The Record Newspaper 12 May 2010

What a night!

Catholic Youth Ministry’s Ball 2010

THE R ECORD

the

Archbishop calls for volunteers in new Centre

Seeks

individuals to help spread the Faith and man new Evangelisation Centre

Archbishop Hickey issued this call to Catholics of the Archdiocese this week:

My Dear People,

Iam looking for help to set up an evangelisation centre which will reach out to faraway Catholics and to unbelievers.

This will involve a city-based coordinating and information centre. It will provide:

● a warm welcome to enquirers

● a reading room

● helpful resources about the Catholic Faith

● someone to talk to

● referral to RCIA groups, to parishes and to prayer groups. It will house the B J Hickey Biblical Foundation. It will also coordinate the publicity needed to attract people to know Jesus and to hear his message within the community of his followers, the Church.

This project is in its infancy. To help realise it I am looking for people of strong faith with abilities in any of the following:

● administration

● publicity and marketing

● religious writing

● IT proficiency

● finance and fundraising

● person-to-person skills

● a love for Holy Scripture

● a passionate desire to proclaim the Kingdom of God to the world.

“For years the Popes have been calling on us to evangelise the world. This part of the world is our responsibility. I call on people with some time on their hands to become involved in this mission.”

 ARCHBISHOP BARRY HICKEY

If you want to be part of this pioneering team, please write to me or call me.

For years the Popes have been calling on us to evangelise the world. This part of the world is our responsibility. I call on people with some time on their hands to become involved in this mission.

Yours sincerely in Jesus Christ

Most Reverend Barry James Hickey

Archbishop of Perth

Note: Anyone interested in responding to the Archbishop’s call for assistance can respond by contacting the Church office on: (08) 9223 1351.

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

-Bishop Matthew Gibney 

Perth,

Whitford Parish welcomes centenarian into the Church

Donald Sproxton.

A

was concelebrated by parish priests Fr Joseph Tran and Fr Arulraj Mulaguri.

Mrs Cornelia Teeuw, affectionately known as Corrie, is the first in her family to become a

Catholic but not the first to live to 100 - her father was 104 when he died, and her grandmother on her father’s side lived to be 106. Her son Alfred and his wife Eleanor, their three daughters, her Please turn to Page ???

DUTCHAUSTRALIAN lady was confirmed a Catholic at her 100th birthday Mass on 2 May at Our Lady of the Mission, Whitford parish by Perth Auxiliary Bishop

The Mass

Western Australia’s award-winning Catholic newspaper since

Parish. the Nation. the World.

A moment of joy: Cornelia Teeuw smiles during Mass at Our Lady of the Mission Parish in Whitford on 2 May. She was celebrating a century and entering the Catholic Faith, having been received into full membership of the Church by Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton. Mrs Teeuw took Blessed Mother Teresa as her patron.

PHOTO: FRANCIS TRAN

SAINT OF THE WEEK

Gentle confessor goes to God

BUNBURY Diocesan priest Fr Gaetano Crocetti, 84, three of whose sisters are Presentation nuns, died peacefully at St John of God Villa on 17 April, following his parents and sister Antonietta in having returned to their Creator.

His funeral Mass was held at the Redemptorist Monastery on 23 April, celebrated by Bunbury Bishop Gerard Holohan, Bishop Myles McKeon, retired Bishop of Bunbury and many priests of Bunbury Diocese and Perth Archdiocese.

Perth Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton presided, representing the Archbishop.

The eulogy was given by colleague Fr Noel Fitzsimons from the Bunbury Diocese.

Fr Fitzsimons said in his eulogy: “Fr Gaetano was for most of his life a wonderful companion, gentle confessor, great joke teller, especially on the golf course in the endeavour to put you off your game, and a generous host at his presbytery when his mother was cooking.”

In his later years he was battling with illness and became more reserved and introspective, Fr Fitzsimons said.

priests. In 1963, Fr Gaetano was called upon to serve the parish of Gnowangerup, until Fr Fitzsimons was appointed there in 1966.

