The Record Newspaper 01 October 2008

the R ecoRd

“Be indefatigable in your purpose and with undaunted spirit resist iniquity and try to conquer evil with good, having before your eyes the reward of those who combat for Christ.”

-Bishop Matthew Gibney

www.therecord.com.au

Hart throws down the gauntlet over VIC abortion law push

n VIC abortion law poses “real threat” to key Catholic health services, Melbourne Archbishop warns

n Former Australian Ambassador to Vatican urges wave of prayer support for Archbishop’s stance

n By Anthony Barich

Victorian catholic hospitals’ maternity and emergency units may need to shut down if legislation legalising abortion passes through the State’s Legislative council, says Melbourne a rchbishop Denis Hart.

Meanwhile, the former australian a mbassador to the Holy See and Dublin, Sir Peter Lawler, says the effects of the Victorian legislation could, if passed, extend throughout australia.

in a comprehensive attack on the abortion Law reform Bill that was introduced into Victoria’s Legislative assembly in august, a rchbishop Hart called for urgent action by catholics and “all people of good will” in a six-page pastoral letter issued on September 19.

He included the names, region, contact numbers, faxes, email addresses and websites of every Member of the Victorian Legislative council for people to address their concerns to. t he Bill passed through the Legislative assembly on September 11, will be debated in the Upper House on october 7 and, if passed through the Legislative council, could become law by october 15. a rchbishop Hart said the Bill poses a “real threat” to the continued existence of catholic hospitals.

“Under these circumstances, it is difficult to foresee how catholic hospitals could Continued on Page 6

i n Mackillop’s steps

A young Catholic in Adelaide has successfully launched a pilgrimage to Penola in the footsteps of our first saint, that has the potential to be a smash hit. Page 7

the

October Synod aims at rediscovering...

His Word

Bishops from all over the world will gather in Rome in October for a key Synod on Scripture. One of the synod’s fruits they are clearly hoping for is that Catholics begin reading the Bible regularly again, listening for the voice of God in their daily lives.

Our faith and the entire Church are based on Scripture. Jesus Christ, of course, is the foundation of the Church, but Scripture sets out the history of God’s relationship with the human race and conveys the timeless truths of his plan of life and love for us. It also records the most astonishing events in history - how God became one of us, died for us and then conquered death so that we might be with the one who created us and loves us divinely - forever. In other words, the anwer to the meaning of our lives is found in the one book most of us hardly ever look at.

Reports, analysis: Vista 1 - Page 9

protecting M inors

Kids Free 2B Kids director Julie Gale hopes to whip up a storm over magazines freely available in milkbars and servos that promote sex with minors. Page 6

Marriage Matters

In its first national conference in Perth in 17 years, the Australian Family Association has brought in the big guns to discuss solutions for the assault on marriage currently underway. Page 4

Western Australia’s award-winning Catholic newspaper since 1874 - Wednesday October 1 2008 Perth, Western Australia $2

Parish. the Nation. the World.

1874

Warning: Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne has issued a six-page pastoral letter and warned that Catholic hospitals may have to close maternity and emergency units rather than co-operate in the killing of the unborn.

Hearing His voice: A young woman holds a Bible study guide during a Catholic scripture class. Bishops are hoping the forthcoming October Synod on Scripture will help increase the average Catholic’s understanding of the importance of the Bible. Catholics have long been outpointed by Protestants in familiarity with God’s Word in Scripture and seeing it as of relevance to daily life. p H oto: C ns

Saint for the week

Bruno

c. 1030-1101

feast – October 6

Every saint has parents, but how often are they saints too?

Crosiers

Bruno was born to nobility in Cologne, Germany. After studies in France, he was ordained a priest and about 1056 began a 20-year stint teaching theology at Reims, France. But when Bruno denounced the archbishop for simony, he was forced to leave. With six companions, he withdrew to Chartreuse, France, to found the Carthusian order combining solitary and communal living. In 1090, Pope Urban II summoned him to Rome as an adviser, but Bruno was unhappy away from his order. He was allowed to start another charterhouse in Calabria, Italy, where he later died.

Saints for Today © 2008 CNS

© 2005

Stewardship

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

When will I have given enough - of my income, of my time, of my talents? Today’s Gospel sugggests that only total stewardship will do: “When you have done all you have been commanded to do, say, ‘We are useless servants. We have done no more than our duty.’” see Luke 17:10 For further information on how stewardship can build your parish community, call Brian Stephens on 9422 7924.

Walking with Him Daily Mass Readings

5 S 27TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Isa 5:1-7 The Lord’s vineyard

Ps 79:9.12-16.19-20 Protect this vine

Phil 4:6-9 The peace of God

Mt 21:33-43 The vineyard leased

6 M St Bruno, priest (O)

Gr Gal 1:6-12 Paul astonished

Ps 110:1-2.7-10 Justice and truth

Lk 10:25-37 Who s my neighbour?

7 T Our Lady of the Rosary (M)

Wh Gal 1:13-24 A practising Jew

Ps 138:1-3.13-15 You know me, Lord

Lk 10:38-42 Lord, do you not care?

8 W

Gr Gal 2:1-2.7-14 Paul opposes Peter

Ps 116:1-2 Praise the Lord

Lk 11:1-4 Teach us to pray

9 T St Denis, bishop, and his companions, martyrs (O) St John Leonardi, priest (O)

Gr Gal 3:1-5 The Spirit or the Law

Ps/Lk 1:69-75 A mighty saviour

Lk 11:5-13 Persistence enough

10 F

Gr Gal 3:7-14 Life through faith

Ps 110:1-6 Compassion and love

Lk 11:15-26 A kingdom divided

11 S

Gr Gal 3:22-29 Faith in Jesus Christ

Ps 104:2-7 Seek the Lord’s face

Lk 11:27-28 The word of God

The impending canonisation of the parents of St Therese of Lisieux teaches us much about marriage, both as an institution in society and as a sacrament by which families receive grace. Fr Tadgh Tierney OCD, of the Morley Carmelite Community, examines their story.

In the Basilica of Lisieux dedicated to their youngest daughter St Therese, Pope Benedict XVI will beatify Zelie and Louis Martin on October 19 - the anniversary of the day on which Therese was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1994.

What factors have led up to this unusual event? There are two aspects to a beatification. First there must be evidence of the holiness of the candidates and secondly an approved miracle needs to have taken place.

Regarding the latter, the required miracle concerns a boy who recovered from an acute condition of the lungs. Pietro Schillero from Monza in Italy was born with a congenital lung defect and could breathe only with the help of a respirator. The family made a novena to the Martins and the child left the clinic shortly afterwards completely cured.

The wife

The holiness of Zelie and Louis Martin is well attested. The Carmelite, St Therese, is one of the great figures of the modern Church. Because of Therese, her parents, and indeed her whole family - especially her elder sisters Pauline and Celinebecame well known in the Catholic world. Therese herself led the movement to eventually recognise the holiness of their lives when she wrote in her autobiography, ‘I was blessed in having saints for parents’. Again she wrote, ‘I have only to look at my father to see how the saints pray`.

They were both serious-minded people and both initially wished to enter Religious orders. Zelie Guerin twice applied but was refused entrance to the convent, first at a local convent and later at the Visitation in Le Mans where her elder and only sister was a nun and where one of her daughters, Leonie, would later join. Zelie decided to train in lacemaking, becoming an expert practitioner of the famous ‘Point d’Alencon’.

The husband

Zelie Guerin’s future husband Louis Martin was born in Bordeaux but his father retired to Alencon when Louis was a young man. Louis was a lover of nature - his hobby was fishing. He was an admirer of the Romantics and read Chateaubriand and Lamartine. Perhaps for this reason when he too tried his religious vocation he applied to a monastery of the Great St Bernard in the scenic Alps. But he was advised to learn Latin before being allowed to join. Louis studied for a while but after a bout of illness he abandoned the idea of Religious life and took up watchmaking. It looked as if he would be content to live a devout single life.

Marriage

Another factor was at work, and in this case it seems indeed that marriages are made in heaven.

One day Zelie Guerin had a chance encounter with the tall handsome Louis on an Alencon bridge. She was impressed by the serious demeanour of this young

Peter

Anthony

man and an inner voice told her, ‘this is he whom I have prepared for you.’ This unusual circumstance was reinforced by the watchful eye of Louis’ mother who had been impressed by Zelie whom she had met at lacemaking classes. Within three months the couple were married.

Louis Martin has sometimes been depicted as a kind of dreamer but this was not the case. He ran a successful business and when he decided to give priority to his wife’s lacemaking business he was equally successful and travelled widely securing orders for lace products. In fact he was able to set up a roomy middle class home for his family and acquired an additional property known as the ‘Pavilion’ which he used for retreat and study.

Children

In due course Zelie presented her husband with nine children, four of whom died in infancy. Therese was the youngest. The Martins were a most devout family and strong Christian values were inculcated in the children from their earliest years. Sadly, this idyllic family would soon experience deep tragedy.

While the cross was not absent from the start - four children already deceased - its shadow lengthened.

As a child, Zelie had injured her breast against the corner of a table and apparently the injury later developed into cancer.

For some reason treatment was not sought in time and the young mother’s health deteriorated. The family were disappointed that a trip to Lourdes did not result in a cure. She died on August 28, 1877. Therese was only four-and-a-half years old.

She remembered her father taking her in for a goodbye kiss to her dead mother.

Family Trauma

After Zelie’s death, Louis sold his house and business and moved to Lisieux to be near his brother-in-law who ran a pharmacy in the town.

Louis Martin lived an exemplary Christian life back in Lisieux, looking after his family with the help of his eldest daughters Marie and Pauline. He was most charitable to the poor or to any good causes that were brought to his attention. He helped establish Nocturnal Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in Lisieux. Losing four of his five daughters one by one to the convent was a severe trial to a devoted father. Like his wife

Zelie, Louis Martin was not spared the cross. Soon after his youngest daughter followed her sisters to Carmel, Louis’ mental health began to deteriorate.

Therese recalled a kind of premonition she had at one time when she had a vision of her father at their home. Louis was away on a trip but in her vision he appeared to be wandering through the garden with his face veiled.. In fact as his illness got worse Louis would sometimes cover his head in this manner.

Her father`s mental illness was one of the greatest trials Therese had to suffer. After a series of strokes, Louis suffered a final heart attack and died on July 29, 1894 in the presence of his daughter Celine and other relatives.

The Beatification

It is almost unique in the Church to have a married couple beatified who already have a daughter declared a saint. Is this latest model of Christian family life too far beyond our reach? Perhaps. Certainly many people will regard it so.

And yet in an age where families are marked by frequent tension and domestic violence, an attractive alternative is all the more necessary.

Our age is not radically different from nineteenth century France. The Martins would have been aware of the anti-marriage ideas current in France in their day.

From mid-century on, liberal writers like Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier advocated radical and communist values. Among these was the abolition of marriage which they equated with slavery.

Nearer their own day (1878) Jules Guesde in his `Socialist Catechism` wrote,

`Ought the family to be preserved? No, for up to the present it has been one of the forms of ownership, and not the least odious…The interest of the species, as much as the interest of the elements that enter into the composition of the family, demand that this state of things should disappear.`

In the intervening 150 years such attitudes have only hardened. In the Beatification of Zelie and Louis Martin the Church is putting before us the ideal of strong Christian family life. It is a high standard.

Yet we can reflect that if athletes never raised the bar above a certain standard no records would ever be broken and mediocrity would prevail all round.

Example: Louis and Marie Zelie Guerin Martin, the parents of St Therese of Lisieux. Pope Benedict XVI has approved the beatification of the couple, and the date has been set for October 19, World Mission Sunday, in the Basilica of St Therese in Lisieux, France. Their lives demonstrate powerfully that sanctity is for everyone, not just clergy and religious. Ph OTO : CNS/Sa NCT uary OF L ISI eu X

Women appointed to Synod on Bible

Largest number of women appointed in history

OctOber’s synod of bishops on the word of God will include the largest participation ever by women; Pope b enedict XVI has appointed 25 to participate.

the Holy see made public the Pope’s appointment of six female experts and 19 female auditors among the complete list of participants in the synod.

Among the six experts, most of whom are professors of sacred s cripture, two come from Italy, and one each from the United states, spain, France and Nigeria.

American sister sara butler is a member of the Missionary servants of the Most blessed trinity. she teaches dogmatic theology at st. Joseph’s seminary in Yonkers, New York, has a doctorate in philosophy, and was an adviser for the Us episcopal conference on the question of women’s ordination.

Pope John Paul II appointed her to be one of the first two members of the International theological commission in 2004.

German barbara Hallensleben, professor at the Faculty of theology of the University of Fribourg in switzerland, was appointed to the commission at the same time.

sister butler is the author of The Catholic Priesthood and Women: A Guide to the Teaching of the Church, published by Hillenbrand b ooks. spaniard s ister Nuria c alduch- b enages, a religious of the Missionary Daughters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, has taught sacred scripture for almost 20 years at the Pontifical Gregorian University in rome. she also collaborates with the catholic biblical Federation and with various world theological institutions.

Italian bruna c ostacurta also teaches at the Gregorian. she has a doctorate in biblical sciences from the Pontifical biblical Institute, and has been a member of the executive council of the Italian biblical Association and of the National catechesis Office of the Italian episcopal conference.

Italian sister Germana strola of the cistercian Nuns of the strict Observance is the author of several commentaries on the psalms and other biblical passages.

she was the first contemplative nun to receive a doctorate from the Pontifical biblical Institute, with

only

a thesis on Psalms 42-43. she is a member of the trappist monastery of Vitorchiano, Italy.

sister Mary Jerome Obiorah, the first African woman to receive a doctorate from the Pontifical biblical Institute, is a member of the sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

At present, she is professor of sacred scripture at the University of Nigeria and at the major seminary of the Archdiocese of Onitsha, Nigeria.

Finally, the Holy Father appointed French Marguerite Léna of the st Francis Xavier community of consecrated life, founded by Madeleine Danielou for the formation of youth. At present, Léna is a professor of philosophy at studium

Notre-Dame de l’ecole cathédrale in Paris.

In addition, the Pontiff appointed 19 women as auditors of the synod.

Among them are two Africans, four e astern europeans, two canadians, three Asians and eight Western europeans, including four Italians.

Most of them are superiors of women’s religious orders - with motherhouses in rome - and representatives of women religious at both the regional and world level. there are also four representatives of lay movements, among them Maria Voce, current president of the Focolare movement, and Michelle Moran, president of the charismatic renewal council.

God sends angels to help us through life, says Benedict XVI

cAsteL GANDOLFO, Italy (cNs) - God sends angels to help people as they make their way through life and toward eternity with God, Pope b enedict XVI said.

“ the invisible presence of these blessed spirits is of great help and comfort to us: they walk alongside us and protect us in every circumstance, they defend us from dangers and we can turn to them at every moment,” the Pope said on september 29.

the Pope made his remarks on the feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and raphael as he thanked all the people who helped make his two-month stay at castel Gandolfo peaceful and restful.

In addition to mentioning the feast of the archangels, the Pope noted that October 2 is the feast of the guardian angels, whose help and protection should be invoked with trust, he said. “Many saints had a relationship of true friendship with the angels and numerous stories testify to their assistance,” the Pope said.

As the Letter to the Hebrews makes clear, “the angels are sent by God to serve those who will inherit salvation and, so, they are of valid assistance on our earthly pilgrimage toward our heavenly homeland,” Pope b enedict said.

You’ve seen history made in Australia with the Visit of His Holiness the Pope and wonderfully successful World Youth Day, now take this great year to your family and cellars!

“Cardinals’

2008

Not

women: Israeli Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen poses in his office in Jerusalem on September 25. Rabbi Cohen, co-chairman of the Israeli-Vatican dialogue commission and chief rabbi of Haifa, will be the first non-Christian to address the world Synod of Bishops at the Vatican. P H oto: CNS/De BBI e H I ll

AFA national conference to hone in on attacks on the natural family in today’s world

n By Robert Hiini

SEX saturation in the media, housing affordability and inadequate financial assistance are just some of the main challenges to families that will be explored at the Australian Family Association’s (AFA) National Conference.

Seventeen years after it was last held in Perth, the “Marriage Matters” conference will take place at the Tradewinds Hotel, Fremantle over the weekend of October 18-19.

The conference will feature three key presentations - “A defence of the family”, “Sex and Society” and “The natural family... in an unnatural world” – as well as an array of workshops exploring the practical struggles families face.

