The Record Newspaper - 05 January 2006

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THE COUNCIL: Vatican II was misinterpreted, says Benedict XVI Page 4

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BY THE NUMBERS: Parish by parish 2005 Mission appeal results Page 6

THE END OF THE WORLD: How the tsunami tested Caritas Vista 1

Reality starts to bite NZ ‘pro-choice’ researcher finds mental health cost of terminations Finding: killing of the unborn child is the most common medical procedure for women in New Zealand ■ By Paul Gray

Citing a lack of scientific research on abortion, a New Zealand medical team has revealed a new study highlighting long-term mental health dangers for women in choosing to have a termination.

The study is the second new piece of research in a month to add authoritatively to public understanding of the dimensions of the abortion problem.

An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report released in December, revealed that there were 84,000 abortions in Australia in 2003, with the largest age group for women having terminations being 20-24. The New Zealand study found that the risk of depression, anxiety, and drug and alcohol abuse is raised by having an abortion as a young woman.

The study followed 1265 children born in the 1970’s.

The research showed that 41 per cent of more than 500 women remaining in the study, had become pregnant by 25 and 14.5 per cent had sought an abortion.

In 90 cases, an abortion was carried out.

By the age of 25, 42 per cent of the women who had an abortion had experienced major depression in the previous four years, almost double the rate of those who had never been pregnant and 35 per cent higher than those who had continued their pregnancies.

“Abortion is the most common medical or surgical procedure young women undergo by far and there are potential adverse reactions,” said psychologist and epidemiologist Professor David Fergusson of Christchurch University in New Zealand.

“The aim of our research was never political. It was to say, ‘The science in this area is not good. Let’s add to it’.”

According to a report in the Continued on page 5

Paying the price: This little girl is growing up in a world where in many places the top medical procedure undergone by women is abortion, a New Zealand research team has found. The team headed by a scientist who describes himself as pro-choice on the issue, found increased risk of mental suffering for women who have abortions.

Photo: Peter Rosengren

Mental illness focus for Adelaide World Day of Sick Health workers, public, invited to world meeting in SA with papal envoy ■ By Paul Gray

High-profile speakers, including actor Garry McDonald and writer and broadcaster Anne Deveson, will join leaders from the Catholic Church in marking World Day of the Sick in Adelaide on February 11.

Pope Benedict XVI has also dispatched a personal envoy for the occasion. Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, will represent the Pope

THESE PEOPLE HAVE FAITH Archbishop Hickey writes from Africa on his experience of concelebrating Mass with a newly-ordained priest for the Archdiocese from Kenya. About 4000 people turned up.

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at the Adelaide event. Professor Ian Hickie, director of the brain and mind institute at Sydney University, will also speak at a one-day conference which will be attended by health care workers and carers from around Australia.

A three-day series of events, including Mass and the sacramental anointing of the sick at Adelaide’s St Francis Xavier Cathedral, is planned for the World Day of the Sick commemoration.

The Pope is also expected to send a special message on mental health and human dignity which will be read out at a one-day conference. Earlier, Pope Benedict had announced that mental health would be a particular focus of the World Day. The World Day of Sick is the latest in a series of missionary ini-

INDEX Mission appeal results I say, I say The World Reviews Classifieds

tiatives inspired in part by the late Pope John Paul II. “The dignity of (all people) requires an attentive and truly knowledgeable care for the sector of mental health - a whole area where we again encounter

human frailty and vulnerability, and where earnest and sustained commitment to the grandeur and dignity of (people) is so needed,” Pope John Paul II said.

The preparations for World Continued on Page 5

Prescriptions for psychiatric illness on the rise The number of prescriptions for psychiatric medicines has increased by 70 per cent in Australia in the past decade.

According to the National Mental Health Report published by the Federal Government just before Christmas, there were 18,166 prescriptions for psychiatric medicines subsidised by the Government under the

Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in 2002-03.

In 1992-93, a total of 10,675 prescriptions for psychiatric medicines were subsidised under the PBS. This represents an increase of 7491 in just 10 years.

The biggest increases were in antidepressants (92 per cent) and antipsychotic medicines (up 9 per cent) during this time.

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT - Page 6 - Vista 4 - Pages 8-9 - Page 10

Pope Benedict offered an inspiring homily at Midnight Mass for Christmas in the Vatican.

The light of Bethlehem has shone around men and women of every era, he said.

- Page 11

Page 7

January 5 2006, The Record

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Archbishop ‘thrilled’ to see faith of the people 4000 turn up for first Mass ■ Archbishop Hickey writes

from Amurri, Nigeria

I

t was a great pleasure and the experience of a lifetime to attend the Thanksgiving Mass of newly-ordained Fr Nicholas Nweke in his hometown last Sunday, January 1, 2006.

Fr Nicholas was ordained with eight others in St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth, on December 9 2005.

Although he is a priest of the Archdiocese of Perth he was born and raised in Nigeria.

His hometown is Amurri in the State of Enugu.

After many years of seminary study in Nigeria, followed by studies in a Roman University, he was recommended for Perth by the then Secretary of the Congregation of Evangelisation of the Peoples.

Following three years of study in Rome he then concluded his studies with another three years formation at St Charles Seminary, Guildford.

The Thanksgiving Mass at Amurri was a grand affair.

Because the parish Church is in its initial stage of construction, the Mass was held in the open air.

Four thousand people from around the area turned up to greet the new priest.

The Mass lasted three hours, full of music, processions and homi-

lies, and was followed by hours of celebrations, food and speeches.

The colourful dress of the women and the elegant national garb of the men added to the splendour of the occasion.

Christianity is on the rise in Nigeria.

It is not unusual for churches to be built to accommodate 5000 people, and then to still be a bit small.

It was a thrill to see the strength and the faith of the people, led ably by great missionary religious women and faithful and our enthusiastic priests. The seminaries are full.

Candidates are often turned away because they cannot be accommodated.

The local bishop, Anthony Gbuji, incidentally a classmate of mine from my days of study in Rome, said that Nigeria was the beneficiary of the explosion of vocations in Ireland.

Now it was Nigeria’s turn to give priests to other nations, including Ireland.

Perth now has two priests from Nigeria, the newly ordained Fr Nicholas Nweke and Fr Francis Ughanze in Palmyra, who has been here for around 20 years.

I give thanks to God for our local and overseas vocations.

Please pray for more vocations to the priesthood, as we need many young fresh missionaries to strengthen the faith of the next generation and to protect them from the promise of our affluent and secular society.

Mission unveils 2005 figures ■ By Francis Leong, Director of Catholic Mission, Perth

s another year draws to an end, A we have decided to revisit an ecclesial tradition with The Record

Fr Nicholas Nweke is followed by Archbishop Hickey during the procession to celebrate Fr Nweke’s first Mass in Nigeria, where the Archbishop is visiting.

that had been strong years ago, which is the publication of the annual mission appeal results by parishes in the Archdiocese.

The figures on page 6 are the combined totals for the Propagation of the Faith Appeal which was conducted between April and August, and the World Mission Sunday Appeal which was held on October 23 last year.

The first is conducted by parishes in the archdiocese of Perth, while the second is conducted by Catholic parishes throughout the world on the same weekend.

The total raised by the Archdiocese of Perth was $324,750.

It is an opportunity to give thanks for the generous and regular financial support that our parishioners in the Archdiocese of Perth give to building and sustaining the day-today pastoral work and sacramental presence of our universal Church in impoverished, isolated and marginalised communities, in every developing country, world-wide.

It is the ‘planned giving program’ for the ‘Body of Christ’ incorporating us with the rest of the world. Being able to nourish and strengthen the parts of our ‘Body’ we do not see and are not readily aware of is even more essential and urgent than the attention we give to the parts we see and feel comfortable with.

On behalf of Catholic missionaries and their parish communities we offer our heartfelt thanks for your generosity and prayers in 2005 and look forward gratefully to your continuing support in 2006.

Photo courtesy Archbishop Hickey.

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January 5 2006, The Record

Page 3

Vatican issues new guidelines for the Way Holy See recognises practices carried out from the beginning

T

he Holy See has sent a letter to the Neocatechumenal Way, establishing guidelines that the Way must follow in the celebration of Mass.

The document was issued after a process of dialogue between the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, and the directors of the Neocatechumenal Way. Pope John Paul II approved the statutes of the Neocatechumenate with a decree in 2002.

The Neocatechumenate has been described as a way of Christian initiation for the rediscovery of baptism.

The new Vatican letter states that the Neocatechumenal communities must follow “the liturgical books approved by the Church, without adding or omitting anything.”

At the same time, it accepts several adaptations that the Neocatechumenal Way has introduced in the celebration of Mass as part of its liturgical-catechetical itinerary. The tone is typical of this type of document of a normative nature.

The letter, dated December 1, is signed by Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. It is addressed to the initiators and directors of the Neocatechumenal Way, Kiko Argüello, Carmen Hernández and Father Mario Pezzi.

Neocatechumenate spokesman Giuseppe Gennarini said that the document “recognises the practice, carried out from the beginning of the Neocatechumenal Way in the ‘60s, of special celebrations, though open to all, of Sunday Mass in small communities.”

Dialogue with bishops Regarding the celebration of

Sent forth: Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick blesses young men of the Neocatechumenal Way considering a vocation to the priesthood as the founder, Kiko Arguello looks on. The call for vocations was part of a gathering for members of the group in Washington in May 2004.

Photo: CNS

Sunday Mass, the Vatican congregation asks the Neocatechumenal Way to dialogue with the diocesan bishop so that the liturgical celebration will reflect that the Neocatechumenate is in line with the local parish.

“At least one Sunday a month the Neocatechumenal communities must therefore participate in the Holy Mass together with the parish community,” the Vatican letter stip-

ulates. It allows the “commentaries before the readings,” reminding that they must be “brief,” following the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.

Insofar as the homily is concerned, the document emphasises that “it is reserved to the priest or deacon,” and adds that testimonies of lay faithful can take place as established by the 1997 instruction

“Ecclesia de Mysterio” approved by John Paul II. The letter allows the sign of peace before the Offertory, in keeping with the permission the Neocatechumenal Way had already been given. Regarding the manner of receiving Communion, the letter “grants the Neocatechumenal Way a time of transition (not to exceed two years) to go from the present way of receiving Holy Communion in

Danger: shallow water, shoals, relativism ahead A theologian has written a book analysing relativism’s impact on the way many think about the Eucharist consultor of the Congregation for the A Doctrine of the Faith has studied the influence of relativism on the relationship of Catholic communities with the Eucharist.

Monsignor Nicola Bux’s conclusions have been published in a book in Italian, “Il Signore dei Misteri. Eucaristia e Relativismo” (The Lord of Mysteries: The Eucharist and Relativism), with a preface

by Cardinal Angelo Scola, patriarch of Venice.

Monsignor Bux is also a consultor of the Congregation for Sainthood Causes, a professor of comparative liturgy, vice president of Bari’s Ecumenical Institute, and a consultor of the international theological review Communio.

