The Record Newspaper 11 September 2003

Perth: 11 September 2003

Church schools must show strong faith

Pope urges “uncompromising Catholicity” in Church-run schoolsbenefits for Catholics and non-Catholics alike

Catholic schools can contribute to integral development and help promote interreligious dialogue only if they are what they say they are, says John Paul II.

The Pope highlighted the point on Saturday when he received a group of Catholic bishops from the Indian ecclesiastical regions of Agra, Delhi and Bhopal, who were concluding their five-yearly ad limina visit to the Holy See.

Recalling the missionary examples of the

Apostle Thomas, of St Francis Xavier, and of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the Holy Father said: “From the very earliest days of her presence on Indian soil, the Catholic Church has demonstrated a deep social resolve in the fields of health care, development, welfare and especially education.”

“Many of your schools have large percentages of teachers and students who are not Catholic,” he noted.

“Their presence in our institutions could help to increase mutual understanding between Catholics and those of other religions at a time in which misunderstandings can be a source of suffering to many.”

“It could also be an opportunity for nonCatholic students to be educated in a system which has proven its ability to form young people into responsible and productive citizens,” John Paul II added.

“ O n e o f t h e g r e a t e s t

c o n t r i b u t i o n s

The Pope, who exhorted the bishops in their mission, stressed that “one of the greatest contributions our educational facilities, and all Catholic institutions, can offer society today is their uncompromising Catholicity.”

“Catholic schools must aim to create an atmosphere enlivened by the Gospel spirit of freedom and charity striving to relate all

Getting into the spirit

St Thomas Primary wins Archbishop’s Spirit Award

St Thomas Primary School in Claremont is this year’s recipient of the special “Archbishop’s Spirit Award”. Only one school is selected each year to receive the award, which recognises a school’s enthusiastic support and participation in the Archbishop’s LifeLink Day initiative. The award is not based on how much money is raised but goes to the school that:

n Demonstrates active support for the Archbishop’s LifeLink Day Initiative.

n Embraces the goals of LifeLink Day

n Demonstrates a commitment to educating students on their responsibility to care for the less fortunate.

n Promotes an ethos of caring students, teachers, par-

ents and the wider community. Among other things the Award encourages students to learn about the Church’s response to need within our community and show practical support for the disadvantaged.

St Thomas’s ran the Italian Cafe project to raise funds for LifeLink Day. LifeLink

consultant Brett Mendez described the Italian Cafe idea as a “ marvellous and innovative concept - one that His Grace loved.”

The principal of St Thomas’s, Mr Mark de Kluyver said “It’s an honour. It acknowledges the work and ethos of the school community – to help those in

human culture eventually to the news of salvation, so that the light of faith will illumine the knowledge which students gradually gain of the world, of life and of the human family,” he said.

“For this reason, it is essential that your educational institutes maintain a strong Catholic identity,” the Pontiff reiterated.

“This calls for a curriculum marked by participation in prayer and the celebration of the Eucharist and requires that all teachers are well-versed not only in their fields of study but also in the Catholic faith.”

To achieve this, the Holy Father recommended placing “whenever possible, trained priests, religious and counsellors in every school. “This will help to ensure that every department and activity joyfully exudes the spirit of Christ’s Church,” he said. - Zenit

need.” Mr Kluyer added he was thrilled when he learnt his school were to receive the award.

He felt that the students and staff had really made an effort each year to get behind the Archbishop’s LifeLink Day and that the award was especially wonderful for the students.

Students from St Thomas’s perform for their community and Archbishop Hickey at the presentation of the Archbishop’s award last Friday 29 August.

Photo:Carole McMillen

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Parish gears up for 2004

St Brigid’s Catholic Parish is gearing up for a big celebration next year to mark the centenary of the establishment of the parish and convent on Roe Street, Bridgetown.

Past parishioners, clergy, relatives and friends of the Parish which takes in the towns of Bridgetown, Greenbushes, Balingup and Nannup, are invited to join in the fun and celebrations during a Centenary Weekend on March 27 and 28,2004. The weekend will include an Open Air Mass, Back to Bridgetown Dinner and Ball, Historical Displays and a host of entertainment.

A committee has been formed to coordinate the various activities for the Centenary.

St Brigid’s Centenary Committee Co-ordinator Pat Scallan said the parish would be contacting many people with past connections to St Brigid’s Church in Bridgetown to invite them back for the Centenary Weekend.

“We will be sending out flyers to as many people as possible including parishes in the Perth and Bunbury Dioceses but I think we are also going to rely on word-ofmouth to get the message out,” said Mr Scallan.

To commemorate the 100th year the parish will develop a lasting memorial in the form of a Church Courtyard Landscaping Project.

This will include a brick paved area, circular drive, landscaping

Ratzinger sees hope for Church

Cardinal says ‘weakness of faith’was behind sexual abuse, but movements of renewal are already taking the Church ahead

“Weakness of faith” was the root cause of the sexual abuse crisis in the US church, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said in a television interview on September 5.

Interviewed on Eternal Word

and general beautification between St Brigid’s Church and Hall. People will have the opportunity to contribute to this lasting memorial by purchasing blocks of paved space within the courtyard at the front of the church and hall. Donors will have their contribution featured on a large framed map of the courtyard.

To raise further funds for the Church Landscape and Beautification project the committee is also offering framed pictures of the early parish buildings for

Television Network’s “The World Over” program, the cardinal said priests share in the weakness of all human beings, and if their faith is just an idea or hypothesis rather than a deep personal friendship with the Lord, they may give in to their weaknesses. EWTN is based in Birmingham,Alabama.

Cardinal Ratzinger said a lack of “conviction of the clear moral

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sale and a Centenary Cookbook is being compiled.

Moves to establish the St Brigid’s Catholic Parish began in 1903 when a number of Mercy Sisters in Bunbury were sent to Bridgetown to establish a presence in the district.

At that time the Mercy Sisters’ number had increased due to new arrivals from Ireland.

According to Church records Reverend Mother Angela wrote to Bishop Gibney in Bunbury asking for permission to proceed with the

teachings of the church” in recent decades also contributed to the clergy sexual abuse problem. The church must do what it can to assure that such abuse does not happen again, he said, but he also warned that the church will always have sinners in its midst.

“In the fields of the church, there is not only wheat but chaff. ... This is the essence of the church. The Lord sits at the table with sinners,” he said.

From a historical perspective, he said, “there have been other times at least as difficult as ours.” He cited the scandals in the papacy during the Renaissance as an example.

When asked about current challenges to church teaching on sexuality, including movements for same-sex marriages and the use of in vitro fertilisation, separating procreation from the conjugal act, Cardinal Ratzinger said, “It is always essential that the nature of the human being is given. ... God created man and woman to be

Don Willesee dies at 87

A State funeral will be held in Perth for former ALP senator Don Willesee. Surrounded by family members, Mr Willesee died at Joondalup Health Campus on September 8, due to complications arising from a heart attack. He was aged 87.

Former A Current Affair anchor Mike Willesee was already aware that his father was seriously unwell when he

building of a Convent in Bridgetown in conjunction with people in the town who were willing to assist.

The “Convent Chronicle” Bunbury later reported: “June 21, 1904: The Feast of Aloysius, the trenches for the new Convent in Bridgetown were dug.”

The original one storey building was officially opened on January 14, 1905.

The first members of the new Bridgetown community were Mother M. Brigid and Sisters M. Genevieve, M. Gertrude and M. Alacoque.

Two weeks after the official opening of the Convent the Catholic School was opened in Bridgetown with 33 students enrolled. A small wooden building constructed in 1894 was used as the school room.

In the early 1920’s a second storey was added to the Convent. This made it possible for the Sisters to house boarders from outlying districts and evacuees during the war years. The current parish Hall was constructed in 1925.

The St Brigid’s Church, Parish Hall and adjoining Convent ( now Ain Karim retreat house) which are among some of Bridgetown’s most important heritage buildings, will be the focus for next year’s Centenary Celebrations.

For further information contact

Pat Scallan on 97643508, Fr Robert Romano on 97611241 or Richard Williams on 97614415.

one.” He called attitudes of relativism among Catholics a significant problem for pastoral work and said the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” is “a great help” for renewing catechesis and evangelisation today.

“The school of prayer is very essential” to the renewal of faith, he added. He said he sees signs of a new springtime in the church in “really convinced communities,” including young people, who embrace their faith with joy.

He cited Catholic renewal movements such as Communion and Liberation, the Focolare movement and the Catholic charismatic renewal as “a sign of the springtime and of the presence of the Holy Spirit today.”

He said Pope John Paul II’s own “deep faith and love for the Lord” and his evident prayer life are encouraging young people to a deeper faith and spiritual renewal.

CNS

delivered the recent presentation of his documentary on The Eucharist at John XXIII College sponsored by The Record. Drawing a crowd of 1000 in the college hall, Mike Willesee gave a convincing and humble account of his conversion. It was only after the presentation that organisers learned of his father’s ill health. The late Mr Willesee is survived by his wife Gwen and children Colleen, Michael, Terry, Geraldine, Don junior and Peter. Originally from Derby, Don Willesee recalled in an interview read-

ing Hansard when he was growing up. He quickly ascended trade union ranks and at age 33 became the youngest senator since Federation.

After the ALP won power federally in 1972, Don Willesee was made Minister for Foreign Affairs. Among his noteworthy achievements were his work on the law of the sea legislation which aimed to share wealth with Third World economies. Mr Willesee spent the years after his retirement in 1975, at Quinns Rock.

Organising committee members of St Brigid’s discuss plans for next year’s centenary.

Cardinal Ratzinger

Fr Glynn to launch book at God’s Farm Spring Retreats

By Debbie Warrier

Sydney based author Father Paul Glynn SM will officially launch his new book The Wayside Stream –Reconciliation during the first of three Spring retreats to be held at God’s Farm.

Owner Mrs Betty Peaker believes that’s just another good reason to attend the annual weekend retreats held at God’s Farm, at Wilyabrup, 40kms south of Busselton. Each retreat is from Friday 7.30pm to Sunday 2pm.

The first retreat will be held from October 3 to 5, in honour of the late Brother Andrew’s third anniversary. Brother Andrew was responsible for establishing the male equivalent of Mother Teresa’s Order. Retreats are held every year close to the feast day of St Francis of Assisi as Brother Andrew passed away on this date. He also frequently gave retreats at God’s farm. Copies of Brother Andrew’s book What I met along the way are available at God’s farm, with two additional chapters included in this new second reprint. The books are $10 each plus $1.50 for postage.

The second retreat will be held on October 31 to November 2, celebrating All Saints and All Souls feast day. The third retreat will be from November 7 to 9.

Fr Glynn said in a telephone interview his new book’s title is

a reference to Psalm 110:7. The psalm refers to the Messiah to come. He will be victorious because he will humbly accept the difficulties of his mission, to “…drink from the stream by the wayside.”

Fr Paul observed that we live in angry times, indicated by rising divorce rates, terrorism and new expressions in the vernacular like ‘road rage.’

“Jesus calls us to become peacemakers and reconcilers. This new book is a series of stories about people who have responded to Jesus’ call,” Fr Paul said.

It features stories on soon to be beatified Mother Teresa, and the late Vietnamese Cardinal Francis Thuan who spent nine

A special feast day for Knights and Dames

By Debbie Warrier

Knights and Dames of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre will be celebrating the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross together with the Melkite Catholic Community at St Andrew’s Melkite Catholic Church in Perth on Sunday September 14 at 10.30am.

For Knights and Dames the day begins earlier at the same meeting place, at 10am.

The feast has a special significance for both the Melkites and the Knights, as the Byzantine Empress Helena is credited with finding the True Cross, and a relic of the Cross was always carried ahead of the Crusader army.

The world- wide Order has been given the particular mandate by Pope John Paul II of helping the Christians in the Middle East, and protecting the Holy Places in Israel and Palestine.

Archbishop Barry Hickey is Grand Prior of the Order of the Lieutenancy of Western Australia. Ecclesiastical Knights will concelebrate with the Melkite clergy; Knights will be responsible for reading the Epistle, and carrying the candles, cross and holy icons during the processions. The service will be celebrated according to the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.

The literal translation of one of the Knight’s Latin mottos is “But it behoves us to glory in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom we are saved and delivered.”

Lunch and fellowship will follow the event. Enquiries, contact Adrian Briffa 9446 2147.

of his 13-year jail sentence in solitary confinement.

Each book costs $10 and all proceeds go towards providing education and medical facilities in East Timor.

Fr Paul believes that such books will make good gifts for young people who have drifted from the Church.

“Instead of giving your child a box of chocolates, give them a Catholic book. It’s one way of bringing your children back to their faith, and challenging them,” Fr Paul said.

Fr Paul is dedicating his new book to Betty Peaker. He said “She is a great example of what the Holy Father is strongly encouraging – lay people who live a committed prayer life and then evangelise our newly non Christian West.”

Fr Paul raised $16 000 for East Timor with his last visit. Fr Paul has also written the books Song for Nagasaki, Smile of the Rag Picker, Psalms - Songs for the way Home, and Healing Fire from the Frozen Earth

Transport to God’s Farm will be provided for the November 7 to 9 retreat only. A bus will depart from Perth at 2.30pm on the Friday and return to Perth on 6pm Sunday. Return fare is $45. Contact Yvonne on 9343 1119.

The suggested donation for each retreat is $80, including meals and hot drinks. For retreats and book launch enquiries, contact Betty Peaker 9755 6212.