Fr Gaetano went to Italy with his mother in 1965 and met for the first time all the extended Crocetti family. It was a wonderful reunion and Fr Gaetano had the happiest memories of that holiday and of the several months he spent touring Ireland on a motor scooter.

His next appointment was to Lake Grace from 1968-1972, and this coincided with the appointment of Bishop Goody to Perth Archdiocese and of Bishop McKeon to Bunbury. The parish had eight or nine Mass centres. His mother was his housekeeper and a wonderful cook.

At the death of Fr Tom O’Neill, Fr Gaetano was called to the Chancery Office in Bunbury, the most difficult call of all. He had to do accounts and “mountains” of office work, for which he had no training. There were no computers, email, faxes or photocopiers to help him.

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He was born in Penne, Italy, and came to Australia in 1934 when he was eight years old, with his family. His father had come to Australia some years earlier and established himself and purchased a small home for the family in Beverley during the Depression.

Fr Gaetano was educated by the Presentation Sisters at their convent in Beverley.

In 1942, at the age of 16, he entered the newly-established St Charles Seminary as a foundation student, having been tutored in Latin by his parish priest, Fr – later Monsignor – Maurice Giles. He also had to overcome his father Guiseppe’s natural desire to keep the family name perpetuated, as Gaetano was his only son.

After completing his philosophy course at Guildford, he studied Theology at Manly and was ordained in 1951. His first posting was as assistant to Fr John O’Mahony at Wagin, with sometime assistance to Fr Giles at Narrogin. His next posting was to Shenton Park and Mgr Collins, for six months. He was next appointed as assistant priest at Manjimup, less than two months before the Diocese of Bunbury was excised from Perth, in December 1954. He was one of the founding fathers of the Bunbury Diocese.

In 1956, he was posted to Bunbury, where he spent the next seven years, during which time his father died.

Mrs Concetta Crocetti then purchased the house in Mosman Park opposite Iona Presentation Convent, where her two eldest daughters had entered the convent. She and youngest daughter Josephine were engaged as housekeepers at the Bunbury presbytery, much to her son’s delight and the benefit of the Bishop and

He served in the office for eight years, as well as looking after South Bunbury, exacting a heavy price on his health, Fr Fitzsimons said.

In 1980, his mother Concetta died after being struck by a car in Bunbury. He had lost his confidante and best and most loyal friend.

Fr Gaetano served in the parish of Harvey for over 10 years before retiring through ill-health to the family home in Mosman Park, then St John of God Villa. His beloved sisters, Sr Immaculata, Sr Maria and Sr Emmanuel - the latter two were born in WA - were his ministering angels and a great comfort to him in his illness.

“If any priest deserved the highest accolade for steadfast and selfless service to the Diocese of Bunbury, Fr Gaetano would be my nomination,” Fr Fitzsimons said.

Nuns lead youth in Lake Monger walk for chastity

A GROUP of 13, including Srs Marie Bernarde, Velonica and Catalina of the Little Sisters of the Poor, walked around Lake Monger on 1 May praying four Rosaries for chastity.

The ‘Red, White and Blue’ Rosary for Chastity initiative was organised by the youth of St Bernadette’s parish church in Glendalough (SBG). Each decade had a specific intention - the first decade was for all mothers and unborn babies; and sub-

sequent decade intentions were included for all singles, that they may find their vocation; for chastity among young people; for chastity among married couples; for the Pope, all priests and Religious, and all seminarians and postulants.

The youth of St Bernadette’s parish in Glendalough will walk around Lake Monger praying for chastity every First Saturday from 3.45pm-5pm. Each month they will honour a particular saintly role

model of chastity. This month is in honour of St Joseph the worker, while June will be devoted to St Don John Bosco. Contact st.bernadettesyouth@gmail.com for more info.

● Fr Hugh Thomas CSsR and Glendalough parish priest Fr Doug Harris left for a 60-day Indonesian mission trip on 30 April. Fr Hugh is leading diocesan priest retreats while Fr Doug is promoting perpetual adoration.