He has also published a dozen other books, including a 1996 work presented in Rome by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

In this interview with ZENIT, Monsignor Bux talks about the influence of relativism on the Church and on the sacrament of the Eucharist.

The Eucharist and relativism: the title of your book is thought-provoking but disturbing. What do you mean exactly by linking the Eucharist with relativism?

The book points out numerous attempts to diminish the truth of the sacrament. One of the most serious is to deny that Jesus Christ is present in the species of bread and wine on which the priest pronounces the words of consecration.

On the contrary, the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms in Article 283 the efficacy of Christ’s words and the power of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately this tendency [to deny Christ’s presence] is also widespread among priests and catechists.

“The crisis of Christianity is the crisis of its claim to truth,” warn the Church’s adversaries, as you write in your book. Is this true?

This affirmation is true if one looks at the interventions of some ecclesiastics who are concerned not to wound sensitivity or who are even convinced that faith in Jesus Christ is not the only truth that saves man, but only one among others.

This affirmation is not true if one listens to the interventions of Pope Benedict XVI and the bishops united to him.

At times Catholics themselves find it difficult to celebrate the sacraments with joy.

What is happening?

It is necessary to speak about the sacraments as the prolongation of the Lord’s presence, who has come to love us as Father, to adopt us as orphans, to give us the strength of his Spirit, to nourish us

with the Bread of his Life, to forgive the sins that weigh down and condition life, to cure our physical and spiritual illnesses, to give us the capacity to serve him and the people in the Church and the world, to establish a relationship of true and eternal love between man and woman, similar to his love.

Each one of these actions is a gesture that Christ fulfilled in his earthly life and continues to fulfill in his immortal life through his ecclesial body. We call such effective gestures and words “mysteries” and “sacraments,” in keeping with the Greek and Latin tradition.

They give true joy as they renew, cure and give back to man the capacity to overcome evil and death. The liturgy should be capable of making one live like this, without trusting too much in words but in the eloquence and efficacy of the signs.

God has become incarnate, has taken on human nature to tell us that he saves us through the matter of water, of bread, of oil, etc.

You say that there is “disturbance” in the face of Catholic thought. Why? St Paul says: We have Christ’s thought.

The truth is Catholic because it is Christ that lives and it always has value, wherever it is and in all places - as the medieval monk Vincenzo de Lerins said - and does not conform to passing fashions. Wedding the latter, one ends up by being a widower.

- ZENIT

their communities (seated, around a table prepared in the centre of the Church instead of the altar dedicated in the presbytery) to the normal way for the whole Church of receiving Holy Communion.”

The letter ends by thanking the Lord for the fruits that the many activities of the Neocatechumenal Way have given the Church.

- Zenit

Catholic politician killed A senior member of Sri Lanka’s Parliament was shot dead inside the Catholic Cathedral in Batticaloa during midnight Mass on Christmas.

Joseph Pararajasingham of the Tamil National Alliance, who represented Batticaloa district in Parliament, and his wife had returned to their seats in the front row, Bishop Joseph Swampillai of Trincomalee-Batticaloa told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand.

Bishop Swampillai said he was still giving Communion to other people when the two killers, who had been hiding behind a pillar, ran toward the couple and fired shots before fleeing.

Media reports indicate that the legislator died instantly and seven others, including his wife, were wounded when the gunmen fired into the crowd. Police were reported to have been providing security to Pararajasingham at the time of the attack. The Sri Lankan military reportedly blamed the killing on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, but the Tamil rebels have blamed military intelligence and allied groups.

“I am not yet out of shock,” said Bishop Swampillai, who was the main celebrant for the Mass at St. Mary’s Co-Cathedral.

Bishop Swampillai emphasized that the assassination occurred within a high security zone, as well as inside the cathedral during Mass. He said he initially thought someone had set off fire crackers inside the cathedral.

He said the killing “was carried out in a wellprepared manner,” with the assassins fleeing as soon as they had finished their task.

“On a day like this it is a very repulsive and inhuman act,” he said. “This cannot be tolerated.”

Bishop Swampillai said Pararajasingham and - CNS his wife were devout Catholics.

January 5 2006, The Record

Page 4

Vatican texts misinterpreted: Benedict It’s not the documents that were wrong, says Pope

dedicating ourselves with a firm will and without fear to the work that our age calls for,” the Pope said.

“One thing is the deposit of faith, that is, the truths contained in our venerated doctrine, and another [is] the way in which they are enunciated, preserving however the same meaning and fullness,” he said, echoing John XXIII. In this way, the Council presented a “new definition of the relationship between the faith of the Church and some essential elements of modern

T

he crisis that arose in the Church after the Second Vatican Council wasn’t due to the conciliar documents, but rather in their interpretation, says Benedict XVI. The Pope made a long analysis of the legacy left by the 19621965 gathering of the world’s bishops, when he met with his aides in the Roman Curia to express his Christmas greetings.

The Holy Father asked rhetorically: “What has been good and what has been insufficient or mistaken?” in the implementation of the Council.

According to Benedict XVI, the reception of the Council’s messages took place according to two interpretations that “confronted each other and have had disputes between them.”

The first interpretation is the one the Pope called “hermeneutics of discontinuity and rupture” “between the pre-conciliar and post-conciliar Church.”

According to this view, what is important about the Council is not its texts but the spirit of renewal brought to the Church, the Holy

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Peter Rosengren Editor

thought,” Benedict XVI pointed out.

He insisted that “the Church, both before as well as after the Council, is the same one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church, journeying through time.”

“Today we can look back with gratitude to the Second Vatican Council,” he added. “If we read and receive it, guided by an appropriate hermeneutic, it can be and will be increasingly a great force for the always necessary renewal of the Church.”

- ZENIT

New Pope’s first encyclical due out in January

Father said. This view, he observed, “has often been able to make use of the media’s liking, and also of a part of modern theology.”

The other interpretation is “the hermeneutics of reform,” which was proposed by the Popes who opened and closed the Council, John XXIII and Paul VI, and which is bearing fruits “in a silent but ever more vis-

Benedict XVI will publish his first encyclical in January, according to Vatican spokesman Joaquín Navarro- Valls.

Navarro-Valls told the Italian news agencies ANSA and Apcom that the document, entitled “Deus Caritas Est” (“God Is Love”), was signed by the Pope on Christmas Day. “The decision to make it public in January is due to the fact that the Pope will release important documents over this period,” the spokesman is quoted as saying to Apcom.

ible way,” said Benedict XVI. According to this view, the objective of the Council and of every reform in the Church is “to transmit the doctrine purely and fully, without diminutions or distortions,” conscious that “our duty not only consists in guarding this precious treasure, as though we were concerned only with antiquity, but in

The secret of happiness: one R

ich nations should measure their progress by more than gross domestic product, say two economists who specialise in measuring happiness.

David Blanchflower of Dartmouth College in the USA and Andrew Oswald of Warwick University, England, reckon that a spouse provides as much extra happiness as $100,000 in new income.

They reached the figure after combing through large surveys of how people rate their own happiness.

Their study was done for the National Bureau of Economic Research in the US. In another recent paper, Money, Sex and Happiness, which Blanchflower describes as “incredibly moral” and one that should please “the Pope”, the two economists find that those in a monoga-

In Brief

mous, faithful marriage are the happiest.

“The happiness-maximising number of sexual partners in the previous year is one.”

Robert Frank, a Cornell economist who is keen on happiness research, says that since money does not buy a lot of happiness, the US could institute a steeply progressive consumption tax that taxes income (minus savings and investments), rather than the existing mildly progressive income tax.

He says it might encourage savings and stimulate growth.

Revenues from the tax could be used on public works to make people happier and the working week could be shortened.

- FamilyEdge e-magazine

Burma sees back-to-back ordinations If Catholics in Perth think a packed cathedral for an ordination ceremony is a lot of people, look at Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

On December 9 Archbishop Matthias U Shwe of Taunggyi ordained six deacons. A day later, with Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, apostolic delegate for Myanmar in attendance, five new priests were ordained for the archdiocese.

The ordination Mass at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes drew more than 100 priests and an estimated crowd of some 15,000. The Mass ended with

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This month the Holy Father published his Christmas addresses and his message for the World Day of Peace, among other things. The Pope himself decided to delay the publication of the encyclical until January, according to press sources.

The Pope’s first draft of the encyclical, in German, was written last summer, during his holiday in the Italian Alps.

Pope John Paul II published 14 encyclicals during his 26-year pontificate.

- CNS

the apostolic blessing to all on the part of Benedict XVI .

December 11 marked another key event: the 25th anniversary of the archbishop’s ordination as bishop.

Some 20,000 people gathered for that event. At the start of Mass the apostolic delegate read out a message from the Pope in Burmese addressed to Archbishop U Shwe and presented him with a chalice, also from the Holy Father.

At the end of Mass the apostolic delegate addressed Archbishop U Shwe expressing the Pope’s gratitude for his 25 years of ministry as bishop and assuring the people of the Holy Father’s affection and attention for the Church in this Southeast Asian nation.

Join Pope Benedict XVI in prayer January “That the effort to bring about the full communion of Christians may foster reconciliation and peace among all the peoples of the earth.”

Mission intention: “That Christians may know how to welcome migrants with respect and charity, recognizing in each person the image of God.”

January 5 2006, The Record

Page 5

Mental illness WDS focus Continued from page 1

Day of the Sick co-incides with expressions of concern from Catholic Health Care Australia over Government performance in relation to care of the mentally ill. “People with severe and complex mental disorders, young people with dual diagnoses and workers struggling to get back into employment remain poorly served by our human services system,� said Catholic Health Care CEO Francis Sullivan.

Mr Sullivan’s comments followed the release, just before Christmas, of the Federal Government’s 2005 Mental Health Report. “The report clearly shows that governments need to embrace the flexibility and innovation which comes from the non-government sector and embark on a concerted case management program to better cater for people living difficult lives with the disability of mental illness,� Mr Sullivan said.

The Federal Government, meanwhile, has highlighted the increase in Federal funding for mental health that has occurred since 1993.

While average state government expenditure on mental health increased by 49 per cent, Commonwealth spending has grown by 134 per cent, or $691m, between 1993 and 2003, said the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Mr Christopher Pyne.

Prime Minister John Howard this week promised that urgent attention will be given to mental health policy in the year ahead.

One policy idea to be examined by the Government is a proposed voucher system, which would give mentally ill people and their carers a greater range of treatment options, including payment for athome care.

The idea has been developed in a paper by Mr Vern Hughes, who is director of a Melbourne-based organisation, Social Enterprise Partnerships, which promotes community initiatives assisting families with disabled members.

Mr Hughes’ paper is to be published soon by an influential policy think-tank, the Institute of Public Affairs.

The Prime Minister is also

expected to put forward a proposal for reform of mental health services at the next meeting of Federal and State Governments, to be held on February 10, one day before World Day of the Sick.

