The Record Newspaper - 23 February 2006

The Cure WINNING BACK THE CHRISTIAN SEXUAL ETHIC

Part 2 of our series on the Theology of the Body - by Christopher West

VISTA 1-3

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BENEDICT’S WAY: John Allen talks in Sydney on the Pope’s agenda Page 3

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FIRST CHOICE: UNDA is increasingly popular with student teachers Page 3

SBS: takes stock on Mary episode after Muslim protests worldwide Page 5

Bishops go for media Australia’s bishops highlight media’s role in evangelisation The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference launched its first Pastoral Letter on the Church and the Media under the heading “Go Tell Everyone” at Notre Dame University in Sydney on Thursday night last week.

The document was formally launched by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Ambrose di Paoli, Also present were the Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell, the Chairman of the ACBC Archbishop Francis Carroll of Canberra, and the chairman of the Bishops’ committee on the media Archbishop Barry Hickey.

Earlier in the day at a media luncheon at the Bishops’ House adjacent to the Cathedral and at the formal launch, Archbishop Hickey emphasised the need for the Church and society to dialogue Continued on Page 6

Sydney opens marriage arm 70 years a priest: Abbott Placid Spearitt OSB of New Norcia, Fathers Steve Hawe, Nishan De Saram, Archbishop Barry Hickey, and Fathers John Lisle, Geoff Aldous and Pat Rooney gather with Fr Reg Hynes after concelebrating Mass for his 70th anniversary of ordinaiton last week.

Photo: Jamie O’Brien

■ By Paul Gray

Since January 23, Australia’s newest promoter of Catholic marriage and family life has been operating out of a Sydney office.

Mr Chris Meney, former schoolteacher and navy officer, John Paul II Institute graduate and married father of nine, is the foundation director of the new marriage and family office of the Catholic archdiocese of Sydney.

The new office has a role in assisting Continued on Page 2

Brother priests gather with Fr Reg to celebrate 70th ■ By Jamie O’Brien

Seventy years after he was ordained, Fr Reg Hynes, aged 96, has set the record as the oldest and longest serving priest within the Perth Archdiocese.

However, his priestly ministry

actually started in New Norcia before he was later incardinated in the Perth Archdiocese.

Fr Hynes anniversary was celebrated last week with Mass

by Archbishop Hickey and Frs Pat Rooney, Steve Hawe, Geoff Aldous and Nishan De Saram

at the Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, Glendalough attended by family and friends.

The youngest of seven children, Fr Hynes grew up in Waterloo, 15kms from Bunbury and went to Waterloo State School before going to St Illdephonus College

INDEX

CLOSER TO THE CENTRE The St Vincent De Paul Society has purchased and opened new national offices in Canberra, relocating from Sydney. The move will improve advocacy to Government, it says.

Page 4

UNDA commencement Letters Being Heard The Family is the Future Classifieds/Diary/Panorama

New Norcia. After starting his studies for the priesthood in the seminary of Manly, Sydney, Fr Hynes went to the Propaganda Fide College in Rome, where he completed his training and was ordained on February 9 1936.

Continued on Page 5

SCHOOL WELCOMES GIRLS - Page 5 - Page 6 - VISTA 4 - VISTA 4

The Christian brothers’ Agricultural School at Tardun is making history. Next year it will open its doors to enrolment from girls the first time it has done so since it opened.

- Page 11

Page 5

Go tell everyone In an era saturated by the influence of the media, Australia’s bishops grasp the possibilities for evangelisation Full text of the pastoral: Pages 7-10

February 23 2006, The Record

Page 2

Office draws on new family directions A Sydney initiative sees the Church backing family policy with resources Continued from page 1

and working with similar organisations inside and outside Sydney in trying to promote the image of marriage and family.

“The essential brief is projecting the image of marriage and family into the culture a little bit more - a Christian understanding of what marriage is, the value of the family, and how important it is for society as a whole,” Mr Meney told The Record this week.

Mr Meney sees the new marriage and family office as “very strongly” linked with other newly developing work in the Australian Catholic community today, such as the operations of the Respect Life Offices which have been established in several archdioceses in recent years.

His approach to the work of the new office, which was officially opened by Cardinal George Pell this month, also draws strongly on the ethos of new Catholic marriage and family movements which have emerged around Australia in the past 10 years.

With his wife Mary-Clare, Mr Meney was involved in establishing the National Association of Catholic Families. The Association’s focus is for families to get together once every six to eight weeks for a shared lunch and a guest speaker on some aspect of family life, in response to John Paul II’s call to families to “associate in order to serve one another.” The couple were drawn to this ministry by their own family experiences.

“I suppose it comes with being a father and a parent,” Mr Meney says. “Parents need to develop a strong focus on servicing what they think are the important needs of

families and for their own children.”

Mr Meney also has a deep admiration for many other contemporary Catholic family movements.

“There are a host of different family ministries and movements,” he says. “They do very good jobs in different ways. I don’t think there’s any universal model. I think it’s important to encourage people to act in accordance with the way they feel their gifts and talents can be best used.”

“I think it’s important for people to get involved in whatever opportunities are around to support marriage and family.” Relationship stability is one of the major challenges facing families which want to bring up their children Catholic today, Mr Meney says.

“The whole notion of whether a family is a unit which has a reasonable chance of remaining intact is a big one for kids,” he says.

“The divorce issue, the notion of having children, how many children, is it affordable in Australian society in 2006 and beyond. Whether it is feasible to have a life-long relationship with one person: that’s another thing which is questioned by the culture.

Mr Meney says Australia today is not a culture that is “bereft of opportunities to pursue happiness.”

But he says young people are starting to “critique” certain attitudes and becoming more selective about what they choose for their own lives.

“I do see signs of change,” he says.

“Young people in the age group 1625 are starting to critique the generation beyond them, and to say, ‘well, whatever they’ve got, it’s not what I’m looking for.’

“They’re looking for something that demonstrates a greater level of authenticity. They’re not interested in trying to ‘have it all.’ I think young people recognise that for all their desire to pursue one’s wants and preferences at whatever cost, many people aren’t happy.

“Having a whole series of different relationships doesn’t make people happy. Running the risk of attracting a venereal disease, over the long run, doesn’t make people happy. Having the insecurity that goes with reaching the later stages of life and not finding a partner that one wants to spend the rest of one’s life with causes people a degree of anxiety.

“People having children in their late 30s and 40s and finding out they’re having to pay huge amounts of money on new biotechnology to have children, and all the trials and tribulations that go with that - it’s just not an authentic way to live. If you want to have someone to spend the rest of your life with, and you want to have children, you have to think seriously about marriage and the family.”

Mr Meney says it’s important for the Church to engage with “the culture, the media and the wider society” to communicate its views on marriage and family life. Culture and the media “are the avenues by which many people have their views formed.”

Mr Meney says it’s crucial to recognise the “good will” that the vast majority of people in contemporary Australian society have. “It’s important to develop good dialogue so that ideas can be shared, and people will come to appreciate the authenticity of what is offered through the Christian vision of marriage and family.”

Mr Meney hopes to develop strong relationships with the media, and to offer the media a view of

The main game: Chris and Mary-Clare Meney and their family. Mr Meney heads the new Office of Marriage and Family for the archdiocese of Sydney.

the Catholic understanding of marriage and family whenever possible.

Economic pressures on families and the impact of biotechnologies are two areas he nominates as likely areas for comment.

Questioned on poor standards and smut on TV, Mr Meney says the Church is keen to share a dignified portrait of the human person with young people. “When you see music that is very misogynistic and puts people down, shouldn’t we be saying well, isn’t it time to start putting some limits on those things?

“We limit other things in the culture, with access to child pornography, for example. We limit the opportunities for people to look at things which are excessively and gratuitously violent.

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“I think that we have to look at some of the pop music that’s around as well.” Questioned on the controversial “Bloody Mary edition of SBS Continued - Page 6 TV’s South Park, which recently caused offence to Catholics in America, Mr Meney said: “Shows like South Park and some of the situation comedies which sometimes we see - the foreign imports - leave a lot to be desired in how they portray marriage and family.

“There are certain sorts of things which are iconic in the Christian understanding of marriage and family. Those figures who are part of the Holy Family - Our Lady and Joseph and Jesus - are things we should be looking to have respected in the culture.”

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Page 3

New Pope had to be a global titan: journalist Benedict papacy challenges centuries of history: leading Vatican observer ■ By Paul Gray

T

he first year of Benedict XVI’s papacy is proving that the new Catholic pontiff is “a pope of epic ambition” who aims to challenge five centuries of Western history by reinvigorating the concept of truth, a renowned Vatican media correspondent and author has told a press luncheon in Sydney.

John Allen Jr, a well-known Vatican watcher for the American National Catholic Reporter and author of a recent book on Benedict XVI, spoke at the launch of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ pastoral statement on the media last week.

Mr Allen said the concepts of absolute truth and the love of God were critical to understanding the

new papacy. Mr Allen highlighted the significance of Pope Benedict’s nowfamous “dictatorship of relativism” speech at the start of the papal conclave last April, when the then-Cardinal John Allen said relativism was the greatest threat facing the Church.

“Benedict understands modernity’s scepticism about truth; he grew up in Nazi Germany, where the National Socialists asserted a monopoly on truth, and he later watched the Soviet Union build a sophisticated apparatus of repression in the name of absolute truths.

“He knows full well that young Muslim men today blow themselves up on buses in the name of truth.

He realises that for many people, the only humane stance in light of

this experience is relativism, where all truths are equally valid.”

In the view of Pope Benedict, said Mr Allen, this “amounts to a sort of ‘Peace of Westphalia’ on the philosophical level, avoiding conflict by legitimising diversity.”

Opposed to this, Pope Benedict is determined to lead the Church in combating the trend towards relativised values, Mr Allen said.

The Pope’s insistence on truth has shown itself in such practical policies as his endorsement of moves by the bishops of Italy and Spain to combat the adoption of liberal IVF and “gay marriage” laws in their countries, Mr Allen said.

These examples show that Pope Benedict “will support the mobilisation of church resources when he believes core truths are at stake.”

Meanwhile the importance of love to the new Pontiff is highlighted by his first Encyclical, “God is Love,” and by his language when speaking with young people as at World Youth Day in Cologne last year.

On that occasion, Pope Benedict “did not rail against pre-marital sex or bemoan low attendance rates at church,” but instead spoke of love, likening the Eucharist to “inducing nuclear fission into the very heart of being - the victory of love over hatred, the victory of love over death.”

“Only this intimate explosion of good conquering evil can then trigger off the series of transformations that little by little will change the world,” the Pope then said.

Over time, the Pope’s insistence on these core values will also be seen in his internal management of the Church, Mr Allen suggested.

“Especially among the bishops, Benedict is expected to look for men shaped in the first place by the gospel and tradition, not the logic of diplomacy and maintenance of the institutional status quo,” Mr Allen said.

Mr Allen said Benedict’s papacy was not proving to be that of an “interim” figure whose purpose is merely to “keep the seat warm”

while the Church’s Cardinals look for a more viable long-term option as the next Pope.

Rather, the man known until last April as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been the logical choice as Pope because of the new demands placed on the figure of pontiff by the extraordinary papacy of his predecessor, John Paul II. After John Paul, Mr Allen said, the new Pope “had to be a global titan who can make the world listen – not with anathemas and interdicts, in the manner of high medieval popes, but by force of carefully reasoned moral argument.”

A 21st century Pope “must be able to stand on the world stage with the Bushes and the Blairs, the Reagans and the Kohls, of his own time, and in some sense tower over them all, in both wisdom and personal moral credibility,” Mr Allen said.

Faced with such demanding criteria, the Cardinals had few candidates to select from other than Joseph Ratzinger, Mr Allen said.

Teaching students go for UNDA Catholic school leavers attracted to Education degrees at Notre Dame he University of Notre T Dame Australia is becoming the first choice for many students from Catholic Secondary schools who are pursuing a degree in education.

“It is pleasing to see a significant number of students from Catholic secondary schools enrol in our Education courses,” said Notre Dame’s executive Dean of Education, Professor Michael O’Neill.

“The opportunity to achieve full accreditation to teach Religious Education in all Catholic Schools is a very attractive option for some students. “ Students in Catholic Schools make up 18 per cent of the total

number of students in WA, yet they comprised 45 per cent of the total number applications to the School of Education at the University.

Of the 2005 Notre Dame graduands, 63 per cent chose a course of study that provided accreditation to teach in a Catholic school, while 58 per cent graduated with accreditation to teach Religious Education in Catholic schools. Notre Dame’s Fremantle Campus recently hosted enrolment days for its Schools of Arts & Sciences, Business, Education, Health Sciences, Law, Medicine, Nursing and Philosophy & Theology.

Admissions Manager, Mrs Rommie Masarei, said “the University was pleased with the response to enrolments. The University considers a student’s personal qualities and motivation, their interview, the com-

munity service they have undertaken and their academic record, which includes the results of the past two years of schooling including their TER score.

