familiar territory as well. The particular emphasis, though, has been on Fatima, Marian apparition discernment, creation/evolution and the new communities. Judging from the emails received the site contents have been very useful to a good number of people, so please feel free to comment on any aspect of the site, or put any question you may have to: I would commend several new sections, if you haven't been to the site for a while, and particularly: - the Recommended Books Section - http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/recbooks/recbooks.html and - the new Book Review Section - http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/breviews/breviews.html (If you know of any published book reviews which could be added to this section, or links to book reviews, then please let me know). Similarly, the World Apostolate of Fatima Pilgrimage from London next July is worth noting - http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/waof/waof.html as is the Foyer of Charity retreat at Boars Hill, Oxford, England, next September - http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/movecomm/foyer/eretreat.html You can visit http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/whatsnew/whatsnew.html for up-to-date info. Latest Fatima News Vatican Archbishop says no new Fatima Visions, Secrets VATICAN, Dec 7, 01 (CWNews.com) - Sister Lucia, the sole surviving Fatima seer, has not received any new messages from the Virgin Mary, and the "secret of Fatima" has now been revealed completely. That was the message of Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, in an interview on Portuguese radio. More details from: http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/cathnews/fatima/secret1.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Books Fatima in the Third Millennium by Timothy Tindal-Robertson In the Holy Year 2000 John Paul II performed three acts of major importance concerning Fatima, which individually and together, give significant new meaning to the Message of Our Lady - this important new booklet details Fatima's continuing importance for the Church's mission of evangelisation today More details at: http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/publicat/ctsbooks/fatima3m.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Websites worth visiting http://www.kirche-in-not.org Website of Aid to the Church in Need - a Catholic organisation helping the persecuted Church around the world UK email address: The Catholic Writer's Association (CWA) http://www.trincomm.org/cwa/index.htm abebooks.com - the world's largest source of out-of-print books http://www.abe.com/ Planetarium Software - links to astronomy programs - hours of fun! (StarCalc is a good free program, Starry Night is for those who want to splash out a bit) http://www.seds.org/billa/astrosoftware.html http://www.shareware.com/ - the way to find shareware on the internet http://www.alltheweb.com/ - one of the best internet search engines ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Security/virus info - Badtrans is bad news! You may have had the misfortune to encounter the "badtrans" email virus recently - unfortunately it seems to be very common. I have never known such a widespread virus, and I must have had at least twenty infected emails. Fortunately, the anti-virus software companies have now reacted and most such software should be able to isolate it - providing you have it installed! While it does not apparently do any real damage to your hard disk, "badtrans" does deposit a "trojan" and a key stroke logging program. A trojan, for the uninitiated, is a program which is capable of sending information from your computer, without you knowing about it, to the virus producer, principally, in this case, a log of the key stokes you have made recently. Thus it can be used to obtain credit card numbers and passwords etc. If you think you are infected, then you can download a tool - FixBadtr.exe - free of charge - to remove the virus from: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/FixBadtr.exe Other than that it is strongly recommended that you have anti-virus software which can be updated via the internet, such as is obtainable from Symantec - http://www.symantec.com/ or McAfee or another reputable company. The most important point is never to click on an attachment you are not sure about - even if it apparently comes from somebody you know. Badtrans is able to send out copies of itself to email addresses in the infected person's address book - so even people you know may pass on the virus to you unwittingly. With Badtrans, if you recieve an email from someone you have never heard of, with an exotic name, (or even from somebody you do know) ,and an attachment is included, and the total file size is about 40K - then be very suspicious! In addition, it is a very good idea to have a "firewall" program such as Zonealarm. This stops trojans from transmitting out of, and hackers from getting into, your computer. It is free for personal users, easy to use, and can be downloaded from: http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/partners/zonealarm/download.html However, in my experience, it is best to only activate Zonealarm when you are about to go onto the internet or download email, and then to deactivate it when you log off - its not meant to be on all the time. It's like putting a coat on when you go out, and taking it off when you come back in. But if you only use when actually connected, then it works very well. A good idea is to position its icon next to your browser/email program icon on your desktop, and then get into the habit of clicking on that just before you go online. Unfortunately, we seem to have reached the stage where anti-virus/firewall software is now more or less obligatory - you go without it at your peril! Important note: The above advice is not intended to replace professional advice on these matters - always back up your hard disk before making any changes/additions and if in any doubt seek professional advice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. Petersnet Documents/Resources - Petersnet (www.petersnet.net) is an excellent Catholic resource site well worth visiting - it has website reviews, archives, new documents, search engines etc. Below is a selection of links to some Petersnet material: A critique of John Cornwell's 'expose' accusing Pius XII of anti-semitism, published in "Inside The Vatican" in Oct 1999. http://www.petersnet.net/research/retrieve.cfm?recnum=1435 "Catholicism and the Bourgeois Mind" an article by Christopher Dawson, concerned with the clash between the secular culture and the Church. http://www.petersnet.net/research/retrieve.cfm?recnum=2580 "Inclusive Language: Is it necessary?" by Kenneth D. Whitehead - essay on the problems created by this new example of political correctness http://www.petersnet.net/research/retrieve.cfm?recnum=2623 Trinity Communications Research Database http://www.petersnet.net/research/study.cfm PetersNet Site List - ratings for websites http://www.petersnet.net/search/viewsitelist.cfm?all=yes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Services worth using/supporting http://www.kirche-in-not.org Website of Aid to the Church in Need - a Catholic organisation helping the persecuted Church around the world UK email address: New Eve Media - specialists in Web design, hosting, and promotion - they host the Theotokos site http://www.neweve.com/ PayPal - easy way to pay bills etc over the internet - without continually using your credit card http://www.paypal.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you have received this Newsletter from a friend, and would like to subscribe to future issues, then simply send an email to Please feel free to recommend this Newsletter to anyone you think might be interested in its contents and the topics covered on the Theotokos site. Just click on "Forward" in your email program, and select their address (in addition, a little note from you to them would help!). Privacy Statement: Theotokos Catholic Website will not distribute your email address to any third parties. If you have any ideas / news items / suggestions / feedback etc, for future issues, please contact me at: Copyright 2001 Donal Anthony Foley/Theotokos Catholic Website ------------------------------------------------------------------------ More info from: |
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