The Archdiocese of Adelaide

is inviting bishops, health professionals and the public from across Australia and Oceania to participate in WDS. Conference registrations close on January 30.

For further information on WDS 2006 go to www.worlddayofthesick.org.au

Huge problem, no funds We’re not doing enough: exWA Health Minister

A

ccording to the Commonwealth Health Department, mental illness is one of the most serious issues facing the nation, with 2.4 million Australians, or 18 per cent of the population, experiencing a mental health problem each year.

Furthermore, each year, Federal budgets allocate figures close to six or seven percent to mental health.

Former Western Australian Health Minister, Keith Wilson, said the WA State Government is believed to allocate nearly nine per cent, though this is unconfirmed.

Mr Wilson, who is currently chairman of the WA association for Mental Health, and the Mental Health Council of Australia, said the funding for mental health services has been at a very low level for a very long time.

In 2005, the Mental Health Council of Australia released a major report titled Not for Service in collaboration with the Human rights Commission and the University of Sydney Mind and Brain Institute.

The report was based on 18 public forums that were conducted throughout every capital city and major centre in every state throughout Australia from July to September 2004.

Present at the forum was Mr Wilson, together with now former Human Rights Commissioner Dr Sev Ozdowski, Professor Ian Hickie from Sydney University and Dr Grace Groom, former Chief Executive Officer of the Mental Health Council.

The forums were met with a high degree of interest with more than 100 people in attendance at each and took a close and personal look at the lives of mental health suffers and their families and carers.

Mr Wilson said the view of people expressed in every state was that there had been no real improvement of mental health services in the last decade.

In 1992, Health Ministers from around Australia commuted to a national plan, which was supposed to be based around the intention to close all stand-alone psychiatric hospitals and support people in the community. “However, since then what has happened is that beds and hospitals have closed but the support services that were meant to help people in the community have not been provided,�

Mr Wilson said. “People are only being treated when they are in crises and they have no support in the community.� “Many suffers go off their medication or it may not be right or, in many cases, people are susceptible to alcohol and illicit drug abuse to relieve their symptoms.� “The impact then is on the families who are left without any real support, to provide major care and mental health services.� “Mental health hospitals can’t keep up with the crises demand.

Therefore we do have a increasing problem of serious illnesses such as bipolar, and schizophrenia.�

However, Mr Wilson believes the cries for help have been heard

by Prime Minister John Howard, who plans to discuss the issue at the next heads of state meeting in February.

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Sydney Morning Herald this week, Prof. Fergusson described himself as â&#x20AC;&#x153;an atheist, a rationalist and prochoice.â&#x20AC;?

He anticipated that the study would produce â&#x20AC;&#x153;cheeringâ&#x20AC;? from the pro-life side and angry denunciation from the pro-choice side in the abortion debate. Both positions were unsound, he said.

Prof Fergusson also said on ABC radio, that other medical researchers had described his team as foolhardy for undertaking a project in this area. He said this was because â&#x20AC;&#x153;everybody knows that if you do research in this area, one side or the other is going to turn upon you because your results donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t support them.â&#x20AC;?

Prof Fergusson also said that his team had experienced â&#x20AC;&#x153;a certain amount of difficultyâ&#x20AC;? in getting their results published. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Journals we would normally have expected to publish them, just declined the papers,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s because the debate is so very hot.â&#x20AC;?

The study was published this week, as a paper, in The Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, a widely recognised British academic publication.

The study suggests that according to the available scientific evidence, abortion increases psychological distress rather than alleviating it.

Caring Lady Funerals

January 5 2006, The Record

Page 6

Combined Propagation of the Faith & World Mission Sunday Collection for metropolitan & country parishes in the Archdiocese of Perth Parish

Church

Bateman

St Thomas More

Manning

TOTAL 2005

Maylands

Queen of Martyrs

$2,435.00

$21,388.75

Hilton

Our Lady of Mt Carmel

$2,426.40

St Pius X

$12,411.00

Belmont & Redcliffe

St Anne’s

$2,312.20

Perth

St Mary’s Cathedral

$12,174.00

Innaloo/Karrinyup

St Dominic’s

$2,285.10

Applecross & Brentwood

St Benedict’s

$11,669.75

Queens Park/Cannington

St Joseph’s

$2,284.05

North Beach

Our Lady of Grace

$11,324.70

Joondanna

St Denis

$2,175.45

Morley

Infant Jesus

$10,709.20

Lesmurdie

Our Lady of Lourdes

$2,104.60

Riverton & Rossmoyne

Queen of Apostles

$10,423.10

Nollamarra

Our Lady of Lourdes

$2,092.20

Como

Holy Family

$8,631.05

Shenton Pk

St Aloysius

$2,089.10

Greenwood

All Saint’s

$8,520.35

Mt Lawley

St Paul

$2,053.60

Willetton

Sts John & Paul

$7,521.10

Canning Vale

St Emilie’s

$1,965.50

South Perth

St Columba’s

$6,754.35

Kalgoorlie

Goldfields Community

$1,867.50

Nedlands

Holy Rosary

$6,749.60

Crawley

St Thomas More

$1,735.00

Fremantle

St Patrick’s Basilica

$6,648.65

Guildford

St Mary’s

$1,588.65

City Beach

Holy Spirit

$6,187.70

Myaree

Corpus Christi

$1,435.00

Floreat/Wembley

St Cecilia’s

$5,964.15

Bayswater

St Columba’s

$1,382.05

Bedford

St Peter the Apostle

$5,685.00

East Vic Park

Our Lady Help of Christians

$1,330.35

Rockingham

Our Lady of Lourdes

$5,047.70

Willagee

Our Lady Queen of Peace

$1,228.90

Balcatta & Gwelup

St Lawrence

$4,890.90

Port Kennedy

St Bernadette’s

$1,091.55

Doubleview

Our Lady of the Rosary

$4,815.10

Rivervale

St Augustine’s

$1,066.80

North Perth

Redemptorist Monastery

$4,783.60

Subiaco

St Joseph’s

$1,020.00

Beaconsfield/Hamilton Hill

Christ the King

$4,730.25

West Perth

St Brigid’s

$989.30

Cottesloe/Mosman Pk

St Mary’s/Corpus Christi

$4,631.70

Maddington

Holy Family

$959.90

Girrawheen

Our Lady of Mercy

$4,384.00

Moora/Jurien Bay

St John the Baptist

$933.20

Gosnells

Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrement

$4,285.00

Mundaring

Sacred Heart

$922.10

Mirrabooka

St Gerard Majella

$4,182.75

Lynwood

St Jude

$895.50

Ocean Reef

St Simon Peter

$4,031.50

Kelmscott

Good Shepherd

$880.60

Lockridge

Good Shepherd

$3,992.45

Merredin

St Mary’s

$777.35

Palmyra

Our Lady of Fatima

$3,940.50

Embleton

Holy Trinity

$759.70

Attadale

St Joseph Pignatelli

$3,920.80

Glendalough

St Bernadette’s

$748.00

Spearwood

St Jerome’s

$3,850.25

York/Beverley/Brookton

St Patrick’s

$685.00

Carlisle

Holy Name

$3,707.40

Kwinana

St Vincent’s

$639.35

Wanneroo

St Anthony’s

$3,658.10

Osborne Park

St Kieran’s

$635.00

Wilson

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

$3,580.90

Gingin

Our Lady of Visitations

$620.00

Bassendean

St Joseph’s

$3,533.50

Claremont

St Thomas the Apostle

$605.00

Scarborough

Immaculate Conception

$3,461.00

Northam

St Joseph’s

$594.00

Yangebup

Mater Christi

$3,391.05

Bencubbin

Lord of the Harvest

$580.00

Victoria Park

St Joachim’s

$3,271.75

Bentley

Santa Clara

$483.50

Maida Vale

St Francis of Assisi

$3,250.35

Ellenbrook

St Helena’s

$354.95

Armadale & Serpentine

St Francis Xavier

$3,249.30

Dianella

Our Lady’s Assumption

$272.00

Thornlie

Sacred Heart

$3,214.20

Woodvale

St Luke’s

$113.00

Leederville

St Mary’s

$3,145.85

Wongan Hills/Ballidu

St Gregory

$60.00

Highgate

Sacred Heart

$2,929.65

Bruce Rock

St Mary’s

$0.00

Kalamunda

Holy Family

$2,887.50

Corrigin

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

$0.00

Clarkson

St Andrew’s

$2,847.05

East Fremantle

Immaculate Conception

$0.00

Ballajura

Blessed Mary MacKillop

$2,763.70

Goomalling

Sacred Heart

$0.00

Cloverdale

Notre Dame

$2,595.60

Kelleberrin

St Joseph’s

$0.00

Greenmount

St Anthony’s

$2,539.35

New Norcia

Holy Trinity

$0.00

Whitford

Our Lady of the Mission

$2,513.75

Southern Cross

Our Lady of Monserrat

$0.00

Midland & Herne Hill

St Brigid’s

$2,485.15

Yanchep/Lancelin

Pastoral Area

$0.00

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One year after the end of the world The head of Australia’s Catholic aid and development agency spoke in Perth on the anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami…

Jack de Groot

■ By Jamie O’Brien

W

hile the official death toll of the South-East Asia tsunami stands at 230,000, Caritas International believe the figure stands closer to 400,000.

The figures were revealed by Caritas Australia Chief Executive Officer Jack de Groot, who visited Perth to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the south-east Asia tsunami on December 26.

“Many were not counted by some Asian governments,” Mr de Groot said.

Caritas is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in Australia, bringing relief and aid to people affected by natural disaster or conflict.

Mr de Groot spoke at St Mary’s Cathedral to thank the people of Perth and Australia for their donations and efforts to help rebuild the lives of people affected by the tsunami.

“It was during this same time, that while Mass was being said on Sunday December 26, 2004 that the tsunami came and many lives were lost,” Mr de Groot said.

Caritas, said Mr de Groot, did what the gospel commanded during the wake of the tsunami and tended the dead, injured and traumatised.

“Boxing Day, St Stephens Day, will never be the same again,” Mr de Groot said.

“It is the day when children feared the waves forever.”

Although the events of December 26, 2004 stretched the organisation’s capacities greatly

it has also equipped it better to deal with such emergencies in the future, he said.

“A catastrophe of this size would stretch any organisation,” he said.

“Caritas managed to deal with the response to put people on the ground and make effective intervention within the first few days.”

Prior to the tsunami, Caritas Australia had never raised more than $20 million in a year.

Last year, the tsunami appeal raised $23 million, while internationally the total raised stands at US$450 million.

The massive media attention and visual images of the tsunami on television and newspapers amazed many people, creating a better response for the appeal Mr de Groot said.

He also mentioned that the Australian government was quick to respond to the tsunami crises, pledging $1 billion to the Indonesian Government over five years.

“It will have significant impact not only in regard to Aceh but also throughout other parts of Indonesia, and will assist with rebuilding a relationship between the two countries in regards to the East Timor crisis,” Mr de Groot said.