Academic record of all study undertaken since leaving school is required for a mature age student.”

School leavers have joined with mature age students as they signed up for their courses of study. Notre Dame has a unique admissions process.

Every student is required to be interviewed and to submit a 300-word statement on why they want to study at UNDA and how they believe they will contribute to their chosen profession and to the wider community on graduation.

Applications for 2006 are still being accepted at the Admissions Office (9433 0261) located at 45 Henry Street Fremantle.

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Notre Dame’s Executive Dean of Education, Associate Professor Michael O’Neill and Admissions Manager, Mrs Rommie Masarei assist Lauren McBroom (Seated - Lumen Christi College), Tristan Forsey (Trinity College), Amy Toye (Mercedes College) and Cahal Di Gregorio (Trinity College).

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Vinnies move closer to action

In Brief Belgian doctors reported nearly 400 cases of euthanasia in 2005, up from about 200 after it was legalised in 2002.

However, Wim Distelmans, of Brussels Free University, claims that the true number of cases is about five times higher than the official figures. About 80 per cent of Belgian euthanasia is done by Flemish doctors, because they have the support of a good network, the Life Ending Information Forum, which is based in neighbouring Holland.

And a Belgian doctor has defied the existing law by publishing an article in the medical magazine Huisarts (Family Doctor), stating that he had killed an 87-year-old demented patient. Dr Marc Cosyns, a general practitioner and lecturer in end-of-life care at the University of Ghent, said that he wants to spark a debate about providing euthanasia for demented patients and children.

- BioEdge e-letter

A

Same mission, new location: St Vincent De Paul national council president John Meahan, national council Chief executive officer Margaret Morton and Archbishop Francis Carroll stand in front of an artwork depicting St Vincent de Paul in the new national offices.

Photo: Catholic Voice, Canberra

support the conferences is a major step forward.”

“The role of the national office is to build on the work of the volunteer conference members, to draw on their experience and communicate that experience to the federal decision makers.”

“The new chief executive officer, Margaret Morton, can walk the corridors of Parliament House and communicate the Society’s message

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quietly and meaningfully,” he said.

The acting head of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Bob Correll, also attended the opening and invited Anthony Dalton, a member of the Society’s Social Justice committee, to participate in the review of national policy on bridging visas that will take place in the coming months.

Mr Meahan said the International

President General of the Society, José Ramon D’Torremocha, supported the move.

Mr Meahan thanked all the Society’s state councils for supporting the move financially and spiritually as their funds permitted.

The NSW/ACT council paid for the purchase of the building, Victoria paid for the fit out, and Queensland bought the board room furniture.

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A New Zealand coroner has pointed the finger at an overprotective society and parents for trends in youth suicide.

Removing failure and competition from childhood experience was partly to blame, he said, for the trend of teenagers as young as 14 and 15 committing suicide after breaking up with their girlfriend or boyfriend.

“Are our attempts these days to protect our children and young people against life’s failures and traumatic events having a counter-productive effect in that they are not being inoculated against failure by exposure?” asked Garry Evans.

“If children are never allowed to fail, how will they learn to pick themselves up and walk on when they do fall?” Mr Evans said that without the life experience to enable them to deal with a break-up, young people did not know who to turn to.

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ustralia’s St Vincent De Paul Society said it was better positioned to influence government policy on behalf of the poor after moving its national office from Sydney to Canberra.

The Society officially opened its new national offices on Thursday February 9.

The offices are located near Parliament House in Canberra.

The Society’s national president, John Meahan, said the move brings Australia’s largest charity ‘close to the ears’ of politicians and public servants who can help to eradicate poverty, give fairer treatment to migrants and refugees and improve the health of Australians in urban and rural areas.

“Our 44,000 members work at the coalface of society and we hope that by moving to the Australian political hub we can influence social policy in a professional and balanced way by presenting governments with the cold hard facts,” said Mr Meahan.

The Archbishop of Canberra/ Goulburn, Francis Carroll, blessed the new premises saying the Society lives out the love expressed by Pope Benedict XVI in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est. Archbishop Carroll said the Papal letter mentioned the Society because its work extends love beyond the normal limitation of our families and compatriots to everyone in need.

“The commandment of love – to reach out to the poor, disadvantaged and those in need – operates on a personal and a community level. This is what the St Vincent de Paul Society does, and this is why the Society is mentioned in Deus Caritas Est.” The Secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Fr Brian Lucas, said: “I think the work of the Society at the level of conferences is the key to its success in caring for the poor, and having a national centre that can enhance the profile of the Society’s work and

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February 23 2006, The Record

Page 5

School breaks with boys-only past H

istory will be created early next year when a remote WA school will welcome girls for the first time.

Christian Brothers Agricultural School at Tardun – 140 kilometres east of Geraldton – will be co-educational from 2007.

For nearly 80 years, CBAS has been a “boys only’’ facility. CBAS started life in 1928 as a home for child orphans from overseas, neglected children and wards of the state. CBAS was a “spin-off ” from Clontarf Farm School and was designed to stop a drift to the “big smoke” and to give boys an education free from the ills of the city.

Now the “most welcome’’ sign for girls has gone up on the gates at CBAS – which size-wise is the largest school in the world.

CBAS covers 13,000 hectares and is set on a wheat and sheep farm.

“I got lost a few times on the farm – but I would have been lost in life if I didn’t attend CBAS,’’ a prominent Perth businessman said of Tardun.

“It’s where I had fun, it’s where I made my best mates and it’s where I got an education for life.

“I’ll be recommending to my children to send their children to Tardun.’’

In recent years, many parents have been disappointed when told CBAS was just for boys.

Now girls have been given the same chance for a unique secondary school education.

Principal Nick Lynch – a father of seven children – said

one of the reasons why Tardun has gone co-educational was due to the interest shown in the school by visiting primary school children.

“They would come and visit and then ask why they couldn’t come here,’’ Mr Lynch said.

“There will be challenges with a co-educational school but we believe the advantages will far outweigh the disadvantages.’’

Students at CBAS are living 15km away at the former Pallottine Mission while the accommodation at Tardun is being re-modelled and renovated for girls.

Girls will be offered the same courses and classes as boys. “Mainstream education is offered with a practical and skills orientated curriculum,’’ Mr Lynch said.

“Valuable work skills are taught in the classroom, in the workshops and out on the farm and the academic, spiritual, physical and social needs of our students are met.’’

Every day is open day at CBAS, Tardun, where the kettle is always on and the kitchen open. So feel free to pop in and have a look. CBAS, Tardun is part of the Monsignor Hawes Heritage Trail, so spend time researching the area.

Alternatively, people interested in finding out more about the school can contact development officers Rebecca Lynch on 9961-5212 or Peter Sweeney on 9458-9444. More information is available on the website: www. cbas.wa.edu.au

Nothing else like it: At Tardun students receive an education in management of the land. From 2007 the formerly ‘boys only’ school will wlecome girls.

Students to take to the streets

In Brief Time children spend watching television is time taken from interacting with their parents and siblings, creative play (especially among very young children) and, for 7- to 12-year-olds, doing homework, a study has confirmed.

However, the research showed no relationship between time spent

nce again the streets of O Fremantle will come to a standstill on Tuesday March 7 as students and staff of The University of Notre Dame Australia are welcomed into the 2006 academic year.

It has been an annual tradition to formally mark the commencement of academic life for all staff and students with a parade since the university was founded in 1990.

This year the exciting WASAMBA drumming company will accompany the march which is also an opportunity to celebrate the university’s identity as an integral part of Fremantle’s unique multicultural community.

Over 800 participants are expected to gather at Notre Dame’s main entry on Mouat Street at 5.30pm for an offical welcome from Vice Chancellor Peter Tannock, followed by a blessing from the University’s Father Greg Watson.

The parade will then head down the Esplanade, up Essex Street along South Terrace and Market Street, down High Street and arrive back at Mouat Street around 6.45pm.

The University encourages the Fremantle community, family, friends and alumni of the University to share in this very special occasion.

- Michelle Ebbs

SBS thinks again on insulting Mary SBS television has indicated a change of mind about screening the controversial “Bloody Mary” episode of the satirical TV comedy South Park.

The episode in question features obscene jokes about a statue of the Virgin Mary bleeding from a bodily orifice. It caused offence among US Catholics when screened in America late last year.

At Christmas, SBS confirmed to The Record that the Bloody Mary episode would definitely be screened nationally in Australia on March 6, despite Catholic sensitivities on the matter.

However, this week The Australian newspaper reported that following a letter of protest sent to SBS by Melbourne Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart, screening of the controversial episode will now be delayed.

There has been a strong indication that part of the reason for SBS’s change in thinking is the ongoing international protest

by Muslims offended by Danish cartoon drawings of the Prophet Mohammed.

SBS programming director Matt Campbell was quoted by the newspaper as stating: “Given the current worldwide controversy over cartoons of religious figures, we’ve decided to defer (the Bloody Mary episode) and give some more thought to its scheduling. It’s an entertainment program so timing of broadcast is not a critical issue as it might be if it were news and current affairs.”

- Paul Gray

watching TV and time spent reading or time spent in active play.

Researchers say the results provide empirical support for the assumptions made by the American Academy of Pediatrics in recommending that children under the age of two should not watch TV and children older than two should watch no more than two hours daily.

- FamilyEdge

Priests join Fr Reg for 70th Continued from page 1

Kicking off the year: Students and staff will parade through the streets of Fremantle on March 7 to mark the commencement of the Notre Dame university year.

Fr Hynes was one of a rare breed of priests who were ordained as secular priests, not Benedictines, of the Abbey Nullius of New Norcia.

The Record was told that Fr Hynes stayed in Rome a few months longer in order to keep a place open in the College for a fellow student of the Abbey Nullis, James Knox, who later became Archbishop of Melbourne and WA’s only Cardinal.

Fr Hynes later returned to Australia and carried out most of his priestly ministry in the former Abbey Nullius of New Norcia, starting as Parish Priest in Moora, and later at Miling, Koorda, Wyalkatchem, Trayning, Wongan Hills, and Boulder.

Now confined to a wheelchair and unable to talk, Fr Hynes, will still respond to people talking to him by holding their hand.

Throughout his lifetime, Fr Hynes earned a reputation as a highly-skilled driver, particularly during his time as parish priest of Moora.

Nephew Kieran Hynes said he remembers Fr Hynes having to drive “all sorts of distances” particularly because of the fact that Fr Hynes served as the local ambulance driver for the town.

Fr Hynes was also a qualified First Aid officer.

Former parishioners Kath and Rod Gaspar have known Fr Hynes for nearly 50 years, when he was Parish Priest at Wyalcatchem from 1952 to 1969.

They recalled how Fr Hynes was the celebrant at their wedding and that he had baptised their children.

Some of their memories of Fr Hynes include his outstanding work as an ambulance driver and the taste of his homemade jams.

They also mentioned his love of classical music (especially Beethoven) and his dedication in helping Mr Gaspar become a Catholic.

The only other priest to serve as long as Fr Reg Hynes in WA was Fr Dario Brunetti, who died last month.

February 23 2006, The Record

Page 6

Events for lovers of icons

Caritas water delivers life T

urning on the taps in Tanzania has dramatically improved the health and wellbeing of many villagers who, just four years ago, had to spend much of their day walking to collect water. And when they finally reached their limited supply, it was often contaminated, making them sick.

In 2002, for the first time, the people of the village of Kighare were able to turn on a tap to use water – and without fear of being infected with diarrhea, intestinal worms, eye or skin diseases.

This was because Caritas Australia had just constructed a large reservoir, laid kilometres of pipes and installed communal taps throughout the Tanzanian district of Same.

Now 16,000 people are enjoying the benefits of clean, safe water.

Until then, families such as those of 13-year-old Lucia, who live in the drought affected village of Kighare, struggled to grow enough food to eat, earn an income and send their children to school.

“We had to walk each day for water and we were often sick,” Lucia said.

Drinking clean water has led to a dramatic increase in personal hygiene. This in turn has improved general health and seen an overall decline in water-borne diseases.

Because water is actually flowing in the village bricks can now be made and so new houses and a school have been built.

Families like Lucia’s now grow a variety of crops which, when eaten, improve their diet and, when sold, earn the family enough money to send Lucia and her two sisters to school.

Clean water has even led to the empowerment of women in many communities. Through growing vegetables and animal fodder, and making bricks, women are now contributing to their family’s income.

For the people living in the village of Kighare and surrounding communities, working in partnership with Caritas Australia and turning on the taps has dramatically improved their quality of life, allowed them to become self-reliant. They can now look forward to a more peaceful and secure future.

Your donation to Project Compassion will go towards helping communities like Lucia’s.

Donations can be made by phoning 1800 024 413, on-line at www.caritas.org.au or by posting to GPO Box 9830 in your capital city.

B

ecause of the sacred nature of icons, icon exhibitions are rare in Western Australia but two events focusing on icons and their appreciation are coming up in Perth soon.

