The Record Newspaper - 06 March 2013 by The Record

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YEAR of the SNAKE Honouring tradition and Faith: Perth’s Chinese Catholics celebrate the lunar New Year - Page 2

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HARVEST TIME Hills Catholics gather to keep the old ways alive and enjoy being together - Page 4

Candidates address Christians to distinguish themselves - but some are left unimpressed

We can’t answer your question By Matthew Biddle PREMIER Colin Barnett doubted the validity of information supplied in Parliament by his own government regarding aborted children who were born alive but given no medical treatment by hospital staff in front of more than 800 people attending an election forum for voters on February 26. At a forum for voters organised by the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), the Premier was asked if he would support an inquiry into the deaths of 14 babies born between 1999 and 2010 who, having survived an abortion procedure, were left to die. The question came from the Archdiocese of Perth’s Catholic Youth Ministry director, Anita Parker. After appearing to evade the substance of Ms Parker’s question, when probed further the Premier said: “I don’t know the details of that … I would find that quite difficult to accept, and I would doubt that that has occurred in that way.” “I somehow doubt that information.” Responding on the same issue, Labor leader Mark McGowan also questioned the validity of Ms Parker’s information. “You can’t just commit to inquiries based on someone saying something to you, you need the information to be provided, but if people Please turn to Page 6

As moderator Lyle Shelton looks on, WA Premier Colin Barnett addresses voters at the information evening convened by the Australian Christian Lobby at the Mt Pleasant Baptist Community Centre on February 26 while Opposition Leader Mark McGowan, at left, waits his turn to speak. Both candidates faced a range of questions, including from Perth Bishop Donald Sproxton on housing and from CYM director Anita Parker on abortion. PHOTO: MATTHEW BIDDLE

Young guns committed to fostering new tradition By Peter Rosengren

Jing Ping Wong speaks to the first meeting of the Christopher Dawson Society in Rosie O’Grady’s pub in Northbridge on February 26. PHOTO: PETER ROSENGREN

PUB: IRISH; food: good; beer: excellent - and a crowd of approximately 80 interested in sparking a renewal of interest in Catholic culture, history and intellectual life. Last week’s gathering might almost have come out of the rollicking circle of famed English Catholic intellects in the 1930s such as GK Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc and Christopher Dawson, except that it happened in Northbridge’s restaurant strip on February 26. Such was the setting for the launch of the Christopher Dawson Society which held its inaugural gathering at Rosie O’Grady’s Irish pub; organisers Daniel Matthys, Tom Gourlay and Elizabeth Bogoni (all currently studying at university or recently graduated) were hoping to offer something they feel has been missing on the Perth Catholic

scene - a society devoted to forensic analysis of contemporary issues and a reconnection with some of the greats of the Catholic tradition. Named for the legendary British historian, Christopher Dawson, whose Catholicism is believed to have excluded him from teaching at Oxford in the 1920s and 30s, the Dawson Society is hoping to meet every two months. Last Tuesday’s meeting featured presentations by Perth laymen Jing Ping Wong and Andrew Kania. Mr Wong, an engineer with a Master’s degree from the John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family, contrasted the Catholic and secular concepts of gender and the meaning of sex, addressing issues increasingly debated in the public square. Dr Andrew Kania, an Oxfordtrained academic who is Director of Spirituality at Aquinas College, spoke on the lay vocation and its

importance to the future of the Church, reminding listeners that on numerous occasions it was laity which had played a key role in saving the Church’s orthodoxy when clerics were not up to the task. Dawson Society co-founder Daniel Matthys told The Record he had been pleased with the inaugural gathering. “I was very pleased with the first meeting. It stimulated some good discussion and, from the feedback I’ve had, got people thinking.” The next meeting of the Society is on April 9. Anthony Coyte from the University of Notre Dame Australia’s Fremantle campus will speak on papal frontrunner Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s theology of the family, followed by a panel discussion. Further information: from Tom Gourlay via: gourlayt@ gmail.com or 0434 402 884. Dr Kania’s talk - Pages 12-13

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Catholics welcome Chinese New Year By Albert Wong CHINESE New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the most important traditional festival celebrated by the Chinese. In this Year of the Snake, more than 200 celebrated the lunar New Year at Holy Family Church in Como on February 10. The evening program started with a thanksgiving Mass that included ancestral veneration and concluded with children and single adults receiving blessings and red envelopes from Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey. A feast enhanced by a series of Chinese traditional performances followed, including a lion dance led by Mr John Hsu and traditional musical performance led by Mr Chen Zhi. A special feature of this year’s celebration was the Cheongsam contest (Cheongsam is also known as a mandarin gown – a one-piece Chinese dress for women). The organising committee was honoured to have Sr Philomena Burrell PBVM from the Maranatha Centre as judge to select the Cheongsam Queen with the crown going to Lin Fan in a red Cheongsam. The night ended with a raffle. Winners were drawn by Fr Andrew Zhang, chaplain to Perth’s Chinese Catholic Community, who has ministered in Perth for almost three months. Organisers wanted to thank Archbishop Hickey for his time and effort as principal celebrant of the Chinese New Year Thanksgiving Mass and also said they were honoured to have Fr Aloysius Leong from Holy Family Church, Fr Alfonso Savickis from St Brigid’s Church, Leederville and Fr Bruno Carrera from the Focolare Movement present.

Above: The traditional Lion Dance is performed after the Mass. Far left: The Cheongsam Contest was judged by Sr Philomena Burrell (next to Fr Andrew Zhang) and won by Lin Fang (fifth from left). Left: Children receiving red packets from Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey.

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The patron of Ireland, this bishop was born in Roman Britain, kidnapped at 16 by Irish raiders and sold into slavery in Ireland. He was a lonely shepherd for six years before escaping and returning home. But his dream of converting the Irish pagans propelled him to priestly studies in Gaul (now France), and about 432 Pope Celestine I consecrated him bishop and sent him to Ireland. For nearly 30 years he preached tirelessly, made countless converts, founded monasteries and established the primatial see at Armagh. Toward the end of his life he made a 40-day retreat in Mayo that gave rise to the famous ongoing Croagh Patrick pilgrimages. Stories of him using the shamrock to explain the Trinity and driving snakes from the island are legend.

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Sunday 10th - Violet or Rose 4TH SUNDAY OF LENT 1st Reading: Josh 5:9, 10-12 Passover celebrated Responsorial Ps 33:2-7 Psalm: Glorify the Lord 2nd Reading: 2 Cor 5:17-21 God reconciled us Gospel Reading: Lk 15:1-3, 11-32 The merciful father Monday 11th - Violet 1st Reading: Isa 65:17-21 New heavens and earth Responsorial Ps 29:2, 4-6, 11-13 Psalm: You have rescued me Gospel Reading: Jn 4:43-54 You son will live Tuesday 12th - Violet 1st Reading: Ezek 47:1-9,12 Living water Responsorial Ps 45:2-3, 5-6, 8-9 Psalm: God is a refuge Gospel Reading: Jn 5:1-3, 5-16 Sabbath cure Wednesday 13th - Violet 1st Reading: Isa 49:8-15

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I will never forget you Ps 144:8-9,13-14,17-18 Kind and merciful Lord Jn 5;17-30 Doing the Father’s will

Thursday 14th - Violet 1st Reading: Ex 32:7-14 Placating the Lord Responsorial Ps 105:19-23 Psalms: Moses in the breach Gospel Reading: Jn 5:31-47 Moses your accuser Friday 15th - Violet 1st Reading: Wis 2:1,12-22 The virtuous a reproof Responsorial Ps 33:16,18,19-21,23 Psalm: The Lord hears the just Gospel Reading: Jn 7:1-2,10,25-30 Hour not yet come Saturday 16th - Violet 1st Reading: Jer 11:18-20 Lamb to slaughter Responsorial Ps 7:2-3,9-12 Psalm: Refuge in the Lord Gospel Reading: Jn 7: 40-52 He is the Christ

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Correction - Marist centenary Mass

AN ARTICLE entitled ‘Marist Brothers to mark a century’ on Page 2 of last week’s Record incorrectly stated that the Marist Brothers will celebrate their 100th year in Western Australia with a Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Perth on Saturday, March 25. The correct date is in fact Saturday 25 May 2013 commencing at 11.00 a.m. The Record apologises for this error.

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Cath Ed tells State Government what is needed T H E Catholic Education Commission of WA has a list of priorities for Catholic schools for the next term of State Government. Director of Catholic Education, Dr Tim McDonald, said all education sectors face challenging conditions over the next four years and it is important that whichever party wins, government is aware of them. “One of the most challenging issues is rapid population growth and the need to build new schools

and expand existing schools. Five new schools are proposed over the next four years, on top of capital development in existing schools and many more will be required longer term,” he said. The cost of establishing a primary school (around $20m) and secondary school (around $60m) makes access to funding a major issue. Grants, low interest loans and other government assistance and partnerships with the non-

government sector are important ways of meeting demand. “Catholic education has always played an important role and will continue to

millions of dollars. This is a wise investment in our next generation,” he said. Dr McDonald noted the State Government’s commitment

By providing places for almost 20 per cent of children, Catholic education saves taxpayers. be a key partner in the state’s future. By providing places for almost 20 per cent of children, the Catholic sector saves taxpayers hundreds of

to maintaining educational choice for all which presumes prosperous government and non-government sectors. Besides doubling the

current Low Interest Loan scheme, he called on parties to implement a system similar to the Building Our Future Schools Fund in Queensland which will inject $115 million on top of existing capital grants into the system; $48 million will be provided to the Catholic system. “Such funding would assist Catholic schools to undertake the necessary expansion and meet the common goal of maintaining educational choice,” Dr McDonald said.

School scores with new gymnasium By Mark Reidy IN ORDER to fully appreciate a gift, one must not see it as an entitlement, John XXIII principal, Anne Fry told those gathered for the opening of its Sports Centre on February 22. During the opening, naming and blessing ceremony for the $5.5 million St Louis Sports Centre, Mrs Fry reminded attendees of schools around the world which do not have access to even the most basic structures to house teachers and students. “I say this not to minimise our enjoyment of this wonderful gymnasium,” she explained. “Indeed, I say it to make sure we appreciate it fully, use it to the maximum and care for it so it becomes an enduring asset not only to our current students but for those who follow”. Construction of the initiative, of which $3 million came from the Federal Government’s Building the Education Revolution Program, began in December 2011. Mrs Fry acknowledged and thanked those who contributed to the project, including the “creativity and competence” of architects, the “capable hands” of the builders and the commitment of individuals and committees whose many hours of work are “hidden in the bricks and mortar of this building”. The opening was attended by 1,500 current students, 250 staff and 150 guests, including seven members of the original St Louis school that was established in 1938. Also in attendance was Fr Daven Day SJ, the first Principal of John XXIII in 1977, who blessed the new premises. The name ‘St Louis’ was

Children enjoy their new $5.5 million gymnasium at John XXIII College in Mt Claremont.

given to the Sports Centre as a sign of recognition of the service of the Jesuits to the school community over the past 75 years, Mrs Fry said. “We were very conscious of wanting a name that continued to tell our Ignation story,” she explained. “We wanted a name that captured our pride in being the successor to the great schools from

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which we came - Loreto and St Louis”. The building, which has incorporated numerous sustainable practices such as energy efficient LED lighting, re-used steel, timber and tiles from the old gym and motion detecting lighting and balconies to reduce heat, will be used for a wide range of activities. Des Hardiman, one of the Project

Managers told The Record that as well as catering for the physical education needs of all students, the building would be utilised for other purposes, including school assemblies, Year 12 valedictory dinners, speech nights, sporting competitions, staff facilities, weights room and a therapy room for students with special needs.

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In conclusion, Mrs Fry emphasised the spiritual foundation on which the school and new centre have been built. “The legacy of the Jesuits to our college is immeasurable,” she said. “May the new addition be always a place where we may pray together and play fairly for the greater glory of God.”

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Grace abounds at Our Lady’s festival By Matthew Biddle ALMOST 300 people gathered to celebrate the annual fruit harvest festival at Our Lady of Grace church in Pickering Brook on Sunday. The festival, which has been held annually for more than 50 years, was in honour of Madonna delle Grazie – Italian for ‘Our Lady of Graces’. The celebration began with a procession along Pickering Brook Road, in which children scattered rose petals at the feet of the statue of Our Lady of Grace. Following the procession, Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey, with the Leederville choir of St Mary’s leading the singing. The Archbishop Emeritus blessed several crates of fruit that were

About 300 were at the Italian-inspired event. distributed among all who attended at the conclusion of Mass. He also asked for God’s blessing on local harvests for the coming season. During his homily, the Archbishop Emeritus reflected on the title of Our Lady of Grace. “It is a beautiful title,” he said. “We honour [Mary] in this demonstration today, but also every day of our lives, when we say the Hail Mary and turn to her in our prayers.” Archbishop Emeritus Hickey said it was important to utilise the graces given to us by God. “We think of grace as a great gift from God, and we are called to pause for a moment to count our blessings … to see the action of grace in our lives personally, and in the lives of the good people around us,” he said. “The beauty of the parish is that we can be supported, and we are supported, by one another.” The evening concluded with many parishioners sharing dinner together, while others danced the night away to traditional Italian music.

Top, boys present some of the local harvest for blessing at the Madonna delle Grazie festival at Pickering Brook on Sunday, March 3. A Marian procession preceded the Mass, accompanied by music and prayer. PHOTOS: MATTHEW BIDDLE

Art Exhibition and Sale at St Mary’s Cathedral by Margaret Fane

Open Day 16th March, 9aM-12pM. Come and see for yourself what these young people already know about John XXIII College. Students will proudly tell you about the facilities, programs and opportunities which exist at this very successful Catholic, Co-educational College. Tours every half hour from 9-11.30am. For enrolment enquiries call (08) 9383 0449. www.johnxxiii.edu.au

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Mercedes staff share talents with Belmont SEVERAL Mercedes College staff gave many hours of service to bring life back to a 100 year old altar for St Anne’s Parish in Belmont. Three staff members: Lyle Bell, Lynton Slaven and Sister Vedette Lendich set to work on the Marian altar The altar was one of three cedar altars given to the parish by St Anne’s in North Fremantle where they were installing new marble altars and no longer needed the cedar altars. The service activity was part of a Professional Development Program run at Mercedes College in September last year, where staff learnt more about the Mercy Service-Learning program which is run in the College. In the week before Christmas, the Marian altar, now restored to its former glory, was returned to the oratory chapel just in time for Christmas. Lyle and Lynton also made a set of new altar gates to match the altar rails in the church where the main high altar was already installed and now completed the sanctuary in time for Midnight Mass. Lyle and Lynton will continue their service activity with the restoration of the Sacred Heart, the third altar. Staff participated in a range of

Mercedes College staff can be proud of their service activity. Three staff worked to restore an altar for use at St Anne’s, Belmont.

activities in the community last year. Some of their activities included giving blood; cooking for

Foodbank, St Vincent’s and The Big Issue Street Soccer; sewing baby blankets for struggling young mothers who are supported by

Mercy Hospital; and the restoration of the altar and altar rails for St Anne’s Parish. St Anne’s is located at 11 Hehir St, Belmont and

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has Masses on Sundays at 7.30am, 9.30am and 11.30am. All are welcome to come and admire their work.