Couples tapped as missionaries

The Santiago Archdiocese in Chile has organised a project that turns married people into missionaries in their own area.

Over the next few weeks, couples from several parishes will visit local families to share the Gospel with them, and at the same time invite them to support the 2003 Week of the Family, set for October 512. The motto for the October event is “My Home, an Altar.”

The secretary of the archdiocese’s family-life office, Rosario Jiménez, said “We hope that all families of Santiago will have a special place of encounter with God, a physical place where a small family altar is situated for a personal and family encounter with the God of life.”

England’s most visited spiritual site is a marian shrine

The English town of Walsingham, with its Catholic Marian shrine and Anglican Marian shrine, is the country’s most-visited spiritual site.

The twon’s spiritual status revealed in a survey by BBC’s Radio 4, published last month, which listed the 10 spiritual places most visited by the British.

The town, in North Norfolk region, is famous for the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, founded in 1061 and destroyed at the Reformation. A noblewoman named Richeldis had a vision in 1061 in which the Virgin Mary appeared to her and asked her to build a replica of her home in Nazareth, the reason why this shrine is popularly known as England’s Nazareth.

The Slipper Chapel was restored in 1934, and is now the National Catholic Shrine of Our Lady. The shrine is the object of pilgrimage for thousands of people. Sources say that visits to the shrine have noticeably increased in recent years, though they didn’t have precise numbers.

Funeral of Worker Held in Vatican

Workers crowded into the Church of St Anne, the parish of Vatican City, for the funeral of Constantino Marchionni, who died after a job accident in St Peter’s Square.

The mason’s funeral was presided over by Bishop Gianni Danzi, secretary-general of Vatican City.

Concelebrants included the deacon of the papal sacristy, Augustinian Father Giuseppe Viscardi.

Numerous employees and dependents of the Vatican also attended the ceremony, during which Marchionni’s fellow workers sang liturgical hymns.

During the homily, Bishop Danzi recalled the prayer raised last Wednesday by John Paul II at the general audience for the deceased worker and all victims of job accidents. Bishop Danzi said the tragedy has saddened the Vatican community.

Marchionni, 52, died after a fall from the scaffolding in front of St Peter’s Basilica.

- ZENIT

MercyCare seeks a priceless gift

MercyCare (Catherine McAuley) is searching for potential foster carers in the Catholic community worth their weight in gold. Foster carers are considered precious as only 3 out of 100 people foster children.

Mercy Foster Care asks the Catholic community to search for potential foster carers, by using their own contacts.

“Ask your friends, extended family, community groups, or at Church if they know anyone who is interested,” said Trish McAuliffe, Mercy Foster Care Coordinator.

“Hidden in the community are people who are considering foster care,” she said.

“We need 15 new carers by the end of the year.”

MercyCare encourages people to join their existing 29 treasured foster carers.

“We value our foster carers for the tremendous deed they provide our community and to the lives of these children,” she said.

“Without foster carers, children and young people are deprived of a stable and safe environment essential for a positive future,” said Trish McAuliffe.

Foster carers search for hidden treasures within the foster children by helping them reach their potential and giving them opportunities to grow.

“Fostering is a challenging and rewarding role. Seeing a child improve and overcome their difficulties is the best reward for our foster carers,” said Trish McAuliffe.

MercyCare has witnessed the positive effects of foster care including a 10-year placement of 3 children with one family; helping children find their birth parents; and finding long-term placements for children with a history of multiple placements.

Children require alternative care due to their parent/s being unable to temporarily or permanently look after them.

Since 1990, MercyCare has worked and supported carers with meeting the needs of foster children. Each foster family is provided with practical support and professional advice. Mercy Foster Care provides care for children aged 0 to 17 for 6 months or more.

For more information call Mercy Foster Care on 9442 3444.

Italian Holiday YOUR

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Clinical Pastoral Education

Reflection Pool at God’s Farm

Come follow me

by Father Don Kettle

In 1922 G.K. Chesterton wrote an article for the Blackfriars titled, The Youth of the Church. As with much of Chesterton’s writings it offered both a fresh and prophetic look at society and the Church. In today’s current climate of scandal and pessimism some of Chesterton’s insights offer hope for the future. As a newly ordained priest and forming part of the diocesan vocation promotion team, I see great potential in Chesterton’s claim that; “The Church will be renewed in times of challenge through her youth!”

As a young priest I have thought about this and have observed that the youth of today have a real and sincere desire for holiness and a strong belief in and love for the Truths of our faith.

Visit any parish where the youth is vibrant and active and you will understand Chesterton’s claim that our young will renew us. I see young people who are in love with the teachings of the Church, even the teachings concerning sexual morality, and eager to share these treasures with the world.

To have found the Truth one naturally has a desire to share that Truth with others. To listen to the ‘Call’ of God and go forth and proclaim it to all peoples. My spiritual director in the seminary said to me, “If you really believe that you have heard the Good News you’ll want to share it with every one.”

Although I had found the Truth in my life, I was still very much caught up in the world and what it had to offer. I tried to ignore the ‘Call’ to the priesthood, but the whisper of the master to ‘come

Welsh singers abound

by Pater Muscamuro

CYNANFA-GANU is the Welsh tag meaning a Festival of Welsh hymns. It had its annual Sunday recently in the lovely Trinity Uniting Church in Central St George’s Terrace. This church was formerly a Congregational Church, but is now under the umbrella of the Uniting Church and used through the year, each month, by the Welsh Free Church of WA.

If you are familiar with the beautiful Sunday morning Songs of Praise program well then Cynanfa-Ganu is conducted along the same lines. The congregation are the main singers. A visiting choir may attend to do a couple of special items so we

tentment, and fullness in my life. There are no words that would describe the offering of Holy Mass, hearing Confessions and Anointing the sick – I simply love being a Priest!

and believe that there is nothing we can do more to help than to administer the sacraments to the people of God. The very people whom we serve in our “Yes!”

follow me’ echoed in the depths of my soul all those years.

From early boyhood I dreamt of becoming a priest. But like the rich young man in the Gospel it was too hard for me to give up everything to follow Christ. Life presented me with many choices, which made my decision to follow the ‘Call’ very difficult. The things that I had to leave behind in pursuit of a priestly vocation contradicted everything that I had worked towards.

I remember our Holy Father John Paul II said to the newly ordained priests; “Up to the evening of your life remain in wonder and in gratitude for that mysterious call that one day echoed in the depths of your spirit; come follow me.”

During my time of discernment the one question, which kept repeating itself, was when I would meet Jesus face to face he would ask me; “Why didn’t you come when I called?”

My decision to follow the ‘Call’ was not an easy one, but it has brought me true happiness, con-

The priest, we read in the decree of the ministry and life of priests from the Second Vatican Council; “Shares in the authority by which Christ himself builds up, sanctifies and rules his body. This is conferred by that special sacrament through which priests, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are marked with a special character and are so configured to Christ the priest that they can act in the person of Christ the head.”

So as future priests we find ourselves in various functions – liturgical presider, preacher of the Word, spiritual counsellor, hospital chaplain, social worker, administrator, financial planner, theologian, collaborator, marriage and family counsellor, homeless advocate, youth worker, servant, leader, shepherd, promoter of social justice, sacramental minister, and so on. We face all the joys and challenges that priesthood presents to us in an ever changing world.

Today the priest is the one to lead the people of God to a new understanding of the Word and Sacraments of the Church, though we find ourselves within a society that contradicts the priesthood and the teachings of the Church.

I believe that as a priest today we must have an immense faith in the power of the sacraments

I have no doubt that it has been through the sacrifices and prayers of others that I have been able to answer the ‘Call’ that I first heard in the depths of my soul “come follow me!”

As Chesterton tells us the Catholic Church “is not an old religion; it is a religion that refuses to grow old.”

We see whenever Catholicism is driven out as an old thing, it always returns as a new thing.

It is not a survival nor endurance, but the kind of recov-

ery. Our young are embracing this ‘new thing’ as they discover the peace and strength in Eucharistic Adoration or confidence and a healthy pride in our Church’s teachings in the current apologetics revival.

The Church is growing young again and we have the Holy Spirit to thank again for this.

Let us recognise this for what it is, rejuvenation, and let us be thankful for the young men, who are saying ‘yes’ to God and his Church.

Let us pray that many more young men will have the courage to answer the call; “Come Follow Me!”

Priests for Perth

Providing Priests for the Future

“The harvest of our prayers and the hard work of our priest and parish vocation committees have brought great results.I ask for your continued spiritual ...support to help me provide priests for the future”. Archbishop B J Hickey

I will pray for priestly vocation daily.

I would like information on studying for the priest hood for Perth

I believe that (Name) would make a good priest (Parish)

Please forward the name to the Diocesan Vocations Director.

(Your) Name:

Address:

Telephone:

Please return to:

Diocesan Vocations Director

Rev Dr Armando Carandang MA,PhD, STL,STD

18 Teague St,Victoria Park WA 6100

Tel/Fax:(09) 9470 9223

Email:frarmando@perthcatholic.org.au

All enquiries strictly confidential.

had the Perth Men’s Choir, of 30 voices, plenty of them Welshmen. They even sang one of their own compositions

“Thanks be to God for roses red”, beautifully controlled, melodiously mature. During the changing songs the Minister added a brief prayer or comment, light at times to make it an enjoyable experience. He gave the sermon in an easy relaxed manner for a general audience.

Earlier in the day, before Cynanfa-Ganu, I had attended the main service at the Sound

City Church in Rockingham, an evangelical Church listed under the Assemblies of God in the Street Directory. It turned out to be a day of contrasts. Sound City Church advertises in the local paper every week and bills itself as dynamic, which it certainly strives to be through its musicians, songs and preacher. The Welsh festival of hymns didn’t claim to be dynamic and it wasn’t.

One of their songs contained the words “singing belongs to eternal life”. With the two experiences on the one day I found myself applying a couple of old principles from James Fowler’s Stages of Faith and Jean Piaget’s Life maps.

Both men are respected educationalists. Fowler speaks of Revelation and Grace, God’s self-disclosure and gifts freely given. Piaget speaks about beauty visual, abstract or concrete, which become a Religious experience. Both Religion and Artistic

skills fail if they don’t bring beauty into life. If going to Church results in at least seeking a mystical experience, and uncovering things we have seen before but have never noticed we have a positive experience. They would say that Religion is a balance between the cognitive and affective aspects of life.

In my visits over the last few months to a mosaic of religious communities, for the majority, the sermon, the homily the preaching has been fundamental to their existence. Catholics have their backup liturgy, ritual, and easy soft homilies but the evangelicals are still on fire like the Redemptorists of old.

The preacher at the Sound City Church in Rockingham started quite amatuerish with lots of notes and hesitation but to his credit finished strongly. He mopped his brow and people all around were Amening him. He used a nice biblical phrase “we are the heartbeat of

God” from Thessalonians, and so we sang “Jesus you are my heart’s obsession”. Sound City had a bank of 10 musicians and singers fronting a Sunset Screen; a nice twist was a guitarist who doubled up with a mouth organ. City of Rockingham has every imaginable Religious group, service club, and organisation. I’ve even been to the new Mosque here. Numbers were not great at Sound City, but enthusiasm was high.

Over 20 years ago at Claremont Teachers College I did a project on one of James Fowler’s life maps as applied to the Sunday Sermon or Homily. Questions like : - did the homily have a main point or precise aim? Did the homily keep alive any faith hopes you have? Do you think you will remember this homily even for a short while (say until tomorrow)? My hardest task even then was to find a sample of 20 people who went anywhere near a church!

Archbishop Barry Hickey prays over a newly ordained priest

Author: Dying Cardinal was radiant

By Debbie Warrier

An inexplicable light seemed to shine from Cardinal Thuan’s face as he was dying, said the author of The Miracle of Hope, Mr Andre Van Chau.

Speaking from his home in the United States, Mr Van Chau shared his memories of the late Cardinal Van Thuan with The Record in a telephone interview.

“There was a kind of light that shone from his face. He was in communion with God at the time and many people felt compelled to go on their knees when talking to him,” Mr Van Chau said.

As the Cardinal’s death was approaching, Mr Van Chau witnessed a physical change in his appearance he was unable to explain. He could only conclude that the transformation indicated his closeness to the Creator.

Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was the nephew of Ngo Dinh Diem, the first president of the Republic of Vietnam assassinated in 1963. Cardinal Van Thuan was accused by Vietnamese Communist authorities of being implanted in Saigon as a subversive influence. He was arrested in 1975. He spent thirteen years in jail as a political prisoner. Nine of those years were spent in solitary confinement.

The Cardinal was freed in 1989, but never allowed to return to his homeland in Vietnam after 1991. He went to Rome, where he served the Church on the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, becoming its president in 1998. He was made a Cardinal in February 21, 2001. At the age of 74, Cardinal Van Thuan died of a rare bone cancer on September 16, 2002.

A renowned speaker and prolific writer in his life, Cardinal Thuan’s books include Testimony of Hope, The Road of Hope, Words of Courage and Five Loaves and Two Fish.

Mr Van Chau was keen to emphasise the humanity of the Cardinal, as well as his holiness.

Writing the story of the man he knew personally was not easy.

“Sometimes it was very painful. Cardinal Van Thuan’s life is so full of tragedy. However, after each disaster and each tragedy he would become greater, yet more humble,” said Mr Van Chau.

