The Record Newspaper 09 November 2006

Defendi Denton

Our Catholic journalist asks humanist Andrew Denton the big questions Page 13

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UNDER FIRE: Iraqi archbishop rejects US offer to his Christians Page 10

The Parish. The Nation. The World.

GUILTY FREEDOM: SBS runs documentary showing abortion grief Page 14

Thursday November , 

Perth, Western Australia ● $2 Western Australia’s Award-winning Catholic newspaper

EMBRACE THE GRACE: Respect Life Office’s youth conference Page 5

Tread carefully

Pope Benedict XVI warns against threatening human life in the pursuit of scientific progress

■ By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY -Technological and scientific advancements in controlling the forces of nature are a part of God’s plan as long as they are not a threat against human life and dignity, Pope Benedict XVI said to a group of scientists and theologians.

“Christianity does not posit an inevitable conflict between supernatural faith and scientific progress,” the Pope told some 70 participants attending a Vatican conference on “Predictability in Science: Accuracy and Limitations.”

The Pope’s comments came barely 24 hours before the Australian Senate had an initial conscience vote on the future of stem cell research using cloned human embryos, indicating the Australian ban on therapeutic cloning was likely to be overturned. The parliamentary debate was on former health minister Kay Patterson’s controversial private member’s Bill which sought to legalise the practice.

Top international scientists, including eight Nobel Prize laureates, attended the November 3-6 plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. In a private audience at the Vatican on Monday, the Pope told participants that God created human beings with reason and entrusted them to be the caretakers of nature and all its creatures. By being able to better predict nature, science “has contributed to the protection of the environment, the progress of developing nations, the fight against epidemics and an increase in life expectancy,” the Pope said.

He said this improved stewardship of creation not only clearly shows there is “no conflict between God’s providence and human enterprise” but that “the work of predicting, Continued on page 2

St Patrick’s up in air despite cash grants

■ By Anthony Barich

Rebuilding of Bunbury’s iconic St Patrick’s Cathedral Precinct is still up in the air despite a $5 million Federal Government grant and $2.5 million from the State government.

The grants are to assist rebuilding the precinct, which was ripped apart by a tornado last year.

The cathedral, built in 1921 on a hill overlooking the city, had to be demolished two months later.

The natural disaster knocked out the priests’ house, the parish office and parish hall.

Bunbury’s Bishop Gerard Holohan welcomed the grants but still has no idea of the total cost or when rebuilding will start.

HOLY HOUSE

Perth’s Archbishop Barry Hickey leads a group of pilgrims to Ephesus where the house which Mary the Mother of God is believed to have lived in. VISTA1

When it eventually does, he estimates it will take 18 months.

Major earthworks are required as the rebuilding project involves installation of adequate parking, which Bishop Holohan admitted was insufficient before the disaster; a safe entrance and exit and provision for those who find walking difficult.

While Bishop Holohan initially entertained locals’ suggestion of an underground carpark, he now says it is beyond the diocese’s financial means, as it would cost over $6 million. He plans to make the whole site one level, building up the lower parts, as the diocese cannot meet Bunbury Council requirements any other way.

There have also been delays finalising the site masterplan, re-zoning and the need to rationalise

titles, so the priests’ house, parish centre and hall may begin before the cathedral.

In the meantime, the diocesan office remains where it was as it was not affected by the tornado; the parish office has been run from the diocesan house; the priests are living together in the suburbs of Bunbury in a house the diocese rented; and for hall purposes, congregants are using St Mary’s church or the adjacent school.

“So we’re really battling,” Bishop Holohan said in summing up the cathedral precinct’s functionality.

The bishop also warned that the current escalating costs will continue according to professional advice, but said the diocese would be much worse off if the current site was sold

Continued on page 2

TIGHTEN UP

Linda Watson, who runs Linda’s House of Hope which needs donations to keep its doors open, says prostitution laws need to be tightened, advising against legalising it.

Life wins: A child walks past the graves of the victims of the Anfal campaign, where tens of thousands of Kurds were killed in the north in the late 1980s, in the village of Sewsenan, Iraq. Ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was this week sentenced to death for crimes against humanity in the Anfal campaign.

PHOTO: CNS

Archbishop Hickey Every Priest a Vocation Director

Each year around St Charles’ Day, November 4, priests and deacons are invited to St Charles’ Seminary for a Mass and a dinner at which priest Jubilarians are honoured.

This year the celebration was held on Monday November 6. About 150 priests and deacons were present together with the staff and seminarians from St Charles’ Seminary, Guildford, and Redemptoris Mater Seminary, Morley.

In his address the Rector of St Charles Seminary, Fr Don Hughes, recalled the number of priests who had been ordained in 2005 for the Archdiocese of Perth. They are:

Frs Andrew Albis, Kenneth Asaba, Andrew Bowron, Gavin Gomez, Joseph Lee, Clayton Mitchell, Nicholas Nweke, Nelson Po, Oscar M Aguilera Acosta OSM, James Calden SJ, William Matthews SDB.

Fr Hong Pham was ordained in 2006 and two more, Jesus Bello and Luis Tijerino, are to be ordained in December.

He also recalled the 14 Permanent

Deacons who had been ordained in 2006 and were now working in the Diocese: Revs Albert Atkinson, Damian Gorian, John Kiely, Gregory Lowe, Trevor Lyra, Patrick Moore, Aaron Peters, Mark Powell, Paul Reid, Paul Russell, Ivan Sands, Patrick Seatter, Paul Stacy, Bruce Talbot.

The Jubiliarians were honoured by a presentation of a framed Certificate. Those celebrating 25 years were Frs Michael Morrissey, Joe Parkinson, Trevor Simons, Kevin Cronin, Kevin Long, Greg Donovan, Brian Maher OMI.

Those celebrating 40 years were Frs Pat Turner, Russell Hardiman, Blasco Fonseca, Giovanni Fontana CRS, John Flynn SAC, Ray Hevern SAC.

Those celebrating 50 years were Frs Henry Byrne, Frank Christie OSM, Kevin Crock CSsR, Justin Bruce OSB, Monsignor Jim Nestor.

Those celebrating 60 years were Frs Eamon McKenna, Joseph Kearney SAC, John Wodon OSB.

I spoke about the priesthood and future priestly vocations, and in

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my homily I praised the priests and deacons for turning up in such numbers, and urged them to make this event an occasion for the renewal of their own commitment to the priesthood and their enthusiasm for vocations.

I spoke of the feelings of helplessness that had crept into Australia about attracting young men to the priesthood, given the powerful counter attractions of alternative careers and the faith destroying effects of secularism. These attitudes only made things worse and sapped the energy to find vocations.

Despite the corroding effects of the marginalisation of religion in Australia, we must understand that Jesus Christ could never abandon his Church and believe that he is still calling men to follow him in the ministerial priesthood, even if the noise of the world threaten to drown his call.

We need new enthusiasm and vigour to reach out to those whom Jesus is calling and help them respond generously.

I listed five ways that every priest could use to attract future priests.

The first is – love your priesthood. It is a great honour to be called to offer this wonderful gift to the people. We often say, why me, when we recall our unworthiness, but God chooses his own means to channel his Grace. If he has chosen us, like Mary, we must respond without reserve.

The second point is that we must be cheerful priests, happy to bring the good news to the people, privileged to offer the life-giving Sacraments and to be faithful shepherds to the people.

Thirdly, we must remember Jesus’ warning about hirelings who have no love for the sheep. He doesn’t want hirelings, he wants good shepherds who will even lay down their lives for their sheep.

Priests are therefore to be full time priests. The priesthood is not a job done within certain hours.

Full-time means being a priest even when on holidays or on one’s day off. We never know when Christ will call on us to care for someone in spiritual need.

We must be ready to act in Jesus’ name when the occasion arises.

Fourthly, we must mix with young people. We must look for opportunities to bring them together, perhaps over fish and chips or pizza, to show an interest in their lives, to ask them what they are doing, how they are going.

We must also pray with them. That will come naturally after getting to know them. These young people will be surprised then excited that Father is genuinely interested in them.

Vocations come this way.

Fifthly, we must pray for vocations, for more labourers in the Lord’s vineyard, and pray with confident expectation of a good harvest.

We must also pray for ourselves to be a mirror of Christ the Good Shepherd and a channel of his grace.

I closed by saying that every priest here is now a Vocations Director.

Most Rev B J Hickey Archbishop of Perth November 8, 2006

TYBURN NUNS

6902

St Patrick’s up in the air

Continued from page 1 and the cathedral moved elsewhere. “We can’t finalise the masterplan because of changes in Bunbury’s traffic structure and we’re still working out issues with the council,” he said.

“Also, the previous site was planned in the 1920s, and only had room for 50 cars – as not many people had cars – where as now we need room for 150 cars.

“So the whole thing has to be re-thought as though it was a blank block.”

West Australian Senators Ian Campbell, minister for the environment and heritage, and minister for justice and customs Chris Ellison said the Commonwealth grant recognised the vital role the cathedral played in the Bunbury region.

Senator Ellison said it was a credit to Bishop Holohan to have unite the wider community to resurrect St Patrick’s, and that rebuilding the cathedral was a significant issue for people of all denominations in the region.

Bishop Holohan saw positives in the way the disaster has galvanised the local Catholic community.

“Certainly it gives the local Catholic community the chance to look at itself and renew itself, and gives the chance now to have a cathedral that can be effective in terms of the Liturgy of today, and have the experiences of God that modern Liturgy seeks to help them with,” he said.

Don’t threaten life

Continued from page 1 controlling and governing nature ... is itself a part of the creator’s plan.”

However, “science’s ability to predict and control must never be employed against human life and its dignity but always placed at its service, at the service of this and future generations,” the Pope said.

Scientists, therefore, have an important duty to use their knowledge wisely and ethically in order to benefit all humanity, he said.

Scientists must avoid “needlessly alarming predictions,” especially when they are not based on sufficient data, he said. And “the influence of scientists in shaping public opinion on the basis of their knowledge is too important to be undermined by undue haste or the pursuit of superficial publicity,” he said. Quoting Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict said that precisely because scientists “know more, they are called to serve more.”

Pope Benedict emphasised the continued urgency for science to find “safe, alternative energy sources available to all” and to improve its understanding of natural events that continue to threaten the environment and people.

However, Pope Benedict cautioned against believing that science can explain everything and satisfy all of humanity’s “existential and spiritual needs.” Scientific advancement has lured people into thinking God and religion no longer have a place in a world that mankind has learned to control, he said. “Science cannot replace philosophy and revelation by giving an exhaustive answer to man’s most radical questions” such as the meaning of life and death.

While the laws of nature have become mostly predictable, science must remember that humans transcend the material world and cannot be subject to the same kind of

scientific methods and expectations, he said. Unlike other natural phenomena, humans are inherently free and possess the faculty of reason, the Pope said. Any attempt to “predict and condition the human world would involve the loss of what is human in man and by failing to recognise his uniqueness and transcendence could dangerously open the door to his exploitation.”

Jim Wallace, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, has expressed his deep disappointment that the Senate has passed legislation to allow the cloning of human embryos.

“Effectively, this was won by just one vote,” said Mr Wallace. “Just one Senator voting the other way would have blocked this appalling legislation. The painful uncertainty of some Senators was evident with several undecided about how they should vote until just before the division was called. Some were still wrestling with their consciences as the vote was cast and may have woken up this morning wondering whether they did the right thing.”

The legislation passed to the House of Representatives. Mr Wallace says the House should seriously consider whether or not to press on with this legislation, which has had such a narrow passage through the Senate.

“The Australian community is divided over the cloning of human embryos for destructive research. Human life, even at its earliest stage, has value and should not be arbitrarily created and destroyed, no matter how noble the supposed goal might be,” said Mr Wallace.

“MPs should reflect on Senators’ confusion and uncertainty over this controversial vote and clarify for themselves that the issue is genuinely about overturning a unanimous decision to ban cloning in 2002.”

Tighter prostitution laws needed

Linda Watson, who conducts Linda’s House of Hope for women and girls seeking to escape from prostitution, has told the Government’s working party on prostitution law reform, that they should be seeking to tighten the laws against prostitution, not to legalise the trade.

In a written submission she told the group that some girls start in prostitution to pay for their drug habit. Others entered clean, but later turned to drugs to help them cope.

“Once they get hooked on drugs it is very hard for them to escape the lifestyle,” said Ms Watson, who has also called on public donations to keep her House of Hope open.

“They feel there is nowhere for them to go, and nothing else they can do except prostitution.

“My ministry is supported by donations from individuals and Christian churches, especially the Perth Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop Barry Hickey.

“I have seen tragedy - girls who were so far gone that I could not help them. Each year I go to funerals of girls who were once very beautiful.

Their lives have been destroyed by prostitution. “Prostitution is an addiction which robs people of their dignity.

“But I have also had the joy of helping girls turn around and start a new life. Full recovery takes many years. I consider that I myself am still “in recovery”. No one should ever think that it is easy to undo all the horrendous damage that prostitution does to those caught up in it.

“That is why I do not want the WA Working Group on Prostitution Law Reform to advise the government to “decriminalise” the WA

sex trade. If you take away the laws against pimps and brothel owners, prostitution will seem more of an option for young women and more of them will end up damaged.

“Younger girls will get drawn in and prostitution will proliferate.

“WA police no longer enforce laws against brothel owners. Younger girls are already getting the message that prostitution is OK, and their lives are being ruined. I am now seeing girls aged 11 or 12 coming to my House of Hope.

“I am looking after a young boy at the moment, because his grandfather is unable to care for him. His mother is mentally ill after years in prostitution. So many of these girls end up in Graylands, and dump their children on grandparents who sometimes call me in desperation.

“Sweden is one country which is reducing its prostitution problems by tightening its laws against it. Sex trafficking in Sweden is much less since they passed a law against men buying sex. Sweden also has laws against prostitution advertising. The WA government should take advice from Sweden.

“I have taken a strong stand against legalising or decriminalising brothels. As a result my House of Hope has been firebombed and shot at. I have received death threats. Organised crime including bikie gangs want the sex industry to be decriminalised. Sex trafficking is easier if brothels are legal.

“The first person convicted of sex trafficking in Australia was the owner of a legal brothel in Melbourne. I would like an opportunity to talk personally to the Working Group about my experience in the sex industry in Perth. I have been concerned about false statements by some brothel owners in recent years. The Working Group needs to know the truth about how the industry is run.”

Submissions to the working party have now closed.

This is the State Government’s second attempt to legalise prostitution. It previously introduced a Green Bill with an elaborate scheme to legalise brothels and license prostitutes, but abandoned it.

At the time, Archbishop Barry Hickey pointed out that if the Government believed it could control illegal prostitution alongside a legal system, then it could control illegal prostitution at any time. He also pointed out that illegal prostitution, child prostitution and sex slavery had grown rapidly after Victoria and NSW legalised the trade in recent times.

LifeLink appeal this weekend

The Perth Archbishop’s annual LifeLink appeal will be held in parishes this weekend to support the Archdiocese’s 13 social welfare groups.

Thousands of copies of Archbishop Barry Hickey’s appeal letter have been sent to regular contributors and others were distributed in parishes last weekend. Donors can send their contributions direct to LifeLink in the envelopes provided, or they can use the special envelopes to leave their gift with their parish.

Contributions above $2 are tax deductible and receipts will be provided to those who put their

name and address on the form.

Archbishop Hickey has set a target of $400,000 for this year’s appeal, and has asked all Catholics to consider LifeLink the best way to express their faith through love for those in our own community who need help.

The LifeLink agencies assist more than 50,000 Western Australian families and individuals each year, regardless of their race, colour or creed.

Archbishop Hickey has described the annual LifeLink appeal as the best way can show our unity as a Church in order to achieve more than would be possible otherwise.

JohnHughes

I’m John Hughes, WA’s most trusted car dealer

Do I guarantee that when people come to do business with me, they will be treated with courtesy, sincerity, professionalism and ef ciency?

I say “I want your business and I m prepared to pay for it” and “I stand behind every car I sell”. Is that really true?

Is it true that I have over 40 technicians who are dedicated to getting my used cars in rst class condition before sale?

Is it true that every year for the last 17 consecutive years

I ve been Australia s top selling Hyundai dealer?

Is it true that if somebody buys a used car from me, I will pay for a pre-purchase RAC or similar inspection?

I have a warehouse selling cars under $10,000. Is it true that I offer a full money back guarantee within one week?

Absolutely!

“I’ll have a beer, please” he says and the bartender seeing the chance to make a quick buck says “That’ll be $30 dollars, please. Say, we don’t

Urgent plea: Linda Watson

Yarloop rejoices

■ By Sylvia Defendi

Bad weather and a lack of parish priests were very much consigned to the past for St Joseph’s Church in Yarloop as the 170-strong congregation celebrated the Church’s centenary in the spring sunshine of October 8.

On the rainiest of winter days in 1906, parishioners of St John the Baptist Church in Yarloop, as it was formerly known, braved the weather to attend the opening ceremony for their new Church, celebrating their faith even though the Perth priest they were expecting, Fr John Fahey, had not yet arrived.