On Friday March 3 iconographer Ana Poznanovoc is launching an exhibition of her most recent work at Gallery 23, shop 1/23 Adelaide St, Fremantle at 7pm.

Meanwhile, the Icon Society of Australia Inc is holding its AGM on Thursday March 2 at 7.30 pm at 1/46 Harvey St Burswood.

You don’t have to be a member to attend.

Everyone is welcome, however if you wish to vote, you must join.

At this meeting members and friends will be invited to attend a conference in Cairo hosted by the Department of Conservation, Supreme Council of Antiquities,

In Brief Teenage girls in the United States are overtaking boys in drug abuse, according to the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

While illegal drug use among teens has been falling in the past five years, girls have been catching up to boys in smoking, drinking and taking pills.

In 2002, 2003 and 2004, girls exceeded boys as first-time marijuana smokers, and they far sur-

Egypt in September 2006.

The international conference is titled ‘Conference on Icons and Portraits’ and will address a wide range of issues including but not limited to painting in ancient Egypt, the diffusion of icon styles through the centuries especially Coptic and Byzantine styles, themes and characteristics.

For those interested in art conservation and collection work, cleaning, causes of decay, storage and hanging techniques will be examined.

The highly controversial area of illegal trafficking in rare art will be explored by some of the world’s leading legal authorities looking at ways to crack down on its practice.

There are opportunities to exhibit icons and a trade fair providing a wide range of iconographic materials that may be purchased.

Overall the conference seeks to pass young men in prescription drug abuse.

The government survey indicates that in 2004, 1.5 million girls began drinking, 730,000 started smoking cigarettes and 675,000 began smoking marijuana.

Experts point out that girls who smoke, drink or take drugs are at greater risk of depression, addiction and stunted growth, as well as premature sexual activity and its consequences.

They put some of the blame

increase the amount of knowledge about this ancient art form.

It seeks to achieve greater understanding and acceptance among Christian communities generally and to encourage public support for activities that lead to their preservation.

The conference in Egypt opens the possibility of a tour of the Nile, Alexandria, Luxor, Mount Sinai and Saint Catherine’s Monastery where some of the oldest and most beautiful icons in the world are located and are now listed under the UNESCO World Heritage listing.

Please join us for what will be a very interesting night.

Light refreshments and snacks will be provided. RSVP (08) 9361 3447.

Those wishing to attend Ana Poznanovoc’s exhibition should let Ana know on (08) 9434 4998.

Elizabeth Papas is President of the Icon Society of Australia Inc. for the trend on magazines, reality television shows and movies that portray this behaviour among young, female celebrities.

Also under fire is the marketing of alcopop drinks to young women, parents who leave their kids alone too much and those who allow their kids to drink at home.

Adults should “stop acting cool and act more like a parent,” says one Peer Advocate.

-FamilyEdge

Bishops highlight media’s importance Continued from page 1

on the many issues confronting society and said that the dialogue must necessarily occur in the media.

The Church had much to say that was important to society as it grappled with its problems, joys and sorrows. This included the Church’s unique understanding of the dignity of the human person and the unavoidable link between truth and freedom, as well as the ever-present goodness and love of God. He said the pastoral letter was a teaching document that had been produced to stimulate the Church at every level about the need for communication both within the Church and within the community.

Society would be poorer without the work of the Church, and poorer in its public debates without

What your money will buy in Tanzania $525 can provide a community with a water pump. $7 will buy 50 tree seedlings $70 is enough to build a domestic point to be used by 500 people. $80 will train two village technicians how to use the water system. $395 will buy 60 metres of pipe. $10,500 will build a water tank with a 10,000 gallon capacity.

GPO Box 9830,, in your y capital p city. y

PCR

Caritas Australia turns on the taps in a Tanzanian village

■ By Elizabeth Pappas

the insights and understanding of Catholics.

Launching the document, the Papal Nuncio said that the media had made themselves part of our daily lives and it was necessary to be aware of the direct and subtle influences they had on attitudes and values.

Because the Church embodies the Gospel of Christ and had the responsibility to proclaim it in word and action, it could not avoid using the media.

The media lunch and the launch brought together most of the leading religious print and radio journalists from secular news organizations in Sydney and Melbourne, the diocesan communications officers from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart, Perth, Broken Bay and Parramatta, members of the Bishops’ media committee and a number of other bishops, priests and academics.

At the evening launch, ABC broadcaster Geraldine Doogue hosted a panel discussion about the Church and the media. The panellists were Fr Frank Brennan SJ, Barney Swartz religion writer for the Melbourne Age, Margaret Rogers communications officer for Sydney’s Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen, and John Allen Jr the Vatican representative for the US National Catholic Reporter, the man considered to be the leading English-language writer on Vatican affairs. (See separate report on Page 3) Margaret Rogers told the gathering that Archbishop Jensen sought opportunities to get into the media because he believed that without the Christian message social dis-

course and direction would not be authentic.

Barney Swartz praised the pastoral letter and expressed the hope that it would be put into practice, adding that he found it harder to get onto Catholic bishops than any other religious group. He also observed that there was a revitalised interest in religion in journalism. Young journalists were open to the subject but ignorant about it, so there was a good chance for those willing to talk to them.

Fr Brennan said that in a society built on pluralism it was difficult to get across that life in the Church was much more diverse than the stereotype that either we put out or the media attach to us.

John Allen said there was a need to be aware of how much we had been evangelised by the media.

Conflict moved the media and this sense of conflict had moved many Catholics to think of themselves in terms of who they are against rather than who and what they are for. Our imaginations and sense of ourselves had been shaped by secularism and the secular media; we must evaluate that and re-establish a less divided identity more closely related to who we really are.

He said Pope John Paul II was the Church’s greatest communicator ever, but his success was not all about communication skills. He recounted experiences he had at two widely separated papal Masses, one with a 25-year-old Orthodox Christian in Ukraine and the other with a 26-year-old Muslim man in Kazakstan. When he asked them what they were doing at the Pope’s Mass, both replied, “I have not seen a holier man than this.”

February 23 2006

■ By Christopher West

W

hat is the theology of the body?

“Theology of the body” is the working title Pope John Paul II gave to 129 short talks he delivered during his Wednesday addresses between September 1979 and November 1984. While it focuses on sexuality and marital love, it’s crucial to realise that the theology of the body is not meant only for married people. If you have a body, this theology applies to you.

Through an in-depth reflection on the Scriptures, especially the words of Jesus, Pope John Paul sought to answer two universal questions: (1) “What does it mean to be human?” and (2) “How do I live my life in a way that brings true happiness?”

To answer the first question, the Pope followed Christ’s invitation to reflect on the three different “stages” of the human experience of sex and the body: in our origin before sin (see Mt 19:3-8); in our history darkened by sin yet redeemed in Christ (see Mt 5:2728); and in our destiny when God will raise our bodies in glory (see Mt 22:23-33).

In response to the second question, Pope John Paul applied his distinctive “Christian humanism” to the vocations of celibacy and marriage. He then concluded by demonstrating how his study provides a new, winning explanation of Church teaching on sexual morality.

How does the theology of the body provide a “winning” explanation of sexual morality?

In general, by focusing on the beauty of God’s plan for the union of the sexes, theology of the body shifts the discussion from legalism to liberty.

For most people, the first question they ask when it comes to sexual morality is something like, “How far can I go before I break the rules?” It’s no exaggeration to say the late Pope abhorred such an approach to the moral life. His first question was very different.

In essence, theology of the body asks, “What is the truth about sex that will set us free to love?”

Love is what we’re all looking for. Unfortunately, as Catholic author Greg Popcak likes to say, we are so starved for love that we’re often willing to eat out of a

Vista

Page 1

The Cure Winning back the Christian sexual ethic Part II of The Record’s two-part special on The Theology of the Body

The sexual embrace is the foundation stone of human life. The family — and, in turn, human society itself — spring from this embrace.

In short, as sex goes, so go marriage and the family. As marriage and the family go, so goes civilisation.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the task of the 20th century was to rid itself of the Christian sexual ethic. Thus, if we’re to build a culture of life, the task of the 21st century must first be to reclaim it. But the often repressive approach of previous generations of Christians (usually silence or, at most, “don’t do it”) is largely responsible for the cultural jettison of the Church’s teaching on sex.

We need a “new language” to break the silence and reverse the negativity. We need a fresh theology that explains how the Christian sexual ethic — far from the prudish list of prohibitions it’s assumed to be — corresponds perfectly with the deepest yearnings of our hearts for love and union.

As more and more people are discovering, Pope John Paul II devoted the first major teaching project of his pontificate to developing just such a theology. He called it a “theology of the body.” This article will introduce you to some of the main themes of this revolutionary teaching in an easy-to-digest question-and-answer format. for entering the banquet, is that we stop eating from the Rubbish truck.

Rubbish truck to satisfy our hunger. Most people’s moral education consists in repeated admonitions not to eat from the Rubbish truck - Rubbish truck bad; thou shalt not eat from the Rubbish truck.

Theology of the body, instead,

focuses our attention on the banquet that truly satisfies. When God’s banquet of love is presented in all its splendour, the Rubbish truck loses its appeal. We know we’re created for the banquet.

Furthermore, what’s “winning”

about theology of the body is that it doesn’t matter how often we’ve fallen for the lies of the “Rubbish truck.” Theology of the body wags a finger at no one. It is a message of sexual salvation offered to one and all. The only prerequisite

What does it mean to speak of the body as a “theology”?

According to Pope John Paul II, God created the human body as a “sign” of his own divine mystery.

This is why he speaks of the body as a “theology” a study of God. We can’t see God. As pure spirit, God is invisible.

Yet Christianity is the religion of God’s self-disclosure. How does God make himself visible? In the fullness of time, God sent His son, a male child, born of a woman (see Gal 4:4).

At the heart of our faith is belief in the God who revealed himself in human flesh - theology of the body. This paradoxical phrase isn’t just the title of 129 talks delivered by our last Pope, it is the very “logic” of Christianity. It is the logic of Incarnation.

“Theology of the body” is also another way of recognising that God created us in His own image as male and female (see Gen 1:27).

This fundamental truth of our humanity must not be interpreted only in a “spiritual” or disembodied sense. We must see the human person in the integrity of body and soul. United with the spiritual soul, the body itself “speaks” of God’s mystery.

Continued on Vista 1

Theology of the body offers answers to directionless drift on sex and gender Society has lost its way because it has lost the links between sexuality, love and life.

Theology of the Body revitalises these links and gives them back to a world in desperate need of them.

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Recovering the lost vision and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church” (see Eph 5:31-32). The Bible uses spousal love more than any other image to help us understand who God is and His eternal plan for humanity. God wants to “marry” us (see Hos 2:19) — to live with us in an eternal, unbreakable bond of love.

And He wanted this great “marital plan” to be so obvious to us that He impressed an image of it in our very being by creating us male and female and calling us to become “one flesh.” In other words, God has stamped this theology right in our bodies.

Of course — and this is very important — God himself is not “sexual?”

We use spousal love only as an analogy to help us understand something of the divine mystery. God’s mystery remains infinitely beyond any human image. At the same time, however, Pope John Paul II, like so many mystics before him, gave pride of place to the spousal analogy. He believed there is no other human reality that corresponds more to God’s mystery of Communion.

Continued from Vista 1

The body as a gift

What does the human body say about the mystery of God? In a word, the body shouts, “Communion!” A man’s body makes no sense by itself, and a woman’s body makes no sense by itself. But seen in light of each other, we discover the unmistakable plan of the Creator. Man and woman are called to establish a “common-union” – a communion of persons that, through the blessing of fertility, normally leads to a “third.”

In a dramatic development of Catholic thought, Pope John Paul concluded that we image God not only as individuals, but also through this communion of man and woman. For God himself is an eternal communion of persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, in and through Christ, we are invited to participate in that eternal Communion of love. This is what the human body “says” about God and His plan for humanity.

In summary, theology of the body teaches us that the communion of the sexes is a “created version” so to speak, of God’s uncreated exchange of love. And right from the beginning, the union of man and woman foreshadows our eternal destiny of union with Christ. As St. Paul says, the “one flesh” union is “a great mystery,

“The human body in its nakedness becomes a source of a particular interpersonal communication. This happens when the body is understood as a manifestation of the person and as his gift, that is, a sign of trust and donation to the other person. The other person is conscious of the gift, and is chosen and resolved to respond to it in an equally personal way.”

So what does it mean to be human according to theology of the body?

To answer that question, we must patiently follow Pope John Paul II’s train of thought. Obviously, I can only summarize the Pope’s profound insights here.

The Pope began by reflecting on Christ’s discussion with the Pharisees about marriage and divorce. We tend to think the “war” between the sexes is normal. Jesus points out that “from the beginning it was not so” (see Mt 19:8). Before sin, man and woman experienced their union as a participation in God’s eternal love. This is the model for us all, and although we have fallen from this, Christ gives us real power to reclaim it.