Mr Van Chau acknowledged that many people considered Cardinal Van Thuan a saint in his lifetime. He knew of a few people who have already written to the Holy See regarding the Cardinal’s canonisation.

With his personal knowledge of the man, Mr Van Chau believed that the Cardinal saw himself simply as God’s instrument.

“What he achieved was transformed by God into something great,” the author said.

“I knew him as a human being, with all his weaknesses. Back in 1963 he couldn’t forgive the people who assassinated his Uncle. It

Church probes new Lourdes cure

CathNews - An almost totally paralysed 60-year-old Italian woman has been instantly cured of her illness in Lourdes in the past week.

“I am overjoyed, most happy, Our Lady of Lourdes has cured me,” said Giulia Mongelli Tofani, who prior to her visit was almost completely helpless and had to be spoon fed by her family.

“When I came to Lourdes I was full of anguish, now I feel like a cricket,” she said. “I can walk up and down. I climb the stairs, I go up and down now and never stop. I laugh and joke.”

Giulia is convinced a miracle has occurred and top Vatican official Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar-general of Rome Diocese who led her party to Lourdes, backed this view when he publicly thanked God and the Virgin Mary for “the gift received by Giulia” on the final evening of her visit.

The woman had been a bartender in Rome for 35 years before contracting a rare viral infection that left her totally paralysed some years ago. As news of Giulia’s recovery spread among excited pilgrims, her parish priest Don Canio then accompanied her to the medical bureau at Lourdes, where she was subjected to a three hour

took him 13 years in captivity to really love everybody, see God in everybody,” Mr Van Chau said. During his imprisonment, Cardinal Van Thuan wrote letters of hope and love to his people.

Mr Van Chau believes the Cardinal’s profound spirituality allowed him to rise above his many sufferings.

examination. The bureau are currently studying her case. Though Guilia and her friends are convinced as to what has taken place, it is commonly accepted that the Church is very slow to recognise miracles, even at Lourdes. Of the millions of pilgrims who have visited Lourdes in the last 145 years, only around 7000 cases of alleged cures have been examined in depth, and of these just 66 have been officially recognised by the Church as miracles.

H a p p y B i r t h d a y M o t h e r M a r y - P a g e 6

“I don’t think he was immune to pain. He was extremely sensitive to pain. Yet he was always smiling, a really winning smile, and that’s how he won over his captors in the prison.” he said.

Asked if there is a lesson in Cardinal Van Thuan’s life for our times, Mr Van Chau replied “He taught us that we are nothing

Sex, drugs, rock to be exposed

Members of Perth based Flame Ministries International’s Catholic Youth Ministry will give a series of talks about the effects of the sex, drugs and music scene on young people in Perth.

Some of the speakers have been involved in drugs and have overcome its effects.

Flame Ministries says the series will be a hard-hitting, no-punches-pulled-expose telling the truth as it is without compromise.

Speakers from the organisation’s Youth wing will reveal the facts behind the current youth sub-culture of sex, drugs, music and how they overcame its harmful influences.

Four talks will be given starting Friday October 17‘SEXposed’ by Dusty Severtson, Friday October 24 - ‘X-posing the DRUGS’ by Shenton Surin FMI, Friday October 31 - ‘X-pos-

ing the MODERN MUSIC’ by Patrick Carre and on Friday November 7 - ‘X-posing THE HISTORY BEHIND THE MYTH’ by Eddie Russell FMI.

The talks will be given at the Alverna Centre, St Lawrence Parish, 392 Albert Street, Balcatta. For information call FMI on 08 9382 3668.

without God, that our good deeds are nothing until we offer them to God and transform them through him.”

He added that the late Cardinal taught us power of hope. “Hope generates faith and it helps us to love,” Mr Van Chau said.

The Miracle of Hope author knew Cardinal Van Thuan since Mr van Chau was aged 14. Their families were very close. The men were educated at the same institution for a time. Mr Van Chau said that a near death experience and miraculous recovery set Cardinal Van Thuan on a definite course for his vocation when aged 26. The Cardinal drew inspiration from local laity leaders and also from the story of St Bernadette during a Lourdes visit.

Prior to his death, Cardinal van Thuan approached Mr Van Chau to tell his life story. Mr Van Chau was then living in Geneva and recalled his regular visits to Rome when he would interview the Cardinal for his biography.

Mr Van Chau was born in Hue, Vietnam. He has a doctorate in humanities from the Sorbonne, Paris. He taught literature and creative writing at various universities in Vietnam for twelve years. From 1975 to 1995 he worked with migrants and refugees.

During that time, he spent ten years as head of the International Catholic Migrations Commission with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. He was inducted into the Catholic Academy of the Sciences in 2002.

Mr Van Chau lives in the United States with his wife and four children.

Helpers needed at RPH

Fr Richard Smith, the Catholic Chaplain at Royal Perth Hospital, is appealing for urgently needed assistance on weekday mornings.

New volunteers are needed to swell the number of Pastoral Care Helpers who distribute brochures to all newly admitted patients on behalf of the Pastoral Care Centre.

The brochures inform new patients about the chaplaincy service and have tear-off slips by which patients can request the chaplain of their choice.

Fr Smith said that the hospital gets between 60 and 180 new admissions each day and it was impossible for the chaplains to visit all of them effectively.

The initial contact through distribution of the brochures, giving patients the opportunity to request a chaplain of their own faith, was therefore an important part of the pastoral care program.

Volunteers worked for about 90 minutes once a fortnight, or even once a month. Some started as early as 8am, but later starts could be arranged.

A number of Helpers had been lost in recent months for a variety of reasons and replacements were now becoming urgently needed.

Fr Richard Smith can be contacted on 9224 3269 for information and to arrange the necessary police clearance.

Vietnamese Cardinal Francois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, former head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He is pictured here at a church service in Rome October on 14, 2001. Photo - CNS/Reuters

An artist’s impression of Mary’s appearance to St Bernadette of Lourdes.

Except for possibly the NaziSoviet Pact of 1939, which helped George Orwell visualise the “doublethink” State of 1984, I don’t think the chattering classes have done a bigger instantaneous flip-flop than with the miraculous transmogrification of Pauline Hanson from arch-villain - Thomas Keneally claimed she had put Australia on the road to Auschwitz - to saintly martyred victim.

As Peter Coleman wrote recently: “The same people who for years were attacking the Liberal Party and especially John Howard for not doing enough to combat Hansonism are the same people who are calling for Abbott’s head because he tried to do what they were demanding.”

by Norma Woodcock

OpinionReflection

&

&

Catholic opinions from around Australia

I Say, I Say....

Of course the chattering classes hate John Howard and Tony Abbot far worse than they hate Pauline, who is not really a rightwinger or a conservative, but a sort of agrarian socialist with something of the old Bulletin-type White Australia tradition added.

The chattering classes had been accusing the Howard Government of covertly encouraging Hansonism. The West Australian’s three left-wing columnists had all in one way or another attacked Pauline Hanson and demanded she be stopped.

When she was stopped - by entirely lawful and peaceful means - the West Australian published a cartoon of Tony Abbott as a rat. I will watch these gentry’s future pronouncements on this

matter with slightly more interest than usual.

The Sydney Morning Herald had a cartoon of Abbott dressed in a monk’s robe (he once studied in a seminary) groping furtively through a rubbish bin in a halo of flies.

A piece by one of its senior writers on the facing page on “The slush fund minister” gloated that: “Tony Abbot ... can kiss goodbye any ambitions he had to be prime minister.” This same commentator was writing on 21 February: “Hanson is the shell left after the Hanson phenomenon transformed Australian politics and acceptable political debate ... Howard embraced her policy ... [she] and Oldfield continue their dance of

WORD

Sunday on

A laywoman’s meditations

“We rise from the dead.”

The triumph of the Cross was Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

Thomas Merton, the Catholic mystic, said that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in us as well. We like the Israelites in the first reading, Numbers 21:4-9, have passed through the Red Sea symbolising our baptism and are on our way throuh the wilderness to the promised land.

It is in the wilderness that we suffer, die and rise from the dead even while in these mortal bodies.

We must acknowledge that we need to be set free from our false selves, the isolated, selfish, ego-centered selves. We cannot do it, but the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead, the Holy Spirit, can and will free us from ourselves.

How? St. John of the Cross tells us that God draws us down paths we would rather not have gone down. It is the unexpected events coming upon us that do a work within us.

Christ suffered and died then rose from the dead. We suffer and die and experience many risings from death to life, from the false self to the true self made in God’s image. In the depths of our being, underneath all the conditioning, automatic responses and rigid controls lies our true identity. We are one with God, made in his image and likeness. This is the self that rises. The self that can love without counting the cost, can be free and content and peaceful, knowing that God suffices.

This is the triumph of the cross in our own lives.

I heard this story one day that illustrates the transformation brought about by suffering.

A couple went into a china shop. They were looking around when they

saw an unbelievably beautiful cup on a shelf. As they looked at it, the tea cup began to talk.

“I wasn’t always like this. I once was a hard, cold, ugly grey lump of clay. My Master took me and he began to pat me and roll me, pat me and roll me.

“Stop, stop,” I said. “Not yet,” he said as he looked at me with those eyes.

Then he put me on this wheel. The wheel went around and around. I was dizzy. “Stop, stop. Let me off.” I said.

“Not yet,” he said as he looked at me with those eyes.

Then he painted me all over. I stank.

“Stop, stop.” I said. “Not yet,” he said and looked at me with those eyes.

Then he put me in the oven and he just watched me through the glass.

“Get me out, get me out,” I said. “Not yet,” he said and looked at me with those eyes.

Another coat of paint. “Oh no, not again,” I stank, “Stop, stop.” “Oh no not again.” Sure enough, back in the oven.

“Let me out, let me out.” He looked at me with those eyes. “Not yet, not yet.”

Finally he took me out and put me on a shelf. “When are you going to use me?” “Not yet.”

Finally he took me down and held a mirror in front of me and I couldn’t believe that old grey lump of clay could become this beautiful, exquisite tea cup.

Now everyone comes and admires me!

End of Story.

Yes, the Triumph of the Cross leads to Resurrection, Christ’s and then in him, yours and mine.

Norma Woodcock is the Director of The Centre for Catholic Spiritual Development and Prayer.

Website: www.normawoodcock.com

hatred and revenge ...”

with Guy Crouchback

Following the revelation of Abbott’s role in her downfall she claimed: “The Australian people are outraged that the system has jailed Hanson ...” Actually a large but unknown number of people, including, apparently, John Howard and Tony Abbott, believe the sentence was too severe, a completely different thing.

The paper’s leader was headined: “The dirty tricks of Tony Abbott” and replete with loaded but vague words like “political mire,” “secretive,” shadowy operations.” Its Page One headline the previous day screamed: “Abbott set up slush fund to ruin Hanson,” a somewhat different slant to, for example, “Abbot set up Investigation of

One Nation’s Financial Irregularities.” Before this the typical attitude of the Sydney Morning Herald was furious antiHansonism. Elsewhere a professor claimed Abbott’s “Cruel treatment of a woman whom he saw as a political rival was despicable,” as if Abbott were the sentencing judge. Is it “cruel” to investigate the possibility that a political rival or anyone else is breaking the law? Especially if that person’s policies are seen as harmful to the public good of the country? Surely, if one has reasonable grounds for such a belief, it would be a dereliction of duty not to do so.

Orwell, thou should be living at this hour!

Happy Birthday Mother Mary

By Debbie Warrier

St Mary’s Cathedral celebrated the birth of its patron saint on Monday September 8. There was a special presentation at its midday Mass that was preceded by Eucharistic Adoration, including a meditative Rosary led by Father Tim Deeter.

Eight-year-old John Haydon presented the Dean of the Cathedral, Monsignor Thomas McDonald, with a scroll inscribed with the names of parishes throughout WA, and individuals who had participated in making a Rosary Bouquet as a birthday gift to Our Lady.

His sister, six- year- old Mary Haydon presented Monsignor MacDonald with a pink rose and rosary beads for Our Lady ’s birthday.

In his homily, The Dean said Mary’s birth led to the salvation of the world, as she was later to become the mother of Christ.

He spoke of how from the cross Jesus gave Our Lady to all of humanity as our mother.

“We give thanks to Almighty God for our earthly mothers and our Heavenly Mother,” he said.

Mrs Margaret Bowen came up with the idea of the rosary bouquet 15 years ago, and Monsignor McDonald expressed the hope that the annual practice would continue. Parishes around the diocese and beyond have participated.

The presentation of the Rosary Bouquet has spread to South Australia, Victoria, Singapore and New Zealand.

Mrs Bowen hopes the idea will be adopted nationally, and looks forward to Australia being united for 48 hours in praying the Rosary for Our Lady’s Birthday in the future. She said there was an increase in the number of parishes that completely covered this year’s 48 hours perpetual Rosary Bouquet.

Mgr McDonald recieves the Rosary Bouquet, and gifts from John Haydon(8) and his sister Mary (6).

BLove is the answer to everything

ecause the world is the way it is and human beings are the way they are, many people think there must be something wrong with God, something seriously wrong, such as God really isn’t there at all, or if he is there, he is either asleep on the job or he doesn’t care.

Others ask why he doesn’t stop wars, or starvation, or diseases, or the suffering of little children. These are perfectly good questions because we actually spend a modest amount of time asking God to do precisely these things. If we’re smart enough to know that these things aren’t good, surely God would have to think along similar lines.