Armadale marks 100 years ST FRANCIS Xavier Parish, Armadale will mark a major milestone in coming weeks. On March 17, the parish will celebrate 100 years since the blessing of the original Catholic church in the area. The parish has invited past priests and parishioners to join its celebration brunch, following 9.30am Mass. The brunch will be held in the undercover area at Xavier Primary

School, next to their current church - the parishes third building for worship in the past 100 years. The parish has asked anyone who would like to attend to RSVP by March 13. More information can be obtained, and RSVPs can be made, at 9399 2143 or sfx6112@westnet. com.au. The event will take place at 271279 Forrest Rd, Hilbert( formally Brookdale).

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‘Let us rebuild our spiritual defences’ Primarily to establish the CCR Intercessory Team, this seminar is open to all people. • A charge of $10 applies . • Bring notepad, bible, lunch to share . • Queries to Dan – 9398 4973 or Kaye – 0412 605 502

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The Eucharistic rosary designed by the Vatican rosary makers will be sent out to all those who give a donation of $15 or more and tick this box. Aid to the Church in Need …. a Catholic charity dependent on the Holy See, providing pastoral relief to needy and oppressed Churches

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Voters scrutinise the stances By Matthew Biddle THE AUSTRALIAN Christian Lobby (ACL) forum at Mount Pleasant Baptist Community Centre on February 26 witnessed several important statements from the State’s political leaders. Neither Premier Barnett nor Opposition Leader Mark McGowan would commit to sending a future WA Parliamentary delegation to Scandinavia to examine evidence of the success of the renowned ‘Swedish model’ in reducing prostitution. Mr McGowan said there were other means of doing the necessary research. “What you can often find is huge amounts of evidence just by going online about what is available and what the situation is there; proper

ACL’s Lyle Shelton listens as Opposition Leader Mark McGowan speaks. PHOTO: MATTHEW BIDDLE

academic studies that have examined these issues,” he said. Mr McGowan reminded the audience that prostitution is ille-

gal in WA under section 190 of the Criminal Code. “There are laws currently there that are able to be enforced, if people want to,” he said. Mr Barnett used the opportunity to advocate his containment policy. “We did introduce legislation essentially to contain prostitution to limited areas, basically nightclub entertainment areas,” he said. “I’d prefer to have none at all, but that was the way of trying to limit and control the problem and to ensure the safety of people was protected.” In just the second head-to-head debate of the election campaign, the two leaders presented very different views on other important issues. Mr McGowan said he would vote in favour of same-sex marriage, describing it as “not one of those

core issues”. In contrast, Mr Barnett said he did not support same-sex marriage, but that he was in favour of civil unions and permitting same-sex couples to adopt children. “My view is still a fundamental view that marriage is between a man and a woman and that is one of the basic fabrics and structures of our society,” he said. The leaders also expressed differing views on legalising euthanasia. “I do not support euthanasia, I do not support having a legal structure for finishing a life,” the Premier said. Mr McGowan said he believed in individuals making their own choices provided they were in a mentally stable state of mind. The forum facilitated questions from representatives of various church groups in Perth, includ-

ing Bishop Donald Sproxton, who sought a commitment from the two leaders to resolve the excessive cost and shortage of housing in Perth. Mr McGowan admitted “something dramatic” was required to address the cost of living in Perth. He reiterated his plan to scrap the 7 per cent fee that all electricity users are paying, known as the tariff equalisation contribution. In response, Mr Barnett said the mismanagement of the previous government had forced the introduction of the surcharge. ACL chief-of-staff Lyle Shelton said the event was a great success. “Our presence shows politics that there is a large group of people in the community who are passionate about justice and righteousness and who wish to see this reflected in public policy,” he said.

Students, staff, enjoy all the debate for Seat of Fremantle CANDIDATES for the Seat of Fremantle in this weekend’s State Election shared their vision for the future of the electorate during a lively debate held at The University of Notre Dame Australia’s Fremantle campus on February 26. The Debate for the State Seat of Fremantle attracted an audience of more than 300 people and comprised current and former members of parliament, welfare organisations, academics, students and local residents. The collaborative event was hosted by the Fremantle Chamber of Commerce, the Fremantle Society, the Fremantle Network, Oxfam Fremantle and UNDA. Andrew Sullivan (Greens), Matthew Hanssen (Liberal), Sanna Andrew (Socialist Alliance), Simone McGurk (Labor), Jan ter Horst (Independent) and the incumbent Member for Fremantle, Adele Carles MP (Independent) all attended. Audience questions

covered a range of issues including homelessness and affordable housing; renewable energy developments; preservation of Fremantle’s historic buildings; the new $220m Kings Square redevelopment, and the retention and development of small business in the city centre. The debate was the first at UNDA where audience members and the wider social media community could contribute via a Twitter feed. Chair of the forum and Adjunct Professor at the University’s School of Arts and Sciences in Fremantle, Peter Kennedy, complimented the audience on its spirited engagement with topics discussed by the Fremantle candidates. “I thought the debate was a great event and the candidates responded well to the pertinent questions raised by the audience on a range of issues that affected them and their families,” Prof Kennedy, a former well-known ABC political journalist, said.

Adjunct Professor Peter Kennedy directs a question to independent candidate for the Seat of Fremantle, Jan ter Horst at the University of Notre Dame’s debate for candidates on February 26. PHOTO: UNDA

Some questions stymie both the Premier and his Opposition rival Continued from Page 1 do have that information, please, provide it to me,” he told voters attending the meeting. The text of Ms Parker’s question was: “It has been reported that in Western Australia between 1998 and 2010, 14 babies born alive after failed abortions were tragically left to die. Will your party commit to ensuring there is no further erosion of protections in law for the unborn? Will your party support initiatives that ensure all pregnant women considering abortion are given information about all options available to them?” The source of information, of which neither Mr Barnett nor Mr McGowan appeared to have any knowledge, were several parliamentary exchanges, beginning in 2011. In State Parliament on February 15, 2011, Labor MP Ed Dermer asked the minister representing the Minister for Health if there had been any instances reported of an abortion procedure resulting in the birth of a live child since the Abortion Act of 1998 was passed. Mental Health Minister Helen Morton replied, saying: “As at 20 January 2011, a total of 14 incidences of abortion procedures resulting in the live birth of a child have been reported between July 1999 and June 2010.”

Three months later, on May 24, Mr Dermer sought further details, asking Mrs Morton if, in any of the 14 incidences, treatment of the children was not withdrawn and whether attempts had been made to resuscitate them. Mrs Morton answered: “No treatment was reported as being performed in any of the 14 incidences,” and “No resuscitation was reported in any of the 14 incidences.” Later in 2011, Liberal MP Nick Goiran and Labor MP Kate Doust presented petitions to Parliament signed by thousands of Western Australians seeking an official inquiry into the deaths. Mr Goiran also wrote to Health Minister Kim Hames, requesting the establishment of a Joint Select Committee to investigate the deaths. Mr Hames rejected the proposal. However, in a letter dated September 21, 2011, Mr Hames said: “The concerns raised in relation to 14 infants born after termination of pregnancy allegedly being reported as born alive are being further assessed to enable the circumstances to be reviewed and further comment made.” Despite no further correspondence from Mr Hames on the findings of the investigation, the Standing Committee on Environment and Public Affairs closed its inquiries. In a last-gasp effort to establish an

inquiry, Mr Goiran spoke for more than 30 minutes in Parliament on May 23, 2012, renewing his call for the establishment of a committee. He referred to the 1998 abortion debate in which the then AttorneyGeneral, Peter Foss, assured members that the full criminal law would apply in the event that a child was born alive after an attempted abortion. At the time, Mr Foss said “If as part of a process of termination of pregnancy the child is born, so that under section 269 it becomes a person, then it has all the consequences of being alive … there are already provisions in [the Act] relating to how people can be held culpable for homicide where there is an omission. Not everyone is culpable, but some sections provide that some people are liable for not taking positive measures to prevent death, as opposed to being liable for negative measures taken to cause death … Once the process of termination actually leads to birth, it does not matter when it occurs – it is a live person, and is treated as such by the law.” Section 269 of the Criminal Code states: “A child becomes a person capable of being killed when it has completely proceeded in a living state from the body of its mother, whether it has breathed or not, and whether it has an independent circulation or not, and whether the navel-string is severed or not.”

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Left: Megan Heslop & Alex Ayton bring forward flowers to represent the beauty God has given us in this area we live in. Far Below: Catherine and Charlotte Duce bring forward a Monstrance, a gift to St Louis’ church from Frances and Marcus Duce in memory of their Garbelini parents. Below: All smiles from Fr Brian Morgan, Fr Nicandro Lim and Fr Joseph Sousa after the ceremony.

PHOTO: FRANCES DUCE/ GWEN WELLS

Boyanup celebrates St Louis’ blessing By Matthew Biddle ABOUT 180 people celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the blessing and dedication of St Louis’ Catholic church in Boyanup on February 10. Vicar-general of the Bunbury diocese, Fr Tony Chiera, was the main celebrant of the anniversary Mass that was held outdoors to accommodate the large crowd. Attendants included both current and former parishioners as well as many people who had previously lived in the area or frequently visited the church. Reminiscent of the ceremony that took place a century ago, the local Anglican minister, Fr Kuzi Tuhura, also attended the Mass. After Mass several baskets of rosaries, prayer cards, and miraculous medals were blessed and distributed to the congregation as a memento of the day. Parish priest Fr Joseph Sousa, who only arrived at the parish at the end of January, said it was a

wonderful occasion. “There was a lot of work involved, but on the day itself, because it was all organised so well … everything went as planned,” he said. “It was a really memorable day.” Parishioner for more than 43

The church of St Louis was built by Alfred and Frank Peake in 1913. Around 180 celebrated its 100 year anniversary. Unfortunately, rabbits have been turning up in large numbers too. years Frances Duce said the event drew a larger crowd than expected, including some familiar faces. “I met one of my old school friends who I hadn’t seen in years,

which was just lovely, it was like we had never parted,” she said. The church of St Louis was built by Alfred and Frank Peake and blessed and dedicated by Dean Smyth on February 9, 1913. Since then it has undergone little repair work and remains structurally sound. “It’s in good condition, and the basic structure is the same,” Fr Sousa said. “Here and there they may have modified parts of it, but it’s in a good position at present.” However, Mrs Duce said there was a growing problem with some “underground citizens.” “We have a rabbit problem underneath the church … and we’ve got to try to combat that pretty soon, but other than that [the church] is in good repair,” she said. St Louis’ church is closely affiliated with the church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Dardanup, located about 10 kilometres away.

The Mangano family from Dardanup join in the celebrations at St Louis’. (Left to Right) Gemma, Pia, Trinity, Finn, & Chris. PHOTO: FRANCES DUCE

Pope Emeritus’ legacy one of faithfulness to truth By Joseph Austin DURING the presentation of the gifts at a February 28 Mass celebrating Pope Benedict XVI’s ministry, the choir’s hymn had an ambrosial quality as members sang: “Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam” (You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church). The Mass of thanksgiving for the ministry of Pope Benedict and for the election of his successor Pope brought together people from all walks of life to remember one papacy and to pray for the next in the Crypt Church at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Students, elementary age to college age, were also in attendance for the Mass celebrated by Archbishop Timothy Broglio of

the US Archdiocese for the Military Services and broadcast live by the Eternal Word Television Network. “Pope Benedict XVI has demonstrated an unwavering fidelity to seeking and preaching lasting truth. ... We give thanks for the immense gifts of this ‘worker in the vineyard of the Lord,’” said the archbishop. “Pope Benedict completes his Petrine ministry, exiting not through the traditional door of death,” he continued, “but voluntarily surrendering his office, because he perceived that his strength, energy, and health no longer would allow him to fulfill the challenges of that ministry adequately.” The Mass took place in the early evening, Eastern time, just hours after the Pope left Rome for the papal summer house in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and to begin his retirement. The sight of his helicop-

ter leaving the Vatican one last time brought many across the world to tears, and thousands to Twitter to send a final #ThanksPontifex tweet. “Ultimately what lasts? Certainly not money or buildings or even books,” Archbishop Broglio told the congregation in his homily. “In the final analysis only the

in an effort to dissolve the anxious edge and tearful reminiscence that seemed to permeate the congregation at the Mass. “These are not simple times,” the archbishop said about the climate surrounding the conclave, where the cardinals who are eligible to vote will elect a new Pope.

Pope Benedict XVI demonstrated unwavering fidelity to seeking and preaching lasting truth. human soul, created by Almighty God for all eternity will last. “We give thanks that Pope Benedict XVI recognised what is truly important and spent himself completely to enrich the human soul by eloquently teaching the world about what really matters: eternal life,” the archbishop said,

He called it imperative that “we pray for the cardinals who will gather in conclave to elect a worthy successor,” he said. On March 4, the College of Cardinals began their formal preconclave meetings with 142 members present, 103 of whom are under the age of 80 and eligible to

enter the conclave to vote for a new Pope. “This is the moment glorious when he who once was dead shall lead his Church victorious, their champion and their head,” sang the choir as they processed out of the Church. A Vatican spokesman said the cardinals did not set a date for the conclave to begin and were unlikely to do so until all 115 cardinals eligible to vote were and until the prelates felt confident they knew how much time they wanted for discussions beforehand. Archdioceses and dioceses across the US marked the Pope’s retirement and prayed for the cardinals who will elect his successor at special Masses and prayer vigils. Parishes and schools also were encouraged to have special liturgies.

THE TRANSITION

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Prelates begin to consider which are the right hands to hold the keys of Peter

ROME

Electors get their last tweets in for the web WHILE @Pontifex has fallen silent during the interregnum, a handful of social media-savvy cardinals are still tweeting while they can before a different kind of “ex-communication” sets in. From the moment cardinal electors begin the conclave, they will be cut off from all forms of communication with the outside world until a new pope is elected, which means no newspapers, interviews, email, cell phones, not even a tiny tweet. Cardinals Gianfranco Ravasi, @CardRavasi, and Angelo Scola, @angeloscola, however, have already retreated from retweeting. Cardinal Scola actually de-activated his account on February 28 for the interregnum while Cardinal Ravasi bade his many followers goodbye the same day, the day the sede vacante began. “Thanks to all my followers for sharing this journey. I’ll take my leave from you now for a few days. ... In friendship,” Cardinal Ravasi, the former president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, tweeted with a picture of himself at his desk. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, @CardinalDolan, has been posting links to some of the interviews he has been doing, such as with NBC News’ Today show and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. He also invited people to begin their daily prayers the same way he has while he’s been in Rome: “’Lord, it is good to be here with you.’ Every morning I open my prayer with those words uttered by St Peter. I invite you to do the same.”

