The Record Newspaper 04 March 2009

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Think you have those in real need and while in doing it , enter the spirit of... it, enter the spirit of...

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Maddington initiative - Page 7

Lent Lent

THE R ECORD

Garden weddings - can I attend? Fr Flader replies - Page 12

“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.”

Parish. the Nation. the World.

Cathedral work enters home stretch, but extra $7.5 million needed

Appeal raised

Expected completion: late 2009. The new cathedral will add to the character of Perth

ARCHBISHOP Barry Hickey

has announced with gratitude that the initial target of $25 million for the St Mary’s Cathedral appeal has been exceeded due to the generosity of thousands of Western Australians.

However, the effects of the recent WA boom on building costs has forced the Archdiocese to lift its appeal target by $7.5 million to meet the final costs of the conser-

vation and completion of St Mary’s Cathedral.

Announcing the increased target of $32.9 million, Archbishop Hickey and appeal chairman Monsignor Michael Keating said that the new appeal would be conducted across the community. It would not affect the commitment of the schools, which were currently in the third and final year of their commitment to raise

HITTING THE RIGHT NOTE

MICHAEL PETERS tells DEBBIE WARRIER about the joys of faith, good liturgy and music. Vista 4

the equivalent of $20 a year for each family, or the parishes, which would launch the third year of their fundraising commitment on the weekend of May 23-24.

They added that despite some confusion generated by general media reporting, appeal funds would not be used on the renovation of the Cathedral presbytery. The two projects were now in progress simultaneously, but the Cathedral appeal funds would be used exclusively for the Cathedral.

“The response to the initial appeal for the Cathedral has been

wonderfully generous and we have already reached $25.4 million in gifts and pledges, with $21.3 million of that in hand,” Archbishop Hickey said.

“I am full of gratitude for this generosity and am reluctant to ask for additional funds, but I am sure people will understand both the need and the reasons for it,” he said.

“The fund-raising so far includes $2.4 million from the Alice and Jim Hassell bequest, $5 million from the Archdiocese, and $4 million and $3 million from

THE ITALIAN WAY

the Commonwealth and State Governments respectively.

“The clergy pledged $150,000 to fund the high altar and ambo and added another $350,000 in their own donations.

“The parishes’ target of $2.4 million is within reach, and the religious orders and multicultural associations have been very generous.

“The leadership donors contributed $4.5 million in gifts ranging

Continued - Page 7

Another St Mary’s - in Leedervillelaunches its own appeal - Page 3

Fr ANTHONY PAGANONI continues his series on a fascinating success in youth ministry in Italy. Vista 4

-Bishop Matthew Gibney 1874

St Mary’s Cathedral is progressing well towards completion, fundraising organisers say, but mining boom cost increases mean a final appeal is necessary.

THE PARISH

THE WEEK

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.”

From the First Letter to the Corinthians, 15: 20-22

Loretos ready to celebrate founder

Loreto Sisters look forward to coming celebrations of Mary Ward’s life as marking 400 Years of inspiration.

ONE of the earliest pioneers of women’s education, Mary Ward, will be recognised in Western Australia and around the world this year with celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the Institute she founded.

Mary Ward was an Englishwoman who founded the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Loreto Sisters. She believed women and men were of equal intellect and that women could achieve great things. Her Institute began when she started teaching young women in 1609.

For remaining faithful to her insights, she was imprisoned by the Church and those who joined her were disbanded and the Institute suppressed. However, the work of education continued in pockets across Europe. In 1909, Mary Ward was officially recognised as the official founder of the Institute.

WA Loreto Sister, Sr Marg Finlay said: “The purpose of the celebrations is to claim Mary Ward’s vision, values, spirituality and prophetic response in our 21st century context.

“Her message for the contemporary Church was not a cry for equality with men, but a call for the recognition of what women could do, and for freedom to put their abilities into practice.”

Mary Ward’s legacy is evident today with Mary Ward women working in 43

countries across the world. About 4000 sisters are involved in education, health care and community building. They are found working with those most in need – prisoners, indigenous communities, those living with HIV, trafficked women and women suffering from domestic violence.

“In Western Australia, the Loreto Sisters are involved in education at Loreto Nedlands and John XXIII College in Mt Claremont,” Sr Finlay said.

“Our work also involves supporting and assisting in a Night Shelter for Homeless Women in Fremantle and Chaplaincy within the Women’s Prison and a Public Hospital.

“Other Sisters are involved in the Pastoral Ministry associated with a group of remote, rural towns in the State’s MidWest.

“Here in Perth, two women’s circles meet monthly. One of these, the Circle of Peace engages in inter-faith activities where Christian, Muslim and Jewish women meet to share and learn more about their beliefs and values.”

The anniversary will be celebrated internationally with a pilgrimage to Rome from October 4-9, 2009. An extended pilgrimage will continue across Europe to places of significance in Mary Ward’s life.

Closer to home, several celebrations will be held in Perth including:

• March 20, 2009 - A Past Students’ Reunion at John XXIII College.

• May 22, 2009 - A special Eucharist will be celebrated by Archbishop Barry Hickey for all past students, students and friends at John XXIII College, Mt Claremont.

• September 1, 2009 - Loreto in Australia - book launch and the Mary Ward Justice Lecture at Loreto Primary School Nedlands.

MORE INFORMATION

More information and details about the events can be found on the Loreto website: www.loreto.org.au

A lasting memory of Lent for the young

Mary Ward

Children from the Pre-Primary classes at Queen of Apostles Primary School in Riverton, receive the Ashes from Pallotine Father Paul Manickathan following the school Ash Wednesday Mass. PHOTO: QUEEN OF APOSTLES

Church takes aim at new roof

St Mary’s Church, Leederville, has hit on a creative way to raise needed funds.

■ By Anthony Barich

EIGHTY years of wear have finally caught up with the roof tiles on Leederville’s iconic landmark, St Mary’s Church, at the top of Shakespeare Street.

Every tile on the roof must be replaced at a cost of over $300,000, and to raise funds for the roof restoration, parish priest Fr Ossie Lewis has announced a Buy a Tile for St Mary’s campaign in which tiles are being sold to donors for $5 each and the names of the donors recorded in a commemorative book to be displayed in the church.

The severe condition of the roof tiles was discovered during the first stage of restoration work on the church last year.

Fr Lewis said workers had just started on what was to be a $1 million restoration project - that involves fixing the stained glass windows and the church’s foundations, plus re-polishing the pews and floor, as well as new lighting, sound system and carpet - when the dangerous tiles were discovered.

“The replacement of the roof has now become our major priority as a severe storm could completely destroy our heritage listed building, and pose a risk to parishioners” Fr Lewis said.

The new $300,000 bill for the roof brings the total funds still needed to $800,000, as $500,000

Atheist ads for Montreal buses

QUEBEC CITY (CNS) - An international atheist ad campaign, modelled on similar campaigns in England and Spain, will be featured on buses in Quebec in March.

The slogan - “God probably doesn’t exist. So stop worrying and get on with your life” - piqued the interest of the Quebec Humanist Association, which translated it into French and arranged for it to be displayed on 10 central Montreal buses for three weeks.

The same ad also will be displayed later this northern spring on Toronto buses, although transportation authorities in British Columbia, Nova Scotia and other parts of Ontario have refused the campaign, said Michel Virard, president of the Quebec Humanist Association.

“Our goal is for our beliefs to be accepted, like anyone else’s,” Virard told local media. He said atheists are sometimes the victims of discrimination.

Bertrand Ouellet, secretarygeneral of the Quebec Assembly of Bishops, offered a tongue-incheek comment on the ad campaign, saying, “If they said that God probably doesn’t exist that means they’re not quite so sure of their affirmation.”

But Ouellet said the presence of the campaign also underlines that Canadians are lucky to live in “a society which values freedom of thought and of expression.” Virard said the campaign will solicit funds from nonbelievers.

“There are more than 400,000 nonbelievers in Quebec, according to Statistics Canada. That

has already been raised through a $300,000 grant from the Archdiocese of Perth and parishioners fundraising $200,000.

Fr Lewis said he was hopeful of receiving assistance through a grant from Lotterywest through their Heritage Grants program and is applying for Federal Government funding through the recently announced heritage funding in

makes us, therefore, the second religious group in Quebecmany will surely be interested in our humanist association,” he said.

Physicians take steps to defend conscience rights

WASHINGTON (CNS) - To combat what they see as threats to the conscience rights of health care professionals who oppose abortion, the Catholic Medical Association and other organisations are taking both legal and educational steps.

The Philadelphia-based Catholic Medical Association, which has some 1100 members nationwide, has joined with the Christian Medical Association and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists in an effort to intervene legally against lawsuits filed by the attorneys general of eight States, Planned Parenthood of America and the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association.

The suits seek to overturn a Department of Health and Human Services regulation that codifies several existing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination against health professionals who decline to participate in abortions or other medical procedures because of their religious or other moral objections.

Members of the Catholic Medical Association will also get involved personally in defending conscience rights by making the case before their local medical societies, through letters to the editor and in peer-to-peer contacts.

the $42 billion economic stimulus package.

“We hope the wider community in our district, especially those who have had an association with St Mary’s through school, weddings or baptisms support our Buy a Tile program,” he said.

Tax-free donations can also be made for the restoration and conservation project through the

The tiles are being sold before and after each Mass or can be bought at the parish office in Franklin Street from 9am to 1pm Monday to Friday.

Fr Lewis can be contacted on (08) on 9444 9624.

FR CORAPI LENTEN RETREAT DVD

will be screened during Lent on Tuesday10 March and Tuesday 17 March at: The Infant Jesus Catholic Church in Wellington St Morley. Starting at 7.30pm both nights. There are two one hour sessions per night, which includes Fr Corapi's Conversion Story. The event is proudly hosted by THE WORLD APOSTOLATE OF FATIMA

Light refreshments will be provided.

Created from the Jarrah of St Mary’s Cathedral laid down in 1865, this exquisite, unique range of gifts is the result of master craftsmanship, with every piece handmade. The wood used in the construction of these beautiful objects of devotion is at least 143 years old. Available from and on display at The Record Bookshop.

National Trust account established for the church. Donation envelopes are available at the church office.

Leederville Parish Priest Fr Ossie Lewis displays one of the tiles from the parish Church roof that needs replacing. The parish has decided to launch a buy-a-tile campaign to help raise the $300,000 it will take to repair the roof.

PHOTO: ANTHONY BARICH

Created from the Jarrah of St Mary’s Cathedral laid down in 1865, this esquisite, unique range of gifts is the result of master craftsmanship, with every piece handmade. The wood used in the construction of these beautiful objects of devotion is at least 143 years old. Available from, and on display, at The Record Bookshop.

Phone Caroline on (08) 9227 7080 or email: bookshop@therecord.com.au

Compassion leads to research

Perth woman’s bequest prompted by quality of hospital staff care

■ By Anthony Barich

THE compassionate and friendly nature of hospital staff prompted terminally ill Jean Tonkinson to donate her and her husband’s entire estate to the establishment of a foundation to help bowel cancer patients and research, assisted by St John of God Hospital Subiaco.

Welsh-born Mrs Tonkinson, who trained as a Registered Nurse at the University College Hospital in London and later worked at Royal Perth Hospital, was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer in 2007 after her husband John died of a rare abdominal cancer in 2000.

The compassionate care given to her husband by staff at Charles Gairdner Hospital and, since she was diagnosed herself, by staff of St John of God, has “amazed” her.

Given 18 months to live when diagnosed, she approached St

John of God hospital, though she is not Catholic, to establish what would become known as the Jean and John Tonkinson Research Foundation. And when it was launched on February 18, she said her husband would “have a big smile on his face”.

The foundation’s work, she said at the launch, would combine her own love of medicine and scientific research with the

love of education had by her husband, who taught at Scotch College for almost 30 years.

One of his students was Michael Levitt, St John of God Hospital’s director of medical services and chairman of the foundation.

Mrs Tonkinson said she felt sorry for the medical practitioner who first told her that she had cancer, and said that her immediate response was “that’s a bit of a nuisance”.

“I’ve had a marvelous life, so if I could imagine that, in 10 years time, some young people who shared my own love of science and John’s love of education would benefit from the work of the foundation, that would make me very happy,” she said at the launch.

Some 12,000 Australians are newly diagnosed with bowel cancer annually, and 5000 die from it a year.

The foundation will assist academic rigour, scientific endeavour and patient care, Mr Levitt said.

“Through ethical, cuttingedge research, we hope to better understand the nature of this deadly disease and to treat it more effectively,” he said.

Choir promotes Perth’s homeless cause

Spirit of the Street Choir raises awareness

■ By Anthony Barich

EVERY Tuesday at St Brigid’s parish hall in Northbridge, anywhere up to 20 people who are doing it tough get together to belt out a few tunes.

They are the Spirit of the Street Choir, modelled on the Choir of Hard Knocks in Melbourne, which was featured in an edition of The Big Issue magazine that homeless people sell in front of shopping centres around Perth.

The Perth choir is run by Bernard Carney, who runs a show for senior citizens for the City of Perth at the Town Hall. Two years ago he was interviewing the manager of the Big Issue at one of these shows who mentioned the Choir of Hard Knocks, and Bernard realised he could start something similar here.