It seems to be a fair point, but only if we don’t think too broadly. For example, are we really sure we want him to stop all wars? It was only a few months ago that we and our best friends, the Americans and the British, launched a war in Iraq. Of course, we had all sorts of “good” reasons for it, so we would probably have felt entitled to be angry if God had stopped it dead in its tracks.

There is enough food in the world for us to put an end to starvation all by ourselves, but we don’t. Perhaps God is waiting for us to get on with the job instead of trying to pass the buck to him.

There are a great many diseases that are easy to avoid, too. Sexually-transmitted diseases are high on the list of the obvi-

Dismayed by silence

As a practising Catholic I am dismayed at the Catholic community’s silence about the plight of asylum seekers in Australia. This is the biggest abuse of human rights committed by an Australian Government and encouraged by the people since the White Australia policy and Stolen Generation.

The Government is forcefully (through the use of handcuffs and drugging), deporting asylum seekers back to the country recognised as the third “Axis of Evil”, Iran.

The Iranians, many of whom have fled because they are Christians, are petrified of being deported.

There have already been two cases of deportees “disappearing” on arrival. There have also been two attempted suicides in the past two weeks of those awaiting deportation.

Under the 1951 International Conventions on the Rights of Refugees it is no crime to apply for asylum in Australia. However, these asylum seekers, men, women and children, have spent up to six years in what is effectively, a maximum security prison. Having spoken to a number of the asylum seekers, I am deeply troubled, in fact terrified of the fate my brothers and sisters in Christ may face.

As Christians we are called to speak out strongly against this injustice perpetrated by the Howard Government.

If you remain silent you are complicit in the subsequent persecution, torture or death of these your brothers and sisters. This is the dire reality.

My only consolation at this moment lies in the knowledge that Christ too has felt this deep despair “Eloi, Eloi, Lamma sabachtani? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Once again we are crucifying Christ who manifests himself as an asylum seeker today.

I implore you to pray for a change of heart within the Government and the community to end the racist vilification, scapegoating and abuse of refugees in Australia;

POBox

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

ous, as are alcohol-induced, druginduced, tobacco-induced and stressinduced illnesses, some fatal and some just painful. Road deaths and injuries may be the most obvious of all. It would seem that we aren’t prepared to change our own behaviour to avoid these things, and that begins to raise the question of what God would have to do to stop them.

The suffering of little children is similar. Only this week, the morning newspaper told us that in the last 12 months there were 600 child abuse charges, including seven deaths, 49 cases of physical abuse and 312 cases of sexual abuse. Earlier in the year we had a national froth-at-themouth about a Governor-General who allegedly didn’t do the right thing about someone else’s crime about 10 years ago. But 312 cases of child sexual abuse have occurred on our own doorstep – 30,000 cases if we extrapolate nationally – and they have passed almost unnoticed as we begin to pile up the statistics for the current 12 months.

I wonder how far we are prepared to go to correct this problem. How far would

and that the asylum seekers may find consolation in the love of Christ in this moment of anguish.

Siobhan McCarthy

(Refugee Rights Action Network)

One hour all we need

Mike Willesee’s presentation of The Eucharist in Communion with Me was a beautiful account of Our Lord’s Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. It brings to mind the awesome reality of the gift that Jesus has given us of Himself in this Sacrament.

If God loves us to the point of dying for us on the cross then His Real Presence with us just further reinforces His perpetual love for us in leaving us the gift of Himself. This must be the greatest miracle of all, that at every Mass Jesus becomes present and abides with us so we are never alone .

What little injustice there would be in the world if all Catholics appreciated this gift of God and constantly sought His help so that we could bring about “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”.

Mother Teresa said if Catholics spent one hour per week in front of the Blessed Sacrament, abortion would cease. Bishop Fulton Sheen said his hour per day in front of the Blessed Sacrament gave him the strength to serve God in his priestly life.

Mike Willesee’s account of his absence from the Church for many years and his subsequent conversion was interesting

we allow God to go to remove this burden? Could he abolish sex, perhaps? Would we approve of that?

This brings us to the gravamen or crux of the problem. Whenever we complain about God letting something happen, we are proclaiming that there is a set of rules governing how life should flow and we know what they are even if God doesn’t. It is never said that way, but that is the meaning of our complaints. If someone dies at five or ten or fifteen, obviously they shouldn’t have! But how long should they live? And should all of us live to that age? And should we all have the same height and weight and hair colour? Should our talents and experiences be the same? And all our experiences pleasant and painless?

But many people tell us that they have learnt more from their difficulties and their pain than ever from their smooth sailing. Who made up the subconscious rule that life should be plain sailing, free of pain or loss or doubt or fear?

In fact, there is something absolutely breathtaking about the idea that some-

and touching. His story is one example of God’s merciful love. Mike’s response indicates his great need and longing for God and proof that years of material success and work satisfaction can not fill the void that only God can fill in a person’s life.

Mary Fancote Kelmscott

Catholic but not Roman

I was very pleased to read the article, A Multiplicity of Rites, by Fr Tim Deeter, (The Record, September 4). As a member of an Eastern Catholic Church, I appreciate any article which stresses to the broader Catholic Community, the unity in diversity which is at the very heart of our Catholicity. Our proudest boast as Catholics, both Western and Eastern is as, St Augustine of Hippo wrote: “in essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity.” Let us learn to breathe with both lungs of the Church, West and East.

There were, however, a few points within the article to which I think readers should be alerted. First, in the case of the Ukrainian Church, the Popes did not establish the Eparchies within Ukraine, these were established well before the Union of Brest in 1595. Second, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference released a text in 1997 which stated that:

“We have been accustomed to speaking of the Latin (Roman or Western) Rite or the Eastern Rites to designate these different Churches. However ... Canon 112 of the Code of Canon Law uses the phrase “autonomous ritual Churches” to designate the various Churches” (Eastern Catholics in Australia, 1997, p. 4). This being the case, although Eastern Rite Catholics are as Catholic as those Catholics of the West, which your article correctly emphasised, Eastern Catholics should not, as was written toward the article’s conclusion, be considered as being Roman Catholics.

Eastern Catholics recognise the Pope (who is also the Bishop of Rome) as the Supreme Head of the Universal Church, but do not accept the Roman Rite as being greater or lesser than their own, the Roman Rite holding neither precedence

thing which has happened shouldn’t have happened. We would have to rearrange the entire universe to accommodate the change of circumstances involved in cancelling something that has happened and substituting something else.

The biggest thing that has happened is that God made us in his image and likeness and because God is love, we also are love. But because love can only be freely given – never forced – we have been given free will in order to be free to love God and one another.

God loves us immensely – he proved that in Jesus – and he desperately wants us to have the extraordinary pleasure of knowing his love and loving him in return, but he cannot force it because if he did it would not be love.

We have the capacity to love and we have the choice whether we use it or not. The consequences flow from our choices. We can see the lack of love in terrorism, war, brutality, greed, lust, anger and all those things, and we talk about them a lot. We seem reluctant to acknowledge what life would be like if there were no lack of love in any of our attitudes and actions.

We would rather blame God, or even pretend he isn’t there. But God allows us to make an apparent mess of some things because he wants us to have the chance to get it right, even if it takes us a lifetime to do it. Getting it right is living the fact that God is love and so are we.

over nor subservience under with regard to the Eastern Rites. As such, to impart the term Roman Catholic to an Eastern Catholic is an anomaly and has to be corrected. We are all Catholics, but we are not all Roman Catholics, something which the Universal Church needs to preserve and stress in order for our separated Orthodox brothers and sisters to see. When this is truly recognised, perhaps a complete union of the two lungs of the Church, East with West and West with East can occur.

Dr Andrew Thomas Kania

School of Religious Education

The University of Notre Dame, Australia

In fairness to Fr Deeter, he said that “in a sense” Eastern and Western Catholics are Roman Catholics. The “sense’ he referred to was that we are united in doctrine and obedience to the Bishop of Rome, and that the various Catholics are equally welcome at one another’s liturgy and sacraments. He concluded by inviting readers to visit a Catholic church of another rite “to gain a new understanding” of our Church. - Ed

Embryos are money...

After your excellent expose on stem cells (August 28) your readers may be wondering why the continued demand for embryos? A partial answer may lie in commercial interests.

Embryonic stem cell lines are an actual product that can be patented and sold for significant gain. However, treatments with adult stem cells involve taking the stem cells from the actual patient, multiplying them in the lab, then injecting them back into the patient.

The only money to be made here is by the local lab. When a genetic illness is involved and an adult stem cell line is needed, a patentable product exists and this is where the big biotech and pharmaceutical companies are investing. But the potential profits are nowhere near as huge as with embryonic stem cell lines where a saleable product is required for every illness.

Chris Burger Wilson

T h e N o r t h P e r t h R e d e m p t o r i s t C h u r c h o f S a i n t s P e t e r a n d P a u l a n d i t s M o n a s t e r y a r e 1 0 0 y e a r s o l d A l t h o u g h n o t a p a r i s h , t h e R e d e m p t o r i s t c e n t r e h a s b e e n a m a i n s t a y o f c h u r c h l i f e i n t h e a r c h d i o c e s e s i n c e i t s b e g i n n i n g , a n d r e m a i n s a p o p u l a r c e n t r e o f f a i t h .

By Father Reg Ahearn CSsR

One hundred years ago on Sunday September 13th, 1903, the Redemptorist Church and Monastery were blessed and opened.

Four years previously, the Redemptorists arrived in Perth and took up residence in two houses at Highgate.

While carrying on an extensive mission program they negotiated with Bishop Matthew Gibney, then Bishop of Perth, for a suitable place for a Monastery and Church.

After considering various locations, the piece of land at North Perth was chosen and on November 9th 1902, Bishop Matthew Gibney laid the foundation stone.

Less than a year later, the Redemptorists took up residence in the Monastery and from there continued the extensive mission work begun four years previously.

In 1912, a second wing was added to the monastery and in 1922, the present sanctuary and transept were added to the church.

The beautiful shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was built in 1927 through a bequest from Mr Michael McArdle.

To complete the story of the buildings, the final building erected was the Retreat Centre, which was opened in 1967.

Before that, retreats were held at the Monastery and some priests and lay people still remember crowding in four or five to a single room!

The Retreat Centre caters for priests, religious and laity. For a long time it was under the direct management of the Redemptorists but in the 90' s, with declin-

One hundr

ing numbers, the management of the Centre was entrusted to Mrs Jan Broderick and her late husband.

Some well-known Redemptorists have spent time at North Perth. The first superior of the monastery, Fr Cornelius Hunt, was responsible for the beautiful church. He went on to Ballarat in Victoria, where he built another magnificent church for our monastery at Wendouree.

Fr Patrick Clune was an outstanding missioner and a member of the pioneer band to come to Perth in 1899. Very early in 1911, Bishop Matthew Gibney resigned and Fr Clune was chosen by Rome to succeed him. In 1913, Perth was raised to Metropolitan status and Bishop Clune became the first Archbishop of Perth. He remained Archbishop until his death in 1935.

■ T h e R e d e m p t o r i s t s a r e g e t t i n g o l d e r a n d f e w e r , w i t h h a r d l y a n y r e p l a c e m e n t s

W e a r e t r y i n g t o f o l l o w t h e a d v i c e : P r a y a s t h o u g h e v e r y t h i n g d e p e n d s o n G o d a n d w o r k a s t h o u g h e v e r y t h i n g d e p e n d s o n y o u !

One of the best known of the early Redemptorists was Fr John Creagh.

After outstanding work in Ireland and the Philippines, he came to Perth in 1914.

During the First World War, the Government was trying to decide what was to be done with the German Pallottine missionaries in the Kimberley.

Archbishop Clune interceded for them and it was decided that they could remain at their stations provided they had a British subject as their superior.

In 1916, Fr John Creagh was chosen and given the title of Pro-Vicar Apostolic of the Kimberley. He was stationed at Broome and remained at his post until 1923. It was not easy for him and it was a lonely life.

Broome was a busy town with the pearling industry.

Fortunately, Fr Creagh and the Filipino divers got on very well and they formed a choir which made the Masses and other

The North Perth Redemptorist Church and Monastery on completion a century ago.

Photo:courtesy North Perth redemptorist Community

devotions more attractive. Helped by the St John of God Sisters, Fr Creagh organised English classes for the Japanese divers and many of these were received into the Church. Fr Creagh continued at Broome until 1923.

Two well-known West Australian diocesan priests became Redemptorists during the time of Archbishop Clune. These were Monsignor Thomas Robinson and Fr Patrick Brennan.

The latter is famous for his popular hymn "Hail Redeemer, King Divine".

In 1956, the superior, Fr Patrick Talty, decided to try a mission directly to nonCatholics.

He suggested that the missioners should preach in the city streets.

Organising this was difficult but finally,

Fr Talty and three other priests preached for a few nights in Forrest Place at the centre of Perth.

In 1971, Fr Terry Warren answered the call of the Bishop of Geraldton to work in his diocese.

In December, he and a companion began the long drive to Dampier.

Shortly before arriving, Fr Warren asked his companion to take over the driving while he rested on the back seat.

When they arrived at Dampier, his companion was shocked to discover that Fr Warren had already died.

In 1978, a six-man team left Perth for the Pilbara and on to Darwin, preaching missions on the way.

They finished with nine missions in Darwin.

They were on the road for months and covered thousands of kilometres.