EVERYWHERE Vatican workers seal the doors leading to the Pope’s private apartment in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican on February 28.

CHANTING the Litany of the Saints, asking a host of holy men and women to help them, the cardinals enter the Sistine Chapel in procession, aware of their enormous responsibility to elect a new pope. Less than half of the 117 cardinals eligible to vote for a successor to Pope Benedict XVI were in the 2005 conclave that elected him. Two of those who were – Honduran Cardinal Oscar Ro dr igue z Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa and South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier – described the scene as being one of deep prayer and some trembling. Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga told CNS that, during the conclave, the cardinals spend most of their time in the Sistine Chapel, even though they cast ballots only four times a day. The time in the chapel includes prayer, writing names on ballots and counting them. But when casting each vote, each cardinal must stand and publicly swear, in Latin, that he is voting according to his conscience. With 115 cardinalelectors expected, that will take time. “In front of the crucifix and in front of the Final Judgement painting, we say, ‘I call Jesus as a witness, and he will judge me that I have elected according to my conscience,’ so you can imagine ... why it takes so long. And in the meantime, when everybody is casting their votes, we are praying, so it is like a big cenacle of prayer.” “This is beautiful,” Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga said. “This is the most loving experience, how an election should be. I wish all the elections in the world could be like that: in an atmosphere of prayer.” Cardinal Napier told CNS that even the way the cardinals are dressed, in choir dress like they dress for liturgies, contributes to

the atmosphere of prayer. Although he has the experience of the 2005 conclave, he said, “It’s probably going to be just as frightening, just as (much) anxiety” this time, especially because “I’d say there’s a wider field of choices, there are younger cardinals who I believe have real qualities of leadership. At the same time perhaps we don’t know each other that well, but we have to put a lot of faith in the presence and activity in the Holy Spirit.” Cardinal Napier said that when the cardinals arrive in the chapel, they make a formal vow of secrecy, then each cardinal goes up and puts a hand on the Bible, confirming his oath.

Once each cardinal sits down there’s a sense of anxiety, wondering ‘how is it all going to work out?’ Once each cardinal sits down, he said, he thinks “this is it,” and sees on his table the list of names of the cardinals, the ballot paper, the instructions and a small biography of each cardinal. “Then you know you really are about to get down to business very soon,” he said. There is “a sense of excitement, a sense of anxiety,” wondering “how is it all going to work out?” “But probably the most solemn, the most difficult, frightening (moment) is when you go with your ballot paper in your hand and hold it up in front of the altar and say, ‘I call on the Lord Jesus, who will be my judge, to witness that I am voting for the one I believe to be worthy.’ “That’s really a moment of

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intense emotion, faith, all these emotions come together at that point. If I’m voting for unworthy reasons I’m actually asking Jesus to judge me, to condemn me, so it’s a very, very solemn moment,” Cardinal Napier said. After each cardinal casts his ballot, the papers are opened and read out, one by one, he said. Since each cardinal has a complete list of cardinals, “you’re ticking off as the votes are being cast for one person or another and then totting it up at the end”. If no candidate has reached the two-thirds required for a valid election, the ballots and all the lists with their counts “are all gathered and taken to the back of the chapel to be burned. The smoke goes up black (for no pope). It’s very touching,” the South African cardinal said. US Cardinal Francis Stafford, who celebrated his 80th birthday last July and is ineligible to enter this conclave, told CNS, “The conclave is basically an extended liturgy” with prayer punctuating every moment of the day, including the voting. “We are called to be silent, to be open to the mystery of God present to us in Christ and the Holy Spirit, and that silence begins with an interior silence ... so they can listen to the promptings of God’s spirit because they are doing something very, very significant,” he said. The cardinals call “the Holy Spirit to help us in such a heavy burden – I’m happy in a way that I am not being called to do it again; it’s too heavy a burden, but it’s less burdensome if we are not being pressed to violate” silence by journalists asking questions they’ve sworn not to answer, he said. Pope Benedict, and Blessed John Paul before him, both publicly acknowledged the solemn awesomeness of the scene in the Sistine.

PHOTO: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO, REUTERS

Less than a week after his election, Pope Benedict told German pilgrims that when the voting was showing him to be the clear favourite he prayed to God “to spare me.” He said he told God, “You have candidates who are younger, better, stronger and have more elan than me.” “Evidently God did not listen to me,” he said, describing as the votes neared the two-thirds necessary to elect him, it became evident that “the guillotine was coming closer and was meant for me”. Blessed John Paul, in his 2003 collection of poems, Roman Triptych, described the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel and wrote, “It is here, at the feet of this marvellous Sistine profusion of colour that the cardinals gather – a community responsible for the legacy of the keys of the kingdom”. “’Con-clave’: a joint concern for the legacy of the keys of the kingdom,” he wrote. The cardinals “find themselves between the beginning and the end, between the day of creation and the day of judgement.” Michelangelo helps the cardinals in their deliberations, he wrote, praying that God would point out to the cardinals God’s choice for the next pope. When the poems were released at the Vatican, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger told reporters, “Since I was also present” at the 1978 conclaves, “I know well how we were exposed to those images in the hour of the important decisions, how they challenged us and how they instilled in our souls the greatness of our responsibility.” The Pope’s poem, which also invokes the “keys of Peter”, the symbols of papal power and responsibility, Cardinal Ratzinger had said, is a call on the cardinals “to place these keys in the right hands.” - CNS

Vacancy causes brief change to Mass prayers CATHOLICS around the world were left popeless late on February 28, but Catholics in the Diocese of Rome were left without their bishop as well. The resignation of the Pope, the bishop of Rome, triggered changes in the Mass texts – particularly in the eucharistic prayers – used by priests all over the world. For example, when consecrating the bread and wine using Eucharistic Prayer 1 before February 28, the

priest would offer a prayer for the Church, saying: “Be pleased to grant her peace, to guard, unite and govern her throughout the whole world, together with your servant Benedict, our Pope, and (name) our bishop, and all those who, holding to the truth, hand on the Catholic and apostolic faith.” After the sede vacante period without a pope began on March 1, the prayer was changed to: “Be pleased to grant her peace, to guard, unite and govern her throughout the whole world, together with (name) our bishop, and all those who, holding to the truth, hand on the catholic and apostolic faith.” But in the Diocese of Rome before February 28, Catholics prayed for “Benedict, our Pope and bishop.” In instructions sent to parishes and posted on the Rome diocesan website, priests were instructed to change the words to the equivalent of: “Be pleased to grant her peace, to guard, unite and govern her throughout the world, with all those who, holding to the truth, hand on the Catholic and apostolic faith.”

THE INTERREGNUM: FOLLOW

THE TRANSITION

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Congregations commence THE COLLEGE of Cardinals began their formal pre-conclave meetings on March 4 with 142 members present, 103 of whom are under the age of 80 and eligible to enter the conclave to vote for a new pope. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the cardinals did not set a date for the conclave to begin and were unlikely to set a date until the 115 cardinal-electors expected were all present and until the cardinals felt confident they knew how much time they wanted for discussions beforehand. One of the first decisions made by the cardinals was to author-

ise the drafting of a message to Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, Fr Lombardi said. The cardinals also voted to listen that evening to Capuchin Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, give the first of two meditations required by Church law before a conclave. The rules for electing a pope require the cardinals to choose two churchmen, “known for their sound doctrine, wisdom and moral authority” to present meditations “on the problems facing the Church at the time and on the need for careful discernment in choosing the new pope.”

Fr Cantalamessa also gave the first meditation in 2005 after the death of Blessed John Paul II. After praying for the presence of the Holy Spirit, the cardinals and those assisting them at the meetings took an oath of secrecy. During the pre-conclave meetings, known as general congregations, the cardinals have the services of translators working in Italian, Spanish, English, French and German, as well as ushers and other aides. Fr Lombardi also was among those who took the oath; he is authorised to give reporters only certain general information about the meetings. For example, he

said, 13 cardinals spoke during a 45-minute discussion about how often the general congregation should meet and how the sessions should be organised, but he could not say who the cardinals were or what they suggested. The cardinals also drew lots to determine the three cardinals who will serve three-day terms as members of the “particular congregations” to deal with ordinary matters in the governance of the Church during the period without a pope. Serious matters must be brought to the general congregation. The three chosen on March 4 were Italian Cardinal Giovanni

Battista Re, former prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; Italian Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Naples; and Cardinal Franc Rode, former prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Each has been given a small prayer booklet, the rules for governing the Church during the period without a pope and for electing a new pope, a list of all the cardinals and the official prayer book for the conclave. The cardinals had a halfhour coffee break, the spokesman said, and used the time to meet cardinals they didn’t know and to greet old friends. - CNS

A time of speculation - but also of suspense THE PERIOD immediately following a pontificate is one of excited speculation, more or less loose, about the identity of the next pope. Though secrecy rules do not forbid cardinals from naming their preferences, custom and prudence effectively do. In any case, as history shows, once the electors get behind locked doors, their deliberations take on a dynamic impossible to forecast or affect from outside. Such uncertainty makes a journalist’s job hard in one sense and easy in another, since practically any outcome is at least marginally plausible. That is especially the case this time, in the wake of an event – Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation – which a few weeks ago most observers would have dismissed as far-fetched. Some conjecture about papabili is disinterested; much reflects a desire to provoke or entertain; and a fair amount is clearly wishful thinking. And then there are those who use the press to influence the cardinals, who read newspapers like everyone else and, in most cases, know little about each other as they arrive in Rome. For members of the Church, the interregnum is inevitably a time of suspense and even anxiety. A fear that the conclave might not choose the right man does not necessarily reflect a lack of faith. In 1997, thenCardinal Joseph Ratzinger told an interviewer that the Holy Spirit does not “dictate the candidate for whom one must vote”. “Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined,” the future Pope Benedict said. “There are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit obviously would not

The new Vatican sede vacante stamps are displayed in a shop next to the Vatican in Rome on March 1.

have picked.” The almost unprecedented way in which Pope Benedict brought his own pontificate to an end has increased apprehension among some. In Italy and elsewhere, observers have suggested that his resignation was precipitated by the Vatican’s internal problems – if not the rumoured wars among bureaucratic factions, then the corruption and mismanagement sensationally documented in the 2012 “VatiLeaks” of confidential correspondence. In this view, the former pope is not the only one who needs replacing.

Even if Pope Benedict had not left behind a Vatican surrounded by such controversies, his way of leaving was bound to create disquiet. “One pope dies, you make another,” runs an Italian proverb, with the reassuring message that life goes on. But this time, the fact that life goes on makes things more complicated. The historic anomaly of a living former pope presents no theological or canonical difficulties for the Church, but it will require an emotional adjustment from many of the faithful. Pope Benedict has recognised

that his resignation is unlike that of any other leader departing the scene. In the last two days of his pontificate, he pledged obedience to his successor and noted that he was leaving the “active exercise of the (Petrine) ministry”. He also said he was “not returning to private life” but would belong “always and totally to everyone, to the whole Church” and “remain, so to speak, within St Peter’s precincts”. Many will find these assurances both consoling and mysterious. Catholics, whose ecclesiology calls for a pope to help preserve

PHOTO: TONY GENTILE, REUTERS

their unity, are in a sense orphans during a papal interregnum. And this time they have had no cathartic process of mourning and burial to help purify the complex emotions children feel upon losing a parent. The Vatican has not said whether Pope Benedict, despite his promise to remain “hidden” in retirement, will take part in his successor’s Mass of installation. Were he to do so, it might add a new dimension to that liturgy – a symbolic passing of the keys – which might make the papal transition feel more complete. - CNS

Drama, emotion, of the moment gets to many, not least the papal chauffer POPE Benedict XVI’s final trip as pope was a 15-minute helicopter ride from the Vatican to the papal summer villa at Castel Gandolfo. He was joined in the Italian government chopper by his personal secretary and assistant secretary, his personal physician, his new valet and an official of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household.

Almost all 100 members of the Swiss Guard, dressed in their colourful mediaeval uniforms, were standing at attention to formally salute the man they had pledged their lives to protect. For the last three hours of Pope Benedict’s pontificate, the rest of the guards were stationed at the entrances to Vatican City and at

the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo. Joining the Swiss Guards in the courtyard were dozens of curial officials and staffers including clergy, religious and laypeople who work in the Vatican Secretariat of State and other offices nearby. The Pope greeted his vicars for Vatican City and Rome before using his to cane walk down a few steps

THE PAPAL TRANSITION

into the courtyard. He was greeted with applause. The Pope’s driver knelt in front of him, kissed his ring and burst into tears. As soon as the Pope’s car pulled away, the bells of St Peter’s Basilica began tolling their farewell. Pope Benedict XVI arrives at Castel Gandolfo PHOTO: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO

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How the Church plans to roar in Sydney's West

LL IS NOT QUIET ON Sydney's Western front. The burgeoning suburbs of the west are teeming with ethnic diversity and life, and everyone, at least if federal politics this week is anything to go by, wants a piece of it. And why wouldn't they? Greater Western Sydney is home to 2.02 million people, or around one in 11 Australians, and is projected to grow larger still to 2.96 million by 2036. One third of the people there are aged 24 years and under and its rate of population growth, at 1.6 per cent, is well above the New South Wales average (1.1). More significantly for the rest of us perhaps, Western Sydney represents Australia's likely cultural and demographic future; significant, not only for governments, but also for the Church. Half of the world's nations are represented among Western Sydney's residents; migrants make up a third of the populace; and over 70 different languages are spoken in the Fairfield local government area alone. Prime Minister Julia Gillard was scheduled to spend five days touring job sites and shopping centres in the area, this week, and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott wasn't far behind in promising to visit. But, as federal politicians do battle over hip pocket and infrastructure issues, the Catholic Church is not clamouring for votes. It is not even "getting back to basics", as the politicos' communications advisers might have it. The Diocese of Parramatta, at the far eastern corner of Greater Western Sydney, has been asking itself an even more fundamental question: "What are we, the Church, for?" The diocese's Pastoral Planning Officer Daniel Ang put his own answer plainly when speaking to The Record late last month: Evangelisation is the Church's raison d’être. "I think it was an Anglican archbishop who once said the Church is one of those communities that exists for the sake of its non-members. It is something Pope John Paul II said frequently throughout his pontificate," Mr Ang said. "The Church exists for mission ... As communities of faith, we cannot simply be about maintaining the status quo. "If we keep that mission of evangelisation at the heart of what we do in the Church, then everything else becomes a means of fulfilling that mission, rather than an end in itself." Parramatta's Bishop Anthony Fisher OP launched the Faith in Our Future pastoral planning initiative in January 2012. Reflecting on it last month, Bishop Fisher said that wanting to grow, in itself, was not enough. “We need to plan to grow and that means thinking about goals, strategies, and resourcing,” Bishop Fisher said to the residents of Parramatta's Mountains Deanery. “Our pastoral planning process seeks to shape our future by giving expression to a shared vision of the whole diocesan community and a shared hope to grow in response to that vision.” Almost immediately, a series of consultations with lay people, clergy and religious began throughout the diocese, all aimed at arriving at that shared vision and a five-year plan (2014-2018) with recommendations as to where the diocese ought to go next. Participants were asked to provide feedback on five key priority areas: supporting family life; connecting better with the young; building upon ethnic diversity; supporting lay, consecrated and clergy vocations; and the mission of the New Evangelisation. Some 29 consultations later, with around 2,000 people having had their say, Daniel Ang is compiling and ana-

It's not enough to want to grow – although that's a start; you have to plan for it and that planning must have God at its heart, say pastoral planners in the Diocese of Parramatta. Amid incredible ethnic diversity and expansion, they are not afraid of making frank assessments in pursuit of a brighter future, writes Robert Hiini.