It will be a long time, said Mr de Groot, before tsunami affected areas are finally rebuilt.

“It took six years for people’s lives to return to order after Cyclone Tracey on Christmas Day 1975,” he said.

“This could take up to or more than 10.”

As well as the practical reality of rebuilding schools, health centres, and homes, people’s livelihood and confidence also need attention, Mr de Groot said.

“The people’s identity has been scarred. This catastrophe and the devastation it wrought on the community and individuals forced many to ask what have they done to deserve this,” he said.

The traditions and rites of Muslims have also been taken into consideration in the aftermath of the tsunami.

Caritas workers distributed Islamic prayer kits and have played major parts in rebuilding Islamic mosques, many of which were used for education and health care in the aftermath of the tsunami.

“Caritas has realised there are a few more needs of the community than the Government realises,” said Mr de Groot, “and has taken on a more holistic approach.”

Africa situation urgent Already potential new crises have emerged.

Caritas Australia is now seeking donations to help others suffering from starvation or who are threatened by it in Africa.

“Many people in Africa face acute food shortages right now,” said Mr de Groot.

The Africa Appeal “will enable us to help communities throughout Africa wherever the need is greatest,” he said.

There are trouble spots that need our urgent attention because they have been overwhelmed by the combined effects of unanticipated levels of drought and devastation of their workforces

by HIV/AIDS. Donations can be sent to Caritas at 40A Mary St, Highgate, WA 6003.

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January 5 2006, The Record

Vista

January 5 2006, The Record

Read between the lines A chance for solidarity Investigating Shakespeare’s hidden Catholicism. Clare Asquith on the Bard’s faith and coded works.

As the wife of a British diplomat posted in Moscow during the Cold War, Clare Asquith witnessed firsthand how double-entendres in Soviet theatre communicated secret meanings to audiences.

Her experience in Moscow opened her eyes to underlying messages in the plays and poems of William Shakespeare, who, Asquith believes, was a covert Roman Catholic in the days of Protestant Elizabethan England.

Asquith, author of “Shadowplay: The Hidden Beliefs and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare”, shared with ZENIT her evidence of the Bard’s Catholicism and the possible meaning behind his famous words.

W

hat are the main reasons you believe Shakespeare was a Catholic? Why do you think this is noteworthy?

One reason, often overlooked, is that it was statistically more likely that Shakespeare was a Catholic than otherwise.

Until recently it was widely assumed that Catholicism was a dwindling sect in Shakespeare’s day.

But the recent “revisionist” history of the period stresses the fact that in spite of persecution, most of the country was either overtly or secretly Catholic up to 1600.

And among the intelligentsia who opposed the Cecils - Elizabeth’s powerful advisers - covert Catholicism was respectable, indeed fashionable, in the 1590s.

Outwardly “Protestant” Elizabethan figures such as Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Penelope Rich and the Queen’s witty godson, John Harrington, all expressed private sympathy with the undercover priests who were bringing a revived form of Counter-Reformation Catholicism to England. The attitudes and themes of Shakespeare’s work suggest that one of his primary aims was to address the concerns of sophisticated, disaffected courtiers like these.

Secondly, recent biographers have explored the full, often startling extent of Shakespeare’s Catholic background, a fact discreetly sidelined for centuries by a predominantly Protestant academic establishment in England.

Finally, in an age when anti-papist jibes were a sure way to get your work past the censor, Shakespeare makes emphatic use of the idiom of the old religion, treating it with insight, delicacy and respect. “He died a papist,” remembered one Anglican divine, who had no reason to invent such an unpalatable biographical detail.

Shakespeare’s Catholicism and its necessary concealment should not be surprising: More surprising is the fact that it has been ignored for so long.

What is the main evidence for your claim? How has your theory fared among prominent Shakespeare scholars?

My claim is that there was only one way to get the forbidden concerns of covert Catholics onto the stage or into print, and that was by using a commonly understood subversive language. This occurred in Soviet Eastern Europe, a parallel I explore in my book.

Shakespeare’s period was the golden age of double meanings, an era when the many-layered symbolism of medieval art met the allegorical wealth of the Renaissance. Examined in the light of the recently revised history, the highly ornamental literature of late 16th-century England reveals a mass of hidden allusions to the proscribed subjects of contemporary religion and politics.

To take a single example, the immense popularity of Thomas Kyd’s play, “The Spanish Tragedy,” has always puzzled scholars. It is only now that we can begin to detect in this shocking tragedy a moving and powerful dramatisation of the central concern of English Catholics: How should the virtuous man react to

intolerable injury when all recourse to justice is denied?

But it seems that scholars are not yet ready to align the literature of the day with the revised history of 16th-century England. So far, the theory that all this was going on in the work of any Elizabethan writer, let alone the works of Shakespeare, interests many English academics, but has been dismissed by leading Shakespeare scholars such as Stanley Wells and Ann Barton.

What sort of methods did Shakespeare use to communicate Catholic ideas in his plays? Why did he need to speak in coded language?

I contend that Shakespeare began to write when this form of coded communication was well established, and that it was an art form he perfected. Like his contemporaries - and not unlike modern political cartoonists - the technique involved the personification of abstractions as living people, and the re-application of myths and legends to contemporary events.

This was commonplace in Renaissance and medieval iconography. But Shakespeare’s universal layer is so brilliant that it conceals his “shadow play” from all but the cognoscenti.

Unlike other writers, who often relied on deniable parallels, he used a rigorously accurate set of coded “markers” to indicate the contours of the hidden plot. These markers allow him an extraordinary degree of sophistication, and mean that he was able to dramatise the forgotten history of the times in unusually nuanced detail, while dodging hostile censorship.

Do you think Shakespeare was involved in any of the Catholic resistance movements?

One of the unexpected elements to emerge from the hidden level is the close parallel between the concealed themes of the plays and the gradually evolving advice to English Catholics from leaders in exile like Robert Persons and William Allen.

Shakespeare’s early comedies take a resolutely lighthearted view of the sectarian struggle, portraying an optimistically happy outcome; the plays and poems of the mid-1590s reflect the increasing persecution, but recommend patience rather than rebellion, repeatedly staging the ideal Catholic scenario of a successful rescue attempt from abroad.

After the death of his first patron, the dissident Lord Strange, Shakespeare’s hidden plays reveal the influence of the opposition party of the Earl of Essex, a magnet for Catholics as well as Puritan dissenters. This involved a change of course; rebellion was now an option.

“Hamlet” is on one level a play addressed to the influential but timorous “don’t knows” of Elizabeth’s England: those who loathed the Cecils but shrank from outright rebellion.

The 1601 Essex rebellion was expertly defused, and Shakespeare’s remaining plays appeal for toleration directly to the monarch - or, in the case of King James I’s son, Henry, to the heir to the throne - or else address a dispirited Catholic resistance movement, divided and weakened by pressure from without and within.

Like the resistance leaders, he now stresses inner, spiritual solutions to the Catholic dilemma rather than direct political action. He remains committed to the end. The hidden level of the finale of “The Winter’s Tale” pays unmistakable homage to the Mass and to those who preserved it under persecution.

Was the purpose of his plays to serve as Catholic propaganda, or was that simply a secondary element?

Under an oppressive regime one of the most exhilarating and liberating experiences is to witness a skillfully ambiguous discussion of forbidden matters in public, under the nose of the unwitting authorities. Czechs, Poles and Russians often recall these dangerously double-edged dramas with nostalgia.

Such performances are not so much propaganda as a much-needed antidote to propaganda.

How do your findings impact the way people should or should not read Shakespeare?

There are patches of Shakespeare which are difficult to appreciate without an awareness of the hidden level.

“The Rape of Lucrece,” “Venus and Adonis” and “Titus Andronicus” are three works that gain greatly from an understanding of their “shadowplay.”

More generally, the double-vision approach resurrected by my book should enrich the experience of watching any Shakespeare play or reading any Shakespeare poem. It is not necessary - but it is fascinating. Rightly understood, it should take us back to the full experience Shakespeare originally intended for certain sympathetic audiences.

Can you describe the possible connection that may have existed between Shakespeare and St Edmund Campion?

What influence, if any, might this encounter have had on the Bard?

Biographers have traced the connection between Campion and the young Shakespeare. This may well have been close. The brother of one of Shakespeare’s teachers was a missionary who came to England with Campion and died with him.

Campion and Persons were known to have visited close neighbours of Shakespeare’s family. A spiritual document distributed by Campion was found hundreds of years later in the roof of the Shakespeare’s house, signed by Shakespeare’s father.

And there is a possibility Shakespeare travelled north with Campion to the Jesuit centre at Hoghton Tower, where he studied while working as a “schoolmaster in the country.”

I came on only one allusion to Campion in Shakespeare’s work, and it is profoundly respectful, but wary of the angry extremism that may have been induced by his death. My book, “Shadowplay,” points to a carefully oblique series of references to the unmentionable Campion affair in the nurse’s famously rambling speech in “Romeo and Juliet.”

Like much else in the play, it gives a religious dimension to the theme of the heroic pursuit of love, truth and beauty in Elizabeth’s England, and associates such a course with death.

- ZENIT

D

ear Brothers and Sisters, The World Day of the sick will be held on 11 February 2006, the liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin of Lourdes. Last year this Day was held in the Marian sanctuary of Mvolye in Yaoundé, and on that occasion the faithful and their pastors, in the name of the whole of the continent of Africa, reaffirmed their pastoral commitment to the sick. The next World Day of the Sick will be in Adelaide, in Australia, and the events will culminate in the Pope Benedict XVI celebration of the Eucharist in the Cathedral dedicated to St Francesco Saverio, the untiring missionary of the populations of the East. On that occasion, the Church intends to bow with especial solicitude to the suffering, calling the attention of public opinion to the problems connected with mental disturbance, which by now afflicts a fifth of mankind and constitutes a real and authentic social-health care emergency.

Remembering the attention that my venerated predecessor John Paul II gave to this annual event, I, too, dear brothers and sisters, would like to make myself spiritually present at the World Day of the Sick, so as to pause to reflect, in harmony with those taking part, on the situation of the mentally ill in the world and to call for the commitment of the Church communities, to bear witness to the tender mercy of God towards them.

In many countries, legislation in this field does not yet exist and in other countries a precise policy on mental health is absent. It should also be observed that the prolongation of armed conflicts in various areas of the world, the succession of terrible natural catastrophes, and the spread of terrorism, in addition to causing a shocking number of deaths, have also created mental traumas in not a few survivors, whose recovery at times is difficult.

In countries with high economic development, the experts recognise that, at the origin of new forms of mental disturbance, we may also find the negative impact of the crisis of moral values. This increases the sense of loneliness, undermining and even breaking down, traditional forms of social cohesion, beginning with the institution of the family and marginalising the sick and especially the mentally ill, who are often seen as a burden for their families and the community. I would like here to thank those who work in various ways and at various levels, to ensure that the spirit of solidarity does not decline and that people persevere in looking after these brothers and sisters of ours, basing themselves on human and Gospel-based ideals and principles.