Mourning the unborn

BY GLYNNIS GRAINGER

A REMEMBRANCE walk and rally for life will start at St Mary’s Cathedral at 7pm on 25 May with an address by Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey.

Walkers will remember the 100,000 children killed by abortion in WA since May 1998, when the Acts Amendment (Abortion) Act 1998 was given the Royal Assent and commenced operation.

Participants will pause outside Government House in St George’s Terrace for a prayer of repentance and intercession for our State.

Outside the Premier’s Office (Governor Stirling Tower), speakers will declare the resolve of all of us to bring an end to the injustice of abortion.

At Parliament House, prolife Members of Parliament will address the rally, which is expected to conclude shortly after 9pm.

Electric candles will be distributed to all participants as well as “precious little feet” badges as a memento of the occasion.

A collection will be taken up to defray the costs of the rally and to assist the work of the Coalition for the Defence of Human Life.

Inquiries to Dwight Randall, telephone 9344 7396, or Richard Egan, telephone 0416 148008, or email lifewa@q-net.net.au. Donations to the CDHL will help them to continue to work with prolife MPs in both the State and Commonwealth parliaments to oppose the killing of innocent human beings by embryo destruction, cloning, abortion or euthanasia. Donations can be posted to PO Box 945, Claremont WA 6010.

More walking, less talking in prisons

BY GLYNNIS GRAINGER

GOOD Shepherd Sister Marie O’Malley has been working for marginalisd women in a prison ministry that has been ongoing for 29 years.

Sr O’Malley, a foundation member of the ministry which includes nuns and priests, has been a nun for 59 years since she was professed as a Religious and has spent much of her time as a teacher.

“We developed special skills when we had young women in residence,” she said.

“(Once) we had women and girls in Leederville in residence. We gave that property (Leederville) to the Archdiocese and the school had to move until we got the property at Lathlain – St Clare’s School.

“Three Sisters visit Bandyup Women’s Prison in Midland and Mercy Sister Maura Kelleher visits Boronia Prison in Bentley.”

She began in 1981 – there were no Sisters involved at that time but there really wasn’t anyone in chaplaincy, she remembers.

Sr Barbara Davis, her Superior, recognised there was no visiting at Bandyup – she used to attend any calls, and it took some time for her to get approval from the Archbishop, Launcelot Goody at the time. She managed to get permission to do that and she was called “our Provincial” and had to go back to Melbourne. So Sr O’Malley took over from her.

The main prison was Fremantle, where an Oblate priest was chaplain. Initially, a priest from Guildford used to go there and Jesuit Fr John Harte SJ did occasional visiting. Fr John Tory took over. In about 1984 the men had regular visits; they had a regular Mass every week at Bandyup, which continued through till about 1988.

“All denominations used to come and we made everybody welcome,” Sr O’Malley said. “We had different priests come and say Mass,

then Fr Harte used to say Mass at Bandyup every second Sunday, with an Anglican priest saying a service every second Sunday.

“It has developed quite a lot since then, with the Uniting Church starting sometime in the 1990s and then the chaplain came.

“Now we have three churches visiting one day a week with alternative services on a Sunday.

“We offer mainly listening, itself a form of counselling - a somewhat supportive role.

“It is just a matter of greeting women week after week. We try to be there when women come in initially – they are usually a bit dazed (and we) follow them through their sentence.

“We say prayers and sometimes they may talk about a bereavement, or ask for a blessing. Mainly it is just a supportive, encouraging role, enabling them to assess a current situation – to believe in themselves and feel there is always hope.

“We offer spiritual counselling and we pray with them whenever appropriate.

“‘Encouragement and support’ are two words that come back to me.

“It is a very valuable experience. It has been one of the more important purposes of my life as a person

and as a Religious. There is a high percentage of indigenous people, which is sad in a way.

“Fr Peter Toohey says Mass once a month. One of us Sisters do a paraliturgy or Communion service: Loreto Sr Marg Finlay, Sister of Our Lady of the Mission Sr Veronica Martin, and Sr Maura Kelleher.