Officially the Church reached its centenary on June 24. However, not wanting to repeat the past, celebrations were postponed until the winter weather passed.

Former parish priests including Fr Noel Fitzsimons, Fr Russell Hardiman and Fr Jess Navarra concelebrated Mass at Yarloop Town Hall with Bishop Gerard Holohan of Bunbury and current parish priest Fr Robert Romaro.

It was a gathering that included many former residents and over 23 descendents of early parishioners. After Mass, Fr Hardiman, whose historical account of the Catholic Church in Yarloop and Waroona has been published under the title One Hundred Years of

Faith, presented a talk during the unveiling of a commemorative plaque. The plaque, which honoured the contribution of past priests and history of the Church during the last century, was transferred to St Joseph’s Church in a horse and buggy.

As part of the historical reflections of the day a crucifix, blessed by the second Bishop of Perth, Martin Griver, whose remains where discovered in September of this year under the floorboards of St Mary’s Cathedral, was dedicated as a memorial to all pioneers, priests and families.

The crucifix was permanently erected in the porch of Yarloop Church to remind all who entered the Church that they shared their faith with each pioneer of the Catholic community.

A picnic lunch was then enjoyed by all, while photos and memorabilia were displayed in the hall recounting the history of Yarloop when it was one of the largest towns in the South-West.

In those days, the town had grown significantly during the era of steam machines and timber mills and the company Millar’s Timber and Trading donated the land where the Church stands today.

Almost three years after the Church’s opening ceremony, Fr Fahey arrived in Yarloop as the first resident priest.

Born in Ireland, Fr Fahey made himself a name as an army chaplain who earned a combat medal at Gallipoli and shared presidency of the WA Returned Services League on his return in 1916.

Today, Yarloop Church remains much the same as a century ago, although it has undergone much restoration, and has been in use since its construction.

PRINCIPALSHIP

BIRLIRR NGAWIYIWU CATHOLIC SCHOOL

RINGER SOAK / YARUMAN

Birlirri Ngawiyiwu (Spirit of God) Catholic School is located 165 kilometres south east of Halls Creek and was founded in 1986 to serve the Kundat Djaru Aboriginal Community children from Kindergarten to Year 7. The

CWL unite to celebrate century

■ By Sylvia Defendi

Women from across the globe joined during the month of October to celebrate the centenary of the foundation of Catholic Women’s League (CWL).

In Western Australia, Australia’s only officially recognised national Catholic laywomen’s organisation celebrated the momentous occasion with Mass at the Redemptorist Monastery on October 29.

More than 100 members from around the state reminisced as they gathered under one roof for a shared luncheon at the Royal Park Hall with national president Mary Schultz and celebrant Bishop Justin Bianchini of Geraldton.

Former Anglican and Englishwoman Margaret Fletcher inaugurated the League in October 1906 after striving for a wider role for women in the Church that would in no way take them away from loyalty to the local and Universal Church.

The League came to Western Australia in 1937 and there are presently organisations in every state, with a national membership of over 7000 women and a state membership of almost 300.

Currently the WA branch of CWL assist women leaving prison with practical and counselling support; breast cancer research; Linda’s House of Hope, which aids women enslaved by prostitution; and Pregnancy Assistance in Bunbury, among many other organisations and worthwhile causes.

“Being able to celebrate and be part of the 100 years of CWL worldwide was, and still is, a wonderful feeling,” said WA state president Karyn Kammann, adding that it was

an honour to continue Margaret Fletcher’s vision, “which is as real today as it was when Margaret in 1906 created what has become today’s CWL”.

“Margaret’s desire for women to be educated spiritually and intellectually and to uphold their dignity within the Church and the community are still the aims of today’s members, who continue to carry out her vision through charity, work and loyalty.”

As precursor to the centennial celebrations, 50 members from 20 branches spanning as far north as Geraldton and as far south as Esperance, gathered on October 27 at the Redemptorist Retreat House for the WA CWL annual general meeting.

Guest speakers included Mrs Schultz, who addressed WA members on the imminent passing of national leadership to the state of WA in 2008.

Josephite Sister Dora Maguire also spoke at the AGM highlighting the benefits of a recent initiative, Seasons for Growth, which teaches both adults and children how to best cope with grief.

Showcasing the work of missionaries in Africa, guest speakers Manuela Macri from Catholic Missions and Sr Margaret Culhane, spoke of their experiences while in Africa, and highlighted the poverty and injustice felt by those across the globe.

As an organisation consistently battling social injustice, furthering bio-ethics, promoting the status of women and fostering a strong involvement in the Catholic Church, the Catholic Women’s League of Australia is constantly on the look-out for members who have a passion for change and the Church.

For further information, contact WA state secretary Maria Parkinson on 9751 1936, or visit www.cwla.org.au.

Who will stand up and be counted for WYD?

The Catholic Church is looking for a new generation of youth leaders as part of plans to host World Youth Day in 2008 (WYD08).

reporters and politicians - all passionate about guiding youth leaders on the path to WYD08 - will take part in the course.

Birlirri Ngawiyiwu is involved in the National Accelerated Literacy Program and is dedicated to teaching literacy using this

DJARINDJIN-LOMBADINA CATHOLIC SCHOOL

Djarindjin-Lombadina Catholic School is located 200 kilometres north of Broome, on the Dampier Peninsula. The school provides classes for 102 Aboriginal students from Kindergarten to Year 10. The school serves both the Djarindjin and Lombadina communities. Lombadina has a long Catholic tradition, being established as a mission in the early 1900s. Although it was the Sisters of St John of God who founded the school in 1913, there have been a number of religious orders associated with the school over the years and a lay principal and teachers now staff the school. Local Aboriginal Teaching Assistants provide both invaluable support within the school and a strong link to the communities.

The successful applicants will be expected to take up these positions on 1 January 2007. Applicants need to be practising Catholics and experienced educators committed to the objectives and ethos of Catholic education. They will have the requisite theological, educational, pastoral and administrative competencies, together with an appropriate four-year minimum tertiary qualification, and will have completed Accreditation to Teach Religious Education or its equivalent.

A current Federal Police Clearance/100 Point Identification Check and a WACOT membership number must also be included. The official application form, referee assessment forms and instructions can be accessed on the Catholic Education Office website www.ceo.wa.edu.au Enquiries regarding the position should be directed to Helen Brennan, Consultant, Leadership Team on (08) 9212 9268 or email sch.personnel@ceo.wa.edu.au All applications, on the official form, should reach The Director, Catholic Education Office of Western

Applications are being accepted for the Youth Leaders Formation Course from 18 to 30-year-olds who want to serve in local and national WYD08 preparations and be active in the future life of the Church.

The three-month course will offer intensive training to prospective young leaders to help them prepare others during the lead-up to WYD08 – the biggest youth event in the world.

World Youth Day co-ordinator Bishop Anthony Fisher said the course will offer specific skills training and experience in implementing WYD08 programs in youth ministries at local churches.

“It’s our intention that this course will further Christian growth and leadership, not only among course participants but also in the communities to which they return,” Bishop Fisher said.

“Australian Bishops, theologians, philosophers, priests, youth ministers, artists,

“The course is part of the long term investment and legacy we are planning for World Youth Day in 2008.

“It will also benefit the broader Catholic community as participants bring back their knowledge and experiences to help train other youth leaders in their local church and give leadership in the preparatory and post WYD phases.”

The live-in course will be held from March to June next year in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bringelly.

Sydney will host the 10th international World Youth Day from July 15-20, 2008.

The event is expected to attract up to 500,000 pilgrims, including as many as 125,000 from overseas.

The historic occasion will also mark the first visit to Australia of Pope Benedict XVI, who will celebrate the nation’s biggest ever Sunday Mass at Randwick Racecourse.

To learn more about the Youth Leaders Formation Course, see the Australian Parishes and Schools section of the WYD08 website at www.wyd2008.org

Happy: Bishop Bianchini, national president Mary Schultz and state president Karyn Kammann.

Uniting to celebrate: Descendants of original parishioners John, Walter and Bernard O’Connor with Fr Russell Hardiman.

PHOTOS: COURTESY HARVEY REPORTER

Fr John Fahey

Family Tree Healing

A Eucharistic celebration for the Healing of the Family Tree will offer participants the opportunity to heal physical, spiritual and emotional patterns that have affected their families for generations, according to organiser Jenni Young. The Mass, to be celebrated by Fr Michael Brown, is to be held at Our Lady of Missions Church in Craigie on November 24.

Mrs Young is leader of the “Healing Fire Burning Love Ministry”, which holds a healing service at the church on the last Friday of each month and the group has decided to organise the Family Tree Mass for their November gathering.

“The purpose of this Service is to ask Jesus to intervene and heal in order to allow him to be fully present in our every day lives”, Mrs Young said. “By surrendering to God the past, present and future

sins, sickness and weakness in our family heritage, we allow him to make all things new in our lives”.

For $2 a booklet listing possible patterns of generational sin will be

available on the evening to guide participants in areas that may need healing within their family history.

Theses include issues such as: predispositions to illness, disease or allergies, patterns of sexual or violent behaviour, occult, demonic or New Age involvement, addictions and destructive or abnormal patterns of relationship.

Included in the Service will be a time of praise and the opportunity for Confession and individual Healing Prayer. Fathers Anthony Van Dyke, Irek Czech and Eugene McGrath, will be concelebrating the Mass.

The Service is to be held at Our Lady of Missions Catholic Church, 270 Camberwarra Drive, Whitfords/Craigie on November 24 from 7.30pm – 9.30pm.

For further information or to obtain a booklet prior to the day contact Jenni Young on 9445 1028 or 0404 389 679.

Moral law pushed for medicos

■ By Christine Williams

BOSTON (CNS) - Reason can lead all people to understand the natural moral law, according to speakers at this year’s 75th annual conference of the Catholic Medical Association in Boston.

The conference, with the theme of “The Natural Moral Law: God’s Gift to Humanity,” focused on the universal ethical principles in medical practice.

John M. Hass, a bioethicist and president of the National Catholic Bioethics Centre in Philadelphia, said the Church teaches that contraceptives are intrinsically evil because of natural law. Contraceptives treat fertility as a defect, and it is unreasonable to treat a good as if it were an evil, he said. “While we are under no obligation to realise all goods of which we are capable, we are obligated never to act against a good as though it were an evil,” he said.

During his talk on “Contraception and the Marital Contract,” Hass illustrated this point with an example. He said if his son asked him to join in a game of basketball and he could not, he could respond in two ways: Hass could yell and berate the boy for asking - treating the good

of their friendship as if it were an evil - or he could offer the reasonable response of explaining why he could not play and schedule the activity for a later time.

Gerald P. Corcoran, Catholic Medical Association president-elect and 2006 conference chairman, said he was encouraged by Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical, “Deus Caritas Est” (“God Is Love”), issued last January. The letter, published after the conference’s topic had been chosen, puts a renewed emphasis on the natural law, he said.

The first day of the conference featured three speakers from Catholic, Jewish and Islamic backgrounds who spoke about precepts applicable to medical practice in their respective faiths. These talks emphasized the common medical goals that the three monotheistic religions share, he said.

Nearly 400 physicians, nurses and medical students from over 30 states participated. In addition to lectures, the event featured daily Mass, perpetual adoration and the annual white Mass for doctors.

Hadley Arkes, a professor of political science at Amherst College, spoke on “Abortion, Natural Moral Law and the Ends of Medicine”, saying the arguments often used

Embrace the Grace a gift

An outstanding program has been arranged for the annual Embrace the Grace youth conference at New Norcia from December 6 to 10.

About 100 young people aged 16 and over are expected to attend this live-in opportunity for personal reflection, talks, workshops, drama, music, sport and fun activities.

The theme of the conference this year is learning to be a gift of self, which is taken from the statement in the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope): “Man, who is the only creature on earth God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.”

Fr Anthony Percy, author of Theology of the Body Made Simple, is the latest addition to the panel of speakers which includes Dr Glenn Morrison, a lecturer in Pastoral

and Systematic Theology at Notre Dame, Fremantle; Paul Kelly, director of senior school religious formation at Aquinas College; Lydia Fernandez, a graduate of the John Paul II Institute of Melbourne and manager of Pregnancy Assistance Inc, a Catholic agency that supports pregnant women facing various difficulties and Dr Jing Man Wong, a young GP with FertilityCare in Perth, who has a contagious passion for the gift of life.

Organised by the Respect Life Office, Embrace the Grace has been an outstanding success each year it has been held.

The registration fee of $220 includes accommodation, food, t-shirt and conference pack. Sponsorship is available if necessary.

Respect Life Office Ph 9375 2029 or respectlife@perthcatholic.org.au.

Glories

of Italian masters revealed

■ By

Sylvia Defendi

Internationally renowned Italian organist Claudia Termini will be making her Australian debut performance during the Festival di Musica Italiana – a festival of four concerts celebrating Italian music and musicians.

The four concerts will present music from Italian masters Scarlatti, Corelli, Palestrina, Albinoni and Vivaldi, performed by renowned state, national and international musicians, singers and choirs. In November, St Alban’s Anglican church in Highgate, St Patrick’s Basilica in Fremantle, St Andrew’s Anglican church in Subiaco and Wesley Uniting church in York will host organists Simon Lawford, Jonathan Clinch, Stewart Smith and Jacinta Jakovcevic, Ms Termini, and the Jacaranda chamber ensemble and recorder ensemble, I Venti dell’Est.

gram of beautiful Italian sacred works including Allegri’s sublime Miserere and a Mass setting from the master of the Renaissance, Palestrina, on November 18 at 7.30pm.

Set in the glorious acoustics of the Basilica, this concert includes organist Dominic Perissinotto playing works showcasing the breadth of Italian composition ranging from the Albinoni Adagio to the Etude Symphonique by Bossi.

International Guest Artist, Ms Termini, performs the final two concerts of the Festival – Musica d’Organo at Subiaco and Musica d’Organo at York – on November 25 and 26.

to justify abortion do not hold up when applied to real-life situations.

“The same strain on the psyche of the mother and the finances of the family could arise with the addition of an aged parent to the household, and when it comes to straining the psyche of a mother, there might be a better case for removing the 13year-old that is already the terror of the household rather than the offspring that hasn’t had the chance to show any malevolence yet,” Arkes said.

Psychiatrist Richard Fitzgibbons, director of Comprehensive Counseling Services in Pennsylvania, spoke about programs initiated to respond to the clergy abuse crisis in his talk on “The Crisis in the Church and Adolescent Males.”

The CMA recently published a task force report entitled “To Protect and to Prevent: The Sexual Abuse of Children and Its Prevention.”

The task force found problems with many of the programs being implemented in US dioceses in response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis. Most, he said, incorrectly focus on the problem of pedophilia - an attraction to prepubescent children - while the vast majority of victims of clergy sexual abuse were teenage boys.

For the first concert, Musica da Camera, the Recorder and Early Music Society of WA join with the Organ Society to present a joyous and moving program of Italian chamber music for strings, recorders, voice, harpsichord and organ from some of Italy’s finest baroque composers.

The concert will be presented at St Alban’s Church, Highgate on November 11.

The second concert, Musica Sacra, features the Choir of St George’s Cathedral, under the direction of Simon Lawford, at the Basilica of St Patrick, in Fremantle. The choir will perform a pro-

In the final concert, Claudia Termini performs a solo of diverse organ works from Italy and Germany specifically designed to explore the beauties of the 1895 organ at the Wesley Uniting Church, York, built by Alfred Monk of London.

Launching the festival, Dominic Perissinotto, Artistic Director of the Festival said the four concerts will bear testimony to the richness and diversity of Italian music throughout history.

“The range of music coupled with the diversity of specialist musicians, singers and choirs that we have been able to bring together will ensure wonderful and memorable music experiences for our audiences,” he said.

Subscription packages and individual tickets are available through BOCS Ticketing and door sales will be available at each concert.

INVITATION TO VOCATIONS DINNER with ARCHBISHOP BARRY J HICKEY

If you are single, Catholic, 19+ and thinking of becoming a priest in the Archdiocese of Perth, you are cordially invited to join the Archbishop.

Where: 18 Teague St, Victoria Park WA 6100

When: 6.30 pm, Tuesday 21st November 2006

Please confirm: Fr Armando

Tel 9470 9113 or 0401 197 310 Fax 9361 5710

Email: frarmando@perthcatholic.org.au

Don’t take an eye for an eye

■ By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The head of the Vatican’s justice and peace office and an editor of a Vatican-approved Jesuit journal said it would be wrong to carry out the death penalty against Saddam Hussein.

The former Iraqi president was sentenced to death by hanging last Sunday in a case involving the deaths of 148 Iraqis in 1982.

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said: “For me, to punish a crime with another crime, such as killing out of vengeance, means that we are still at the stage of ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’”

The cardinal told Italian news agency ANSA that both Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”) and the Catechism of the Catholic Church teach that modern societies have the means to protect citizens from the threat of a murderer without resorting to execution.