Keynote speakers include international guests Allan Carlson, author, researcher and founder of the AFA’s global partner organisation, the World Congress of Families, and Lynn Wardle, Professor of Law from Brigham Young University, Utah.

A third keynote speaker, Dr Adam Cooper, is a senior lecturer at the John Paul II Institute in Melbourne as well as being a Lutheran pastor.

Conference participants will discuss the social utility of marriage and will help draft recommendations to assist the AFA in planning its work of promoting marriage and family.

For the first time in the AFA’s history, a series of awards will be presented celebrating the achievements of recipients in fostering and sustaining family life.

Special guest Rabbi Dr Shalom Coleman will present 30 ‘50 Years Married’ Awards and five Family Awards, presented to families who have faced their own unique challenges.

A special Defender of the Family Award will be given to keynote speaker Allan Carlson for dedicating his life to promoting healthy families, particularly through the World Congress of Families which is represented in 70 countries.

The conference will be opened by Pastor Margaret Court of Victory Life Church with Archbishop Barry Hickey celebrating Mass on the Sunday.

The biannual conference will include registered participants from almost every state and territory and will be filmed for an eventual DVD release.

For more information contact the Australian Family Association on 9321 2333.

the Parish

Catenians support family life

The Catenian Association has celebrated its centenary as a men’s association dedicated to strengthening family life by empowering Catholic men.

n By Robert Hiini

OVER 190 Catenian “brothers”, their wives and wives of deceased members turned out on September 25 at the Airforce Association Club, Bullcreek, to celebrate 100 years since they were founded in Manchester, England.

Distinguished guests included the association’s Grand President and global leader, David Taylor, a party of visiting English Cantenians, the Bishop of Bunbury, Gerald Houlohan and representatives of the Catholic Women’s League.

Attendees prayed for the Church, the nation and Pope Benedict XVI before listening to the thoughts and aspirations that their Grand President Mr Taylor has for their association.

The mission of the Catenians is to strengthen family life through the shared faith and friendship of men.

Since 1971, Perth men have been meeting in “circles” or groups, forging life long friendships and support networks, having been established here by English Catenian Cliff Holloway whose family migrated to WA.

The association was begun by a group of lay professionals in Manchester in 1908 at the behest of English Bishop Louis Charles Casartelli.

In an atmosphere of trenchant anti-Catholicism, Bishop Casartelli wished for an association that would help form upstanding men, in families and society.

Catenian circles have since spread throughout the world and are divided into larger “provinces” with the association’s global organising committee, the

Grand Council, continuing to be based in the UK. Gerry Barton, Director of Province 20 covering the Western half of Australia, says that the essence of the association is togetherness, where men with a shared outlook on life can get to know one another.

“We’re there for each other,” Mr Barton said. “If someone’s sick, for example, there is an army of people who go and visit and pray for them.” The association is also involved in facilitating family get togethers with esteem and affection for their wives being evident

amongst Catenians on the night of the dinner. As well as a celebration of the past, the centenary has been a catalyst for the association to think about its future with the Grand Council set to meet in England in November to discuss the Catenian’s next hundred years. Expansion Officer John Monkhouse says that for province 20 the focus will be on maintaining the existing 12 circles and facilitating expansion, particularly south of Perth. In his keynote address, Grand President David Taylor urged

Catenians to let their fellow Catholics know what the association is all about. Mr Taylor singled out young men as the target audience that could most benefit from improved public awareness of the Catenians.

“We get young people by offering them something they haven’t got...a caring, loving atmosphere where we as Catholics can help each other when things are bad, when we suffer bereavement, sickness or job loss, there is always a Catenian there to help”.

Mr Taylor said that members should not underestimate the wisdom they have to offer young men. “We have a mentoring job to do and we can use that to help young people back into the faith.”

He also spoke to a common perception of men’s associations as being elitist and exclusionary, saying that the Catenians welcomed men from different cultures and a variety of occupations across the traditional white and blue-collar divide.

He spoke of his personal experience of the association, thanking his “brothers” for motivating him to live for others.

“You’ve taught me to be a better father, a better husband, a better Catholic. Instead of simply writing a cheque for charity I got involved, because of you.”

Sat & Sun 18 & 19 October Open 11am - 4pm

Centenary: Catenians Provincial President Pat McManus, Province founder Cliff Holloway and Provincial Director Gerry Barton. P H oto: ro B ert H iini

the Parish

Oblate chapter soars

n By Robert Hiini

C ELEBRATING their 50th anniversary, a group in Perth have shown that you don’t have to be a monk to share in the spiritual heritage of St Benedict.

The lay people of the Benedictine Oblate Chapter of St Gregory marked the occasion with a Mass celebrated by Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey and Benedictine priest Anthony Lovis, the group’s spiritual director.

Afternoon tea followed where Chapter President Tony Smurthwaite spoke about the Chapter’s development over the past five decades and presented Fr Lovis with a copy of a paper he had written entitled ‘Five Decades and Still Counting’. Mr Smurthwaite mused that St Benedict might have envisioned lay involvement in the Benedictine mission.

“It is not beyond belief that perhaps St Benedict would have glimpsed the size of the legacy that he would leave Christians by his Rule and how the Rule would allow countless people to become part of the world-wide Benedictine family,” Mr Smurthwaite said.

“Just maybe St Benedict would have looked past the multitude of monasteries and convents to see bands of ordinary people who had come to each one through reflection and instruction.” One of the Chapter’s longest standing members Adrienne Byrne, described by Mr Smurthwaite as St Gregory’s “memory”, was presented by Archbishop Hickey with a Papal Blessing given to the Chapter.

The Oblates meet on the third Wednesday of the month to read the Gospel and a section of St Benedicts Rule – a text dictating the operation of Benedictine monasteries written by St Benedict in the sixth century. The group is

principally Catholic in membership but also includes Anglican and Anglo-catholic members. Members are made Oblates at New Norcia after a year of novitiate and faith formation. They are given a scapula or “mini-habit”, signifying their commitment and belonging to the Oblate community. The chapter was established in Perth in 1958 after many years of preparation and necessary ecclesiastical approval.

In 1944, New Norcia’s Abbot Anslem Catalan OSB asked his Monastic Prior Theodore Hernandez OSB to find lay people to unite themselves spiritually to the monastic community. Beginning in the monastery’s immediate surrounds, Fr Hernandez spent the next 14 years gaining Oblates for New Norcia, establishing chapters in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.

In 1956, Abbot Gregory Gomez obtained permission from the Benedictine’s Abbot General in Rome to formally establish Oblate

Chapters of lay people. Then Archbishop of Perth, Redmond Prendiville, gave his approval for a chapter to be established in Perth in 1958, writing that he thought the group’s establishment would “result in higher spiritual standards for its members and will be a means of gaining further blessings for the Archdiocese as a whole”.

Fittingly, the chapter was founded at St Benedict’s Parish, Applecross under the chaplaincy of Fr Albert Lynch.

The Chapter’s secretary Doris Walton says that being a member has strengthened her faith and the Rule of St Benedict has given her a new outlook on her own life saying that it is amazing that “something written 1500 years ago is still very relevant to your everyday life”. Archbishop Hickey agrees describing the Chapter and associations like it as needed in our time.

“It seems to me to be an answer to the line in a poem by James McAuley where he says “set pools of silence in this thirsty land.”

Immersed in St Francis’ charism

Secular Franciscans gathered from all over WA for their Retreat at the Redemptorist Monastery from September 12-14. Secular Franciscan Harry Argus reports on the experience for The Record.

UP to 35 members and friends of the Secular Franciscan Order came from Bunbury, Dardanup, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and the Perth metropolitan area for their annual retreat.

Most members were accommodated in the retreat house, while meals were cooked and prepared by staff members of the house.

The retreat that was given by Sr M Shelley Barlow of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions began on Friday with evening prayer, after which the first of six very spiritual Franciscan talks began.

On the Saturday there were three very moving lectures during the morning, afternoon and evening; with valuable “quiet times” set aside to reflect between each of the talks. The Eucharist was celebrated at 11.30am by Franciscan Father Michael Brown, the appointed chaplain to the Secular Franciscan Order. During the times that Fr Michael was not available due

to parish commitments, Deacon Dick Scallan SFO of the Diocese of Bunbury, and a member of the Secular Franciscan Order officiated at the Benediction, and led some of the prayers and blessings.

During the retreat the Secular Franciscan members were able to celebrate the anticipated memorial of St Francis receiving the Stigmata from Christ in September 1224 on Mount La Verna in Italy.

This celebration was held in the chapel of the Redemptorist Monastary’s retreat house on Saturday afternoon, at 2.30pm.

It was a moving prayerful ceremony, which also included hymns. Before the ceremony began, five lit candles had been placed on a Franciscan habit lying in front of the altar to indicate the wounds of Christ.

The Blessed Sacrament was exposed on the altar during the memorial, and Benediction followed the celebration.

After dinner and evening prayer on Saturday evening, there was a Holy Hour, where the Blessed Sacrament was again exposed for veneration and Benediction followed before retiring for the night at 10.00 pm. On the Sunday, there were two spiritual talks in the morning, and after lunch, Mass was celebrated by Fr Brown OFM, which closed the retreat.

During all of her uplifting spiritual lectures, Sr Shelley stressed

The dragon and the Polish priest who loved storytelling

Celebrated life: Fr Boleslaw smok OFM. P HOtO F R tOM asz Bujak OW

Fr Tomasz Bujakowski OFM, chaplain to the Polish community, remembers his 10-year relationship with Fr Boleslaw Smok OFM, who died on September 22.

gave nicknames like “Ladybird”, “Pin”, “Squirrel”, “Adasiowe”, “Stefanowe” and many others.

These names usually referred to characteristics of that person that were particular descriptive of that individual to Father Boleslaw.

the importance of everyone aiming to become like St Francis and see God in all of His creation. We must become humbler and look at nature to view the beauty and wonders of God. It was certainly a spiritually rewarding retreat for everyone present.

The retreat house is a peaceful place to find God amongst the troubles of the world. Many thanks must go to those who organised the retreat, and gave so much of their time in preparing every detail for the spiritual weekend.

Those interested in following the way and life of St Francis contact Michael McGuire on (08) 92 752 006 or 0408 801 215.

AS a retiree, Fr Boleslaw Smok was free of the daily obligations of the priest and the pastoral duties, yet always maintained a deep interest in the activities around the Church and the Polish community in Australia. For as long as he could, even almost until his 90th birthday, he actively participated in helping with pastoral work though he was not obliged to do so. Many will recall his 7pm Sunday Mass with its long but always well-prepared sermon. His confessional sittings, though at times somewhat loud due to his poor hearing, were characteristic of the latter years of his life with his smile and peaceful disposition. He was grateful every time someone visited him. On many occasions he would, with a sense of humour, remind those who traipsed through our house, “yesterday you didn’t say goodbye to me”. This wasn’t a reminder as such, but rather to start a conversation; the smile on his face left no doubt as to his intentions. Many people who came to our house, whether for meetings, film nights or rehearsals, sooner or later directed their steps to the affectionately named “Dragon’s Den” either to say hello or to say goodbye. This was the name we gave to his room. Fr Boleslaw’s surname “Smok” literally means dragon in Polish.

In Polish lore, dragons have a special place, especially in Krakow. Legend has it that under the historic castle, Vavel, a ferocious seven-headed dragon lived who terrorised the local population. He was eventually subdued and killed by a clever cobbler who gave the dragon a carefully prepared meal of a lamb stuffed with explosives.

The Dragon’s Den is still there to this day as a reminder of those events. The dragon, while ferocious in the story, is now seen as a warmly received icon of Krakow. Our “dragon” was of a more gentle type whose only fire like tendencies was a distinct liking for extra spicy pizza. He loved to talk, tell stories and also to listen to other people’s stories. Often at times he would lift the spirits of those who were sad. To people he particularly liked, especially ladies, he

He shared with others everything he had. Rarely did anyone depart from seeing him not endowed with a chocolate or sandwich or something else.

Other times there would also be a glass or so of vodka, made according to secret recipe known to him and which became widely known as “Smokovka”.

He loved celebrating anniversaries; no doubt some will remember his successive jubilees, particularly the memorable celebration of his 90th birthday, for which we all went to the nearby Chinese restaurant. A group of grownups, youth and children unknowingly to Fr Boleslaw decorated the entry hall on the first floor of our house.

And you should have seen it. An army net, filled with balloons bearing his name and 90th birthday, was suspended from the ceiling. Over the doorway to his room in large letters in Latin was written ‘SPELUNCA DRAGONIS’ which means Dragon’s den. On returning, Fr Smok was greatly surprised and deeply moved by the gesture, to the extent that he left the decorations up for several weeks. His 91st birthday was more subdued, but we still had a surprise for him, our “Granddad”, as we often called him. It was a composite photo, a photo of Fr Tomasz sitting on his motorbike to which we digitally attached the face of Fr Smok.

When this was publicly presented to him as a framed photo, Fr Smok at first could not remember the occasion and during the celebrations he asked me: “When did I sit on your motorbike?” but then it clicked and he quipped: “I’ll have to take away your computers”.

The Rosary was his companion on his last journey. In his room he had lots of books, but the most used was The Bible for Everyday, which he read during his daily prayers despite his deteriorating eyesight in the latter years.

He would pray for the Holy Father, the bishops and priests. He rejoiced in the good things of the Church.

Cancer came as an unexpected thief. In June 2007 he fell in the shower and was taken to hospital. Subsequent tests revealed a mark on his lung. He took this news calmly.

Reverent: Fr Michael Brown OFM celebrating Mass in the Redemtorist Guest House Chapel P HOtO H a RR y a RG us

Celebration: Fr anthony Lovis OsB, long-time Oblate adrienne Byrne, Oblate president tony smurthwaite and secretary Doris Walton at the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Chapter with an apostolic Blessing.

the Nation

Outrage over raunchy milkbar magazines

Active mother takes on smut magazine distributors over products freely available in milkbars

n By Anthony Barich

AuSTRALIA’S Classification Board has approved the sale of R rated magazines which encourage sex with under-age girls, according to the Kids Free 2B Kids organisation.

Julie Gale, founder and director of Kids Free 2BKids, which generates awareness of sexualised imagery of minors in the media, says that such magazines are being openly sold in milk bars, petrol stations and convenience stores and portray girls who look under-age performing sexual acts.

Ms Gale said the “Guidelines used by the Classification Board, state that when a magazine is rated R category 1 - ‘actual sexual activity may not be shown in realistic depiction’, but the girls in these magazines are depicted performing graphic sexual acts including digital, oral, vaginal and anal sex.”

According to Ms Gale “these magazines should be Refused Classification (RC) as the guidelines also state that RC applies if

images ‘Describe or depict in a way that is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult, a person who is, or appears to be, a child under 18 - whether the person is engaged in a sexual activity or not.’ ”

Ms Gale said the young women appear underage and are often posed in pigtails, plaits, school uniform, pink headbands and with soft cuddly toys.

“The magazines approved for sale encourage the sexual penetration of under- age girls and some of the video/DVD advertisements validate crimes such as incest and rape,” Ms Gale said.

Though the Board’s initial response to Ms Gale’s complaint was that they can’t please everyone in the community, they later admitted to her that some magazines have been classified incorrectly.

However, Ms Gale, a mother of a 13-yearold daughter and 10-year-old son, said some magazines’ distributors have bypassed the Board altogether and put their products on milkbar and petrol station shelves without even being classified.

The Board’s director Donald McDonald wrote to her on September 11 saying the Board has asked the distributor of Finally Legal and Live Young Girls to make written submissions about why the Board should not form an opinion that the Serial Classification Declarations on them should be revoked.

“That’s like a police officer asking someone who’s been speeding to explain why they shouldn’t be fined. You just punish them,” Ms Gale said. Mr McDonald added that some magazines were wrongly classified as Category 2 rather than a tamer Category 1, and that one magazine had not been classified at all. Mr Gale said that in this case, responsibility also falls on the police to enforce the Board’s rulings.

“The resource focus is on online porn, but the ‘real world’ porn is slipping under the radar, so there’s all this hardcore porn in local stores and milkbars with depictions of graphic sex,” she said.

She contacted Victoran Attorney General Rob Hulls and the State’s Chief of Police Christine Nixon but neither responded to her query. Ms Nixon was unavailable for comment when contacted by The Record

Ms Gale has requested that Mr Hulls have the matter reviewed at a federal level, but his office told The Record that it is a federal matter and may need to be pursued as such.

The Board also said it would send a community liaison to the distributor so they are aware of their obligations.