“For us as Good Shepherd Sisters, (the) prison ministry is what we see ourselves to be, particularly working with the marginalised, particularly women.”

Sr Marie is originally from Victoria. The Perth Good Shepherd community has 12 nuns.

The Home of the Good Shepherd provided alternative care to women and girls instead of going to prison. That is why the Sisters came to Australia in the first place, she said.

“We did a lot of youth and family work in a very developed way,” she said. “The Sisters are becoming fewer (and) we are using lay partners working with us and keeping the work going.”

Oblate Fr Dave Shelton, who is heavily involved in prison chaplaincy in the Archdiocese of Perth, told The Record that, “aware of the plurality of Christian and non-Christian Religious repre-

Though ‘unworthy’, Francisco endures

BY GLYNNIS GRAINGER

IN this, the Year for Priests, Santa Clara parish priest Fr Francisco Mascarenhas celebrated 30 years of priestly ordination on 2 May in Bentley.

More than 200 people joined in the party after the special 10am Mass, celebrated by Fr Francisco, and offered pro populo

“What we are celebrating today is not about me but about priesthood,” he said in his homily.

“Celebrating a day of the priest, and coming from you people is truly ‘a shot in the arm’.”

Christ is the only priest, he said, and “into that priesthood he has given us all a sharing”.

“We all are priests in a way. Here I am, one who shares in the ministerial priesthood of Christ – we can make present the Eucharist here for you,” he said.

“It is only a gift and I accept that with great humility. It came from my parents and also from my primary school – some of the missionaries came from the north of India and they influenced me.

“That really touched me and remained with me. I am far away from my place (Goa) and doing the mission that Jesus has given to me.

“In Kalgoorlie, it came to me that this was my dream, even though it happened here in Australia.

“There were 10 of us ordained together

– two at a very young age have passed away (and) one has decided to leave the priesthood.

“The Lord has kept us together, working in his vineyard. I am not worthy to be in this priesthood.

“Today, I am here working as a shepherd. I hope I am a good shepherd. I try.”

Fr Francisco has worked with people with mental and physical disabilities – an experience he says has “really brought me down to earth. We think we are smart and sweep our mistakes under the rug”.

“People with disabilities do get involved in whatever way they can,” he said.

“Thank you very much and God bless you for accepting me as I am with all my faults and failures. God bless.”

Parishioner Paul Lwin put together a short video of Fr’s life in pictures.

Fr Francisco was born on 1 February 1954 and was ordained on 1 May 1980 in Goa, Western India.

In 1992, he was in Washington DC and came to Australia in 2005, working with people with disabilities in both places. In 2005, he was in Kalgoorlie-Boulder as assistant priest, went prospecting and found gold. He went back to Goa in that year for his 25th anniversary of ordination.

From 2007-08 he was parish priest at Mirrabooka.

This year Fr Francisco visited the Holy Land with a group of priests.

Fr Francisco thanked all who helped organise this special day and people from other parishes who visited.

He was presented with a special TV service to enable him to watch soccer and other sports and may get a new DVD.

in brief...

sented both in the wider community and the prison environment, we endeavour to work in close cooperation with ministers and religious representatives from other Christian and non-Christian denominations”.

“We are aware of the constrictions of age and social control which exist in prison, while making ourselves available to all who wish to respond and confide in us,” Fr Shelton said.

“As representatives of the Church, we affirm by our words and actions the power of the Spirit, One greater than ourselves, to heal the wounds.

“Relations are the keys to both social and religious wholeness and how we attempt to create and nourish them are crucial to our credibility and effectiveness.

“We walk the walk rather than talk the talk, showing by deed that religion is not about being judges or so heavenly-minded as to be of no earthly use.

“Our clientele live in a real world often filled with a great deal of dysfunctionality.

“It is part of our task to show that Jesus belongs there, to provide first of all friendship and then hopefully, healing and wholeness.”