“God has given us life, and only God can take it away,” the cardinal said, adding, “the death sentence is not a natural death.”

“Life is a gift that the Lord has given us, and we must protect it from conception until natural death.

“Unfortunately, Iraq is among the few countries that has not yet made the choice of civility by abolishing the death penalty.”

Jesuit Fr Michele Simone, assistant director of La Civilta Cattolica, a Vatican-reviewed magazine, told Vatican Radio the sentence “certainly would not resolve the situation in Iraq.”

“In a situation like that of Iraq, where hundreds are, in fact, condemned to death each day” by the ongoing violence, “adding one more does not help anything,” he said.

Fr Simone said if Saddam had not been condemned to death, most Iraqis probably would have questioned the integrity of the trial “because death has become the order of the day. But to save a life - which does not mean accepting what Saddam Hussein did - is always positive.”

Priests receive crash-course in fertility

■ By Sylvia Defendi

Dr Amanda Lamont of Perth’s FertilityCare in Yokine believes that it is becoming ever more important for couples to become aware of the excellent services being offered by Natural Fertility Services (NFS). As part of an ongoing awareness campaign FertilityCare hosted an information session for priests on October 25.

Eleven priests attended the session where Dr Jing Man Wong presented information regarding the many uses of NaProTechnology; FertilityCare practitioners Nga Nguyen and Linley Plowman presented a summary of the information usually given to women and couples at their introductory session and Dr Lamont presented some introductory information regarding FertilityCare and NaProTechnology, while giving some real-life examples

demonstrating how these services have helped women and couples around the world.

“Priests often tell me that couples seek their advice and guidance regarding their fertility, whether the couple is having trouble conceiving or whether they are blessed with abundant fertility.

“A priest can offer the spiritual guidance, pastoral care and support that people need in this situation, and they can also refer the woman

She had nothing to fear

■ By Sylvia Defendi

Described by her son, Perth priest Fr Paul Fox, as a true lady with a constant love for her family and a strong faith, Mary Agnes Fox passed into eternity on October 18.

Mrs Fox, aged 84, was remembered during her funeral Mass on October 26 by her two sons, Fr Fox and Anthony Fox, her two daughters, Sally-Anne Dowding and Rosemary McIntosh, her seven grandchildren, Andrew, Katie, Marissa, Mark, Sarah, Elizabeth and Suzanne and a number of friends and relatives, including her cousin – Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey. Celebrant Fr Fox, who concelebrated the Mass at Holy Rosary Church in Woodlands with 25 priests, commented during his homily that the world would be lost without a mother’s love.

Born in 1922 in Kalgoorlie, Mrs Fox married Lawrence Fox in 1950 in Perth’s St Mary’s Cathedral and proceeded to work on the family farm in Pemberton until retiring to Perth in 1978. Fr Fox said she was very happy to retire to Perth as it allowed her to attend daily Mass more regularly than when she lived in the country.

“Her prayerful life had a big impact on me and my vocation into the priesthood,” Fr Fox said, adding that he felt it was very

appropriate for his mother to pass into eternity during the month of the Rosary, as she was always a fond believer in the power of the Marian prayer.

“I am very confident that she was well prepared for death and had nothing to fear,” Fr Fox said.

Mrs Fox passed away peacefully in St John of God Hospital with the loving support of family and

friends and a strong faith in the Lord.

She was reunited with her late husband in Pemberton Cemetery where she was buried on Friday October 27.

“Everybody has a mother,” commented daughter Sally-Anne Dowding during her eulogy, “but ours was amazing and we will all miss her dearly.”

Pope buys bond to immunise

LONDON (Zenit) - Pope Benedict XVI was the first to purchase a bond for the eradication of poverty issued by a British-based fund that seeks to immunise millions of children around the globe.

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, purchased the bond today in the Pope’s name at the launching of the International Financing Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), presented by Gordon Brown, British chancellor of the exchequer. Brown originally presented the project at an international seminar on “Poverty and Globalisation: Financing for Development,” organised by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in 2004.

The launch was attended by various religious leaders including the Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, and British Muslim and Hindu leaders.

The fund works by selling longterm bonds to international money markets to raise money for developing countries now, with interest on these paid back using future aid funding.

or couple to an appropriate service for practical assistance,” said Dr Lamont, who plans to host more sessions for priests in the future.

One of many Natural Fertility Services, FertilityCare opened on September 29 to couples wanting to concieve naturally and women wanting a deeper understanding of their reproductive health.

For more information contact FertilityCare on: 9440 4530.

The BBC reported that the fund is expected to raise $4 billion that will be used to vaccinate 500 million children over the next decade, which will save 10 million lives, 5 million of whom will be children.

Cardinal Martino said: “Benedict XVI believes that this is the time...to quickly provide the funds in order to respond to poverty, hunger, the lack of educational and literacy opportunities and the ongoing fight against the scourge of malaria and the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.”

Holy See approves draft resolution on arms trade

ROME (Zenit) - The Holy See expressed satisfaction over UN approval of a draft resolution to write a treaty on control of the international trade in conventional arms.

The working sessions on the draft resolution took place in the ambit of the Commission for Disarmament and Security.

In all, 139 countries voted for the plan last Thursday. The United States was the only country to vote against it. China, Russia, India and Pakistan were among the 26 countries that abstained.

In statements on Vatican Radio, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations, expressed his satisfaction with this vote.

“It’s true, the road is still very long,” he said.

“It’s no more than a resolution which gives the UN secretary-general the mandate to prepare a report on trade in conventional arms within a year.

“Later, a working group will begin to work on this question.

“But it is a most important victory from the human point of view, especially if the human dimension is considered of all the victims that arms cause.”

“The Holy See has been very active in supporting this initiative,” Archbishop Migliore said.

He explained that “among the 139 countries that voted in favour, many are producers, large producers of conventional arms, as this treaty does not ban the production and trade of arms, but will regulate them.”

“Now the producers also want a specific framework for the sale and transfer of arms and I think this is a positive sign,” the Holy See representative added.

The archbishop said that, regarding non-conventional arms, such as nuclear, radiological and chemical arms, “the Holy See is energetically supporting states and organisations of civil society that struggle so that the treaty will finally come into force which bans nuclear tests, and which prohibits a state with nuclear capacity to attack with nuclear arms a state that does not have this capacity, and so that a treaty will be arrived at as soon as possible on fissional material.”

“It is a period of stagnation of disarmament in general,” Archbishop Migliore added. “But there are reasons for hope, such as this vote in the UN, which encourage us to continue with this cause.”

Fondly remembered: Mary Fox lived a prayerful life and loved daily Mass.

Celebrations: Shiite residents display a mock body symbolising people killed under the regime of Saddam Hussein, who was sentenced by an Iraqi court to death by hanging in a case involving the 1982 deaths of 148 Iraqis. PHOTO: CNS

Long journey realised

■ By Anthony Barich

A life-long dream came true for popular and passionate deaconelect Richard “Dick” Scallan last week as Bunbury Bishop Gerard Holohan ordained to the Permanent Diaconate.

Mr Scallan became the 15th member of the Perth Archdiocese Permanent Diaconate formation group at St Mary’s, Bunbury, with the other 14 deacons in attendance plus his wife Jeanette’s brother, Edwin Bock, a deacon in the diocese of Johannesburg; and a deacon from Broken Bay in NSW. Over a dozen priests from the Perth Archdiocese and the Bunbury diocese also concelebrated the Mass for Mr Scallan, who has lived in three dioceses in Australia over the past 25 years since moving here from Zimbabwe in 1981.

Mr Scallan, a mining engineer by profession who has been a general manager of mining companies in WA and Tasmania, was joined at the Mass by his whole family –including his four married sons, his nine grand-children and Jeanette, his wife of 48 years.

“The reason that I wanted to be a deacon is to have a deeper and closer relationship with God, who has done amazing things for my family and myself over the years,” said Mr Scallan, a secular Franciscan for 34 years. It was a Franciscan priest in Harare, Zimbabwe, who gave him the initial inspiration to become a deacon many moons ago.

“I hope I’ll be more effective in serving others in nursing homes and in the community at large, particularly among the Ministers’

Fellowship.” Bunbury’s Christian ministers unite in the Ministers’ Fellowship to support each other and jointly co-ordinate the Carols By Candlelight, one of the group’s major annual outreach events.

Mr Scallan, who has chaired the Bunbury Christian Ministers’ Fellowship for three years, said about 20 representatives from different Christian denominations attended his ordination, showing the strength of the fellowship in the region.

While he has been heavily involved in community service for a number of years already, Mr Scallan hopes his ordination will improve the quality of his work.

“I’m already very much involved, and now I’ll be able to administer the sacraments of baptism and marriage, and bury the dead and give holy Communion in hospital (which he used to do before).” Mr Scallan and his wife take the Blessed

Sacrament to the sick and the frail.

Bishop Holohan said Mr Scallan’s ordination is a very significant occasion for the Bunbury diocese.

“We hope it will inspire others who may be called to be deacons to come forward for the program next year,” he said. Bishop Holohan said Mr Scallan will carry out what he has trained to do, which is to serve as instrument of Christ the Servant by teaching as Jesus did, by proclaiming the scriptures, instructing and calling Jesus’ followers to live as he taught.

And secondly, by sanctifying, leading Jesus’ followers to ever greater personal holiness by sharing with them the Holy Spirit who makes people holy by bringing out in them God’s own image and likeness, by helping them grow as people of Christ-like selfless love and goodness. [Catechism 1999]. And finally, by leading in love, by works of charity and assistance.

Chaplain scheme earns praise

Sydney Cardinal George Pell has cautiously welcomed the Federal government’s $90 million plan to fund school chaplains and dismissed as “quite minor” some claims that it would heighten religious division within schools.

Cardinal Pell said the plan was “nothing completely new” and added that the Australian bishops would consider the proposal “optimistically” but that any vetting would need to based on “public criteria”.

Speaking to the ABC’s “PM” program, the Cardinal said: “First of all, (the scheme) is nothing completely new. In I think the four major mainland states, apart from NSW, there are already school chaplains paid by the state governments.

“So we’d be cautiously approving of it. We’d like to see just what it means. The bishops are yet to meet to discuss it, but we’ll look at it optimistically.”

Explaining his caution, Cardinal Pell said that the scheme was “something that’s a little bit new to myself. There are talks about government vetting, of just who would be appropriate”.

“I think there’d have to be public criteria, so that we could see just why somebody was rejected or not,” he added. “But it’s early days, and we need to know a few more details about it.”

He said that a chaplain would need to have some “appropriate” professional religious background or experience with young people.

Describing the contribution of school chaplains, Cardinal Pell said that the pressures on young people today are “very, very considerable”.

“For chaplains, people who have a gift for working with young people, they really are able to help them when they’re confused, under pressure or depressed,” he said.

“Especially in times of crisis, in times of tragedy, but well short of that too, a good chaplain will be able to offer all sorts of support.”

Cardinal Pell also recognised what he characterised as a “limited” capacity of the scheme to cause division.

“A very rough sort of parallel might be the chaplains in the armed forces, where they look after people of every religion and no religion,” he said. “So I think the capacity for division is limited.

“There is some potential for trouble there, or even differences between the religious groupings, but they should be quite minor,” he concluded.

Australian Catholic Students Association (ACSA) president, Adelaide-based Aaron Russell, said the role of the chaplain was vital to young people’s development. Mr Russell said that young people today need someone who they can discuss the “spiritual aspect of their experience with”.

He said the scheme “wouldn’t constitute an imposition upon students who aren’t religious, or who are of a different religious persuasion. Adolescence is a crucial time

It took a while, but I’m finally here

■ By Richard Scallan

My Dad died when I was 11 and I was an only child. Mum and Dad had been married 20 years before I was born and had lost many babies before birth and I was six weeks premature. Our consolation at Dad’s death was him being fortified by the rites of Holy Mother the Church and passing on to eternal joy. Essentially we clung to Jesus and His Holy Mother.

suggested that I consider a vocation of service as a Permanent Deacon.

I was unable to contain my excitement with this suggestion. The life and example of St Francis had made a significant impression on my spiritual life.

St Francis had a deep respect and love for Christ in the Blessed Eucharist so much so that he never wished to be ordained a priest and only desired to serve Christ and others as a deacon.

for students to explore their beliefs and world views, and to have someone available to thrash out these issues and provide guidance and support is very helpful,” he said.

However, Mr Russell also agreed that the Government should outline more clearly its proposal to vet chaplain appointments.

“We echo some of the sentiment expressed by the NSW Catholic Education Commission, that it would be unprecedented for the Federal Government to delve into employment choices, especially in such a sensitive area,” he said.

The Christian Democratic Party also supported the plan, WA executive director Gerard Goiran saying that in a time where so many schools were experiencing behavioural problems with students, the chaplaincy initiative could only have a positive impact.

While there have been calls for trained psychological counselors should be given the preference over chaplains but Mr Goiran said that chaplains could provide a spiritual input that trained counselors could not make.

“I do not know why there is so much resistance to the influence of religion in education and politics,” Mr Goiran said.

“Religion is very much part of the lives of many Australians. It is illogical for a pluralistic, multi-cultural society to prevent one important section of the population to make a contribution to our children and children’s education.”

This background and developing relationship with Jesus (which I only understand now in hindsight) had only engendered one direction for my life and that was the priesthood. I believed Jesus was calling me and therefore that was the way I had to go.

The National Diocesan Seminary was full and there was a waiting list of some years in those days. The calling I perceived from God prompted me to apply to the Franciscan Friars to be accepted for their novitiate and all I required was a reference from my parish priest.

Unfortunately, a reference was not forthcoming and needing to prove myself in my relationship with others I volunteered and was accepted by the South African Defence Force in the Military Gymnasium.

It seemed at that stage that the door to Holy Orders was closed so after receiving my diploma from the Gymnasium, I went to work on the Gold Mines as an underground leaner official.

In time, I met my wife now of 48 years, Jeanette, who became a Catholic before we were married and we settled down to a married family life, blessed with four sons, with us both much involved in parish life and service whereever the company sent us to work and live.

In 1971, now living in a remote part of Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) and just finished helping with the commissioning of the first nickel mine and refinery on the continent of Africa, a chance came to deepen my faith and relationship with Jesus by joining the Secular Franciscan Order.

After profession, my Spiritual Director, the late priest Friar Francis Ryan OFM, a professor of Theology,

All I wanted to be was an Instrument of God’s peace, love and service in the example of St Francis.

Maybe I could with God’s grace follow Christ as a deacon as well? It was worth a try anyhow.

After prayer and discernment I decided with my wife’s approval to apply for acceptance and commenced formation as a permanent deacon in 1974.

It seemed that God had not given up on me with His call to serve Him in Holy Orders but in a different way than I had originally imagined

Unfortunately, the hostilities of the Rhodesian Bush War escalated and I had to forego the formation program. Afterwards, we immigrated to Australia in 1981. In 1985 I enquired to Archbishop Hickey, then Bishop of Geraldton as to the possibilities of the permanent diaconate. The request was considered somewhat premature at that stage.

The chance came at last in 2001 when Archbishop Barry Hickey invited men in the archdiocese to apply for selection to the Permanent Diaconate.

I was chosen, after a discernment period of some 18 months, with 14 others to commence the first formation program in the archdiocese.

It was the greatest moment in June this year when Bishop Gerard Holohan advised me that he would ordain me for the Diocese of Bunbury.

The journey and the dream became a reality on October 27 after some 32 years.

God’s call and timing as always is well worth the wait and the experience of God’s love is absolute joy. And there is much, much more still to come.

Moment of truth: Bishop Gerard Holohan ordains Richard Scallan as deacon.

Glad to serve: Newly ordained Deacon Richard Scallan at St Mary’s, Bunbury.

Perspectives

letters to the editor

Cloning vote bad news

The decision by the Australian Senate to approve the cloning of human embryos and the mixing of human and animal genetic materials is a sad day for this country. The fact that the majority of Senators hid behind the insistence that it is only ‘therapeutic cloning’ is no help at all.

That they might eventually find some way to use some part of their work for something therapeutic is never going to make the process therapeutic for the living human embryos whose creation and destruction our society will now allow.

To use the term ‘therapeutic cloning’ is equivalent to the Chinese Communist Government talking about ‘therapeutic capital punishment’ because they are only killing prisoners to provide organs for transplant to willing buyers.

It is not only a sad future the Senate is offering us. It is also very sad to find ourselves in a present moment when the majority of our Senators cannot think properly or see clearly. Only four years ago, in 2002, both Houses of the Australian Parliament were unanimous that they would not allow human cloning, and the great majority of the Australian people agreed with them.

Nothing has happened in the intervening period to change their minds. There has been no change in science, no change in ethics, and no change in the UN’s opposition to human cloning. Despite this, the Senate has changed its mind and the House of Representatives seems ready to follow suit.

Some of the tiny minds in the Senate have tried to hide behind the excuse that the Lockhart review had recommended a change, so they had to agree. This is a lie. The Lockhart committee had no authority to make any recommendation about Parliament’s decision.