The biblical creation stories use symbolic language to help us understand deep truths about ourselves. For example, the Pope observes that their original unity flows from the human being’s experience of solitude.

At first Adam was “alone” (see Gen 2:18). Among the animals there was no “helper fit for him” (Gen 2:20). It’s on the basis of this “solitude” — an experience common to male and female — that we experience our longing for union.

The point is that human sexual union differs radically from the mating of animals. If they were the same, Adam would have found plenty of

Further resources on the Theology of the Body (Available from The Record) Theology of the Body explained A commentary on Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body

- Pope John Paul 11 during general audience of April 29, 1981

By Christopher West, foreword by George Weigel (530 pages, $50+postage) Reading John Paul II’s text can be daunting for those without a background in theology and philosophy. West’s commentary ‘translates’ the Holy Father’s insights into a much more accessible language.

Theology of the Body made simple

By Anthony Percy (71 pages, $15+postage) Fr Percy’s book introduces the reader to the basic experiences and concepts taught

by John Paul II between 1979 and 1984. It will give you confidence — to know who you are and your ability to speak the truth in love.

Sex and the sacred city Meditations on the theology of the body

Another excellent resource: Christopher West’s website www.theologyofthebody.com

By Steve Kellermeyer (99 pages, $15+postage) JPII gave humanity a masterpiece for understanding our true nature and dignity as sexual beings made in the image and likeness of God. Because of its complexity, most of us must piece together this teaching like a puzzle in order to fully appreciate its beauty. Steve Kellermeyer’s book is a marvellous tool to help us understand how the pieces of the puzzle go together.

Contact Carole at The Record on (08) 9227 7080 or via cathrec@iinet.net.au

Rebuilding what society tore down Although the move away from the Christian sexual ethic occured gradually over the past four decades, there have been certain moments that have come to symbolise the “culture of death” that pervades society now. Here are some key moments in that movement away from the respect of the human body, and the Church’s response to those events by trying to restore the “culture of life:”

1930: Lambeth Conference: Anglican Church sets the precedent for Christian churches dropping centuries-old prohibition of contraception.

1960

1960: Birth-control pill introduced.

1965

1968: Pope Paul VI warns that increased use of contraception leads to infidelity, divorce and disrespect for women. Issues Humanae Vitae.

1967: UK legalises abortion.

1970: Divorce rates begin to accelerate alarmingly in Australia and New Zealand.

1970

1969: Justice Menhennit’s ruling in Victoria effectively drops restrictions on abortion.

“helpers” among the animals. But in naming the animals he realised he was different; he alone was a person called to love with his body in God’s image. Upon sight of the woman the man immediately declares: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Gen 2:23). That is to say, “Finally, a person I can love.”

“Theology of the body” is also another way of recognising that God created us in His own image as male and female (see Gen 1:27). This fundamental truth of our humanity must not be interpreted only in a “spiritual” or disembodied sense. We must see the human person in the integrity of body and soul.

United with the spiritual soul, the body itself “speaks” of God’s mystery.

1973: US Roe v Wade decision legalises abortion in the world’s largest democracy.

Theology of the body on division of the sexes

“…after breaking the original covenant with God, the man and the woman found themselves more divided.

Instead of being united, they were even opposed because of their masculinity and femininity. The biblical narrative stresses the instinctive impulse that had driven both of them to cover What about our experience of the body in the resurrection? their bodies. It describes at Didn’t Christ say we will no longer be given in marriage when we rise from the dead (see Mt 22:30)? the same time the situation Why, then, did they cover their bodies in shame?

Yes, but this doesn’t mean our longing for union will be done Shame enters only after “original sin” and indicates the dawn of lust (see away with. It means it will be super-abundantly fulfilled. in which man, as male or Gen 3). Original sin caused the “death” of divine love in the human heart.

As a sacrament, marriage is only an earthly sign of the heavenly female — before it was Lust, therefore, is erotic desire drained of God’s love. Men and women of reality. We no longer need signs to point us to heaven, when we’re in history now tend to seek the sensation of sexuality apart from the true gift heaven. The “marriage of the Lamb” (Rev 19:7) — the union of love rather male and female of themselves, apart from authentic love. we all desire — will be eternally consummated.

We cover our bodies not because they’re bad, but to protect their inherThis eternal reality is what the “one flesh” union foreshadows from — feels more estranged ent goodness from the degradation of lust. Since we know we’re made for the beginning (see Eph 5:31-32). Marriage does not reveal the definitive love, we feel instinctively “threatened” not only by overt lustful behaviour, meaning of our creation as male and female and our call to communion. from the body, as from but even by a “lustful look.”

Marriage is only a preliminary way of living our call to communion. the source of the origChrist’s words are severe in this regard. He insists that if we look lustIn the resurrection of the body we rediscover — in an entirely new fully at others, we’ve already committed adultery in our hearts (see Mt dimension — the same nuptial meaning of the body. But this time it is inal unity in human5:28). John Paul asks whether we should fear the severity of these words, lived in union with God himself and in the communion of all the saints or rather have confidence in their power to save us from lust. who have responded to the wedding invitation. ity (“flesh of my This will be a completely new experience — beyond anything we can How does Christ save us from lust? imagine. Yet it will not be alienated in any way from God’s original plan flesh”). They were Continued on Page 12 On this side of heaven, we’ll always be able to recognize a battle in more opposed to the other precisely on “Theology of the Body” on nudity in art the basis of the body In the course of the various eras, beginning from antiquity — and above all in the great period of Greek classical art — there are works of art whose subject is the human and sex.”

How did he know that she too was a person called to love? Her naked body revealed a spiritual mystery! For the pure of heart, nakedness reveals what John Paul calls “the nuptial meaning of the body” This is the body’s capacity of expressing love. The body enables men and women to become a sincere “gift” to each other – obviously through the marital embrace, but also in many other ways. And through this gift, the Pope says, men and women fulfil the very meaning of their existence.

What is the meaning of existence? Jesus reveals it when He invites us to love one another as He loved us (see Jn 15:12). How did Jesus love us?

Through the gift of His body. God designed the union of the sexes to image this. God created sexual desire as the power to love as He loves. And this is how the first couple experienced it.

Hence, the first man and woman felt no shame, no fear, no threat being naked before the other. Nakedness without shame, in fact, is the key, according to Pope John Paul II, for understanding God’s original plan for man and woman. It unlocks the intimacy and ecstasy of love that God intended “from the beginning.”

body in its nakedness. The contemplation of this makes it possible to concentrate, in a way, on the whole truth of man, on the dignity and beauty — also the suprasensual beauty — of his masculinity and femininity. These works bear within them, almost hidden, an element of sublimination. This leads the viewer, through the body, to the whole personal mystery of man... there are also works of art, and perhaps more often reproductions, which arouse objection in the sphere of man’s personal sensitivity. This is not because of their object, since the human body in itself always has its inalienable dignity. But it is because of the quality or way of its reproduction, portrayal or artistic representation.”

- Pope John Paul II during general audience of May 6, 1981.

1975: VCRs come into vogue, 1978: World’s first testfacilitating production and tube baby is born. viewing of pornographic videos at home.

1975

our hearts between love and lust. Even so, Pope John Paul II insists that, because Christ rose from the dead within history, the redemption of the body (see Rom 8:23) is already at work in us now.

This means as we allow our lusts to be “crucified with Christ” (see Gal 5:24) we can progressively rediscover in what is erotic that original “nuptial meaning of the body” and live it.

Christ didn’t die and rise from the dead merely to give us coping mechanisms for our sins and lusts. Christ’s redemption is effective. As we open ourselves to the work of redemption, Christ’s death and resurrection effectively “liberate our liberty from the domination of lust” as Pope John Paul expressed it. It isn’t easy, but it is possible to live a redeemed sexuality.

This is very different from repressing sexual desires. Christ doesn’t aim to annihilate sexual desire with His words about lust. He wants to infuse sexual attraction and desire with everything that is true, good and beautiful. He wants to impregnate eros (sexual love) with agape (divine love) so that men and women can once again love one another as they were created to “in the beginning.”

- Pope John Paul II during general audience of June 25, 1980.

1984: HIV is identified as the cause of AIDS.

1980

1980: The RU-486 abortion pill is developed in France.

1979-84: Pope John Paul II gives 129 talks which come to be known as the Theology of the Body.

1985

1990

1995: Pope John Paul II, in Evangelium Vitae, calls for a new “culture of life.”

1996: Rights of the Terminally Ill Act in Northern Territory legalises euthanasia.

1995

1994: Year of the Family: International conferences affirm repeatedly the destructive effects of divorce on children and adults.

1998: Stem cells from human embryos are isolated and cultured for the first time.

Abortion legalised in WA.

2000

1997: Kevin Andrews’ federal legislation nullifies NT’s legalisation of euthanasia.

2002: Experimentation on human embryos legalised Australiawide.

2005

2006: RU-486 abortion drug administration removed from federal Health Minister’s oversight and given to TGA.

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Being Heard

Different strokes speak same language

Unified in Christ: the differences are similarities between John Paul and Benedict ■ With John Heard

T

here has naturally been much comparison between the late Pope John Paul the Great and his successor Pope Benedict XVI. Benedict’s first encyclical Deus Caritas Est has been read in some quarters as a departure from John Paul’s writings. It does reveal a slightly different style, but are the papal concerns so different?

In encyclicals, John Paul – like most other Popes - often wrote densely on moral issues, abortion, homosexuality, contraception and social justice. By contrast Benedict’s

encyclical is a stylistic departure, a lucid and freely expressed treatise on love defined spiritually (agape), erotically (eros) and the love between brothers or friends (philia).

As for style, after decades as the ‘Chief Inquisitor’ – whose every official utterance is basically an encyclical in tone if not form – who can blame Benedict for trying his learned hand at another format?

This doesn’t mean, however, that

Benedict does not care about abortion or John Paul about love. Some individuals see a mere difference in style as a doctrinal divergence. This is not the case.

The proof is in the content.

Commentators ready to attack the ‘hammer of heresy’ for ‘failing to move with the times’ – a common charge levelled against John Paul and the then Cardinal Ratzinger – were tellingly undone by Benedict’s letter on love. They startled at his

boldness (he writes candidly on erotic love, prostitution and sexual intimacy) and praised his work because it apparently ‘shuns orthodoxy’.

Obviously, they’d never read John Paul’s Theology of the Body and if either of these works constituted a turning away from orthodoxy, then so do the Gospels.

John Paul wrote about true love and the radical acceptance of the unborn, the elderly and the disa-

bled and now Benedict has love and intimate acceptance right at the beginning of his first major letter. By defending life John Paul demonstrated the love-in-action that Benedict praises in the second half of this very encyclical. That’s something alright, but it’s not called divergence.

Indeed, those who claim Benedict is somehow ‘a words man’ to John Paul’s ‘action man’ need to remember that it was John Paul who hesitated on the Instruction on homosexual candidates for the priesthood and Benedict who acted.

Similarly, John Paul’s Theology of the Body runs to hundreds of pages.

Thus, while their timing and style might sometimes diverge, the popes were clearly reading from the same script.

The Christ of Benedict’s first encyclical is the Christ of John Paul’s writings: Our Lord is the Man-God of the Beatitudes and also the God-Man who chased the merchants from the Temple. Both popes, as they should, mirror this mighty sign of contradiction, but each according to his own gifts and personality.

No one should be surprised then that their teachings - like Christ, like the Church - are so varied and yet so remarkably consistent.

John Heard lives in Melbourne, and has lived with same-sex attraction for a number of years. He is a lawyer and a practising Catholic.

the family is the future

The wedding gift that we hope keeps on giving

■ With Derek Boylen

B

eing married in today’s world can be tough. The statistics are the proof. Forty eight per cent of all marriage and one in three first marriages end in divorce.

Most studies show that many couples interviewed five years after their divorce say that they were worse off afterwards and in hindsight they probably wouldn’t have had one. We are all familiar with the poor outcomes that result from divorce.

But does it have to be that way?

John Howard’s recent decision to support marriages through education instead of divorce is a welcome one. Research shows that couples who receive marriage education before getting married stand a much better chance of success. Instead of one-in-three odds, the likelihood of divorce becomes one in eleven.

But all this is nothing new to Perth Catholics. For a long time now any couples seeking to marry in the Perth Archdiocese have been required to attend pre-marriage education.

Many struggle with the Church’s position on marriage. The Church takes the stand it does though because Catholics believe that marriage matters. Marriage is more that just a social convenience.

Think for a moment of a couple you know who are happily married. A couple who are wonderful together. How do you know they are? What are the signs?

Let me guess: they speak well of each other, they are welcoming, they are affectionate, respectful, they both put the needs of their spouse before their own and they affirm one another, to name a few.

And how do these marriages affect us? They make us feel welcome, hopeful, and more positive; we are naturally drawn to want to be around these couples. We hope our own marriages reflect the good qualities that we see in the marriages of others. Marriages make a difference in the world. They image God’s love and they have an influence on others.