One of the enduring features of the North Perth Church is the 6.00 pm Mass on Sunday. Begun in the 70's as a Youth Mass, it has now become more of a Family Mass. Enthusiastic crowds fill the church most Sundays, not merely as passive spectators but as active participants.

The music is provided by the Shalomites, a group which recently celebrated 30 years of existence.

At the start of the second century, the picture is far different from what it was in 1903.

The Church is going through hard times.

The Redemptorists are getting older and fewer, with hardly any replacements.

We are trying to follow the advice: Pray

as though everything depends on God and work as though everything depends on you!

Two important apostolates for the Church in Perth are the Novena, every Saturday afternoon, and of the confessional.

From Tuesday to Saturday inclusive, people have some hours each day when there are priests available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

We thank God for the tremendous flow of grace that has come through the North Perth monastery over the last 100 years. We thank the people of Perth for their continued support and their generosity.

We look ahead with confidence, knowing that the Lord is walking and working with us.

red years young

Seeking Reconciliation and Mary’s aid in life’s journey

Confession and a Novena abiding traditions of the Redemptorist presence

By Debbie Warrier

"The Church is practically full every Saturday afternoon," said Father John McGannon resident of the North Perth Redemptorist Monastery and witness to the faithful attendance of their Novena devotion.

Fr John estimates the Novena to our Lady of Perpetual Help has been running since 1948.

Originally, there were two time slots for the Novena held every Saturday. For some years now, it has been changed to one from 4.30pm to 5pm.

People from all over Perth come to participate. Petitions for special needs and thanksgiving for prayers answered are read out.

There is Benediction and singing during the Novena.

"It’s for serious sickness, any disability, special needs and spiritual favours. People might pray for the gift of patience for example," Fr John said.

One of the big Apostolates of the Redemptorist priests is reconciliation.

"We specialise in confessional work. We consider it one of the great works of the priests in the Redemptorist Monastery," Fr John said.

Fr John believes the reason behind Redemptorist priests specialising in ministering reconciliation is because of their Founder St Alphonsus Liguori.

"One Hundred Years on… The Redemptorists in Western Australia 18991999" author Father S.J. Boland C.Ss.R explored the link in his book.

A Doctor of the Church, and the Patron of Confessors and Moral Theologians, the saint saw his Order inaugurated in 1732. The Holy See gave approval in 1749.

St Alphonsus died in 1787, but was witness to their growing numbers and reputation as competent preachers, always ready to extend God’s redeeming love to those most in need.

St Alphonsus was an expert in the Theology surrounding the Sacrament of Penance, and he wanted his followers to specialise in that area too, said Fr John.

The altar of the Church, surrounded by mural artwork; the church’s foundation stone, and architectural details which witness to a rich legacy of faith and service to people over 100 years.

Visitors pray to the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour inside the Church.

“The do-it-yourself Mass is ended; go in peace”

R o b e r t M o y n i h a n f r o m

Inside the Vatican m a g az i n e h a d t h e o p p o r t u n i t y

t o s i t d o w n a n d d i s c u s s

t h e t o p i c a l i s s u e o f t h e

L a t i n a n d o l d r i t e

M a s s e s w i t h F r a n c i s

C a r d i n a l A r i n z e , P r e f e c t o f t h e C o n g r e g a t i o n f o r

D i v i n e W o r s h i p a n d t h e

D i s c i p l i n e o f t h e S a c r a m e n t s

What do you think of those people who are nostalgic, whether for cultural or spiritual reasons, for the “old Mass” or for the Latin Mass?

ARINZE: Your question is really about two things which are not the same: the “old Mass” and the Mass in Latin. Let us take them separately. I begin with the Latin Mass.

I think it is a pity that many people in a parish never or rarely hear the Latin Mass. In Latin texts they would hear the very same words spoken that St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, Blessed Duns Scotus, and so many more recent saints, like Thomas More and Therese de Lisieux, would have spoken.

This is a source of communion

over time, it is an aid to sensing and believing in the mystical communion of the Church throughout the ages. Today, when we have international congresses, we have no common language in which to pray and sing, so we use several.

Praying and celebrating the liturgy in Latin would be a beautiful expression of our unity, of our oneness in the faith. Is there to be no symbol of our faith, no vehicle allowing us to express our shared faith with one voice?

The great Latin expressions and prayers are not awkward and distant; they are very near to us.

Think of the words “Verbum caro factum est’ (“the Word was made flesh”); “Agnus Dei” (“the Lamb of God”); “Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus” (“Holy, holy, holy”).

These words are not difficult.

And they are rooted in our tradition. I worked in the field of interreligious dialogue for 18 years. Each of the major religions of the world has a collective memory, including the memory of an original, sacred language, which they do not hesitate to use.

The Muslims regard the Koran in Arabic as the official text.

In my own country of Nigeria, we have some 240 languages. Under such conditions, what language should we use for our common liturgical gatherings? Why should there not be a wider use of a traditional and universal language like Latin? Really, why should a priest not celebrate a

Preventing adoration

My opinion is that what makes many people sad is not the Novus Ordo itself, but that the Novus Ordo Mass is not celebrated according to the Missal. The way some priests conduct the Mass from beginning to end, adding words, leaving out words, making things up on the spur of the moment, has left many people shaking their heads. This type of liturgy must not continue. It is preventing people from coming to God, from adoring God.

Such celebrants give the impression that the funny things they are doing are sanctioned by Vatican II. But these are abuses of Vatican II, not legitimate developments of the Council’s teaching. In paragraph 52 of his recent encyclical on the Holy Eucharist, the Pope notes that there have been many liturgical abuses, and that many are continuing.

And now he is asking the competent offices to articulate these excesses, the cases when lack of discipline in the celebration of the Eucharist, and lack of devotion to the Eucharist, have been too great. The Pope has asked the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, together with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to prepare a disciplinary text to be published soon.

Our aim is that all those who attend Mass will feel nourished, spiritually and liturgically. So we are seeking a celebration of the liturgy, more conducive to the worship of God.

The books now approved should be diligently followed. They tell me that dancing is fitting in the liturgy, because it reflects “inculturation.” I ask, what is the parish hall for? They say, “You are an African bishop, you know the Africans are always dancing.” I say: “Africans are not always dancing.” There is a slight movement or sway of the body associated with a gracious procession in offering a gift. This may be appropriate. The Mass is for adoration, praise, thanksgiving and asking God for pardon.

Does a dance really help to increase adoration of God? Maybe some gestures or movements in India and Ghana do help lift our minds and hearts to the vertical dimension, toward God, but this whole question has to be looked at very carefully.

- Cardinal Francis Arinze

Latin Mass with the people in his parish at least once a month?

And in the big cities, where we have many churches and many Masses are celebrated, why not let one of the Masses always be in Latin? This would respond to the hopes of many. I grant there are difficulties. Many students are now studying Latin less and less. So a return to greater use of the Latin liturgy may not be easy. But if the Latin rite in the Church does not use Latin, then who will?

If not us, who? We have many rites, and each of them is encouraged: the Byzantine, the Coptic, the Chaldean, the Syriac, the Maronite, and others. Each has its Place. And like wise the Latin rite has its place. The most important thing is not that we can understand every word, but that we adore, and worship, God. This is the most important thing.

Now let us turn to the other matter, what you called the “old Mass.” Many argue that the old Mass has been superseded, even banned...

ARINZE: I am not aware of any such decision. But you know, and I know, that the Holy Father, in instituting the Ecclesia Dei Commission, wished Catholic bishops around the world to be more open to this celebration.

The Pope asked the bishops quite explicitly to respond to those who wished to attend Mass according to the old rite. Do permit the old Mass, he said. Assign them a church for it, he said. But so often there was a lack of openness, and a fear of dividing the diocese along liturgical lines, so those who desired the old Mass were left unsatisfied. If a group of people wishes it, and they appeal to the bishop, the bishop should respond generously.

“ I f

ancient, ever new. Those who claim that the present Mass is wrong are themselves wrong. They are imagining a Church fossilised in 1962. That’s not good theology. If those who wish for the old Mass do so because they do not believe in the new Mass, they should not be granted that request.

Is there a theological difference between the old Mass and the new Mass?

ARINZE: Some have argued that the old Mass placed a stress on the Sacrifice of Our Lord, while the new Mass rather stresses the horizontal dimension of community.

groups of faithful wish for it...

ARINZE: Our Congregation and the expected document do not treat the old rite. The Ecclesia Dei Commission does that.

The bishops have been cautious. Some think that it is dangerous to permit the old Mass. They observe the condemnations of the “new Church” by some of those attached to the old Mass. In this the bishops are right to be concerned. Those “traditionalists” who condemn the new liturgy are wrong. Do they think the Church stopped breathing at a certain particular moment in the past?

Do they think that the Holy Spirit has not been with the Church since 1962?

I believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Church of the ages, ever

During the last 30 years, some people went their own way in altering church architecture and imagery to suit this supposed change. Thus, they replaced the crucifix with a symbol of the resurrection and stressed the community aspect of the Mass.

The Mass facing the people was approved, not in order for the priest to entertain the people, but to deepen the participation of the people in the Mass.

Your work, then, is a disciplinary document which will proscribe many liturgical abuses which have crept in since Vatican II, and to mandate wider use of the old rite, the Tridentine rite, where

I would sum up my present message in a simple phrase, echoing the priest’s words at the end of the Mass: “The do it-yourself Mass is ended; go in peace.” Externals are not irrelevant or indifferent; they are important. We rise to God by external signs which express inward truths. We are not in search of cultural artifacts, no matter how precious; we are in search of an authentic encounter with the living God. This does not down play the need for human justice and charity. But we will find one another sooner if we all look for God. The Communists already made clear to us in their teaching about the “solidarity” of the proletariat and in the police states they created that they could not really love one another because they had tried to eliminate God. Love of God necessarily includes love of neighbour.

This is an important message of the kingdom. This is what we are working for. If all those involved in the celebration of the liturgy of the Roman Rite are faith-filled, and if they follow the approved books, many more graces will flow to one and all. - Inside The Vatican

Cardinal Francis Arinze

Photo:CNS/Reuters

Obituary

FrFr Joseph P McCann OMI

Joseph P. McCann OMI died at the MacKillop Retirement Centre, Hawthorn East on August 3 2003. Born in Preston England in 1916 he was one of eight children. A brother was a Jesuit. Fr Joe was ordained as an Oblate Priest in 1942. He served for two years as an assistant priest in Liverpool followed by nine years as a mission and retreat preacher in Ireland and England. He volunteered for Australia and arrived here in 1953. He had a variety of ministries in Australia, mission and retreat preacher, parish priest and Master of novices.

When the Oblates moved to SA in 1957 he was chosen as the foundation parish priest of Hillcrest -a parish described by Archbishop Beovich as ‘the diocese of Hillcrest’. Later the area was divided into three parishes. In 1963 he was appointed Superior of the Mission house in Camberwell, Victoria and was Parish Priest of Fremantle from 1970 to 1976. Fr Joe was a calm, peaceful and prayerful priest whose smile inevitably brought a sense of peace and welcome to all who met him. As a formator he had an outstanding effect on young students for the priesthood. Fr. Joe was buried in the Oblate plot at the Springvale cemetery in Victoria on August 6th 2003. R.I.P.

Fr Don Hughes, OMI, Lesmurdie.

Pilgrims head for York

The annual pilgrimage in honour of St Philomena took place on Sunday August 10 at the historic church of St Patrick’s in York. The pilgrimage was led by Fr Michael Rowe chaplain to the Latin Mass in Perth. Two buses were chartered, one from St John’s Pro-Cathedral where the Latin Mass is celebrated each weekend, another from Hilton. A statue of St Philomena was brought along for the pilgrimage.

St Philomena was condemned to death at the age of 13 and died a virgin and martyr. Her relics are in a church dedicated to her in Mugnano, Italy, where numerous miracles have been reported. Among her most memorable devotees was St John Vianney, patron Saint of parish priests

Solemn High Mass in the Traditional Latin Rite was celebrated by Fr Georges Maurel with Fr Rowe and Franciscan Fr Raphael FI as deacon and subdeacon with support from the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and the Schola from St John’s Pro-Cathedral. Fr Maurel, originally from France, brought a relic of St Philomena for public veneration after the Mass and Benediction.

The pilgrims had the opportunity to get together and also to meet with local parish-

Obituary

It was late in the evening of July 15 that the Dominican Sisters heard of the untimely death in Dublin, Ireland, of Sr M Declan Callaly. Sr Declan had been in Dublin three days, on her home visit to her family, when she had a serious stroke and never regained consciousness.

She died peacefully in the presence of her loving, and heartbroken, family, and Sr Cecelia from Western Australia.

Sr Declan arrived in Western Australia fifty two years ago, to begin what was a life time of dedication to God and the people of God in Western Australia. She served in the Geraldton Diocese at Leonora, Perenjori, Morawa, Dongara, and Tardun. In Perth, she gave many years to communities at North Beach, Holy Rosary Doubleview, Siena Girls’ High School, St Thomas Aquinas

Belitz returns to Perth

The integration of mind, body and spirit will form the agenda for Fr Justin Belitz OFM during his week-long visit to St Francis Xavier Parish, Armadale. Fr Justin, an American Franciscan friar, holds degrees in Philosophy, Theology and Music Education. He is a renowned writer and international speaker, an experienced and skilled retreat master and presenter of workshops, seminars and missions to a wide variety of groups and parishes. In this Parish Mission, he will teach the use of prayer and meditation to cultivate living skills and help achieve one’s goals.