PO Box 75, Leederville, WA 6902

Tel: (08) 9227 7080, Fax: (08) 9227 7087 cathrec@iinet.net.au

They were to review the science and the operation of the 2002 Act and inform Parliament if there were anything that would warrant their revisiting their decision. These was nothing, but in an extraordinary act of arrogant effrontery the Lockhart committee told parliament to reverse a unanimous decision without having any reason to do so. And Parliament has agreed.

We have been assured that no cloned embryo will be allowed to live more than 14 days (as if that is a virtue!) and no cloned embryo will be implanted in a womb. This is the equivalent of telling us that there will be no illegal prostitution, no child prostitution and no trafficking in women if only we will let our governments legalise the wretched business.

That is what the governments of New South Wales and Victoria promised their people, and both states now have more illegal prostitution, more child prostitution and more sexual slavery (previously almost unknown) than ever before, and more than the legal variety.

Having tried once before to produce a legal system that could even pretend to work, the WA State Government under the guidance (?) of Attorney General Jim McGinty is now making another attempt to follow its Labor counterparts down this destructive pathway. We can be sure that, if it proceeds, the State Government will not tell us how the legalisation of prostitution has failed miserably wherever it has been introduced. They will deliver the same bland promises that they will ‘bring it under control’, ‘keep it clean’ and make it ‘safe for women’.

The point about this, as with the cloning, is that when people embark on a course that is blatantly wrong, when they have persistently demanded the right to do wrong, they do not restrict their greed to some ‘decent’ level of behaviour we can all be content with. They always demand more, regardless of whether they get legislative support. There is no decent level of prostitution and no decent level of creating human embryos for destructive experimentation.

Perhaps the saddest part of the Senate’s profoundly stupid decision is that it comes as no surprise. Australia has been wandering lost and confused down the pathway of disrespect for human life in any and all its stages for many years.

There have been good men and women who have struggled bravely in defence of life and true liberty, but the tide has been washing inexorably over the lines in the sand, and step by stumbling step we have been legislating to let adults do whatever they like regardless of the effect on the lives of others.

When we forget where we came from and forget who we are we lose sight of the reasons why we should value life above all selfishness. Faith and reason are not qualities in conflict. They are two necessary parts of a whole human person and we cannot abandon one without losing the other. We need to express more faith in prayer in order to recover more reason in our consideration of life.

Mufti’s violent solutions “not on”

Regarding the matter of Mufti alHilaly please note that I completely disagree with him when it comes to sympathy for violent solutions to any problems or perceived problems.

Calls for violence are totally “not on”.

People who immigrate to this country and call for violence against the people or institutions of this country or its allies should go back where they came from.

A religious leader has the right to speak out against immorality in its various forms, but must be careful not to endorse or excuse violence.

It is an unfortunate fact that a moral vacuum in society will tend to be filled: and it is unfortunate too, that the ones who attempt to fill it can be way over the top.

Immodesty in dress is a sign of such a vacuum: but Muslim hajibtype dress is an example of such overthe-top morality as far as I am concerned.

J. Gonzalez Willetton

Good start, but more chaplains necessary

Great move by the PM appointing religious chaplains to our schools. How about ones for our Parliamentarians and Senators?

Perhaps then Asylum Seekers, the poor long termers in various costly detention facilities and those living horrible lives on precarious insecure visas will have a chance of being treated in a Christian manner,

Norm Bernard Brigadoon

As we sow, so shall we reap

A recent email I received neatly precises the erosion of values society is now suffering from and the moral cowardice preceding it. It’s worth repeating.

Purportedly posted by a US Air Force Captain it begins with the question from a disillusioned student, Dear God, why didn’t you save the school children at – and goes on to list seventeen dreadful outrages when children were shot and maimed at school by one or more of their classmates.

The email must have been around for a while because the dates cited are from 1996 to 2001, and as we all know there have been subsequent tragedies.

The reply is starkly simple. “Dear

Calling for an Easter change

Pope John Paul ll made great progress in showing to all people of all faiths that we have a common God. A Father from whom we all originate.

If we could just see what really unites us we could achieve peace and unity throughout the whole world. That is what Pope John Paul ll was aiming for, but our human will tends toward corruption.

However we could at least make a first step towards ecumenism with the Orthodox church. Not through sharing Holy Communion with anyone who comes to “Mass”, that in itself is false ecumenism, as Cardinal Clancy has said (The Catholic Leader: July 98). But we could share the most important event of the year, Easter, on the same day.

The Catholic Church sets the day of Easter by the northern spring full moon. This tradition was established in the first century by the Church to coincide with the pagan celebrations of the “full moon”.

However now in the spirit of ecumenism, the Church could change that original decision, as it is not binding in serious matters of faith and morals.

Perhaps we could listen to what God said to Moses about the Passover, the forerunner of the Easter celebration. He said to Moses to tell his people that it is the: “victim passing of the Lord.” (Exodus ch 12:27) “...and you shall celebrate it on the 14th day of the first month and you shall celebrate it forever (Exodus 12; 18-24).

The first month in the Hebrew calender is “Nisan”, which is between March and April. The 14th day would be the beginning of April, a Sunday chosen in that octave.

The month of Nisan starts with the northern spring equinox, which is about the 21st of March, the summer solstice.

If God has chosen and commanded man to use a certain phase of the sun for such an important event, why should man try to do better by following the pagan custom.

When God chose the time and ritual for the Passover, first it meant that the lamb had to be eaten, for the first-born to have life and subsequently through the Passover the chosen people would be offering a pleasing sacrifice to their one and only true God.

The new sacrifice of the “Lamb of God” is similarly perpetuated in the oblation at every “Mass”, but Easter is the time we celebrate the pinnacle of the sacrifice in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Just as the Lamb had to be consumed before, so now Christ in the Eucharist and through Holy Communion we consume the Lamb of God in the true human body and blood, soul and Divinity (mystery of faith).

Wes Wlodarczyk Canning Vale

Concerned Student. I am not allowed in schools. Sincerely God”

The captain then poses the question, “How did this happen”?

He answers his own question with a catalogue of disastrous examples where society, the legislature, the judiciary and, dare I say it, the churches or at least many of their agents, have all conspired by malice or default to whittle away, piece by piece, the moral foundations that until recently, we all took for granted.

He says, ‘Let’s see. I think it started when Madeline Murray O’Hare complained she didn’t want any prayer in our schools. And we said ok..

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible that says, ‘thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal and love your neighbour as yourself. And we said ok.

Dr Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehaved because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. And we said an expert should know what he’s talking about, so we won’t spank them anymore.

Then someone said teachers and principals better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And the school administrators said no faculty member in this school better touch a student when they misbehave because we don’t want any bad publicity and we surely don’t want to be sued. And we accepted their reasoning.

Then someone said, let our daughters have abortions if they want, and they won’t even have to tell their parents. And we said that’s a grand idea.

Then some wise school board member said, since boys will be boys and they are going to do it anyway, lets give our sons all the condoms they want, so they can have all the fun they desire and we won’t have to tell their parents

they got them at school. And we said that’s another great idea.

Then some of our top elected officials said it doesn’t matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs. And we said it doesn’t matter what anybody, including the President, does in private as long as we have jobs and the economy is good.

And someone else took that a step further and published pictures of nude children, and when they got away with that put them on the internet And we said everyone’s entitled to free speech.

And the entertainment industry said, let’s make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence and illicit sex. And let’s record music that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide and satanic themes. And we said its just entertainment and it has no adverse effect and nobody takes it seriously anyway, so go right ahead.

Now we ask ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, classmates or even themselves.

Undoubtedly if we thought about it long and hard enough we could figure it out. I’m sure it has a great deal to do with – As you sow, so shall you reap.

Some might say the captain’s litany of woes is unduly pessimistic, but as the libertarian democrats look like winning control in the coming US elections and our parliament looks like sanctioning wholesale embryo experimentation here in Australia, one wonders just how bad do things have to get before the community says ‘enough’.

Benedict can see the problem and is calling for change, but how many, even in our own communion are listening?

Barry Morgan Samson WA

Mary’s House in Ephesus

The holiest house in the world

■ By Brian Peachey

here is a small, unassuming stone house high up the side of Nightingale Mountain, 9km from the ancient town of Ephesus. For 18 centuries it stayed that way.

Not any more. Now it is a gift to the Catholic pilgrim who visits Turkey.

Archbishop Hickey and the pilgrims who accompanied him up the mountain on October 6 received the rewards that this holy place has to offer.

This was the house built by St John where Mary the mother of Jesus lived on a secluded, wooded hillside far from the great city of Ephesus. St John left Jerusalem during the time of the persecution of the early Christians, following the martyrdom of St Stephen in 37 AD.

When St John was standing at the foot of the cross Jesus said to him: behold thy mother and as Holy Scripture records: from that hour the disciple took her unto his home. (John 19:25-27). This is the last refer-

ence to Mary in Scripture, which raises the question: what happened to Mary? Where did she go? St John went to Ephesus where he wrote his gospel. Honouring his commitment to Jesus, he took with him Mary, Mary Magdalene and several other disciples to Ephesus.

Further substantiation that Mary lived in Ephesus was that the Christian community there kept her memory alive. The first church ever dedicated to the Virgin Mary was built in Ephesus at a time when a church could only be dedicated to a saint if that person had lived or was martyred there. Archbishop Hickey and a few of the pilgrims, with some difficulty, were able to explore what remains of this once great church.

It is also significant that the third Ecumenical Council in 431 AD was held in the church of The Virgin Mary in Ephesus. The Council proclaimed Mary as the Mother of God.

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich

One of the strange mysteries is that the little house hidden high on the hill was out of sight and out of

mind. For eighteen centuries Christians did not go on pilgrimages to this holy place. It was forgotten until a mystic, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, a nun from the Augustinian cloister south of Munster in Germany had a series of visions.

Sister Anne Catherine, who suffered the stigmata, was confined to bed for years before she died. In 1818 she was visited by a German poet Clemens von Brentano. He remained with her, recording her intensely vivid visions until she died in 1824 and later published several volumes of her words. One of the volumes contained comments on Mary’s days in Ephesus and a description of the house in which she lived and where it was situated.

The published work aroused little interest, even in the Vatican, until a copy of the Emmerich-Brentano Life of the Holy Virgin was read by a French Abbott, Father Gouyet in 1880. He travelled to Smyrna, then to Ephesus and with difficulty climbed the mountain and found the ruins of the house as described. However it was not until 1890 that an expedition of sceptical

Continued on Vista 4

■ By Debra Sayce Director for religious education and faith formation at the Catholic Education Ofiice

Eight intrepid pilgrims got more than they bargained for trekking up Mt Sinai and discovered what saying ‘yes’ to God truly means.

Pilgrimage has been a long-standing tradition of Catholicism. Recently, I was privileged to have the opportunity to become a modem day pilgrim as a member of Archbishop Hickey’s pilgrimage to Egypt (part of the Exodus story) and the Pathways of St Paul.

One of the highlights of the experience was visiting Mt Sinai, a 2220m mountain in the middle of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

A brave group of eight pilgrims decided to climb the six kilometre track that zigzags up the face of the mountain. After leaving the comfort of their beds at 1.30am and queuing at the security point at 1.50am, the group began the ascent at 2am. The goal was to climb to the summit to see the sun rise above the mountain range at 5am. Carrying water, torches and walking sticks, we began the journey towards this significant place of the Judeo-Christian tradition - the place where Moses received the Decalogue.

One would think that this walk would be a peaceful, thoughtful, and almost meditative journey up the mountain with one’s head filled with scriptural verses; a time for contemplation of one’s personal mission in life or even just spending time in appreciation of in the amazing landscape of the Sinai peninsula.

You would think that at 2am, armed with walking sticks and a freshness that would rival any grand final sports team the group would quietly and slowly meander up the mountain in silence. This was not the case.

Rather, we competed with thousands of other walkers, hundreds of camels and their Bedouin handlers and the many little shops that sold refreshments along the path.

Our minds were filled with watching out for the warm breath of camels bearing down on us, the constant vigilance for camel ‘surprises’ on the path and the polite ‘no thank you’ to insistent camel handlers requesting ‘You ride camel?’

It wasn’t the journey this pilgrim thought it would be.

The group of eight was a multicultural lot - Australians, Italians, Indians and Irish. Ages ranged from 40-ish to 70-ish with a mix of one man and seven women.

The common feature of the group was our determination and the belief that our legs could carry us. We were also carrying the prayers of our fellow pilgrims who were snuggled up in bed.

The Climb

After the shock of the climbing conditions, the realisation that our guide was around 16 years old and that one had to avoid the random camel ‘surprises’ on the path, we settled into our walking stride.

The competition for the narrow rocky, winding path with the camels and fellow walkers is hard to describe other than to

say there are no road rules to pathways on Mt Sinai. The lack of lighting was very disconcerting initially. One relied heavily on the small radius of the torch rays. In darkness we only got a sense of the height and distance of the trek from the string of torchlight on the mountain face.

At this stage the humour, jokes and bravado of the pilgrims diminished as they realised the significance of the challenge ahead.

It was like a Christmas tree decked out with fairy lights placed in a zig-zag pattern. This looked attractive and inviting. However, when day dawned, the view of our surroundings was daunting to say the least. The faint-hearted would have definitely turned back had they realised where their footsteps had led them during the night.

Our young guide, Mohammed, walked this path every day. He had an amazing ability to walk forward and backwards up

the 6km path. He kept both eyes on eight walkers who had varying degrees of fitness.

He also carried two back packs for the group with a smile and encouraging words in an Arabic/English dialect.

After two hours of slow walking, we approached the steps. We were told that the final part of the ascent was the 700 steps. Two hours ago, we had no problems dealing with this knowledge.

At this stage the humour, jokes and bravado of the pilgrims diminished as they realised the significance of the challenge ahead.

The good thing for this final part was that there would be no camels, no warm breaths on the neck and no dodging of camel surprises.

The Bedouin camel herders changed tack for this final stage. The offer of a guide to hold your hand and lead you up the track became their new catch cry. Some of our pilgrims chose this option. They were very grateful for this one-on-one support. The Bedouins were exceptionally fit and warmly encouraged people to continue the

to Mt Sinai are overshadowed by rocky mountains. The land is barren and desolate. You wonder, “How could so many people cross this land so long ago and live to tell the story?”

When Moses said the ‘Yes’ to God, you have to ask yourself did he really know what he was saying yes to? We know from the Book of Exodus that Moses said, “Here I am God” (Exodus 3.4).

Moses answered the call and responded in such a faith-filled way to this mission.

Even with his initial self-doubt, he still brought the Hebrew people out of slavery through the Sinai, to a land of ‘milk and honey’.

Moses only saw the promised land from Mount Nebo. I would like to climb Mount Nebo one day.

The road the pilgrimage took to get to Mt Sinai followed the journey that the Exodus followed 4000 years ago. In passing places such as Elim, the Desert of Sin, Rephidim, one gets drawn into the journey of Moses and the Hebrew people.

Reading the hardships of these people in the book of Exodus was somehow brought alive for our group of modern day pilgrims.

small mattresses to weary walkers to rest their bones. People were milling around chatting about their experiences of climbing. Photographers were readying their cameras to take the photograph that would capture the sun peeping over the mountains. Some fellow pilgrims thought that it was a major tourist attraction. This was not what this pilgrim expected. Briefly one would think that these people’s attitudes detracted from the potential spiritual experience that this hallowed ground could offer.

Nevertheless, once the heart stopped pounding, the lungs stopped desperately sucking in air and the leg muscles stopped burning, your eyes and thoughts turned to the spectacular beauty of the view.

The words ‘wonder’ and ‘awe’ came immediately to mind as one’s eyes took in a 360 degree view of these ancient mountains, a rising sun that was orange and yellow greeting this day and the knowledge that 4000 years ago God spoke to a solitary man who was listening at this place.

The Return Journey

Should you ever consider this journey to the top of Mt Sinai, do not take a camel back to St Catherine’s Monastery. The 6km return journey on narrow paths on a camel that is on mission to get home was the single most painful experience that this pilgrim has ever had. The most uncomfortable saddle that has ever been constructed added to one’s pain. Be warned.

In addition, remember, if you came on a bus with people, you return on a bus with people and you quickly become aware that if you have spent time with camels, you smell of camels. Those pilgrims who had not climbed the mountain met us at St Catherine’s.

Although they were extremely polite, we knew that they held us at nose length...

Some final thoughts

climb. The last 700 steps took their toll. The path became very narrow and very steep. The desire to see the top and see the sunrise competed with aching muscles, shortened breath, gasping for air and the uncertainty of one’s footing.

Thoughts of buying the post card instead of pushing on entered this pilgrim’s mind a number of times. Whilst the body was saying ‘stop’, the mind was saying something else - something about the whole Sinai experience.