Karen and I are very fortunate to be surrounded by successful marriages. Our parents, on both sides are still married and Karen’s grandparents celebrated their 65th anniversary last year.

Their marriages give us hope that our marriage can be just as fruitful and we hope that our marriage can and will be a source of hope for others.

Pre-marriage education isn’t free and it’s often the last thing a couple have considered after taking into account the costs of rings, dresses, cakes, receptions, etc. When

Every newly married couple wants their marriage to last a lifetime.

How can we help?

people that we know get engaged our engagement present is almost always pre-marriage education.

As the statistics suggest, premarriage education is one thing that’s likely to be a gift long after the vase has been broken and the china chipped.

We want newly-marrieds to know that we believe their marriage is a power for good in the world. We want them to have all the resources we can offer so that their marriage will be the fulfilling experience that God intends it to be.

I often daydream about what the perfect parish community would be like. I think it would be a place that benefits from both newly married couples and married couples with many years of experience.

The newly married couples would remind the older couples of the beauty of new love. The new couples would remind the older couples of the qualities they first discovered in their spouses.

The older married couples would be a vision of hope for the newly married couples. The relationship

of the spouses in the older marriages would be something to strive for.

The perfect parish doesn’t need to be a daydream. I want it to be real; I want it to be the kind of place my children grow up in. So, Karen and I will continue to sponsor young couples for pre-marriage education and we’ll continue to share our stories of the goodness of marriage. And we encourage others to do the same.

Suggestions or comments: production@therecord.com.au

February 23 2006, The Record

GO TELL EVERYONE: A PASTORAL LETTER ON THE CHURCH AND THE MEDIA

Page 7

Godcasting Utilising the power of the new media

Go tell everyone : A pastoral letter on the Church and the Media

W

e live in an age where the media dominates almost every aspect of society. We are surrounded by it. Many of us are immersed in it from the moment our radio-alarm delivers the first news bulletin of the day into our emerging consciousness until we switch off the late-night TV or the home computer. News, information and entertainment are at our fingertips 24 hours a day.

This overwhelming influence of the media can sometimes make us anxious. It is also easy to take for granted the wonders of the modern media and its role in bringing our human family closer together.

Often it is not until we are faced with a major natural disaster or tragedy that we realise the power of the media to do good. We can all remember such tragedies and the immediacy with which the media brought us images and reports of the suffering of our fellow human beings. Such immediate coverage aids a quick response and reminds us that we are all connected.

The media is often used at the service of the Church. We see this in coverage of Papal visits, the death of a Pope and election of a new one, big events such as World Youth Day and coverage of small, parish events which help make up the fabric of communities. The entertainment media has produced films and programs which elevate our hearts and minds and help to refresh us, move us and challenge us. The Church also uses the internet to connect with countless millions people from the Vatican to diocesan and parish websites.

Communication at the heart of our mission.

As Christians, we know that communication lies at the heart of our mission. Christ was the ultimate communicator. His incarnation was God’s greatest communication with humankind. Jesus exhorted those who followed him to take his message to the ends of the earth, or as a well-known hymn encapsulates it: “Go tell everyone”.

His challenge remains the same to us today. To do this effectively,

we must engage with the media, whether as communicator or consumer. But this does not mean simply accepting all the information which comes our way. We are called to be critical users of the media. To actively discern what messages are true and good, rather than to be passive consumers of all that comes our way.

For the Church, the media presents both possibilities and responsibilities. Soon after his election Pope Benedict XVI explained this in an address to journalists: “The responsible contribution of each and every one is needed, so that instruments of social communication can provide a positive service to the common good. Those who work in this field must be given clear indications of their ethical responsibility, especially regarding the sincere search for truth and protection of the centrality and dignity of the person. Only with these conditions are the media able to respond to the design of God, who placed them at our disposal ‘to discover, to use and to make known the truth, also the truth about our dignity and about our destiny as his children, heirs of his eternal Kingdom’.”

As a Church, the most effective way we can use the media is by bearing true witness to the message we seek to deliver. The strength of our message lies in the authenticity with which it is presented.

The media success of the late Pope John Paul II is testament to this. Over more than a quarter of a century he took advantage of all the possibilities afforded by the media in bringing people around the world closer to Christ. When he died, the world wide outpouring of grief and genuine affection was the subject of unprecedented media coverage.

From our lounge rooms in Australia we were able to be truly a part of his final journey on earth, his farewell and share in the joy as a new Pope, Benedict XVI was elected. All the media of the world was trained in on the ancient symbol of smoke pouring from the Sistine Chapel for the election of Peter’s Successor. Truly, the media was carrying the Church’s message to the peoples of the world.

There is no doubt that the Church has also suffered at the hands of the media. This has sometimes been fair criticism, brought about by the scandal of some church members.

But often the Church is singled out for criticism because its message is profoundly and radically countercultural in this secular age. In one of his last Apostolic Letters, written to those responsible for communications, Pope John Paul II urged the faithful to “Be not Afraid” of the media: “Do not be afraid of new technologies! These rank ‘among the marvellous things’ – inter mirifica – which God has placed at our disposal to discover, to use and to make known the truth, also the truth about our dignity and about

“We can all remember such tragedies and the immediacy with which the media brought us images and reports of the suffering of our fellow human beings. Such immediate coverage aids a quick response and reminds us that we are all connected.” Here a portrait of the Sacred Heart of Jesus lies on the ground as rescuers continue their work February 20 at the Photo: CNS site where mudslides buried the remote farming village of Guinsaugon in central Philippines.

our destiny as his children, heirs of his eternal Kingdom.

“Do not be afraid of being opposed by the world! Jesus has assured us, ‘I have conquered the world!’ (Jn 16:33).

“Do not be afraid even of your own weakness and inadequacy! The Divine Master has said, ‘I am with you always, until the end of the world’ (Mt 28:20). Communicate the message of Christ’s hope, grace and love, keeping always alive, in this passing world, the eternal perspective of heaven, a perspective which no communications medium can ever directly communicate, ‘What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him’ (1 Cor 2:9).”

We, the bishops of Australia, offer this Pastoral Letter on the Church and the Media as a guide and an encouragement. It draws from the Church’s 40 years of rich teachings in the area of social commu-

nications since the Second Vatican Council and relates those teachings directly to our own circumstances in Australia at the beginning of the 21st Century. Taking those teachings we can plot a path forward for the Church to effectively evangelise through the media and for each one of us to be responsible consumers of media.

We pray that this letter will help those who read it to embrace all that is good in the media and to discern that which might be harmful so that together we will “Be not afraid” to meet the challenges of life in the media age with faith, hope and confidence.

We live in a Media World What exactly do we mean by the term ‘media’? The secular channels of communication in the 21st century are manifold. In addition to the media cited in the Vatican document Communio et Progressio , with which we are all familiar -

radio, public broadcast television, print media and cinema - signifi cant technological progress has added the new domains of the internet, mobile phones, video games, MP3 players and cable television networks into the media mix.

‘The Media’ then takes in all of these things and the new forms of media will continue to appear.

These days the average person is more likely to suffer by way of the sheer quantity of information available than its quality.

This leads to a competition in the marketplace for our hearts and minds.

The Catholic Church posits that the only unassailable truth is the word of God and the person of Jesus Christ.

Everything we see and hear must then be absorbed and tested through the prism of that Truth. It is our sure guide in navigating our way through the modern media maze.

Continued over

GO TELL EVERYONE: A PASTORAL LETTER ON THE CHURCH AND THE MEDIA

Page 8

February 23 2006, The Record

Spreading the Good News Continued from previous page

crossroads in our society where lives intersect.

The Catholic Church must be part of this marketplace of ideas and regularly accept opportunities to be quoted, seen or heard upon matters of consequence. At the same time Catholics should not shrink from partaking of what the secular media has to offer, but rather, use it critically. By use of a suitable winnowing process, we should all comfortably be able to decide upon those forms of media which best serve our informational and spiritual needs.

Television Research shows us that Australians are spending on average about 51 hours consuming media each week.

4 Television is the medium on which Australian adults spend most of their time, while the internet is now the key media outlet for young people.

When it comes to news, most people are therefore likely to be forming their opinions based upon TV viewing, with the popular nightly news bulletins and current affairs programs leading the charge. Given that about half of these programs are taken up with sport and advertising, the average viewer is likely to receive a wrap up of their world’s events within the space of just 12 – 15 minutes. In effect, the news we receive via the television is a synthesised package of sound grabs and selective footage.

Catholic Media

Internet Similarly, the internet provides a smorgasbord of news and entertainment, but usually only in bite size chunks. Browsers on news sites can click to fi nd out more but for many the headline and the barest of bones of the story may be all that is required to satiate their curiosity or confirm an opinion of a particular matter. The speed with which news can be communicated via the internet has made the world seem ever smaller. Few of us can now imagine life without email. E-business is booming and friends and families can communicate across the world at any time. With so much information available on the net we can sometimes suffer from information overload and the need for careful discrimination and discernment is greater than ever. The use of the internet for pornography and other activities which attack human dignity is of the utmost concern and calls for constant vigilance and appropriate government regulation

Radio Radio remains the medium with the second largest share of consumption

by Australians, behind television. It is a powerful and intimate medium and one should never discount the effect and persuasion of a person’s voice being heard over the radio.

While radio news can oversimplify in the same way as news items listed on the internet, the best examples of radio, which may include reports of around 3 minutes on average or interviews of up to an hour, provide the audience with a far better précis of the issue or a more balanced picture of a newsmaker than they had hitherto been exposed to. Talk-back radio dominates the airwaves every morning and afternoon, allowing all of us to take part directly. But one doesn’t have to listen for too long to realise that the quality can range from the excellent to the appalling and too often in this forum human dignity is the loser.

Print The print media (both newspapers and magazines) can provide greater depth and more background information than electronic media. But critical consumption of the print

Worshippers pray at a church in Hong Kong April 8 as they watch Pope John Paul II’s funeral on television.

media is crucial, particularly in Australia where newspaper ownership is concentrated in just a few hands. While newspaper readership is declining in the face of new technologies, the print media remains an authoritative source of news because unlike internet blogs, newspapers are written by professional journalists.

However, part of a journalist’s job is to make judgments about the quotes and background material they use when crafting a story. By definition therefore, as consumers, we need to be aware that even the most wellwritten and well-balanced news item can never tell the whole story.

Cinema Most of us enjoy a night out at the movies from time to time, and film, in so far as it tackles issues of ethics, values and morals, has enormous capacity to infl uence the thoughts, actions and feelings of people of all ages. At its best cinema is an uplifting and inspirational experience which engages our soul as well as our mind. Films which have looked at religious or quasi-religious themes and become box office successes over recent years include The Passion of the Christ, Schindler’s List, The Shawshank Redemption, Priest, Dead Man Walking, Sister Act, The Hurricane, The Mission, Tender Mercies, Romero, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Bruce Almighty, Witness, Whale Rider, In America, A Man for All Seasons and Babette’s Feast. Unfortunately, the entertainment and commercial aspects of the

movies, often pitched at the lowest common denominator, can be allowed to prevail over elements of taste and human dignity. The result is that audiences are too often treated to the promotion of what Pope John Paul II called “provisional values and fleeting moments as opposed to lasting virtues”. The Australian Catholic Film Office, established by the bishops, provides fi lm reviews to guide people in their movie choices.

It also seeks to encourage movies of high quality and sound values by naming an annual Movie of the Year and provides media education to schools, church groups and others. The Bishops Committee for the Media also remains watchful on the issue of film and television classification and has made submissions to government at various times seeking to promote responsible classification guidelines.

When it comes to entertainment, Australians love watching soap operas, serials and so-called reality television. These shows top the television ratings every week. Many of them frequently include characters who are struggling to resolve moral questions within their own lives, such as an unwanted pregnancy, AIDS, euthanasia, abuse by a partner, living together or discerning a vocation.

Programme makers rarely make a moral judgment, and the imperative to secure ratings and advertising dollars means that these shows often sensationalise or sentimentalise.

On the other hand, many television dramas are enjoyable and relaxing.

Our assessment of them needs to be informed by our faith. This applies

also to reality television, which pretends to represent the reality of ordinary peoples lives, when in fact these shows are often based on a deception, and in seeking to entertain end up glamorising and normalizing undignified human behaviour.

Advertising In all of these mediums there is one common, powerful factor – advertising.

In the Papal document Ecclesia in Oceania we are reminded that the process of globalization and the growing pattern of monopolies in the media give advertising ever greater power over people. By means of image and suggestion, advertising often propagates a culture of consumerism, reducing people to what they have or can acquire. It leads people to believe that there is nothing beyond what a consumer economy can offer. “ The greatest concern with this power is that, for the most part, it ceaselessly propagates an ideology that is clearly in conflict with the vision of the Catholic faith”. It is important therefore that the faithful, especially the young, be equipped to deal critically with the advertising which is a ubiquitous part of life today. This means that they must be given a clear and strong sense of the human and Christian values which are fundamental to the Catholic understanding of human life.