At least two-thirds of the Spirit of the Street choir are “doing it tough”, Bernard says, while others are volunteers – “the glue that holds it together”, helping him find where choristers are if organisers haven’t heard from them in a few weeks and getting them to gigs. “It’s an inclusive little musical organisation that’s trying to put a bit of good feeling around the community and introduce it to the idea that there are a lot of people who are doing it tough,” Bernard said.

Most of its choir members have some kind of mental health or ex-addiction problem.

Christian life is a constant battle

MEXICO CITY, Mexico

(CNA)

Seat of Wisdom at Notre Dame

Since forming in May 2007, the choir has played at Burswood, the Perth Convention Centre, social welfare conferences, the St Vincent de Paul State conference and most recently at the February 6 launch of the Where to Go brochure by Archbishop Barry Hickey at Queen of Martyrs parish hall in Maylands.

Key players in the production of the brochure were Julie Williams, Coordinator of Shopfront, the diocesan agency established in 2001 that offers assistance, friendship, support and a referral service to marginalised people. Christian Brother Peter Negus is the director of Shopfront.

Late last year Julie Williams was one of a number of people meeting with others working in

reminds us that the Christian life is a relentless battle in which we must use the weapons of prayer, fasting and penance.”

As he distributed the ashes during a Mass celebrating Ash Wednesday at the archdiocesan Cathedral, he explained: “Lent is not mere ritualism, but rather a time of reflection and conversion.”

Conversion, he said, “is a

the area of homelessness, including a representative from the City of Perth.

Shopfront opens two evenings a week, Tuesday and Wednesday from 6pm to 8.30pm.

The star of the show at the launch of the brochure was Richard, who lives in his bus on a bit of land near Wanneroo. He played the mouth organ and passionately belted out The Beatles’ With A Little Help From My Friends, as if he was personally pleading for help, respect and love from the community.

The choir’s biggest gig was in October last year, when it played its main fundraiser at the Perth Concert Hall before 1800 people.

See the choir’s website, www.spiritofthestreetchoir.org.

spiritual battle that involves the entire person “against sin, and ultimately, against Satan.”

Cardinal Rivera also called on Mexicans to fight against “every kind of selfishness and hatred.”

“Dying to oneself to live in God is the aesthetic path that all the disciples of Jesus are called to take with humility and patience, with generosity and perseverance.”

Catholic students urged to get on board and be inspired as another gift of John Paul II hits Australian universities

■ By Anthony Barich

THE historic Marian icon Sedes Sapientiae (Seat of Wisdom), a symbol of strength for Catholic university students throughout Europe, is in Sydney for the first semester of the 2009 study year.

The icon is hosted by the Australian Catholic Students Association, which has entrusted itself to Holy Mary under the title Sedes Sapientiae, as assigned by Pope John Paul II as a gift to university students in the Great Jubilee Year of 2000.

A Mass to mark the start of the icon’s presence in Australia will be celebrated at St Benedict’s Church at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Sydney at 7pm on March 16 by Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher OP, the chief organiser of World Youth Day 2008. It will be available to university chaplaincies around Australia after the end of first semester.

An ACSA delegation that included Archdiocese of Sydney chaplaincy representatives collected the Icon from Rome as part of an initiative of the Vatican Office for Universities. When he gave the icon to the world’s Catholic university students, John Paul II entrusted university chaplaincies to “Mary, Sedes Sapientiae”, “so that she may be welcomed as a teacher and a pilgrim in the university campuses of the world.

Mary supported the Apostles with her prayer at the dawn of evangelisation; may she also help you to invigorate the university world with a Christian spirit”.

To get the icon into your university, contact secretary@catholicstudents.org.au

Likewise, he invited the faithful to translate “concrete gestures towards one’s neighbour” into love, especially towards the poor and those in need.

Christians should respond to evil in the world not with vengeance or hatred, or by “fleeing towards a false spiritualism,” but rather “by opposing evil with good, lies with the truth, hatred with love,” he said.

The Sedes Sapientiae (Seat of Wisdom) icon which Pope John Paul II gave to the world’s Catholic students has begun its tour of Australia at Sydney’s Notre Dame university.

Jean Tonkinson at the launch of the Jean and John Tonkinson Research Foundation. PHOTO: ANTHONY BARICH

Richard leads an emotional rendition of With a little help from my friends during the launch of a resource for the homeless. PHOTO: ANTHONY BARICH

- The Archbishop of Mexico City, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, said that “Lent

Parents must be involved in Confirmation

‘Preparation must be parish-based, family-focused and school-supported’.

■ By Anthony Barich

ARCHBISHOP Barry Hickey has mandated that the Sacrament of Confirmation is to be offered in the last year of primary school, whether it is Year 6 or 7, and is to be parish-based, family focused and school supported.

With 10 Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Perth taking on Year 7s this year and more expected to do so in coming years, a new Policy on the Sacrament of Confirmation was drawn up and signed off by Archbishop Hickey on September 15 last year for initiation in 2009.

It is understood the decision to take on Year 7s followed the State Government considering it for public schools – though it did not go through with it - and Catholic high schools in other states have done the same due to changes in entry age.

This decision follows Bishop Gerard Holohan of Bunbury stating last year that parishes are better off delaying confirmation until the child is properly formed in the faith.

The Broome and Bunbury dioceses have maintained their policy of confirming children in Year 7, while Geraldton has taken up Archbishop Hickey’s model.

Following extensive consultation with clergy and educators, Archbishop Hickey promulgated the Policy that states that parents have the obligation and right to present their children for the Sacrament of Confirmation. School started in most cases on February 2.

Confirmation is “generally” to be offered in the last year of primary school, be it Year 6 or 7, but in cases where Year 7 has

Patterns

been transferred to the secondary school level, Confirmation is still to be offered to students in year 7 at the secondary school if they were for some reason not confirmed in year 6 in primary school. The Policy says it is “strongly recommended” that parishes form a Sacramental Team representative of parish clergy, Catholic school RE teachers, parish catechists and parents under a Parish Sacramental Coordinator.

The Catechist Service Team, part of the Catholic Educaiton Office, assists parishes in forming these teams and trains volunteers to provide parish RE programs, and assists parents and parishes form Catholic children who do not attend Catholic schools.

It is understood that approximately 50 per cent of Catholic children in WA attend nonCatholic schools. Dr Pina Ford, the CST’s

There are patterns in the clouds above and patterns on the sea, patterns in the roaring foam and in the waves that come in three.

In fact, if you do but stop and stare, you’ll see patterns everywhere. Patterns on the petals, patterns on the wing, in all creatures big and small, in all that live and move and sing.

There are patterns too on track and sand, footsteps formed from human stride, and lots of little wavy ones, from things that wiggle, worm and slide. And in the gorges and the canyons, the walls so steep and high, the fossils and the patterns of the ages passing by.

Now there are patterns always changing, like ripples in the sand, and others seem so strong and fixed, they always seem to stand.

And maybe that’s the way it is in life for you and me; There are some things always changing, but some must always be.

But beyond our little web of life and the patterns of this world, there’s an even greater pattern whose glory is unfurled. It’s the pattern of our Saviour, Who died and rose for you and me, to draw the pattern of our life for all eternity.

- Fr Geoff Aldous

overwhelmingly positive feedback. She said the sacraments are also a crucial opportunity to evangelise parents, “as it’s a time when they do have contact with their parish, and we need to ensure that contact nurtures their own faith”.

She said parents’ commitments include ensuring children are enrolled for sacraments in their parish community and that they attend a commitment Mass in the parish, “so everything links back to the parish community”, and that children celebrate their sacraments in their home parish where possible.

“They may be prepared where they go to school but that may not be their parish. They really need to celebrate it in their parish community,” she said, adding that in cases where the student has not been confirmed yet by Year 7 and he/she is already in high school, the school is obligated to contact the parents then the parish that the child is fully prepared for the sacrament in the parish.

“No matter how hard a school community tries and how well it suceeds in nurturing a child’s faith, it can’t take on all the responsibilities of parishes,” Dr Ford said.

Team Leader, said that the idea of involving parents in the faith education of their children is “very basic” and based on Canon law, and while “we assume it’s going to be done, sometimes it isn’t unless it’s stated in policy. Above all, we need to support parents in fulfilling their right and obligation to be the prime faith formers”.

She said that the policy itself is “nothing new”, yet “these have to be clearly stated and the thinking about it explored and renewed”.

“It’s not just a matter of learning your lessons; it’s remembering the context for sacraments, which is the parish community. The school can’t do all of it. You’re baptised and confirmed into a parish community, in which we celebrate the Eucharist,” Dr Ford said, adding that this initiative so far has had

DEEPLY saddened by the crisis engulfing Christianity in the Middle East, Pope Benedict XVI has asked the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) to provide urgent help.

In many parts of the land Our Lord Jesus Christ knew so well, the faithful now live in fear as increasing poverty and growing extremism threaten the survival of these ancient communities.

A mass exodus of Christians from the Middle East is now taking place. For some it is a question of escaping bloody persecution. In the Holy Land for example, the proportion of Christians has plummeted from 20% to as little as 1.4% in the last 40 years. ACN is helping to keep faith and hope alive throughout the region by providing urgent aid to priests, religious and lay people, offering subsistence help to refugees and building and repairing Churches and convents. Please help us strengthen and rebuild the Church in the land of Christ’s birth.

A beautiful, olive wood crucifix, handcrafted in Bethlehem, will be sent to all those who give a donation of $20.00 or more to help this campaign. Please tick the box below if you like to receive the little olive wood crucifix*.

Emmanuel College, Corpus Christi College, CBC Fremantle, Iona Presentation College, Mercy College, John XXIII College, Newman College, Kolbe College Rockingham, Trinity College and Chisolm College Bedford now have Year 7s in high school. Debra Sayce, the Catholic Education Office’s Director of RE, said the policy reinforces that the prime responsibility of knowing when their child is ready for the sacraments belongs to the parent.

“If the school can support that, then that's fantastic, but having (the formation for the sacrament) based at the parish is ideal as they’re entering into a spiritual community.

“Schools contribute to that, but it’s not their exclusive role. The child needs to be nurtured in the parish, and that’s what youth ministry nurtures.”

“ … Churches in the Middle East are threatened in their very existence… May God grant ACN strength to help wherever the need is greatest.”

I/We enclose $.................. to help keep Christianity alive in the Middle East.

Yes please send me the little olive wood crucifix* Made of olive wood from the Holy Land, this small crucifix is powerfully evocative of Christ’s passion and death. The crucifixes are lovingly handcrafted by poverty stricken families in Bethlehem and your donation helps them survive. Comes in a display box with accompanying religious image. (Size

Pope Benedict XVI

A teenager is confirmed by a bishop at new York’s Sacred Heart Cathedral in 2005. Archbishop Hickey has decreed that preparation for the Sacrament in Perth must be parish-based, family focused and school supported.

PHOTO: CNS/MIKE CRUPI, CATHOLIC COURIER

NCEC backs

‘Education revolution’

Federal initiative means jobs, says body.

■ By Anthony Barich

THE National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) has registered its “strong support” for the Commonwealth Government’s $14.7 billion Building the Education Revolution school building program.

The Rudd Government will build or upgrade buildings in every one of Australia’s 9,540 schools to boost jobs and “invest in Australia’s long term future” as part of the Building the Education Revolution, a $14.7 billion long term investment to improve the quality of facilities, like gymnasiums, libraries and science labs in Australian schools.

The BER plans to:

● Build or upgrade large scale infrastructure, such as libraries and multipurpose halls in every primary school, special school, and K-12 school in Australia.

● Build around 500 new science laboratories and language learning centres in high schools with a demonstrated need for upgraded facilities.

● Provide up to $200,000 to every Australian school for maintenance and renewal of school buildings and minor building works.

In a statement released last week, the NCEC, which reports to the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, said: “This school building program is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for all schools in Australia to upgrade their teaching and learning facilities, and for all primary schools and many secondary schools to build much-needed new facilities.

The NCEC said that the BER program “makes good sense as an economic stimulus”.

“There will be significant additional work available over the next two years or so in every Australian suburb and in every town, big or small, where there is a primary school,” the NCEC said.

“The program promises jobs for many Australians as well as new or refurbished school buildings for all Australian school students.

Vic schools close as new fire risks loom

CATHOLIC primary and secondary schools as well as state schools in the bushfire affected areas of Victoria were closed on February 27, days before The Record went to press, because of the forecast extreme weather conditions.

Director of Catholic Education Stephen Elder said it was prudent for schools in these areas not to open, considering the dreadful bushfires that Victoria has endured over the past few weeks, a Catholic Education Office Melbourne statement said.

“The safety of the staff and students in our schools is obviously the main consideration and with temperatures expected to climb into the high 30s, it makes perfect sense for schools to close until the danger passes,” said Mr Elder.

The Catholic Education Office Melbourne (CEOM) was working closely with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD),

A firefighter works at a controlled fire about 90 kilometres east of Melbourne on February 17. Catholic schools across the state were also closed as high danger conditions hit Victoria began earlier this week.

which was closing government schools because of the high fire danger.

The CEOM is providing $1500 to schools for each family to have lost their home in the Victorian firestorm to offset 2009 school fees and charges.