I thus encourage the efforts of those who work to ensure that all mentally ill people are given access to necessary forms of care and treatment. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world the services for these sick people are lacking, insufficient or in a state of decay. The social context does not always accept the

Church will not fail to offer you her own help mentally ill, with their limitations, and for this reason, as well, difficulties are encountered in securing the human and financial resources that are needed. One perceives the need to integrate in a better way the tandem appropriate therapy and a new sensitivity towards disturbance so as to enable workers in this sector, in a more effective way, to help these sick people and their families, who, on their own, would not be able to take care of their relatives in difficulty in an adequate way. The next World Day of the Sick is a suitable occasion to express solidarity to families who have mentally sick people dependent upon them.

I would here like to address myself to you, dear brothers and sisters burdened by illness, so as to invite you to offer your condition of suffering, together with Christ, to the Father, certain that every ordeal received with resignation, is meritorious and draws the benevolence of God upon the whole of mankind. I express my appreciation to those who help and care for you in residential centres, day hospitals and wards providing diagnosis and treatment, and I exhort them to strive to ensure that medical, social and pastoral assistance for those in need, which respects the dignity specific to every human being, is never absent. The Church, in particular through the work of chaplains, will not fail to offer you her own help, being well aware that she is called to express the love and care of Christ for those who suffer and for those who look after them. I commend pastoral workers and voluntary associations and organisations to support - in practical forms and through practical initiatives - those families who have mentally ill people dependent upon them, in relation to whom I hope that the culture of welcoming and sharing will grow and spread, as a result, also, of suitable laws and health-care programs that envisage sufficient resources for their practical application. The training and updating of the personnel who work in such a very delicate sector of society is as urgent as ever before.

Every Christian, according to his specific task and specific responsibility, is called to make his contribution so that the dignity of these brothers and sisters of ours is recognised, respected and promoted.

Duc in altum! This invitation of Christ to Peter and the Apostles I address to the Church communities spread throughout the world and in a special way to those who are at the service of the sick, so that, with the help of Mary Salus Infirmorum, they may bear witness to the goodness and the paternal solicitude of God. May the Holy Virgin comfort those who are afflicted by illness and support those who, like the Good Samaritan, soothe their corporeal and spiritual wounds! I assure each one of you that you will be remembered in my prayers, and I willingly impart my Blessing on you all.

From the Vatican, 8 December 2005 BENEDICT XVI

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January 5 2006, The Record

i say, i say

The rush to forget religious inheritance ■ With Guy Crouchback

T

he West Australian reported recently that the City of Swan refused to sponsor a Carols

by Candlelight event because it was worried about excluding nonChristians.

Having studied and written extensively on the advance of anti-Christian and other political correctness in Britain, I found the report ominous for Western Australia, and thought of that first cloud the size of a man’s hand.

These are a few British incidents from a mountain more: In Lambeth, site of the Palace of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the council renamed Christmas decorations “Winter lights.” The original name was restored after protests.

The Taxation Department in Manchester banned its staff from taking part in a charity collection which sent gifts to needy children, because Christian literature was distributed with the gifts. This could bring the department into “disrepute by association.”

A five-foot high cross, which had adorned a crematorium chapel at Torquay, Devon, for 50 years, was removed by council officials to “ensure equality for all faiths.”

The chapel of London’s Newham Hospital was stripped of all crosses for the same reason.

In December 2003, the congregation of All Saints Anglican church at High Wycombe was told by the Buckinghamshire County Council that it must not publicise the dates and times of a Christmas service on an A4 sheet of paper on a community noticeboard because this promoted a “religious preference group.” and “The aim of the policy is to be inclusive and to respect the religious diversity of Buckinghamshire.”

Local Tory MP Paul Goodman bleated gently that: “People in my constituency who enjoy carol services will find it a very puzzling decision. They may feel that the library is not showing very much Christmas spirit.”

The Lottery Fund, giving grants to Gypsy, Tamil, American Indian, Irish and Congolese cultural activities, refused a small application from the “Windsor Churches Coming Together Group” on the grounds that it “promoted Christianity.”

In 1998 the Birmingham City Council renamed Christmas “Winterval.”

This innovation was dropped after protests, but in October, 2000, it was reported the same council planned to scrap school holidays for

Snuffed out? The City of Swan refused sponsorship of Carols by Candlelight so as not to exclude non-Christians.

Easter. In 2004 the Telford Council rebranded Christmas “Winter Celebrations.”

At Christmas, 1998, local authorities granted permission for Christians to sing Christmas carols at the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield, then rescinded the permission after deciding that the event was too religious.

When it was found the permission could not be withdrawn the authorities moved the time of the

event to 7pm when the centre was virtually closed, and told the singers not to preach anything about Christianity between the hymns.

Officials at the Cheddar Caves Museum in Somerset recently changed the dating on exhibits from “BC”, or “before Christ” to “BP” or “before the present.”

Massoud Shadjaresh, Chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said people of all faiths were getting “really annoyed”

with the political correctness sweeping the country, and that “Muslims and other faiths have no problem in celebrating Christmas or using the term BC.” Use of “BC” and “AD” was also banned in some schools.

The source of these bullying diktats appears to be usually local authorities, though the ultimate source is something of a mystery (or is it?). Whether or not such things are allowed to take root here is up to us.

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Page 7

Manger’s light has never been put out The following is an edited text of Pope Benedict XVI’s homily at midnight Mass in St Peter’s Rome at Christmas. In every age, he told the faithful in an inspiring address, the light of Bethlehem has shone around men and women…

“T

he Lord said to me: You are my son; this day I have begotten you”. With these words of the second Psalm, the Church begins the Vigil Mass of Christmas, at which we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ our Redeemer in a stable in Bethlehem. This Psalm was once a part of the coronation rite of the kings of Judah. The people of Israel, in virtue of its election, considered itself in a special way a son of God, adopted by God. Just as the king was the personification of the people, his enthronement was experienced as a solemn act of adoption by God, whereby the King was in some way taken up into the very mystery of God. At Bethlehem night, these words, which were really more an expression of hope than a present reality, took on new and unexpected meaning. The Child lying in the manger is truly God’s Son. God is not eternal solitude but rather a circle of love and mutual self-giving”.

“But there is more: in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God himself became man. (...)

God’s everlasting today has come down into the fleeting today of the world and lifted our momentary today into God’s eternal today. God is so great that he can become small. God is so powerful that he can make himself vulnerable and come to us as a defenceless child, so that we can love him. (...) This is Christmas: “You are my son, this day I have begotten you”. God has become one of us, so that we can be with him and become like him. As a sign, he chose the Child lying in the manger (...)

And on every child shines something of the splendour of that “today”, of that closeness of God which we ought to love and to which we must yield - it shines on every child, even on those still unborn”.

“Let us listen to a second phrase from the liturgy of this holy Night, one taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah: “Upon the people who walked in darkness a great light has shone”. (...) But first, light means knowledge; it means truth, as contrasted with the darkness of falsehood and ignorance. Light gives us life, it shows us the way.

But light, as a source of heat, also means love. Where there is love, light shines forth in the world; where there is hatred, the world remains in darkness. In the stable of

God is not eternal solitude, but rather a circle of love and self-giving, said Pope Benedict at Midnight Mass in St Peter’s Basilica at Christmas. Here, the Pope reaches out to bless a child during the liturgy.

Photo: CNS

Bethlehem there appeared the great light which the world awaits”.

“The light of Bethlehem has never been extinguished. In every age it has touched men and women, “it has shone around them”. Wherever people put their faith in that Child, charity also sprang up - charity towards others, loving concern for the weak and the suffering, the grace of forgiveness.

From Bethlehem a stream of light, love and truth spreads through the centuries. (...) In that Child, God countered the violence of this world with his own goodness. He calls us to follow that Child”.

“On this night, when we look towards Bethlehem, let us pray in a special way for the birthplace of our Redeemer and for the men and women who live and suffer there.

We wish to pray for peace in the Holy Land: Look, O Lord, upon this corner of the earth, your homeland, which is so very dear to you! Let your light shine upon it!

Let it know peace!”

“The word “peace” brings us to a third key to the liturgy of this holy Night. The Child foretold by Isaiah is called “Prince

of Peace”. His kingdom is said to be one “of endless peace”. The shepherds in the Gospel hear the glad tidings: “Glory to God in the highest” and “on earth, peace...”. At one time we used to say: “to men of good will”.

Nowadays we say “to those whom God loves”. What does this change mean?” (...)

We would do better to ask: who are those whom God loves, and why does he love them? (...) The Gospel answers these questions by pointing to some particular people whom God loves. There are individuals, like Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon and Anna. But there are also two groups of people: the shepherds and the wise men from the East, the Magi”.

“Tonight let us look at the shepherds. (...) In the world of their time, shepherds were looked down upon; they were considered untrustworthy and not admitted as witnesses in court. But really, who were they? To be sure, they were not great saints, if by that word we mean people of heroic virtue. They were simple souls. The Gospel sheds light on one feature which later on, in the words of Jesus, would take

on particular importance: they were people who were watchful. This was chiefly true in a superficial way: they kept watch over their flocks by night. But it was also true in a deeper way: they were ready to receive God’s word. Their life was not closed in on itself; their hearts were open. In some way, deep down, they were waiting for him.

Their watchfulness was a kind of readiness - a readiness to listen and to set out. They were waiting for a light which would show them the way. That is what is important for God. He loves everyone, because everyone is his creature”.

“Among Christians, the word “peace” has taken on a very particular meaning: it has become a name for the Eucharist.

There Christ’s peace is present. In all the places where the Eucharist is celebrated, a great network of peace spreads through the world. The communities gathered around the Eucharist make up a kingdom of peace as wide as the world itself. When we celebrate the Eucharist we find ourselves in Bethlehem, in the house of bread”.

- Vatican Information Service

Hindu extremists burn effigies of cardinal, bishop, in India Burnings aimed at conversions of Hindus RANCHI, India (CNS) - A Hindu extremist group repeatedly has burned effigies of an Indian cardinal and auxiliary bishop, claiming they are trying to convert Hindus.

Every evening since December 13, activists of Hindu Jagaran Manch have burned the effigies of Ranchi Cardinal Telesphore Toppo and Auxiliary Bishop Vincent Barwa in various parts of Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand state, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand.

The agency reported on December 27 that the Hindu pro-

test started after the prelates spoke against Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda’s plan to enact a law forbidding forced religious conversions. Munda announced this plan to enact the anti-conversion bill during a pro-Hindu rally in Ranchi on December 10.

Six people under the banner of Kendriya Sarna Samiti - the collective name for animist tribal religions - have set the fires.

Spokesman Ajay Tirkey said the group would expose Christian missionaries’ real intentions if they did not stop what he alleged was their conversion drive in Jharkhand villages.