Regardless of the limitations of all the various media, there is no doubting they represent a major

Good communication is vital, especially for people with a great message to share. The Church has news of great joy – the Good News of Jesus Christ – and the Catholic media is charged with helping to spread this message to the faithful and beyond. Aetatis Novae, reminds us that “the media can be used to proclaim the Gospel or reduce it to silence in human hearts”.

Australia is blessed with a strong and vibrant Catholic media apostolate. The Australasian Catholic Press Association has about 50 members, representing publications ranging from diocesan newspapers to magazines, periodicals and specialist publications, as well as media professionals who work between the Church and the secular media. In addition to the Catholic press, the Australian Catholic Film Offi ce offers fi lm reviews, education and comment and the Catholic Television Library provides programs for use on free-toair television as well as for Catholic Church Television Australia (CCTVA), which airs on Foxtel Digital’s Aurora Community Channel. In 2005, the Year of the Eucharist CCTVA began telecasting daily “Mass for You at Home”, as well as documentaries on the good work the Church is doing in Australia and abroad. Church media is also a vibrant presence on the internet.

Thousands of people subscribe to the daily Cathnews email news service which is the most visited religious website in Australia. Dioceses, parishes and church groups all proclaim their message via websites.

To open any of these publications or to tune in to Catholic television programming is to instantly feel a part of the life of the Church. The Catholic media refl ects the myriad different arms of the Church, the different aspects of spirituality, the different vocations, the good works.

When we see these refl ections of Church life, we know the truth contained in Aetatis Novae, the pastoral instruction on social communications issued by the Pontifi cal Council for Social Communications in 1992, which tells us that: “Catholic media work is not simply one more program alongside the rest of all the Church’s activities; social communications have a role to play in every aspect of the Church’s mission.”

A strong Catholic media nourishes our Church. It helps people of faith to know that they are not alone! They are part of a community which goes beyond their local parish. A strong Catholic media supports people in living out their faith, by informing and connecting and

February 23 2006, The Record

challenging.

The Catholic media is at the service of Truth. The Pontifical Council for Social Communications has pointed out that the Catholic media must always report in honesty, even if, when scandal is involved, this is painful for the Church. The Church’s credibility is always reliant upon its role as Proclaimer of Truth.

Where the Catholic media can differentiate itself from the secular media is that it must go beyond the headlines and report the life of the Church and of our faith in all its fullness. “In other words, the Church can act as an agency of meaning, to transform the bombardment of information into real knowledge and wisdom that helps one to live fully.”8 We pray in gratitude for all of those who are engaged in communications for the Church in Australia, and for the many Catholics working in the broader media, that their work will nourish and inspire us in our faith, connect us as brothers and sisters, and reflect the fullness of the life of the Church and the world.

Challenges of social communication today The Church today faces immense challenges in the field of human communication; challenges we all need to embrace if we are truly to take up Christ’s call to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Never before have the challenges been greater, never before the need so pressing or the potential harvest so bountiful. Communication lies at the heart of our response.

As the Pontifical Council for Social Communications observed in its paper Ethics in Communications (June 2000), “depending on how they use media, people can grow in sympathy and compassion or become isolated in a narcissistic, self-referential world of stimuli with nearnarcotic effects.” It is people who choose to use the media for good or for evil.

To address the daily, even minuteby-minute, bombardment of information and opinion is not an easy task for those who desire to respond to the call of Christ. It requires a determination to be informed, to be discerning and, not least of all in the modern world, to be principled and

GO TELL EVERYONE: A PASTORAL LETTER ON THE CHURCH AND THE MEDIA

courageous in their response.

Much responsibility also lies with communicators themselves – especially those who work in the media, whether in journalism, film making or advertising. These responsibilities are becoming ever more acute in the Internet age when so much is being written by so many. The Church has consistently held that: “Modern man cannot do without information that is full, consistent, accurate and true.”

This places a significant onus on the shoulders of the communicator in a society where consumerism, nationalism and the lust for power make the search for truth an intricate and sometimes dangerous task.

Reflecting on the 40 years since the publication of Inter Mirifica Pope John Paul II left us with this vision in his final letter to communicators, The Rapid Development: “The mass media can and must promote justice and solidarity according to an organic and correct vision of human development, by reporting events accurately and truthfully, analyzing situations and problems completely, and providing a forum for different opinions.

An authentically ethical approach

gospel truths. The Papal document Ecclesia in Oceania tells us that “Our Christian faith naturally challenges us all to become discriminating readers, listeners and viewers”.

Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has taught us that while we are called to be critical consumers of the media we are also called to be fearless users of the media, as it is boldness in communicating our Christian beliefs and principles that can change the world.

The family – home of media education So many of our values and attitudes are formed by our family. The family is often referred to as the ‘domestic church’, as it is here that our faith is first introduced and nurtured. In the same way, the family has a crucial role to play in guiding the way in which young people consume media. In a world in which almost every home has a radio and a television and in which a significant number have internet access, it is not always easy to control the messages that bombard us.

None of us would dream of let-

best ways to provide this guidance is simply to keep the lines of communication open.

This means talking with children about the TV programs they watch, the movies they see, the magazines they read and the internet sites they visit. Ensuring that the home computer is in an open space is also a good idea. Internet safety calls for constant vigilance in the home and reference to the latest safety information from sources such as the federal government’s NetAlert organisation at www.netalert.net.au.

It is the responsibility of all families to teach children how to be seekers of the truth.

Pope John Paul gave practical advice to families: “Parents also need to regulate the use of media in the home. This would include planning and scheduling media use, strictly limiting the time children devote to media, making entertainment a family experience, putting some media entirely off limits and periodically excluding all of them for the sake of other family activities. Above all, parents should give good example to children by their own thoughtful and selective

The Catholic Church must be part of this marketplace of ideas and regularly accept opportunities to be quoted, seen or heard upon matters of consequence. to using the powerful communications media must be situated within the context of a mature exercise of freedom and responsibility, founded upon the supreme criteria of truth and justice.”

The Church itself must lead the way in being committed to communicating the fullness of truth in a way which is credible and understandable not only to the faithful but to the world at large.

Communio et Progressio also points to the duty of those who receive the message not to merely absorb it unquestioningly. “With the right to be informed goes the duty to seek information. Information does not simply occur; it has to be sought.” Within each individual’s circumstances there is an ability to search. Within each individual’s conscience there needs to be nurtured a willingness to discern in the light of

ting a person in the front door who threatened to smash the furniture, yet so often we can be careless about the electronic invasion that affects our thinking and attitudes. How much effort goes into monitoring children’s TV viewing, or teenagers’ use of the internet? How passive are we in the face of offensive programming? We think we might like to write and complain but just never get around to it? Do we assume that every opinion in the newspapers or expressed by the radio talk show hosts is valid?

In his World Communications Day message for 2004, Pope John Paul II focused on the role of the family in shaping attitudes to media.

It is in the security of family life that children find peace. It is there that they develop the skills to be discerning about the messages they receive through mass media. One of the

use of media. Often they will fi nd it helpful to join with other families to study and discuss the problems and opportunities presented by the use of the media. Families should be outspoken in telling producers, advertisers, and public authorities what they like and dislike”.

Schools – equipping our children for life in the media age Educators have a special responsibility to ensure that children are given sufficient opportunities to develop those skills which will enable them to live in our audio-visual world. Br Kelvin Canavan fms, director of Catholic Education in the Sydney Archdiocese has written a booklet on this topic entitled Life the Media Age. In it, he says that in countries where television is widespread, many children learn more from the electronic media than they do from school. In light of this, the

Page 9

Australian Catholic Bishops have, over the years, actively encouraged the development of media education programs in schools, exhorting primary, secondary and tertiary teachers to prepare students to use the media responsibly. We take this opportunity to reinforce this call for media education programs to be established in Catholic schools and learning institutions.

“Although the modern communication media must certainly be accepted as influencing young children, they should never be deemed too powerful to be corrected, mitigated, or utilised. Young media users need to be taught to be appreciative, critical and discriminating with the media of social communication.

They will not become intelligent users unless parents and teachers systematically develop in them the skills, attitudes and knowledge to process the barrage of messages received from television, film, press and radio.

Do you have good news happening in your parish?

Is your parish community a vibrant and active member of your local community? Is your parish answering Christ’s call to each of us to go out and tell the Good News?

In a world in which the scandalous and the shocking dominate the airwaves and front pages, the Church is called more than ever to tell the Good News of Jesus Christ. One way we can achieve this is by focusing on Good News stories which are found within the Body of Christ.

Much of the Church’s Good News occurs in parishes and it might be easier than you think to spread your Good News via the local media. The Bishops’ Committee for the Media has produced a kit to help parishes identify what news is.

It offers tips for identifying the news within your parish community and for providing it in the most effective way to your local media. It also examines the responsible use of the media and puts forward some general principles which guide the Church’s relationship with the media.

You can fi nd the kit on the website of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference at: www.acbc.catholic. org.au/documents/200503064.pdf or you can order the kits in booklet form from www.acbc.catholic.org. au/bc/media/200503064.htm or by emailing media@catholic.org.au

Evangelisation through the Media The call to evangelise, to spread the Good News to the whole world is the great commission, given by Jesus Christ, in which we all share.

Communication of the Truth is not optional for the Church. In every age the Church has made use of the prevailing media – oral proclamation, letters, folio manuscripts, printed tracts, radio messages and television broadcasts. “The Church recognises that the media, if properly utilized, can be of great service to mankind, since they greatly contribute to men’s entertainment and instruction as well as to the spread and support of the Kingdom of God. Continued over

Page 10

GO TELL EVERYONE: A PASTORAL LETTER ON THE CHURCH AND THE MEDIA

February 23 2006, The Record

Ev@ngelising in the new media Continued previous page

These words, from Inter Mirifica, the Decree on the Media of Social Communications from the Second Vatican Council, are as applicable today as when written in 1963.

Pope Paul VI, in Evangelii Nuntiandi, wrote that the mass media or means of social communication “are capable of increasing almost indefinitely the area in which the Word of God is heard; they enable the Good News to reach millions of people.

The Church would feel guilty before the Lord if she did not utilise these powerful means that human skill is daily rendering more perfect.

It is through them that she proclaims ‘from the housetops’ the message of which she is the depositary.

In them she finds a modern and effective version of the

validity of the Church’s missionary mandate) stressed how important the media is in promoting the Christian message.

“The very evangelisation of modern culture depends to a great extent on the influence of the media”, he wrote.

“Therefore Christians need to understand this ‘new culture’ created by modern communications ... new ways of communicating, with new languages, new techniques and a new psychology”.

The message was the same in 1995 in Evangelium Vitae - Pope John Paul reminded all those involved in the mass media that they have an important and serious responsibility; they are “called to ensure that the messages which they so effectively transmit will support the culture of life...

With scrupulous concern for factual truth, they are

need to reach and teach the individual.

“Through (the media) the evangelical message should reach vast numbers of peo-

Christians need to understand this ‘new culture’ created by modern communications ... new ways of communicating, with new languages, new techniques and a new psychology”. pulpit.

Thanks to them she succeeds in speaking to the multitudes.”

Pope John Paul II in his 1991 letter Redemptoris Missio (on the permanent

PANORAMA Sunday, February 26 ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK 1  2 PM ON ACCESS 31 Youth retreat in the mountains / Fr Antoine Thomas and members of the youth group, with Fr Francis Mary Stone [Life on the Rock] Father Antoine is currently visiting Perth to promote Eucharistic Adoration for children and youth , which is a wonderful and very much needed apostolate. Please send donations to keep these great programs on Access 31 to The Rosary Christian Tutorial Association, PO Box 1270, Booragoon 6954. Videos and DVDs available on request. Enquiries: 9330-1170.

February 27 - March 5 CHILDREN OF HOPE Two Priests from ‘the Community of St. John’ in the USA will be in Perth promoting Adoration of Jesus Present in the Blessed Sacrament for children and youth. All welcome. Monday February 27 7pm - 8pm St. Bernadette’s, 49 Jugan St, Glendalough.

Ash Wednesday March 1 6.30pm Mass and Holy Hour @ Catholic Youth Ministry chapel, 40A Mary St. Highgate. Thursday. Aquinas College - morning Friday. Homeschoolers - morning. 7pm Pemberton.

8pm Disciples of Jesus Community, Howe St. Osborne Park Saturday. 9am Christ the King, 61 Lefroy Rd, Beaconsfeild. 1pm to 2pm Regina Caeli, cnr Bateman & Adamson Rds, Brentwood, 5pm to 6pm St. Joseph’s, 18 Hamilton St, Bassendean Sunday 11.30am to 12.30md, St.Bernadette’s, 49 Jugan St, Glendalough.

Tuesday February 28 SHROVE TUESDAY Caritas is gearing up for Project Compassion 2006.

Be part of the action – join them for a Pancake lunch at 40A Mary St, Highgate on Shrove Tuesday 12 – 1.30pm – bookings essential. Tel: 9422 7925, cost: gold coin.