Fr Shelton said that the work of

Good Grief coming to South Perth MacKillop convent

NATIONAL Director of Good Grief, Josephite Sr Mary Ellen O’Donohue RSJ, will present a talk on Mary MacKillop:

chaplains is done in the following manner:

● To affirm people in a Christlike manner and provide them an opportunity to grow in self-knowledge and expand their spiritual awareness.

● To extend this unconditional acceptance of them so that there is an opportunity of healing fractured relationships with family and those affected by their actions.

● Out of acceptance of themselves and of a Power which can achieve more than they would dare to dream, there arises an opportunity to face their own woundedness and the hurt that they have inflicted on others.

● To offer a journey of reconciliation for those who feel shame and alienation from family and mainstream society. This implies we create links whilst they are in prison and ongoing support using Church networks in their initial attempts to integrate in society after their release from prison.

● To offer those spiritual ways of literature and symbols which inmates seek in their ongoing search for wholeness and healing.

● To provide appropriate Church services at regular times for all who wish to attend so that they can express their faith in a communal way, receive affirmation from each other and especially on those occasions when events such as death impact very heavily on them.

● Affirm the role of other professionals such as psychologists, counsellors, medical staff and prison officers in our pastoral care and strive for a harmonious and cooperative relationship with them for the ultimate benefit of the clients. We must walk on a communal search with those people and not short circuit the process of seeking, questioning and eventually finding satisfactory answers to their needs.

● Chaplains are always available for prison staff who require the need for chaplaincy services.

Living Through Life’s Challenges - A Study in Loss and Grief at 7pm on Wednesday, 19 May at the convent in South Perth.

It will be held at the Mary MacKillop Spirituality Centre, 16 York Street, South Perth at a cost of $10 donation.

Good Grief Ltd builds resilience in and brings hope to children, young people and adults who have experienced significant change, loss and grief.

All are welcome and inquiries can be made to Sr Dora Maguire, telephone 08 9477 4192, email: wacoord@goodgrief.org.au.

Sr Marie O’Malley

Fr David Shelton OMI ushers a prisoner to venerate the World Youth Day Icon at Hakea Prison.

PHOTO: ANTHONY BARICH

THE

Law and order goes beyond superficial

BY ANTHONY BARICH

A STAR-studded Law and Order forum at the University of Notre Dame Australia will counter the “superficial”, media-driven debate on crime in Western Australia, its organiser says.

Hosted by ABC Radio’s Geoff Hutchison, the 29 May forum at UNDA’s Drill Hall in Fremantle will include WA Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan, WA Chief Justice Wayne Martin, Nyoongar elder Dr Noel Nannup, Broome Bishop Christopher Saunders, Malcolm McCusker QC and The West Australian journalist Colleen Egan.

The inaugural event’s keynote speaker is South Australia’s Commissioner for Social Inclusion, Monsignor David Cappo.

Forum organiser, UNDA Politics lecturer Martin Drum, told The Record that “often law and order is debated on a superficial level; we think it’s time people hear a more in-depth discussion, as it’s always been an issue people are personally concerned about”.

“When it comes to crime, public debate is all about how long we should lock them away for, when it should be about why are they committing the acts, what are the

causes and the effects of public policies. General news will show another place that’s been broken in to or another misbehaviour in Northbridge, when instead we

should be discussing whether our response is a long-term one,” he said.

Dr Drum said that, in the interests of fostering social justice and discussing ways to make the community fairer and more equitable, it is the responsibility of the Catholic university to engage the broader community in meaningful public debate in issues of importance to it.

While UNDA politics students, politicians and people from the law fraternity are expected to attend, the forum is open to the public.

A specialist panel chaired by Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt will discuss crime prevention and juvenile crime, with WA Office of Crime Prevention associate director David Wray outlining the State Government’s policies in this area. Curtin University Associate Professor Tony Butler of the National Drug Research Institute will discuss his research on the effects of drugs and their relation to the causes of crime. WA Children’s Court Magistrate Deen Potter will discuss why youth

fall foul of the law and the best approach to remedying it.