Ms Gale wants to generate public support as it appears many people just ignore these magazines’ presence on the same shelf as Women’s Weekly. Her campaign started when she entered a corner store to buy

Dressed to depress: Julie Gale at a recent Women’s Forum Australia event, dressed to illustrate how young women are expected to act according to the media.

an ice cream with her son and there were magazines with pig-tailed girls in suggestive poses with provocative titles, and she was outraged. “How are these magazines allowed to be sold when one in three girls and one in five to seven boys will experience some form of sexual abuse by 18 – figures that the international child protection charity Childwise says are probably conservative?” she said.

Abortion Bill attacks Catholic health care system: Hart

Continued from Page 1 continue to operate maternity or emergency departments in this State in their current form,” he said, noting that Catholic hospitals account for a third of all births and are seen by many as their hospitals of choice.

“It is an affront to logic to suggest that a belief held over the life of the Church’s existence and which has been subject to rigorous examination by theologians over the centuries can be dismissed as a ‘mere’ prejudice’,” he said, referring to the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s statement on Abortion Law Reform that “created a false dichotomy in relation to conscientious objections, between

‘adequate justification’ and ‘mere prejudice’.”

Sir Peter told The Record Archbishop Hart deserves not only the prayer support of Catholics around Australia but from Australia’s bishops.

“This is not just an issue for Victoria, it’s an issue for the Catholic Church in Australia. How the Catholic Church in Australia reacts to support the Catholic Church in Victoria, more specifically the Archbishop of Melbourne, is a matter for the administrative structures of the bishops’ conference,” he said.

“Speaking personally, I think that the Victorian legislation as much as I understand it is anathema to a

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practising Catholic, and is a disgrace in a pluralist society which ought to make provision for harmonious relations with religious bodies and religious belief.

“Far be it for me to prejudge the issue, but my own view is that this legislation is an affront to Catholic belief and practice and is an affront to the Catholic community and its agencies, not least its hospitals and its health staff which are prominent in society.

“I cannot understand why it should be impossible for a legislature like the Victorian parliament to find a formula that allows the Catholic institutions and agencies to opt out.

“It should be made clear that this is an affront which affects the Catholic Church in Australia, because in its institutions, states in this case are not an island, as the agencies operating in Victoria exchange personnel (with those in other states).”

His comments supported Archbishop Hart’s pastoral letter, which said the Bill is an “unprecedented attack” on the freedom to hold and exercise fundamental religious beliefs and “makes a mockery” of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and the Equal Opportunity Act in that it requires

health professionals with a conscientious objection to refer patients seeking an abortion to other health professionals who do not have such objections.

He said the Bill goes beyond codifying current clinical practice as its proponents claim, and will set an “unfortunate precedent” which other states in Australia may follow.

“The Law is a great educator, and if the Law approves something then people gradually accept a new understanding of what is right and wrong,” he said.

Archbishop Hart said the Bill breaches fundamental human rights with some “particularly disturbing” features.

He said the Bill:

l Allows abortions up to 24 weeks gestation by any doctor regardless of expertise,

l Allows a pharmacist or nurse, without involvement of a doctor to supply/administer a drug to cause an abortion up to 24 weeks gestation,

l Repeals the offence of ‘child destruction’,

l Compels a pharmacist or nurse employed or engaged in a public or private hospital or day-procedure centre, if directed in writing by a doctor, to administer a drug to

Pope names Pell as a president of Bishops’ Synod on Bible

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI has named Cardinal George Pell of Sydney to be one of three delegate presidents for the world Synod of Bishops on the Bible.

Cardinal Pell will serve in place of Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India, who is unable to attend the October 5-26 gathering that marks the 12th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. In June, the Pope had named the Indian cardinal as one of three delegate presidents; the other two are uS Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Scherer of Sao Paulo. Although the Pope himself is president of the synod, the three cardinals will take turns presiding

cause abortion to a female who is over 24 weeks pregnant.

Archbishop Hart said the Bill is “seriously flawed” as much by what it omits as by what it contains, including:

l Failure to provide any protection for unborn children up to 40 weeks gestation,

l Failure to ban partial birth abortions,

l Failure to safeguard health of women by permitting abortions to be performed by doctors who have no qualifications or training in obstetrics,

l Failure to include informed consent provisions.

The Archbishop has declared October 5 as a Day of Intercession throughout the Archdiocese dedicated to the defeat of the Bill and urged “as many people as possible” to join him in an hour of prayer at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral at 12.15pm that day to “stand in solidarity with woman and the unborn who are directly at risk from this Bill”.

Sir Peter said that “people power and prayer power ought to be deployed in support of (Archbishop Hart). It’s their (Catholics around Australia) fight as much as his, and his letter indeed is addressed to all people of good will”.

over the gathering’s daily sessions. The Synod is a group of bishops chosen from different regions of the world who, according to canon law, “meet at declared times to foster a closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and the bishops, to offer the Pope their counsel in safeguarding and increasing faith and morals and in preserving and strengthening ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions concerning the Church’s activity in the world.”

In a Synod, the gathered bishops exchange ideas and share particular experiences with the common objective of seeking pastoral solutions that have universal validity and applications. The Synod became a permanent institution created by Pope Paul VI in 1965 “in response to the desire of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council to keep alive the spirit of collegiality engendered by the conciliar experience.” The Synod meets and operates only at the invitation of the Pope.

For F ull story on s ynod on the Bi B le, see Vista1-Page

the Nation

Walking in footsteps of our only Blessed

n By Anthony Barich

Agroup of dedicated South Australians are building up to the longhoped for canonisation of Blessed Mary MacKillop with a successful first annual pilgrimage walking in the Australian legend’s footsteps.

It was a trial run before next year sees the 100-year anniversary of Mary MacKillop’s death on August 8, 1909.

Blessed Mary MacKillop, born in Fitzroy, Victoria, started the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in penola in 1866 with Fr Julian Tenison Woods with schools, providing Catholic education initially for isolated bush children.

on August 6 this year, 20 South Australians plus Fr Michael rowe, the chaplain of perth’s Latin Mass community, undertook a pilgrimage, retracing the steps of the Australian Blessed from the Adelaide chapel where she was controversially excommunicated to penola itself to the Coonawarra vineyards where the ‘Fr Woods Tree’ is, some 20km from penola.

She hopes it will grow exponentially as it will be held annually.

The idea was born five years ago when Adelaide Catholic Karolina gasparovic, now 26, and her mother Bernadette decided they were sick of travelling all the way to Victoria every year for the Christus rex pilgrimage from Ballarat to Bendigo, and wanted to start up their own in South Australia.

After attending a silent retreat that Fr rowe runs in Sydney in February, Karolina sat down with the perth priest and said now is the time to act.

“There ís nothing like this in South Australia, so we decided to give a public witness to local Australians that Mary MacKillop is our only Blessed, and is so important to us in our identity as Catholics,” Karolina told The record.

“We’re all waiting for her canonisation, so this is our way of building up to it; then we can give glory to god that she is a saint.”

The pilgrimage included 13 children aged 16 and under, plus their mothers and an 83-year-old.

Karolina was shocked about the locals’ seeming lack of knowledge about Mary MacKillop; for even if they are not Catholic, the town has a large building devoted to her.

“My faith is there, but going on a pilgrimage like this reassures us who we are as people, as Catholics in this world, especially in South Australia where many people are apathetic towards the

faith. It seems people just donít want to exclaim the faith here, so this about just getting up and doing something, I think World Youth day proved that Australians can do it.”

The pilgrimage started with a sung Mass in the Extraordinary form on August 6, the Feast of the Transfiguration, in the restored St Mary’s Chapel on Franklin Street, Adelaide, where MacKillop was excommunicated in 1871. Today, the chapel is used only by the attached school for music lessons.

It is understood that when she was excommunicated, MacKillop was restricted to only view Mass in the chapel from a convent dormitory positioned high in the nave - “an honour” which pilgrims were also able to do, ascending the stairs to the window in what is now a staff room to experience her view, Karolina said.

The following day the pilgrims travelled by bus to penola. A long drive along the Coorong brought pilgrims to robe, where sung Mass was celebrated at St Mary’s Star of the Sea Church.

It is believed MacKillop travelled by ship to robe from port Adelaide as she made her way to penola inland by horse and carriage.

As the opening ceremony of the olympics was being held in China a world away on August 8, the pilgrims celebrated the Australian feast day of Blessed Mary of the Cross. This was when a pilgrim encountered a local store owner who said ‘who?’ when told of the feast day. pilgrims processed through the streets of penola to the Mary MacKillop Memorial park; the site of the first school stables donated by the McDonald family.

Despite the rain, Fr rowe led pilgrims in prayer and song toward the church, museum and school house. The centre displays memorabilia of MacKillop and Fr Woods. Fr rowe used Fr Woods’ original chalice for sung Mass at St Joseph’s Church in penola.

pilgrims then walked past the Coonawarra vineyards to the Fr Woods Tree, where the co-founder of the Josephites escaped the noise of the town to meditate and write his sermons. The pilgrims heard Fr rowe’s sermon around a bonfire while toasting marshmallows and drinking billy tea, Aussie style, at the historic location.

The day ended with Benediction and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in St Joseph’s Church in penola.

In honour of our Lady, a sung Mass was celebrated in St Joseph’s Church in Kalangadoo - built in 1904 - early on August 9. The Church still displays the altar rails

WYD showing positive effects among Hong Kong pilgrims

roME (CNA).- The Diocese of Hong Kong continues to benefit from its World Youth Day 2008 pilgrims, observing increased participation, strengthened faith and more vocations among the youth, a report in the diocesan bulletin says.

Fr S Kalisz, oMI described the benefits of World Youth Day (WYD) to the readers of diocesan bulletin. “After WYD, we saw the greatest level of youth participation in parish life. Many youth are maturing in their decision to enter religious life and the spirit of WYD lives on, helping the youth to live their faith more deeply.”

He said that the oblates of Mary Immaculate youth group, which was begun after WYD, shows some of the spiritual fruits of the event.

used for the Extraordinary rite, a rare site in Australian churches today. The six-hour journey back to Adelaide was spent in prayer and song, after which the pilgrims reportedly felt enriched in faith and knowledge of Australia’s own Blessed Mary of the Cross - otherwise known as Mary Mackillop. For info on the pilgrimage, contact Karolina on 0412 443 100 or email penolapilgrimage@hotmail.com

For the youth group, “a dozen young people get together to pray often and participate together in the Mass. They have even shared their experiences with the other parishioners. They do social service work, especially with the poor. I am glad that through Saint Eugene de Mazenod, our founder, the youth are becoming more aware of the value of faith and charity. I have seen how the youth are more willing to leave behind a life of commodities to take up consecrated life.”

Sister Sania Ho of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary also described the aftereffects, Fides news agency reports. “I am happy that the youth have become more open to the life of the Church after WYD, but they need good spiritual guides, because spiritual formation is fundamental,” Sister Ho said.

“My vocation arose from WYD 1997 in paris. I began thinking about my vocation, thanks to some Spiritual Exercises I did in France, thanks to prayer, and above all, my encounter with the Lord.”

ART EXHIBITION

Local Artist, Margaret Fane, will hold an exhibition of her paintings in Our Lady of Grace Parish Centre, 3 Kitchener Street, North Beach on all weekends in October and the first weekend in November 2008 –after the 6pm Saturday evening Mass and on Sundays after the 7.30am, 9.30am and 5.30pm Mass.

Margaret studies Art and Spirituality in Rome. She has held successful exhibitions in many parishes of the Archdiocese. Her paintings are in oil and watercolour and range from $40.00 to $4,000.00.

This exhibition is a fundraiser for the completion of the Cathedral.

Young enthusiasm: Therese Kemp with Fr Michael Rowe, Perth’s Latin Mass chaplain, sings the Rosary in Latin in the bus on the way back to Adelaide. PhoTos: Cou RT esy o F KAR o L in A g A s PAR ovi C

Solemn: e xposition/Benediction in s t Joseph’s Church, Penola on the feast of Blessed Mary of the Cross. Sacred vessel: Fr Michael Rowe with the chalice originally used by Fr Julian Tenison Woods.

Thankyou for Quinn profiles

Well done for the articles celebrating the life of Bishop Peter Quinn, RIP.

But in Father Chokolich’s article it says “Keith Sprune, the editor of The Record.” His name is Spruhan, and so rare was it and so hard for some people to spell, that he sometimes used a simpler nonde-plume for ordering, say, theatre tickets.

Keith Francis Spruhan also had a non-de-plume for some of his semi-political writings. He wrote them as ‘Francis Gilbert,’ an addition of his second name, and the first name of one of his great heroes, Gilbert Keith Chesterton.

Thankyou Fr Chokolich, Fr Pat Cunningham and Jo Bell for wonderful stories of Bishop Quinn.

J Massam Greenwood

Fr Ruiz SJ reports...

On September 21 I will have begun my 96th year of life with the strength of a young man. It is a special blessing of God.

I visited my doctor to check on my heart and diabetes, and he was happy about my condition.

So I am able to go to celebrate daily Masses for the Sisters and boys in the Saint Luis Centre, and after that to go to the office to welcome my co-workers and attend to daily correspondence.

From time to time I visit the Chinese mainland to see our work with lepers and the services caring for children with AIDS.

Of course, on such visits I do not go for so many days now, usually

Vatican paper says crisis shows failure of ‘new economy’

n By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -

The current financial crisis pummeling the United States and beyond is a sign that the so-called “new economy” and its risky investments have failed, the Vatican newspaper said.

The booming growth of financial markets did not correspond to real growth or concrete development for society because it created an artificially robust gross national product, said a September 24 article in L’Osservatore Romano.

The only real growth registered

An anniversary to remember

Congratulations on your coverage of the fortieth anniversary of Humane Vitae

It was disappointing to see the graphic on the bottom of page two indicating the small number of newly married couples who participate in a natural family planning class in the United States.

I can’t speak for other dioceses in Australia. However, I would like to assure your readers that every couple who participates in a group marriage preparation course with CMES is given instruction and information about Natural Family Planning.

It is very well received by the 1500 clients who attend these courses each year.

Derek Boylen Director, Catholic Marriage Education Services (Perth)

for only two or three at a time.

Day by day I thank God for this special blessing and the thousands of friends who pray for me and help so generously with His work.

How our Lord provides for us to be able to continue to do His work is, for me, a daily miracle.

We do not think of money, but our Lord sends by means of you all what really is needed.

We are contented and nothing makes us happier than to make others happy.

I feel very happy when I go to visit the lepers and see them so happy with the Sisters, taking care of them, and know that you are all helping us to cover the expenses in caring for 4,380 lepers.

For these, we provide HK $80 each for monthly food needs, which means AUS$56,337 monthly, or AUS$675,936 per year. We also provide for the Sisters who care for the lepers. Caring for the 80 Sisters means an annual cost of approximately AUS$123,388 per annum.

We now have two extra centres for children with AIDS: one in Hong-Jiang costs approximately AUS$38,558 annually, while the second, in Nan-Ning, costs approximately AUS$28,919 each year.

I came to Macau from China on November 1, 1951. Then, it was a very poor Macau, full of refugees from China, many of whom had swum from the mainland, unable to speak the language and without work or money.

At the time the local police called on me to provide clothing, food, and shelter. Later, I started to look after those elderly people who had no family to care for them in the centre previosuly used

in this crisis has been “the commissions, profits of the banks and bonuses for the managers,” it said.

The article, with the headline “A costly illusion,” was written by Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, an Italian economist and professor of financial ethics at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy.

The US financial meltdown has been blamed on “the greed of managers and lack of regulations. But curiously, no one ever refers to the indirect responsibility of the government’s economic policy” which, he wrote, tried to cover the lack of any real economic development with a booming Wall Street.

He said the US government’s proposed bailout may stave off any worst-case scenario for its troubled financial markets, but it will not repair the root causes of the crisis.

“Despite various attempts, the

The most important thing I discovered was that the Sisters wanted to live with the lepers. Now we care for the lepers and provide for the Sisters. That we manage to do this is the real miracle.

Once again my profound gratitude to you for your generous loving help. Daily in my Masses I pray for you, your intentions and your dear ones. May God bless you and repay your charity abundantly.

Yours sincerely in Christ

Fr Luis Ruiz, SJ Macau, China

Do you want to help Fr Ruiz?

You can send donations (tax deductible) to:

the Perth metropolitan area and penalises many others outside and away from there.