Additional funds are also being provided to assist with educational and relocation expenses for displaced families, while CEO psychologists and counsellors have been available to support teachers and students of Catholic schools in the fire affected areas. “The current bushfire danger in Victoria is unprecedented and we all hope and pray that the situation will ease very soon,” Mr Elder said.

The following Catholic primary schools were closed: Holy Cross, New Gisborne; St Thomas More, Belgrave; St Brigid’s, Healesville; St Paul’s, Monbulk; St Bernadette’s, The Basin; St Joseph’s, Yarra Junction; St Brigid’s, Ballan; St Mary’s, Clarkes Hill; St Michael’s, Daylesford; St Patrick’s, Gordon; St Michael’s, Springbank; St Mary’s, Yarram; St James, Nar Nar Goon; St Columba, Bunyip; and Mary MacKillop, Narre Warren.

In the secondary sector, Mater Christi College in Belgrave was also closed.

Pope notes abortion healthcare irony...

in Rome full-time - the Pope highlighted of particular concern the provision of medical care for families, including highquality obstetrical care for women.

■ By Anthony Barich

POPE Benedict XVI has highlighted the contradiction of promoting abortion as a form of maternal healthcare as he welcomed the new Australian ambassador to the Holy See.

The Australian Government is currently considering the implications of a report recommending it overturn a ban the previous government implemented a decade ago on overseas aid being used to fund abortion providers.

Receiving on February 12 the Letters of Credence of Australian ambassador to the Vatican Timothy Fischer - the first to live

“How ironic it is,” Pope Benedict said, that “when some groups, through aid programs, promote abortion as a form of ‘maternal’ healthcare: taking a life, purportedly to improve the quality of life”.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith, a Catholic, said on January 30 that his government would not be rushed into making a decision after US President-elect Barack Obama ended a ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform or provide information about abortions on the third day of his presidency.

Family Planning guidelines for the Aid Program currently indicate that, “Australian aid funds are not available for activities that involve abortion training or services, or research trials or activities which directly involve abortion drugs,” he said.

In May 2007 a report by the cross-party Parliamentary Group on Population and Development recommended the removal of the ban on funding for abortion training or services.

Sydney Archdiocesan Life Office director Chris Meney called the PGPD’s recommendations “repugnant”, noting that the PGPD advocated the financial benefits of aborting handicapped persons due to the costs of allowing them to be born.

“Such a ‘search and destroy’ attitude towards the needy and vulnerable is repugnant to a decent society,” Mr Meney told The Catholic Weekly, Sydney’s Archdiocesan newspaper.

Mr Smith can lift the ban administratively without legislation, though the Senate blocked a motion to overturn the ban in early February. He said President Obama’s decision was no surprise, as Democrats have overturned the ban previously.

When asked by The Record whether his Catholic faith would influence his decision on the matter Mr Smith said on February 9 through a spokeswoman: “This is a very difficult issue and there are strong views, firmly and sincerely held, on both sides of this issue.”

“The Minister will continue to consider the representations of all parties on their merits, and will advise of the decision in the near future,” the spokeswoman said.

The Australian Reproductive Health body said that Australia was now the only country to limit overseas aid funds in this way, and the nation’s guidelines were in conflict with its commitment to World Health Organisation protocols.

However, Australian Christian Lobby managing director Jim Wallace said Mr Smith should not be emotionally bullied into thinking abortion is the answer to the tragic rate of maternal deaths in developing countries.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Australia’s ban on aid money for abortion costs 34,000 mothers’ lives in the Pacific region each year, but Mr Wallace said “this is a far cry from saying they die because abortion is not available and we note that her official releases stop short of this claim”.

“Trained midwives, blood supplies and clean birthing environments will save far more lives than abortion clinics in the third world could,” Mr Wallace said.

...but praises Australia for apology to its indigenous people

Apology marks “profound change,” says pontiff

■ By Anthony Barich

POPE Benedict XVI has praised the Australian Government for offering an apology to its indigenous peoples for mistreatment at the hands of previous governments.

Receiving the Letters of Credence of Tim Fischer, Australia’s new ambassador to the Holy See, the Pope said that the government’s gesture marked a “profound change of heart”.

Pope Benedict added that now “government agencies and Aboriginal elders can address with resolution and compassion the plethora of challenges that lie ahead.”

He also praised Australia’s “active support of the Millennium Development Goals, numerous regional partnerships, and initiatives to strengthen the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty”; and highlighted Australia’s readiness “to respond to a growing variety of exigencies in a principled, responsible and innovative manner”.

Noting that Mr Fischer is Australia’s first residential ambassador to the Holy See, the Pope said that the role of the Church in public life is to preserve moral principles and counteract “tendencies to pragmatism and consequentialism, so prevalent today, which engage only with the symptoms and effects of conflicts, social fragmentation, and moral ambiguity, rather than their roots.”

Comment comes as Benedict XVI welcomes Australian ambassador.

Pope Benedict

PHOTO: CNS/MICK TSIKAS

‘God experience’ is the goal

Vincentian

priest

focuses on retreats, evangelisation

■ By Anthony Barich

THE Vincentian Congregation has started an evengelisation centre at Maddington parish in the hope that it will be for Australia what the Congregation’s own retreat centre in Kerala is to India.

The Vincentians arrived in Perth last year to work in hospital chaplaincy and took over Shenton Park parish.

Last week, they were also given Holy Family parish in Maddington, where 33-year-old Vincentian Fr Varghese Parackal is now parish priest.

The Vincentians, whose charism is preaching the Gospel and giving retreats, run a retreat centre in Kerala that houses over 10,000 pilgrims from around the world on any given week during the year.

On special occasions the numbers surge as high as an estimated 25,000 people.

There are eight other slightly smaller such centres in cities scattered around the sub-continent including Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai, where pilgrims stay and dedicate themselves to prayer and listening to the Word of God.

Having taken over in mid-February, early signs are good, with 150 attending a retreat for couples on February 21 where they heard talks on God’s plan for marriage and were given the chance to reflect on their own marriages.

Taking advantage of the excellent benefits of the Sacrament of Reconciliation to help solidify their marriages, couples also renewed their marriage vows during Eucharistic Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

There, if there was need, they

were urged to forgive one another and to use the occasion to make new decisions for the future.

At least 80 per cent of participants in this retreat had previous contact with the Vincentians during the Congregation’s frequent visits to Perth before they commenced residence in the Archdiocese last year.

This proved, Fr Varghese said, that people’s positive experiences bring them back.

He hopes that, like his Order’s Kerala house in the south of India, word will spread and both young

and old will seek opportunities to deepen their relationship with God and to link their everyday lives to an encounter with God.

A retreat for youth was also held last week with over 30 young people participating.

Other retreats of varying length and catering for people’s specific circumstances and stage in life are planned for the future and will be conducted on a weekly basis.

The Vincentians have been kept busy across the country.

Elsewhere, approximately 500 people attended a three-day

retreat run by the congregation in Melbourne during January, while a smaller-scale healing retreat in Kalgoorlie-Boulder on the second weekend of November drew very positive response.

The Vincentians also plan to evangelise through spreading the increasingly popular devotion to the Divine Mercy and to expand an existing intercessory prayer ministry based at the parish.

Fr Varghese says the parish’s retreats basically aim to help people convert, to give them “a deeper God experience”.

Last push opens for cathedral appeal

Continued from Page 1 from $10,000 to $500,000. “The Knights of the Southern Cross have committed $1 million to fund the restoration and reinstallation of the organ.

“The school communities have pledged a minimum of $2.1 million over three years and are well on target. An interactive memorial designed for the cathedral grounds will include the names of all schools involved in the fundraising. It is based on the Fibonacci sequence and will incorporate one of the big columns of the original cathedral.”

Mons Keating said that the cost increases which necessitated the additional appeal were due to the boom which had such a dramatic effect on construction costs throughout WA.

The cost of concrete had risen 70 per cent, adding $1.8 million to the cost, and steel had almost doubled in price, adding another million.

The roof of the Cavanagh section was to have been repaired and renovated, but had to be replaced for an additional $1 million.

Other impacts of the boom added $2 million to the builder’s costs.

“These increases will be no surprise to anyone familiar with the events of the last few years,” Monsignor Keating said.

Archbishop Hickey said there was a strange parallel between the present situation and what happened to Archbishop Clune in the late 1920s when, because of the

depression, they ran out of money and could build only half of the proposed new cathedral and attach it to the remaining half of the original.

At the opening of the new build-

ing in 1930, Archbishop Clune had said, “It is with a saddened heart that we must leave the dream of completing St Mary’s Cathedral to a future generation.”

“The difference between us and

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Archbishop Clune is that we cannot stop,” Archbishop Hickey said.

“So the dream continues, and it is now a dream within reach.”

Monsignor Keating said that when the cathedral was complete it would be an important site for civic religious ceremonies, such as the memorial service for the Black Hawk disaster.

“It will seat up to 1200 people in air-conditioned comfort, all with a full view of the altar, and no one further than 17 metres from the sanctuary,” he said.

The congregation could expand to 1600 by using the external piazzas, and new audio-visual equipment would ensure full participation.

There would be extensive underground facilities for parish affairs and for the choir, as well as parking bays, some above ground and some below.

“The cathedral will be considerably enlarged, with many new features, and with all its treasures intact,” he concluded.

The Appeal Chairman added that Archbishop Hickey’s promise that the Cathedral project would not be at the expense of the Archdiocese’s welfare activities was honoured in the fact that funds for LifeLink, the funding body for welfare agencies, had increased by $100,000 in 2008.

A new agency, Day Dawn, had been added, and the activities of the Shopfront had increased greatly with support from the Local Government and the general community.

Developing a centre for evangelisation ibased at the parish is the goal the Vincentian Congregation has set for Maddington parish. Fr Varghese Parackal, above, says retreats run in the parish will aim to give people from all walks of life and of all ages “ a deeper ‘God’ experience.”

PHOTO: ANTHONY BARICH

An artist’s impression of how St Mary’s Cathedral will look whn it is completed. The appeal has been raised by $7.5 million but, on fundraising efforts over the last three years, appears to be well within reach. GRAPHIC: MENCORP

Asia, Africa lead seminary growth

Number of priests showing moderate but steady increase, especially in the Third World, Vatican says.

■ By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The latest Church statistics show that the number of priests and seminarians around the world has been showing a modest, yet steady increase.

The statistics from the end of 2007 also showed that the number of Catholics remains stable at 1.147 billion people across the globe.

The sampling of statistics was released on February 28 in connection with the presentation of the 2009 edition of the Vatican yearbook, known as the Annuario Pontificio, which catalogs the Church’s presence in each diocese.

The Vatican said the global Catholic population increased during 2007 by 1.4 percent, which more or less kept pace with the 1.1 per cent global birthrate that year.

For the past two years, Catholics have made up 17.3 percent of the world’s population, it said.

The number of priests in the world also rose, but just by 0.18 per cent.

At the end of 2007 there were

408,024 priests in the world, 762 more than at the beginning of the year.

The figure on the number of priests was showing a continued “trend of moderate growth which began in 2000 after more than 20 years of disappointing results,” the Vatican report said.

However, that growth has been confined to Africa and Asia, which showed substantial increases in ordinations with 27.6 per cent growth and 21.1 per cent growth, respectively, it said.

The number of priests has remained more or less the same in the Americas, the Vatican said, while Europe registered a 6.8 per cent decline and Oceania - which includes Australia - reported a 5.5 per cent decrease in the total number of priests since 2000.

The number of seminarians increased by 0.4 per cent in 2007.

At the end of the year, there were 115,919 seminarians.

However, only Africa and Asia saw significant growth in priestly vocations, while numbers fell by 2.1 per cent in Europe and by one per cent in the Americas, the Vatican said.

The report said the number of permanent deacons continued to show significant growth.

There were 35,942 deacons at the end of 2007 - an increase of 4.1 per cent over the previous year, it said.

Society not ready to accept Vatican II

Although the excommunications against Society of St Pius X bishops have been lifted, major roadblocks remain.

■ By John Thavis

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The head of the traditionalist Society of St Pius X said his order is not ready to accept the Second Vatican Council, which the Vatican has set as a condition for full reintegration in the Church.

Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the Swiss-based society, said Vatican II has brought “only losses” among Catholic priests and the faithful. He made the remarks in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Le Courrier published on February 26.

Pope Benedict XVI recently lifted the excommunications of Bishop Fellay and three other bishops, who were ordained against papal orders in 1988, as a step toward dialogue and reconciliation. The Vatican later said the society would have to recognise the teachings of Vatican II and of post-conciliar popes to be in full communion.

In the interview, Bishop Fellay was asked if the society was ready to meet the condition of accepting the council.

“No. The Vatican has recognised the need for preliminary discussions in order to take up fundamental questions that arise precisely from the Second Vatican Council. To make rec-

Angels are ‘the counterpoint to Satan’: Pope Benedict XVI

Holy Father recalls importance of angels in the life of Christ.

VATICAN CITY (CNA) - Angels played a key role in Jesus’ life and continue to be powerful weapons against evil in the lives of people today, Pope Benedict XVI has told pilgrims gathered at St Peter’s Square on March 1.

Pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus prayer at noon with Pope Benedict XVI. In his remarks, the Pontiff spoke of the importance of angels and also prayed for those struggling in uncertain financial times.

ognition of the council a preliminary condition is to put the cart before the horse,” Bishop Fellay responded, adding that he expected the Church to critically review Vatican II, because “its results are pure losses”.

“The fruits of the council have been to empty seminaries, novitiates and churches. Thousands of priests have abandoned the priesthood and millions of faithful have ceased to practice the faith or have turned to the sects. The religious belief of the faithful has been distorted. Truly, these are peculiar fruits,” he said.

Asked about his society’s long-standing opposition to the ecumenical and interreligious dialogue initiated by Vatican II, Bishop Fellay said such dialogue was too superficial and had led to “great confusion.” He said any dialogue with other Christian churches or other religions should make it clear that the Catholic Church is “the sole possessor” of the fundamental unity that leads to the truth.

He said any discussions about the society’s status in the Church would depend on whether positive results come out of the “doctrinal discussions” with the Vatican. No timetable has been announced for these talks.

The topic of discussion was prompted by the Pope’s commentary on the Gospel of the day, the First Sunday of Lent.

The Gospel of Mark notes that angels “ministered to” Jesus in the desert. “The angels are the counterpoint of Satan,” the Holy Father explained.

After detailing the presence of angels in the Old and New Testament, Benedict XVI noted, “The angels ministered to Jesus, who is certainly superior to them, and his dignity is here proclaimed in the Gospel in a clear but discreet way.”

“In fact, even in the situation of extreme poverty and humility, when he is tempted by Satan, Jesus remains the Son of God, the Messiah, the Lord.”

The Pontiff continued by reaffirming the impor-

tance of prayer to angels, “messengers of God,” and by asking for prayers to them on behalf of himself and the Roman Curia, who today begin their Lenten spiritual exercises.

The Holy Father then acknowledged the difficult global economic times as he greeted workers from a Fiat automobile factory near Naples, Italy.

He noted that they had come “to demonstrate their concern over the future of that factory and of the thousands of people who, directly or indirectly, depend on it for work.”

“I join the bishops and the respective local Churches in expressing my nearness to the families affected by this problem, and I entrust them in prayer to protection of Mary Most Holy and of St Joseph, patron of workers. I wish to express my encouragement to the authorities, both political and civil, and also to business owners, so that this delicate moment can be addressed with the cooperation of all.

“There is a need, in fact, for a strong common effort, recalling that the priority must be given to workers and their families.”

Pope Benedict also greeted English-speaking visitors present at today’s Angelus, saying: “On this First Sunday of Lent, the Gospel of Saint Mark speaks of Jesus being lead into the desert by the Holy Spirit, tempted by Satan and assisted by the angels.

“Let us pray that our Lenten journey will strengthen us in the struggle against all forms of temptation.”

Obama hands healthcare to pro-choice pollie

WASHINGTON (CNS) - A Catholic governor whose archbishop has told her not to receive Communion until she changes her stand on abortion is President Barack Obama’s latest choice for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The nomination of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as HHS secretary was announced on March 2 at a White House news conference. The 60-year-old Sebelius has been governor of Kansas since 2003.

“Health care reform that reduces costs while expanding coverage is no longer just a dream we hope to achieve - it’s a necessity we have to achieve,” Obama said in announcing his selection of Sebelius as HHS secretary and Nancy-Ann DeParle, a health care expert in the Clinton administration, as director of the White House Office for Health Reform.

Sebelius has drawn strong criticism from Archbishop Joseph F Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, who said in 2008 that she should not present herself for Communion until she publicly repudiates her support for abortion. The archbishop said his decision was not based only on her April 2008 veto of the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act, which would have placed new requirements on abortion providers, but on “a 30-year history of advocating and acting in support of legalised abortion.”

But even before Sebelius’ nomination was formally announced, a group called Catholics for Sebelius had

launched a Web site touting the governor’s Catholic background and her actions in support of “the common good.” The website www.catholicsforsebelius.org is a project of Catholics United, which describes itself as “a national online community of Catholics who believe strongly in our faith’s call to build a society for justice and the common good.”

In a section titled “What does it mean to be prolife?” the site features the text of a 2006 talk by Sebelius to Kansans for Faithful Citizenship, in which she said, “My Catholic faith teaches me that all life is sacred, and personally I believe abortion is wrong.

“However, I disagree with the suggestion that criminalising women and their doctors is an effective means of achieving the goal of reducing the number of abortions in our nation,” she added. “If we work hard and match our rhetoric with our actions, we can create a culture that is more welcoming of mothers and treasuring of our children.” In a 2008 column about the governor, Archbishop Naumann said that as a state representative Sebelius “voted to weaken or eliminate even such modest measures as parental notification for teens, waiting periods or informed-consent protections for women before an abortion.”

In April 2007, in an event at the governor’s mansion, she honoured Dr George Tiller, who faces trial beginning March 16 on 19 counts of performing illegal late-term abortions.

Pope Benedict XVI

In this double exposure, the statue of an angel at Independence Plaza in Mexico City is pictured with the nearly total lunar eclipse in 2000. Pope Benedict XVI has highlighted the important role of angels in Jesus’ life and their paramount importance in our own struggle with evil.

PHOTO: CNS/REUTERS

As morbid an insight as it may be, I believe that it is easier for most Australians to imagine what it would be like to burn to death than to die from starvation. This thought came to me as I watched the overwhelming response to the bushfires that devastated the State of Victoria.

Reaction to fires inspire hope for Christianity MONDRAGON: A beacon

From the Prime Minister, who has called for a day of mourning, to the small children who emptied their moneyboxes to help the victims, this tragedy unleashed an unprecedented outpouring of emotion. It is a response that has fascinated me.

Why do we appear to be more sensitive to this disaster than to the proportionally greater global tragedy that sees one child dying from starvation every five seconds?

VISTA THE RECORD

of hope for the modern

world.

I

say I say

By Mark Reidy

According to a controversial article by Sydney Morning Herald journalist Ross Gittins, the communal response to this bushfire and other natural disasters was “exploitive, voyeuristic, unfair, self-gratifying and even pathological”. Gittins believes that people see natural disasters as a form of entertainment and suspects that the misfortune of others adds “interest and excitement to our humdrum lives”. He also believes that the rush to donate to victims of these tragedies was driven by self-promotion and a desire to feel good about oneself.

While I suspect that the article may have been the outpourings of a journalist who has spent too much time in the cynically and negatively driven world of media, his observations certainly inspired me to explore more deeply why we as a nation were so rocked by this disaster.

I suspect Gittins’ premise, that our generosity is borne from a seed of self-focus, may be closer to the truth than most people would want to believe; but not, however, in the framework of selfishness that he endorses.

My own theory is that our experience as citizens of Australia allows us to more readily identify and empathise with the victims of this tragedy. Fires are more real to us than starvation is. Most of us have an innate understanding, usually borne of experience, of the physical pain associated with being burnt. We have placed a hand too close to a BBQ or let a match burn too low or been splashed by boiling water.

“So perhaps now, in this season of Lent, it is the perfect time to ask God for the gift of being able to reach out...”

This first hand experience has been computed in the hard drive of our memory and our emotional reactions can be triggered by this sense of understanding. We have a connection, albeit a minute one, with the horror of trying to outrun a fire or being trapped by the ferocity that has been so vividly and incessantly described to us via the media. It has evoked emotions that have allowed us to identify with the fear that must have been experienced by those who died or were injured.

However, we will never starve to death in this country. It is not a condition that we have ever or will ever have to contend with. We cannot physically, mentally or emotionally relate to such a reality.

It is not that we do not desire to, but we have no experiential reference point that allow us to bond with those afflicted in faraway lands. We, in a sense, allow ourselves to dehumanise them and thus, subconsciously grant ourselves emotional amnesty.

But the proximity and shared understanding of the bushfires did not afford us this buffer of immunity and we were confronted by the plight of our fellow citizens. It was a response that united us with those who were suffering.

It was a reaction that should inspire great hope for all Christians, for it is this love and compassion that St Paul referred to as the fruits of the Holy Spirit in his letter to the Galatians.

So perhaps now, in this season of Lent, it is the perfect time to ask God to expand our capacity to love and have compassion, for those who lives and suffering are outside the confines of our understanding and experience.

As the world writhes in the throes of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, one system based on Catholic social teaching is proving what can be done - and that Catholic teaching, as always, has practical applications to save the world.

■ By Race Mathews

The current global economic meltdown will not have been in vain if the world is reminded by it that grass roots initiatives can triumph over seemingly overwhelming adversity. Following the Spanish Civil War, the economy of Spain’s Basque region was in ruins. Franco destroyed its industrial base on a scale reminiscent of the destruction of Ireland's agricultural economy (the 'sowing of Ireland's fields with salt' - at the hands of Cromwell) shot some 17 of the local priests, butchered or confined in concentration camps many more of the best and brightest in the community and systematically set about the creation of unemployment, under employment, impoverishment and misery on a scale now unimaginable in the developed world other than among the thinning ranks of those who still remember the direst depths of the Great Depression.

Against that sombre background, the young priest Don Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta, himself only recently released from concentration camp confinement and narrowly spared imminent execution, was sent by his bishop to the small steel industry town of Mondragon, where through patient pastoral care, grassroots organisation, community development, consciousness-raising and technical education he brought to fruition the triumphant exemplification of 'evolved distributism' that the world now knows as the Mondragon Co-operative Corporation. What finally took off in 1956 with a handful of workers in a disused factory using hand tools and sheet metal to manufacture paraffin-fired heating and cooking stoves on a design pirated from the British Aladdin Stove Company has now become one of Europe’s – and the world’s – great business success stories.

Mondragon bears witness to the indispensability of subsidiarity and the wisdom of the early twentieth century UK Catholic writer and founder distributist Hilaire Belloc when he wrote in his 1936 An Essay on the Reconstruction of Property that 'The evil has now gone so far that, though the preaching of a new doctrine is invaluable, the creation of a new and immediate machinery is impossible.

“The restoration of property must essentially be the product of a new mood, not a new scheme. It is too late to re-infuse it by design, and our efforts must everywhere be particular, local, and in its origins at least, small.” The need, as the French personalist philosopher Emmanuel Mounier likewise so eloquently reminded us in his 1938 A Personalist Manifesto... is not, then, to unite incoherent forces for an attack upon the coherent and powerful front of bourgeois and capitalist society.

It is rather to implant in the vital organs, at present diseased, of our decadent civilisation the seeds and ferment of a new civilisation'. I set out in my 1999 book Jobs of our Own: Building a Stakeholder Society - currently sold out in both its European and Australian editions, but shortly to reappear in a US edition - to set distributism

in the historical context of its evolution from the teachings of Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum through the British Distributism of Belloc and the brothers Gilbert and Cecil Chesterton and the Antigonish Movement of Fr Jimmy Tompkins and Monsignor Moses Coady in Atlantic Canada to Arizmendiarrieta and Mondragon, and explain exactly how Mondragon works and to what its success is attributable. In the decade since that account of distributism appeared, the 'evolved distributism' philosophy of the Mondragon co-operatives has continued to deliver exceptional levels of job security, social well-being and responsibility and economic growth.

As of 2008, Mondragon has moved up from the ninth to the seventh largest business group in Spain, comprising some 260 industrial, retail, agricultural, construction, service and support co-operatives and associated entities.

“Mondragon bears witness to the indispensability of subsidiarity and the wisdom of UK writer Hilaire Belloc.”

Annual sales increased between 2006 and 2007 by 12.4 percent, to some $US20 billion, and overall employment by 24 percent, from 83,601 to 103,731. Exports accounted for 56.9 per cent of industrial co-operatives sales, and were up by 8.6 percent. Mondragon's Eroski worker/consumer co-operative now operates some 2441 retail outlets, ranging in size from

petrol stations to small franchise stores to hyper-markets and shopping malls, in locations that now extend beyond Spain, to France and Andorra. Mondragon cooperatives now own or joint venture some 114 local and overseas subsidiaries. No less has Mondragon adhered closely to the 'evolved distributism' teachings that have been Arizmendiarrieta's legacy to it, and the source of its outstanding success.

Consistent with 'evolved distributism', Eroski is adopting new measures to enfranchise the 35,000 of its 50,000 workers who are not currently worker members. The co-operatives have entered into a solemn commitment to extend worker ownership measures to their local and overseas subsidiaries on a case by case basis, consistent with their differing cultural, legal, business and financial circumstances.

Just as the Basques were empowered by Arizmendiarrieta's 'evolved distributism' to lift themselves by their bootstraps from their poverty and privation in the aftermath of the Civil War, so too may others now be encouraged by Mondragon's example to transcend along similar lines the grief and fear to which the greed and folly of rampant capitalism and insufficiently regulated market forces have so wantonly given rise. As Victor Hugo reminds us, 'Nothing is so powerful as an idea whose time has come'.

Take from Mondragon the distributist lessons it has for us irrespective of our current disappointments or the differing circumstances in which we may find ourselves, and we may at last move forward along the path to which Belloc, Mounier, Arizmendiarrieta and so many more have directed us.

Lenten Reflection

Forgive

“And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’”

(Luke 23:34)

Repent

“Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

Love

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)

Fasting

“ And when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret…” (Matt 6:17)

Pray

“And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.’”