In these photos Paramatta Catholics are shown providing input into the pastoral planning process which has been under way in their diocese since January 2012. Bishop Anthony Fisher OP of Parramatta, at left, joins lay Catholics for planning consultations. PHOTOS (CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT): ALPHONSUS FOK AND GRACE LU; MONIQUE O’CALLAGHAN; ALPHONSUS FOK AND GRACE LU, ALPHONSUS FOK AND GRACE LU

lysing the results along with Fr Paul Marshal, Parramatta’s Episcopal Vicar for Evangelisation and Pastoral Planning. While the process-to-date has highlighted some real strengths in the diocese, neither Bishop Fisher nor Mr Ang have shied away from the problems and challenges the consultations' participants have identified. "We are blessed to be in a growing part of the Church, with more and more Catholics in Western Sydney every year, from every nation on earth, and new parishes, churches and schools on the horizon," Bishop Fisher said last month. "While that presents its challenges, I would far rather face these than be planning for decline. "Our ministries seek to respond to needs and our structures to match our ministries. But I won't pretend all is rosy." An interim report, released last September, on what the pastoral planning consultations were uncovering revealed a range of weaknesses. They included issues that are by no means peculiar to Parramatta: l The need to reach out to the 85 per cent of baptised Catholics who don't practise the Faith; l Scriptural illiteracy and poor knowledge of Catholic teachings and belief; l Weak connections with families after baptism; l A scarcity of mothers' groups, especially for mothers of pre-school children; l A lack of consistency in welcoming newcomers to parishes, as well as

migrants and overseas priests more generally; l Poor faith engagement with parents at Catholic schools; and l A lack of understanding of ethnic cultures. Although the final report won't be completed and released until the end of this year, Mr Ang was happy to share some of his thoughts on the key themes that have so far emerged with The Record. The one major thing he had learnt since the project began, he said, was the great promise of properly formed and supported lay people to transform the communities and the wider society in which they lived. "We have to support families better with a more focused effort," Mr Ang told The Record. "Families really are the source of the Church's life in terms of lay men and women, religious vocations, clergy, and Catholic marriages. "We also need to focus not only on clergy life but lay life ... Catholic marriage obviously needs support, especially in a challenging cultural context." Faith formation, Mr Ang said, needed to improve for Catholics across all ages, vocations and cultures if the Church was to live the New Evangelisation urged by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. "The important thing to keep in mind when planning is that the call of lay people is to live their Gospel mission in the world. "We need mature parishes and mature

disciples who know their faith, who are "So I see the momentum between the articulate, who live their faith through formation of the people we have and our justice and through engagement with outreach to the people we don't as being the wider community ... That is one of inseparable, with one providing energy our ambitions, to form lay people not to the other." Daniel Ang was once an only for Church ministry [for liturgical outsider to the Catholic Faith himself. functions and work in diocesan agen- The only child of Buddhist and Daoist cies], as important as that is, but also that parents, he discovered Catholicism in they become good Catholic parents, good Catholic neighbours; that If your parish or they transform the workplaces in community closed today, which they work, whether Catholic would anyone but its members notice? or otherwise. "Evangelisation We must recognise our existence is takes place at all the levels and difnot for ourselves and organise our ferent strata where human society and life and our structures accordingly.” culture are formed. That would be our - Daniel Ang hope." Pastoral Planning Officer, Parramatta Although it might seem counter-intuitive, giving parishes and other Church his early 20s, eventually going on to groups an outward focus will help them edit a magazine for a Catholic religious regenerate, even where they might be order for seven years as well as completunsure of the faith themselves. ing a Masters of Divinity at the Catholic "The energy and inspiration that new- Institute of Sydney. comers have is enormous," Mr Ang said. He continues to be enthusiastic about "When we evangelise, we are serving the work of the ressourcement group the needs of others with the Gospel mis- of theologians whose views largely sion, those newcomers actually renew the triumphed over those of the ultralife of the rest of us. traditionalists and neo-scholastics at the

Second Vatican Council. They include such Council luminaries as Henri de Lubac, Jean Danielou and Yves Congar, men who were, in their younger years, suspected or condemned by certain sections of the Church for heterodoxy but, by the end of their lives, had come to be seen as conservatives by church progressives. Fifty years after the Council, their ecclesiology or understanding of what the Church is, is coming into its own. "It is an exciting time to be Church. The rise of the laity, and its reclaiming of the baptismal mission, is going to be one of the central aspects of the New Evangelisation," Mr Ang said. "Where once evangelisation was predominantly the work of the religious communities and clergy, today, with the Second Vatican Council's emphasis on baptism as the foundational sacrament of discipleship, we are in a good place for lay people to take the Gospel into their workplaces and families." Ecumenical Councils that are pastoral

in nature are convened precisely so the Church can formulate and plan for new pastoral realities, but those plans must stay rooted in a sound relationship with, and knowledge of, Christ, he said. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI issued a similar warning in September last year, urging leaders against the 'bureaucratisation of pastoral care'. "Evangelisation requires starting from an encounter with the Lord, within a dialogue rooted in prayer," the now retired Pope said. An emphasis on seeking efficiency through structures, organisations and programs, the Pope said, risks initiatives becoming 'self-referential', existing only for the members of those structures with little intention of, or capacity for, having an impact on the disengaged and unengaged. It is cautionary wisdom with which Mr Ang is familiar. "When you are planning for a diocese or for a missionary group, it's not simply about structure. You can have the best structure in the world but without the conversion of heart, without openness to collaboration, without mature disciples, not much is possible. "It's not just a question of structure; it's about people, their maturity of faith, and their ability to work together." Again, the greatest obstacle to renewal, Mr Ang wrote on his Time of the Church blog last month, was “a failure to recognise the mission of evangelisation as the central purpose for which all our communities exist”.

“If your parish or community closed today, would anyone but its members notice?” he asked on his blog. “We must recognise our existence is not for ourselves and organise our life and our structures accordingly. We exist for mission, for the making of new disciples and promoting growth in all those who follow Jesus.” Although he is enthusiastic about lay formation, Mr Ang does not see a zero-sum relationship between the dignity of the lay vocation on the one hand, and the priestly vocation on the other. "Collaborative mission", he said, is key. "You've got ecclesial movements, for example, that are predominantly lay, that have been inspired by the charism of a particular founder [or several founders] and those movements bring laity and clergy together in collaborative mission." The Paramatta pastoral planning process has involved and presumes the continued encouragement of parishes, individuals, prayer groups, justice organisations, and everyone in between, he said. Last month, Bishop Fisher floated the idea of decentralising some ministries, such as social services, adult education and formation, to outlying parishes. He also spoke about the challenge that declining income poses to future endeavours. Australia’s low levels of giving and philanthropy, and governments’ retreat from education, healthcare and social services, meant Catholics had to think smarter about funding.

“Declining income means either doing more with less or resigning ourselves to doing less," Bishop Fisher said. “I’m not a ‘do less’ kind of guy and ‘do less’ thinking makes no sense in the fastest growing part of the Church in Australia." Catholics, he said, would simply have to get more creative with their fundraising. In his blog (timeofthechurch.com) Mr Ang has written extensively about some of the issues surrounding pastoral planning and some of the great challenges facing the Church more generally. He is frank in his analysis, but his bishop has said in previous public addresses that a truthful and comprehensive understanding of the current state of affairs is essential to devising paths to real and healthy growth. Mr Ang said he was thankful for the support he had received. "We need to inspire people to live the Gospel in the breadth of their life. We need to support them in that, just as much as I am being supported in my journey. "So if there is anything that I hope will come of this pastoral planning it is that my story won't be unique and that it becomes a story that is available to everyone rather than a few."

LINK PASTORAL PLANNING - DIOCESE OF PARRAMATTA: www.faithinourfuture.org.au

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The

lay right to be

faithful The lay vocation is chronically undervalued, argued Dr Andrew Kania on February 26. Here is an edited version of the talk he delivered at the inaugural Dawson Society talk in Northbridge.

ne of the architects of the Second Vatican Council, Yves Cardinal Congar (1904–1995), an advocate for the empowerment of the laity, reminded his readers, when discussing the activity of lay-Catholics in the Church, of the ancient Byzantine tradition of lay theologians. According to Congar, many times when the Bishops lapsed in matters of orthodox doctrine, or in their administrative duties, it was the laity who stayed the Catholic line. Congar’s reminder was also affirmed by the Orthodox scholar, Vladimir Lossky (1903–1958), who wrote in his work The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church: “Since the Church is catholic in all her parts, each one of her members – not only the clergy but also each layman – is called to confess and defend the truth of tradition; opposing even the bishops should they fall into heresy” (Lossky, 1998, p16). The sanctity of the Catholic laity is an unknown quantity within the Church – so much so that perhaps some of the greatest Saints of the Church have probably lived outside the cloister, and simply prayed around their family hearth. Perhaps these individuals go unrecognised for the very secular reason that, devoid of the financial support of a religious order to financially promote their Cause, the layman and laywoman become the ‘Great Unknown’. Further still, the laity may be considered that part of the Church whose life is so immersed within the world, that their Causes for canonisation are not deemed worthy enough, for not appearing ‘religious’ enough. Yves Congar, in his collection of essays, Priest and Layman (1962), spoke at length about the need for the laity to become more actively involved in the life of the Church. Congar’s analysis of the laity (in the West of Christianity at least), being ostracised from important Church matters, is based on the etymological differences found between the words ‘cleric’ and ‘layman’. Congar writes: “From the late Middle Ages down to the Renaissance, literatus (‘one who knows letters’, that is, Latin) was synonomous with ‘cleric’,

whereas the synonym for ‘layman’ was illiteratus or idiota (a simple person, one who cannot explain things)” (Congar, 1962, p243). As Congar’s thesis is developed, his insights become more and more penetrating. Congar quotes Cardinal Newman who wrote in 1873: “As far as I can see, there are ecclesiastics all over Europe, whose policy is to keep the laity at a distance, with the result that the laity are disgusted and have lost the faith” (Congar, 1962, p246). Traditionally, some may have said the laity, not having taken a ‘religious’ vow of poverty, chastity and obedience, have in some way forfeited their chance at holiness and saintliness, and their right to be recognised as such. However, do not the married laity, as one example, also take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience? The married couple are poor, inasmuch as the bringing up of children is a financial dying to oneself; with each child born, the parents forego more and more of their own material desires. The married laity also are required to promise chastity – a chastity that means, as in the religious life, a vow to direct one’s sexual energies to the sole person to their own, painful Dark Night of the precariously balanced knife-edge whom one has made the promise. Soul, but so too do lay people. Can between employment and unemA married couple must show obedi- anyone who has not experienced ployment. ence to one another; for the family it know just how ‘Dark the Night’ The celibate man or woman can would disintegrate if there was no becomes to a father or mother who rest in the knowledge that God is acceptance of mutually accepted holds their dying child in their the most faithful of all lovers and, authority. arms? as such, will never desert them; the The laity having far more investIn good conscience, the married married man or woman gives themed in the world, have far more to live laity cannot ignore the cry of their self totally to a mortal, and fallible for in this world – for human being, they have far more to who can become lose. It is this impera- “The sanctity of the Catholic laity is an unknown angry, irritated, tive attachment to the tired, frustratworld that sees them quantity within the Church - so much so that ed, depressed, lead a life demanding despondent or of Christian detach- perhaps even the greatest Saints sick – all these ment – perhaps, even emotions are more so than the probably lived outside the cloister. there for the marmonastic; for they ried person to must learn how to use contend with, to the things of this world – but in so infant or infants, four or five times be overcome in order to keep their doing – remember not to become a night.The married laity must fight family unified – and all this for the of this world. Without striving for in an unforgiving world for their Glory of God – for the raising of a life in this world, but not being financial survival, rather than being new life. It is also quite obvious that of it – there would be neither chil- provided for by a diocese or an the married laity take a vow of obedren to be born and develop – nor order (many excellent priests and dience – for in all things they must personal salvation. It is a wonderful religious put this time-saved at the negotiate with their spouse, and not but precarious road to holiness. heroic service of others). Every day override their spouse’s integrity – The celibate may experience they, the married laity, live on the and this applies also to a lifetime,

as with the religious. As Congar would write in Priest and Layman (1967, first English edition): “The layman is the man who works for the kingdom of God, but not at the expense of his earthly engagement. He has to serve God, not by setting himself above or apart from marriage and the professions, but through marriage and the professions, and in work. He does not take the short cut taken by the priest or the religious, who are dedicated solely to the kingdom of God. He follows a road which is longer and more difficult, but it is his own, his vocation” (p290). All members of the Catholic Church have the right to be critical as to how their particular church is led and, as such, have a responsibility to speak their mind. This is the point that Congar and Lossky both express, that an educated, informed and active laity will demand more of those who from day to day lead the Church; otherwise, as with any form of human institution, we will get the form of government, in this

VISTA

therecord.com.au March 6, 2013

Dr Andrew Kania, far left, speaks at the inaugural Dawson Society event, Christian Man in the Modern World held at Rosie O’Grady’s pub in Northbridge on February 26. Influential 20th century theologian Yves Congar, at left, who highlighted the unique vocation of lay men and women in the world and the Church. Below, legendary Catholic historian Christopher Dawson who brilliantly analysed the role of religious faith and belief in historical development, especially in Western European culture. Perth Dawson Society founders Daniel Matthys, Tom Gourlay and Elizabeth Bogoni, bottom left, and audience members listen intently during the presentations. PHOTOS: PETER ROSENGREN; ONLINE SOURCES.