The Spiritual Quest

The walk offered an opportunity for contemplation. Although the throng of noise, people and animals drew one into the moment, there were times as one rhythmically walked upwards that the mind was filled with the experience, the essence of the Sinai. The area is all rock and sand. The roads

The cries of the people of Israel were heard by God so many times and answered each time. This pilgrim was again reminded about the intimate relationship that God has with each one of us.

The feeling was overwhelming. I felt what Pope John Paul II said in his homily at this holy place on January 26, 2000 during his Jubilee year Exodus journey from Egypt to the Holy Land: “The Exodus and the Covenant are not just events of the past; they are for ever the destiny of all God’s people.”

The Exodus and the Covenant are not just events of the past - they are for ever the destiny of all God’s people.

If you translate the Exodus story to the simplest level of one’s personal relationship with God, you know in your very being that God hears our cries and walks our life’s journey with us.

The Mountain Top

As we took the final steps of the ascent we were greeted by a view of thousands of walkers sitting expectantly on rocks, waiting for the sun to rise.

At the summit a little shop was hiring

One cannot take the experience of Mt Sinai for granted. Climbing the mountain physically challenged the walker, but spiritually, the knowledge of what took place between God and humanity is profound.

The experience draws one into the Exodus story and the faith of the Hebrew people, their cries of pain being answered and the remarkable journey they undertook. It personally challenged this pilgrim’s understanding of what saying ‘Yes’ to God truly means.

This pilgrim would recommend the Mt Sinai experience to anyone who seeks an understanding of the mission of Moses.

The sacredness of the mountain can be felt at a deeply profound level. It definitely stirs something within.

But be prepared. Remember to wear comfortable shoes that grip rocks, take water, use a walking stick, walk with friends and read the Exodus story before and after the walk.

Take your camera. Don’t wear white - it is a messy experience! Don’t think that you are ten years younger than you are - the mountain does not discriminate on the basis of age.

Don’t walk during the AFL grand finals - there is no mobile phone coverage on the mountains and you will not be able to find out until later whether the Eagles have won.

Finally, spend time with God. As the sun rose on the sacred mountain, this pilgrim still struggles to capture the experience in words. It is a feeling from within, a moment that is shared between oneself and God; a sacred moment that cannot be described in words but must be felt deep within the core of one’s being.

From on high: A chapel rests atop Mount Sinai St. Catherine’s monastry. During his visit, Pope John Paul II prayed at the base of the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments.

PHOTO: CNS Silence: The Monastery of St. Catherine is nestled in a foothill of Mount Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Pope John Paul II prayed at the mountain during his visit to Egypt.

PHOTO: CNS

Peace: Pope John Paul II walks near an olive tree on the grounds of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St Catherine at Mount Sinai. PHOTO: CNS

1 Mount Sinai: According to the Bible, God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses.

2 St Catherine’s Monastry: After her beheading by Maximus, Catherine’s remains where laid here.

3 Holy Ground: In this area, Moses encountered the burning bush.

Roadhouse chat that changed a life

■ By Anthony Barich

An Archbishop, a Presbyterian and a Catholic walk into a roadside bar...

But for Ian Wright, this was no joke. It marked the end of a long journey that began in Papua New Guinea in 1976 when he married his Catholic wife, Mona.

Ian was with a group of about 32 faithful who had joined Perth’s Archbishop Barry Hickey on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which took them to this highway roadhouse.

The group had travelled down the coast from Istanbul to the place where it is believed Mary, the Mother of God, lived and spent her final days with St John the Evangelist, at the behest of a dying Jesus on the Cross at Calvary. The house was in the vicinity of Ephesus.

Archbishop Hickey knew Ian,

who had joined him in a pilgrimage to the Eucharistic Conference in Guadalupe

It was at this roadhouse that the Archbishop walked up to Ian to chat about his faith. The Archbishop was surprised when he discovered Ian was not a Catholic – though he has read the New and Old Testament, and says the Rosary daily.

Ian mentioned that he had not gone through the full instruction nor read the Catechism of the Church. Ian, 64, was stunned when Archbishop Hickey told him he had the power to baptise him on that trip. The Archbishop then called Mona over and asked her about Ian’s faith. Mona could not speak highly enough of her husband, who had grown up with a father with a Church of England background and a Presbyterian mother who were not practising but were decent, respectable folk. She also detailed Ian’s intense

prayer life and work with the Red Cross as a volunteer, and that, as far as she saw, he rarely appeared to sin – big raps.

The Archbishop returned to Ian and told him he would baptise him at Mary’s house – quite possibly the holiest house of the past.

When Mona asked Ian what the Archbishop said, her husband was in tears. For so long he had believed in God, and always sought inclusion in the Catholic Church, and it was finally going to happen – at Mary’s house, of all places. The road to this house was long, but the trip brought home to Ian the reality of the bible.

“It was so secluded, you can imagine, in Jesus’ days, how hard it would’ve been to get to,” Ian said.

“It was the location that really got me – it’s so far away from anything. You can see why John chose it to house Mary.

“It had a magnificent view of the

surrounding countryside.” But it almost didn’t happen. Just before Mona and Ian jumped on the plane in Perth, news reached Australia that war had broken out in nearby Lebanon, and travel warnings were issued. Mona only wanted Ian to be happy, and was content for him to be baptised in a local church in Australia. But, after further contemplation, they realised if it is meant to be, it will happen.

Next stop after the roadhouse was in the once-grand city of Ephesus, a mostly Muslim land that was once used as a base by St Paul. Archbishop Hickey got the local bishop’s approval to perform the baptism, and the necessary holy oils for the ceremony.

When it finally happened, Ian was humbled. Christian denominations outside Catholicism sometimes struggle to understand the significance Catholics place on Mary, but Ian understood, and was honoured.

For him, it was a journey inspired partly by modern Italian Saint, the Cappuchin priest and stigmatic Padre Pio. Ian had read many books - over the past five years especially – but none struck him more than St Pio’s story.

“It made me believe more,” Ian says. “He did so many things, he seemed to have more powers than anyone. Being a modern person was important too (he died in 1968). People would queue in their thousands at 4am to go to confession from him. He was such a dedicated person, it was very inspiring how he suffered the Stigmata all his life (for 50 years).” Reading the Old Testament also brought home to Ian the difficulties encountered by the Christians in starting up Catholicism and, before them, the hardships the Jews went through. It made this experience – his baptism – all the more significant.

The phenomenon of Mary’s house works its magic

Continued from Vista 1 priests from Smyrna made several exhausting journeys to the site. After a thorough investigation of the area their scepticism evaporated and on Sunday August 23, 1891 they celebrated Mass in Mary’s House. The land around Mary’s House was purchased and Archbishop Timoni of Smyrna wrote a lengthy detailed document proclaiming that it was the house described by the holy nun and truly that the Virgin Mary live in it. This work did not go unnoticed in the Vatican. Pope Leo XIII, after sending an envoy to investigate and confirm that it was Mary’s House, declared in April 1895 that it was a place of pilgrimage.

Popes grant plenary indulgence

In 1902 an apparition of Our Lady at the house was reported and miraculous cures were claimed. In 1914 Pope St Pius X granted a plenary indulgence to those who visited the shrine. Pope Pius XII reconfirmed this indulgence in 1950 after the definition of the dogma of the Assumption, and Blessed Pope John XXIII reconfirmed it again in 1962.

i say, i say

In 1967 Pope Paul VI visited Mary’s House at an important and stressful time in his pontificate.

But it was the visit by Pope John Paul II in the first year of his reign, that dramatically changed the importance of Mary’s House as a place of Christian pilgrimage. He not only spent time in private

prayer in Our Lady’s house, but also celebrated Mass on a raised altar outside it, in front of 2,000 people.

A baptism with Holy Water

Archbishop Hickey also celebrated Mass on the same raised altar for the thirty-three pilgrims who accompanied him and also some

strangers who joined in the celebration. But he did more to the great joy of those who attended and especially to Mona Wright, the wife of Ian, one of the pilgrims, who had long contemplated joining the one true church.

With Ian’s approval, Archbishop Hickey met with the bishop of the diocese who gave his consent to baptise and confirm Ian and also a gift of his holy oil. It was an emotional experience for all when he was baptised in the water from the spring that reputably, like the waters from Lourdes and Fatima, has curative powers. The water was saved in bottles to be taken home to Australia.

Fire

A short time before the arrival of Archbishop Hickey’s pilgrims, devastating wild fires had destroyed more than a thousand hectares of pine forest on the hills above Mary’s House. Fanned by high winds the fire came down the hill to Mary’s House, the intense heat combusting the volatile pine trees.

But the flames, as if by a miracle,

stopped a few metres away from the simple stone house, surrounded by vegetation.

The extraordinary nature of the event was confirmed by the Italian Capuchin, Fr Adriano Franchini, the custodian who resides near Mary’s House who said “After receiving the notice to evacuate, I concerned myself with bringing the car to a place of safety to be able to escape.

I found for our guests and then I wanted to return home to get some things but there was no chance to do so, we could no longer approach: we saw the smoke and the high flames coming closer. We feared the wind may change direction and we would be trapped; the speed with which the flames spread and advances among the pine trees was incredible.”

I later climbed up behind the house, took a photograph of the once lush forest, now destroyed by fire, turned and photographed the back of the unharmed house.

Fr Franchini did not say it was a miracle, but he said that what had happened was extraordinary.

“What came before creation?” is not a meaningless question

Guy Crouchback

The most obvious miracle that fills every moment of our lives is the Creation.

This has nothing to do with the so-called “Creation spirituality” cult, about which the less said the better.

It has to do with a massive fact, an utterly astounding one.

It appears we can even date the moment of Creation - the Big Bang - to something like 13.2 billion years ago.

What preceded Creation? Some texts have it that this is a meaningless question - that before the Big Bang there was no time and no space.

Personally I find this quite impossible to imagine and I suspect it is a meaningless statement.

It is reminiscent of the pronouncement of Bill Barnacle in The

Magic Pudding: “Let words be sufficient, without explanation.”

My attempts to imagine the state before the Big Bang is a picture of the monobloc - all the matter in the Universe - as an unimaginably small point in a void.

Something happened which made it expand into gas-clouds, suns and galaxies - the Hubble Space Telescope had, by 1999, found there may be 125 billion galaxies (with new ones still being discovered.

A super-computer simulation in 2002 came up with a possible 500 billion) - plus, apparently, an even greater amount of “dark matter.”

Our own galaxy, of a fairly typical size, though slightly smaller than neighbour Andromeda, is estimated to contain 100 billion to 400 billion stars.

This mental picture may be

entirely wrong but it is the best I can do. But even if, beyond understanding, there was no time and no space, the question of what caused time and space - and matter - to be created remains.

Everything tells us that events must have causes, but when we ask what caused the Universe to be created, science has no answer.

This is not a modern problem: over thousands of years some of the best human minds have considered it, and have hardly moved beyond:

“In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth.”

Some astrometaphysicists say the Universe resembles a gigantic thought, not a physical thing.

The rival to the Big Bang has been the Steady State theory, now generally discounted.

It holds that the Universe has

always existed. But once again, I find this impossible to imagine.

Again we ask: what was the cause? Again, science has no answer. Whatever theory of creation we adopt, and whatever science may discover in the future, we are confronted with this mystery of the First Cause.

Not forgetting that there is a sarcastic definition of “atheist” along the lines of: “One who rejects the impossible superstition that God created the universe out of nothing in favour of the obvious and reasonable fact that the universe created itself out of nothing.”

So, when we stop and think about it, we are living in a miracle: the laws of science, nature and causality which we know, all seem to derive from an inconceivably vast exception to themselves.

The big moment: Archbishop Barry Hickey baptises Ian Wright at Mary’s house.

Is there such a thing as a moderate Muslim?

In the first of a two-part series on Islam in Australia, national affairs writer Paul Gray ponders mounting evidence that is leading to a damaging view of the Islamic faith

Is there any such thing as a moderate Muslim? The controversy which has erupted in recent days over the comments of the Mufti of Sydney’s Lakemba mosque, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, plants this question firmly in people’s minds.

Sheik Hilali notoriously referred to under-dressed young Australian females as “meat,” and suggested that the practice of under-dressing contributes to rape. The mufti’s later retraction of these remarks did nothing to reduce the subsequently exploding controversy.

Already a figure of some obloquy in the community because of his earlier remarks about terrorism and suicide bombing, the Sheik’s “meat” remark appeared to mark the crossing of a line which could not be crossed. At a subsequent Muslim community crisis meeting, the Sheik became ill and was hospitalised.

The future of his role in the Australian Muslim community, and indeed that of the role of the Mufti itself, is now being ferociously debated.

The unfolding controversies over Sheik Hilali’s doings have become a focal point for fears about Islam in Australia today. Those who claim there is no such thing as “moderate Muslim” need only point to Sheik Hilali for confirmation of their thesis, it seems.

Public expressions of support for the Sheik from other prominent Australian Muslims at various moments in his crisis-laden career bear out this point of view.

In the wake of the latest controversy, the Sheik’s daughter and various members of Sydney’s Islamic community have voiced strong support for him.

A group of young men outside the mosque hailed waiting members of the media with the provocative comment: “At least our priest is not a child molester.”

The lack of any sense of apology over Sheik Hilali’s remarks from many members of the Islamic community was striking. Many of those who argue that Islam is fundamentally hostile to Western culture no doubt drew ironic comfort from this disturbing scenario. But there are other perspectives on the case.

One perspective which has largely escaped attention so far is the possibility that the Mufti, who is continually referred to as the “spiritual leader” of the Australian Islamic community, may yet be replaced by someone far more radical, and far more hostile towards the West, than the Sheik himself.

The Australian newspaper reported that a Wahhabist preacher - a follower of the Saudi Arabian school of Wahhabist Islam, a fundamentalist, revivalist Islamic sect - has been jockeying for power at Lakemba, Australia’s largest Mosque. The Palestinian-born Shadi Suleiman has been working for the senior leader’s position for several years, the paper claimed.

The significance of the Lakemba mosque is the size of the congrega-

tions. Thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, visit the mosque on solemn religious occasions.

The opportunity to preach before such crowds brings large influence within the Islamic community. However, Lakemba is not the only source of influence within that community.

Other sections of the Islamic community are uncomfortable

tinuing international terrorism, are reinforcing hardline views of Islam within the non-Islamic community - including the Catholic community - in Australia. For example, in an article praising Cardinal George Pell in the current edition of Oriens, the journal of the Ecclesia Dei society, for example, editor Gary Scarrabelotti argues that “there can be no peace”

A group of young men outside the mosque hailed waiting members of the media with the provocative comment: “At least our priest is not a child molester.”

with the post of Mufti existing at all. One of the most articulate English-speaking voices within the Australian Islamic community is Waleed Aly, a committee member of the Islamic Council of Victoria. Aly has argued that the Mufti post is not a position of leadership of the Islamic community overall. He has called for the title to be abolished.

Aly has argued that clerics such as Hilali - and presumably, Suleiman, his possible successor - have little to say to, and no support from Muslims in other parts of Australia.

However, against Waleed Aly’s argument is the fact that radicals do exist in other parts of the country.

Melbourne cleric Sheik Mohammed Omran, for example, has used his sermons at a Victorian mosque recently to accuse judges in Australia of discriminating against Muslims, particularly in rape cases.

These unfolding controversies, combined with the effect of con-

between Islam and the rest of the world.

“The core Islamic texts, the record of Islamic history, convey a clear and unmistakable message,” Scarrabelotti writes. “There can only ever be temporary truces during which the House of Islam recovers its strength. Whatever else many Muslims might have believed, talked and practiced from time to time and in different places, this is the authentic religion of Muhammed.”

Scarrabelotti strongly endorsed Cardinal Pell’s recent remarks about the Koran, when the Cardinal reported that he had begun to note down the Koran’s invocations to violence during his personal reading of the Islamic holy text. There were so many invocations to violence, Cardinal Pell said, “that I abandoned the exercise after 50 or 60 or 70 pages.”

A separate perspective on Islam is that it is fundamentally a form of nationalism - Arab nationalism, to be precise. A distinctive feature of Islamic tradition is that

Muslims should, where possible, both visit the Arabian homeland, with its holy sites of Mecca and Medina, and learn the Arabic language, in which the Koran is written. Fiercesome Taliban warriors in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region were notorious in the 1990s, for example, for being both ferocious in warfare and capable

of reciting the entire Koran from memory, in Arabic.

Both the wounds of battle and the staggering knowledge of the Arabic language enhanced the status of these warriors among the simple, uneducated Muslim folk of the region.

Paul Gray is author of Nightmare of the Prophet, a study of terrorism.

A moderate? A Palestinian from the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade attends a rally in Gaza to protest against remarks regarding Islam made by Pope Benedict XVI, who said he was “deeply sorry” that Muslims were offended by his reference to an historical criticism of Islam.

PHOTO: CNS/MOHAMMED SALEM, REUTERS

Another view: Muslim students attend a peace rally in Sydney. PHOTO: CNS/REUTERS

The World

Palestinians just reacting: Patriarch

■ By Paul Jeffrey

JERUSALEM (CNS)- As violence increased in the Holy Land, the top Catholic official in Jerusalem said the survival of Israel could be guaranteed if the US government were to change its policy toward the region.