Wednesday March 1 LATIN MASS FOR ASH WEDNESDAY Day of Fast and Abstinence 10am Low Mass (preceded by Holy Hour at 8.45am-9.45am) and 6.30pm Sung Mass. Ashes will be distributed at both Masses.

Also Stations of the Cross on Fridays in Lent at

6.30pm followed by Holy Mass beginning March 3 at the Pro Cathedral. St John’s Pro-Cathedral, Victoria Avenue, Perth. All welcome, enq: Fr Michael Rowe 9444 9604.

Friday March 3 PRO LIFE PROCESSION The first Friday Mass, Procession and Rosary Vigil will commence at 9.30am with Mass celebrated at St Brigid’s Church, Midland. The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate will lead us. All are invited to witness for the sanctity of life and pray for the conversion of hearts. Enq: Helen 9402 0349.

Friday March 3 ALLIANCE AND TRIUMH OF THE TWO HEARTS 1st Friday/Saturday All Night Vigil in reparation to the Two Hearts: Holy Mass 9pm Friday evening at St Bernadette’s Church, 49 Jugan St, Glendalough followed by All Night Eucharistic Adoration with Rosaries, Hymns etc and Silent Adoration. All are welcome to join us for any length of time to make reparation to the hearts of Jesus and Mary Saturday parish Mass is at 7.30am (reconciliation at 7am) Fr Doug Harris 9444-6131 Dorothy 9342 5845.

Friday/Saturday March 3-4 TWO HEARTS DEVOTIONS All Saints Chapel Allendale Square, Perth. 1st Friday of the month devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus commencing at 9pm, followed by Rosary, hymns, prayers, adoration of the blessed sacrament concluding Saturday morning with Mass at 7am for the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Please come even for one hour. 9409 4543.

March 3 – 6 GOD’S FARM God’s Farm welcomes you to enjoy quietly a relaxed long weekend in the Presence of God and Nature.

Father Brian Morgan will be in residence offering daily Mass in the glorious stone Chapel, with the Blessed Sacrament reserved, plus prayers of the Church, and Our Blessed Lady awaits our visits in her Grotto. Father will be available for reconciliation and or consultation. Mass and mealtimes will be programmed but it is not a preached retreat, leaving more free time to walk or swim or enjoy the

called to combine freedom of information with respect for every person and a profound sense of humanity.”

In using the media to evangelise the masses, the Church must never lose sight of the

ple, but with the capacity of piercing the conscience of each individual, of implanting itself in his heart as though he were the only person being addressed, with all his most individual and personal qual-

ities, and evoke an entirely personal adherence and commitment.”

The Gospel message of Jesus Christ can reach to every corner of the world, and most importantly can touch the heart and mind of each and every person, in a most effective way through the media.

We pray that this pastoral letter will serve to encourage a faith-filled examination of the role of the media in our individual lives, our family lives and in the life of the Church.

Each of us is called to step forward in faith and with courage to play our part by using the media wisely and well in proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.

a roundup of events in the archdiocese peace, wonder and healing of the 200 acre bushland environment. Venue: God’s Farm, Gracewood, 40kms south of Bussleton. From Friday evening March 3 – 6. Contact Betty Peaker s.f.o. Ph/Fax 9755 6212. PO Box 24, Cowaramup WA 6284.

Saturday March 4 WITNESS FOR LIFE PROCESSION The next first Saturday Mass, Procession and Rosary Vigil will commence with Mass at 8.30am at St Anne’s Church, Hehir St, Belmont. We proceed prayerfully to the Rivervale Abortion Centre and conclude with Rosary, led by Fr Paul Carey SSC. Please join us to pray peacefully for the conversion of hearts. Enq: Helen 9402 0349.

Saturday March 4 DAY WITH MARY St Anne Church, 6549 Great Northern Highway, Bindoon 9am – 5pm. A video on Fatima will be shown at 9am. A day of prayer and instruction based upon the messages of Fatima. Includes Sacrament of Penance, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, sermons, Rosaries, procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Stations of the Cross. Please BYO lunch. Enq: Fanciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286. Bus Services contact Nita 9367 1366.

Saturday/Sunday March 4-5 WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CHRIST  LENTEN WEEKEND RETREAT ‘God is Love’ Pope Benedict’s XVI’s first encyclical letter draws us to come and make our Lenten journey into the heart of God where we can experience his enduring and abounding love for us as we prepare for Holy Week and Easter. Fr Hugh Thomas, CSsR offers to share his spiritual meditation and reflection on the Pope’s teaching with us during this weekend at the Redemptorist Retreat Centre in North Perth. Retreat starts Sat at 9am and ends Sunday at 5pm. For registration and more information, please contact Rita 9272 1765, Rose 0403 300 7200, Gertrude 0433 231 305 / 9455 6576.

Sunday March 5 DIVINE MERCY An afternoon with Jesus and Mary at St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Square, Perth, on Sunday at

1.30pm Program: Holy Rosary and Reconciliation.

Sermon with Fr Doug Harris, followed by Divine Mercy prayers and Benediction. Enq: John – 9457 7771, Linda 9275 6608.

Tuesday, March 7 CATHOLIC POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION Serving and former members of Police are advised that a Special Meeting will be held at Trinity College, Trinity Avenue, East Perth, to adopt a Constitution and elect a committee. Mass will commence at 7pm and will be followed by the Special Meeting which is expected to be brief. A light supper will follow the meeting. For catering purposes those wishing to attend are requested to contact either Peter Browne (9321 2155), Inspector Paul Newman (9222 1474) or Des Noonan (9291 8641).

Tuesday March 7 SPIRITUALITY IN THE PUB “Spirituality in the Pub and Caritas are presenting an evening with 2 Caritas workers, Simon Stroud who works in South Africa with HIV/AIDS programs and Janeen Murphy who has recently returned from Timor Leste. They will be discussing the HIV/ AIDS crisis in South Africa and how Timor Leste is coping 6 years after independence. Join us at the Elephant and the Wheelbarrow Pub, Lake St Northbridge on TUESDAY 7th March at 7.30pm.

Meals served from 5.30pm on wards. NEW SIP COMMITTEE MEMBERS are URGENTLY needed for 2006. Ring Deborah 041 993 9864”

Wednesday March 8 Monthly Mass at 6pm in honour of Blessed Mary MacKillop. Come and join in the Eucharist and place your petitions at Blessed Mary MacKillop’s shrine and learn more about our Australian Saint. St Joseph’s Chapel, 16 York St, South Perth. Enq: Sister maree 9457 3371.

Sunday May 7 THE BOVE FARM MAY ROSARY RALLY Celebration in Honour of Our Lady to be held at the Queen of the Holy Rosary Grotto, Bove’s Farm, Roy Road, Jindong. Hymn singing commences at 12.30pm. Holy concelebrated Mass led by Bishop Gerard Holohan commences 1pm, followed by

February 23 2006, The Record

Page 11

Classifieds

Classified ads: $3.30 per line incl. GST

24 hour Hotline 9227 7778

Deadline: 12pm Tuesday

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■ LEARN GREGORIAN CHANT

Specialising in gifts, cards and apparel for baptism, communion and confirmation. Ph: 9456 1777. Shop 12, 64-66 Bannister Road, Canning Vale. Open Mon-Sat.

Gregorian Chant for Beginners: Notation, vocal technique, English modal chants, Latin chants. 11wk course on Mondays starting 13 March.

The only pre-requisite is a willingness to sing. Jubilus Song School Australia.

Making sacred music simple. Phone: 1300 725 138.

rity, partially furnished, very reasonable rent. 5 mins from Edith Cowan

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BUILDING TRADES ■ BRICK REPOINTING

■ EMPLOYMENT WANTED Cleaning and or ironing, police clearance, references. Ph: 0432 834 743.

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Phone Nigel 9242 2952.

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Expressions of interest sought for 24 pews and organ. Contact 9384 2225 for inspection.

painting requirements. Phone Tom Perrott 9444 1200.

■ PICASSO PAINTING

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Top service. Phone 9345 0557, fax

■ ALL AREAS

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Mike Murphy 0416 226 434.

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

PERSONALS

SEMINAR

■ ATTRACTIVE CHINESE CATHOLIC LADIES

■ CAMINO SEMINAR

Two nice and attractive Chinese catholic ladies 42 and 55 yrs seek kind honest gent for permanent relationship poss marriage. Email to muljani_ surya@yahoo.com

A seminar will be held on the Ancient Spanish Pilgrimage, Camino De Santiago, in the state library’s mid west room on Saturday March 18 between 1 and 4 pm. Participants will learn about the various routes of this pilgrimage and understand the historical and cultural significance. Presenters, Paula and Anne, will provide practical information to assist you in planning your own pilgrimage. Cost $80 booking essential. Ph: Anne 0405 568 559 or email amburke@iinet.net.au This seminar has been run successfully through UWA extension.

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS ■ HUMBLE MESSENGER

■ BED AND BREAKFAST B & B low rates, lovely riverside walks close to Perth. Ph: 9272 8263 or 0438 946 621.

■ DENMARK Holiday House 3bdr x 2bath, sleeps up to 8. BOOK NOW. Ph: Maria 0412 083 377.

■ SHOALWATER Holiday units, self-contained, sleep up to 6, walk to the beach, near Penguin Island, very affordable rates. Bookings Ph: 0414 204 638 or bluewaterholidayu nits@dodo.com.au.

PERSONALS ■ ATTRACTIVE SLIM WOMAN ANNE Educated, caring, 30 yrs seeks kind honest gent for permanent relationship poss marriage. Email to caroline_debby@yahoo.com

Shop 16/80 Barrack St (Inside Bon Marche Arcade) Perth WA 6000.

Trading Hours: Monday-Closed,TuesFri-10am-5pm, Sat-10am-3pm, Ph/Fax 9225 7199, 0421 131 716.

■ RICH HARVEST  YOUR CHRISTIAN SHOP

THANK YOU

Looking for Bibles, CDs, books, cards, gifts, statues, baptism/communion apparel, religious vestments, etc? Visit us at, 39 Hulme Court (off McCoy St), Myaree, 9329 9889 (after 10.30am, Mon-Sat). We are here to serve.

■ PRAYER Thank you St Clare, say nine Hail Mary’s with lighted candle for nine days.

Ask St Clare for three favours, one business, two impossible. LW

■ REPAIR YOUR LITURGICAL BOOKS

TRAVEL COMPANION

Tydewi Bindery offer a reliable service to repair your Liturgical books, missals, bibles, to bind homilies and favourite prayers. Ph. 9293 3092.

■ TRAVEL COMPANION Lady mid 60’s seeking same for trip on Gemini 2006. Ph: 9444 8872.

OFFICIAL DIARY FEBRUARY 24 Opening Mass for St Charles’ Seminary - Bishop Sproxton 26

100th Anniversary Mass, Highgate Parish - Archbishop Hickey Mass for Women’s Formation Community, Midland - Archbishop Hickey Project Compassion Mass, St Mary’s Cathedral - Bishop Sproxton

3

Opening of Broadway Campus UNDA, Sydney - Archbishop Hickey

5

Mass for Anniversary of Good Samaritan Sisters, Mt Magnet - Archbishop Hickey Mass and Procession Annual Fruit Harvest Festival, Pickering Brook - Bishop Quinn

7

Rite of Election, St Mary’s Cathedral - Archbishop Hickey

MARCH 1 Mass at Curtin University - Archbishop Hickey

8

Blessing of Foundation Stone of St John of God Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Subiaco - Bishop Sproxton

2

10

Blessing of St John of God Chapel, Subiaco - Archbishop Hickey

Mass for Yr 12s at Emmanuel Catholic College - Archbishop Hickey

Rosary Procession and Benediction. Afternoon tea provided ˆ All welcome! bus bookings from Perth to Bove Farm can be made with Francis Williams on ph 9459 3873 or mob 0404 893 977. (Note: Roy Road runs off the Bussell Highway, halfway between Busselton and Margaret River).

Every Saturday ART EXHIBITION Art exhibition every Saturday at the Parish Hall, Star of the Sea church, Cottesloe, cnr of Stirling Highway and McNeil Sts beginning Saturday March 4, 10am – 4pm all proceeds from the sale towards the extension of St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Is alcohol costing you more than just money?

Alcoholics Anonymous can help. Ring 9325-3566

Mondays NOVENA TO GOD THE ETERNAL FATHER A powerful and beautiful Novena to God the Eternal Father, source of all graces, is conducted at the All Saints Chapel, Allendale Square, 77 St George’s Terrace (opposite London Court) every Monday at 11.40am and 12.40pm followed by a Mass after each Novena. A short Scripture teaching on Jesus’ relationship with the Father is inserted as part of the Novena. This Novena, the only one in Perth, is conducted by Fr Douglas Rowe SFP the Chaplain of All Saints. Pray and ask for the heavenly Father to take care of you and your family problems.

Congratulations to all those with the winning tickets.

CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY Term 1: Tuesday 31st January 2006 until Friday 14th April for: Family & Friends Support Groups of Substance Abusers are on Wednesdays 7–9pm, Substance Abusers Support Groups are on Tuesdays 5.30 to 7.30pm & Fridays All day Group for Substance Abusers is from 9.30am to 2pm including Healing Mass on Fridays @ 12.30pm during term. Ladies Groups are on Tuesdays 11am to 1.30pm. Rosary is from Tuesday to Thursday at 12.30 to 1pm.

ALL SAINTS CHAPEL Lending Library of a thousand books, videos, cassettes at your service. Tel: 9325 2009. www.allsaintschapel.com

SCHOENSTATT FAMILY MOVEMENT: MONTHLY DEVOTIONS An international group focussed on family faith development through dedication to our Blessed Mother. Monthly devotions at the Armadale shrine on the first Sunday at or after the 18th day of the month at 3pm. Next event: March 19. 9 Talus Drive Armadale. Enq Sisters of Mary 9399 2349 or Peter de San Miguel 0407 242 707 www.schoenstatt.org.au

BULLSBROOK SHRINE SUNDAY MASS PROGRAM

INDONESIAN MASS

2pm every Sunday Pilgrim Mass is celebrated with Holy Rosary and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at the Shrine of Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Rd. Bullsbrook. Reconciliation is available in Italian and English before every celebration. A monthly pilgrimage is held on the last Sunday of the month in honour of the Virgin of the Revelation. Anointing of the sick is administered for spiritual and physical healing during Holy Mass every second Sunday of the month. The side entrance to the Church and the Shrine are open daily between 9am and 5pm for private prayer. For all enquiries contact SACRI 9447 3292.

Every Sunday at 11.30am at St Benedict’s church Alness St, Applecross. Further info www.waicc.org. au.

CATHOLIC BIBLE COLLEGE

PERPETUAL ADORATION Christ the King, Lefroy Rd, Beaconsfield. Enq Joe Migro 9430 7937, A/H 0419 403 100. Adoration also at Sacred Heart, 64 Mary St Highgate, St Anne’s, 77 Hehir St Belmont. Bassendean, 19 Hamilton St and Mirrabooka, 37 Changton Wy.

THE DIVINE MERCY APOSTOLATE St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Square, Perth – each first Sunday of the month from 1.30pm to 3.15pm with a different priest each month. St Francis Xavier Church, 25 Windsor Street, East Perth - each Saturday from 2.30pm to 3.30pm, main celebrant Fr Marcellinus Meilak, OFM. Saints John and Paul Church, Pinetree Gully Drive, Willeton - each Wednesday from 4pm to 5pm. All Enq John 9457 7771.

PERPETUAL HELP NOVENA

Enrolments are now open for fulltime and parttime study at Acts 2 College of Mission and Evangelisation. Orientation commences 13 Feb, Term 1 commences Monday 20 Feb. Day courses (9.30 -12.30): Bible Timeline (Mon); Saints of God/ Actions of the Holy Spirit (Tues); Life Skills (Thurs); Pastoral Ministry 1 (Thurs); Gospel of Matthew (Fri).

Night Courses: Finding New Life in the Spirit (Mario Borg, Wed); Apologetics (Thurs, Paul Kelly); Bible Timeline (Thurs, Jane Borg). Contact Jane Borg 9202 6859; 0401 692 690. Website: www.acts2come.disciplesofjesus.org

Every Saturday 4.30pm - 5pm at Redemptorist Monastery Church, 190 Vincent Street, North Perth.

TUESDAYS WEEKLY PRAYER MEETING

PERPETUAL ADORATION AT ST BERNADETTE’S

7pm at St Mary’s Cathedral Parish Centre, 450 Hay Street, Perth, WA. Take time to pray and be united with Our Lord and Our Lady in prayer with others. Appreciate more deeply the heritage of the Faith. Overcome the burdens in life with the Rosary, Meditation, Scripture, praise in song, and friendship over refreshments. Come! Join us! Mary’s Companion Wayfarers of Jesus the Way Prayer Group. Experience personal healing in prayer.

Adoration: Chapel open all day and all night. All welcome, 49 Jugan St, Glendalough, just north of the city. Masses every night at 5.45pm Monday to Friday, 6.30pm, Saturday and the last Sunday Mass in Perth is at 7pm.

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION Holy Trinity Church, 8 Burnett Street, Embleton.

Daily Monday to Thursday 8.30am Holy Mass. 9am – 10am Adoration. Every Thursday night 11pm to midnight Adoration. Every Friday 8.30am Holy Mass followed by Benediction. Adoration continues till 6pm. Every Saturday 8.30am Holy Mass. 9am – 9.15am Adoration. Every Monday Divine Mercy Chaplet after Holy Mass. Enq: 9721 5528.

REDEMPTORIST RETREAT HOUSE 190 Vincent Street, North Perth. Bookings now open for 2006 - 2007. Manageress: Mrs Janice Broderick.

Fax/Phone (08) 9328 9736.

GRAND RAFFLE DRAW RESULTS Result of St Emilie’s Parish Grand Raffle Draw are: Ticket numbers: 1st, 1045, 2nd 1820, 3rd 0318, 4th – 10th 1881, 1168, 0488, 1923, 0925, 0740, 0614.

BLESSED SACRAMENT ADORATION Holy Family Church, Alcock Street, Maddington.

Every Friday 8.30 am Holy Mass followed by Blessed Sacrament Adoration till 12 noon. Every first Friday of the month, anointing of the sick during Mass.

Enq. 9398 6350.

ST CLARE’S SCHOOL, SISTERS OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD A short history of St Clare’s School is being prepared to celebrate 50 years of its work in WA. Any past students, staff, families or others associated with the

school - from its time at Leederville, at North Perth, at East Perth or at Wembley - are invited to contact us with photographs, or memories. Privacy will be protected, in accordance with your wishes. Please contact Nancy Paterson on 0417 927 126, (email npaters@yahoo.com.au) or St Clare’s School, PO Box 21 & 23 Carlisle North 6161. Tel: 9470 5711.

SUNDAY CHINESE MASS The Perth Chinese Catholic Community invite you to join in at St Brigid’s Church, 211 Aberdeen St (Cnr of Aberdeen and Fitzgerald) Northbridge. Celebrant Rev Fr Dominic Su SDS. Mass starts 5pm every Sunday. Enq Augustine 9310 4532, Mr Lee 9310 9197, Peter 9310 1789.

CONFRATERNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT The Confraternity of the Holy Spirit has been sanctioned in the Perth Archdiocese, our aim is to make the Holy Spirit known and loved, and to develop awareness of His presence in our lives. If you would like more information please call WA Coordinator Frank Pimm on 9304 5190.

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY WALKERS MPH walkers - walking across Perth Outdoors wearing the White band is a message that we want poverty to be stopped. For info on the walk contact Teresa at tgrundy@westnet.com.au or tel. 9458 4084. For info on the worldwide campaign and what is happening this week in Perth look at www. makepovertyhistory.com.au.

Please Note The Record reserves the right to decline or modify any advertisment it considers improper or not in unison with the general display of the paper.

February 23 2006, The Record

Page 12

The Last Word Winning back our body’s true meaning Continued from Vista 3

for us as male and female. In the resurrection, all that is true, good and beautiful about the union of the sexes, marriage and family life will not be obliterated. It will be taken up, transformed, glorified and fulfilled beyond our wildest imaginings.

How do we live this now, while we await the full joy of heaven?

By looking at “who we are” in our origin, history and destiny, we open the door to a proper understanding of the Christian vocations of celibacy and marriage. Both vocations are an authentic living out of the most profound truth of who we are as male and female. Similarly, those who live a chaste single life in service of others are living according to the “nuptial meaning of their bodies.”

“Pope John Paul II described the body and conjugal union as “prophetic.” But, he added, we must carefully distinguish true and false prophets. If we can speak the truth with our bodies, we can also speak lies.

Ultimately all questions of sexual morality come down to one simple question: Does this image God’s free, total, faithful, fruitful love or does it not?”

When lived authentically, Christian celibacy isn’t a rejection of sexuality and our call to union. It actually points to their ultimate fulfilment. Those who sacrifice marriage “for the sake of the kingdom” (see Mt 19:12) do so in order to devote all of their energies and desires to the marriage that alone can satisfy — the marriage of Christ and the Church. In a way, they’re “skipping” the sacrament (the earthly sign) in anticipation of the ultimate reality. By doing so, celibate men and women declare to

the world that the kingdom of God is here (see Mt 12:28).

In a different way, marriage also anticipates heaven. The joys of marital love are meant to be a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb.

However, in order for marriage to bring the happiness it is meant to, spouses must live it as God intended “from the beginning.” This means they must contend diligently with the effects of sin.

Marriage does not justify lust. As a sacrament, marriage is meant to symbolize the union of Christ and the Church. The body has a “language” that’s meant to express God’s free, total, faithful and fruitful love.

This is exactly what spouses commit to at the altar. “Have you come here freely?” the priest asks, “to give yourselves to each other without reservation? Do you promise to be faithful until death? Do you promise to receive children lovingly from God?” Bride and groom say “yes.” In turn, spouses are meant to express this same “yes” with their bodies whenever they become one flesh. Sexual intercourse is meant to be a renewal of wedding vows — where the words of marital consent are made flesh.

Is this why unmarried people shouldn’t be having sex?

Yes. In fact, the whole of the Church’s sexual ethic begins to make sense when viewed through this lens. It is not a prudish list of prohibitions. It is a call to embrace our own “greatness” our own Godlike dignity. It is a call to enter into the mystery of our redemption in Christ that enables us to live in the image of God and experience the love for which He originally created us.

Since a prophet is one who proclaims God’s love, Pope John Paul II described the body and conjugal union as “prophetic.” But, he added, we must carefully distinguish true and false prophets. If we can speak the truth with our bodies, we can also speak lies. Ultimately all questions of sexual morality come down to one simple question: Does this image God’s free, total, faithful, fruitful love or does it not? In practical terms, how healthy would a marriage be if spouses were regularly unfaithful to their wedding vows?

On the other hand, how healthy would a marriage be if spouses regularly renewed their vows, expressing an ever-increasing commitment

WIN!!!

Name

How can theology of the body help us make sense of all the sexual confusion in the world?

If I offered you a real million-dollar bill and a counterfeit one, which would you prefer? Senseless question, I know. But what if you were raised in a culture that incessantly bombarded you with propaganda convincing you that counterfeit was the real thing and the real thing was a counterfeit? Might you be a little confused?

Why all the propaganda? Think for a moment with the mind of “the deceiver.” If there is an enemy who wants to keep us from heaven, and if the body and sex are meant to point us there, what do you think he is going to attack?

Forms and payments need to be in by 31 March. The draw will take place on 5 April 2006 at the website launch for The Record.

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Does this mean people who behave in such ways are “inherently evil”?

No. We sin because we are confused about how to satisfy our genuine desires for love. We’re looking for love, but “miss the mark?” We’re looking for the banquet, but choose the Dumpster. To miss the mark,

after all, is what the word “sin” means.

When we trust in the merciful love of God, there is no reason to rationalize our sin. We are able to own it, confess it and rejoice in God’s mercy. There is no tragedy in admitting we have “missed the mark.” All sins can be forgiven but one: the refusal of God’s mercy.

This is the only “tragic” sin.

No

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Sin’s tactic is to “twist” and “disorient” our desire for the eternal embrace. That’s all it can do. When we understand this, we realize that the sexual confusion so prevalent in our world and in our own hearts is nothing but the human desire for heaven gone berserk.

The power of Pope John Paul II’s teaching is that it helps us distinguish between the real million dollar bill and the counterfeits. It helps us “untwist” our disordered desires and orients us toward the love that truly satisfies.

To the degree that we allow Christ to “untwist” what sin has twisted in us, we experience the Church’s sexual teaching not as a burden imposed from “without,” but as a message of salvation welling up from “within?”

We experience the truth that sets us free. In other words, we experience what the sexual revolution promised but couldn’t deliver — authentic sexual liberation.

- Christopher West is a fellow of the Theology of the Body Institute. He lectures globally on the theology of the body and has authored three books on the subject.

All NEW subscribers and those who re-subscribe for 2006 have the opportunity to win a fabulous gift pack valued at over $175.

For $55 you can receive a year of The Record and Discovery Address

to them? This is what is at stake in the Church’s teaching on sexual morality.

Masturbation, fornication, adultery, intentionally sterilized sex, homosexual acts, etc. — none of these image God’s free, total, faithful and fruitful love. None of these behaviours express and renew wedding vows. Rather than flowing from the full truth of what it means to be human, such behaviours flow instead from our fallen humanity and the disorder of the sexual appetite caused by sin.

Because these behaviours do not correspond to who we are, they can never satisfy, they can never fulfil.

Those who are honest know this in their own experience. Sadly, the truth of the Church’s teaching on sex is confirmed in the wounds of those who reject it.

Signature: ____________________________