(Luke 22:41)

Australia’s charity to Project Compassion helps rebuild third world

Giving India Green Hope

Caritas giving Green Hope to India’s rural poor in India.

“As long as I live I shall give the best to my children,” says Prabha Tirkey, a mother of three who lives in a drought prone region in one of India’s poorest areas.

Like mothers all over the world, Prabha wants her children to have opportunities and an education. But being dependant on agriculture meant that she found it difficult to support her family.

“Farming is difficult for us without enough water to irrigate our land during the dry season”.

“I would not have enough food to give the children so they would start crying,” she says.

“I went to my relatives and neighbours for assistance but they were unable to help me as they too were very poor,” she says.

In the second week of the Project Compassion Appeal, we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8 and highlight how Australians can help Caritas Australia to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in a world where women produce half of the world’s food but own less than one percent of the world’s property.

Caritas builds social, economic, ecological capital in third world - and individuals’ self-esteem.

■ By Anthony Barich

AUSTRALIA has an outstanding reputation of compassion in helping Caritas assist people in third-world countries rebuild their lives, says Caritas’ Sustainable Agriculture manager for South Asia.

Dr Haridas Varikkotil Raman, in Perth last week to promote Project Compassion at the Catholic Education Office, Murdoch University, John XXIII College, the University of Notre Dame Australia in Fremantle and Thomas More College Chapel at UWA, said Australia’s level of charity through parishes is used as a model for other countries who raise money.

He says that Caritas helps communities and villages in developing nations help themselves by building social, economic and ecological security.

Australia’s charitable donations through Project Compassion help Caritas overcome the repercussions of the Green Revolution, a policy initiated by the Indian Government in the 1960s to solve the food crisis by giving farmers chemical fertilizers and pesticides rather than direct support. These chemicals have killed the macro and micro-organisms in the soil and pollute water, and as the chemicals need seven times the amount of water to promote crop growth, such measures are useless in times of drought. So crops dry out and farmers are unable to repay loans, often to private lenders who charge 50 to 100 per cent interest. This has led to up to 150 farmers committing suicide over the past 10 years by ingesting the

in brief...

The 120 Latin-rite members of the Bishops’ Conference of India concluded their plenary assembly on February 18 with a categorical rejection of a case taken up by the Supreme Court of Delhi that would allow for

chemicals, which can kill a person in 10 minutes.

Fertilizer also gets into the produce itself and, when consumed, affects the soft tissue of humans, causing cancer and digestive problems, among other things. Plants and animals are also affected.

Problems are exacerbated as the men of families go the cities to earn more money and return to their village with diseases like HIV.

In places like West Bengal, farmers also compete with each other to receive chemicals to help crop growth. Deeper wells mean more chemical subsidies, but a naturallyoccurring chemical in the earth mixes with oxygen when the wells are dug deep enough, and creates arsonic, which then affects the population.

To help reverse these trends and affects, Caritas mobilises families into community-based self-help groups, where a core group of 10 to 15 people solve village problems and deposit money that villagers save by working for Caritas projects that assist food production and conserve and improve the local environment.

Villagers can then borrow from this fund for a very low interest rate to buy necessities for their families. Dr Haridas says that individual self-esteem is also boosted in such initiatives as people take control of their lives.

euthanasia of the terminally ill. The Church “firmly and consistently opposes” the taking of human life at any stage, the bishops said. The bishops’ spokesman, Fr Joseph Babu, explained, “The government must guarantee the people the right to a serene life and not allow any kind of death.”

Prabha lives in Silma in the remote north of Chhattisgarh state in a one bedroom mud-baked house. Her husband suffers from a mental illness and so she is the main provider for the family. She used to work from 5am to midnight collecting firewood which she would exchange for rice. She also took labouring jobs when they were available and loaned part of her land to other villagers but she still only earned 50c a day.

In India’s drought prone regions, people who depend on agriculture have seen an increase in crop failure due to deforestation and decreasing rainfall, meaning that over 75 per cent of the villagers migrated seasonally. Groundwater levels are depleted and poor health and illiteracy are widespread.

Prabha joined the Caritas Australia supported Green Hope, a project to empower 470 families to increase their livelihoods, regenerate the environment and work together as a community. The project has seen local grass planted in barren areas, the creation of household compost heaps, establishment of irrigation systems and rainwater collection ponds and the creation of cooperatively owned seed banks to reduce dependence on money lenders.

Prabha is part of the program’s Self Help Groups in which participants support each other to plan for collective environmental and social action. Through

working together they have been able to establish an irrigation system and can now produce a dry season crop. The community has come together to create an education fund for the children and all ethnic groups work collectively to clean the village each weekend. They hope to create a sustainable village and there has already been a reduction in seasonal migration.

“I am learning to make organic compost so that I can grow healthy organic vegetables to feed my family. I am hoping that I will have more money to buy clothes and food for my family and not have to depend on others for support.”

“Also, my husband will be able to get help for his future well being; he will be more comfortable, we will have food to eat regularly and I also hope we will be able to take him to a doctor for treatment and to buy medicine”.

“I see a future since this project has started,” Prabha says. “I want to educate my children as I believe when they are educated they will have a better chance of getting employment”.

Support for Project Compassion means that Caritas Australia can continue projects like Green Hope which give families opportunities for the future.

Your donation to Project Compassion – Caritas Australia’s major annual appeal – helps alleviate poverty and brings hope to vulnerable communities in more than 30 countries worldwide.

Please

A slum dweller sleeps as neighbours of Azharuddin Ismail, who acted in Slumdog Millionaire, watch the 81st Academy Awards presentation on television in Mumbai, India, on February 23. Rags-to-riches romance Slumdog Millionaire swept the Oscars on February 22, winning eight awards, including the prize for best picture.

Prabha Tirkey with her husband and three children.

PHOTO: PETER SAUNDERS

Dr Haridas Varikkotil Raman. PHOTO: ANTHONY BARICH

Kids bitz & puzzles

ARTIST WEEK

OUR LADY OF THE HOLY

This statue of the Virgin Mary was donated to the church to honour her as the Immaculate Conception.

Crossword taken from Bible Quotations Crossword Puzzles. Available by order from The Record Bookshop 9227 7080.

TITUS

Whoever can do this is truly great.

To The Record Childrens Section. My son Joe is 6 years old, he goes to Beverley District High School, is in year one and loves colouring in. Thanks Inez Byworth. OF THE

MOTHER OF GOD COLOURING BOOK

Famous images of Our Lady

Written and illustrated by Katherine Sotnik

Beautifully drawn classic images of Our Lady and the Christ Child from famous shrines and miraculous images. Children and adults will love this collection of 35 famous images of Our Lady to colour in. Printed on good quality paper, each image has an accompanying brief history of each painting, statue or icon. 72 pages (8½” x 11”).

RRP $9.95 + PH The Record Bookshop 9227 7080

S AINTS

St Theophanes

Theophanes (d. 817) was born in Constantinople and raised in the court of Emperor Constantine V. He inherited his father’s estate as a young child, and the emperor became his guardian. In spite of his wealth and position, Theophanes built two monasteries and retired from the world. He lived in the monastery on the island of Calonymus, which he owned. In 787, he attended the Second Council of Nicea. In 814 Emperor Leo the Armenian wanted Theophanes to use his influence to stop some practices of the church that he disliked, but Theophanes refused. Leo had Theophanes whipped and thrown into a dungeon for two years. After this he was banished to a remote island, where he later died. We honour him on March 12.

PUZZLES UZZLES

Using the Book of Genesis as a guide, circle the words that answer the following questions. Chapter numbers are provided as hints:

1. What was Abraham’s name before God changed it? (12) Hammel, Abram

2. Who was Abraham’s wife? (12) Sarai,Esther

3. What was the name of Abraham’s first son? (16) Ishmael, Lot

4. What was one of the cities God destroyed? (19) Sodom, Babylon

5. What was the name of Sarai’s son? (21) Armand, Isaac

6. Who was Ishmael’s mother? (25) Hannah, Hagar

Answers: 1. Abram, 2. Sarai, 3. Ishmael, 4. Sodom, 5. Isaac, 6.

How many names of Jesus’ Twelve Apostles can you find using the letters from the phrase below? Two apostles have the same name. Use Mark 3 to help you:

“Jesus drove the money-changers from the temple.”

Hagar.

ROSARY Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, Canada, AD 1845.

Answer: Peter, James (2x), John, Thomas, Judas.

God blesses the seeker, says Benedict

Once again, Pope Benedict puts St Paul front and centre, this time for season of Lent.

■ By Cindy Wooden

ROME (CNS) - If people act on God’s call to conversion, he will forgive them everything and bless them, Pope Benedict XVI said just before receiving ashes and distributing ashes to mark the beginning of Lent.

“As we prepare to receive the ashes on our foreheads as a sign of conversion and repentance, let us open our hearts to the lifegiving action of the word of God,” the Pope told people gathered in Rome’s Basilica of St Sabina on February 25.

The evening Mass was preceded by a penitential procession from the nearby Church of St Anselm.

In his homily, Pope Benedict said the readings chosen by the Church for Ash Wednesday are meant to give guidance to Christians for the 40 days of Lent and to provide

them with encouragement to follow the Lenten journey of conversion with courage.

The call to conversion is loud and clear in each part of the Ash Wednesday Mass from the opening prayer to the readings and hymns, he said.

“The promise of God is clear: If we listen to his invitation to convert, God will make his mercy triumph and his friends will be filled with innumerable blessings,” the Pope said.

The Gospel reading from Matthew, he said, puts Christians

on guard against “ostentation and hypocrisy, superficiality and selfsatisfaction, reaffirming the need to nourish an uprightness of heart.”

At the same time, the Gospel explains that the way to grow in the purity of heart is to cultivate a closer relationship with God the Father, he said.

Pope Benedict said that during the year of St Paul, marking the 2,000th anniversary of the apostle’s birth, he wanted to focus in a special way on Paul’s writings and conversion story.

“Paul experienced in an extraordinary way the power of the grace of God,” which is also the grace of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he said.

Catholics do not pretend during Lent that they do not already know that Jesus rose from the dead, the Pope said, but as they prepare for Easter they are “already enlightened by the brightness of the paschal mystery” of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

A Christian’s Lenten journey of conversion must be, like St Paul’s, a call from the risen Christ to change, to accept the forgiveness won by Jesus on the cross and to

dedicate one’s life to following him, the Pope said. St Paul’s call to refuse to allow sin to reign in one’s life is an affirmation that while salvation is a free gift of God an individual must take the step of accepting that gift, he said.

“On the one hand, this affirms the victory of Christ over sin once and for all with his death and resurrection,” he said.

On the other hand, Christians are exhorted to not let sin re-enter their lives.

“So that Christ may reign fully in him, the baptised person must faithfully follow his teachings; he must never let down his guard so as to ensure the adversary cannot win back any territory,” Pope Benedict said.

The Lenten emphasis on prayer, almsgiving and fasting highlights the three most effective defences against evil, he said.

The Pope prayed that a more frequent reading of the Bible, more intense prayer and “an austere and penitential style of life will be a stimulus to conversion and sincere love toward our brothers and sisters, especially the poorest and neediest.”

Viet Cardinal known for leadership in war dies

HANOI, Vietnam (CNS)Cardinal Paul Pham Dinh Tung, known for his leadership of Catholics in northern Vietnamese dioceses during difficult times, died at the age of 89.

Cardinal Tung died on February 22 at the archbishop’s residence in Hanoi, a local church source told the Asian church news agency UCA News.

The following morning, his coffin was moved from the chapel in the archbishop’s residence to nearby St Joseph Cathedral, UCA News reported. Thousands of Catholics attended a special Mass concelebrated by Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet of Hanoi, Auxiliary Bishop Laurence Chu Van Minh of Hanoi, Bishop Joseph Dang Duc Ngan of Lang Son and priests.

Cardinal Tung’s funeral Mass was held on February 26 at the cathedral square and he was buried in the cathedral.

Pope Benedict XVI expressed his sadness over the death of Cardinal Tung and said he was united in prayer with the Archdiocese of Hanoi, the bishops of Vietnam, the relatives of the cardinal and all those touched by his death.

The Pope called him “a distinguished pastor who, in difficult circumstances, served the Church with great courage and great fidelity to the see of Peter, sacrificing himself with generosity to the announcement of the Gospel.”

During Cardinal Tung’s nameday celebration on January 25,

2008, Bishop Minh praised the cardinal for bravely witnessing to the Catholic faith by urging northern dioceses to remain faithful to the church during the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, under communist rule and during the Vietnam War. The cardinal founded centres for people displaced by war.

Local church sources told UCA News the cardinal founded a religious society for women in the Bac

Ninh Diocese in 1963 and a society for former seminarians in Hanoi in 1996.

Both societies now have hundreds of members involved in evangelisation.

They said Cardinal Tung provided priestly formation for seminarians from seven northern dioceses from 1955 to 1960, when the seminary was closed because it refused to allow communists to teach athe-

ism to seminarians. Cardinal Tung then secretly provided priestly formation to seminarians in parishes and ordained many.

Bishop Minh said the cardinal tried to strengthen Catholics’ faith by providing pastoral activities and devotion to Jesus and Mary and by bringing folk music into the liturgy.