MH Dale Albany

Now it’s Roe v Culture of death

The US Supreme Court decision, Roe v Wade, which legalised abortion in 1973, has resulted in an estimated 50 million documented cases of abortion there since then.

But since then the plaintiff, ‘Jane Roe’, whose real name is Norma McCorvey, has appeared in a firstever commercial lamenting her role in this case.

for refugees. Slowly we created the Betania Home for old men and the Santa Maria Home for women and founded the St Luis Centre for mentaly handicapped boys.

Many friends helped us to complete these works and in the evenings I kept busy teaching Catholicism.

Approximately 5000 individuals eventually sought, and received, baptism.

In 1980 I received the opportunity to return to China, helping the old priest of Kong-Mun who introduced me to the lepers in Tai-Kam.

Slowly I visited the lepers’ centres in Guangdong province. Their living conditions were very poor, without housing, water or electricity and they lived on a very poor diet.

Slowly I helped a lot of them, until one day I learned that the conditions in central China were really horrible.

I went to see the places in Yunnan province. Here, the lepers were living in the mountains, where there were practically no roads, water, electricity or telephone - and practically no food. So we started working to save them, improving their conditions and the food they ate.

In large numbers of places in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, people such as lepers were practically abandoned to themselves, with the government provision of food approximating only 60 dollars per person per month.

Slowly, we managed to change conditions and provide new housing, more food, and to increase financial aid to approximately AUS$19 per month.

Western world does not know how to map out a model of development that is capable of guaranteeing stable wealth,” the article said.

The West has “not succeeded with its new economy project, it did not succeed with accelerating growth in Asia by transferring low-cost production (there), and it did not succeed after inventing a boom in the GNP through risky financial models that were poorly conceived and badly regulated,” it said.

“In order to maintain this sham GNP, the banks financed things that were not guaranteed” and that should not have been financed, like the subprime loans, it said. Financial institutions created an “economic growth out of debt and, therefore, (created something) very risky,” it added.

The article said the lesson to be learned is that nations cannot build a healthy economy or experience real development

Jesuit Mission Office PO Box 193 North Sydney NSW 2059

Please make sure to indicate that your donation is for the work of Fr Luis Ruiz If you have any further questions, the Jesuit Mission Office can be contacted on (02) 9955 8585.

The country is further away

Further to the reference to the Labour Party’s ‘principle’ of onevote-one value, as in the editorial of August 13, in such a widely spread State as West Australia, it is unrealistic and misleading:

1) Since WA’s Parliament House is in Perth, it is easy for metropolitan MPs to attend Parliament without being far from their electorates and electorate offices.

But not so for MPs from regional and remote electorates.

These can lose a lot of time travelling to and from Perth.

2) If people in Perth electorates want to hear debates in Parliament, it is easy for them to do so.

Not so for people located well away from Perth. It can be costly and troublesome for them to attend.

3) All Government Ministers have their ministerial offices in Perth, so if people in the metropolitan area want to visit a minister, either individually or as a delegation, it is relatively easy for them to do so. Not so for people in regional and remote electorates. The inconvenience may rule it out.

Facing realities, one-vote-one value favours those who live in

if it is not based on “balanced demographic growth.”

It said the world economy also needs to be run responsibly and transparently with precise rules.

The L’Osservatore Romano article ran the same day Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University hosted a seminar.

Sponsored in part by the international investment bank Barclays Capital, the seminar gathered speakers from Italy’s religious, political and economic fields to discuss social development, environmental protection and financial markets.

Giulio Gallazzi, founder and president of the financial and business consulting firm Socially Responsible Italia, said when an economy is based predominantly on the health of its financial markets and not on growth in the industrial, manufacturing and service sectors, the bubble of wealth that is generated is more difficult to distribute to the rest of

She say’s “In 1973, I was a very confused 21 year old with one child and an unplanned pregnancy. I fought to obtain a legal abortion, but, the truth be told, I never had an abortion and have three daughters.

“I realise that my case, which legalised abortion on demand, was the biggest mistake of my life. You read of me in history but now I am dedicated to spreading the truth about preserving human life from natural conception to natural death.”

McCorvey is now a Christian and can be viewed on the internet at www.virtuemedia.org/television. htm.

The abortion industry is an evil enterprise born of economic convenience and a twisted rationalising of ‘women’s rights’.

The slave trade was based on the belief that blacks were only commodities to be used in any way. Sadly, so too the foetus is regarded by many today.

Fr Bernard McGrath Inglewood, Victoria

Volunteers needed

At St Anne’s Church in Belmont, work has begun on restoring and renovating, but I am somewhat anxious that no sign of completion is in sight. Hence through your newspaper I ask all tradespeople to come forward and volunteer their generous services and help bring St Anne’s back to its original state. Let us all join together and work together to make it happen.

R Roland Belmont

society. The seemingly paradoxical term “jobless growth,” he said, indicates this problem in which a nation’s GNP increases without an increase in employment, which means much of the new wealth does not trickle down.

Nations need to reconsider nowdebunked economic theories from the last century and create new rules that favor long-term growth and investments that involve “measured and manageable risk,” he said.

Businesses and stockholders should also engage in “value sharing” in which they choose investment opportunities not solely for their chances at reaping a profit “but as an opportunity to contribute to the common good” and sustainable development.

He and other speakers emphasised the importance of having banking institutions and foundations concentrate on helping the local communities in which they are based.

Vista

October 1 2008

Protestants have often rightly noted that Catholics don’t know their Bible.

Interestingly, familiarity with Scripture is a strong feature of the new movements, or ways, of being Catholic. The richness of God’s word increasingly underpins and guides the lives of the faithful everywhere. But there’s still a lot of ground to be made up.

Many in the Church are hoping the forthcoming gathering of the world’s bishops will help kick-start familiarity with God’s word in Scripture as a normal - and essential - part of our baptismal vocation.

By re-focusing on the story of God’s relationship with the human race and the great tale of His divine love for us, we can find in the Bible Catholic clarity in uncertain times. Dennis Sadowski of CNS reports...

Know the Story Biblicalscholarshipopens

way

to

hearingGod’ smessage

Saint Paul was a Jew. An evangelist for Christ, yes. But always a Jew. His writings tell us so.

“That’s the hard thing for us (to understand),” said Jesuit Father Thomas Stegman, a biblical scholar who is associate professor of New Testament at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry.

“Paul was raised a Jew. He was a

pious Jew and Pharisee before his encounter with the risen Christ.

Ask Paul, ‘Who are you?’ and he responds, ‘I’m a Jew.’ He believed that Jesus was the Messiah, that he was the one who was sent to fulfill the promises.”

Time and again, Father Stegman said, Paul’s writings point to his Jewish heritage and his Jewish practices. In his Letter to the

Romans he talks about the pain he feels when his Jewish brothers and sisters are not following the Gospel, and in Galatians he calls on the language of Jeremiah and Isaiah to explain how he was called to be a prophet to the gentiles. In 2 Corinthians he writes that five times he received “40 lashes minus one” from the Jewish authorities, who were prohibited from pun-

ishing gentiles in the same way. Paul’s belief that Christ was the promised saviour of the Jewish people also makes him Christian, Father Stegman explained, but not in the way Christians are perceived today.

Such discoveries from Scripture come as a result of the work of biblical scholars who explore the word of God through the historical, cultural and literary contexts into which the words are placed.

The appreciation for Paul’s Jewish heritage and the fact that he remained strongly connected to that birthright stems not only from his letters but also from research extending beyond Scripture to ancient writings and historical texts uncovered by historians and biblical scholars over the centuries.

“One of the challenges that excites our students is that Scripture didn’t just drop from the sky, and (they must get) to know something about the first-century world ... to know about the communities in which the writings developed and appreciate the different literary forms,” Father Stegman said.

Paul’s writings are among the most studied works by biblical scholars of the last quartercentury, said Sheila McGinn, professor of biblical studies and early Christianity at John Carroll University in suburban Cleveland. The result, she explained, has led to a better understanding of some of the early church communities.

“People are realising about all the authors of the New Testament that the people we call Christians didn’t exist as Christians,” she said. “There was no such thing as Christianity from their point of view in the first century.

“We use Christianity for that group of Jews, but the kind of Christianity we see today didn’t exist,” she explained.

Conclusions about the early days of the church by scholars such as McGinn, Father Stegman and their colleagues are not mere speculation, but are based on painstaking research by generations of biblical experts. Utilising what is called the historical-critical method of studying the 73 books of the Catholic Bible - Old Testament and New Testament alike - scholars have been able to unravel quite a bit of the story of salvation history.

“For a Catholic it’s important (to understand the Bible) because it’s the word of God and it’s been consigned to writing,” said Marianist Father George Montague, professor of biblical theology at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, explaining the work of Catholic biblical scholarship. “Even for people who are not Christian it’s important to understand the impact the Bible has had on the world culture, especially in terms of the dignity of the human person.”

“The idea is to figure out what these people are trying to tell us,” Father Montague said.

And what God is trying to say, said Jesuit Father Richard Clifford,

Continued on Vista 2

Defining moment: A window at Holy Cross Church in Mendota, Illinois, depicts the conversion of St Paul. The jubilee year dedicated to the saint began on June 28 this year and runs through to June 29, 2009. P H oTo: CNS

Benedict XVI urges Christians to read the Holy Bible, like St Therese of Lisieux and St Jerome

n By Cindy Wooden

TO know God and to know how to live their lives, Christians must read the Bible, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“Drawing close to the biblical texts, especially the New Testament, is essential for believers because “ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ,” the Pope said, quoting St Jerome.

At his November 14, 2007 weekly general audience, the Pope continued a talk begun the week before about the importance of the teaching of St Jerome, the fourth-century doctor of the Church. Reading the Bible teaches believers the way they are to live their lives, the Pope said, but the Scriptures must be read in a spirit of prayer and must be understood the way the church understands them. “For Jerome, a fundamental criterion for the interpretation of Scriptures was harmony with the magisterium of the Church,” he said. Pope Benedict said the books of the Bible “were written by the people of God, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,” so “only in harmony with the faith of this people can we understand the sacred Scripture.” The Pope said St Jerome also emphasised the importance of “a healthy, integrated education” in religion, morality and culture for all Christians, including women, which was unusual in ancient times. St Jerome, he said, recognized the “right of women to have a complete human, scholastic, religious and professional formation.”

Education, the Pope said, especially regarding one’s “responsibilities before God and other human beings, is the real prerequisite for true progress, peace, reconciliation and the exclusion of all violence. The sacred Scriptures offer us guidance for education and, therefore, for true humanism”. Immediately after the audience, Pope Benedict went up to his private chapel in the Apostolic Palace to venerate the relics of St Therese of Lisieux, the 19th-century Carmelite saint. Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a doctor of the church in 1997. He said: “St Therese wanted to learn the biblical languages to better read the Scriptures. Imitating her and the example of St Jerome, take time to read the Bible regularly.”

Seeking out More than a code of morality

What would Jesus do? Scholars look at morality in the Bible

n By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Even when it comes to morality, Catholics are not biblical fundamentalists, although they view the Bible as an important source of moral guidance, said top Catholic scholars.

The various books of the Bible were written in different epochs, in different cultures and by different authors, the scholars said, so when looking for moral precepts, a Christian cannot focus on just one line.

In their new document, “The Bible and Morality,” the scholars on the Pontifical Biblical Commission said biblical morality is not so much a set of dos and don’ts as it is a set of principles meant to help Christians grow in perfection and contribute to establishing God’s kingdom on earth.

The English translation of the document rolled off the Vatican printing press on September 24, less than two weeks before the opening of the world Synod of Bishops on the Bible.

In the 235-page booklet, the biblical scholars presented two main criteria for judging human actions or potential actions: Does it protect and promote the dignity of the human person? Does it conform to something Jesus would do?

With those two criteria in mind, and taking into account the fact that some biblical precepts are repeated so often that their ongoing validity cannot be denied, the scholars addressed only a very few specific moral questions.

Acknowledging a development in morality throughout the Old Testament and culminating with the teaching of Jesus, they said the Bible: clearly insists on protecting human life from conception to natural death; defends marriage as the lifelong union of a man and a woman; obliges human beings to safeguard the environment; and insists that priority be given to the needs of the poor, the weak and the sick when making decisions.

The scholars opened their document with a reprint of the Ten Commandments and the beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount.

The biblical idea of morality is more than “a code of behaviour to be adopted or avoided” or “a list of virtues and vices to be practised or countered” in order to protect individuals

and society, they said. For Christians, living according to biblical morality is a spiritual quest, the document said, and striving to act in a morally upright manner is a response to God’s gift of love and his willingness always to forgive.

The Ten Commandments are not the harsh part of a carrot-and-stick approach God takes to dealing with humanity, but contain the principles necessary so that each person and all people together can deal responsibly with the freedoms God has given them, the scholars said.

The commandments promote the values of paying homage to God, recognizing his presence in the world, recognising that time has a sacred value, honouring the family, upholding the right to life, safeguarding marriage, defending human freedom and dignity, protecting people’s reputations, respecting their family and group ties and respecting personal property.

The scholars said the commandments “are presented in decreasing order of value, from the most to the least important,” with God at the top and material goods at the bottom.

Unfortunately, they said, modern societies often seem to assign value in the completely opposite way, not just putting human beings before God, but putting material goods before people.

In his life and in the Sermon on the Mount, they said, Jesus literally radicalized the values promoted by the Ten Commandments, urg-

Bible Time

ing his listeners to strive toward perfection in truly being an image of God in the world.

For the scholars, that striving is a key point of biblical morality: Just as God revealed himself and his plan for salvation over time, the human response to God’s gift is something that naturally occurs in stages and includes failures, forgiveness and starting again

The Eucharist is both nourishment to strengthen believers and the renewal of Christ’s total sacrifice, which reminds believers that they must never be content with divisions and moral failures, they said.

“Unless there is obstinate resistance on the part of individuals or the community, participation in the Eucharist will always be a strong call to conversion and the best means to give new vitality to the covenant, which renews the life and conduct of the church and, through the church, of the world,” they said.

As some 250 bishops prepared to gather at the Vatican for the synod discussion on “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church,” the biblical commission document reminded readers that what the Bible reveals is not a specific moral code, but God himself.

What the Bible demonstrates, the scholars said, is that “God is not a dour creditor intent on putting his accounts in order, but a benevolent creator who restores human beings to their pristine conditions of being loved by him and mends the damage inflicted on the cosmos” by their errors.

Biblical study opens way to hearing God’s message

Continued from Vista 1

professor of Old Testament and dean of Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry.

“I think (Scripture) is the word of God and God wants to communicate with us,” he explained. “He’s a communicating God and wants to be heard and responded to.

“The Bible is very accurate, but it’s not a modern-day history book. We have to work on hints. There’s so little factual material.”

Some answers to those hints also can be found in other fields of study: history, anthropology, geography.

As new discoveries in those fields are made, they help unravel biblical mysteries as well as raise new questions about the word of God.

Along with the historical-critical method scholars across the spectrum have turned to other methods of critically analyzing Scripture.

Such methods include the use of narrative criticism to look at the stories being told and literary criticism to understand the way a particular text is written. “The text speaks

to the foundation moments of our religion,” said Pauline Viviano, associate professor of theology at Loyola University Chicago. “And the better we are able to understand what they (biblical authors) were thinking, the better we are able to capture what is important about our faith.”

In studying Scripture, however, Viviano pointed to the possibility that Scripture can be misunderstood if people fail to exclude their personal concerns and preconceived notions from the discussion. “The more you pull it out of its historical and cultural context, the more you can distort it,” she said. “We strive for objectivity, but we still cannot achieve it.

“Our issues and our concerns are going to dictate how we read that text and what text we find important,” Viviano added. “But if you overemphasize that to the point where you never try to figure out what the author intended, you’re going to go way off base.”

Even if those obstacles are overcome, the challenge comes in trying to share the new understandings so that the inspiring words of

Scripture have a meaningful role in people’s lives. Unlike Protestants, Catholics are not as accustomed to reading the Bible or being involved in Scripture study programs. That leaves Sunday liturgy as the primary exposure to Scripture for the vast majority of Catholics. And that’s not enough, scholars say.

Teaching scholars often aim their classroom work at helping clergy improve their homilies, helping catechists develop meaningful adult education and Bible study programs, and helping educators introduce to young people the daily practice of reading and reflecting on Scripture.

St Agnes Sister Dianne Bergant, professor of Old Testament studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, said the work of interpreting the Bible should not fall just to scholars and educators, however, because everyone has a role.