case, the form of Church, that we are willing to silently accept. It is, in fact, the same conclusion that John Henry Newman came to regarding the spiritual evolution of the People of God: “a child lives principally by his imagination, an adult by logic and reasoning, and a mature man is guided by experience” (Congar, 1969, p147). It is this experiential knowledge of God which has to be at the core of a future and mature Catholic laity. Today, perhaps more than ever in the history of the Church, it is vital that we have a renaissance of the laity, an awakening that Pope John Paul II attempted to stimulate in Christifideles Laici. Congar, in Priest and Layman (1967), at no stage denigrates the sacramental role of the ordained priest, but he does have a specific vision for the laity in the Church’s future: “We are drawing ever nearer to a situation

in which Christianity will have to exist and be active by means of personal convictions, far more than by the support of institutions and laws; a Christianity no longer ritual and hieratic, but prophetic and lay … I would therefore urge every one of you to look out for any influences within his reach which are alive, creative and uplifting, and to get into touch with them. It may be a priest, a religious house, a place of prayer, a group, a critical or fervent layman, a Christian home, an intellectual, perhaps even some cultural centre or institute. I would almost say; no matter whom or what, provided it forces you to aim higher” (Congar, 1967, pp99 & 101). Today, we live within a Church that is vastly different from that of the Middle Ages, of the literate, and the idiot. In fact, many of our lay men and women are far more welleducated than many clergy in mat-

ters theological. This has its problems. For as the parent oftentimes struggles with the maturing ideas of his or her adolescent child, so too the Church is now confronted, the

“Congar said we are drawing nearer to a Christianity no longer ritual and hieratic but prophetic and lay. Magisterium at least, with lay people who have ideas as to where the Church should reform – ideas not based on pure whim, but based on considered, thoughtful and knowledgeable speculation. On both sides, parent and child, adjustments

are necessary in order for the relationship between the two to develop with love. But there must always be respect and charity. Congar is strikingly clear that the Magisterium must always be obeyed, with regard to its sacred teaching authority. If the Magisterium is not respected, then there is no Church, for Truth cannot be defined. Once Truth cannot be defined and accepted, there exists no foundation for Faith. Yet this respect for the Magisterium does not mean that the Magisterium should not listen to the voice of the people – for the Holy Spirit speaks to all the baptised; and the Wisdom of the Spirit is not confined to a head that has at its base a clerical collar. Congar’s writings on the laity always emphasise the relationship between the priest and the people – the sacramental perfection the priest offers in the Church, as well

as the enormous potential that lay men and women offer – a resource so obviously untapped throughout the vast majority of Catholic Church history. What is vital is that the Church realises that the laity require a mature place in the life of the Church, one that does not see the authority of the Magisterium displaced or questioned; nor the nature of the sacred priesthood, supplanted, but that gives the lay man and woman a constructive voice, in order to help reform the Church, so as for Her to fully engage with the modern world. If the laity are not encouraged to speak their minds charitably, and be encouraged to be active in the Church - then perhaps Cardinal Newman’s warning will indeed be the result – a loss of faith. n

FUN FAITH With

MARCH 10, 2013 • LUKE 15: 1-3, 11-32 • 4TH SUNDAY OF LENT

CROSSWORD

Across 1 “... this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was ____ and is found.” 5 “But it was only right we should ____ and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.” 6 The younger one said to his father, “Father, let me have my ____ of our money.” So the father divided the money between them.

Down 2 The Pharisees and scribes complained saying, ‘This man welcomes ____ and eats with them.’ 3 “... I will leave this place and go to my ____ and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your workers.” 4 When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe ____, and now he began to suffer.

FATHER CELEBRATE SINNERS LOST FAMINE SHARE

GOSPEL READING Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

The tax collectors and sinners crowded round to listen to Jesus, and the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them this parable: ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, “Father, let me have my share of our money.” So the father divided the money between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he spent his money on an irresponsible life. When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to suffer; so he worked for a local person on his farm to feed the pigs. The son was so hungry he would have eaten the food the pigs were eating but no one would let him.Then one day he said, “How many of my father’s workers have all the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your workers.” So he left the place and went back to his father. While almost reaching his father’s home, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, held him in his arms and kissed him. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we will celebrate by having a feast, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate. Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back heard music and dancing. He asked a servant what was happening, the servant told him, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the calf we had been fattening because he has got him back safe and sound.” The elder son was angry and when his father came out and asked him to come in, the elder son said, “All these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed any orders of yours, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after using up your money, you kill the calf we had been fattening.” The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”’

WORD SEARCH FATHER CELEBRATE SINNERS LOST FAMINE SHARE

“... this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” - Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

therecord.com.au March 6, 2013

PROJECT COMPASSION 2013

Youths, like Vannak, who participate in the home gardening activities are able to harvest vegetables for their family consumption and share equally in earnings from sold produce.

PHOTO : PHILONG SOVAN

One boy’s love bears fruit for many One of four children, Vannak, his siblings and parents live in Andong Village, the largest slum in Cambodia and only 15km from Phnom Penh city. Home to approximately 8,000 people, Andong was established in 2006 when the inhabitants were driven from their homes in Sambok Chap, near the Bassac River.

HEIR former homes have since been demolished to make way for development. “Until I became involved with the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP), there was no hope and I could not see my future,” said Vannak who left school at 15 to become a construction worker and support his family. Around the same time, in the hopes of achieving a better life, his parents had borrowed money. So every week he would give most of his daily earnings 12,000 Riels ($3) to them. Before Vannak’s supplementary income, his mother was the breadwinner. In better times, her fruit business provided for the family, but with a 15km distance to cover with a fruit cart, she would return home exhausted. Vannak said that after working just one day, she was often too sick to work the next day. So his father, who was ill with high blood pressure, found work as a guard; his low wage barely getting them by. Although Vannak was working hard and helping his family, he felt a sense of hopelessness and could not see a future. He felt that if he stayed on this path, he could end up drinking alcohol and gambling in a youth gang. “Adults thought I was useless and that I could not do anything because I was small. However, they sometimes praised me as a good boy because I was helping my parents pay off debt,” said Vannak. In Cambodia, 26 per cent of the population is aged between 15 and 25 years old and youth in vulnerable situations find it difficult to change both their situation and their place in society. Viewed as second class citizens by many in Cambodia, Andong youth often experience discrimination.

Above: Vannak received specific vocational training in silk screen printing, supported by Caritas Australia in Cambodia. Left: No bright light and no electricity - but this can’t stop Vannak and his siblings from learning and reaching their life changing goals. PHOTOS: PHILONG SOVAN

In response, YEP, which is run learnt at YEP, they understood the “The goal of the project is very by Caritas Australia’s partner, Youth importance. This was a chance for clear and helpful, it is like our for Peace, was designed to provide the family to be free from poverty. Godmother. It has shaped our life skills and vocational training At first, Vannak wasn’t focused thinking and provided us with skills such as handicrafts, gardening on learning; he was so hungry that to improve our living conditions.” and small business management. what he most looked forward to Now a team leader of six silk Their goal is screen printers, to increase “There must be made available to all ... everything Vannak feels youth employgood knowing he ment, as well as necessary for leading a life truly human, such as food, is helping others. build a sense of Plus, for every responsibility clothing, and shelter ... the right to silk screen order, and solidarity he can now earn in youth. up to 40,000 education, to employment. Va n n a k Riels ($10). heard about the - Pope Paul VI, He is also the project, so he Gaudium et Spes 26 leader of the decided to give vegetable garit a go. As his parents were depend- was eating the food provided. But den which grows produce for the ent on his extra income, initially it didn’t take long for his hunger to organisation and members’ famithey were apprehensive. However, grow for something else – learning; lies. Every dollar Vannak earns pays when Vannak told them he could in particular, silk screen printing for his study (he has since returned earn an income through skills and gardening. to school) and supports his family.

Although the income isn’t regular, it is work that he loves to do. “I started to learn new things and those new things significantly changed my perception about the project and my personal life,” he said. “On behalf of the youth in Andong Village, I would like to thank the Australian people for their generosity and continuing support. I wish them good health.” Your donation to Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion supports long-term partnerships for justice and transformation in more than 30 countries around the world. To donate, support or fundraise for Project Compassion 2013, please visit our website at www.caritas.org.au/projectcompassion or phone 1800 024 413.

OPINION

EDITORIAL

Parents key to the new evangelisation

ne of the essential tasks facing Catholic parents everywhere is addressing the question of how they are to pass the faith of the Church on to their own children. On the surface, this seems like a reasonably simple question with a reasonably straight-forward answer. The answer, however, is likely to determine whether the new evangelisation can succeed. While the rest of the world looks to Rome to see who will follow in the footsteps of the remarkable Benedict XVI, it is entirely probable that discovering and implementing the solution to this one question - how to transmit the Christian faith to the young - is far more important in the long run for both the world and the Church than which of the cardinals will be elected in the conclave. Popes have a vital role in the Church, but so do Christian parents and Christian families. Interestingly, while there has been much talk about the new evangelisation in the Church for many years what it precisely means is not often spelled out in detail. It can be confidently asserted, however, that the new evangelisation envisioned by modern pontiffs such as Paul VI, John Paul II and, most recently, Benedict XVI, is a renewed impulse on the part of the Church or a new confidence in proposing to the world the simple truth that there is a God - and one who loves each of us at that. Transmitting this one truth in a credible way to our children is probably the single greatest gift any parent can give, but many Catholics do not understand quite how important this work is, either for their children or for the world. The need for a new evangelisation has thankfully, however, become increasingly apparent at a moment in the history of the world when many see the Church as exhausted. The problem for Catholic parents and Catholic families is that as modernity has increasingly turned its back on God and proclaimed God’s irrelevance (and therefore the Church’s) to modern life the pervasive nature of this message has helped to draw increasing numbers of the young away from the faith their families, their parishes and their Church wish to give them. In the eyes of the modern world the Church is completely out of step with reasonable, rational, tolerant life. Worse, it is repressive - concerned only for the letter of the law rather than its spirit, willing - if necPO Box 3075 essary - to prevent human Adelaide Terrace beings from responding to PERTH WA 6832 their own deepest desires as they search for fulfilment. To describe this as a negative office@therecord.com.au judgement would be an underTel: (08) 9220 5900 statement. Nevertheless, this Fax: (08) 9325 4580 now widely-influential view has become the dominant orthodoxy of our time. It is this view which powerfully persuades the young that whatever their parents’ reasons for continuing to adhere to the Church it is, in the end, not for them. However Catholic and Christian parents can have good reasons for hope for any of numerous reasons. It is clear that a fundamental dimension to the exit of huge numbers of young people from the Church (and allowing for the spectacular phenomena of successive World Youth Days) in recent decades is because one of their most basic experiences is that almost everyone around them is acting as though the Church has passed its use-by date. In effect, young people and young adults are isolated by negative peer pressure; the ability of parents and families to neutralise this powerful factor is key to leading their children to an encounter with the Lord which is meaningful and life-changing for them. This is entirely possible. It is of vital importance that parents, parishes and archdioceses the whole Church - see and understand that offering the young the experience of Christianity as normality is probably one of the most important works they can carry out. Once Christianity is experienced as natural and normal by those who are young - because friends and acquaintances treat it as such - then the negative peer pressure of a toxic society expressed through the media, the internet and through the culture loses its capacity to fool young people into believing the Church and God are irrelevant. Parents need help doing this, but perhaps one of the most important practical steps they can take is to consciously seek out other families with similar faith and values with whom they can regularly associate. From this friendships grow, opportunities emerge for families to jointly pursue formation for themselves as families and for their children - a serious but almost completely ignored aspect of Catholic family life today. Opportunities for purely social gatherings, just as important in their own ways, emerge as well. Children and young adults growing up into the world will have the sure foundation that faith is not an irrelevancy to modern life but a precious treasure of the greatest value. Children raised in this kind of environment are given certain clear advantages, not the least of which is that they learn to see the world for what it is rather than what it passes itself off for. Children raised in such an environment have a far greater chance of not being robbed of their childhood. More importantly they are affirmed by others so that when their peers and our culture attempt to drag them away from the Church they have far greater resilience and see the emptiness of the things our culture prizes the most.

Catholic parents have good reasons for hope.

THE RECORD

therecord.com.au

March 6, 2013

LETTERS

Congratulations to busy bees in the West CONGRATULATIONS to all of you busy bees at The Record (13th) for all your efforts regarding Pope Benedict’s resignation. I had all the info needed for my radio program last Sunday, 17th (98.7FM on the internet), carefully laid out and presented for fast reading. It was great for me. With sincere congratulations and thanks. Maureen Frederico FRANKSTON, VIC

Journalist’s comments were misrepresented MICHAEL Cook is quoted in “It happened in our time” (Record February 13, p16) as saying that “Greg Sheridan, of The Australian, wrote, ‘Benedict XVI is a good man but a poor pope’”. That is not true. Cook appears to quote Sheridan but, instead, paraphrases him. What Sheridan wrote on February 14 was: “Pope Benedict XVI is a good and holy man. A brilliant mind,

a fine teacher, not remotely selfseeking. His decision to resign the papacy reflects all those good qualities. It is not entirely a surprise but it is a relief. For even more important than his advancing years, a man as shrewd as Benedict must recognise that key elements of the job were beyond him. He is inherently indecisive, a poor judge of who will perform well in a complex job, cannot rouse himself to effective administration and cannot easily project leadership ... Benedict’s papacy had its serious achievements. He and his illustrious predecessor John Paul II steadied the Catholic Church and prevented it flying apart ... Doctrinal continuity is Benedict’s chief and substantial achievement.” Clearly I cannot quote the whole of Sheridan’s column but the proposal by Cook that it was asserted that Benedict is “a poor pope” verges on a lie. What is a ‘good Pope’? Is the Pope a top CEO? Is the Pope a bureaucrat? Was St Peter a ‘good Pope’? Find and read for yourself what Greg Sheridan wrote. I know of no more honest, clear-thinking analytical journalist than Greg Sheridan. He deserves better than this. Michael Jaques WILLETTON WA

Declaration is worth revisiting SINCE it appears that some voices in the Church are once more calling for women priests and also since the declaration Ordinatio Sacerdotalis by Pope John Paul II was issued in 1994 (so seems to be relatively unknown), it is worth revisiting. Following is a quotation from the declaration: ...“Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of grave importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf Lk 22:32), I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and this judgement is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful ...” This is clearly a definitive, deliberate declaration. MJ Gonzalez WILLETTON WA

Something to say? LETTERS TO THE EDITOR office@therecord.com.au

The moment he accepts is when one becomes Pope I have been talking with friends about the election of the new Pope and we have some questions. Who decides when the Conclave will begin? Can the elected person refuse to accept? And at what moment does he become Pope: with the election or with his inauguration?