“The main question for the US administration and for Israel is survival,” said Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem during a November 2 interview with Catholic journalists from the United States.

“But if the US wants Israel to survive, to be recognised, then it should take measures to surround Israel with friends. But current US policy is surrounding Israel with enemies. That’s not the way to protect your friend.”

Israeli forces moved into the Gaza Strip November 1 in an effort to halt rocket assaults on southern Israel. Five days of Israeli air raids and gunfire left nearly 50 people dead.

Patriarch Sabbah said the US and Israel were provoking conflict and that the Palestinians were reacting to Israeli oppression.

“They (Palestinians) are not terrorists, they are people who are living under oppression and who are reacting,” said the patriarch, adding that some do not react at all and “go on living their lives in despair and humiliation and poverty.”

The patriarch said some militia groups do “react with violence, including terrorist actions, killing innocents here and there.”

However, he said that “the Israelis and the Americans say these Palestinians are terrorists because from their own soul they want the destruction of Israel. But that’s wrong.

“These people do not want to destroy Israel without any reason. They are reacting to Israel because they are oppressed by Israel. Put an end to this oppression and you’ll put an end to this idea of destruction,” he said.

In late September, following Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks on Islam in a speech in Germany, several churches were attacked in the West Bank and Gaza, reportedly by angry Muslims.

Church leaders in Jerusalem, while acknowledging occasional

Death not to be feared

■ By Cindy Wooden

While death causes pain for loved ones left behind, the Christian faith teaches believers that death is a passage to eternal life with God, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Celebrating a memorial Mass November 4 for cardinals and bishops who had died during the past year and addressing pilgrims gathered November 5 for the midday Angelus prayer, the Pope offered thanks for the lives of the faithful departed. In his homily at the Mass, the Pope said the November feasts of All Saints and All Souls “help us meditate on the final goal of our earthly pilgrimage.” “At the end of life, death deprives us of everything that is earthly, but not of that grace and that sacramental character” of baptism, which joins Christians to the death and resurrection of Jesus, he said.

“To know Jesus is to know the Father, and to know the Father means to enter into a real communion with the very origin of life, of light and love,” he said in his homily.

For the deceased cardinals and bishops and all those who die after having spent their lives in the service of Christ, “death is no longer a loss,” he said.

Rather, “it is a gain: that of finally meeting Jesus and with him the fullness of life.” Reciting the Angelus with pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square the next day, the Pope said that, especially in a culture that tries to mask the reality of death, remembering loved ones who have died is an important occasion to think about the purpose of life.

Losing someone dear “makes us feel like death is a presence that is radically hostile and contrary to our natural vocation to life and to happiness,” the Pope said.

But “Jesus revolutionized the meaning of death,” he said. “He was born to die and, in that way, free us from slavery to death.”

Because Jesus conquered death and opened the path to eternal life, people have no need to fear the death of their bodies, Pope Benedict said. “The real death that one must fear is that of the soul,” he said. “In fact, one who dies in a state of mortal sin, without repentance, closed up in a proud refusal of God’s love, excludes himself from the kingdom of life.” Pope Benedict encouraged people to pray for the grace of being able to “prepare serenely to depart this world when the Lord calls us, in the hope of being able to live eternally with him in the company of the saints and of our dearly departed.” CNS

tensions, claimed the attacks were an anomaly and that Palestinian officials responded quickly to stop further violence.

Patriarch Sabbah said the incidents point to the weakness of the Palestinian Authority, which is crippled by internal political tensions and is nearly penniless.

The US and European Union have withheld funds until Hamas, the militant group that runs the Palestinian government, renounces violent actions, agrees to honour previous agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization and accepts the existence of Israel.

The financial boycott was initiated following a Hamas victory in January elections. Analysts argue Hamas won in large part because

Palestinians were fed up with corruption and division in the ruling Fatah Party as well as the lack of progress in the peace process.

“Those who make policy in Israel and America...try to insist that it is the Muslims who are persecuting Christians here.

“But there is no persecution by Muslims against Christians,” said Patriarch Sabbah. “Our problems don’t come from Muslims; they come from a society in which there is no authority.”

The United States lists Hamas as a terrorist organization, and diplomats and officials of US-based aid agencies are forbidden to have any contact with Hamas.

Since Hamas won the election, Israel has refused to pass along tax revenue and customs duties it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. As a result, most government workers have not been paid in months, many are striking, and widespread discontent has increased.

Patriarch Sabbah said the response of Western governments to Hamas is shortsighted.

“I am not worried about Hamas. Like any of us, Hamas is human beings. As Christians, we deal with every human being as such. They have their own dignity given by God. Their political ideas, well, those are another problem.”

Regarding their behaviou r, I can tell you what you do is not OK, but I can still talk with you. If you want to boycott every sinner in humanity, you will talk with nobody,” Patriarch Sabbah said.

JPII cures lung cancer

NAPLES, Italy (CNA) - A young Italian man’s lung cancer has disappeared weeks after John Paul II appeared to his wife in a dream and reassured her that he would be fine.

The local archbishop, Gerardo Pierro of Salerno, was confident that a miracle has taken place and the diocese is currently looking into the case.

The young man from Salerno, south of Naples, who was diagnosed with lung cancer last year, has attributed his full recovery to the miraculous intervention of the late Pope.

According to the local newspaper, Il Mattino, his wife prayed for John Paul’s intercession, and the dead Pope reportedly appeared in a dream to her and reassured her that her husband would be fine.

A few days after the dream, doctors noticed the man’s condition improve. Within weeks, his cancer had completely disappeared, doctors said. The cancer has not returned.

Numerous reports have flooded into the Vatican of alleged miracles attributed to John Paul II, including the case of an elderly French nun, who had been incapacitated by Parkinson’s disease and was confined to her bed.

The nun experienced a complete and lasting cure after members of her community prayed for the intercession of Pope John Paul II shortly after the late Pontiff’s death in April last year.

No safe haven for Iraqi Christians

■ By John Pontifex

A leading Iraqi bishop has spoken out against a US initiative to stop the possible extinction of Christianity from the country.

The Most Rev Louis Sako described as “impossible” American plans to give extra protection to Christians who are now fleeing in droves amid reports of ethnic cleansing.

The Archbishop of Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, was responding to a high-profile intervention by the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference, which has called on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to give asylum to the persecuted Christians and create a safe haven for them in the country’s Nineveh plains.

In an interview with the charity for persecuted Christians, Archbishop Sako said: “This is impossible. This could create much more tension than relief for Christians.”

Speaking from Iraq, the archbishop suggested that the initiative could be divisive for the Christian faithful at a time of increasing anti-US sentiment in Iraq.

Archbishop Sako said: “We have not at all assimilated with the

coalition forces. We have nothing to do with them, nor indeed do we have anything to do with the West. We are Christians; we are citizens like everyone else.”

The archbishop stressed the age-old co-existence and cooperation between the Christian communities and the prevailing Islamic culture.

Archbishop Sako’s comments coincide with reports that the crisis for Christians in Iraq is deepening.

He reported that the Christian exodus from the south-eastern city of Basra was so far advanced that with barely 200 families left in the region, the local bishop, Djibrail Kassab, had left the diocese to take up a new post ministering to exiled communities in Sydney, Australia.

According to Archbishop Sako, the see in Basra is likely to remain vacant and there is only one priest left at work in the diocese.

Meantime on-line news agencies have reported the case of a 14-year-old Christian being crucified in Basra, and another similar case elsewhere.

The stories are echoed in many of the main cities across the country, especially shock reports about the wipe-out of the Christian presence in the Baghdad district

of Al Dora, formerly known as the “Vatican of Iraq”.

Archbishop Sako said: “It is almost the case now that there is no future for the Church in so many parts of the country, including Baghdad, Mosul and Basra.”

But the archbishop went on to describe the situation in his diocese of Kirkuk as “calm and quiet”.

In a desperate bid to address the problems, bishops from across the country are to meet at the end of the month.

Among the items on the agenda are strategies for dealing with the possible break-up of the country into three.

The bishops are set to consider resurrecting plans to modify the constitution, ratified a year ago, especially with a view to preventing it from becoming a platform for the introduction of punitive Shar‘ia Islamic law.

The Archbishop made the comments to a journalist from Aid to the Church in Need, a group directly under the Holy See which supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need.

ACN is a Catholic charityhelping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Critical: Latin-rite patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem. PHOTO: CNS

The World

Science vs ethics in Spain

TOLEDO, Spain - Respect for human rights is being threatened by the dissociation of ethics and technology, says the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Cardinal Renato Martino said this Thursday when opening Spain’s four-day Social Weeks, convoked in Toledo, with an address entitled “Human Rights, Foundation for Building a Universal Culture.”

To understand the challenges to the defence of human rights, the cardinal said that it is necessary to understand “the difficult relationship between technology and ethics.”

“Modern humanity is ever more divided on the relationship between technology and ethics,” to the point that they will become “the two new blocs of the future,” he said.

In this context, Cardinal Martino said the division places on one hand those who hold that “the freedom to do” is based on itself, and on the other, those who affirm that “the freedom to do must be based on something other than itself, in short, on the dignity of the human person.”

According to the cardinal, “a view of technology disengaged from ethics makes man a historic, cultural and artificial product, truncating the nexus with nature, tradition and creation.”

“In this perspective, man is no longer the project, but becomes something projected.

“Man no longer has duties, but only rights. Thus is born the absolutism of prohibition to prohibit,” and “new absolutes” arise, he said.

Cardinal Martino continued: “Terrorism, a technical concept of politics, secularism understood as a place neutral to values and absolutes, democracy as a procedure, the financing of the economy, the relativism of cultures, the technicalisation of law and human rights, are new negative absolutes in as much as they absolutise technology.

“All this is of great relevance, and that is why the anthropological question - and within it the inherent questions of human rights, is today the social question

par excellence.” The president of the Pontifical Justice and Peace Council said that “cultures marked by efficiency, practical materialism, utilitarian and hedonist individualism, stemming ultimately from skepticism of epistemology and ethics, endanger the whole corpus of rights. ...

“Given such cultures, which no longer have an integral vision of man as a point of reference, the very juridical protection of rights is radically argued and emptied of content.”

SOURCE: ZENIT.ORG

Pope to Bishops: Make yourself heard

In a world that lives as if God does not exist, a bishop needs more than ever to make his voice heard, says Benedict XVI.

The Holy Father said this today when meeting with the bishops of Switzerland who are in Rome concluding their five-yearly visit to Rome, which began in February 2005 and was interrupted when Pope John Paul II’s health deteriorated in his last days.

Benedict XVI said in his address that he wished to take advantage of these meetings “to consider what must be reinforced and promoted and what must be corrected and purified.”

“The Church in your country faces challenges linked to the cultural and pastoral situation which to a large extent corresponds to that of the whole of Western Europe,” the Pope said in his address written in French.

“The spread of secularisation and relativism entails not only a decrease in participation of the sacraments, above all in Sunday Mass, but also calls into question the moral values proposed by the Church,” the Holy Father said.

The Pontiff referred “in particular, to the profound crisis of the institution of marriage and the family, and to the growing number of divorces, to the numerous induced abortions, and to the possibility of unions

between persons of the same sex.”

“All this is an evident sign of de-Christianisation,” the Bishop of Rome said.

Speaking up

Benedict XVI said: “Many of our contemporaries live as if God did not exist.

“In such a society, we have more need than ever of your voice as bishops.”

The Pope continued: “You are called to have the word of God and the Christian message heard, which help man to understand the meaning of his existence, paying attention to there being unity and unanimity among you when taking the necessary positions on theological and moral questions.”

The Bishop of Rome said that “even among practising Catholics there is a weakening of the faith.

“For you it is painful to see that there are faithful and, unfortunately in some cases, priests who question points of the doctrine and discipline of the Church.”

Benedict XVI said: “Some even arrogate to themselves the right to choose, in matters of faith, the teachings that, according to them, are admissible and those that can be rejected.

“The fundamental duty of the bishop, pastor and teacher of the faith, consists in inviting the faithful to accept fully the teaching of the Church.”

SOURCE: ZENIT.ORG

North Korea allows aid agency to help five million of its poor

Caritas Korea gets OK from North Korea to lead aid program

SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) -

With the agreement of the North Korean government, Caritas Korea is leading Caritas Internationalis’ aid program to the communist country, said the president of Caritas Korea.

Bishop Lazzaro You Heungsik of Daejeon, South Korea, said

the world in brief

Caritas Korea has the responsibility to help approximately 5 million poor North Koreans.

Caritas Korea staffers will meet with their North Korean counterparts on behalf of Caritas Internationalis, plan and implement aid programs, receive donations from local and overseas sources and cooperate with other Caritas Internationalis members and supporters, the bishop said.

Bishop You said that since November 1 Caritas Korea has had a mandate to coordinate the pro-

Lutherans, Catholics dialogue on life after death

Catholic and Lutheran scholars met in Baltimore on October 12-15 to discuss Catholic and Lutheran beliefs about life after death. Among the scholars’ concerns are issues such as purgatory, indulgences and Masses, and prayers for the dead.

It was excesses in 16th-century preaching about indulgences and in Catholic penitential practices that sparked Martin Luther to seek reform in the Church, starting a movement that led to the Protestant Reformation.

The Baltimore meeting was the third session in the 11th round of the official US Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue.

gram. UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, reported the bishop made the announcement in an October 30 press release.

Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organisations in more than 200 countries and territories. Caritas Korea is the confederation’s local affiliate.

Bishop You said that during a meeting in Rom on October 1819, when the decision was made,

The dialogue is co-sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The theme of the current round is “The Hope for Eternal Life,” said a November 1 USCCB news release on the meeting.  CNS

Catholic Online service fosters leadership of ‘everyday saints’

Catholic Online, an international media and Internet communications agency based in Bakersfield, launched a new service on All Saints’ Day, November 1, to help Catholics on their journey to become “everyday saints.” Called LifeBreath Leadership, the service has its own area on the Catholic Online Web site - www.catholic.org/leader-

Mgr. Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s undersecretary of state for foreign relations, said the international community’s humanitarian aid to poor North Koreans should be safeguarded whether or not sanctions are imposed on the communist country following a nuclear test in early October.

Caritas’ six-member North Korea country group - which includes Caritas Germany, Caritas Japan, Caritas Italy and Catholic Relief Services, the US bishops’ international aid agency - decided during

ship/. An announcement said it provides information to aid Catholics “in four spheres of their lives where they are challenged to be decisive, compassionate and productive leaders: home and family, work, parish and school.”

“The challenge for Catholics in the US has changed in the last 50 years from how to fit into society to how to lead it,” said Owen Phelps, head of the Midwest Leadership Institute.  CNS

Prayer book published for those caring for Alzheimer’s patients

Nearly 5 million US families experience the pain and frustration of caring for and about an Alzheimer’s patient in their families.

The condition is one of the least under-

a meeting in October 2005 in Seoul that Caritas Korea would take on the role as “facilitating partner.” The decision was made official during this year’s October meeting.

Father Paul Jeremiah Hwang Yong-yon, secretary of Caritas Korea, told UCA News on November 1 that the decision was made because Caritas Korea has accumulated enough experience in providing humanitarian aid and forming aid workers and has promoted a reconciliatory mood between North and South Korea.

stood and most exasperating diseases faced by the elderly and those who love them. For this reason, Holy Cross Family Ministries in North Easton has published a prayerful guide to help patients and family members live with Alzheimer’s disease. “Pray With Me Still” contains rosary meditations and spiritual support for patients, family members and caregivers.

“We’ve been working on this publication for some time,” said Holy Cross Father John Phalen, president of Holy Cross Family Ministries.“Oftentimes Alzheimer’s patients and their families don’t know where to look for help. These meditations and rosary mysteries help people to understand the disease better.” “Pray With Me Still” is available for $4.95 per copy plus shipping and handling, and can be ordered online at: www.hcfmstore.org.  CNS

Battle of ethics: Cardinal Renato Martino holds up his book on social doctrine. PHOTO: CNS

World Feature

Gaza students traumatised by fighting

■ By Judith Sudilovsky

JERUSALEM - Students at a Catholic school in the Gaza Strip were left traumatized by days of fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen, said the local parish priest.

The school, run by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, is about five miles from Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, areas the Israelis targeted when they entered Gaza on November 1, said Father Manuel Musallam, a priest at Holy Family Parish.

He said on November 6 that about 20 of the school’s 650 students and two teachers who live in Beit Hanoun had been unable to leave their homes since the start of the military operation.

“We can’t help (our students.) All the teachers ... are in the same trauma (as the students),” said Father Musallam.

The Israeli army withdrew from the Beit Hanoun area in the early hours of November 7.

The army said it had uncovered rocket launchers, anti-tank missile launchers, grenades and explosive devices in the area.