On December 14, however, Kendriya Sarna Samiti and a panel of tribal priests issued statements

denying their groups’ role in the initial incident. Committee leader Anil Linda told UCA News in midDecember that the effigy-burning shocked them. He said Cardinal Toppo, India’s first tribal or indigenous bishop, “is highly respected in the tribal community, by Christian and Sarna alike.”

After a burning on December 20 in another part of the city, Hindu Jagaran Manch leader Suman Kumar told UCA News his group would burn the cardinal’s effigy every day “in different parts of the city” to make people aware of the alleged forced conversions.

Ganga Prasad, a leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, wrote in a newspaper article that in the past four months

Catholic missionaries have converted 130 members of 31 tribal families in Jonha, an interior village some 24 miles east of Ranchi.

The missionaries also built “a huge church” there “so they can easily convert tribals,” Prasad added.

Cardinal Toppo and Father Stanislaus Runda, the priest in charge of Jonha mission station, denied the conversion charges.

Father Runda said the church in Jharkhand has always faced opposition from Hindu extremists, who accuse missionaries of converting tribal people “by force, fraud and allurement, but never give any proof.”

Cardinal Toppo was on his annual retreat when the effigy-burning began. In an interview with UCA

News on December 19, he said he would “get new strength from these incidents.”

John Kujur, president of the Ranchi Archdiocesan Catholic Council, alleged that the state government was behind the incidents.

He told UCA News on December 20 the council has sought legal advice on stopping the effigy-burning.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India has condemned the incidents.

In a December 22 statement, Auxiliary Bishop Percival Fernandez of Mumbai, conference secretarygeneral, described the incidents as “extremely distressing” and asked the Jharkhand government to take steps to protect the cardinal’s reputation.

- CNS

January 5 2005, The Record

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The World Bringing the Eucharist to those at war Soldier talks about transporting consecrated hosts in war zones ■ By Barbara Fitzgerald

While 32-year-old US Army Capt. Joseph Burkhardt conducted sensitive operations in war zones throughout Iraq, the mission closest to his heart was bringing the Eucharist to his fellow soldiers.

Burkhardt, an Army Ranger, carried dozens of consecrated hosts to be distributed to Catholic soldiers in battle. Because of a shortage of priests in the military, he was trained as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion to allow military personnel to receive Communion on Sundays.

“There were times when I was in harm’s way,” he said, adding that there was never any fear that anything would happen to the hosts.

“To have the host that close to you is something that was quite moving,” he said.

“To have that presence near you all the time is pretty amazing, especially for that many months.”

Burkhardt, a 1991 graduate of Lansdale Catholic High School, spoke to The Catholic Standard & Times, archdiocesan newspaper of Philadelphia, the same day he addressed students at his alma mater.

That same busy day in November, he also married fellow Lansdale graduate Jennifer Przasnyski at St Stanislaus Church in Lansdale.

Although they had known each other growing up, their romance did not begin until Christmas Eve two years ago, when

Soldiers participate in Mass in Iraq.

Burkhardt returned from his tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Then, shortly after they fell in love, he was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

“It was very tough,” his new wife said.

“You could either look at it as ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’ or ‘Out of sight, out of mind.’ It was definitely ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

They have delayed their honeymoon because Przasnyski is a fourth-grade-teacher, but they plan to honeymoon in Hawaii this summer.

Burkhardt, who expects to be discharged from the Army at the end of December,

Photo: CNS

has decided to pursue a career as a history teacher - and he hopes to teach in a Catholic high school. He said he’s had many role models, including teachers at Lansdale Catholic who had served in the military.

During the school assembly, a handful of faculty members also spoke about their military service.

Librarian Robert VanderVort told students that his time in the Army during the Vietnam War taught him how to accept and respect authority. He gave an emotional testimony about how it finally felt to leave Vietnam, when others were not so lucky.

Retired teacher John Kaney spoke about

Christianity the antidote for Europe Benedict XVI says religious restoration needs “creative minorities” An essay by Benedict XVI on Europe and Its Discontents is published in the January issue of the US-based journal First Things.

The essay, originally written before his election to the papacy, will also appear in an upcoming book of the Pope’s to be published in February under the title of Without Roots (Basic Books).

In the essay, the Holy Father identifies “Europe” as a cultural identity, not simply a geographical concept.

Its civilisation extends to all of the continents, especially North America.

But according to Benedict XVI, at a time when European civilisation is the thoroughly dominant cultural force in the world today, its emphasis on techno-secular progress appears to have weakened the appreciation of its historical value system, culture and faith.

To fill this vacuum, people are beginning to look to the religions of pre-Columbian America, Islam and Asian mysticism, he contends.

Benedict XVI states that low

Pope Benedict XVI

birthrates in the West indicate that the “vital energy” of Europe has been lost.

There is a lack of regard and hope for the future caused by the secular dogmatisms and ideologies that “view the spirit as produced by matter and morals by circumstances.”

The fallacy of communist economics has been rejected, but its moral and religious fallacies have not.

The Holy Father compares the competing understandings of the development of civilisations offered by Oswald Spengler and Arnold Toynbee.

He notes that while Spengler’s “biologistic” thesis meant the death of Europe was inevitable,

Toynbee claimed that civilisational progress contained two elements: techno-material and spiritual. The spiritual dimension relies on the free choice of the people.

Thus, if the civilisation is sick, there can be a remedy.

For Europe, Toynbee proposes the recovery of the religious and cultural heritage of Western Christianity.

Pondering whether Toynbee’s thesis is correct, Benedict XVI states, “If it is, then we must ask whether it is in our power to reintroduce the religious dimension through a synthesis of what remains of Christianity and the religious heritage of humankind.”

Benedict XVI ultimately agrees with Toynbee’s understanding of civilisational development, and exhorts Christians to be “creative minorities” within “Europe,” cultivating appreciation for the three pillars of European civilisation: respect for the dignity of the human person; marriage and the family; and religion.

Christianity is the antidote to a Europe that is beset by materialism, secularism and multiculturalism; a Europe that no longer appreciates its roots and with little interest or energy left to preserve its heritage.

This is a heritage the Pope states should be offered for the service of mankind.

how he learned to respect differences while he was in training in the Army in the 1950s.

He recalled that a fellow serviceman, the foreman on a cowboy ranch, had never tied a tie before and needed his help. Another set of soldiers, from West Virginia, Kaney said, could barely keep step during military training marches - but when it came to the firing range they rarely missed a shot.

“You give respect to others, and you’ll get respect,” Kaney told the students.

Burkhardt also spoke about the need for young people to uphold the truth and moral values in the world. A recipient of two Bronze Star medals, he spoke about his desire to enter the military in 1997, in thanks for the freedom he enjoyed growing up in America.

“My entire life, I had the honour and privilege (to live) in a country where I essentially had no fear,” he said. That changed on September 11, 2001, he added.

Burkhardt told the students he has been in 23 countries in the last eight years. He spoke about having to learn core US Army values: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honour, integrity, and personal courage.

Because of his Catholic upbringing, the lessons were easy, he said.

“I learned all these values as a student at St. Stan’s, a student at Lansdale Catholic and, primarily, from my family,” he said.

“You may have expected to hear some war stories - maybe a little bit more about what life was like in Afghanistan and in Iraq,” Burkhardt said at the assembly. “But I thought it was more important to talk to you this morning about the values, simply because these values are what got me through the war stories and the tough times in Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia.”

Property returned to Church Government agrees to return property to Catholic Church in China After a long church property dispute in Tianjin, in northern China, the local government has validated the church’s claim to the property and agreed to return it.

Tianjin’s deputy mayor met five priests from Shanxi province on December 24 and told them his municipal government had verified that information the church presented to back its claim “basically matches” the government records, said Father Anthony Han Huide, procurator of Taiyuan Diocese, December 29.

Father Han told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, that the deputy mayor promised to settle the property problem as soon as possible and in accordance with the religious policies of the central government.

The official also handed over the key of the house to the priests and told them they “could come back to visit and stay there,” Father Han said.

Father Han said the deputy mayor asked them to first return to Shanxi province and give the government time to prepare documents.

Father Han said, however, that “no date and details were given.”

Various dioceses and religious congregations bought some 1,200

properties in Tianjin decades before the Communist Party took control of China in 1949. The dioceses of Taiyuan and Yuci bought the properties to generate rental income to support the church.

On December 15, close to 50 priests, nuns and lay people from the two dioceses went to Tianjin and occupied the three-story building that was in dispute, insisting it belonged to the church. About 30 assailants attacked the group the next day. Seven were badly beaten, with some requiring hospitalisation. The last group of priests, nuns and lay people left Tianjin by train Christmas Eve. The others left on December 22.

Father Han said two priests will be sent to Tianjin again in early January to follow up the case with the government until the house and the other properties are returned to the two dioceses.

A notice regarding religious properties was posted on December 22 on the Tianjin government Web site ordering all Tianjin government bureaus and departments to suspend the dismantling or removal of religious properties. Many churchowned properties were confiscated by the state during China’s 19661976 Cultural Revolution, but since the 1980s the Chinese government’s religious policies have allowed local government officials to return or negotiate the return of church propCNS erties.

January 5 2005, The Record

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The World Singing in the New Year

26 missionaries died in 2005

Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd during his audience with the Pueri Cantores children’s choir in the Paul VI audience hall at the Vatican on December 30.

Thousands of young choir singers from around the world sing for Pope ■ By Carol Glatz

The musical conductor told his young choir singers not to cheer, but to continue singing when Pope Benedict XVI appeared in the Vatican’s audience hall.

But it was hard to contain the enthusiasm of thousands of young people when they finally saw the Pope walk into the Vatican’s Paul VI hall. The harmonious strains of “gloria in excelsis Deo” (“glory to God in the highest”) quickly gave way to high-pitched squeals of joy, enthusiastic applause and chants of “Be-ne-det-to.”

Close to 5,000 young choir singers, their family members, friends and choirmasters from 15 differ-

ent countries were taking part in the December 28 to January 1 International Congress of Pueri Cantores in Rome.

Of the 88 children’s choir groups attending the papal audience and the congress, 10 different choirs came from the United States. Most choir members ranged from 8 years old to high school age.

They met with the Pope in a special audience on December 30 and gave him a prelude of their musical talents before singing in St Peter’s Basilica for the papal Mass on New Year’s Day. “You have an important mission to help the people of God pray with dignity because sacred music is a ministerial function in the service of the Lord,” the Pope told the Catholic choir singers.

Singing not only contributes to “the beauty of the liturgy,” it also nourishes one’s faith and raises one’s mind and thoughts to God, he said, speaking in French.

the world in brief Property ruling concern A federal judge ruled December 30 that it is the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, not its individual parishes, that owns all parish properties. In a statement released by spokesman Bud Bunce, the archdiocese expressed disappointment. “We feel strongly that this decision is not supported by the facts or the law and believe it infringes on the archdiocese’s right and the parishioners’ rights to freely exercise their religion,” the statement said. At stake in the decision is the property of 124 parishes, including 40 parish elementary schools and three archdiocesan high schools, whose combined worth may be as much as half a billion dollars. About 130 claimants seeking damages for alleged sexual

Thirteen-year-old Mia Countes of California said singing “makes me feel happy and my life complete.”