ANY people have been asking questions like yours, so it is good to be able to answer them in this column. The answers, by the way, are based on Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, issued in 1996 and amended in some matters by Pope Benedict XVI. When the Apostolic See becomes vacant by either the death or the resignation of the Pope, the government of the Church, including the election of the new Pope, is entrusted to the College of Cardinals (n. 2). The more important matters are dealt with in what are called General Congregations, which all the Cardinals who are not legitimately impeded must attend. Cardinals over the age of eighty who cannot vote in the election may attend these Congregations but they are not required to do so (n. 7). The General Congregation is to meet every day until the Conclave begins (n. 11). Matters of lesser importance are handled by a Particular Congregation, consisting of only four Cardinals (n. 8). Pope John Paul II determined that the Conclave is not to begin before fifteen days after the See becomes vacant, to allow all the Cardinals to be present. But in any case the Conclave must begin by the twentieth day (n. 37). On 25 February 2013, Pope Benedict XVI issued an Apostolic Letter Normas nonnullas allowing an election to begin before fifteen days have elapsed, provided all the Cardinal electors are present. It is understood that any Cardinals eligible to take part in the election who have indicated, for a good reason, that they will not be attending do not need to be present. It is up to the General Congregation to decide on which day the election will begin. Can the person elected Pope decline the election? Given the

Q&A FR JOHN FLADER

enormous burden of responsibility before God and the Church that being Pope entails, it would be perfectly understandable if the person elected were reluctant to assume the office. It is known that some of the Popes have felt this reluctance, among them Pope Benedict XVI. But at the same time the person elected would have enough supernatural outlook to acknowledge that his election is an expression of the will of God, and for this reason

be most unlikely for him to do so. And as regards when the person elected becomes Pope, the answer is immediately. Pope John Paul II declared: “After his acceptance, the person elected, if he has already received episcopal ordination, is immediately Bishop of the Church of Rome, true Pope and Head of the College of Bishops. He thus acquires and can exercise full and supreme power over the universal Church” (n. 88). His inauguration will take place some days later but from the moment he accepts the election he already has all the powers of the Pope and he can exercise those powers. What is more, within an appropriate time after his inauguration

Cardinals gather on a side balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as they await the public introduction of the new pope in this April 19, 2005, file photo. PHOTO: CNS

he would normally accept the election. In this regard Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Constitution reads: “I also ask the one who is elected not to refuse, for fear of its weight, the office to which he has been called, but to submit humbly to the design of the divine will. God who imposes the burden will sustain him with his hand, so that he will be able to bear it. In conferring the heavy task upon him, God will also help him to accomplish it and, in giving him the dignity, he will grant him the strength not to be overwhelmed by the weight of his office” (n. 86). Naturally, this does not bind the one elected to accept the office. He can still refuse, but it would

the Pope is to take possession of the Patriarchal Archbasilica of the Lateran” (cf. n. 92). The Lateran Basilica, consecrated in 324 AD, is the Pope’s cathedral church as Bishop of Rome. Finally, when the Apostolic See is vacant the prayer for the Pope in Mass is not said, but the whole Church “spiritually united with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, should persevere with one heart in prayer; thus the election of the new Pope will not be something unconnected with the People of God and concerning the College of electors alone, but will be in a certain sense an act of the whole Church” (n. 84). frjflader@gmail.com

OPINION

therecord.com.au March 6, 2013

Mortification a weapon in this battle @ Home MARIETTE ULRICH

everal summers ago, I was asked to speak on ‘mortification’ at a large outdoor family conference. When friends and relatives heard I was speaking on this subject, many responded with laughter or incredulity. “Mortification! Didn’t that get thrown out after Vatican II? You mean we don’t suffer enough? We have to go looking for more?” (O irony: on the day of the talk, the temperature was close to 40 degrees C, with no hint of a breeze, so the suffering was in-built for speaker and audience alike.) One person jokingly asked if I was “mortified” to be speaking about mortification. She meant “vexed” or “humiliated”. But the question kept coming back to me: am I mortified? And I had to answer: not nearly enough. Sure, I make the odd sacrifice,

but have I truly embraced a spirit of mortification in every area of my life? On the contrary, in all too many ways I’m self-indulgent, or have otherwise let my spiritual guard down. Am I the only one, or is this a struggle for nearly every generation that has come of age in the last 50 years? Our forefathers heard selfabnegation preached from the pulpit; in the world, many went through the ‘School of Hard Knocks’. Generations that followed, on the other hand, have been educated at the University of ‘Me First’. This attitude has crept into the Church where we find dozens of retreats and workshops full of exploring our feelings, inflating our self-esteem, or perhaps even justifying our sins. From the Latin mortificatio (“a putting to death”), mortification is defined as “the practice of spiritual effort in order to overcome sin and master one’s sinful tendencies, and through penance and austerity to strengthen the will in the practice of virtue and grow in the likeness

of Christ.” No small task. I should clarify that this refers to “voluntary mortification”. It does not include the various trials and suffering that beset us (and over which we have no control) but rather to the penance and sacrifices we undertake of our own volition. Contrary to what the name implies, voluntary mortification is not an “extra” in the life of a Christian, but a condition of discipleship.

LENT In the Gospel of St Luke, Jesus says, “Whoever wishes to be my disciple must deny his very self, take up his cross each day, and follow in my steps.” One sentence, three commands, and yet some of us can’t get past the first one (‘deny himself ’). We like to believe that

we would die for Christ, yet on any given day, we are unable—or unwilling—to wake up 15 minutes earlier for Christ, or give up dessert for Christ, or stop watching a favourite TV show for Christ. Mortification has fallen out of fashion. Today, many Catholics (including clergy and religious) scoff at the idea of sacrificing desserts, alcohol or entertainment for Lent, let alone any other time of the year. I have heard some say: “That’s such a childish way to practise your faith; you ought to be doing something out in the community instead.” Is our life’s goal sanctity and salvation or self-fulfilment and community service? Actually, it’s all of the above, but we must have our priorities in the correct order. St Josemaria Escriva writes in The Way, “Action is worthless without prayer; prayer is worth more with sacrifice”. Love of God and neighbour (the Two Great Commandments) cannot be achieved through selfindulgence, but rather by kenosis: emptying of self, that we might be

filled with Christ. We must seek holiness before we seek “busy-ness”. When we are in tune with God’s will, he will give us both direction and grace to carry out our good works. But first we must be able to hear his voice. Mortification is not just a oncea-year thing at Lent, or even a weekly thing on Fridays. It is daily, ongoing, and the work of a lifetime. Sanctity begins with the smallest acts of love, obedience and sacrifice which are practised faithfully and consistently. St Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans (12:1-2): “And now brothers, I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.” If we have fallen away from the practice of voluntary mortification (or have never tried it), Lent is a good time to begin again.

Apostle of true human dignity Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI took those who were interested more deeply into the Gospel of Life, writes Anna Krohn ...

ESPITE the startling and unpredicted speed of his abdication in recent weeks, and despite the predictably shallow media outpourings, there have been a number of insightful commentaries on (now Emeritus) Pope Benedict’s papacy. Benedict’s role in the revival of liturgical literacy, of experientially rich re-evangelisation and his ecumenical creativity over the last eight years have been well highlighted and even his opponents acknowledge the gigantic and deep theological footprint he leaves in the life of the Church. What has received slightly less attention is Benedict/Joseph Ratzinger’s keen attention to the cultural and philosophical scaffolding upon which today’s bioethical issues are played out. In a recent and concise Youtube clip, Australia’s bioethics scholar and Bishop Anthony Fisher of Parramatta notes that during his long life, Pope John Paul II tackled particular hot-button life issues. There are explicit teachings by John Paul II on reproductive technology, abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, genetics, organ donation and the ethics of warfare in his magisterial “Culture of Life” and “Theology of the Body” projects. During this time as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Ratzinger was immersed in the details of these projects. Bishop Fisher goes on to say that Pope Benedict, in his short papacy, extends his mighty predecessor’s work by taking us more deeply into the foundations of the “Gospel of Life” and into a greater understanding of the philosophies and attitudes which would undermine the reception and growth of that Gospel. Pope Benedict writes in his charter for Christian practical charity, the Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate: “Scientific discoveries in this field (of bioethics) and the possibilities of technological intervention seem so advanced as to force a choice between two types of reasoning: reason open to transcendence or reason closed within immanence” (n 74). It is not science, still less rea-

Pope Benedict XVI waves as he appears for the last time as Pope at the balcony of his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, on February 28. It was his final public appearance before his papacy drew to a close. PHOTO: REUTERS

son itself, that gives rise to a total secularisation of attitude and action - but rather science and particularly biomedicine done within a totalising ‘technologising’ ideology: “The technological way of looking at the world is free of values. It searches for what it can do, rather than what it ought to do.”

He continued a running dialogue with the idea of human dignity. Technological progress is only truly progress for us if it is matched step by step with ethical formation and spiritual maturity. “Otherwise, man’s situation, in view of the imbalance between his material capacity and the lack of judgement in his heart, becomes a threat for him and for creation” (Spe Salve #23). Benedict XVI’s patient and intriguing pedagogical style invites us as Christians not only to repeat

automatically, as it were, ethical concepts such as “natural law”, “human rights” or “freedom of conscience”, but to examine which “reasoning” we really employ when invoking these. This means that we not only question the roots of our modern culture but shake up our thinking and purify our practices as Catholics, both personally and institutionally. Pope Benedict continued a running dialogue throughout his pontificate with the idea of human dignity. He declares, “This is a fundamental principle which faith in the Crucified and Risen Jesus Christ has always defended, especially when, in respect of the simplest and most defenceless people, it is disregarded.” He is aware when using this notion that there are competing and contradictory versions of human dignity. Hence the rise of the “dying with dignity” movement - with its emphasis not on the inherent value of human life but upon a privatised notion which treats life as only one

more consumable. Benedict insists that the notion of human dignity only works as it should when it is opened upwards to transcendent value and when it is extended outwards to include the lives of all people. Dignity does not change with the passing of time. The teaching that the Church unceasingly proclaims is that human life is beautiful and should be lived to the full, even when it is weak and surrounded by the mystery of suffering (World Day of the Sick 2009). The right to life and the right to discover the truth (particularly the truth about God) are bound together in Benedict’s understanding of human dignity. While Benedict acknowledges that not all people “have the faith”, he believes that it is possible for non-believers, by use of their Godimprinted minds and hearts, to share some of the hopes, insights and concerns of those who do. So for him working for humanity means working with ‘truthsensitive’ non-believers and others.

The transcendent dignity of the person is an essential value of Judeo-Christian wisdom, yet thanks to the use of reason, it can be recognised by all. This dignity, understood as a capacity to transcend one’s own materiality and to seek truth, must be acknowledged as a universal good, indispensable for the building of a society directed to human fulfilment (World Day of Peace 2011 #2). Furthermore, the task of recognising the “gift” of each person’s inalienable dignity gives us in the Church the “task” of joining logical dots which connect the value of the human person to what Benedict calls the “dignity of Creation”: alongside the ecology of nature, there exists what can be called a “human” ecology, which in turn demands a “social” ecology. All this means that humanity, if it truly desires peace, must be increasingly conscious of the links between natural ecology, or respect for nature, and human ecology (World Day of Peace 2007). However, Benedict’s bioethical vision is not utopian. Christians know that the “peace that passeth all understanding” lies beyond even their best efforts, most promising collaborations and cleverest therapies. Sin, suffering and failure will continue to be “a terrible presence” in our lives and our histories and are only answered by holiness and Spirit-infused virtue (faith, hope and love). With these, Christians bring to bioethical realities the witness of the power of God in Christ who is “hope for the world’s healing (who) has emerged in history. It is, however, hope - not yet fulfilment; hope that gives us the courage to place ourselves on the side of the good ...” (Spe Salve #36). Bishop Fisher’s comments on Pope Benedict and Bioethics can be viewed on YouTube (search for ‘catholic news service’ and ‘bioethics at youtube.com). Dr John Haas also considers the Pope’s Bioethics work at: www.ncbcenter.org/document.doc?id=495. Further Reading on Benedict XVI’s discussion of human dignity can be found in his Address to the Pontifical Academy for Life, Saturday, February 13, 2010.

PANORAMA

SATURDAY, MARCH 9 Divine Mercy – Healing Mass 2.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, Windsor St, East Perth. Main celebrant will be Fr Marcellinus Meilak OFM. Reconciliation in English and Italian will be offered. Divine Mercy prayers followed by veneration of first class relic of St Faustina Kowalska. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: John 9457 7771. St Padre Pio Prayer Day 8.30am at Our Lady of Fatima, 8 Foss St, Palmyra. Begins with St Padre Pio DVD in parish centre. 10am – Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Divine Mercy, silent Adoration and Benediction. 11am – holy Mass, St Padre Pio Liturgy. Confessions available. 12pm BYO shared lunch, tea and coffee supplied. Enq: Des 6278 1540.