Father Musallam said the teachers and students from the parish school had not yet returned by midmorning November 7 and added that he planned to visit Beit Hanoun the following day to see what help was needed.

The priest said that students were frightened on November 6 and wanted to go home when they heard that a 16-year-old boy was killed and a teacher critically injured when an Israeli missile struck a group of youths on their way to school, but he convinced the students to stay.

“Our job is to study. That is our weapon against the Israelis,” he said. The Ha’aretz newspaper quoted a Palestinian bystander as saying a group of gunmen had gathered near a kindergarten on the corner and had been the target of the attack in which the teen was killed. None of the gunmen was injured.

Father Musallam said one of his teachers told him by phone that Israeli soldiers had entered her home and put the family inside one room before they went to another room and continued a gunfight with Palestinians.

The Israeli soldiers later tried to talk to the children and offer them chocolate, but the children were too afraid, the teacher told Father Musallam.

Israel said it was forced to launch its most recent attack in Gaza because Palestinian gunmen are continuing to launch missiles at civilian targets inside Israel.

“War cannot stop war,” Father Musallam said, noting that the level of destruction in Beit Hanoun was extremely high.

“Fifty people have been killed, 200 injured and has the question been solved? It can’t be solved. The children of the people who were killed will throw (the next round of) missiles.

“This time the missiles are very primitive. Next time the Palestinians will find more sophisticated weapons.

Omar Shabban, a representative of the US bishops’ Catholic Relief Services office in Gaza, described the situation as “unbearable” and said large areas of the Gaza Strip had food shortages, electrical outages and economic problems.

“The whole economy is under pressure,” said Shabban. He esti-

Pope calls for an end to renewed bloodshed, wants negotiations

■ By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip and for the immediate start of “direct, serious and concrete negotiations” between Israeli and Palestinian authorities.

At the end of his November 5 noonday Angelus prayer, the Pope said he was following “with great concern news of the serious deterioration of the situation” in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces moved into the Gaza Strip on November 1 in an effort to halt rocket assaults on southern Israel. Five days of Israeli air raids and gunfire left nearly 50 people dead.

Pope Benedict said his prayers were with all civilians “who are suffering the consequences of acts of violence.”

mated that of Gaza’s 1.5 million people, only about 15,000 people who work for UN agencies, international nongovernmental organisations and a few private sector businesses were getting paid.

“Part of the problem in Beit Hanoun is poverty,” he said. “Some of the people shooting the missiles are getting paid for it. Give them another option.”

Those who are able to, have left Gaza or are trying to move to

He asked the faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square to join his prayers asking God to “enlighten the Israeli and Palestinian authorities as well as those of nations with a particular responsibility in the

Sudan, Kenya or Egypt, he said.

“The people who are leaving are those who could make peace in the future,” he said. “(The situation) is pushing us to be extreme.”

Constantine Dabbagh, executive director of the Middle East Council of Churches’ Gaza office, said the council’s clinics were at capacity because of the general situation. Everybody, he said, is “under tension.”

“For five days (Beit Hanoun) is

region.”

He called on leaders to “stop the bloodshed, increase humanitarian aid and foster the resumption of direct, serious and concrete negotiations.” SOURCE: CNS

without food, without milk for the children. What is going on with the world? Is everyone sleeping? They should put more pressure on Israel to stop the aggression and find a solution.

“They won’t break (the Palestinians’) determination,” he said, adding that people believe the United States and Western nations were helping Israel continue the attacks.

SOURCE: CNS

Suffering: Relatives of 16-year-old Ramzi al-Shrafi mourn at his funeral. PHOTO: CNS

Fatal: The body of Thear Hasan, a Palestinian killed by Israeli soldiers, is carried to a cemetary outside the West Bank city of Bethlehem on November 4.

PHOTO: CNS

A very limited view of Christianity

■ By Sylvia Defendi

A guy walks into an evangelical broadcasting convention… - Sounds more like the beginning of a joke than the idea behind a recent documentary, yet television veteran, Andrew Denton, is by no means joking.

Fueled by his trademark wit and questioning spirit Denton embarked on a journey to the 63rd National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Dallas, Texas, in search of faith, fundamentalism and faux pas.

The result, Denton’s first feature-length documentary, God on My Side, is an alternately moving, baffling and limited look at Christian fundamentalism at a time when the extremities of the Muslim faith are a favourite for the media.

The documentary essentially begs its Western audience to take a look through the other end of the ‘telescope,’ to view Christianity as we view Islam - warts and all.

And the warts highlighted in the documentary come in all shapes and sizes, from a conviction that the fiery rapture of the world is imminent, to viewpoints that blithely hitch faith to George Bush’s warmongering bandwagon.

Essentially the film exposes that it is not beyond any person or faith group to take things to the extreme, be it by suicide bombers or those who support war in the name of God.

Yet the political climate of America is not the only focus of the recent documentary, which was filmed over a long weekend in February.

God on My Side looks at some of the 6,000 Christian communicators who attended, their marketing of Christianity, their beliefs and how they came to the faith.

It is in doing so that the documentary questions whether the love of God Christians are all meant to share with others is still an integral part of our faith; whether the many aspects of the Bible have become a substitute for one of the most important

commandments, as stated by Jesus, that you love one another as I have loved you. It is this thread of silent questioning, present throughout the documentary, which will hopefully make Christians reflect on the ways in which they advocate their faith in secular society.

While some may view the film as an attack on Christianity, the mostly unbiased nature of Denton’s interviewing ensures that what is seen on screen is most probably what Denton experienced.

This is particularly obvious through Denton’s minimal involvement throughout

the film, opting rather to allow the everyday believers running the booths on the exhibition floor to tell their stories and beliefs.

The down-side to this approach, though necessary, is a seemingly bland performance from Denton. However, the colourful performances of those being interviewed do make up.

At times comical, at others strange and sometimes heart rending the documentary makes the smooth transition from amusing observations to serious views and the effects these views have on societies near and far.

It is difficult not to smirk at the owner of a booth selling gram-crackers with an image from the bible pressed on to it.

Just as it is difficult not to be affected, for example, by one man’s story of finding faith amid the carnage following the 1947 explosion of the SS Grandcamp, which claimed 576 lives. God on My Side should provide Catholics with an interesting look at evangelical Christianity and the many ways in which it differs from the Catholic faith.

And while the focus is on this particular element of Christianity, and it is by no means representative of Christianity as a whole, I do not think Denton has done the Christian faith, be it Catholic, protestant or evangelical any favours – but then again, that was not the intention.

God on My Side contains no offensive material. However, considering the political nature it is probably more suited to adults than children.

Muslim, Christian fundamentalist extremes overlap

number of Christians have come to see the film and they’ve said ‘we thought you were going to take the mickey, thank you for not doing that.’ I didn’t want to take the mickey, that’s not what it was about.

judging or spreading misery, then yes, you’re allowed to have an opinion. Just as I’m sure there are homosexual people who look at people who aren’t and think “how peculiar”.

Sylvia Defendi goes head to head with Andrew Denton about his latest offering

Sylvia Defendi: What is it about faith that interests you?

Andrew Denton: It’s such a fascinating subject. The amazing constructs that we design to explain our place in the universe. But it is also the way that human beings can absolutely convince themselves. I can see an armchair and someone else can see a miracle; and I find that amazing.

SD: Is there a possibility that it could be just as others see it, that it could be genuinely a miracle?

AD: Sure. I certainly don’t pretend to have all the answers. I don’t know what the answer is. You could believe a frog runs the world, that feet are sacred. That’s fine with me, my only questions arise when people’s faith instruct them to tell other people how they should live.

SD: Some Muslims are currently viewed as being inherently extreme, even though that is not the case. Do you think Christianity, or indeed any other religion, has the possibility to take their faith to the extreme?

AD: Absolutely. I wouldn’t suggest, and neither does the film, that Islamic and Christian fundamentalism are the same thing. Islamic fundamentalism, at its extreme, is really violent and we’ve seen that. It’s scary. But I don’t think that represents all of that religion. There is an overlap between Christian and Islamic fundamentalism and that is the bit that I think should be looked at.

In essence there is a similar thing being said, which is that there is only one truth, I know what it is, and if you don’t agree with me you’re going to hell. It could be rapture, it could be jihad, but essentially that’s what’s going to happen to you.

SD: Do you think then that we should be just as wary of Christian fundamentalism as we are currently wary of Islamic fundamentalism?

AD: Definitely. I’ve been pleased that a

A lot of them have picked up on what is really the only direct editorial quote in the film, which is the quote from Jesus, that “you should love one another as I have loved you”. Which was my way of saying: isn’t that what Christianity and hopefully any religion is supposed to be about?

A lot of Christians have picked up on that and said, ‘We totally agree with that philosophy and it pains us to see people taking our religion to such an extreme, where there’s clear hatred towards other people”.

Terence Boylen (Photo journalist): You quite clearly have a belief system, would you call yourself a humanist?

AD: Absolutely humanist. I have a great love for human beings and that’s what I find puzzling with extremist religion, which are purportedly based in, certainly the Christian religion, in a love for mankind as taught by Jesus Christ.

I don’t see that love expressed everywhere, and I absolutely find it abhorrent that you can not just reject but condemn to hell for eternity someone on the basis of their sexuality. I absolutely reject that. I think human beings should be treated as equals and with love and respect and they should be judged on their actions.

SD: The documentary uses the example of intolerance towards homosexuals as fundamentalist. As Catholics we are taught to reject the action not the person. Do you think it is fair to do so?

AD: I think tolerance is the key word. Everyone is allowed to have a view on somebody else, that’s acceptable. I don’t agree with your view, but if that’s your view then you are entitled to that view. I’m always intrigued by the ability of those in religions to take one line out of the bible, in this case from Leviticus, and use that as condemnation of homosexuals. Why is that right? I can take a line from the bible, which suggests that teenagers who insult their parents should be put to death, why wouldn’t I be right?

I think as long as you express tolerance, as long as you’re not actually persecuting or

SD: Did you learn anything about Christianity through this experience?

AD: I was looking at a particular area of Christianity, so I guess I was surprised, even though that’s what I went to see. I was surprised at the measure of absolute faith. I’d be wrong if I didn’t say I’m a little bit envious. Wouldn’t it be lovely to feel that? Sure, but not envious to the point where I wanted to take that on myself.

I certainly got more interested in the bible as a document while I was there. Personally, did it stir a greater sense of God? No it didn’t. But I wouldn’t have expected a four-day convention of religious broadcasters to do so.

SD: Do you have any regrets?

AD: It would have been nice to have more time. It turned out much bigger than I anticipated when I went there. I think it was a pretty fair representation of who was in that room. More to the point I think all those people who are in it, when they see it will say, ‘that’s me.’

One person said to me that it was an antiChristian film. And I said ‘well I’m disappointed, why do you think that’ and he said ‘well it’s not representing what Christianity is,’ and I replied, ‘it wasn’t suggesting that this was Christianity.’

But it is a very particular group of people and they do happen to be 40 per cent of George Bush’s votes, they are not just any group of Christians.

Another person said ‘you’ve just gone out of your way to find weird people,’ which is not true, we only had four days, and we filmed whoever we found, there aren’t that many people we filmed that didn’t make it into the film.

SD: I’m sure everyone who sees the film will take a different view.

AD: That is inevitable. Every time I see that quote from Jesus at the end I actually get quite emotional, which is interesting as I don’t belong to the Christian faith, although I did grow up in that tradition. That quote demonstrates what we’re called to do. And guess what? agnostics aren’t perfect either.

Fruity: Andrew Denton with one of the characters at the National Religious Broadcasters convention.

Movies

The human side of brutality

■ By Sylvia Defendi

I once read that a good movie, just like a good book, not only brings the audience to tears in times of extreme suffering and laughter in times of joy, but manages to impart views that keep audiences thinking long after its end. Seldom have I encountered a film that can actually keep me locked on the screen long enough to understand characters and empathise with their pain as if I was part of the tale itself. Catch a Fire, Australian director Philip Noyce’s new political thriller will most probably be remembered by most as one such film.

Based on the amazing true story of African National Congress activist Patrick Chamusso, the film is essentially an intriguing portrayal of how a country’s apartheid policy can lead to abhorrent displays of inhumanity.

Set in South Africa during the turbulent and divided times of the early 1980s, Catch a Fire follows the powerful story of the South African hero’s journey to freedom.

Derek Luke is husband and father Chamusso, a foreman at a vital South African oil refinery. When not working, the resolutely apolitical Chamusso coaches a children’s soccer team and takes classes at night to better the life of his family.

While on an overnight trip with the team, he sneaks off to visit a woman with whom he fathered a child years earlier, putting him in a difficult position when he is arrested later in connection with a sabotage attack on the refinery that occurred

on the same evening. Fearing for his job and marriage, Chamusso, though innocent, remains silent about his alibi, drawing the suspicions of quietly menacing police colonel Nic Vos (Tim Robbins).

In trying to coerce Chamusso into confessing, the authorities arrest and torture his wife, Precious (Bonnie Henna). They are both released, but the horrid injustices spark a fire within him to take action.

Leaving his family behind, he joins the outlawed ANC as a rebel fighter. Using his inside knowledge, he eventually masterminds a plot to blow up the entire plant where he once worked, setting himself on a collision course with Vos.

This film is by no means simply a soppy interpretation of lost love in times of trouble. Fast-paced action, deep emotions and the occasional comic relief all work in making this depiction of suffering both human and entertaining.

Luke (of Anton Fisher fame) continues to establish himself as one of the best young actors today, portraying an ability to express fear, suffering and love in a way that is uncommonly realistic and heartfelt. Robbins, whose character is portrayed as somewhat of a monster, ingeniously manages to humanise Vos beyond a one-dimensional villain. Vos is shown to be a caring family man deep down, who doesn’t see himself as cruel but believes he is preserving order in his country.

This pertinent portrayal of Vos offers a genuinely human side to his beastly dealings with the South African people, presenting an inter-

esting insight into the justification of violence against humanity.

Contentwise there’s nothing really objectionable beyond scattered four-letter words and some dramatically justified brutality, but even that is handled with restraint, opting to display the mental anguish caused rather than an inside look into the violence committed.

Noyce, in exploring themes of race, social justice and freedom, raises the timely issue of using violence as a means of political protest. The film’s final word on the matter

should resonate with Catholic viewers in its renunciation of violence and discrimination and its affirmation of everyone’s right to freedom.

A brief, but poignant, epilogue shows the real Chamusso - who served 10 years of a 24-year sentence imprisoned on Robben Island with future South African president Nelson Mandela - advocating a message of forgiveness as imperative in healing the country’s deep wounds.

In challenging Vos’ rhetoric the film confronts audiences to recog-

nise the depth of poverty, injustice, oppression and intolerance, which occurred not far from our own era, prompting a reassessment of today’s level of social justice and egalitarianism.

The film contains some violence, images of torture, an instance of rough language and a few crude expressions, which may disturb some, but is ultimately intended to prompt an understanding of ongoing social injustice rather than simply shock.

The US CCB classification is A-III - for adults.

The guilt that comes with the freedom to choose

SBS Television will broadcast a ground-breaking documentary which tells the personal stories of women who have had abortions.

■ By Paul Gray

The Choice, a one-hour film by Australian documentary-maker Don Parham, includes emotion-charged tales of post-abortion grief experienced by five women and also breaks new ground by bringing men into the discussion.

The sixth character is Firak, 40: a man who runs a restaurant. Firak talks about the relationship he had in his early 20s in which his partner had several abortions.

The film, titled “The Choice”, will screen nationwide on SBS on Thursday November 16 at 8.30pm, as part of the “Storyline Australia” series. It is likely to stir further debate about abortion in Australia today.

One woman whose story is documented in the film explains feelings of guilt after having two abortions. In one emotion-charged sequence, the woman reads out a letter she wrote to her aborted

babies years later, asking their forgiveness.

Another woman, who also had two abortions, expresses her lack of regret over the decisions to abort. A

mother of three adult children, the woman says of her two abortions: “I did it for me, I did it for the man I loved, and for the last one I had, I did it so that our three chil-

dren wouldn’t be burdened again with another brother or sister.” The film contains no voice-over commentary by the film-maker, who presents on-camera interviews

with five Australian women of various ages and backgrounds.

All of the women explain the background to their decisions to have abortions, including the sexual relationships they were in at the time

They offer candid comments on the question of whether they subsequently regretted their choices.

The film also includes an interview with a man who said he helped persuade his then-girlfriend to have an abortion, although this wish was more strongly his than hers. The same woman later went on to have two more abortions before the relationship ended.

One woman in the film, who breaks down unexpectedly while talking on camera, refers to the anguish she went through after she first became pregnant to a boyfriend who did not want her to have a baby.

“There were nights where I’d just cry in amazement and then, half an hour later, I was crying because I couldn’t find a way where I thought I could keep the child,” she explains. The woman said that during the pregnancy, she feared judgment from her own mother, and did not tell her mother that she was pregnant.

She says that today she regrets not having talked to her mother about it before she had the abortion.