“I always tell my students everybody interprets the Bible,” she said.

“If all you do is pick it up and read the Bible, you are interpreting.”

Stats: The majority of US Catholic adults say they have a Bible in their home, but rarely read it. Graphi C CNS

God’s Word

Getting Catholics to read Bible a major ask

A major challenge for Pope Benedict XVI is leading more people to read the Holy Bible

n By John Thavis

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - When Pope Benedict XVI chose the Bible as the topic for this year’s Synod of Bishops, he turned the Catholic Church’s attention to an area he has long considered crucial and in need of revitalisation.

The Pope’s concern touches several levels.

For one thing, despite an upsurge in biblical interest after the Second Vatican Council, only a minority of Catholics read the Bible regularly.

The Pope views the lack of scriptural formation as part of a wider crisis of catechetics in the Church.

At a more academic level, the Pope sees a danger in modern biblical interpretation that he believes diminishes the meaning of Scripture and erodes the bond between Bible and Church.

In particular, he has warned that various modern-day methods of interpreting the Bible are too limiting; for instance, some scholars read Scripture as if they are seeking to break a code and pluck out answers one by one.

Instead, Pope Benedict believes the Bible must be seen as a whole and as the word of God, in which everything relates to everything else and offers the possibility of a spiritual journey, rather than being seen as a textbook on divine matters.

So in convoking some 250 bishops for the October 5-26 synod, the Pope did not intend to host a forum for scriptural analysis.

His primary interest is pastoral, and a main challenge is to lead more Catholics to the Bible.

As he told synod planners earlier this year, reading, interpreting and living the words of Scripture are fundamental to the faith life of Christians.

Without that, the Church’s great works in the modern age - including evangelisation and ecumenism - are bound to stall, he said. Nor

does the Pope believe that scriptural expertise comes before the simple experience of reading the Bible.

As a cardinal, he once said that he shares the view of liberation theology that the Bible belongs to the people, not the scholars.

And while specialists are needed, he said, “the real and essential meaning of the Bible is something the simple believer can grasp just as well.”

That’s something the Pope has been promoting as universal pastor since his election in 2005.

The very first words of his pontificate were a quote from Scripture - a greeting from the First Letter of Peter - and his talks and sermons over the last three and a half years have included some 3000 references to scriptural passages.

The Pope once said the Bible would be one of two books he would take with him if marooned on an island (the other was St Augustine’s Confessions.) His own familiarity with Scripture is evident in the way he cites passages even in off-the-cuff remarks.

His written works seem to breathe Scripture. His first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love), was typical. It began with a citation from the First Letter of John and on practically every page drew from the Old and New Testaments, often making connections between the two.

In his discussion of unjustified suffering, for example, he begins with a lesson from the Book of Job, then weaves in several Gospel passages.

One of Pope Benedict’s primary convictions is that the New Testament offers the key to understanding the Old Testament and that, as a whole, the Bible necessarily leads to Christ.

But he believes this traditional Christological approach has been threatened by some modern schools of interpretation that would limit the meaning of any biblical book to the author’s historical context.

In a 2001 essay, he described in dramatic terms how such interpretation jeopardised the “internal harmony” of the Bible as understood by Christians through the centuries. By presuming that Old Testament writers could not have intended to refer in advance to Christ and the New Testament faith, he warned, this new line of biblical study would “sound the

death knell” for the Christian understanding of Old Testament - New Testament unity.

As early as the Second Vatican Council, the Pope - then Father Joseph Ratzinger - was involved deeply in a debate over the relationship among Scripture, tradition and the church’s magisterium, or teaching authority.

Here, too, the future Pope identified a dangerous trend in biblical interpretation that saw Scripture as the entire deposit of the faith.

As a council expert, Father Ratzinger wrote that this approach was not balanced and that “revelation ... is greater even than the words of Scripture.”

Much later, he expanded on this point in the book, “God and the World,” saying that when it came to the authorship of the Bible it was clear that “God did not just dictate these words.”

Instead, the words of Scripture bear the impression of a history guided by God, a history that directly involves the Church, he said.

Pope Benedict always has emphasised that this history continues, and that the Bible, far from a piece of literature or a historical record, is a living book that touches the present.

In a foreword to his 2007 book, “Jesus of Nazareth,” the Pope said the books of Scripture involve three interacting subjects: the individual author, the church and God.

“The people of God - the Church - is the living subject of Scripture; it is in the church that the words of the Bible are always in the present,” he wrote.

What he attempted to do in his book on Jesus, he explained, was to use historical insights to help reveal the figure of Jesus, but to go beyond purely historical interpretation.

Instead, he said, his method takes the conviction of faith - faith that Jesus truly was God - as a starting point for reading Scripture.

This approach allows for a proper theological interpretation of the Bible, yet does not sacrifice the church’s “serious engagement with history,” he said.

The Pope has noted the Bible’s ability to inspire individuals and impact their day-to-day decisions. But he has also cautioned against reading the Bible for easy answers, which would “turn Scripture into an oracle.”

What’s important, he once said, is to “read the Bible regularly, to let it keep us company and guide us.”

‘We need to pray more with the Holy Bible’

Canadian cardinal and others discuss hopes for Synod of Bishops on the Bible

n By

Deborah Gyapong

CORNWALL, Ontario (CNS) - A Canadian cardinal who will serve as recording secretary of the Synod of Bishops on the Bible expressed hope it would shore up ecumenical dialogue and increase appreciation of the Scriptures.

The October 5-26 synod in Rome could provide “a new start for ecumenical relations,” said Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec.

The interest shown by other churches and denominations is huge, Cardinal Ouellet said during an interview on September 22 while he was in Cornwall for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual meeting.

He said he hoped the reflections at the synod would “give us a new charity and a new impulse and enthusiasm.”

The cardinal also expressed hope the synod would help Catholics gain a deepened appreciation for Scripture.

“Sometimes I have the impression we have learned a lot about the Bible, but we have not prayed enough with it,” he said. “It is not a dead letter, it is a testimony of the living God, who is still speaking through the word.”

The Canadian bishops who were to give presentations at the synod discussed their topics during the annual meeting.

Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa said he will focus on the Old Testament, noting that “knowledge of the Old Testament as the word of God seems to be a real problem.”

Bishop Raymond Saint-Gelais of Nicolet, Quebec, described the homily as “a liturgical action, situated at the junction between the proclamation and the celebration of the word.” He said he hoped the synod would give “more precise indications about the role of the homily in the context of the celebration” and in the “daily lives of the faithful.”

Bishop Luc Bouchard of Saint Paul, Alberta, noted that the gap between biblical scholars and everyday people has had “grave consequences” and suggested the Church might start sponsoring an international congress on the Bible.

“With the help of teachers and experts, they would offer a formation destined to bridge the ever-widening gap that exists between the word of God and the people of God,” he said.

Bishop Ronald Fabbro of London, Ontario, spoke of the need for spiritual awakening and growth. Knowledge of Scriptures is “often weak” in parishes, which need to “foster a prayerful listening” to God in the Scriptures, he said.

A great obstacle is “formalism,” a “going through the motions of religious practices without deep, engaging faith,” Bishop Fabbro said. Another obstacle, he said, is the negative influence of today’s culture.

Archbishop Lawrence Huculak of Winnipeg, Manitoba, metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada, focused on what the Gospel requires from those who proclaim it, especially during the Mass. Those charged with proclaiming the word “must be aware of their great responsibilities” and prepare ahead of time so as to “proclaim it clearly,” he said.

Seeking guidance for a higher calling: A seminarian reads the Bible in a breezeway at the North American College in Rome in this file photo from November, 2007. Some Bible scholars who are also bishops say they became interested in the field during their seminary studies.

Photo: CNS/PAul hAR N g

History: a gem

Illuminating the Truth The real Word of God is revealed in the Scriptures for our nourishment

Biblical scholars trace historical events that shaped Catholic Bible

n By Chaz Muth

When Catholics think of the Bible, they often imagine a leather-bound book. However, the Catholic version of the Bible is actually a library of books specifically chosen to reflect Catholic teaching, a collection that began to take shape between A.D. 50 and 400.

“In 393, at the Council of Hippo, there is a list containing 46 Old Testament and 27 New Testament works that constitute the canon adopted by the Catholic tradition,” said Benedictine Father Dale Launderville, a professor of theology at St John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. “There was never an official decree on the books in the canon until (the Council of) Trent in 1546.”

That point is significant because the church teaches that the Holy Spirit worked through the hierarchy and the faithful to sort out which books proved vital to the faith of the communities, Father Launderville said in an interview with Catholic News Service.

The books stood the test of time and came to be regarded as fundamental tools in identifying Catholics as a faith community, he said.

“The Bible contains the records of 4,000 years of Judeo-Christian culture,” said Franciscan Father Jack Wintz, a well-known Catholic writer, who has served in various editorial roles at the St. Anthony Messenger and Catholic Update.

“Even before writing materials were invented, the many stories included in our Bible were handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. We call this ‘oral tradition.’ As time passed, the ancient Israelites began to commit their community’s stories to writing,” he said. The earliest

written stories were about the deeds of kings and by the 10th century B.C. they were written as lyrics to songs, Father Wintz said.

After the Reformation established the Protestant movement throughout Europe in the 1500s, Protestants of all denominations instituted their own Bible, or collection of writings.

“Basically, the difference between a ‘Catholic’ and a ‘Protestant’ Bible is limited to the contents of the Old Testament,” said Father Murray Watson, a biblical scholar at St. Peter’s Seminary in London, Ontario. “Catholic Bibles contain seven books which traditional Protestant Bibles do not.” He said those books are “Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach -also called Ecclestiasticus -- Baruch, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees. Catholics use versions of two Old Testament books, Daniel and Esther, which are considerably longer than the version in a standard Protestant Bible.

been in Hebrew/Aramaic, and was used almost exclusively in the Holy Land, whereas another version translated into Greek was used by most of the Jews of the Diaspora, the Jewish community outside of the Holy Land, whose daily language of communication was Greek,” he said.

“Even before writing materials were invented, the many stories included in our Bible were handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth.”

“Most Eastern Orthodox churches use a longer one, similar to the Catholic Old Testament, and some of them actually add several other books as well.”

These seven books are called “apocryphal,” or hidden, by most Protestants, who don’t consider them “as inspired,” and do not include them in their Bibles, Father Watson said.

However, Catholics do consider these books inspired, and refer to them as “deuterocanonical,” or belonging to a “second list of canonical/approved books,” since their status was debated longer than most other books, which were on the “first list,” he said.

The difference is rooted in the fact that well before the time of Jesus there were two different versions of the Jewish Bible in circulation and used by Jews in different parts of the Mediterranean, Father Watson said. “One of them seems to have

“The Greek translation, which was called the Septuagint, had a number of books in it that were not contained in the Hebrew/ Aramaic version. However, since the vast majority of Jews at that time lived outside the Holy Land, the version they were most familiar with was the Greek version,” he said. Church beliefs and practices under attack by Protestant reformers included purgatory, judgment, devotion to Mary, the intercession of the saints, most of the sacraments, the mandatory celibacy requirement for its clergy, and the authority of the pope. So, they needed a Bible with Scriptures that would reflect their traditions, Father Watson said.

Over time, the Catholic hierarchy, too, chose Scriptures that best reflected their interpretation of the true word of God.

Though the Catholic Bible began to take shape centuries earlier, the foundation became more concrete during the Council of Rome in 382, when the church decided what it should accept and what it should reject.

This body determined and Pope Damasus I decreed the order of the Old Testament should begin with the book of Genesis, and include Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua (Son of) Nave, Judges, Ruth, Paralipomenon (1 and 2 Chronicles), Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticle of Canticles (Song of Songs), Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus. The order of the historical books was proclaimed to start with Job, followed by Tobit, two books of Esdras

(Ezra and Nehemiah), Esther, Judith and two books of Maccabees.

During the Council of Hippo in 393, it was decided that besides the canonical Scriptures nothing under the name of divine Scripture should be read in church.

Over the years other books were added to the canon and deleted, and in 408 Pope Innocent I issued an opinion that resulted in the Bible used by Catholics today, which also includes fives books of Solomon and 16 books from the prophets.

“For Catholics, the Bible and the church are two interrelated expressions of God’s communication to God’s people, and they depend on each other,” Father Watson said.

“Today, these differences are largely being overcome,” he continued, “since more and more editions of the Bible are being published in ‘ecumenical editions,’ which incorporate all the books sacred to Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christians, while placing the deuterocanonicals in a separate section between the Old and New Testaments, thus allowing people to choose whether or not they wish to read them.”

In addition, almost every major English translation of the Bible today is produced by an interdenominational team of scholars, which includes Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and, in most cases, Jewish members as well, he said.

“In terms of ‘Catholic’ Bibles today, almost any mainstream Bible translation is appropriate for Catholics to read and study, provided, of course, it includes the deuterocanonical books,” Fr Watson said. “Among the more popular Bible versions for Catholics would be the New American Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible and the New Revised Standard Bible.

Many Catholics also read the Good News Bible, which is published by the United Bible Societies, and today has a Catholic version available.”

The St John’s Bible is available from The Record Bookshop for $140 + postage. Call 9227 7080.

Illuminating history: The “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” illustrates pages from the Book of Wisdom in The Saint John’s Bible. Master calligrapher Donald Jackson and a team of scribes spent 10 years creating the Bible using quills and handmade inks on calfskin vellum.

worth discovering

Dramatic Bible stories have inspired artists for centuries

n By Cindy Wooden

Biblical stories of love and betrayal, creation and destruction, glorious births and violent deaths have inspired artists for centuries.

The stories were the subject of simple engravings in the catacombs, miniature drawings used to illustrate handwritten copies of the Scriptures and the magnificent frescoes and oil paintings decorating churches and chapels.

Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums, said artists have turned to the Bible for material because it is “a marvelous repertoire of situations.”

“Just look at the story of David, the story of Job, the story of King Solomon. The Bible is an immense repertoire of dramatic situationsdramatic in the sense of drama, like you would find in the theatre or cinema,” he told Catholic News Service.

The task of an artist, he said, “is to represent human situationsextreme, dramatic situations,” and the Bible is bursting with them.

Sitting in his top-floor office in the Vatican, Paolucci narrated visually inspiring biblical scenes: “Mary Magdalene, this attractive blonde - artists have painted her as a blonde; you have to let artists use their imaginations - who begins to cry and wipes Jesus’ feet with her hair.

“The Bible is full of these situations that are by definition artistic,” he said. The collections housed in the Vatican Museums are by no means limited to religious art, but obviously the place is a treasuretrove of sacred images.

Paolucci does not buy the idea that some works of religious art were motivated by a challenge to visually educate Christians in the faith and others were motivated simply by a search for beauty. “For Catholic artists, aesthetics coincides precisely with faith - they are the same thing,” he said. “Ancient artists, especially, were convinced that in order to recount the things of God, religious truths, one must use beauty.” The more beautiful a work, he said, the closer it comes to showing people something about God.

The most famous part of the Vatican Museums - the Sistine Chapel - is a perfect example of beauty placed at the service of education in the faith. “Because it was a papal chapel, it had to show how the church of Rome accepted the ancient Scriptures, the Hebrew Scriptures, and joined them to the New Testament,” Paolucci said.

The frescoes on the chapel’s south wall depict scenes from the life of Moses, the giver of the law who led his people out of slavery in Egypt to new life in the Promised Land; the north wall frescoes illustrate parallel scenes from the life of Jesus, who revealed the new commandment and frees people from their slavery to sin, giving them new life.

“Ancient artists, especially, were convinced that in order to recount the things of Godreligious truths - one must use beauty.”

The side walls were painted in 148183. “Then, in 1508 - 500 years agoMichelangelo arrives and does the ceiling,” Paolucci said. “With that, the chapel presents a synthesis of the entirety of Christian theology: the law of Moses and the Old Testament on one wall; the new command of Christ on the opposite wall; the creation of the world overhead; and, in front of us, that which awaits us after death - the Last Judgment.

“The chapel is the synthesis of the catechism,” he said.

When pressed, Paolucci said his favourite Old Testament-themed art in the Vatican Museums is Sandro Botticelli’s “The Trials of Moses,” which is one of the panels on the south wall of the Sistine Chapel. The fresco shows several scenes from the second and third chapters of Exodus. “Botticelli’s work is very elegant, refined,” he said.

As for a work inspired by a New Testament story, Paolucci responded even before the question was finished: “I have no doubts. It’s ‘The Deposition of Christ’ by Caravaggio.”