Cardinal Tung was born in 1919 in the Phat Diem Diocese. He was

ordained a priest in 1949. In 1963, he was ordained bishop of the Bac Ninh Diocese, which had been vacant for almost 10 years. Later, after serving as apostolic administrator of the Hanoi Archdiocese for four years, he was appointed its archbishop in 1994. Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal that same year. From 1995 to 2001, Cardinal Tung headed the Vietnamese bishops’ conference. He retired as archbishop of Hanoi in 2005.

Cardinal Tung’s death leaves the College of Cardinals with 187 members, 115 of whom are eligible to vote in a papal conclave.

As Legionaries descend into crisis, US prelate

■ By George Matysek

BALTIMORE (CNS) -

Concerned that the Legionaries of Christ order stifles the free will of its members and lacks transparency, Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore told its director general in Rome that he cannot in good conscience recommend that anyone join the Legionaries or Regnum Christi, its affiliated lay movement. In the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Legionaries of Christ are affiliated with Woodmont Academy in the Baltimore suburb of Cooksville. Regnum Christi is also active in several parishes.

The archbishop’s action came in the wake of revelations that the late Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, fathered a daughter while serving as leader of the international religious order.

Pope Benedict XVI had previously removed the Mexican priest from public ministry in 2006, asking him to lead a life of prayer and penance after Father Maciel faced allegations of sexual abuse of seminarians and financial irregularities.

“It seems to me and many others that this was a man with an entrepreneurial genius who, by systematic deception and duplicity, used our faith to manipulate others for

his own selfish ends,” Archbishop O’Brien told The Catholic Review, Baltimore archdiocesan newspaper, in a telephone interview following his February 20 Rome meeting with Father Alvaro Corcuera, director general of the Legionaries. Scott Brown, executive director of the Woodmont Academy, declined to comment to the Catholic paper and referred questions to Jim Fair, a US spokesman for the order, who said that revelations about Father Maciel have been a “great shock” and “great disappointment” to members, but that the order has achieved “very positive things” for the Church.

“We’re processing that mystery, that the Holy Spirit could use what

Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, speaks at a conference in Madrid, Spain, in this 2001 photo. Confirmation he fathered a child has plunged the order he founded into crisis.

PHOTO: CNS/J.L. PINO, EFE

Pope Benedict XVI uses holy water during an evening Ash Wednesday Mass at the Basilica of St Sabina in Rome on February 25.

PHOTO: CNS/VINCENZO PINTO, REUTERS

Catholics attend the funeral of Cardinal Paul Pham Dinh Tung in front of the St Joseph Cathedral in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 26. Thousands of Vietnamese Catholics wearing white headbands filled the streets and plaza in front of Hanoi’s main cathedral for the funeral of Cardinal Tung.

PHOTOS: CNS/KHAM, REUTERS

Clergy walk for the last time around the coffin of Cardinal Paul Pham Dinh Tung during his funeral.

Bishops warn of a ‘Christian desert’

Middle East could effectively be emptied of its Christians, say concerned bishops.

■ By Doreen Abi Raad

ZOUK MOSBEH, Lebanon

(CNS) - Chaldean Catholic leaders warned that Iraq’s diminishing Christian population should be an “alarm bell” for the rest of the world and could foreshadow the transformation of the Middle East.

Chaldean Bishop Michel Kassarji of Beirut warned participants at a mid-February conference that the Iraqi model of depleting Christians could be introduced into the rest of the Middle East.

He said the mission of the conference was to “sound the alarm bell ... to avoid the transformation of the East into a desert of Christianity.”

“International religious authorities look at the Iraqi Christian situation as hopeless” and view Christians’ departure “as something imminent and unavoidable,” said the bishop.

“Our fellow Muslim brothers must be aware of these dangers and must take responsibility in turn. The Arab and Muslim countries have to make a serious move to stop the extermination of the Christian existence in Iraq,” he said.

“Many Muslim officials have acknowledged that the persecution of Iraqi Christians is actually taking place and it is a practice that is foreign to the Islamic traditions,” Bishop Kassarji added.

Maronite Father Walid Mousa, president of Notre Dame University-Louaize, which hosted the conference, told participants: “Christianity is not the one who invaded Iraq and led to the fall of Saddam Hussein. So why is it now a victim?”

The conference, under the patronage of Cardinal Nasrallah P Sfeir, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church, was organised by the Chaldean Catholic Church in Lebanon.

Approximately 400,000 Christians have fled Iraq since 2003 and about 300,000 remain.

One bishop and three priests are among the 500 Christians who have been killed.

Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, Iraq, said the reasons

was very clearly a flawed instrument to do good,” Fair said. “So while this is certainly disappointing, we have a charism that is approved by the Church and we’ll continue to work on behalf of the Church on our various apostolic works.”

Fair said he hoped the Legionaries will be able to prove to Archbishop O’Brien that “we have some value that would help his ministries and the archdiocese.”

Archbishop O’Brien told The Catholic Review, “Father Maciel deserves our prayers, as every Christian who dies does, that he’ll be forgiven and we leave the final judgment to God as to what his life and death amounted to.”

why Christians are fleeing Iraq are complicated.

“Tragic mistakes were committed in Iraq, which created a huge chaos,” he said.

“The occupation of Iraq by the Americans resulted in fatal mistakes, such as the dismantling of organisations, including the army and police forces, and the opening of borders without monitoring them. In addition, neighboring countries have had a direct influence and impact on Iraq. Internally, political parties vying for power have taken advantage of minorities,” said the archbishop.

“Extremist Islamic rhetoric and the call for establishing a theocratic ruling system has played a huge part in the agony of Christians,”

Archbishop Sako said. “They (Christians) have been associated with the occupier without having any relation to it, or to the crusaders from whom they suffered. And they have been accused of blasphemy and polytheism and are innocent of such accusations.”

Christians, he said, “have the feeling of being wronged and marginalised in the representation (in) and contribution to Iraqi state organisations.”

“The idea of emptying the East of Christians is a deadly sin,” he said.

“We need to reject all forms of oppression, suppression and terrorism in the name of religion, and the Church has a big responsibility for open and sincere dialogue with Muslim authorities,” Archbishop Sako said, noting that there is also a need for governmental institutions that work to help protect minorities.

Arab countries and churches in the West need to pay more attention to Christian minorities in the East, whose future “relies heavily on the Church to shelter their followers and protect them.”

During the conference, several Iraqi Christian refugees in Lebanon shared their story.

Haytham, who had been a student at the University of Mosul before coming to Lebanon about a year and a half ago, preferred only to use his first name.

“I have very good memories of Iraq and even more bitter memories,” said the 33-year-old man. “I was very scared. I couldn’t sleep at night. Every time I left the university, I wondered if I would arrive home. Our life became hell.

“I had been very patient, but as a

Saying that the Legionaries’ founder “leaves many victims in his wake,” the archbishop called for the “full disclosure of his activities and those who are complicit in them or knew of them and of those who are still refusing to offer disclosure.”

He added that the finances of the order should be opened to “objective scrutiny.”

Archbishop O’Brien said he has grave concerns that the Legionaries foster a “cult of personality” focused on Father Maciel.

“While it’s difficult to get ahold of official documents,” Archbishop O’Brien said, “it’s clear that from the first moment a person joins the Legion, efforts seem to be made

Christian I had lost hope,” he said. Haytham said he wants to return to Iraq and rebuild the country but he does not know when he will be able to return.

Thirty-year-old Wassan, who also preferred to use only her first name, came to Lebanon from Mosul around the same time as Haytham. She said: “Life in Iraq reached a point where we couldn’t move and couldn’t express ourselves. It’s hard to stay close to the Church under these conditions.

“Iraq is a wounded lion.

“But one day, the lion will rise again and will heal.”

During the concluding session of the conference, participants made recommendations for the United Nations, the Arab League and the international community, as well as for the Eastern Catholic churches in Lebanon.

The recommendations urged the UN to work with the Iraqi government to monitor violations against Christians and other minorities and to carry out international agreements regarding Iraq’s aboriginal people. Participants also urged the UN to increase aid to Iraqis and to organize an international conference addressing the situation of Iraqi minorities.

They also called on the Eastern Catholic churches in Lebanon to dedicate 2009 as the year for “Christian Existence in Iraq” and to organise a day of prayer for Christians in Iraq.

to program each one and to gain full control of his behaviour, of all information he receives, of his thinking and emotions.”

The archbishop said many members who leave the order suffer “deep psychological distress for dependency and need prolonged counselling akin to deprogramming.”

Saying that he knows there are good priests in the movement and acknowledging that Legionaries members are in full accord with the theological teachings of the Church, the archbishop also said some of the practices of the movement are unhealthy.

“This is not about orthodoxy,” he said. “It is about respect for human

Christian Flight

At least half of all Christians in Iraq have left the country in the last five years, making the minority believers in the Muslim country even more scarce.

dignity for each of its members.”

The archbishop noted that he has heard reports that the movement claims the first duty of a Legionary is to love the order. Such policies subject a person’s use of reason not to one’s own judgment but to that of a spiritual director, Archbishop O’Brien said.

“It’s been said that the founder is alone called ‘nuestro padre’ (‘our father’) and that no one else can have that title,” Archbishop O’Brien said. “All are bound to identify with him in his spirit, his mind, his mission and in his life. This would suggest that the very basis of the Legion movement should be reviewed from start to finish.”

Last June, Archbishop O’Brien asked the order’s leader to appoint a liaison who would inform the archbishop of all of the Legionaries’ activities within the archdiocese. He also asked for more transparency of Regnum Christi programs and for the order to stop giving spiritual direction to minors.

“As far as we can judge, they are responding well to our requests,” Archbishop O’Brien told The Catholic Review, “but these larger questions are looming ever more threateningly.”

Father Maciel founded the Legionaries of Christ in 1941. He died on January 30, 2008, at the age of 87.

Contributing to this story was Paul

McMullen.

A resident holds his rosary beads as US soldiers patrolling a market walk past him in Mosul, about 390 kilometres north of Baghdad, Iraq, on February 2. Thousands of Christian families in Mosul were forced to leave in 2008 after numerous murders of Christians.

PHOTO: CNS/ERIK DE CASTRO, REUTERS

Liturgy, if done well, can be spine-tingling

Michael Peters

Music played well at Mass is like the icing on the cake. In 1999 Father Tim Deeter asked me to be the organist at St Mary’s Cathedral. He also got some people together to sing at the 11.30am Mass there.

Eventually I took over rehearsals and the Cathedral Singers became my choir in 2000. I’ve been the director ever since. The whole idea was that the singers be a high quality parish based choir whilst singing some professional Cathedral music too.

How I Pray

Our choir is not there to put on the best performance but purely to inspire people. I’ve always believed that singing hymns is praying twice.

One of the prayers we say before Mass is, “Bless us your servants O Lord who minister in your temple. Grant that what we sing with our lips we may believe in our hearts, and that what we believe in our hearts we may show forth in our lives. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.” It reminds the choir we are not just there to provide the music at the Mass but to really, truly believe what we are singing.

After Mass and rehearsals we say our prayers together. We always add, “St Cecilia, pray for us.” She is the patron saint of music. She inspires me and I always pray to her for guidance and help. I think she does help our choir in a lot of ways. Doing the liturgy well (the way it is meant to be) is a really beautiful thing to do. I lose myself in liturgical music. It can be spine tingling.

The Eucharistic prayer is particularly meaningful to me too. During this part of the Mass the musicians and choir can spend a few minutes in meditative prayer.

To be a Catholic you have to believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist which I really do.

At night I pray with my daughter Erin (4). She sings her prayers to music she has made up and says, “Daddy sings his prayers. Why can’t I?” We say the “Hail Mary” and “Our Father.” Then we ask God to bless our family and thank Him for the day. We start and finish with the Sign of the Cross.

I play and sing for Masses, weddings and funerals. I’ve taught altar servers, readers, special Eucharistic ministers and acolytes about the liturgy.

Whenever I feel like my music has put me on the map I am reminded by the Gospel readings of the importance of humility in prayer. Becoming the organist and director of the Cathedral Singers at St Mary’s Cathedral is like my reward for my faith.

Currently we are singing at St Joachim’s Church, in Victoria Park. We will return to sing at St Mary’s Cathedral on its completion. New members are always welcome and those interested can contact me on 0414 294 338 (m).

My faith provides me with the foundation for my life.

It is something I try to pass onto others. Doing music with people for weddings or funerals gives me the opportunity to be a part of their life for that period of time and impart to them how I feel about what I do. Music is a form of evangelisation.

If you have a story to tell please contact Debbie via debwarrier@hotmail.com

Pope to visit Old Testament roots

Garden weddings... what’s the point?

Q&A

By Fr John Flader

Attending an invalid wedding

My daughter, much to my dismay, has just announced that she is to “marry” in a garden with a civil celebrant. Naturally I am very upset about this, but I think I should somehow show her my support, as I have always done. Can I attend the ceremony?

Of all the questions we priests are asked, I suspect this one is the most frequent. And the most messy. I have been considering answering it in this column for a long time, and have finally decided to do so.

It is not an easy question and there is no simple answer.

There are two strong, irreconcilable goods at stake and choosing between them inevitably leaves one of them wounded. The two goods are of course respect for the truth about Christian marriage and love for one’s family and friends.