It is his belief that a perfect master plan exists - founded on God’s unconditional love for everyone. Meditation is a key tool in dealing with life’s problems.

Taking control of one’s life can be achieved through meditation and visualisation techniques which underpin his “Success: Full Living” Program.

From a spiritual base, the Program encourages people to set goals which reflect a balance between all areas of modern life. Through the use of meditation and quietly turning inward, one comes to touching the unlimited source of spiritual energy.

This wholistic approach to life promotes wellness and being in touch with the inner being; it has been found very helpful as a therapy by those involved in cancer support, and those who have problems sleeping.

This Parish Mission, at St Francis Xavier Church, begins with the parish Masses on

ioners. Hospitality was extended by the parish priest of York, Fr Stephen Cooney O.Praem who made everyone most welcome Benediction, Litany, and a procession of the Blessed Sacrament and statue and banner of St Philomena were all part of the pilgrimage. Forecast heavy rain held off until after the procession had ended. Confessions were heard during this pilgrimage.

Bedford, Newman College Churchlands and Mater Dei. She is remembered by many as a teacher of excellence, particularly Religion and English, and having the ability to foster a love of learning.

More important was her great love of her pupils and her capacity to make friends and maintain a great interest in their lives long after she had moved on to another place.

The Dominicans originally came to WA from New Zealand as missionaries to the Geraldton Diocese, particularly to the Murchison Goldfields and the Midwest. Sr Declan followed in their footsteps, ministering in these far flung areas for many years.

In 2003, along with eight others, who also heard the missionary call, she celebrated her Golden Jubilee, fifty years of Religious Profession. Sr Declan, died ‘with her boots on’ as she was teaching at St Mary’s

October 4-5, then sessions on October 6 to 9, beginning at 7.30pm each evening. The areas to be covered include:

• the “life mechanism” planted in every human being

• the development of prayer and meditation to control and direct one’s “life mechanism”

• the experience of guided meditation

• “love-filled living” and its application to daily life.

For more information, contact the Parish Office - 9399 2143 Fr Justin will also conduct a weekend retreat and a day program at “Peace Be Still”, Chittering, from September 26 to 28. Contact Wendy for details - 9571 8108.

Pilgrims were also given the opportunity to venerate the relic of St Philomena and to be blessed with St Philomena’s oil from the shrine. Upcoming events include a Silent Retreat in early October in Toodyay and a Mass and dinner in honour of St Andrew the Apostle to be held in Bunbury on his feast day. Further information can be obtained from Fr Michael Rowe on 9444 9604 or rowe@webace.com.au

Tardun, just prior to her visit home. This was her second stint at St Mary’s as she had previously spent eight years there from 1992 – 2000. The call to her missionary spirit saw her volunteer to return there in 2003 to continue teaching her great loves –the Faith and English.

There are many people who are in shock, disbelief and grief at the suddenness of her death, and yet there is a sense of joy that she died among her family in her homeland where she was buried alongside her parents. Sr Declan had a great capacity for story telling and no doubt is filling heaven with her laughter and many stories, especially of ‘her boys’ at Tardun.

A Memorial Mass was held in Our Lady of the Rosary Woodlands on July 26. People had travelled from great distances to be there in a sense of sadness, and yet celebration at her final journey home to God. We shall all miss her.

Caritas Italy laments the ‘forgotten war’

Caritas-Italy criticised the relative media silence hanging over one of Africa’s bloodiest wars: the five-year Congolese conflict that has cost 3 million lives.

At the root of the conflict, which has involved Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia in supporting two adversary factions, is the struggle against groups of the Rwandan rebellion.

Another factor is the fight for control of the country’s gold, diamonds, oil and other natural resources.

“Very little is said about this war,” Maurizio Marmo, director of CaritasItaly’s African Section, told Vatican Radio. “Only those interested in Africa or in forgotten conflicts are able to find news in specialised agencies.”

Marmo said the media have reported on “some massacres and certain relevant episodes, but more in-depth information is lacking, especially an analysis and a denunciation of what is occurring.”

Caritas-Italy visited the eastern dioceses of Goma and Kindu. Despite the difficult situation, “in these weeks a government of transition has been inaugu-

rated which looks like it might be able to bring the conflict to an end,” Marmo said.

Agreements in recent years, made in Lusaka, Pretoria and Luanda, as well as the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, have ratified commitments that led to the formation of the transition government in which all parties in the conflict are represented, as well as the unarmed opposition and civil society.

Caritas has urged international institutions to exert pressure on the parties in the Congolese conflict.

“Only if a real attempt is made to bring together the diverse governments and factions to find solutions that can be shared by all can there be a possibility to establish a situation of peace for all the peoples,”Marmo said.

Confrontations and massacres still occur in the Ituri district and some in the Kivu area, he said.

However, he said, there is now some confidence that the violence will soon end, through the action of the UN Mission in the Congo, which on July 28 received a new one-year mandate from the Security Council and the authority to use force to protect civilians.

Fr Justin Belitz OFM

Pilgrims process through the streets of York with Fr Michael Rowe bearing the Blessed Sacrament.

Pope to beatify nun who saved priest from secret police

A 20th-century nun who saved a priest from communist secret police is one of two Slovaks Pope John Paul II will beatify during his Sept. 11-14 visit to Slovakia.

Holy Cross Sister Cecilia (Zdenka) Schelingova was arrested by thenCzechoslovakia’s communist regime on February 29, 1952, two years after the forced suppression of all religious orders. She was working in Bratislava, in the state hospital’s X-ray unit.

Although the charges were never published, a fellow-prisoner, Helena KordovaWildeova, testified that Sister Schelingova had described helping a hospitalised priest, Father Stefan Kostial, escape from secret police detention after giving tea laced with sleeping pills to the ward guard.

On June 17, 1952, Sister Schelingova was sentenced to 12 years in jail and 20 years’ deprivation of civic rights for treason.

However, she contracted tuberculosis from untreated wounds during the first three months of her sentence and was discharged with cancer from a Prague prison hospital April 16, 1955.

Witnesses said that Sister Schelingova had been hung naked and beaten during prison interrogations.

Sent for oncology treatment at nearby Trnava, Sister Schelingova died the following July 31, at age 39, and was buried in the town’s Old Cemetery.

In 1970, following Czechoslovakia’s Prague Spring reforms, her sentence was quashed by Bratislava’s District Court.

In 1979, when Trnava cemetery was turned into a park, her remains were exhumed with those of 11 other Catholic nuns and reburied east of the capital.

The priest, Father Kostial, escaped abroad after his hospital rescue and died in 1993.

“Zdenka succeeded, since her priest survived, although she herself died of terrible sufferings for her action,” said Slovak biographer Anton Habovstiak.

“Of course, they overturned her trial and corrected her sentence. But who can give back a life, or offer satisfaction to the dead?” he asked. - CNS

International News

Catholic news from around the world

New head of Crosiers cites spirituality as first priority

By Joseph Young

Crosier Father Glen Lewandowski, the first American to be elected master general of his order, said his new job is primarily spiritual.

“My role is to keep fresh and alive the spiritual dimension of what we’re about,” he said on August 28 in an interview with The St Cloud Visitor, St. Cloud diocesan newspaper.

Father Lewandowski, who turns 56 in October, was born in Foley and studied at the former Crosier Seminary in Onamia and at St John’s University in Collegeville, all in the St Cloud Diocese.

For the past 22 years he has been a missionary in Irian Jaya, Indonesia.

He was elected to a six-year term as master general on August 7 in Mario Campos, Brazil, during the Crosiers’ triennial general chapter. It was the first general chapter held in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Crosier Fathers and Brothers, known officially as the Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross, are a religious community of men founded in Belgium in 1210. Today, there are communities of Crosiers in Africa, Europe, Asia and North and South America.

Father Lewandowski is the 57th master general in Crosier history but the first from a country outside Western Europe.

In the interview at US provincial headquarters in Shoreview, he said administration is secondary to the spiritual dimension of what a master general does.

Spirituality first

“What makes us distinctive or unique as Crosiers is not primarily ministry, but rather living for God and service to God,” he said.

“So, therefore, we need time for prayer and contemplation, time for spiritual reading, time together in community for deepening our shared spirituality as Crosiers, and time to ponder the final end and goal of life: Why are we alive? Why were we created?”

He said, “Our basic charism is the Rule of St Augustine. We believe that before everything

Fatima past and present

The secret of Fatima has made its mark on the history of the 20th century, says the rector of the Marian shrine in Portugal.

It is “a reality which has marked the past, speaks about our present, and looks at the future of humanity,” Monsignor Luciano Guerra said when speaking on “Fatima at the Heart of History,” at the recent “Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples.”

The weeklong event was organised by the Communion and Liberation movement. Reflecting on the mystery of the Blessed Virgin’s apparitions 86 years ago, the rector said:

“Fatima is in the heart that makes the heart of history move.”

“Fatima is in the heart that makes the heart of history move.”

“Its secret is the most important for history because it speaks about war and the future,” he said.

“Since August 1917, the year of the first apparition of the Virgin, it has been at the centre of the thinking of the people and the authorities,” Monsignor Guerra said.

else God is to be loved, and then our neighbour.” St. Augustine’s rule for monastic life opens with an admonition that Christ’s command to love God and neighbour takes priority over all else. Father Lewandowski, who took his first vows as a Crosier in 1970, was ordained a priest in 1974. He earned a doctorate in theology from the University of Chicago and did graduate studies in anthropology at Wayne State University in Detroit and the University of Michigan

“There are numerous questions, starting with the authenticity of the apparitions, recounted by the three little shepherds, in face of a reality that over the past 60 years makes the content of the prophetic messages even more acute.”

Portuguese journalist Aura Miguel, an expert on the apparitions, also addressed the meeting.

“The present importance of the secret of Fatima consists in the inseparable connection that links it to the Pope,” she said.

“The link is evident between the vision of the man dressed in white who falls to the ground and the murderous attack on the Pope, who miraculously survived; it all happened on May 13, anniversary of the first apparition in Fatima,” Miguel said.

While in the hospital, John Paul II asked that all the documentation relating to Fatima be given to him.

After reading it, he realised that the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary had to take place, the journalist said.

“The year of the consecration, we witnessed the opening of Russia to the West and the fall of the Berlin Wall,” Miguel said.

The Pope then interpreted the attempt on his life as the incident that shed light on the meaning of the mystery of Fatima, which continues to be relevant.

“There are still too many Christians being persecuted, and the heart that is open to God is stronger than all the guns of the world,” Miguel concluded. - Zenit

before leaving the United States in 1981 to work at the Crosier mission in Irian Jaya. There he was a teacher, director of graduate studies and formation director at the School of Theology and Seminary in Abepura. He served as superior of the Crosiers in Irian Jaya from 1991 to 2001, when the community elected its first native superior.

“By living outside my culture,” Father Lewandowski said, “I learned respect for cultural differences.”

As master general Father Lewandowski said he will visit the Crosier communities around the world, encouraging all 460 members of the order — about 400 of them priests — to remain “deeply rooted in God.”

Although he will be based in Rome, some have remarked that a master general’s real home “is in the middle of the air across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans,” he joked.

To encourage and support Crosiers in their vocations, Father Lewandowski said it is important that “an authentic Crosier community life” be maintained — meaning that the population of any single community ought not dwindle into single figures.

Therefore, Crosier officials have discussed consolidating the present five US communities into fewer.

At present, there are 100 Crosiers based in the five communities.

“Our numbers are growing in the Southern Hemisphere but diminishing in the Northern Hemisphere,” Father Lewandowski said.

- CNS

Media unfair to Priests, says USBishops’ President

Oversaturated coverage of the Church's sexual abuse scandal has falsely painted all priests as child abusers, says the president of the US Catholic bishops' conference. While much of the reporting on the Church's problems has led to positive reforms, many of the stories have also created a false impression, Bishop Wilton Gregory said on Friday.

The reporting, he said, made it appear that ridding the world of priest abusers would eliminate all sex abuse involving minors. Instead, he said, reporters should also investigate such abuse in all facets of society, including at home.

Catechism for Soldiers

Aid to the Church in Need donated 150,000 copies of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to the military bishop of Colombia. Mgr Javier Rojas, vicar general of the military episcopacy, said the project "is very important."

He said that the military chaplaincies administer close to 100 adult-baptisms every year, some 15,000 confirmations, and an even greater number of first Communions. More than 700 soldiers die every year in the struggle against the guerrillas and drug traffickers in Colombia.

Father Glen Lewandowski, new master general of the Crosiers, admires a Crosiers staff dating back to 1653

International News

Catholic news from around the world

Celibacy is gift cherished by Church

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee wrote the following letter to his priests after 160 of them (28%) suggested celibacy should be optional for future priests

August 28, the Feast of St Augustine, was the first anniversary of my installation as Archbishop. It was a day of prayerful gratitude especially for the great priests of this archdiocese.

My admiration for them is so high, enhanced by the challenges they face at this time in the history of the church, with the sting of scandal, the burden of administration in tough economic times, the scrutiny and criticism of so many, and the increasing demands caused by declining numbers. I have said it so often to our priests that they tease me about it, but I say it again: I love them and I thank them.

I want to listen to them, and certainly have tried to do so this first year, as they have approached me individually, through the presbyteral council, at our clergy days, at district meetings, at our assembly of priests last May, and in luncheons and gatherings

I have hosted at my home. They speak to me with candour, trust, and conviction.