The massive oil painting, executed at the beginning of the 1600s, shows the lifeless body of Jesus taken down from the cross by Nicodemus and the apostle John in the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and Mary the wife of Clopas.

The face of the crucified Jesus is ashen, but his body - soon to be resurrected - is bathed in light.

In Christian art, Paolucci said, the two most popular themes are those surrounding the birth of Jesus and those surrounding his death and resurrection. “The Nativity scene and the crucified Jesus are everywhere in art throughout the world,” he said. “They are so popular because they are the synthesis of our religion: Jesus was born and died on the cross, offering his blood as a sacrifice for the salvation of all men and women.”

Christian artists are not the only ones who have found in the crucifixion the perfect symbol of the “terrible, dramatic” death of an innocent, Paolucci said. The Vatican Museums’ Collection of Contemporary Religious Art includes “Christ and the Painter,” just one of the crucifixion scenes painted by the Jewish artist Marc Chagall.

The contemporary collection is growing despite the fact that “there are not many world-famous artists today interested in religious themes,” he said.

The most prolific period for biblical-themed art was the Middle Ages, he said, because “it was a very religious time. People were really afraid of hell because of the Black Death.”

Striking image: Michelangelo Merisi, popularly known as Caravaggio, painted the “Deposition From the Cross” sometime between 1600 and 1604. The painting, housed at the Vatican Museums, shows the apostle John and Nicodemus laying Jesus on the anointing slab before burying him in the tomb. The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and Mary the wife of Clopas are also shown. Pho T os: CN s C our T esy o F VaT i C a N M useu M s

Peace found in being Catholic

Iwas born a Buddhist. I was married in a Catholic Church. Despite my husband and two sons being Catholics, it never occurred to me that I would become a Catholic. We moved from Singapore to Perth over six years ago. I decided to do the RCIA course to learn more about the Catholic religion. When I started the course I told the coordinators, “I am mainly here to learn more about the Catholic faith and better understand the religion.”

Why I became Catholic

with Debbie Warrier

As I was going through the RCIA course I thought I would only become a Catholic if God could prove or strengthen my faith to convince me. I now understand it does not work that way. We must have faith in God first.

I discovered similarities between Buddhism and Catholicism. God created humans and the world in seven days. Buddhists believe creation took seven days too. Catholics have Mary and Buddhists believe in a goddess of mercy. It makes me wonder. When Jesus was travelling his language was interpreted. Was the translation the same and yet influenced by the culture it was translated in?

During the RCIA course I developed a rash on the palms of my hands and it would bleed. It was so painful that I cried sometimes.

I would hide my hands in my pockets because it looked terrible. I tried several medications but was unsuccessful. I prayed to God and Mother Mary. I remember dabbing holy water onto my hands as I came for Sunday Masses. With faith, my hands healed completely without any scars.

I asked a lot of questions during the course because I did not know anything about Christianity. I found the Bible heavy reading. However, as I began explaining the Bible stories to my sons after school, I became more familiar with them. Finally, I decided to become a Catholic because as we were a family, I thought we should all have the same faith and the same beliefs. As a family, we should all pray together.

My husband wished for me to be a Catholic for a long time. He believed that the decision to be a Catholic should be mine to make when I was ready. Before I made the decision to convert I was wary about what my mother would think. She was a staunch Buddhist. I wondered if she would be angry or sad. I did not mention anything to her. But God works in mysterious ways. I received a phone call from her one day asking me to convert to a Catholic. My mother said that I should join my husband and sons to become a Catholic family. I was so surprised that she encouraged me. I had been so worried but she assured me not to worry.

I never imagined myself being a Catholic. I could not understand why Catholics do what they do like attending Church to pray. I understand what they are doing now and I am doing it too. When I accepted Catholicism I found peace in myself.

I find when I have troubles I can talk to God and ask for help and direction. However, not all my prayers have been answered. I realise that man’s plans are not necessarily God’s plans.

He has a plan somewhere. It may not be written yet but it will be eventually.

debwarrier@hotmail.com

Perspectives

Inherent value too often masked

I say I say

By Mark Reidy

In his book, The Mask Behind the Mask, Peter Evans states that actor Peter Sellers played so many different roles in his career that he became confused about his true identity.

It is an observation that I’m sure many of us can relate to.

The struggle to discover who we are has dominated countless of conversations with psychiatrists, counsellors, spiritual directors and best friends alike.

I believe that one of the greatest obstacles to discovering our true identity is what United States Christian evangelist Joyce Meyer refers to as Approval Addiction.

In her teaching, Meyer states that for some individuals the need to receive the approval of others can be just as powerful as addictions to drugs, alcohol and gambling.

Meyer is specifically addressing those whose lives are blatantly controlled by their compulsion to please others, but I would suggest that it is an influence that affects most of us to some extent.

Human beings are physically and emotionally dependent on their pri-

mary carers for longer than any other living creature. We soon learn what behaviours make life more comfortable and what ones lead to suffering and we adapt accordingly.

It is a formula that, if delivered in a context of perfect love, would mean that discipline or consequences for behaviour did not affect our spirit and psyche.

However, as our flawed human condition ensures that such perfection is not possible, I believe that many of us have developed, to varying degrees, a perception that acceptance is determined by what we do.

These are perceptions that are later confirmed in the playground and then in the teenage social scene when criteria such as behaviour, opinions, mannerisms and dress often decide whether we are accepted or rejected.

Again, many of us made choices based on our desire to belong. We become more independent as we move into adulthood but do we ever completely shake off our desire for approval? How many times have we made a decision based on what others will think, not on what we know in our hearts to be right?

How often have we not spoken the truth because we have feared the reaction of others?

Have we ever told others what they want to hear instead of honestly sharing our opinion? These are all signs of a need for approval and are often

rooted in the fear of not belonging that infiltrated our subconscious childhood mind.

The person that God created us to be is continuously buried under the masks of insecurity that we assume.

English playwright, William Somerset Maugham, once said that some people carry these masks to such perfection that “they actually become the person they seem”.

In other words, we adapt to our fears to such an extent that even we can fail to recognise who we truly are.

But how do we overcome what, for some, has been a lifetime of false identity?

Those who, underneath the façade they have adopted, believe they are insignificant or that their opinion is of no value or that they are not worthy of love.

There is only one way and that is to come to know our true identity in Christ.

Joyce Meyer, who came from a background of abuse, did this by not only meditating on Scriptures, but by choosing to believe them. She was able to recognise the lies that she had embraced and was then able to strip off the masks that she had been wearing.

She found that she did not have to rely on the approval or acceptance of others to feel worthy. She discovered that her true identity was that of a child of a Heavenly Father who loved her unconditionally.

It is the identity of us all.

Using economics for benefit of all

Unified Field Theory is the attempt by physicists to unify the General Theory of Relativity, which deals with

In clear view

By Guy Crouchback

very large things like the expansion of the Universe, and Quantum Theory, which deals with very small things like sub-atomic particles. After many decades of research by some of the best minds around, Relativity and Quantum Mechanics don’t unite.

This is not going to be a physics lecture, but it strikes me that there is another failure to unite in economics and other aspects of life.

Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, considered himself to be a moral philosopher. He explained, among other things, a very simple truth, The Theory of Comparative Advantage.

Previous theorists had held that trade, including particularly international trade, was a zero-sum equation.

One party gained at the other’s expense, and the objective of trade was to do the other party down.

It was the genius of Smith to point out (he did have some predecessors) that in trade both parties should actually benefit - each produced a product that the other wanted, more cheaply than the other could produce it.

Smith was a Scot and a wine lover, and he said it made more sense for Scotland to trade for wine than to try to grow grapes in glass-houses at about 40 times the cost. The key to efficiency was specialising in what one could do best.

There was a good deal more to it than that, but briefly, Adam Smith was probably responsible for a greater increase in

human prosperity, happiness and peace than anyone else in the last thousand years at least.

A good friend of Smith’s was Edmund Burke. As Smith wrote first on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Burke wrote on the theory of the Sublime and the Beautiful. He is, however, best known for a political philosophy of acting in accordance with human nature as it really was, as Smith saw economics as needing to be in similar accord with human nature.

Burke emphasised the importance of tradition, values and the continuity of generations. He correctly predicted that the French Revolution, driven by unrealistic theories, would lead to terror, dictatorship and war.

Smith and Burke were in complete agreement with each other and their work forms a wonderful, luminous and coherent whole (They also joined in punishing Dr Johnson’s claret together).

Yet their descendants seem to have drifted apart: the classical economic tradition descended from Smith often seems to disregard, or deal perfunc-

torily with, non-economic issues and with intangibles such as the aesthetic and the spiritual, and with such things as traditions and values (this is certainly not always the case but it is true often enough to create that impression).

Many people concerned with human betterment, on the other hand, are woefully - and culpably - ignorant of economics and consider “economic rationalism” some kind of bogeyman when in fact what it means is the absence of economic irrationalism and attempts to avoid the misery, death, poverty, waste and stultification, not to mention war, that economic irrationalism creates. Economic irrationalism, among other things, has seen about half a trillion dollars worth of aid go into Africa in the last few decades for very little economic, political or human progress and many instances of actual regression.

It seems to me that this is not a matter of incompatible theories, but rather differences of emphasis and mental attitude regarding the same things.

We need another Unified Field Theory here, and it should be easier to create than that of the physicists.

Swee

Perspectives

God’s authority absolute

‘Good Catholics’

The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite.

- Ecclesiastes 1:15

“I am a Catholic…but of course I don’t agree with everything the Church teaches”. This is a common refrain, one often heard when same sex attracted men (and others) are quizzed about the faith.

On issues like abortion, euthanasia and sexual morality in particular, some people feel comfortable parting ways with the Pope, and some endlessly contradict the bishops.

This sort of thing is in marked contrast to the witness of those

Being Heard

By John Heard

like Blessed Teresa of Kolkata, who yoked herself to God, and lived as though she meant the things she professed in the Creed.

Teresa, in particular, is a mighty challenge.

Her diaries reveal that she had no sense of the presence of God, no comforting knowledge of His nearness, or His support, for many years. Still, she served.

Her life, characterised apparently by spiritual dryness and an interior emptiness, spilled out into the blighted city around her.

Her lifting up of the poor, her nursing of the sick, her provision of shelter and dignity to the rejected, dying people of Kolkata, these deeds cried out to Heaven, and they echoed around the world.

Teresa is a witness for the ages.

How are we - fatter, richer, and with more free time on our hands, some of us blessed with a good sense of God’s nearness – to compare with that sort of thing?

How do we stack up?

Certainly, when we deny the authority of the Pope, or claim to be above the Church, we are making a mess of things.

We are also being stupid.

Even after decades of study, no layman can definitively know what it is that the Catholic Church teaches on every key issue, and even bish-

ops must brush up on incredibly complex theological, philosophical, and – increasingly, biological and scientific – knowledge to state the Catholic position without error.

Hardly anyone at all knows what it is, in fact, that the Church says (or will likely say) on every topical matter, and one should not reject (known) teaching A if (unknown) teaching B likely throws some new light on A: makes it all the more coherent, and the Church obviously right.

In my experience, Catholic ethical teaching is tight. Interlocking ideas form a bright web of reason.

Everything rests, of course, on man’s acknowledgement of the authority of God, but the teachings downstream of this basic humility are rich, intelligent, and beautiful. They make sense. They beautify lives. They explain sex. They make the world a better place, and promise heaven everlasting.

A good Catholic, then, will study her faith. She will probe, and question – but she will always seek to read with the Church: to appreciate Catholic teaching.

We are to approach this task in a spirit of profound gratitude.

But it is hard to do this. For one, not everyone has the time. Also, and it is a frequent problem, one cannot muster the gumption, not to mention the gratitude.

The teachings on sex, in particular, seem to stick in the craw of many. How to accept, let alone wel-

come a teaching that seems to usurp the right to personal freedom? The Church seeks to dictate how it is that man may seek out his happiness, including his sexual happiness: how are we to respond?

By acknowledging, immediately, God’s authority.

If everything else rests on this, if all Christian teaching relies on the humbling of man before G-d, it makes no sense to put oneself in the place that is properly reserved for the divine lawmaker.

The Church does not, in this light, usurp or probe, rather she gently guides.

Sometimes, thank God, she more firmly commands. She has a right to, and to be frank, I often need the stick. The Church knows what is good, true, and beautiful, even if individual tests find any one of us cut adrift, or too ready to rebel.

We are to obey, then, first because we love God and what is His (and the Church is His), but also because Catholic teaching – we are taughtconnects us with ways of living, and ideas about happiness, that purport to be good for each of us. Even when we think we know better, we do not.

The Catholic Church goes further: there is no better way to live, no more blessed way to die, than according to her wisdom.

G-d grant us, perverse fools that we are, the grace to desire it.

John Heard is a Melbourne writer.

this is the mass

Special Souvenir Edition World Youth Day 08

Foreword by George Cardinal

Pell

This Is The Mass is a new book which explains with lucid text and beautiful photographic images the Eucharist. It takes the reader step by step through the sacred liturgy from the introductory rites to the dismissal and recessional.

The 160 page book is published by The Catholic Weekly and has been more than 12 months in preparation and production. It features the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Pell, as the celebrant, with photography and design by the award winning Bob Armstrong.

$39.95 + postage available from the Record Bookshop Ph: 9227 7080 or email bookshop@therecord.com.au

Does Church approve divorce?

Q&A

By Fr John Flader

Marriage Annulments

Could you please explain what an “annulment” of a marriage is? Isn’t it just the same as the Church approving of a divorce?

Many people ask this question, some of them bewildered on hearing of annulments being granted of marriages they thought were certainly valid. I will try to address the principal issues.

First of all, the word “annulment” itself can be misleading. It seems to suggest that the Church is annulling, or making null, a valid marriage, much as the state does when granting a divorce. This is not what an annulment is. Rather, the Church is declaring that the marriage bond never existed, that the marriage was null from the outset, for any number of reasons.

It would be helpful to trace the process that leads to a declaration of nullity.

It begins with a couple, who have been seemingly validly married in the eyes of the Church, experiencing difficulties in the marriage, with the marriage eventually breaking down and a civil divorce being granted. At least one of the spouses then approaches someone from the marriage tribunal to see if there is any chance of the marriage being declared null.

There are numerous possible grounds for nullity. For example, Canon 1095 of the Code of Canon Law says that the following are incapable of contracting marriage: “those who lack sufficient use of reason; those who suffer from a grave lack of discretion or judgment concerning the essential matrimonial rights and obligations to be mutually given and accepted; those who, because of causes of a psychological nature, are unable to assume the essential obligations of marriage.” A good number of annulments are granted on one or another of these grounds.

Other possible grounds are deceit concerning some important quality of the person, perpetrated in order to secure consent (Can. 1098); the positive exclusion of marriage itself or of any essential property of marriage (Can. 1101); force or grave fear (Can. 1103), etc.

If the person from the tribunal considers that there are sufficient grounds to proceed, the person seeking the annulment is asked to write a state-

ment concerning the essential facts of the history of the marriage and to provide the names of persons who knew the couple, especially at the time of the marriage, who can be interviewed. If these persons now live in another city or country, they can be interviewed by someone from the tribunal of the place where they live.

The persons to be interviewed may include not only friends and relatives but, in some cases, doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists or other relevant specialists.

When all the documentation has been gathered, someone from the tribunal with expertise in canon law summarises the facts of the case and the possible grounds for nullity. This documentation is presented to the Defender of the Bond, a person with expertise in canon law, whose role it is to present all the arguments in favour of the validity of the marriage in the particular case.

Finally the matter is brought to judgment by the tribunal.

The judges’ role is not to find some way of declaring the marriage null, but rather to judge honestly whether, in light of the facts and the relevant law, the marriage was in fact null.

Always, the presumption is in favour of the validity of the marriage, following Canon 1060: “Marriage enjoys the favour of law. Consequently, in doubt the validity of a marriage must be upheld until the contrary is proven.”

If the tribunal comes to an affirmative decision regarding the nullity of the marriage, the judgment and the documentation are forwarded to the National Tribunal of Second Instance, where the matter is judged again.

Only when there are two concurring judgments is the marriage finally declared null. The spouses are then informed of the judgment and, unless there are special circumstances, they are free to marry again in the Church.

As is clear, the process is very thorough and is handled by persons with expertise in the matter.

If everyone cooperates promptly, the whole process should take no longer than a year for the first judgment and another six months for the second instance judgment.