UPCOMING TUESDAY, MARCH 12 Lent Sessions: Spirituality and The Sunday Gospels 7-8pm at St Benedict’s school hall, Alness St, Applecross. Presenter Norma Woodcock. Accreditation recognition by the CEO. Everyone is welcome. Cost: collection. Enq: 9487 1772 or www.normawoodcock.com. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13 Meeting Jesus in the Scriptures 7.30-9pm at John XXIII College, Mackillop Room (multi-purpose room). Presented by Dr Joe Sobb, Jesuit priest and scriptural expert. He will talk on Isaiah, Jesus and the Church. Theme is relevant as we approach Holy Week when the Church celebrates Jesus as God’s suffering servant. Enq: Murray 9383 0444 or graham.murray@johnxxiii. edu.au. Regional Celebration for the “Year of Grace”. A Healing and Reconciliation Liturgy 7pm at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, 2 Townsend Rd, Rockingham. Preacher is Fr Peter Black. The Sacrament of Confession/Penance and healing will be available. Enq: Parish (Tue-Fri 9.30am-2.30pm) 9527 1605. SATURDAY, MARCH 16 St Patrick’s Mass 10am at St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth on the eve of St Patrick’s feast day. Principal celebrant and homilist Fr Lawrence Murphy SDS. Organised by the Irish community of WA working with the Archdiocese of Perth. Parking under the Cathedral, and free Red Cat bus service from West Perth stops outside Cathedral. Enq: 9446 3784 or pltanham@ tpg.com.au. Lenten Silent Meditation Day 9am-4pm at Redemptorist Monastery Retreat Centre, Vincent St, North Perth. Fr John Herbert OSB, Abbot of New Norcia, will talk about “Monastic Wisdom for the Contemporary Christian Journey Towards God”. Christian Meditation will be introduced. This is a silent retreat day. BYO lunch, tea provided. Cost: donation. Enq: 0429 117 242 or christianmeditation@iinet.net.au. Catholic Charismatic Renewal – Intercessory Prayer Workshop 9.30am-5pm at the Faith Centre, 450 Hay St, Perth. Conducted by Mrs Kay Rollings from FMI, the workshop teaches the skills and principles involved in intercessory prayer. Primarily aimed at establishing a CCR Intercessory Prayer Team, but all interested are welcome to attend. Please bring pen, notepad, Bible and lunch to share. Cost: $10. Enq: Kay 0412 605 502 or Dan 9398 4973. Sacred Music Concert and Reflections in Honour of St Patrick 3.30pm at St Anne’s Church, 11 Hehir St, Belmont. One hour concert with music from Lumina choir. Music to be sung includes composers such as William Byrd, Orlando Lasso, Giovanni de Palestrina and other motets and inspiring music. Afternoon tea to follow cooked by Fr Brian Limbourn. All welcome. Enq: Fr Michael Rowe 9444 9604. SUNDAY, MARCH 17 St Joseph’s School Waroona 70th Anniversary Celebration Mass 10am-3pm at St Joseph’s School, Millar St, Waroona. Inviting all past students, staff and families to help celebrate its 70th anniversary at the school. Begins with Mass celebrated by Fr Chiera, Vicar General of Bunbury Diocese, and will be followed by a day of fun, food and festivities. Please pass on this information to anyone you know from the school in the last 70 years. Enq: Admin 9782 6500 or www.stjoeswaroona.wa.edu. au. Meditative Prayer in the Style of Taize 7-8pm at Sisters of St Joseph Chapel, 16 York St, South Perth. Includes prayer, scripture, song and silence in candlelight. Bring a friend and a torch. Everyone welcome. Enq: Sr Maree Riddler 0414 683 926 or www.taize.fr. 100 Year Celebration for Catholics in Armadale The parish of St Francis Xavier, Armadale, 271279 Forrest Rd, Hilbert (formally Brookdale) will celebrate 100 years since the blessing of the original Catholic church. Past priests and parishioners are invited to join our celebration BRUNCH, following 9.30 am Mass. BRUNCH will be held in the undercover area at Xavier Primary (next to the church).

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March 6, 2013

RSVP by March 13 on 9399 2143 or email sfx6112@westnet.com.au (for catering purposes).

Tammy on smcperthwyd@yahoo.com.au or 0415 370 357.

ACIES Fremantle Curia Renewal of Consecration to Mary, Queen of the Legion, 2pm at St Jerome Church, Troode St, Spearwood. Members (past, present and Auxiliary), friends and supporters of the Legion of Mary are invited to join with us for the service and fellowship after the service with afternoon tea. Enq: Mrs Kaye Seeber, 9586 4134.

Pilgrim Mass - Shrine of the Virgin of the Revelation 2pm at Shrine, 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. Commencing with Rosary followed by Benediction. Reconciliation available before every celebration. Anointing of the sick administered during Mass every second Sunday of the month. Pilgrimage in honour of the Virgin of the Revelation last Sunday of the month. Side entrance to church and shrine open daily between 9am-5pm. Enq Sacri 9447 3292.

FRIDAY, MARCH 22 TO SUNDAY, MARCH 24 Retreat for Couples 7.30am at Penola by the Sea, 27 Penguin Rd, Safety Bay. It is a unique way to help Christian couples make a good marriage better as they discover God’s plan within it. The Retreat is led by the Vincentian Fathers. Three days live in. Registration and Enq: Melanie 0410 605 743 or vincentiansperth@yahoo.com. SATURDAY, MARCH 23 Lenten Retreat Morning: Dancing into Passover 9.30am-12.30pm at St Catherine’s House of Hospitality, 113 Tyler St, Tuart Hill. With St Mary Magdalene as our guide, contemplation flows into dance. Jesus’ Passover inspires our own. Led by Shelley Barlow RNDM. Enq: 9271 3873. SUNDAY, MARCH 24 Latin Mass 2pm at Good Shepherd Church, Streich Ave, Kelmscott. Enq: John 9390 6646. GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 29 Desolata Service – Keeping Vigil with Our Blessed Mother 7.30pm at St Denis Parish, cnr Roberts Rd and Osborne St, Joondanna. Bring a photo of any loved ones you may wish to pray for, or a flower to place on the altar at the foot of the Cross of Our Lord. Enq: Fr Peter 9242 2812 or admin@stdenis. com.au. Stations of the Cross - Mount Schoenstatt Grounds 10am at 9 Talus Drive, Mt Richon. Walk an Outdoor Way of the Cross with Jesus at a place of grace led by St Francis Xavier Parish. Booklets provided; please come with enclosed shoes and sun protection. Enq: Sr M Rebecca 9399 2349. GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 29 TO SATURDAY, APRIL 6 Divine Mercy Chaplet and Novena 3pm at Holy Family Parish, Lot 375 Alcock St, Maddington. Divine Mercy and Novena followed by Good Friday service. March 30 from 2.30-3pm, confessions, followed by Chaplet and Novena with preaching on Divine Mercy and prayers for healing. Enq: 9493 1703. SATURDAY, APRIL 6 Day with Mary 9am at Our Lady of Lourdes, cnr Lesmurdie and Glyde Rds, Lesmurdie. A day of prayer and instructions based on the Fatima messages. 9am video; 10.10am holy Mass; Reconciliation, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic Adoration, sermons on Eucharist and on Our Lady, Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet and Stations of the Cross. Finish approx 5pm. BYO lunch. Enq – Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.” SUNDAY, APRIL 7 Feast of Divine Mercy Celebrating 21 years of Devotions in the Archdiocese of Perth 1.30pm at St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth. Reconciliation 1.30pm followed by holy Mass at 2.30pm. Main celebrant His Grace Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB and other priests are welcome to concelebrate. 3.30pm Benediction. Concludes with veneration of two first class relics of St Faustina Kowalska. Parking for clergy will be available outside St Mary’s Presbytery. Enq: John 9457 7771. 5th Annual Celebration of the Feast of Divine Mercy 2-6pm at Holy Family Parish, Lot 375 Alcock St, Maddington. 2-3pm Confession followed by procession with Divine Mercy icon, Eucharistic Adoration, Divine Mercy Chaplet and healing prayers. Solemn Feast Mass starts at 5pm. Enq: 9493 1703. FRIDAY, APRIL 19 Priestly Ordination of First Malaysian Premonstratensian Canon 5.30pm at the Priory Church of St Joseph, 135 Treasure Rd, Queens Park. As a sign of ordination of Bro Christopher Jacob Lim, OPraem, the bestowal of the White Biretta will take place at Vespers on Saturday, April 20 at 5.30pm followed by Rev Christopher Lim’s first Thanksgiving Mass at the same church. RSVP 9458 2729 or 9451 5586.

REGULAR EVENTS EVERY SUNDAY Gate of Heaven Catholic Radio Join the Franciscans of the Immaculate from 7.309pm on Radio Fremantle 107.9FM for Catholic radio broadcast of EWTN and our own live shows. Enq: radio@ausmaria.com.

Cathedral Cafe Cathedral Cafe is now open every Sunday 9.30am1pm at St Mary’s Cathedral parish centre, downstairs after Mass. Coffee, tea, cakes, sweets, friendship with Cathedral parishioners. Further info:

Praise and Worship 5.30pm at St Denis Parish, cnr Osborne St and Roberts Rd, Joondanna. Followed by 6pm Mass. Enq: Admin admin@stdenis.com.au. EVERY FIRST SUNDAY Singles Prayer and Social Group 7pm at All Saints Chapel, Allendale Sq, 77 St Georges Tce, Perth. Begins with Holy Hour (Eucharistic Adoration, Rosary and teaching) followed by dinner at local restaurant. Meet new people, pray and socialise with other single men and women. Enq: Veronica 0403 841 202. EVERY SECOND SUNDAY Healing Hour 7-8pm at St Lawrence Parish, Balcatta. Songs of praise and worship, exposition of Blessed Sacrament and prayers for sick. Enq: Fr Irek Czech SDS or office Tue-Thu, 9am-2.30pm 9344 7066. EVERY FOURTH SUNDAY Shrine Time for Young Adults 18-35 Years 7.30-8.30pm at Schoenstatt Shrine, 9 Talus Dr, Mt Richon; Holy Hour with prayer, reflection, meditation, praise and worship; followed by a social gathering. Come and pray at a place of grace. Enq: Schoenstatt Sisters 9399 2349. Holy Hour for Vocations to the Priesthood, Religious Life 2-3pm at Infant Jesus Parish, Wellington St, Morley. Includes exposition of Blessed Eucharist, silent prayer, Scripture, prayers of intercession. Come and pray that those discerning vocations can hear clearly God’s call. EVERY LAST SUNDAY Filipino Mass 3pm at Notre Dame Church, cnr Daley and Wright Sts, Cloverdale. Please bring a plate to share for socialisation after Mass. Enq: Fr Nelson Po 0410 843 412, Elsa 0404 038 483.

LAST MONDAY Be Still in His Presence – Ecumenical Christian Program 7.30-8.45pm at St Swithun Anglican Church, 195 Lesmurdie St, Lesmurdie (hall behind church). Begins with songs of praise and worship, silent time, lectio divina, small group sharing and cuppa. Enq: Lynne 9293 3848 or 0435 252 941. EVERY TUESDAY Novena to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal 6pm at Pater Noster Church, Marmion and Evershed Sts, Myaree. Mass at 5.30pm followed by Benediction. Enq: John 0408 952 194. Novena to God the Father 7.30pm at St Joachim’s parish hall, Vic Park. Novena followed by reflection and discussions on forthcoming Sunday Gospel. Enq: Jan 9284 1662. EVERY FIRST TUESDAY Short MMP Cenacle for Priests 2pm at Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. Enq: Fr Watt 9376 1734. EVERY WEDNESDAY Holy Spirit of Freedom Community 7.30pm at Church of Christ, 111 Stirling St, Perth. We welcome everyone to attend our praise meeting. Enq: 0423 907 869 or hsofperth@gmail.com. Bible Study at Cathedral 6.15pm at St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Sq, Perth. Deepen your faith through reading and reflecting on holy Scripture by Fr Jean-Noel Marie. Meeting room beneath Cathedral. Enq: 9223 1372. Holy Hour - Catholic Youth Ministry Mass at 5.30pm and Holy Hour (Adoration) at 6.30pm at Catholic Pastoral Centre, 40A Mary St, Highgate. Enq: www.cym.com or 9422 7912. EVERY FIRST WEDNESDAY Novena to St Mary of the Cross MacKillop 7-7.45pm at Blessed Mary MacKillop Parish, cnr Cassowary Dr and Pelican Pde, Ballajura. Begins with Mass, novena prayers and Benediction. Followed by healing prayers and anointing of the sick. Enq: Madi 9249 9093 or Gerry 0417 187 240. EVERY SECOND WEDNESDAY Chaplets of Divine Mercy 7.30pm at St Thomas More Parish, Dean Rd, Bateman. Accompanied by Exposition, then Benediction. Enq: George 9310 9493 or 6242 0702 (w). EVERY THURSDAY Divine Mercy 11am at Sts John and Paul Church, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Pray the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy and for consecrated life, especially in our parish. Concludes with veneration of the first class relic of St Faustina. Enq: John 9457 7771.

St Mary’s Cathedral Praise Meeting 7.45pm every Thursday at the Legion of Mary’s Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. Includes praise, song and healing ministry. Enq: Kay 9382 3668 or fmi@flameministries.org.

EVERY LAST SATURDAY Novena Devotions – Our Lady Vailankanni of Good Health 5pm at Holy Trinity Parish, 8 Burnett St, Embleton. Followed by Mass at 6pm. Enq: George 9272 1379.

Group Fifty - Charismatic Renewal Group 7.30pm at Redemptorist Monastery, 150 Vincent St, North Perth. Includes prayer, praise and Mass. Enq: Elaine 9440 3661.

GENERAL

EVERY FIRST THURSDAY Prayer in Style of Taizé 7.30-8.30pm at Our Lady of Grace Parish, 3 Kitchener St, North Beach. Includes prayer, song and silence in candlelight – symbol of Christ the light of the world. Taizé info: www.taize.fr. Enq: secretary 9448 4888 or 9448 4457. Holy Hour Prayer for Priests 7-8pm at Holy Spirit Parish, 2 Keaney Pl, City Beach. All welcome. Enq: Linda 9341 3079. FIRST AND THIRD THURSDAY Young Adults (18-35) Dinner and Rosary Cenacle 6.30pm at St Bernadette Parish, 49 Jugan St, Mt Hawthorn. Begins with dinner at a local restaurant. 8pm - Rosary Cenacle, short talk and refreshments at the parish. Enq: st.bernadettesyouth@gmail. com or 9444 6131. EVERY THIRD THURSDAY Auslan Café – Sign Language Workshop 12.30pm at St Francis Xavier Emmanuel Centre, 25 Windsor St, Perth. Its Australian Sign Language - Auslan Café is a social setting for anybody who would like to learn or practise Auslan in a relaxing and fun atmosphere. Light lunch provided. Enq: Emma at emmanuelcentre@westnet.com.au. EVERY FRIDAY Eucharistic Adoration at Schoenstatt Shrine 10am at Schoenstatt Shrine, 9 Talus Dr, Mt Richon. Includes holy Mass, exposition of Blessed Sacrament, silent adoration till 8.15pm. In this Year of Grace, join us in prayer at a place of grace. Enq: Sisters of Schoenstatt 9399 2349. Healing Mass 6pm at Holy Family Parish, Lot 375, Alcock St, Maddington. Begins with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Stations of the Cross, Healing Mass followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Enq: admin 9493 1703 or www.vpcp. org.au. EVERY FIRST FRIDAY Mass and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 11am-4pm at Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, 2 Rawlins St, Glendalough. Exposition of Blessed Sacrament after Mass until 4pm, finishing with Rosary. Enq: Sr Marie MS.Perth@lsp.org.au. Healing and Anointing Mass 8.45am Pater Noster Church, Evershed St, Myaree. Begins with Reconciliation, then 9am Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, anointing of the sick and prayers to St Peregrine. Enq: Joy 9337 7189. Catholic Faith Renewal Evening 7.30pm at Sts John and Paul Parish, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Songs of Praise and Prayer, sharing by a priest, then thanksgiving Mass and light refreshments. Enq: Kathy 9295 0913 or Ann 0412 166 164 or catholicfaithrenewal@gmail.com. Communion of Reparation All Night Vigils 7pm-1.30am at Corpus Christi Church, Lochee St, Mosman Park or St Gerard Majella Church, cnr Ravenswood Dr/Majella Rd, Westminster (Mirrabooka). Vigils are two Masses, Adoration, Benediction, prayers, Confession in reparation for outrages committed against the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357; Fr Giosue 9349 2315; John/Joy 9344 2609. Pro-life Witness – Mass and Procession 9.30am at St Brigid’s Parish, cnr Great Northern Hwy and Morrison Rd, Midland. Begins with Mass followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at nearby abortion clinic, led by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. Please join us to pray for an end to abortion and the conversion of hearts. Enq: Helen 9402 0349. EVERY SECOND FRIDAY Discover Spirituality of St Francis of Assisi 12pm at St Brigid’s parish centre. The Secular Franciscans of Midland Fraternity have lunch, then 1-3pm meeting. Enq: Antoinette 9297 2314. EVERY FIRST SATURDAY Healing Mass 12.35pm at St Thomas Parish, cnr Melville St and College Rd, Claremont. Spiritual leader Fr Waddell. Enq: Kim 9384 0598, claremont@perthcatholic.org. Vigil for Life – Mass and Procession 8.30am at St Augustine Parish, Gladstone St, Rivervale. Begins with Mass celebrated by Fr Carey, followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at nearby abortion clinic. Please join us to pray for the conversion of hearts and an end to abortion. Enq. Helen 9402 0349. EVERY FOURTH SATURDAY Voice of the Voiceless Healing Mass 11.30am at Holy Cross Church, Hamilton Hill. Begins with Songs of Praise, followed by Mass. Please bring a plate to share after Mass. Enq: Frank 9296 7591 or 0408 183 325.