When part of a larger choir, that same “feeling gets even stronger,” she told Catholic News Service during singing rehearsal a few hours before the audience with Pope Benedict. The farthest Countes and her choir had travelled to sing was local parish festivals and an annual music event at Disneyland.

“I always wanted to meet the Pope,” she said, because “he’s the leader of the Catholic Church and because I’m Catholic - that’s really big.” Countes was one of 68 boys and girls representing the St John Fisher Archangel Choir in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

Their choirmaster, Allison Graff, said singing almost every day with other choirs in different venues throughout Rome had been “eye opening” for the children. For many of them, it was their first time abroad and their first sing-

abuse by priests in the Portland Archdiocese have asked to have the parish and school properties included among archdiocesan assets available for settling their claims. The archdiocese has argued that under church law each parish owns its own property and the archdiocese only holds those properties in trust for the parishes.

Children of God bring peace When people recognise the truth that they are all children of God and that moral law exists for the benefit of all, they become peacemakers, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“Peace - this great aspiration in the heart of every man and woman - is built day by day with the support of everyone,” the Pope said on January 1 as he celebrated Mass for the feast of Mary, Mother of God and for World

Photo: CNS

ing experience with Pueri Cantores.

“They’ve been getting to see what other choirs are doing” and how they interpret the same music, she said. Graff said that, as a person who is “passionate about music,” watching that same passion unfold in her singers is rewarding.

“It’s amazing to watch them respond to music even when they are singing in a language they don’t understand,” she said.

Though many children may join a choir for its social appeal, the faith of many of the children has been deepened and enriched, she said.

Jim Corrigan of St Louis said singing in a choir “enhanced and solidified” his 10-year-old daughter’s faith in God. While some kids are enamoured by sports, singing in the choir “is the one thing that really means something for her,” he said. St Louis Pueri Cantores was created by a 1965 decree to spread liturgical music as interpreted by children.

Peace Day. The Mass in St Peter’s Basilica and the recitation of the Angelus afterward in St Peter’s Square featured people from around the world dressed in their native costumes. Many carried peace banners. During the Mass, the offertory gifts were given to Pope Benedict by two boys and a girl from Germany dressed as the Magi and participants from Mexico, Peru, Pakistan, Vietnam and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Holy Spirit to guide WYD While choosing themes for the next three celebrations of World Youth Day, Pope Benedict XVI asked young Catholics to reflect on how the Holy Spirit leads people to encounter Christ, to love others and to go out to the world to spread the Gospel, said the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The

Although many of them were killed during robbery attempts, the 26 Catholic missionaries murdered in 2005 each died spreading the Gospel and serving the poor and victims of violence, a Vatican news agency said.

Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, published its annual list of murdered church personnel on December 30.

The agency said its tally, twice as many as were killed in 2004, showed that one bishop, 20 priests, two religious brothers, two nuns and one lay missionary died violently in 2005.

In the 2005 list, Fides included a priest killed in Russia and one killed in Belgium. Although they were not working in mission territories, the Belgian, Father Robert De Leener, was included because of his work with immigrants; Slovakian Father Jan Hermanovski was included because of his work with the homeless in Russia.

“The list includes not only missionaries in the strict sense, but all church personnel killed in a violent way or who sacrificed their lives aware of the risks they ran by not abandoning their commitment,” the agency said. “Some of them were found hours or days after their deaths, usually the victims - at least in appearance - of aggression, robbery or theft perpetrated in social contexts marked by violence, human degradation and poverty, which they sought to alleviate with their presence and their work.” After the list was compiled, Fides received news of another murder. Ursuline Sister Margaret Branchen, a 74-yearold Swiss nun, was killed on December 28 in South Africa.

She was shot during a robbery at the clinic where she worked.

Among the missionaries listed

by Fides was Notre Dame de Namur Sister Dorothy Stang, who lived in Brazil’s Amazon region for nearly four decades, often provoking the anger of ranchers. She was shot several times in the chest and head on CNS February 12.

council, which coordinates the local annual celebration of World Youth Day and organises the international gatherings of young people with the Pope, published the list of themes for 2006-2008. The next international gathering, the council said on January 3, will be held July 15-20, 2008, in Sydney, Australia. The theme for the 2008 event is “You Will Receive Power When the Holy Spirit Has Come Upon You; and You Will Be My Witnesses.” The quotation is taken from the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.

“Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet and a Light to My Path” is the theme chosen by Pope Benedict for the 2006 celebrations, which will be held on the diocesan level, the council said. In 2007, also on the diocesan level, young people will focus on the theme “Just as I Have Loved You, You Also Should Love One Another.” CNS

January 5 2006, The Record

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Movie Review Differences show true colours The White Countess ■ By Harry Forbes

“A Room With a View.” “Howard’s End.” “The Remains of the Day.” Those are just a few of the classy, impeccably mounted titles in the distinguished line of Merchant Ivory Productions.

So here we have the “The White Countess” (Sony Classics), the lavish, final collaboration of director James Ivory and producer Ismail

Merchant, who died shortly after filming was completed. “The White Countess” is based on an original screenplay by “The Remains of the Day” novelist Kazuo Ishiguro.

It’s Shanghai, China, in 1936, a time of great political upheaval.

The improbable but not uninteresting plot concerns an impoverished Russian countess, Sofia Belinksy (Natasha Richardson), who supports her young daughter, Katya (Madeleine Daly), and an ungrateful family: Aunt Sara (Vanessa Redgrave), Uncle Peter (John Wood), mother-in-law Olga (Lynn Redgrave), and sister-inlaw Greshenka (Madeleine Potter) who collectively disapprove of Sofia

Our classifications: the bottom line The Record’s movie reviews come from the Film Office of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

These reviews, and any other reviews which appear in The Record, do not purport to be the last word on films, videos and DVDs. The ratings focus upon family suitability rather than artistic or entertainment value. Parents (and grandparents and other guardians) must make up their own minds on what is appropriate for their family. The ratings used by The Record are: A-I: for general patronage A-II: for adults and adolescents A-III: for adults A-IV: adults, with reservations (an A-IV classification denotes problematic films that, while not morally offensive in themselves require caution and some analysis and explanation as a safeguard against wrong interpretations and false conclusions) L: limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L supplements the A-IV classification O: morally offensive

earning her living as a dance-hall hostess.

The stuffy - possibly racist - lot also disdain her friendship with the Jewish tailor, Samuel (Allan Corduner), who lives below them.

By the shooting-daggers stares she gets at home, we get the idea that Sofia may occasionally be offering gentlemen at the nightclub more than dancing, because why else would they get so upset when Katya innocently tries on Mommy’s lipstick?

But suffice it to say, Sofia’s extracurricular activities are reticently handled.

Meanwhile, there’s Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes with an accomplished American accent), an exdiplomat, blinded for reasons we don’t learn till much later, who gets along with astonishing ease without even a cane. Disillusioned by personal tragedy and his failed peace efforts during his career with the League of Nations, he harbours a desire to build a refuge from the world’s troubles.

After betting his few remaining funds at the racetrack, he makes just enough money to realise that ambition, and opens a nightclub called The White Countess. He offers Sofia - who had earlier helped him elude some shady characters - a job as hostess, where she’ll hold court and give the establishment some cachet.

And, he assures her, nothing more will be expected of her. A Japanese friend with shadowy connections, Matsuda (Hiroyuki Sanada), with whom Jackson bonds, later helps bolster the club’s clientele, giving

Aislin McGuckin stars in a scene from the movie “The White Countess.”

it the interesting “tension” Jackson craves.

Though Jackson and Sofia’s relationship is platonic, a growing admiration develops.

The burgeoning romance between Jackson and Sofia is threatened when Sofia’s family has an opportunity to leave Shanghai for

Photo: CNS

Hong Kong where they’ll recover some of their social footing.

The film contains some crass language, sexual innuendo, suggested prostitution, gambling, drunkenness, and some bar-room and wartime violence. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classifica CNS tion is A-III - adults.

US Catholic magazine embroiled in controversy over offensive ad Respected Italian writer criticises America magazine for ad blunder ■ By Carol Glatz

ROME (CNS) - Controversy over an advertisement in a US Jesuit-run magazine made the front page of a major Italian newspaper in an article written by a highly respected Italian Catholic author and commentator.

Vittorio Messori, who has coauthored books with Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II, severely criticised an America magazine ad that offered for sale a small statue of Mary covered in a condom.

The magazine said the ad, published in its December 5 issue, was accepted by mistake. It has apologised to its readers for failing to screen the ad in advance.

Messori’s commentary, published in Corriere della Sera on December 22, was unusual in several respects.

It gave the impression that the magazine itself was offering the statue for sale, it did not mention America’s explanation and apology, and it used the ad to launch a verbal attack on the Church in the United States.

“All of this in a church like the American church, reduced to economic bankruptcy and the unanimous abomination of a clergy that

too often, it seems, likes to fondle seminarians’ genitalia,” he wrote.

Jesuit Father Jose M. de Vera, spokesman for the Jesuits in Rome, said Messori apparently failed to realize that America had inadvertently published the ad and had apologised for the error.

Father de Vera said Messori generally has high credibility in the Church, and because of that his commentary may have a “deep impact in the official circles in the Vatican,” even if based on incomplete information.

Father de Vera said he was sending Messori the explanation given by America, in the hope that Messori would add clarification to his article.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, head of Vatican Radio and the CTV, said he was astonished by Messori’s attack on the editors of America.

In a letter published on December 23 by the same Italian newspaper that ran Messori’s commentary, Father Lombardi said the Jesuit editors are “good men of culture” who failed to properly screen one ad out of “the hundreds” that get published in the magazine’s 41 issues each year.

The America editors had fallen into “a booby trap” set by the advertiser “who wanted to ridicule them and Marian devotion,” wrote Father Lombardi.

The ad, which ran on page 36 of the 38-page issue, offered what the advertiser called a “unique contem-

porary religious artwork” for $300 by an art student in Great Britain.

In the ad, the artist described the piece, titled “Extra Virgin,” as being an eight-and-a-half-inch statue of the Virgin Mary wearing “a delicate veil of latex.” The ad included a small colour photograph of the statue, which on closer examination is enveloped from head to toe in a transparent condom.

In mid-December America’s editor in chief, Jesuit Father Drew Christiansen, and the Jesuit’s provincial superior, Father Gerald Chojnacki, sent individual apologies to those who contacted the magazine about the objectionable advertisement.

The magazine then published two different apologies in its December 19-26 and January 2-9 issues.

“We were embarrassed to have readers call our attention to the offensive advertisement that escaped our unknowing eyes,” it said. “We have taken several steps to tighten our advance review of advertising and express our outrage to the artist.”