Over the years I have read articles on this question which take a strong line against attending the wedding in all cases. I am not prepared to accept that position. But let me explain.

Attending the wedding of a Catholic that is not going to be recognised as valid by the Church is an instance of what is called cooperation in evil. I leave aside the question of whether the person getting married actually regards their action as sinful. They may not, but it is still objectively wrong.

According to traditional Catholic moral theology, one should ordinarily not cooperate in the sinful deeds of another, but there are circumstances in which one may do so.

First of all, one can never cooper-

ate formally; that is, agreeing with and accepting the sin. This would be the case of someone who saw nothing wrong with attending an invalid wedding.

In your question you make clear that you do not agree with what your daughter is doing, so your cooperation would not be formal, but rather what is called material.

Secondly, one can cooperate materially only if there is a proportionate reason to do so.

And the more proximate, as distinct from remote, the cooperation is, the stronger the reason one needs to justify cooperating.

For example, in a civil celebration the celebrant, the best man and the maid of honour cooperate more proximately or closely than those who merely attend. Without their cooperation the wedding would not go ahead, because a celebrant and two witnesses are necessary for the validity of the marriage.

Normally, one should never cooperate with this close degree of cooperation.

Those who merely attend the wedding are cooperating more remotely, since even if they do not attend, the wedding will still go ahead.

And they can justify attending if they have a proportionate reason to do so. Such a reason would be their judgment that if they do not attend they will seriously harm their relationship with the person who is getting married.

This is not easy to determine in many cases. Sometimes, only after they have

failed to attend do they see how seriously they have harmed the relationship. This very uncertainty can argue in favour of attending, in order not to risk endangering the relationship.

Thus the closer the person considering attending is to the person getting married, the more reason there can be to attend. If one is a close relative or a close friend, there can be more reason to attend than if one is only a distant relative or a casual acquaintance.

If having considered this criterion, someone decides to attend the wedding there are still two more matters to be taken into account.

Firstly, they must make clear to the person getting married that they do not agree with what the person is doing, and explain that they wish the person would change their mind and get married by the Church.

Secondly, they must avoid giving scandal to others by their attendance. For this it is normally sufficient to let others know that they disagree with the wedding but feel obliged to attend in order not to jeopardise their relationship with the person.

Even with this criterion, it can still be very difficult to decide whether or not to attend. Sometimes members of the immediate family are divided on the issue. In this case they can always consult their pastor for help in deciding on the best course of action.

At least, people should know that it is not always sinful to attend.

with Debbie Warrier

Mosaic floors are seen in an excavated church on Mount Nebo in Jordan in this September 21, 2005, file photo. The church is believed to have been built on the spot where Moses saw the Promised Land. During his May 8-11 trip to Jordan, Pope Benedict XVI will visit Mount Nebo.

PHOTO: CNS/GREG TARCZYNSKI

Their lives are their Lenten sacrifice

A new crusade against Christians

In clear view

By Guy Crouchback

Here are three incidents reported from Britain in the course of a few days:

A foster mother has been struck off by a council after a teenage Muslim girl in her care became a Christian. The carer, who has looked after more than 80 children, said she was devastated: “This is my life. It is not just a job for me. It is a vocation. I love what I do. It is also my entire income. I am a single carer, so that is all I have to live on.” The foster mother said she had recently bought a larger car and had been renting a farmhouse, with a pony in a field, so that she could provide more disadvantaged children with a new life.

“That was always my dream. I am now in a one-bedroom flat.” The girl, now 17, is understood to be back with members of her family, who have not been told of her conversion. A second girl the woman was fostering has been moved to another carer. The woman insisted that, although she was a Christian, she had put no pressure on the girl, who was 16 at the time, to be baptised, but council officials allegedly accused her of failing to “respect and preserve’” the child’s faith and tried to persuade the girl to reconsider her decision.

Caroline Petrie, 45, a Christian nurse in Somerset, was suspended without pay for offering to pray for an elderly woman patient. She was reinstated only after thousands of complaints to the National Health Service.

A cricket team, the Middlesex Crusaders, who have played under that name for almost 10 years, have been forced to change their name to The Panthers because of the Christian associations of the word “Crusaders.”

One need not be paranoid to see that a deliberate and strategic war is being waged in Britain to destroy Christianity and Britain’s Christian identity.

The actual intelligence directing this war is not so easy to see. It will be noted that none of the agencies responsible for the above is directly part of the national government, elected at general elections and responsible to electors, whose members sit in Parliament and comprise the Ministries and Cabinet.

The political apparachiks responsible for these and countless comparable acts inhabit not the Parliament of Westminster but local authorities and quasi-Governmental agencies, hard to pin down, hard to call to account, and very hard indeed to tip out at elections.

This is not to say the government has not condoned them – the Prime Minister or other ultimately-responsible Ministers could in each case have put a stop to it with a telephone call or word to their Departmental Head, but did not. Certainly the allegedly highly-religious (and now Catholic convert) Tony Blair did nothing that one could detect to stop such things – and there were already then thousands of such incidents - when he was Prime Minister.

Certainly, the links with the government are there, but they are fudged and deniable. Shortly before Christmas a leading Labour Party-aligned think-tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research, recommended that Christmas, if it cannot be obliterated, should be down-graded to promote multiculturalism.

The report says that because it would be hard to “expunge” Christmas from the national calendar (although this would apparently be desirable), public organisations must be made to give non-Christian religious festivals equal footing.

The Institute is not some pathetic relic of Communist days clinging to existence in a squalid slum attic. It has very close links with the government.

The report was commissioned when Nick Pearce, now head of public policy in the Prime Minister’s Office, was its director. He was described in an interview on the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s “Sunday Profile” recently

as “One of the leading policy-makers in Great Britain.”

So far, while many people are plainly angry and protesting, much of the reaction seems to be bewilderment. “Political correctness gone mad!” is a description used beyond the point of cliché – but if it is madness it is a very clever, cunning and strategically-conscious madness. Britain, like Australia, had been a liberal Parliamentary democracy informed by Christian values for so long that many people do not seem to understand what is happening. As Kipling put it:

Ancient, effortless, ordered, Cycle on cycle set, Life so long untroubled

That Ye who inherit forget …

Australia has not gone as far as Britain in culture-war yet, but, as in Britain, those of us committed to democratic government, the rule of law and Christian values do not seem mentally prepared to meet this challenge, or are thinking in outdated terms. This is not quite like anything our society has had to cope with before. We might do worse than to start taking seriously the boy-scout motto of Be Prepared.

A study to reveal truths

Fr Anthony Paganoni, Scalabrinian, continues this week with the fourth of a series of articles on a fascinating story, a long-running successful initiative in youth ministry in the province of Lombardy, Italy.

The ItalianWay

What do the experts think?

Ateam of researchers from the Catholic University of Milan and the neighbouring city of Brescia carried out a major three-year study that identified and investigated a variety of initiatives grouped under the umbrella of the Oratorio. The four-volume report attests to the expertise of a wide range of researchers and has a very interesting story to tell, challenging a range of stereotypes about a fairly widespread cultural phenomenon in the region of Lombardy. This heavily populated area, aside from being the main engine of the Italian economy for decades and recording a very high rate of road fatalities among young people leaving discos and nightclubs during the early hours of Sunday, was selected on the grounds that it is the area most closely associated with this particular youth ministry – with some three thousand Oratori.

The study did not major on the character of the Oratorio as such, but on its operations during the Lenten, summer or Advent seasons. These are the occasions when the Oratorio tries to reach out to young people who are either right outside or merely nominally connected with the local Church. This pro-active outreach by a selected number of youth leaders was targeting a large group of both primary and secondary school students at a time when they were free from classes.

Endorsed by the Italian Bishops’ Conference, the research plan enjoyed the full support of the grassroots leadership in youth ministry from several dioceses.

Because the target group was very largely transient, the common aim was to assess the outcomes of the youth ministry on the young people who encountered it for just a brief period. The importance of such an exercise has wide pastoral implications, since it identifies strategies and programs seeking to connect today’s youth with the Church.

But it was also surveying attitudes of the 20 per cent or so of young people firmly involved in the life of the Church through the Oratorio activities. Some of the issues examined in regard to this group were their level of satisfaction as well their inner motivation for undertaking what may turn out to be a rather time-consuming and demanding project.

The study also unearthed a deal of information about the local parish community: its attitudes, its view of youth activities, the overt support by the parish leadership - clergy and laity alike.

Let us look first at a particular sample: a map of 117 groupings which come together for a short term activity. In these, we find a young priest at the helm, working in a spirit of close collaboration with mostly lay people. Generally the event would last about a week, give or take a few days. The participants would number from between 10 to 25, half of them adolescents and half young adults between the ages of 20 and 30. For some of the participants it was their first experience of a Church-sponsored initiative.

The findings have been widely discussed among the research team, and are now in the process of being validated by sampled groups of young people and local leaders.

Tony Paganoni, Scalabrinian

Intriguing developments in Youth Ministry

Palestinians take cover from the rain under the ruins of a destroyed house in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17. Their plight, and the plight of millions of people like them in countries around the world, can remind us to focus our prayers and almsgiving more fruitfully throughout the season of Lent.

PHOTO: CNS/MOHAMMED SALEM, REUTERS

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Friday March 6 to Sunday March 8

ALL NEW AUTUMN WEEKEND RETREAT

7.30pm, Dardanup Retreat House. A time to reflect on God’s creation, and the passage of time, in a new season. Enquiries and bookings: Sr Shelley Barlow, 9271 3873.

Friday March 6 to Sunday March 8

SEPARATED, DIVORCED, WIDOWED

7pm at Epiphany Retreat Centre, Rossmoyne. Beginning Experience is running a program designed to assist and support people in learning to close the door gently on a relationship that has ended in order to get on with living. Enq: Helen 6246 5150 or Maureen 9537 1915.

Saturday March 7

WITNESS FOR LIFE

8.30am, Mass at St Augustine’s, Gladstone Road, Rivervale followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at abortion clinic, led by Fr Paul Carey SSC. Enq: Helen 9402 0349.

Saturday March 7

DAY WITH MARY

9am to 5pm at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 265 Flinders Street, Nollamara; 9am Video on Fatima. Day of prayer and instruction based on the Fatima message. Reconciliation, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons on Eucharist and Our Lady, Rosaries, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Stations of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enq: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.

Wednesday March 11

CHAPLETS OF THE DIVINE MERCY

7.30pm at St Thomas More Catholic Church, Dean Road, Bateman. A beautiful, prayerful, sung devotion, accompanied by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction. All are welcome. Enq: George 9310 9493 home or 9325 2010 work.

Friday March 12

CATHOLIC FAITH RENEWAL

7.30pm at St John and Paul Parish, Willetton, Fr Greg Donovan will lead you through Scripture; Genesis to Apocalypse. All welcome. Enq: Maureen 9381 4498 or Rose 0403 300 720.

Friday March 13

HEALING FIRE BURNING LOVE MINISTRY

CHARISMATIC STATIONS OF THE CROSS

7pm at St Gerard Majella, 37 Changton Way, Mirrabooka; praise and worship, 7.30pm Stations of the Cross. A time to praise and rejoice in what the Lord has done for you. Enq: Jenni 9445 1028 or 0404 389 679.

Sunday March 15

FOCOLARE MOVEMENT

4pm at Sisters of the Poor Chapel, Glendalough, First Anniversary Mass for Chiara Lubich. Celebrant Bishop Don Sproxton. All welcome. Enq: 9349 4052.

Sunday 15 March

150TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

ST PATRICK YORK – ORIGINAL CHURCH

10.30am Mass concelebrated by Archbishop Barry Hickey followed by launch of the Parish history - Glorious Apostle - and a luncheon picnic, bring lunch and a chair. Please join in the solemnities and festivities. Drinks provided and Parish history book will be on sale. Enq: 9641 1477.

Tuesday March 17

MASS - ST PATRICK’S DAY CELEBRATION

10am at St Joseph’s Church, 3 Salvado Road, Subiaco. All welcome.

Wednesday March 18

HEALING FIRE BURNING LOVE MINISTRY

CHARISMATIC STATIONS OF THE CROSS

7pm at St Brigid, Aberdeen Street, Northbridge. Praise and worship, 7.30pm Stations of the Cross. A time to praise and rejoice in what the Lord has done for you, reconciliation and healing Service. Enq: Jenni 9445 1028 or 0404 389 679.

FRIDAY MARCH 20

MEDJUGORJE - EVENING OF PRAYER

7pm at All Saints Chapel, Allendale Square, 77 St.George’s Terrace, Perth. An evening of Prayer with Our Lady Queen of Peace, commencing with Adoration, Rosary and Benediction followed by Holy Mass. Evening concludes at 9pm. Free DVD’s on Fr Donald Calloway’s conversion available on night. Enq: Eileen 9402 2480.

Friday March 20 to Sunday March 22

SAINT PAUL’S RETREAT

7pm at God’s Farm. Fr Tony Chiera VG, weekend Retreat Master, on St Paul. Luxurious bus hired, direct from Perth and return, limited seats. God’s Farm is 40km south of Busselton. Bookings to PO Box 24, Cowaramup, WA 6284, or Betty 9755 6212, or Yvonne 9343 1897.