So, when 160 of them speak, I want to listen with special respect, interest, and attention. A few weeks ago, a letter signed by 28 percent of the priests of the archdiocese was sent to the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Most Rev. Wilton D. Gregory, expressing the opinion that the church allow optional celibacy for future can-

didates for the diocesan priesthood. I am very grateful for Bishop Gregory’s thoughtful and compelling response, and concur with it wholeheartedly.

It is most appropriate for me to weigh in now with my own observations on this exchange of correspondence.

For one, I want to clarify an important point. Some of the media reports on this issue note that I knew of this letter, implying that I was comfortable with the initiative, if not outright supportive of it. This is inaccurate. Did I know of it? The dean of the district where it first surfaced thoughtfully advised me of the initiative last December, informing me that the priests of the district did not want it to become a “district initiative”; I was then present at the priests council meeting where the three initiators of the correspondence were advised by the members that the council did not feel it appropriate to endorse or sponsor such a letter.

I was never asked my thoughts on the letter. The first time I saw it in its final form was on the pages of our local newspaper when I was on vacation. The initiators were not under any obligation to consult with me ... but I wish they would have done so.

It is a gift cherished by the church since the time of Jesus, common among the ordained from apostolic times, expected of priests from early centuries, and required of them for close to 1,000 years.

Two, the impression is often given that, as an archbishop and a so-called “Vatican loyalist,” I have to support the church’s tradition of priestly celibacy, but that my heart, as the hearts of most other bishops, is really not in it. This impression is simply wrong. I enthusiastically and confidently embrace my own celibate commitment, and believe it a providential blessing for priests and for the church.

It is a gift cherished by the church since the time of Jesus, common among the ordained from apostolic times, expected of priests from early centuries, and

required of them for close to 1,000 years. It is not some stodgy Vatican “policy” that has been “imposed,” but a gift savoured for millennia. I wholeheartedly support it, not because I’m “supposed to,” or because I reluctantly “have to,” but because I want to, and because I sincerely and enthusiastically believe it is a genuine gift to the church and her priests.

Three, the reports would have us believe that this letter is revolutionary and novel, requiring “courage” in a climate where free discussion on this issue is rare. Courage, I would propose, characterizes rather all our priests — those who signed and the 72 percent who did not — who live their celibate chastity with fidelity and joy; courage characterizes our married couples who generously and obediently live out their vows; courage is found in our young people and unmarried adults who follow the teaching of Jesus, the Bible, and the church on the beautiful virtue of chastity; courage is found in those writers — priests, religious, lay, Catholic and non-Catholic — who defend such a countercultural virtue as celibacy in a world that feels one cannot be happy or whole without sexual gratification.

The discussion over celibacy fs not new. That 28 percent of our priests ask for a recommendation of the discipline is hardly shocking, as the polls have told us this for decades. As one priest wrote me, “The problem is not that we don’t talk about optional celibacy; the problem is that we’ve talked it to death the last 40 years.”

Bishop Gregory correctly observes that the charism has been reaffirmed by all recent popes, from Blessed John XIII, Paul VI, and today, often and eloquently by John Paul II; it was extolled and renewed at the Second Vatican Council; and subsequent Synods of Bishops and individual national conferences of bishops, including our own, have accepted the teaching with conviction and gratitude.

The church, of course, listens intently to many voices, and loud voices are not lacking today.

She listens to petitions, committees, authos, advocacy groups, even columnists and editorial writers in newspapers, all free with advice.

But she first and foremost listens to Jesus, His Word, and, as my teacher and mentor Msgr. John Tracy Ellis used to say, she listens, “Not to the voice of today as much as to the voice of the centuries.” That voice — of saints, scholars, and faithful of the past — speaks eloquently in praise of celibate chastity for priests, a praise admirably echoed by the signers of the letter as well.

Four, I am very happy that Bishop Gregory invited the signers to engage in a dialogue, not about celibacy, but about some of the urgent pastoral issues that are affecting priesthood and the church today, especially the decline in vocations (characteris-

tic, as the bishop notes, not only of our Catholic Church, but also of other religious bodies who allow a married ministry), the place of religion and the church in a society that more and more acts as if it can get along just fine without God and religion, and the call for renewal in priestly life within the church. We have been doing this well in the archdiocese, but can probably do it better; this initiative may prod us to do so.

choice.

This is the spirit of hope and confidence I gratefully sense in our priests — both in those who signed and those who did not.

The problems in the church today are not caused by the teaching of Jesus and of his church, but by lack of fidelity to them.

Finally, I worry about the timing of the letter. I’m not talking here about the fact that it was released to the media before Bishop Gregory ever received it, or that it came out when I was on my announced vacation. No. I mean that this is the time we priests need to be renewing our pledge to celibacy, not questioning it.

The problems in the church today are not caused by the teaching of Jesus and of his church, but by lack of fidelity to them.

The recent sad scandal of clerical sexual abuse of minors, as the professionals have documented, has nothing to do with our celibate commitment; and the undeniable challenges of scandal, shortages, increasing work and public criticism have left a priesthood not disheartened and decimated, but — if recent studies are to be believed — on the verge of renewal.

Recall the research recently completed by the Los Angeles Times that found more than 90 percent of American priests happy, committed, and eager to do it all over again if given the

It is also obvious in our wonderful seminarians, now close to 30 strong — the largest number in years — who tell me that celibacy was actually part of the appeal of the radical call to priesthood, and who have thought long and hard about the joys and demands of this celibate vocation, having to defend it to family, friends, and even former girlfriends!

The call of Pope John Paul II, “Love for Jesus and his church must be the passion of your lives,” rings in their ears as they yearn to join the priests of this great archdiocese who have inspired their own vocations.

The most exciting invitation in Bishop Gregory’s letter is that we use this moment in the life of the church to promote the interior renewal of our priests, leading to a purified, even-more-committed priesthood.

As one priest wrote, “While I did not sign the letter, and while I am not supportive of the call for optional celibacy, I do share in the desire of my brothers to tackle head-on the array of problems facing us in contemporary ministry, especially the need for renewed holiness, joy, confidence, and faithfulness.

I conclude where I started: my brother priests, all of you those who signed the petition and those who did not — I love you! I need you! I thank you!

We have our work cut out for us.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan raises the Eucharist at his installation Mass

Reviews

The Catholic perspective on popular culture

Religion, Roman Catholics and why they’re the best

Sunday Times journalist Peter Sweeney expressed his views on 55 subjects in a book to celebrate his 50th birthday. Here is a sample.

BOY oh boy, isn’t this an argument free zone! Not. I’ve seen, and heard, more heated and noisier arguments over religion than even football, which in itself is a religion. There shouldn’t be. We all know there’s only one religionCatholicism.

Now that’s sure to get a reaction. All right, for those of you who don’t believe the Roman Catholic church is the best, then you have to admit it’s the biggest. And when you’re the most popular, you’re going to have noisy detractors and be subject to “poisoned barbs” jokes and accusations. Some of it I take as good old-fashioned fun. But much isn’t - and, in fact, is down right insulting.

I know some of their past history suggests the biggest detractors of their faith and following are Micks themselves. Many certainly haven’t practiced what they have preached - and have been bad advertisers of their product.

Without doubt, there have been many people wronged and either physically or emotionally scarred by the church - or rather, those in the church. Those with genuine claims will find their reward - even if it’s not in a monetary form. Speaking of money, one cannot help but think that in this litigious world we exist in, there are people jumping onto the ‘let’s sue-’em’ bandwagon.

I can only speak from limited experience, but not once in five years attending a Catholic boarding school (aged 13-18) did I see or hear a sexual advancement from a priest to a student. The same went for my time as an altar boy. You can always go on what you see and hear - often it’s hard to go by second hand stories.

I must declare I’m not fanatical - or don’t try to be - but my faith is very important to me. In fact, there’s nothing more important to this little fella. I’m a believer that death is not the end. I was reared in a Catholic home and wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. There were the holy pictures on the walls, rosary beads, missals and other prayer books. There was grace before meals, often the rosary at night and weekly masses. Dad was one of the strongest Micks I knew - but certainly not in an overpowering manner.

When it came to faith and believing, he led by example. Now you won’t find me in church every day (or every week for that matter), but I often pray or have a talk or quiet time with “the boss” In fact, I believe many people do - even if they don’t admit it. I think many people are too scared or embarrassed to talk of their beliefs, due to

peer group pressure. I feel people are searching for spirituality more and more. I think the way we live in this world is driving many to look for answers elsewhereto look for the real reason why we’re here. People are searching for God and the true meaning of life. There are some very moving comments in the visitors’ book in the All Denominations Chapel at Border Village, a Nullarbor post on the border of West ern Australia and South Australia. In fact, there are many moving comments in visitors’ books in chapels and churches ever ywhere. Call in and have a read.

When I’m craving emotionally, it’s church. I don’t go there to be seen. In fact, I love visiting a church or chapel (they are smaller and more intimate) when there’s nobody else, or very few, around.

was reading recently where a senior Archbishop in Ireland was concerned at how the Micks were treating many major occasions in the church.

He was of the belief many were using it as an excuse for partying and consuming too much drink. (No wonder Aussie Micks love Irish Micks). If you want the real feel of a Catholic Church then pop in to one at Christmas or Easter. The latter is the most important time in the church calendar, the former is, for want of a better term, a time for more ‘good feel’. You even get the atheists - or at least non-believers - sneaking into a midnight Mass just to soak up the atmosphere. (While on that, you rarely hear of somebody turning from religion to atheism or becoming a non-believer, but it’s quite common to hear of the reverse happening). Back to Masses and celebrations for the deceased.

This is where, in my humble opinion, the Micks stand alone. As sad as they can be, many funerals are a celebration of life. Now I realise that for various reasons, including finance and beliefs, or because they wish to scatter ashes somewhere at some special time, many people prefer cremations (even some Micks do).

My biggest disappointment with cremations is that they are over in the blink of an eye. Often you are asked to ‘move on’ from a cremation because the next one is ready to roll. And so often, the celebrant doesn’t even know the person he/she is farewelling, so it’s nigh on impossible to develop an internal feeling of warmth.

Naturally, I attend cremations. After all, it is a farewell for a loved one, or one who’s had a significant impact on your life. But nothing, I believe, tops a Requiem Mass at a funeral. It’s like ‘the works’ It’s a one-hour mass, another half hour at the cemetery and then a wake. I understand attending a wake in a church hall or private home is a personal choice.

When I’m hungry, a well done rump steak and vegies (and chips) does the trick. When I’m craving emotionally, it’s church.

Every night I kneel (provided I am capable of getting up again) at the foot of the bed and try to ‘square-up’. After all, God may take one during the night. While not being inside a church all the time, I do feel ‘empty’ if I don’t get a regular fix of Mass. When I’m hungry, a well done rump steak and vegies (and chips) does the trick.

I pay ‘a visit’ to the house on the hill (isn’t it amazing with the Micks how many churches are located on the highest point in a town or city?) because I am a very ordinary person who craves forgiveness, or just wants to pop in to say ‘hi’ or to slow down and think where I’m heading in life. I’m open-minded about all denominations and will visit their houses of wo rship. However, I’ve yet to find one as fulfilling as the Catholic Church.

There’s no doubt the Micks ‘welcome’ (birth) but more so ‘farewell’ (death) better than anybody else. There’s a real atmosphere in a Catholic Church during such a major celebration of thanksgiving - and that’s how they view a funeral. In fact, I

Drinking to the deceased doesn’t sit well with everybody. However, regardless of one’s views on a wake, it takes nothing away from the Mass. And surely the funeral, the public farewell of a person, needs no time limit. There is really only one thing about religion of which I’m certain: we don’t devote enough time, energy or importance to it. And I think that’s because we cannot, or don’t want to, see religion. I think most human beings are like the apostle Thomas - doubters.

Thomas did not believe Jesus had been resurrected until he saw the proof - the wounds. Many of us have to see something before we believe in it. Maybe if religion was right in front of our eyes, we may give it more time. Maybe it is but we selectively decide to put it into the background. Maybe we put everything to do with religion in the ‘too-hard basket’. A question on which to finish religion. Have you read the Holy Bible in full?

I feel ashamed to admit I haven’t. Sure I’ve read chunks here and there, but not the Bible in full. Somebody else obviously has, because it’s the biggest-selling book in the history of the world.