The advertiser, Steve Rosenthal, identified himself as a “sculptural artist” and listed an e-mail address where he could be contacted.

America provided Catholic News Service with a copy of an e-mail exchange between Rosenthal and an America subscriber who had contacted Rosenthal immediately after the ad appeared to ask why he had placed the ad.

In his response to the subscriber, Rosenthal said his ad had been turned down by “many a UK (United Kingdom) publication” and he wanted a chance “to illicit (sic) a strong response or reaction to my work by believers of the Catholic faith.”

He said he hoped it would “prompt readers to question ... the scientific impossibility to the authenticity of the said Virgin Mary actually being a virgin - thus calling the entire foundation of the religion into question.”

He also said he hoped the work would lead to questioning the Church’s “tandem demonisation of the act of impregnation by sexual activity, thereby creating the notion that woman can be only either virgin or whore.” Mary is usually depicted in white and blue garments, symbolising purity, but her garments in the ad appear bright red.

In the e-mail Rosenthal also sharply criticised Catholic teaching against artificial contraception, saying it was responsible for “hundreds of thousands” of deaths from HIV. Rosenthal said he sought to place the ad “without malice.”

In their disclaimer, America editors said his comments to the subscriber showed “that he had intended his art as an assault on Catholic faith and devotion.”

In an e-mail to CNS on December 28 Rosenthal challenged the editors’ statement, saying, “How can a question amount to an assault?”

“I primarily wanted to facilitate a discourse to occur amongst members of the Catholic faith regarding the (church’s) nonadvocation of condoms,” he wrote.

Controversy over the ad reached fever pitch after a number of Catholic blogs and Web sites reproduced the advertisement.

One Catholic Web site’s blog urged its readers to send complaints to Vatican officials.

Father Christiansen said in a letter to America readers that the problem with the ad “was not evident in the black-and-white proofs we have used to check the final copy.”

The ad’s photo appears in colour in the issue. Fathers Christiansen and Chojnacki wrote that the magazine has now “put procedures in place” that will screen prospective advertisements more thoroughly so as to better “detect such trickery.”

Jesuit Brother Francis W. Turnbull, America’s assistant editor, told CNS on December 22 that in addition to establishing stricter screening procedures overall in its advertising department, from now on the magazine will check colour proofs of all colour ads before publication.

Messori and Pope John Paul coauthored the 1994 book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope. In 1985, Messori authored a book-length interview with then-Cardinal Ratzinger, titled The Ratzinger Report: An Exclusive Interview on the State of the Catholic Church.”

January 5 2006, The Record

Page 11

Classifieds

Classified ads: $3.30 per line incl. GST

24 hour Hotline 9227 7778

Deadline: 5pm Tuesday

ADVERTISEMENTS ACCOMODATION

CATHOLICS CORNER ■ RETAILER OF CATHOLIC PRODUCTS

■ OCEAN KEYS/CLARKSON Shared Accommodation: Ocean Keys/ Clarkson. New house lge bdrm, own bth room, close to uni, library, shops, trains and beach. $90pw + exp. Ph: 0421 704 003 after 7pm.

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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.

CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER ■ WORK FROM HOME Around your children & family commitments. My business is expanding and I need people to open new areas all over Australia. Training given. Highly lucrative. www.cyber-success-4u.org

■ BRICK REPOINTING Phone Nigel 9242 2952.

■ PERROTT PAINTING PTY LTD For all your residential, commercial painting requirements. Phone Tom Perrott 9444 1200.

■ PICASSO PAINTING Top service. Phone 9345 0557, fax 9345 0505.

FURNITURE REMOVAL ■ ALL AREAS

■ REPAIR YOUR LITURGICAL BOOKS

Mike Murphy 0416 226 434.

Tydewi Bindery offer a reliable service to repair your Liturgical books, missals,

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

bibles, to bind homilies and favourite prayers. Ph. 9293 3092.

■ DENMARK Holiday House 3bdr x 2bath, sleeps 083 377.

■ THANKS

■ YALLINGUP

To the Sacred Heat, Immaculate

Holiday rental: Yallingup 3bdr cottage,

Conception, St Joseph, St Anthony,

very close to beach. Available Jan 31

St Jude and St Filomena

– Feb 9. Ph: 9295 1138.

for all of the beautiful graces received

ENTERTAINMENT

Sunday, January 8 ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK: 1  2 PM ON ACCESS 31

Grateful thanks to Infant Jesus of Prague, Our Lady, St Jude, St Anthony

0410 651 900.

and St Therese for favour granted. S

BULLSBROOK SHRINE SUNDAY MASS PROGRAM 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.

In a world that is full of change, young people are called to put their hope in the one reality that never changes - Jesus Christ. Summer School allows a deepening of your personal relationship with Jesus, and being strengthened in your Catholic faith and mission through the power of the Holy Spirit. Follow the summer school link on our website www.disciplesofjesus.org/ for more details and application form. Or contact Jane Borg 0401 692 690, Julie Osman 0412 217 957.

Sunday, January 15 HEALING MASS AND RECONCILIATION

CATHOLIC BIBLE COLLEGE 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 692690. Website: www.acts2come. disciplesofjesus.org

Bullsbrook Shrine, 2 pm - The Sacrament of the sick is administered for the Spiritual and physical healing of pilgrims during Holy Mass on every second Sunday of the month at the Shrine of Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. The next ceremony is on January 15. Reconciliation in Italian or English at 1.30 PM. All are most welcome to come to the Pilgrim’s Mass and devotions celebrated at the Shrine on every Sunday at 2.00 P.M. Enquiries Tel. SACRI Assoc. 9447 3292.

Sunday January 22 DIVINE MERCY PILGRIMAGE TO BOVE FARM

CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY Cross Roads Community is closed until Tuesday January 10. Term 1 begins Tuesday January 31 2006 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.

Shrine of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary: 23pm Holy Hour to Jesus and Mary – Reconciliation will be available, 3-4pm Divine Mercy Holy Mass – Main Celebrants, Fr Doug Harris and Fr Paul Fox. 4-5pm Divine Mercy Way of the Cross, concluding with Benediction. 5-6pm Evening meal supplied, if required – barbecue at a cost of $5 each. 6pm Coach leaves Bove Farm. Transport from Perth and Willetton will be arranged. Tea and coffee and soft drinks will be available free for all, including BYO people. Enq: John 9457 7771 (SOR), Charles 9342 0653 (NOR).

TUESDAYS WEEKLY PRAYER MEETING 7pm at St Mary’s Cathedral Parish Centre, 450

L’ HOTEL DE LA PROVIDENCE á JOUY (Eure-et-Loir)

Vailée de l’Eure 74 km de PARIS

de vieux renom

Expressions of interest are called from Religious or Lay People in the position for pastoral Assistant at St Francis Xavier Armadale Parish. It would be a full time position. Contact Fr Kaz Stuglik on 9399 2143 / 9399 4687.

Classifieds Phone Carole 9227 7080 or A/h: 9227 7778

■ THANKS

Urgent jobs in 24hrs. W/E and A/H

A weekend conference on the healing love of Jesus. Theme: The Compassion of Christ. John 23rd College Auditorium. John 23rd Avenue, Mt Claremont. Free Public Healing Rallies at 7.30 pm each night. Registered Day Sessions $65 all or $10 each: Saturday Sessions 10 am - 12 pm from 2.30 pm & 4 pm. Sunday Mass 10 am then Sessions 2.30 pm & 4 pm. For information call Flame Ministries International, 9382 3668 or email: congress2006@fl ameministries.org Web: www.flameministries.org

January 8-15 SUMMER SCHOOL OF EVANGELISATION

thank you

■ MEMORIAM CARDS AND BOOKLETS

January 20-22 16TH ANNUAL FLAME CONGRESS

Overcoming difficulty in prayer / Fr John Corapi [Catechism of the Catholic Church] This program is sponsored by Fr Larry Reitmeier and parisioners of Corpus Christi parish, Myaree. May every blessing be yours throughout 2006. Together let us make it a great year in bringing all our brothers and sisters closer to God. The Rosary Christian Tutorial Association, Postal address: PO Box 1270, Booragoon 6954. Enquiries: 9330 1170.

■ PASTORAL ASSISTANT

throughout the year. M

USFOROZ

■ FIRE ENGINE PARTIES Children of all ages. Child care, kindy and Santa visits includes rides and squirting. Discount to readers. Call fire Chief David 0431 869 455.

WANTED

THANK YOU

up to 8. BOOK NOW. Ph: Maria 0412

PANORAMA

8 km de CHARTRES

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS

(Deadline 12pm Tuesdays)

a roundup of events in the archdiocese 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.

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.

ALL SAINTS CHAPEL

PERPETUAL ADORATION AT ST BERNADETTE’S 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.

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. All Saints Chapel, Allendale Square, 77 St George’s Tce, Perth - each Monday and Friday at 1.35pm. Main Celebrant Fr James Shelton. 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.

BLESSED SACRAMENT ADORATION

CONFESSIONS: 10.30 to 11.45am and two lunchtime MASSES: 12.10 and 1.10pm Monday through Friday. Easy to find in the heart of Perth, ALLENDALE SQUARE, 77 St George’s Terrace. Exposition: 8am - 4pm. Morning Prayer: 8am (Liturgical hours). Holy Rosary daily: 12.40pm. Divine Mercy Prayers and Benediction: Mondays and Fridays 1.35pm. St Pio of Pietrelcina Novena to the Sacred Heart and Benediction: Wednesdays 1.35pm. 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: January 22. 9 Talus Drive Armadale. Enq Sisters of Mary 9399 2349 or Peter de San Miguel 0407 242 707 www.schoenstatt.org.au

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

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.

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.

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 4.30pm 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.

January 5 2006, The Record

Page 12

The Record Book Sale!!!

THE SQUIRE AND THE SCROLL THE PRINCESS AND THE KISS

By Jennie Bishop Beautifully illustrated in classic fairy-tale style, Bishop’s storybooks offer “his and hers” lessons on the timeless virtues of purity and courage. In her newest, The Squire and the Scroll, a brave young lad fearlessly defends “the lantern of purest light” against all enemies - including a fire-breathing dragon!

$20 each plus postage OR both for $35

DISCOVER JOHN PAUL II Any two 10% off!

Or 3 for $60

Rise, let us be on our way & Memory and Identity

Witness to Hope The life of Karol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II A video based on the best-selling biography

by George Weigel

by John Paul II

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$25 plus postage

GUIDED IMAGERY CD’S A MUST Recommended by Church leaders around WA, three meditation CD’s

by Norma Woodcock are a great example of how to use the power of the imagination through prayer. $29.95 each plus postage

Patrons to Partners

by Margaret Zucker A history of the Catholic Church in the Kimberley

by Sam & Bethany Torode

Written by the co-founder of the Missionary Brothers of Charity

A Protestant couple rethinks contraception

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

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The Song of a Wounded Healer

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