Free Divine Mercy Image for Parishes High quality oil painting and glossy print – Divine Mercy Promotions. Images of very high quality. For any parish willing to accept and place inside the church. Oil paintings: 160 x 90cm; glossy print - 100 x 60cm. Enq: Irene 9417 3267 (w). Sacred Heart Pioneers Would anyone like to know about the Sacred Heart pioneers? If so, please contact Spiritual Director Fr Doug Harris 9444 6131 or John 9457 7771. St Philomena’s Chapel 3/24 Juna Dr, Malaga. Mass of the day: Mon 6.45am. Vigil Masses: Mon-Fri 4.45pm. Enq: Fr David 9376 1734. Mary MacKillop Merchandise Available for sale from Mary MacKillop Centre. Enq: Sr Maree 041 4683 926 or 08 9334 0933. Financially Disadvantaged People Requiring Low Care Aged Care Placement The Little Sisters of the Poor community is set in beautiful gardens in the suburb of Glendalough. “Making the elderly happy, that is everything!” St Jeanne Jugan (foundress). Registration and enq: Sr Marie 9443 3155. Is your son or daughter unsure of what to do this year? Suggest a Cert IV course to discern God’s purpose. They will also learn more about the Catholic faith and develop skills in communication and leadership. Acts 2 College of Mission and Evangelisation (National Code 51452).Enq: Jane 9202 6859. AA Alcoholics Anonymous Is alcohol costing you more than just money? Enq: AA 9325 3566. Saints and Sacred Relics Apostolate Invite SSRA Perth invites interested parties, parish priests, leaders of religious communities, lay associations to organise relic visitations to parishes, communities, etc. We have available authenticated relics, mostly first-class, of Catholic saints and blesseds including Sts Mary MacKillop, Padre Pio, Anthony of Padua, Therese of Lisieux, Maximilian Kolbe, Simon Stock and Blessed Pope John Paul II. Free of charge and all welcome. Enq: Giovanny 0478 201 092 or ssra-perth@catholic.org. Enrolments, Year 7, 2014 La Salle College now accepting enrolments for Year 7, 2014. For prospectus and enrolment please contact college reception 9274 6266 or email lasalle@lasalle.wa.edu.au. Acts 2 College, Perth’s Catholic Bible College Is now pleased to be able to offer tax deductibility for donations to the college. If you are looking for an opportunity to help grow the faith of young people and evangelise the next generation of apostles, please contact Jane Borg, Principal at Acts 2 College on 0401 692 690 or principal@ acts2come.wa.edu.au. Divine Mercy Church Pews Would you like to assist, at the same time becoming part of the history of the new Divine Mercy Church in Lower Chittering, by donating a beautifully handcrafted jarrah pew currently under construction, costing only $1,000 each. A beautiful brass plaque with your inscription will be placed at the end of the pew. Please make cheques payable to Divine Mercy Church Building fund and send with inscription to PO Box 8, Bullsbrook WA 6084. Enq: Fr Paul 0427 085 093. Abortion Grief Association Inc A not-for-profit association is looking for premises to establish a Trauma Recovery Centre (pref SOR) in response to increasing demand for our services (ref.www.abortiongrief.asn.au). Enq: Julie (08) 9313 1784. RESOURCE CENTRE FOR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT - 2013 COURSES Resource Centre for Personal Development Holistic Health Seminar The Instinct to Heal Tue 3-4.30pm; RCPD2 Internalise Principles of Successful Relationships and Use Emotional Intelligence and Communication Skills Tue 4.30-6.30pm, 197 High St, Fremantle - Tuesdays 3-4.30pm. Enq: Eva 0409 405 585. Bookings essential. 1) RCPD6 ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ This course combines theology with relationship education and personal/spiritual awareness by teaching self-analysis. 2) ‘The Wounded Heart’ Healing for emotional and sexual abuse promotes healing and understanding for the victim and the offender. Holistic counselling available - http:// members.dodo.com.au/~evalenz/. Religious item donations for Thailand Church Fr Ferdinando Ronconi is the parish priest at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Phuket, Thailand. He is in need of religious items such as Rosaries and holy medals for his local congregation and visitors. If you are able to help, please post items to: PO Box 35, Phuket 83000, Thailand or, if you are on holiday in Phuket, bring your donated items with you to church and stay

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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 Rd, Canning Vale. Open Mon-Sat.

QUALITY TAX RETURNS PREPARED by registered tax agent with over 35 years’ experience. Call Tony Marchei 0412 055 184 for appt. AXXO Accounting & Management, Unit 20/222 Walter Rd, Morley. Trade services.

RICH HARVEST - YOUR CHRISTIAN SHOP Looking for Bibles, CDs, books, cards, gifts, statues, Baptism/Communion apparel, religious vestments, etc. Visit us at 39 Hulme Ct (off McCoy St), Myaree. Ph 9329 9889 (after 10.30am Mon to Sat). We are here to serve.

FURNITURE REMOVAL

PILGRIMAGE OF MERCY - Departs May 11, 2013. Fatima/Poland/Czestochowa/ Auschwitz/Divine Mercy/Vilnius Lithuania/Rome/Gennazzano. Fra Elia (Stigmatist) Civitavecchia (miraculous Madonna shrine) Subiaco/Medjugorje five countries. Exceptional value all inclusive $6,890. Fr Bogoni (Spiritual Director), Yolanda 0413 707 707 / Harvest toll free 1800 819 156 - 23 days.

KINLAR VESTMENTS www.kinlarvestments.com.au Quality handmade and decorated vestments: albs, stoles, chasubles, altar linen, banners. Ph Vickii on 9402 1318, 0409 114 093 or kinlar.vestments@ gmail.com. MEMENTO CANDLES Personalised candles for Baptism, Wedding, Year 12 Graduations and Absence. Photo and design embedded into candle, creating a great keepsake! Please call Anna: 0402 961 901 or anna77luca@hotmail.com to order a candle or Facebook: Memento Candles.

SERVICES PASTORAL CARE COURSE For 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 May 31 to Sep 20, 2013. 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 May 10. For information, contact Bob Milne, Graylands Hospital, Pastoral Centre 9347 6685 (0413 325 486 mob).

BOOKBINDING RESTORATION BOOKBINDING and Conservation; General Book Repairs, Bibles, Breviaries and Liturgical. Tel: 0401 941 577. Now servicing the South-West @ Myalup.

ALL AREAS. Competitive rates. Mike Murphy Ph 0416 226 434.

ACCOMMODATION HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION Esperance holiday accommodation, 3-bedroom house, fully furnished. Phone 08 9076 5083. MATURE AGE GENTLEMAN, works fulltime at RPH. Close to city. Greg 0413 701 489.

SERVICES RURI STUDIO FOR HAIR Vincent and Miki welcome you to their newly opened, international, award-winning salon. Shop 2, 401 Oxford St, Leederville. 9444 3113. Ruri-studio-for-hair@ hotmail.com. BRENDAN HANDYMAN SERVICES Home, building maintenance, repairs and renovations. NOR. Ph 0427 539 588. WRR LAWN MOWING AND WEED SPRAYING Garden clean ups and rubbish removal. Get rid of bindii, jojo and other unsightly weeds. Based in Tuart Hill. Enq: 6161 3264 or 0402 326 637. BRICK RE-POINTING Ph Nigel 9242 2952. PERROTT PAINTING Pty Ltd For all your residential, commercial painting requirements. Ph Tom Perrott 9444 1200.

SETTLEMENTS ARE YOU BUYING OR SELLING real estate or a business? Why not ask Excel Settlements for a quote for your settlement. We offer reasonable fees, excellent service, no hidden costs. Ring 9481 4499 for a quote. Check our website on www. excelsettlements.com.au.

19 DAYS - Petra, Amman, Holy Land, Dubai, Fatima and Medjugorje. Cost: A$6,000. Monday, May 13, 2013. Spiritual Director: Fr Francis Huy Thanh Nguyen. Tel: 9296 7088. 24 DAYS - Italy, Fatima, Lourdes, Paris and Poland. Cost: A$6,300. Sunday, September 1, 2013. Spiritual Directors: Fr Dariusz Basiaga SDS and Fr Sabu (Sebastian) Kalapurackal VC. Tel: 9398 2331 or 9381 5383. 22 DAYS - Petra, Amman, Holy Land, Poland and Dubai. Cost: A$6,000. Monday, October 7, 2013. Spiritual Director: Fr Ireneusz Czech SDS. Tel: 9344 7066.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY HOME-BASED BUSINESS. Wellness industry. Call 02 8230 0290 or www.dreamlife1.com

OBITUARY CREES, Sr Maria Brigida Pia (Stephonie) Beloved Mother of Aaron, Danuta and Charmaine, Grandmother to 10 Grandchildren and Sister of The Francisican Sisters of The Immaculata. Passed away 1/3/13 in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. RIP. She lived her life totally dedicated to God, Our Lady and her Brothers and Sisters. We miss her in sorrow. Memorial Mass 10am, Monday, March 11 at St Thomas Catholic Church, 2 College Road Claremont.

Classifieds

For enquiries contact us on 9220 5900.

C R O S S W O R D ACROSS 3 Confirmation gesture 6 What Jesus did on a certain Thursday 8 Gift bearers 9 “Eye has not seen, ___ has not heard …” 11 Number of pieces of silver Judas got for betraying Jesus 13 Commandment that forbids bearing false witness 15 “Dies ___” 17 Letter by which a priest is released from one diocese and accepted into another 20 Island converted in the 5th century 21 St Juan ___ 23 Israel ending 24 Dismas, the Good ___ 26 Jesus slept in one 27 Bishop’s hat 30 Herod offered this much of his kingdom to Herodias’ daughter (Mk 6:23) 32 Another name for Jacob 34 ___ of the Sacred Heart 37 To do this is human, but to forgive is divine 38 The Upper ___ 39 Perfumes the altar 40 “… many ___ and wonders were being done by the apostles” (Acts 2:43) DOWN 1 OT historical book 2 Liturgical ___ 3 First word of a Latin hymn 4 Jesuits’ motto (abbr) 5 Christian symbol

W O R D

Continued from Page 18 for Mass! Fr Ferdinando can be contacted on tel: 076 212 266 or 089 912 899 or ronconi.css@gmail.com. Would You Not Watch One Hour With Me? Perpetual Adoration From Ash Wednesday, 24 Hours a day, seven days a week (outside Mass times) at St Jerome’s, Munster. Jesus will be adored in the Blessed Sacrament and this will be

the only church in the southern suburbs where there is Perpetual Adoration.We hope we will be able to continue allowing Jesus to be adored day and night as he desires. Enq: Mary 0402 289 418. Art Exhibition and Sale at St Mary’s Cathedral by Margaret Fane After all Easter Masses and the Masses on the weekend of April 14. All proceeds to the Cathedral. Enq: 0432 834 743.

Panorama The deadline for Panorama is Friday 5pm

S L E U T H

7 10 11 12 14 16 18 19 20 22 25 27 28 29 31 32 33 35 36

Catholic creator of Sherlock Holmes “___ in peace” Commandment that directs us to keep holy the Lord’s Day OT prophetic book 9am prayer Number of beatitudes The last John Administer extreme unction Biblical measure Paul was upset because of the number of these in Athens (Acts 17:16) Jubilee number “…___ and female he created them.” (Gen 1:27) Biblical river Holy object Father of Jehoshaphat It was written in three languages (abbr) Donation to the poor Housing for a patriarch French Christmas

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

RESOURCES FOR

THE SUFFERING St Mary’s Cathedral

CRUCIFIXES

THE END of SUFFERING By Scott Cairns RRP: $29 Is there meaning in our afflictions? With the thoughtfulness of a pilgrim and the prose of a poet, Scott Cairns takes us on a soul-baring journey through “the puzzlement of our afflictions”. Probing ancient Christian wisdom for revelation in his own pain, Cairns challenges us toward a radical revision of the full meaning and breadth of human suffering.

Redeeming Grief By Anne R Lastman RRP: $29.95

Redeeming Grief is a reflection of over 17 years of counselling and study of abortion grief experienced by those women who choose to undergo this elective procedure. These reflections are the result of listening to over 1,500 personal stories and listening to the expressions used by women as they

New in stock at The Record bookshop are these beautiful crucifixes made from the wood of St Mary’s Cathedral which is hundreds of years old and filled with history from the conception of St Mary’s Cathedral back in the 19th century. These amazing crucifixes are adorned with the crucified Christ, made of brass.

speak about their decision to abort the life of their child.

psalms and compassions By Timothy Brown, SJ RRP: $15.95 Immediately following his return from a ten-day student service project in Mexico in January 1998, Fr Brown was diagnosed with colon cancer. He turned to the Book of Psalms as

Large: $140

a source of strength throughout his illness and recovery. This

Medium: $90

book is the fruit of that experience. A compilation of psalms,

Small: $75

meditations, rare and original prayers, and commentaries dedicated to all who are experiencing pain and suffering.

BIBIANA KWARAMBA Bookshop Manager

Telephone: 9220 5912 Email: bookshop@therecord.com.au Address: 21 Victoria Square, Perth 6000