If occasionally people are surprised by an annulment being granted for a marriage that in their opinion was certainly valid, they should make no judgment.

There can be factors unknown to them which, when judged calmly by the tribunal with all the facts before them, render the marriage certainly null.

As is clear, a declaration of nullity is not the same as the Church approving of a divorce. director@caec.com.au

the World

Britain drafts proposal for Catholic royalty

British government drafts proposal to allow royal succession to Catholics

LONDON (CNA) - The British government has drafted a proposal to end the 300-year-old legal exclusion of Catholics from the British throne.

MP Chris Bryant, under instructions from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has written a planned parliamentary act to revoke the exclusions.

Bryant presented the drafts to advocacy groups at a private seminar in Manchester last week, the Guardian said.

The 1688 Bill of Rights, the Act of Settlement in 1701 and the Act of Union in 1707, combined with the provisions of the Coronation Oath Act of 1688, effectively excluded Catholics or their spouses from the line of royal succession.

In recent years several royals have lost their right of succession because of their marriage to Catholics.

British law also requires the monarch to make a declaration before Parliament rejecting Catholicism upon his or her accession to the throne, the Guardian

reports. The Coronation Oath Act requires the British monarch to “maintaine the Laws of God the true profession of the Gospel and the Protestant reformed religion established by law [...] and [...] preserve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm and to the churches committed to their charge all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain unto them or any of them.”

Eight years ago the Guardian had launched a campaign for a change in the law, challenging the Act of Settlement on the legal grounds that it conflicts with the Human Rights Act.

Geoffrey Robinson, a constitutional lawyer who represented the Guardian in its legal challenge, argued that the centuries-old act violates the Human Rights Act’s anti-discrimination provisions and its protections of “the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion” and the right to “peaceful enjoyment of possessions,” which he construes to mean possession of a place in the royal succession.

“The Act of Settlement determined that the crown shall descend only on Protestant heads and that anyone ‘who holds communion with the church of Rome or marries a Papist’ - not to mention a

Muslim, Hindu, Jew or Rastafarian - is excluded by force of law,” said Robinson.

“This arcane and archaic legislation enshrined religious intolerance in the bedrock of the British constitution.

“In order to hold the office of head of state you must be white Anglo-German Protestant - a descendant of Princess Sophia of Hanover - down the male line on the feudal principle of primogeniture. This is in blatant contravention of the Sex Discrimination Act and the Human Rights Act.”

Any change in legislation would also require the consent of member nations of the British Commonwealth.

The legal campaign appears to be part of a challenge to hereditary monarchy altogether.

According to the Guardian, Robinson said the next stage was for the government to challenge the notion of a head of state who achieved the position through inheritance.

Reform of the Act of Settlement and related laws, in some experts’ opinion, would also move Britain towards the disestablishment of the Church of England and remove the rationale for the monarchy’s religious requirements.

Vatican disciplines ex-spiritual director to Medjugorje visionaries

LONDON (CNS) - The Vatican has authorised “severe cautionary and disciplinary measures” against a priest who served as spiritual director to the visionaries in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has written to Bishop Ratko Peric of MostarDuvno, whose diocese covers Medjugorje, to inform him that they are investigating the case of Franciscan Father Tomislav Vlasic.

The congregation has asked the bishop, for the good of the faithful, to inform the community of the canonical status of the Bosnian priest, whose actions automatically provoked Vatican sanctions.

In a statement posted on the website of the Diocese of MostarDuvno, Bishop Peric explained that Father Vlasic has been reported to the congregation “for the diffusion of dubious doctrine, manipulation of consciences, suspicious mysticism, disobedience toward legitimately issued orders” and charges that he violated the Sixth Commandment. The doctrinal congregation said in the letter, also posted on the website, that the priest had been disciplined after he stubbornly refused to cooperate with the inquiry, instead “justifying himself by citing his zealous activity” in initiating religious communities and building churches in the Medjugorje area.

A decree confirming action against Father Vlasic was signed by Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the doctrinal congregation, and

Fr Jose Rodriguez Carballo, the minister general of the Order of Friars Minor, earlier this year.

It confined Fr Vlasic to a Franciscan monastery in Italy and banned him from contact with the Queen of Peace community, which he founded, or with his lawyers without permission from his superior. He is banned from making public appearances, preaching and hearing confessions, and he will be required to make a solemn profession of the Catholic faith. The Vatican has warned Father Vlasic that he will be excommunicated if he violates any of the prohibitions.

“Fr Vlasic is forewarned that, in the case of stubbornness, a juridical penal process will begin with the aim of still harsher sanctions, not excluding dismissal, having in mind the suspicion of heresy and schism, as well as scandalous acts ‘contra sextum’ (meaning against the Sixth Commandment) aggra-

Major roadblock removed for ethical stem cell cures

New technique advances embryonic stem cell alternative

BOSTON (CNA) - Researchers have refined an experimental process that could produce stem cells without needing to create and destroy human embryos.

The process turns adult cells into what are called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) believed to have high potential for therapeutic treatments for many severe medical conditions. New research has reportedly eliminated iPS cells’ tendencies to become cancerous.

“We have removed a major roadblock for translating this into a clinical setting,” Harvard University stem cell researcher Konrad Hochedlinger told the Washington Post. “I think it’s an important advance.” Hochedlinger and his fellow researchers published their research online yesterday in the journal Science

Last year scientists discovered how to generate iPS cells by introducing four genes into mice adult cells using retroviruses. The genes changed the cells into a state similar to that of embryonic stem cells.

However, such retroviruses can cause cancer in animals and can integrate their own DNA into that of the host cells.

Hochedlinger and his colleagues used a different virus, called an adenovirus, to introduce the same four genes into mice adult cells.

a stem cell researcher at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts, called the research a “huge step forward,” saying the cancerous properties of earlier iPS cells prevented clinical therapies from being developed.

“The use of iPS cells to treat or even cure human disease may not be far away,” Lanza told the Washington Post.

Rudolf Jaenisch, a professor of biology at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, praised the new findings but said the new process is 100 times less efficient than the retrovirus technique.

vated by mystical motivations,” Bishop Peric wrote. In Rome on September 5, a Franciscan official told CNS it is true that “disciplinary measures have been taken” against Father Vlasic “but he is still a friar of our order; he has not been dismissed from the Franciscans or the clerical state.”

The doctrinal congregation also suspended the Franciscan’s priestly faculties. Fr Vlasic was a central figure in promoting the apparitions at the unofficial shrine in Medjugorje.

In 1984 he wrote to Pope John Paul II to say that he was the one “who through divine providence guides the seers of Medjugorje.” Four years later - after it was revealed that he fathered a child with a nun - he moved to Parma, Italy, where he set up the coed Queen of Peace religious community dedicated to the Medjugorje apparitions.

The Medjugorje phenomenon began June 25, 1981, when six children told a priest they had seen Mary on a hillside near their town. Since then, Mary is said to have appeared to the six more than 40,000 times and imparted hundreds of messages.

But three church commissions failed to find evidence to support their claims, and the bishops of the former Yugoslavia declared in 1991 that “it cannot be affirmed that these matters concern supernatural apparitions or revelations.”

In 1985 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope, banned official, diocesan or parish-sponsored pilgrimages to the shrine.

“The adenovirus will infect the cells but then will clear themselves from the cells. After a few cell divisions there are no traces of the virus in the cell,” Hochedlinger said, according to the Washington Post. “You can’t tell the virus was ever there.”

Tests showed that the cells produced by the new method were indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells and could be transformed into any type of tissue such as lung, heart, brain, and muscle.

Unlike the retrovirus-treated cells, the adenovirus-treated cells do not produce cancerous tumors.

“What our experiment shows is you can do this without an integrating virus. You do not need integration of the DNA into the genome to produce iPS cells,” Hochedlinger said. Robert Lanza,

Young African woman crawls 2.5 miles to attend Sunday Mass

Valencia (CNA) - The Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly in Chissano (Mozambique) took into their home in August a 25-year-old African woman named Olivia, who despite not being baptised at the time and not having any legs, crawled 2.5 miles every Sunday to attend Mass.

According to the AVAN news agency, the nuns said that one day, they saw “something moving on the ground far away,” and

According to the Washington Post, Hochedlinger said his team is trying to streamline the production process, perhaps by supplementing the new genes with chemicals that flip biological switches.

Critics of embryonic stem cell research praised the findings as evidence that ethically questionable embryonic research is unnecessary.

“This is the latest in a line of studies showing that the practical problems associated with using ‘reprogrammed’ adult cells are rapidly being solved,” Richard Doerflinger of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said in an e-mail to the Washington Post.

Hochedlinger and others argue research on embryonic stem cells must continue because it is unclear whether other stem cell therapies will prove effective.

when they drew near they saw, “to our surprise, that it was a young woman.”

“We were able to talk to her through a lady who was walking by and who translated into Portuguese what she was saying to us” in her dialect, they said.

The Sisters said that although “the sand from the road burned the palms of her hands during the hottest times of the year,” the young woman crawled to Mass, “giving witness of perseverance and heroic faith.” The young woman received baptismal preparation from a catechist, who periodically visited her at home. One of the Sisters’ benefactors gave her a wheelchair.

Konrad Hochedlinger

Fr Tomislav Vlasic

Kids bitz colouring/activities

art/craft

easy tie dye with a coffee filter

age g roup (preschool)

You’ll need:

Coffee Filters

Food colouring

Medicine dropper or small paint brush and a muffin tin to hold the water and colour.

Action:

Mix food colouring with water.

Be sure the colour remains strong!

Have your child drop the coloured water onto the filter and watch it spread.

So interesting to watch that kids love to make more !

t ie dye Butterfly age g roup (preschool)

You’ll Need

1 dry tie dye filter clothes pin, Pipe cleaner, magnet or magnetic tape, Glue gun or strong glue.

Action:

Scrunch the filter in the middle, to form wings.

Secure with a pipe cleaner. Glue to the clothes pin.

Attach the magnetic tape or magnet!

s traw Painting

You’ll need:

Straws

Poster or tempera paint

Paper

Action:

Place drops of paint onto the paper, and blow!

Maneuvre the paint to go in any direction by moving your straw.

Remind children to take a break, to avoid dizziness.

Combine with a Ping Pong ball blowing game, and you have a science lesson that’s really FUN!

David decided to fight Goliath himself. “With God’s help, I can defeat him,” he cried bravely.

jokes

T HR ee guys were fishing in a lake one day, when an angel appeared in the boat.

When the three astonished men had settled down enough to speak, the first guy asked the angel humbly, “I’ve suffered from back pain ever since I took shrapnel in the Vietnam War ... Could you help me?”

“Of course,” the angel said, and when he touched the man’s back, the man felt relief for the first time in years.

The second guy wore very thick glasses and had a hard time reading and driving. He asked if the angel could do anything about his poor eyesight. The angel smiled, removed the man’s glasses and tossed them into the lake. When they hit the water, the man’s eyes cleared and he could see everything distinctly.

When the angel turned to the third guy, the guy put his hands out defensively -- “Don’t touch me!” he cried, “I’m on a disability pension.”

A FATH e R and son went fishing one day.

While they were out in the boat, the boy suddenly became curious about the world around him. He asked his father, “How does this boat float?

The father replied, “Don’t rightly know son.” A little later, the boy looked at his father and asked, “How do fish breath underwater?”

Once again the father replied, “Don’t rightly know son.” A little later the boy asked his father, “Why is the sky blue?”

Again, the father repied. “Don’t rightly know son.” Finally, the boy asked his father, “Dad, do you mind my asking you all of these questions?”

The father replied, “Of course not, you don’t ask questions, you never learn nothin’.”

Moses never forgot thaty he was an Israelite. One day he would become their greatest leader, and save his people from slavery.

T WO friends rented a boat and fished in a lake every day. One day they caught 30 fish. One guy said to his friend, “Mark this spot so that we can come back here again tomorrow.”

The next day, when they were driving to rent the boat, the same guy asked his friend, “Did you mark that spot?”

His friend replied, “Yeah, I put a big ‘X’ on the bottom of the boat.”

The first one said, “You stupid fool! What if we don’t get that same boat today!?!?”

A N elderly fisherman wrote to a mail order house the following: “Please send me one of those gasoline engines for my boat you show on page 438, and if it’s any good, I’ll send you a cheque.”

In a short time he received the following reply: “Please send cheque. If it’s any good, we’ll send the engine.”

Panorama

A roundup of events in the Archdiocese

Panorama entries must be in by 12pm Monday.

Contributions may be emailed to administration@therecord.com.au, faxed to 9227 7087, or mailed to PO Box 75, Leederville, WA 6902.

Submissions over 55 words will be edited. Inclusion is limited to 4 weeks. Events charging over $10 will be a put into classifieds and charged accordingly. The Record reserves the right to decline or modify any advertisment.

Sunday October 5

DIVINE MERCY

1.30pm at St Joachim’s Church, Shepperton Road and Harper Street, Victoria Park, an afternoon with Jesus and Mary, Holy Rosary and Reconciliation. Sermon on Saint Faustina, by Fr Nicholas Pereira, followed by Divine Mercy prayers and Benediction. Refreshments, followed by video/DVD, on The Power of the Holy Rosary, Part 4 by Fr John Corapi. Enq: John 9457 7771 or Linda 9275 6608.

Tuesday October 7

SEVENTH ANNUAL NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF THE MIRACLES

5.30pm at St Luke’s Parish, 2 Parkside Ramble, Woodvale, Novena continues for nine consecutive Tuesdays. Private petitions welcome. Novena booklets provided. Enq: 9409 2908.

Friday October 10 to Sunday October 12

POST WYD YOUNG ADULT CONFERENCE

7pm at Chisholm Catholic College, Bedford; the time has come to activ8! Learn more about how to activ8 youth ministry in your local community. Dynamic speakers covering topics such as, searching for answers, social justice, leadership development, youth resources, prayer experiences and more. Visit www.activ8.org.au, http:// www.activ8.org.au or 08 9422 7944.

Sunday October 12

MEJELLAN 50TH ANNIVERSARY AND FAREWELL MASS

2pm at Redemptorist Monastery, North Perth. Followed by afternoon tea, Retreat House. One plate per car. All Majellans are welcome. Enq: Kath 9446 6514 or Leeola 9307 5990.

Sunday October 12

ALLEGRI CHAMBER ORCHESTRA ALL ITALIAN MUSIC PROGRAM

3pm at St Thomas Church, Claremont, Soloist will be noted organist Mario Duella, to give the premiere performance in WA of Respighi’s Suite for Organ and Strings, also Albinoni’s Adagio for Organ and Strings. Corelli, Rossini and Puccini works make up rest of program. Tickets available through BOCS or at the door. Enq: 9383 3747 or gail.owen15@bigpond.com

Wednesday October 15

TOUCH OF HEAVEN - ALAN AMES HEALING MASS

7pm at St Gerard Majella, Mirrabooka. Enq; Loreta 9444 4409.

Wednesday October 15

SOLEMNITY OF ST. TERESA AND SILVER JUBILEE OF SR. ROSE (RODRIGUES)

10am at the Carmelite Monastery, 100 Adelma Road, Nedlands, a Solemn Concelebrated Mass will be offered, Bishop Don Sproxton will be the Principal Celebrant. All are most welcome to the Mass and morning tea afterwards.

Sunday October 19 to Tuesday October 28

FR FRANCIS MERLINO (OFM CAP) NATIONAL

RESPONSIBLE FOR MMP – WA VISIT

October 20 to 22 will hold Cenacles at Geraldton. Enq: 9927 1451. Priest Cenacle, October 23, Albany, October 24. Pemberton October 25, Enq: 9824 1134. All Saints Church, Greenwood, October 28. Other venues to be advised. Enq: 9341 8082

Friday October 24

SETON CATHOLIC COLLEGE

EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL BR FRANCIS VISUAL AND PRACTICAL ARTS EXHIBITION

Opening 7pm to 9.30pm at Seton College, Marchant Road, Samson, with presentation of Awards. Work from Years 8-12 students includes religious art, paintings, photography, ceramics, printmaking, digital media, and also large and small projects in wood. Viewing of exhibition

will be on 27 and 28 October, from 8.30am to 3.45pm at the college. Enq: 9314 1816.

Friday October 24 to Sunday October 26

SPRINGTIME DANCING RETREAT

Commencing 7.30pm to 2pm at Penola, St Joseph’s Retreat, Safety Bay. Enquiries and registrations: Sr Shelley M Barlow, 9271 3873.