The choice to kill: One of the couples featured on abortion documentary, The Choice, which will be screened nation wide.

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OFFICIAL DIARY

November

9 - 24 Pilgrimage and attendance at Asian Bishops’ Conference - Bishop Sproxton

10 - 12 Canonical Visitation, Embleton - Archbishop Hickey

14 Blessing and Opening of extensions, Majella Catholic Primary School - Mgr Michael Keating

17 Blessing and Opening of Brighton Catholic College - Mgr Michael Keating

Sunday October 29

17-19 Canonical Visitation, Greenwood - Archbishop Hickey

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by fax, email or post no later than 12pm Tuesday. For more information contact 9227 7778.

19 Mass to celebrate 25th Anniversary of Vietnamese Community, Westminster - Archbishop Hickey

21 Reflections : “Working on Leadership” (Caritas) for John Paul II students - Archbishop Hickey

Vocations Dinner - Archbishop Hickey

23 Institution of New Acolytes, St Mary’s, Leederville - Archbishop Hickey

PANORAMA a roundup of events in the archdiocese

ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK

ACCESS 31

1-2 pm: To parents of teens: what you need to know / Jason Evert, followed by Preparing for the teen years / Jerry Usher with Steve Wood [The Carpenter’s Shop]. Please keep this powerful means of evangelisation, in your prayers, by spreading the word to family and friends, and by making a financial contribution. Videotapes available on request. RCTA, P.O. Box 1270, Booragoon 6954. Phone: 9330 2467

Sunday November 12

KRISTALLNACHT ‘NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS’.

MEMORIAL SERVICE

Council of Christians and Jews Western Australia Inc. Address by the Hon. David Malcolm AC QC, Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame, Australia. Temple David, 34 Clifton Crescent, Mt Lawley at 3pm.

Sunday November 12

ANOINTING OF THE SICK

Bullsbrook Shrine. To be administered for spiritual and physical healing during Holy Mass on the second Sunday of each month at the Shrine of the Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Road, at 2pm. All welcome. Enquiries: 9447 3292.

Friday November 17

CATHOLIC FAITH RENEWAL  PRAISE & WORSHIP

7:30pm at St John & Paul’s Church, Pinetree Gully Road, Willetton. There will be praise and worship evening followed by a talk given by Fr Greg Donovan titled “It is a Holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead” and thanksgiving Mass. Light refreshments provided. All welcome. Enquiries: Rita 9272 1765 or Rose 0403 300 720.

Friday November 17

INTERCESSION FOR WORLD YOUTH DAY 2008

All night prayer vigil, St Bernadette’s, Jugan St, Gledalough, 8pm-6am. Begins with Mass ends with Breakfast. All are welcome to come to pray and intercede for World Youth Day 2008. Come for an hour, stay the night!!

Sunday November 19

ST JOACHIM’S CHURCH GOLDEN JUBILEE

Victoria Park - Celebrate with sung Mass at 11am followed by a “bring and share international lunch”. Also seeking memorabilia of the opening and events over the years. All former and present parishioners and friends invited. Enquiries: Mary 9361 9732.

Sunday November 19

TAIZE MEDITATIVE PRAYER

Come and join in the prayer with scripture and song in a candle lit St Joseph’s Chapel, 16 York St, South Perth. 7pm8pm. All welcome. Bring a friend and a torch.

Thursday November 23 PRESENTATION SISTERS’ 50TH ANNIVERSARY

St Augustine’s School Community invites all interested parties to attend a celebration to acknowledge the service to St Augustine’s School, Rivervale. This will take place in the school grounds at 9am, followed by morning tea. For catering purposes, RSVP by 2/11/06 on 9361 6158.

Friday November 24

HEALING OF THE FAMILY TREE

7.30-9.30pm, Our Lady of the Missions Church, 270 Camberwarra Drive, Craigie. Come and celebrate a Healing of the Family Tree Mass with Fr Michael Brown OFM, Fr Antony Van Dyke OP, Fr Irek Czech SDS and Fr Eugene McGrath. Praise time, confession and healing prayer. Enquiries: Jenni Young 9445 1028 or 0404 389 679. Family Tree booklets available for $2.00 prior to the Mass.

November 24 to 26

CHRIST THE KING

A Retreat and Healing Rally at The Sacred Heart Church, Guppy St, Pemberton on 24th & 25th November, presented by the Holy Spirit of Freedom Community. A Eucharistic Procession and Celebration of the Feast of Christ the King will be held on 26th November in conjunction with the Sacred Heart Parish. Bookings and information: Marcelle Batticci Ph 9776 1542 or Meryl Giumelli 9772 1172.

Sunday November 26

SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING

Most Rev. Peter Quinn, retired Bishop of Bunbury, will preside over ceremonies to celebrate the Solemnity. Commencing 2pm at the Shrine of Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Road, Bullsbrook. Including: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, followed by a procession, Holy Mass and Consecration to the Sacred Heart, Christ the King. Ample parking and lawn areas available for picnics. Enquiries: SACRI 9447 3292.

Sunday November 26

CHRIST THE KING EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION

The Schoenstatt Shrine, 9 Talus Drive, Armadale. Invitation to class 2006 First Communion children and their families to celebrate our friendship feast with Jesus. Enquiries: 9399 2349.

Saturday December 2 DAY WITH MARY

Our Lady of the Mission Church, 270 Camberwarra Drive, Craigie, 9am to 5pm. A video on Fatima will be shown at 9am. A day of prayer and instruction based upon the messages of Fatima. Includes Sacrament of Penance, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons, Rosaries, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Station of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enquiries: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.

Sunday December 3

DIVINE MERCY

An afternoon with Jesus and Mary will be held at St Joachim’s Church, Corner Shepperton Road and Harper Street, Victoria Park at 1.30pm. Program: Holy Rosary and reconciliation, sermon with Fr Andre Maria FFI on the Holy Family followed by Divine Mercy prayers and Benediction. Enquiries: John: 9457 7771 or Linda 9275 6608

Sunday December 3 ANNUAL ROSARY PROCESSION

In honour of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, 2:00pm, St Joseph’s Parish Church, Hamilton Street, Bassendean. Followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. In preparation a tridium of Rosaries will be held: Wednesday November 29, 7pm, Thursday November 30, 7pm and Friday December 1, 7pm. Enquiries: Jude Rodrigues 0408 541 459, Colin Caputo 9279 9750 or Renato Passamani 0419 924 633.

December 12 to 15

PARISH MISSION

Fr Brian and Sr Ngaire Roil, the Directors of Spirituality Centre, Perth Archdiocese will lead Parish Mission in Holy Family – Kalamunda Parish between 7.30-9pm. The theme of the mission is “People of Advent”. Second Rite of Reconciliation will be celebrated on Thursday night. All are welcome.

DIVINE MERCY

Every Saturday afternoon at St Francis Xavier’s Church, 25 Windsor Street, East Perth from 2:30pm. Holy Hour will be held with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet and prayers plus Reconciliation and Benediction. A Holy Mass is also held every second Saturday including Sacrament of Healing. Enquiries: John: 9457 7771 or Linda 9275 6608.

TUESDAY NIGHT PRAYER MEETINGS

St Mary’s Cathedral Parish Centre, 450 Hay Street, Perth, 7pm. Come join us! Overcome the burdens in life making prayer your lifeline with Jesus. Personal

healing in prayer, Rosary, meditation, Scripture, praise in song, friendship, refreshments. Be united with Our Lord and Our Lady in prayer with others. Appreciate the heritage of the Faith.

Every Sunday BULLSBROOK SHRINE SUNDAY PILGRIMAGE PROGRAM

Shrine of Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. 2pm Holy Mass, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament with Holy Rosary. Reconciliation is available before every celebration. Enquiries: 9447 3292.

Wednesday December 8

MASS IN HONOUR OF BLESSED MARY

MACKILLOP

At 6pm, Sisters of St Joseph Chapel, 16 York St, South Perth. Everyone welcome. Also now available Josephite/Mary MacKillop 2007 Calendar with inspirations from the writings of Blessed Mary MacKillop. Contact 93340999

First Sunday of the Month

DEVOTIONS IN HONOUR OF THE DIVINE

MERCY

The Santa Clara Parish Community welcomes anyone from surrounding parishes and beyond to the Santa Clara Church, corner of Coolgardie and Pollock Sts, Bentley on the 1st Sunday of each month. The afternoon commences with the 3 o’clock prayer, followed by the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Reflection and concludes with Benediction.

BLESSED SACRAMENT ADORATION

Holy Family Church, Alcock Street, Maddington. Friday 8.30 am Holy Mass followed by Blessed Sacrament Adoration till 12 noon. Every first Friday of the month, anointing of the sick during Mass. Enq. 9398 6350.

Wednesdays SIGN LANGUAGE COURSE

Australian Sign Language (Auslan) Classes are offered free of charge at Emmanuel Centre on Wednesdays at 1pm. If this does not suit you, other arrangements can be made. Please contact Fr Paul or Barbara at Emmanuel Centre, 25 Windsor St Perth 9328 8113.

QUEEN OF APOSTLES SCHOOL

If anyone has information on Queen of Apostles School, Riverton, used to go there or knows anyone who did please do one of the following to tell the extension group – Call 9354 1360 and ask to speak to Veronique or email your information to veronequeregnard@gmail. com.au or janellekoh@yahoo.com.au or you can put your information into the box in the office at Queen of Apostles

School. Thanking you in anticipation.

ST COLUMBA’S BAYSWATER

Information is sought from past and present parishioners of St Columba’s Catholic Church (Roberts St Bayswater) for inclusion in a written history (1905 – 2007) of the parish. Photographs of Parish Priests, parishioners and events depicting the original and current Church greatly appreciated. Contact: Carolyn Kelly, St Columba’s History, PO Box 47 Bayswater 6053 WA. Telephone: 9271 1988.

LINDA’S HOUSE OF HOPE APPEAL

To enable us to continue to provide and offer support for girls wishing to leave the sex trade we need your help. We have achieved already new offfices which are now complete at the rear of the shelter and are fully functional. Donations are also required to complete the internal layout of the shelter itself. Please send donations to Linda’s House of Hope PO Box Z5640, Perth, St George’s Tce 6831. Ph: 0439 401 009. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

Is alcohol costing you more than just money? Alcoholics Anonymous can help. Ring 9325 3566.

ATTENTION COUPLES

Have you or your spouse been diagnosed with a mental illness? Depression? Anxiety/Panic Attacks? etc. Could you do with some help in understanding your/their illness? Do you know how to get help when you need it? We can help you to help each other through the Unconditional Love Program. For more information contact Amanda Olsen: 0407 192 641, or email: mandyfolsen@bigpond.com.au.

AL ANON FAMILY GROUPS

If a loved one’s drinking is worrying you – please call Al Anon Family Groups for confidential information meetings etc... Phone Number 9325 7528 – 24 hrs.

Panorama entries must be in by 5pm Monday. Contributions may be faxed to 9227 7087, emailed to administration@therecord. com.au or mailed to PO box 75, Leederville, WA 6902. Submissions over 55 words will be excluded. Inclusion is limited to 4 weeks. Events charging over $10 constitute a classified event, and will be charged accordingly. The Record reserves the right to decline or modify any advertisment.

What could your famil y your family learn from learn the Rule of Benedic t? Benedict?

■ By Delores R Leckey

Several choices Pope Benedict XVI made during the first year of his pontificate helped me to evaluate my everyday life as a Catholic Christian. The first choice, his name. It honoured the founder of Western monasticism and reminded me how important the Rule of St Benedict has been in my life.

I noted how years ago with a household full of young children and trying to find some balance in the midst of diverse responsibilities, I was introduced to the Rule. I found in this ancient document, and especially in Benedictines and lay people who had absorbed the wisdom of the Rule, a way to live a centred life. Not a perfect life, but a life of meaning and hope.

Eventually I wrote a book about how the Rule applies to family life. I called the book “The Ordinary Way” because it was about the dynamics of everyday living with others.

“The Ordinary Way” explored different dimensions of intimacy in families: the unique intimacy between husband and wife, the intimate life of parents and children, and the trusting intimacy of friendship, within and beyond the family.

Busy households can be noisy and sometimes stressful. What parent hasn’t longed for some silence and solitude? So the other side of intimate community - family - is solitude and silence. St Benedict says that monks should be zealous for silence at all times, but especially during the night. In families this often is desired more than realised. Sometimes the opportunity comes in unexpected ways.

In the early years of marriage and motherhood I contracted rheumatic fever, which required several months of bed rest. My two small daughters were cared for by their grandparents in another state; my husband left my lunch by my bedside when he went to work every day and I lived day after day in a state of enforced quietude. We had no television and a radio that didn’t

The Last Word

work very well. My circumscribed world at that time was filled with books and silence. Ever so slowly silence turned into prayer and I began to taste gratitude in ways new to me.

Eventually I returned to “normal,” and with the addition of more children to the household life was busier than ever. Still, a question remained. How could I arrange for life-giving silence? Lent gave me the answer. One year when I elected to go to daily Mass (which meant 6.30am so I would be home before my husband left for the day) I discovered silence wrapped around daily worship. Lent came to an end, but the daily Mass routine continued. And then there was the silence of children’s nap times. Instead of chores, I read and pondered and prayed. The Rule, and my own growing experience, helped sustain the practice of silence. The exercise of authority is obviously important in families; it is important in monastic life as well. The key is how authority is exercised. The abbot is to consult all members of the monastic community about matters

that will affect the life of all. We read that after listening carefully the abbot must turn over in his own mind all that he has heard and then do what he thinks is best for all. A key point is that all be called upon for counsel because “the Lord often reveals to the younger what is best.” The same can be said for families.

Hospitality long has been recognised as characteristic of monasticism: “Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for he is going to say, ‘I came as a guest and you received me.’ And to all let due honour be shown.” There are so many ways to express hospitality in the home, “the domestic church.”

Welcoming the children’s friends is one way. Reaching out to different others - people of different races, ethnic origins, economic strata - is not only simple hospitality but a way to get beyond cultural determinism. When our children were in school we often had student guests from different countries spend holidays with our family.

Leckey is a senior fellow at woodstock theological centre, Georgetown University.

Source: CNS

■ By Sister Miriam Pollard, OCSO

Consider someone in the world of business or a student, a retired craftsperson, a nurse, a father who has just walked his youngest down the aisle or met her live-in boyfriend: Why put into hands like these a document developed 15 centuries ago for a lifestyle they never will live? A monastic rule, for heaven’s sake - the Rule of St Benedict.

But a lot can be said for trudging along the roads of another time and place. The Rule of Benedict offers access to a stream of wisdom that can enhance and enrich the contemporary.

How about the advantage of experiencing the immense amount we share with that curious creature of long ago, the medieval monk or nun? We have much in common with the ambitious prior, the “unimportant” monk chewing away at a bewildering Scriptural text, the person in charge of temporalities trying to juggle the community’s importunate demands with a call to prayer.

What dimensions of the human personality remain constant through time and space? How can ancient wisdom help me here and now? There should be ways we can enjoy the Rule’s text instead of being burdened by it. We could keep at hand a contemporary commentary such as Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister’s “The Rule of Benedict.” She has provided her own translation, which can become in places a paraphrase. That’s OK; we’re not setting out to get a doctorate in monastic studies. Sr Chittister’s accompanying commentary emerges from the life experience of some-

one who has lived the text for many years, wrestled with it. If you expect something extreme, you will be wrong. She reaches out to both lay and monastic lives in a practical manner.

If you live near a monastery with a bookstore or go on retreat there, you can browse for the kind of commentary that feels right for you at any given time. I have even seen a workbook for the seeker with a sense of adventure.

How about a notebook with questions we create for ourselves? Sentence by sentence, or paragraph by paragraph, we can question, confront and wrestle with the text. Ask what kind of person Benedict is envisioning. What kind of person emerges from the formation he proposes? What do we dislike about these lines? What is relevant to me at this juncture of my life?

What makes possible the bridge between Benedict’s Rule and the lay world for which it was not destined? Aspects of the Benedictine world can be opened by a number of books or articles. Can’t make anything of the psalms in the Liturgy of the Hours, so much a part of life for those who follow the Rule? How about Walter Brueggeman’s “The Spirituality of the Psalms,” a small book.

What on earth is the authority structure presented in the Rule all about? What’s a cellarer? What is the background for accepting youngsters at their parents’ whim? What is the place of St Benedict in European history? The text itself is your challenge and enrichment, your encounter with a mind that understands, that is compassionate, that disciplines and draws us into the heart of the Spirit of Christ.

Cistercian Sr Pollard is prioress of Santa Rita Abbey in Sonoita, Arizona.

Join Pope Benedict XVI in prayer November

Mission intention: African developmentThat through the effort of believers, together with the forces of society, the new and old chains which prevent the development of the African Continent may be broken.

General intention: The end of terrorism. Th everywhere in the world, an end be put to all forms of terrorism.

Holy trio: St Peter Martyr with St Nicholas of Bari and St Benedict.