Saturday March 21

PRAYER VIGIL FOR PEACE

6pm-9.30pm at Redemptorist Monastery, 190 Vincent Street, North Perth. Spend some time with us in prayer for peace in war torn countries, peace in our local communities, peace in our home and peace within ourselves. Enq: Jeanette 9370 4690.

Friday March 27

HEALING FIRE BURNING LOVE MINISTRY

CHARISMATIC STATIONS OF THE CROSS

7pm at Santa Clara, Corner Coolgardie and Pollock Street, Bentley. Stations of the Cross. A time to praise and rejoice in what the Lord has done for you. Enq: Jenni 9445 1028 or 0404 389 679.

Saturday March 28

ST PADRE PIO DAY OF PRAYER

8.30am at St Brigid, Aberdeen Street, Northbridge. St Padre Pio DVD, 10am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Divine Mercy, Silent adoration and Benediction. 11am Holy Mass, Padre Pio liturgy, celebrant Fr Tiziano Bogoni. Confessions available. 12noon shared lunch, bring a plate. Tea and coffee provided. Enq: Des 6278 1540.

Wednesday April 1

HEALING FIRE BURNING LOVE MINISTRY

CHARISMATIC STATIONS OF THE CROSS

7.30pm at St Brigid, Aberdeen Street, Northbridge. Praise and worship, 8pm Stations of the Cross, Reconciliation and Healing Service. A time to praise and rejoice in what the Lord has done for you. Enq: Jenni 9445 1028 or 0404 389 679.

Every 1st and 3rd Sunday of Each Month

ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL SINGERS CHOIR

9.30am at St Joachim’s Pro Cathedral, Victoria Park. We are seeking new members to join us – be part of singing at the refurbished St Mary’s Cathedral. Full training provided. Enq: Michael 041 429 4338 or michael@ michaelpeters.id.au

Every Tuesday THE GOSPEL OF ST MATTHEW - BIBLE COURSE

7.30pm St Joachim’s Parish Hall, Shepparton Road, Victoria Park. Exciting revelations with meaningful applications that will change your life. Meetings incorporate a Novena to God the Father. Light refreshments will follow. Bring along your Bible, a notebook and a friend. Enq: Jan 9284 1662.

Every Tuesday THEOLOGY OF THE BODY FOR TEENS

6.30pm to 7.30pm at Holy Spirit, City Beach. DVD by Christopher West will be shown for 12 weeks, with breaks over Easter. Young and experienced facilitators will assist discussion in small groups following each DVD viewing. Cost, free. Intended age group, 16-18. Enq: 9341 3079, HolySpirit.Parish@perthcatholic.org.au

Every Wednesday THE JULIAN SINGERS

7.30pm to 9.30pm at the Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor Street, East Perth. Inviting any interested people for rehearsals to see if they may like to join the choir. We are a liturgical choir and also perform an annual charity concert. Enq: Chris 9276 2736 or Angela 9275 2066.

Every First Friday of the month ST PADRE PIO - LATIN MASS

7.30pm at St Joseph’s Church, 22 Hamilton Street, Bassendean. Latin Mass according to the 1962 missal will be offered in honour of St Padre Pio. The Latin Mass is also offered every Monday evening - except the third week of the month at 7.30pm. All welcome.

Third Sunday of the Month OBLATES OF ST BENEDICT

2pm at St Joseph’s Convent, York Street, South Perth. Oblates affiliated with the Benedictine Abbey New Norcia welcome all who are interested in studying the rule of St Benedict and its relevance to the everyday life of today for lay people. Vespers and afternoon tea conclude meetings. Enq: 9457 5758.

Every Sunday DIVINE MERCY PRAYER AS NOVENA

3pm St Aloysius Church, 84 Keightley Road, West Shenton Park. An opportunity for all to gather once a week and say the powerful Divine Mercy, Eucharistic Adoration, healing prayers followed by Holy Mass at 4pm. Enq: 9381 5383.

Every 1st Thursday of the Month PRAYER AND MEDITATION SERVICE USING SONGS FROM TAIZE

7.30pm at Our Lady of Grace, 3 Kitchener Street, North Beach. The service is a prayerful meditation in which we sing beautiful chants from Taize together, spend time in prayerful, meditative silence, bathed in candlelight reflecting upon themed readings. Enq: Beth 9447 0061.

MEMORIES OF AFRICA CHOIR

Calling all to come and join this small but vibrant group. Come let us sing and praise God with the African melody and rhythm. Enq: Bibiana, 9451 6602 after 6pm.

Every First Friday and Saturday of month COMMUNION OF REPARATION – ALL NIGHT VIGIL

7pm Friday at Corpus Christi Church, Mosman Park, 47 Lochee Road. Mass with Fr Bogoni and concluding with midnight Mass. Confessions, Rosaries, prayers and silent hourly adoration. Please join us for reparation to Two Hearts according to the message of Our Lady of Fatima. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357.

Every First Friday

HOLY HOUR FOR VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

7pm at Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, 2 Rawlins Street, Glendalough. Mass celebrated by Fr Saminedi. 7.30pm, Adoration with Fr Don Kettle. All welcome. Refreshments provided.

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 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. The hour includes exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Let us implore God to pour 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. All welcome! Enq: 9276 8500.

Every Friday

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

9am to 6pm at Holy Trinity Church, 8 Burnett Street, Embleton. Enq: Office 9271 5528 or George 9272 1379.

Every Monday and Tuesday

ADVENTURES IN EXODUS – 9 WEEK STUDY

Church of St Emilie, 174 Amherst Road, Canning Vale. New and exciting study into the heart of the Bible - ‘Called To Freedom’ is also our story of what God calls us to be. Free. Limited places. Enq: Dominic celestialorchids@gmail. com, 6253 8041 or 0447 053 347.

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.

Every Thursday

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

11pm to midnight at Holy Trinity Church, 8 Burnett Street, Embleton. Enq: Office 9271 5528 or George 9272 1379.

Every Saturday

HOLY SPIRIT OF FREEDOM CHARISMATIC PRAYER MEETING

10.30am to 12.30pm at St Peter the Apostle Church Hall, 91 Wood Street, Inglewood. All are most welcome. More Info: 9475 0554.

Every Thursday JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE

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 www.acts2come. wa.edu.au/ or Jane 0401 692 690.

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.

Every 2nd Wednesday of Each Month

CHAPLETS OF THE DIVINE MERCY

7.30 pm at St Thomas More Catholic Church, Dean Road, Bateman. All welcome to a beautiful, prayerful, and sung devotion. Enq: George 9310 9493 home or 9325 2010 work.

BOOK DONATIONS WANTED

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

CLASSIFIEDS

Financial crisis delays

Pope’s social encyclical

Stewardship

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. St Paul reminds us that God Himself “did not pare His own Son.” Are my gifts to the Lord – of my resources, of my time, of myself – also sacrificial?

For further information on how stewardship can build your parish community, call Brian Stephens on 9422 7924.

Walking with Him Daily Mass Readings

Global financial crisis contributes to delay of encyclical, Pope says.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The global economic crisis has contributed to the delay in the publication of Pope Benedict XVI’s new social encyclical, not for financial reasons, but because the crisis has demonstrated how important and how complicated the topic is.

If the encyclical “does not deal competently with the economic reality, it cannot be credible,” Pope Benedict said on February 26 in response to a question from a priest of the Diocese of Rome.

During the Pope’s annual questionand-answer session with more than 400 priests ministering in Rome, a pastor from a poor neighbourhood asked how church members could do more to push for a real reform of the global economic system.

He said he did not want to give a simplistic answer to a complicated question about the reality of global finance and said that, in fact, the complexity of the current situation is what has delayed the publication of his social encyclical, tentatively titled Caritas in Veritate (“Love in Truth”).

“As you know, for a long time we have been preparing an encyclical on these points, and on its long journey one can see how difficult it is to speak competently about it,” the Pope said.

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BOOK REPAIRS

■ REPAIR YOUR LITURGICAL BOOKS

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

SINGLES

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Widowed, divorced or never married. All age groups. Meet-for-Drinks, Dinner Seminars and Individual Dates. Phone 9472 8218. Tues-Fri 10am - 6pm. www.figtrees.com.au

TUITION

English/tutor, primary specialist, reading/writing, spelling and comprehension. Single/group, limit of four. Diagnostic placement test. Maggie 9272 8263 or 0438 946 621.

FURNITURE REMOVAL

■ ALL AREAS Mike Murphy 0416 226 434.

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS

■ 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.

■ RICH HARVEST – YOUR CHRISTIAN SHOP

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.

■ 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.

SETTLEMENTS / FINANCE

■ 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.

■ FOR EVERYTHING FINANCE

Ph. Declan 0422 487 563, www.goalfinancialservices.com.au Save yourself time, money and stress. FBL 4712

HEALTH

■ FREE Sample pack for Extra energy and Weight loss. Call - 02 98075337 or 0432 274 643.

■ COUNSELLING/PSYCHOTHERAPY www.christianpsychologist.info Tel: 9203 5278.

■ EDUCATION & COUNSELLING Invest in your relationships and happiness for the whole family. RCPD courses beginning in Fro also family counselling and Austudy Appr. ADV. Dip in Christian counselling. 0404 405 585.

PASTORAL CARE COURSE

■ MINISTRY WITH THE MENTALLY ILL For those wanting to know about mental illness this 17 week course will run on Fridays, 8.45am to 3.30pm from 5th June to 25th Sept. 2009. This course involves information sessions on schizophrenia, bipolar, suicide awareness, eating disorders etc plus group work and ward visits. Course donation of $100 is invited. Applications close 8th May. For information contact Bob Milne, Graylands Hospital, Pastoral Centre 9347 6685 0413 325 486.

14

On the level of global economic systems, he said almost every person in every country is feeling the consequences of “these fundamental errors that have been revealed in the failure of the large American banks; the error at the basis of it is human greed. We must denounce this (system) with courage, but also with concreteness because moralising will not help if it is not supported by an understanding of reality, which also will help us understand what can be done concretely to change the situation,” he said, and that the crisis demonstrates that “original sin really exists.” While the global financial system must be reformed, the Pope said, individuals also must accept the fact that they will have to make some sacrifices in order to help the poor and move the world toward justice, which “cannot be created only with economic reforms, which are necessary, but it also requires the presence of just people,” he said.

MISSION MATTERS

Missionary reflections on this Sunday’s Gospel; Mark 9: 2 “…Jesus …led them up a high mountain where they could be alone by themselves…”

Finding time away from the relentless and overwhelming needs of the desperately poor on a Mission parish in the middle of a refugee camp wasn’t easy. But it was so essential for one’s spiritual well-being amidst the suffering. I found such a place on a wooded hill just outside our Mission grounds. It was hidden from view, so no one knew I was there especially around dusk. All I needed was just half an hour each day to get away. Jesus was certainly present amongst the poor we served throughout the day. Being alone with Him amongst the stars, up on that little hill, I felt a different presence. A presence that helped me recover from the day and rejuvenate for the next. A loving presence that felt cosmic. Interested in overseas missionary experience, then call Catholic Mission on 9422 7933.

Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square during his weekly Angelus address at the Vatican on February 22.

PHOTO: CNS/ALESSIA PIERDOMENICO, REUTERS

NEW ARRIVALS LENTEN BOOKS

THE PROUD TREE

Written by Luane Roche

Illustrated by Chris Sharp

This imaginative and creative children’s story is told from the viewpoint of Rex, the tree that became the cross on which Jesus was crucified. This proud tree learns a valuable lesson in humility, sacrifice and the power of love.

RRP $18.95

By Bob Hartman

In these memorable short stories, characters and events of Easter are vividly brought to life for young readers.

RRP$12.95

DAYBREAKS

Daily Reflections for Lent and Easter Week By John F Kavanaugh, SJ

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 9am - 2.30pm on (08) 9227 7080 or via bookshop@therecord.com.au 587 Newcastle St, West Perth

Name: Address:

Suburb:

THE EASTER STORY Colouring Book

Written by Sr Karen Cavanaugh

Illustrated by Edward Letwenko

In this edition of Father Kavanaugh’s best-selling series he takes the reader on a journey that opens a door to understanding the mystery of Christ’s redemptive mission.

RRP $2.50 EASTER BOOK

TESTIMONY OF THE CROSS

By Grzegorz Galazka

This is a stunning and moving photographic and textual reflection expressing the mystery of the Cross in the life of Pope John Paul II, who wrote the prayers and meditations that express the richness of his spirituality.

RRP $21.95

STATIONS

OF THE CROSS FOR MARRIED COUPLES

By Kass P. Dotterweich

Journey through the Stations of the Cross, with each presenting a reflection on Jesus and a prayer devoted to married couples.

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THE WAY OF THE CROSS for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

By Susan Tassone

This book will guide you in praying for departed souls, reflecting on the reality of purgatory and remembering Jesus’ Passion.

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Children can enjoy colouring pictures while learning the Easter story and its relevance for them today.

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Post Crucem, Lucem By Reverend Peter Stravinskas Post Crucem, Lucem translates as, “after the cross, the light”. This daily refection book provides scriptures and reflections that lead the reader on a journey from the repentance of Ash Wednesday to genuine Easter joy.