Saturday October 25

CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE REUNION CELEBRATION

The Corpus Christi College class of 1988 invites students in the second stream of 1984 to 1988 to the 20th Anniversary Reunion Celebration at Tradewinds Hotel, Fremantle, commencing 6pm. Enq: Justine Rosevear -Tavani 9314 1454 or Vickie Loveridge by email: alan4vickie@bigpond.com

Sunday November 2

FUNDRAISING CONCERT FOR THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR

2pm at Little Sisters Community Hall, Rawlins Street, Glendalough, in the presence of Bishop Don Sproxton, come and enjoy your favourite sounds of music, afternoon tea and door prizes. Tickets are $10. All proceeds to the Little Sisters. Door sales, bookings welcome. Enq: Mary 9443 3963 or Angela 9275 2066.

Friday November 7

THE ALLIANCE, TRIUMPH AND REIGN OF THE UNITED SACRED HEART OF JESUS AND THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

5.15 pm at St Bernadette’s Church, Glendalough, confession; Mass 5.45 pm, followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, hourly rosaries, hymns and reflections etc, throughout the night. Vigil concludes with midnight Mass in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Enq: Father Doug Harris 9444 6131 or Dorothy 9342 5845.

Saturday November 8

20-YEAR REUNION–LA SALLE COLLEGE CLASS OF ‘88

7.30pm at The Queens Hotel, Beaufort Street, Highgate; Enq: Melanie Hood (Franklin) 0413675596 or Phil Miolin 0425758262 or philipmiolin@hotmail.com by 31 October.

Sunday November 16

AUCTION FOR THE POOREST OF THE POOR IN INDIA

12noon at Our Lady of the Mission Parish Hall, 70 Camberwarra Drive, Craigie, please spring clean your cupboards and garage and donate items in good condition, gifts and gadgets etc excess to your needs and help $1 turn into 2 kilos rice in India for the Ragpickers children etc. Enq: Sheila 9309 5071 or shannons3s@ optusnet.com.au.

April 13 - 27, 2009

THE ORDER OF ST PETER AND PAUL AND ST PIO PRAYER GROUP PILGRIMAGE TO MALTA AND ITALY

Honour the year of St Paul and resumation of St Pio. Itinerary is Perth, Malta, Messina, Palermo, Siracusa, Agrigento, San Giovanni Rotondo, Lanciano, Assisi, Loreto, Padova, Milano and Perth. Spiritual Director- Fr Joseph Tran, Co-ordinator Nick De Luca. Enq: famdeluca@ optusnet.com.au or 9378 2684.

Every 2nd Wednesday of the Month

CHAPLETS OF THE DIVINE MERCY

7.30pm at St Thomas More Catholic Church, Dean Road Bateman; beautiful, prayerful, sung devotions. All are welcome. Enquiries to George Lopez 9310 9493(home) or 9325 2010 (work).

Every Saturday and Sunday

FUNDRAISING ART EXHIBTION FOR CATHEDRAL

COMPLETION

Commencing 4 October to 2 November at Our Lady of Grace Parish Centre, 3 Kitchener Street, North Beach.

Margaret Fane, currently studying Art and Spirituality in Rome, will hold an exhibition of her paintings, after the 6pm Saturday evening Mass and Sundays after the 7.30am, 9.30am and 5.30pm Mass. Paintings are in oil and watercolour, ranging from $25 to $4000. Enq: 9448 4888.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Jesuit Volunteers Australia calls for part time volunteers to respond to the needs of people in the community who live in marginalised circumstances. At the heart of this program is a reflective process, based on Gospel values, which underpins the work of the volunteers. Enq: Kevin 9316 3469 or kwringe@iinet.net.au, www.jss.org.au

JOSEPHITE-MARY MACKILLOP CALENDARS 2009

Special Edition Centenary year of Blessed Mary MacKillop’s death. The calendars will be available in October and if you would like to purchase a copy please ring Sr Maree 9334 0933.

Every Sunday LATIN MASS KELMSCOTT

The Latin Mass according to the 1962 missal will be offered every Sunday at 2pm at the Good Shepherd Parish, 40-42 Streich Avenue, Kelmscott, with Rosary preceding. All welcome.

Every Sunday until November 30 THEOLOGY OF THE BODY - UNDERSTAND YOUR SEXUALITY, REALI S E YOUR DIGNITY AND DISCOVER YOURSELF

4pm at 67 Howe Street Osborne Park, commencing September 28. Free seminar. Presenters Disciples of Jesus Catholic Covenant Community and Youth Ministry leaders. Find out what it means to be man or woman. Why we are called to live a life of purity and chastity. A must for 16-25 years group. Enq: Shannon 9444 1467 or 0429 421 149.

Every 4th Sunday of the Month

HOLY HOUR PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

2-3pm at Infant Jesus Church, Wellington Road, Morley, commencing 28 September, the hour includes exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Let us implore God to rain an abundance of new life into our Church, open our hearts and those of the young people of the world to hear His Word for us now, today. Prayer works! All welcome! Enq: 9276 8500.

Every Sunday

PILGRIM MASS

2pm at Shrine of Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Road, Bullsbrook; with Rosary and Benediction. Reconciliation is available in Italian and English. Anointing of the sick; second Sunday during Mass. Pilgrimage in honour of the Virgin; last Sunday of month. Side entrance and shrine open daily between 9am and 5pm. Enq: 9447 3292.

Third Sunday of the Month

MEDITATIVE PRAYER IN THE SPIRIT OF TAIZEINTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE

7pm-8pm at Sisters of St Joseph Chapel, 16 York Street, South Perth; come and join in praying together for peace throughout the world. You will be invited to light a candle as a symbol of peace. Bring your friends and a small torch. Everyone welcome. Enq: Sister Maree Riddler 0414 683 926.

Every Thursday until October 2

B E B APTIZED BY F IRE: T HE H OLY S PIRIT AND H IS A NOINTING

7.45pm, 450 Hay Street, Perth. CATHEDRAL PRAISE MEETING. A Free Seminar on the Power of the Holy Spirit. Oil. Water. Light. Cloud. Seal. Hand. Finger. Dove. Fire, and a mighty rushing Ruah! Presented by Flame Ministries International - Ph: 9382 36689.

Every Tuesday

NOVENA TO GOD THE FATHER

7.30pm St Joachim’s Parish Hall, Shepperton Road, Victoria Park; incorporating a Bible teaching, a Perpetual Novena to God the Father and Hymns. Light refreshments will follow. Bring a Bible and a friend. Enq: Jan 9323 8089.

Every Monday

ADORATION, RECONCILIATION AND MASS

7pm at St Thomas, corner Melville and College Roads, Claremont; Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament with Evening Prayer and Benediction, spend 40 minutes quietly before our Lord for the health, faith and safety of yourself and your loved ones; Reconciliation 7.30pm, Mass and Night Prayer 8pm. Come to all or part of this evening of prayer.

Every 1st Tuesday of the Month

H EALING M ASS

7.30pm at St Joachim’s Parish Hall, Shepperton Road, Victoria Park. Incorporating hymns, spiritual reflection and Novena to God the Father. Enq: Jan 9323 8089.

Every Sunday

MUSICIANS AND SINGERS

6pm at the Redemptorist Monastery Church, Vincent Street, North Perth; the Shalomites have been providing the music and singing for over thirty years. We are looking for new members particularly musicians. All interested singers and musicians are welcome. Enq: Stephen or Sheelagh 9339 0619.

Every 1st Sunday of Month

DIVINE MERCY

Commencing with the 3 o’clock Prayer at Santa Clara Parish, Bentley, followed by the Chaplet, reflection and Benediction. All friends and neighbouring parishes invited. Tea and coffee provided. Enq: Muriel 9458 2944.

Every Thursday

J OURNEY T HROUGH THE B IBLE

7.30pm, Acts 2 College of Mission and Evangelisation, Osborne Park using The Bible Timeline; The Great Adventure can be studied towards accredited course or for interest. Resources provided. See http://www. acts2come.wa.edu.au/ or Jane 0401 692 690.

First Friday and First Saturday

COMMUNION OF R EPARATION - A LL N IGHT V IGIL Corpus Christi Church, Mosman Park, 47 Lochee Road. Starting with Mass at 7pm on Friday with Father Bogoni and concluding with Mass at midnight. Confessions, Rosaries, Prayers and silent Adoration every hour. Please join us for reparation to The Two Hearts according to the message of Our Lady of Fatima. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357.

First Friday of Each Month

CFC PRAYER ASSEMBLY

7.30pm at St Joachim Parish Hall, Shepperton Road, Victoria Park. The Couples For Christ and its Family Ministries welcome all members who now reside or are visiting Perth to join the community in its monthly general prayer assembly. Enq: Tony and Dolly Haber 9440 4540.

CARETAKER COUPLE NEEDED

For Catholic Church, Bindoon. Accommodation provided. Suit active pensioners. For details telephone 9571 1839 or 9576 0006.

A L - A N ON FAMILY G ROUPS

If a loved one’s drinking is worrying you – please call Al-Anon Family Groups, for confidential information, meetings etc. Call 9325 7528, 24 hours.

BOOK DONATIONS WANTED

We urgently need donations of Altar Vessels, Catholic books, Bibles, Divine Office, Missals, Lectionaries, Sacramentaries etc. Telephone: (08) 9293 3092.

Abortion women uged to get tested for AIDS

MADRID (CNA) - The civil rights watchdog website in Spain, Hazteoir.org, reported last week that French health care officials are recommending that women who obtained abortions from Spanish doctor Carlos Morin undergo HIV tests to ensure they were not infected during the procedure.

The website’s report indicated that the witness in the case against Morin has testified that the Spanish doctor, who was the owner of the Ginemedex clinic, had been suffering from AIDS for nine years.

“He never informed his patients of his illness and continued practising abortions with his own hands,” the website reports.

In response, the French Minister of Health recommended that women who

underwent abortions there get tested for the disease.

Maria Teresa Rodriguez Pomatta of the Association of Victims of Abortion in Spain said: “We are deeply saddened that it had to be French healthcare officials (not those of Spain) who issued the official alert about an abortion doctor with AIDS in Barcelona.”

She said it was sad that Spanish officials “seem to be more concerned with shielding those who make money from this business rather than protecting and caring for the health of women.”

She said the AVA has offered free AIDS testing to all women who underwent abortions at Morin’s clinic.

“We are aware of the double victimisation that these families have suffered,” said one doctor who collaborates with the AVA.

“On the one hand, they have lost their children; on the other, they have done so in unhealthy conditions.”

BUILDING TRADES

n BRICK RE-poINTING

Phone Nigel 9242 2952.

n pERRoTT pAINTING pT y LTD

For all your residential, commercial painting requirements. Phone Tom Perrott 9444 1200.

n BRICKLAyING

20 years exp. Quality work. Ph 9405 7333 or 0409 296 598.

n pICASSo pAINTING

Top service. Phone 0419 915 836, fax 9345 0505.

RELIGIoUS pRoDUCTS

n oRDER oF SERVICE BooKLETS

For weddings, anniversaries, funerals, any occasion. Custom made personalised booklets. Quick turnaround time. Any quantity. Call Maurise, on 040 435 3831.

n GIFTS oF LoVE

Individually made to order, candles of your choice for baptisms, weddings, and other special occasions. Custom made rosary beads or choose from our exclusive range. Hand made leather bible and missal covers, religious statues, icons and other exclusive gifts of love. “The greatest of them is love” 1 Corinthians 13:13 Please e-mail giftsoflove@amnet.net.au Call Rose 0437 400 247 after 4pm.

n CAThoLICS CoRNER

Retailer of Catholic products 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.

n RICh hARVEST – yoUR

ChRISTIAN Shop

14/15

15

16

mISSIoN mATTERS

Reflections on this Sunday’s Gospel; matthew 21:42

“It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the key stone” …” Our missionaries are the ‘key stone’ from which the message of God’s love reaches out to those who suffer the most in povertystricken, disaster-prone and war-torn communities throughout the developing world. More often than not they carry out their work quietly without any recognition, away from the media spotlight. Yet they are there amongst the people long before any crisis takes hold and remain long after humanitarian aid and media agencies have left. The keystone remains hidden, but it is the foundation on which God’s kingdom is built.

Call the Mission Office on 9422 7933 should you want to explore this idea further.

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

n ALL SAINTS hANDCRAFTED

RoSARIES AND ChApLETS

View our current range of original Rosaries, chaplets and bracelets for all occasions. Custom orders in the beads and colour of your choice are welcome. Contact Elisa on 0421 020 462 or email allsaintscreations@iinet.net.au

n KINLAR VESTmENTS

‘Modern meets tradition.’ Quality hand-made & decorated. Vestments, altar cloths, banners. Vickii Smith Veness. 9402 8356 or 0409 114 093.

n oTTImo

Shop 108 TRINITY ARCADE (Terrace Level) Hay St, Perth Ph 9322 4520. Convenient city location for a good selection of Christian products/ gifts. We also have handbags, fashion accessories. Opening hours Monday-Friday 9am-6pm.

BooK REpAIRS

n REpAIR yoUR LITURGICAL

BooKS

General repairs to books, old bibles & missals. 2ndhand Catholic books avail. Tydewi Bindery 9293 3092.

hoLIDAy ACComoDATIoN

n mANDURAh

Fully furnished, air conditioned two bedroom flat. 100m to Doddis Beach ring 08 9385 9732 or 0403 194 601.

n mANDURAh

Townhouse in Resort Complex. Fully furnished. Sleeps 6. Phone 0419 959 193 or email valma7@bigpond.com

EmpLoymENT

n CARETAKER/hANDymAN

For Catholic Church, Bindoon. Free Accom provided. Suit pensioner. For details telephone 9571 1839 or 9576 0006.

SETTLEmENTS

EFFECTIVE LEGAL, family owned law firm focusing on property settlements and wills. If you are buying, selling or investing in property, protect your family and your investment, contact us on (08) 9218 9177.

WANTED

n oRGANIST

St Joseph’s, Subiaco is seeking an organist to play for Masses and other occasions. Lessons given if required. Please contact Michael Peters, Director of Music, on 041 429 4338 or michael@michaelpeters.id.au

FURNITURE REmoVAL

n ALL AREAS

Mike Murphy 0416 226 434.

RETREATS

n CRoSS RoADS

Retreat “Dealing with Change” with Fr Paul Baczynski at Perth’s Premier Retreat Centre Shoalwater. Rooms with own ensuite. Excellent

the R ecoRd

Bookshop

the st mary’s range

Created from the Jarrah of St Mary’s Cathedral laid down in 1865, these unique items are the result of individually hand-made craftsmanship that truly brings yesteryear alive. Each individually numbered pen (fountain pen or rollerball) is at least 143 years old. EVERY ITEM IS UNIQUELY DIFFERENT.

EmpEror fountain pEn $495

(also available as rollerball $475)

Pill Box $45

StatESman fountain pEn $435

(also available as rollerball $405)

Lamp $95 by order only

*lampshade display purposes only

praying the rosary for inner hea L ing

By fr dwight Longenecker

Discover the parallels between your life and the mysteries of the rosary while experiencing the healing graces of Our Lady. Where our lives are characterised by trauma, stress, pain or sadness, this acient contemplative prayer can bring acceptance understanding and joy.

Through a series of stories, reflections and prayerful meditations, Fr Dwight Longenecker reveals a powerful and very personal approach to using the Rosary as a process of transformation and healing from the inside out.

$22.95+postage

LadiES rangE

(Slightly smaller and lighter)

Emperor fountain $475

Emperor rollerball $455

Statesman fountain $425 Statesman rollerball $395

Trinket

saints companions for each day

By a Jm mausolfe and JK mausolfe

revised by Ladislaus L d”souza

A collection of brief life sketches of around 400 saints, who are some of the Catholic Churchs outstanding heroes and heroines who, by their holy lives, untiring labours and sacrifices have, through the centuries, helped to sustain that indestructible marvel.

$15.95+postage

once upon a time saints

By ethel pochocki with illustrations by tom matt who are these once upon a time saints? They were everyday folks leading everyday lives - but then something happened. God spoke to them, and they stopped and listened. They took their ordinary lives and turned them into extraordinary adventures.

$16.95+postage

m ary mac K i LLop

Touching our lives

By Judith m steer

We remember Blessed Mary Mackillop not only beacause of what she achieved more than one hundred years ago but because her life continues to speak to us today. As we face various challenges - new beginnings, endings, creative moments - we can learn from Mary’s responses to such situations in her life.

$14.95+postage

Potpourie Holder $95

Box $95