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official diary

SEPTEMBER

11 & 12Confirmation,Dianella - Mgr Thomas McDonald

12Presentation of Youth Book to Year 12s,Aranmore College - Bishop Sproxton

Confirmation Greenmount - Bishop Sproxton

12 & 13Confirmation,Lesmurdie - Mgr Tim Corcoran

12-14Visitation and Confirmation,Riverton - Archbishop Hickey

14Mass at GinGin - Bishop Sproxton

Mass and Procession for Feast Day of Maria SS del Tindari, Fremantle - Bishop Quinn

Confirmation,Bayswater - Bishop Sproxton

Confirmation,Gosnells - Mgr Thomas McDonald

16Visit Confirmation candidates,Maddington - Archbishop Hickey

Confirmation,Clarkson - Mgr Tim Corcoran

16-21 Meeting of Ecclesial Communities,Adelaide - Bishop Sproxton

17Confirmation,Woodvale - Mgr Thomas McDonald

17 & 24Confirmation,Wanneroo - Bishop Quinn

18Visit to CEO Library Team - Archbishop Hickey

19Visit to St Charles' Seminary - Archbishop Hickey

20Celebrate Mass for Marian Day,GlendaloughArchbishop Hickey

Candidacy,St Mary's Cathedral - Archbishop Hickey

21Mass for Catenian Association,St Mary's CathedralArchbishop Hickey

Mass and Procession for Feast of Maria SS Addolorata, Dianella - Bishop Quinn

Confirmation,Port Kennedy - Bishop Quinn

23Visit Mercycare Centres - Archbishop Hickey

24Parish Evangelisation Meeting,Leederville - Archbisihop Hickey

Visit Confirmation candidates,Kwinana

25Presentation of Youth Book to Year 12s,La Salle CollegeBishop Sproxton

Canning Zone of Priests - Bishop Sproxton

panorama a roundup of events in the archdiocese

Sunday September 14

ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK (EWTN)

Access 31,1 - 2 pm.In the Presence of Our Lord / Fr Benedict Groeschel (Special Eucharistic Presentation) Followed by:The Miracle of Lanciano (EWTN Gallery),of interest in relation to Mike Willesee's talk at John XXIII College,Aug 21.This powerful means of evangelisation is desperately needed.Without support,broadcasts will soon cease.The cost of putting one program to air is $300.Cooperation within parishes is requested,for instance,parishioners may each contribute $1 weekly. Direct debit is another option.Please ring 9330-1170 for enquiries.Tapes are available on loan in free video libraries.Why not start one in your parish? Bring EWTN into your home,and keep your family Catholic! Postal address:Rosary Christian Tutorial Association,PO Box 1270,Booragoon 6954.

Sunday September 14

GATE OF HEAVEN

This week On Gate of Heaven we move on to the North American Jesuit Martyr,Fr.Antoine Daniel.Our second segment features “In Persona Christi”:Bishop Bruskewitz of Lincoln,Nebraska speaking on the Priesthood.Please join us at 107.9 FM (Radio Fremantle) at 7:30 to 9:00 pm.

Monday September 15

DAY OF PRAYER - HOLY FAMILY HOUSE OF PRAYER

23 Keppell Mews,Rockingham,Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows 9am to 5pm.Phone Patty Powell on 9527 9165

Monday September 15

AN AFTERNOON WITH OUR SORROWFUL MOTHER

The St.Juliana Community of Secular Servites extend an open invitation to join their celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.Holy Mass followed by a rosary procession.Light refreshments served afterward.Celebrant:Fr Christopher M Ross OSM Venue: Servite College Chapel Time:2pm Enquiries:David 9305 9741

Wednesday September 17

FILLING MY SPIRITUAL WELL

(Ignatian Talk 3) Presenter:Murray Graham (Inigo Centre Director) Donation for Inigo.Multi-Purpose Room.John XXIII College 7.30-9.30pm.

Saturday September 20

DAY WITH MARY

Immaculate Conception Church,154 Canning Highway, East Fremantle.9am – 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,talks, rosaries,procession and Stations of the Cross.Please BYO.Any enquiries – Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate 9574 5204.

Saturday September 20

MARIAN DAY - CONTEMPLATING CHRIST THROUGH THE EYES OF MARY.

In this year dedicated to the Rosary,the Holy Father John Paul II has encouraged the promotion of the Rosary as a way to contemplate Christ through the eyes of Mary.The Focolare Movement is organizing a Marian Day from 10.00am to 4.00pm at the Little Sisters of the Poor in Glendalough.Archbishop Barry James Hickey will be celebrating Mass at 12.00pm. Presentation of the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae,testimonies and theological reflections on Mary,and artistic contributions.Special programme for children.For more information ring the Focolare centers on 9349 4052 or 6278 3425.

Tuesday September 23 ST PIO OF PIETRELCINA FEAST

4pm Holy Hour.5pm Procession and Holy Mass.Bringing a plate is greatly appreciated.Come and join in.All Saints Chapel,Allendale Square,Perth.

Tuesday September 23

SPIRITUALITY IN THE PUB

Will hold its last meeting for the year at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow Pub,Lake St Northbridge at 7.30pm. Patricia Michalka,family therapist and Michael Dillon, proprietor of Pharmacy 777 will speak.Both are involved in attitudinal healing which is a holistic way of dealing with health issues and their topic is 'Towards Joy-The Power of Forgiveness'.All welcome.

Tuesday September 23

MORE SIGHT-SINGING WORKSHOP

Fr Timothy Deeter,Director of Music at St Mary’s Cathedral,with the support of the Parish Liturgical Musicians Network will present a workshop of Sight Singing.7.30 pm – 9.30 pm,St Mary’s Parish Centre, 40 Franklin Street,Leederville.Register by Wednesday 17 September.Archdiocesan Liturgy Office,GPO Box

P1217,Perth WA 6844.Phone:9221 1548,Fax:9221 3694,Email:litrcia@nw.com.au

Thursday September 25

MOTHER’S PRAYER REFLECTION DAY

Redemptorist Retreat House,North Perth.9am to 2.45pm. The day will be conducted by Redemptorist Father Reg Ahern.Cost is by donation.BYO lunch,tea and coffee provided.Contact Veronica 9447 0671.All mothers, fathers,grandparents and children welcome.

Monday September 29

SECULAR FRANCISCAN ORDER

ST Clare and St Francis:their sense of family and teaching on spiritual growth.Come along and join with the Secular Fransicans for a retreat day with Sr Madge Karecki SSJ-TOR (Franciscan Institute of Southern Africa).Maria Isaias’House,18 Teague Street,Victoria Park,10am to 3.30pm.Tea and coffee provided.Please bring a plate to share for lunch.Enquiries:Mary 9377 7925 or Michael 9444 0352.

Wednesday October 1

FEAST OF ST THERESE

A Novena of Masses will be held in St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth,for the Holy Father’s intentions and in thanksgiving for the gift of the 25 years of his Papacy.The Mass times will be as follows:7am ,8am,9am,10am(Latin),11am, 12.10pm,1pm,2pm & 3pm.Please sign the book and send your greetings to the Holy Father for his anniversary.

Saturday October 4 – 9

FR JUSTIN BELITZ OFM

Fr Justin,Franciscan friar and author of Success:Full Living,leads a Parish Mission at St Francis Xavier Church,Armadale.The focus will be on meditation and prayer as the basis for setting goals for a balanced life, understanding one’s life mechanism,living a love-filled life.For more details,contact the Parish Office:9399 2143.Fr Justin will also conduct a retreat and one-day programme at Peace Be Still,Chittering on Sept 26-28. Contact Wendy for details – 9571 8108.

CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY

Healing Masses:1st Monday of month 7pm Church of East Fremantle,2nd Monday of month 10am St Jerome’s Munster & 3rd Monday of Month 7pm St Dominic’s Innaloo.Term 3 begins 21st July to 26th Sept for:Family & Friends Support Groups of Substance Abusers on Wednesday’s 7pm – 9pm,Substance Abusers Support Groups on Tuesday’s 5.30pm – 7.30pm & Friday’s 2pm –3.30pm & All day Group for Substance Abusers on Friday’s 10.30am – 3.30pm,Spirituality:Tuesday’s 7pm –9pm & Mass:Friday’s 7pm.

TALKS FOR IMMACULATE CONCEPTION PARISH HALL 154 Canning Hway,East Fremantle.Sept – Oct 7.15 to 9pm.1) Thursday Sept 4 – Fr Paul Baczynski – The Devil /Satan.2) Thursday Sept 11 – Paul Kelly – Abortion.3) Thursday Sept 18 – Brett Regan – Connecting Mind to God’s Power.4) Thursday Sept 25 – Paul Kelly – Creation. 5) Thursday Oct 2 – Fr Paul Baczynski – Healing Spirituality.6) Thursday Oct 9 – Brett Regan –Accountability,God’s Saving Grace.

PRAYER BEFORE THE SACRAMENT

To help people to pray more effectively before the Sacrament,Fr.Erasto Fernandez,sss has prepared a CD for private circulation only.Entitled "Present There For Us," It explains the meaning and purpose of Prayer before the Sacrament.Limited stock.First come,first served! Available at the following stores for AUD $20.00. Gatto Christian Shop,108 Wanneroo Road,Tuart Hill.Ph 9345 5700,Rich Harvest Pty Ltd,39 Hulme Court,Myaree. Ph.9329 9889.Catholics Corner,U12/64 Bannister Road, Canning Vale.Ph94561777.

COMING EVENTS AT THE SCHOENSTATT SHRINE

9 Talus Drive,Armadale Tel 9399 2349.Twilight Retreat for young people,Sept 13,3pm – 12midnight.Evening for Men,Mon,Sept 15,7.30pm.Reflection Days for Women.Conducted by Fr Ivanhoe Allies.Wed Sept 17, 9.45am to 2pm.Includes Mass.BYO shared lunch. Thurs,Sept 18,9.45am to 2pm.Consecration Day. Includes Mass.BYO shared lunch.Cost each day by donation.Inquiries 9399 2349.Pilgrim Mother Sunday Sept 21.1.30pm Talk by Fr Ivanhoe Allies,followed by Rosary Walk to the Shrine,3pm Devotions and Benediction.Afternoon Tea.Everyone welcome.At 11am Holy Mass for those who would like to spend the day at the Shrine.Weekend for Families at Jarrahdale, Sept 26-29.

The remarkable response of priests on September 11

Booklet chronicles

priests’response to terrorist attacks

By Carol Zimmermann

The body of Franciscan Father Mychal Judge, carried by firefighters amid the ash and debris of New York’s World Trade Center, has become an enduring image of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The priest, a New York City Fire Department chaplain, rushed to the twin towers the morning of the attacks and was killed by falling debris.

And as a nation still pieces together the horror of the terrorist attacks at their twoyear anniversary, more images of priests — who rushed to the scene of the destruction or ministered to countless men and women who lost loved ones — continue to surface.

For the past two years, Father Edward Burns, executive director of the bishops’ Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation, has been collecting these stories of priests on the scene at ground zero and ministering at New York City hospitals, the Pentagon and at the crash site at Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

As he sees it, these men were simply “doing what priests do best — bringing people to God and bringing God to people.”

Their stories are told firsthand in a booklet compiled by the secretariat and called “We Were There ... Catholic Priests and How They Responded.”

And, according to Father Burns, the booklet, released on August 29, “is by no means complete.” The day it was released, he was faxed another story from a priest and he is sure he will continue to receive many more.

The booklet contains first-person stories of 17 priests, most of whom were in New

York, but also of those who ministered at their home parishes or at the scene of the plane crashes in Washington and Pennsylvania.

It opens with the words of Father Kevin Smith, pastor of St. Francis de Sales in Patchogue, New York and chaplain with the Nassau County Fire Department, who made sure that Father Judge’s body was placed on the altar of nearby St. Peter’s Church.

The priest prayed in the first pew of the church where medical personnel were treating the wounded and firefighters came to pay their respects to the deceased chaplain. Before long, Father Smith knew he had to return to the site of the twin towers and help however he could.

“I heard a lot of confessions that day and many of them, including the ironworkers, were asking for a blessing when they saw me. Throughout the night I worked on the pile shoulder to shoulder with police, fire and medical rescue,” he wrote.

Father Smith was not the only priest on the scene of what was later dubbed ground zero. Priests who worked in the city or were accustomed to emergencies as police and fire chaplains rushed into the chaos to help or simply listen. And in the days immediately after, they celebrated Mass at ground zero, prayed with people and heard many confessions.

Father Jeff Ethen, a priest from the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minnesota who was vacationing in New York, joined other priests and religious at St. Vincent’s Hospital, assisting family members looking for loved ones. The next day, he and a fellow Minnesota priest were assigned to a chaplain team working with the city’s missing persons’ bureau.

Father Ethen, who said he had a “lifetime of crisis ministry in those first two days,” looked countless family members in the eyes and “told them to go home” and to

“stop looking.” He wrote that the first time he did this was tough and “it never became easier.”

Each day for two weeks after the attacks, Mill Hill Missionary Father Emile Frische, coordinator for special ministries with the New York Archdiocese, helped lead a prayer session for family members of Cantor Fitzgerald, a trading company that lost 80 percent of its employees.

He also ministered at ground zero and at one of the city morgues. But not all of his ministry involved speaking. At a morgue one night he asked a firefighter sitting on an upturned bucket if he wanted to talk. Since the firefighter didn’t feel like talking, the priest simply pulled up another upturned bucket and sat with him.

“After a good long time he got up, turned to me and said, ‘Thank you, Father,’ and left,” the priest wrote.

Many of the priests profiled in the booklet acknowledge that they were not doing anything particularly laudable, but instead fulfilling their roles as priests.

“I don’t pretend to have done anything

unusual or heroic following the events of September 11, 2001,” wrote Father John Kozar, national director for the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, who spent the week after the attacks visiting firehouses and talking to people on New York City streets.

“I feel blessed that Christ placed me in this circumstance as a priest to be able to offer consolation to those who were hurting,” he wrote.

And Father David Baratelli, chaplain of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at Newark International Airport in Newark, N.J., said that when he thinks back to that time of celebrating Masses, offering sacraments and consoling families of the dead, he cannot think of a moment more profound than “just being with God’s people in their need.”

The booklet is not being offered for sale but is available on the U.S. bishops’ Web site at: http://www.usccb.org/vocations/wewerethere.htm.

New York firefighters and rescue workers carry fatally injured fire chaplain Franciscan Father Mychal Judge from the wreckage of the World Trade Center. Photo:CNS