Also on this panel is Alex Cassie, a youth who formed the Search For Your Rights Movement in protest against the WA Government’s controversial stop and search powers legislation which Premier Colin Barnett introduced last year to help combat the increase in crime and anti-social behaviour. She will also discuss online networking as a resource to mobilise protest support.

A specialist panel devoted to sentencing and indigenous incarceration chaired by UNDA Dean of Law Jane Power will include Dr Drum, Dr Nannup, WA Children’s Court Judge Denis Reynolds and Murdoch University’s Dr Dot Goulding from the Prison Reform Group of WA who researched the area and worked with prisoners.

The main feature is a highpowered panel chaired by Mr Hutchison discussing broadranging issues, including Bishop Saunders, Mr Egan, Chief Justice Martin, Mr McCusker QC and Police Commissioner O’Callaghan.

St Michael fighting for the faith of families with Mary

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BY ANTHONY BARICH

ST

MICHAEL’S

Catholic Primary School in Bassendean hopes a new initiative of placing a statue of Mary in each classroom will help re-evangelise parents and bring them back to Mass.

The initiative by Bassendean parish priest Fr Jim Shelton also saw each of the 235 students receiving a set of Rosary beads, which were produced by two Perth Vietnamese women as part of a global network of Rosary-makers.

All school students gather twice a week to pray a decade of the Rosary – a practice Fr Shelton hopes will inspire them to take it home to promote family prayer.

“The older generations go to Mass, but there is a whole generation missing there, and hopefully this will help reconnect them with their faith, and Mary,” Fr Shelton said.

School principal Laurie Bechelli, who took over this year after three years as principal of St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Northampton in the Geraldton diocese, said it is an important way to bridge the gap between the school and its adjacent parish, St Joseph’s.

“We’re reaching out to school families to encourage them to become involved in the parish and come back to Mass,” Mr Bechelli said. “Prayer is such an important part of a student’s formation.”

Each classroom has a prayer table, on which sits a white statue of Mary. The women who made the sets of Rosary beads – Nuong Nguyen and Ha Huynh – are members of Marian apostolates in the Archdiocese, and ordered the beads from Kentucky-based Our Lady of Rosary Makers, which are famous throughout the United States for creating and teaching how to make Rosaries.

Ha Huynh’s older sister Sa Huynh, based in Williamsburg, Virginia, in the US, has with her sister been making Rosaries for Catholic missions.

Having made thousands of sets of Rosary beads, they mobiise their forces together whenever anyone in Australia or the US needs a large consignment of Rosary beads. They have already provided sev-

eral parishes and schools in Perth with Rosaries.

Nuong Nguyen said that whenever Mary appeared in Fatima and Lourdes, Our Lady asked the world to pray the Rosary, “so it must be important”.

“If the Mother asks for it to be done, we just do it. So let’s promote what Our Lady wants, and become her instrument,” said Nuong, who supports the Marian Movement of Priests.

Ha Huynh, who is with the Vietnamese Catholic Community’s Legion of Mary, said that when she first started making them it was a struggle, but praying during the process helped her in a tangible way.

“When I first started I sometimes prayed to Mary ‘please help me finish these so I can finally get to bed’, but once it’s learned, it gets easier,” she said. They now take 15 minutes each to make.

Both Ha Huynh and Nuong Nguyen are happy to teach priests, teachers or lay people from throughout the Archdiocese who want to learn. They can be contacted on 08 9382 2236.

JohnHughes

JOHN HUGHES

University of Notre Dame politics lecturer Martin Drum is interviewed by the ABC.

PHOTO: COURTESY UNDA

A statue of Mary sits in a classroom at St Michael’s Catholic Primary School, one of a number of new initiatives to helps bring children and their parents back to the Church.

Nuong Nguyen and Ha Huynh with just some of the sets of Rosaries they have made for parishes, schools and communities as part of a global movement.

PHOTO: ANTHONY BARICH; PHOTO AT RIGHT COURTESY OF BASSENDEAN PARISH

BY GLYNNIS GRAINGER

FORMER Anglican priest Fr

Fr Geoff Beyer

CEO urges peers onto streets

CHAMBER of Commerce and Industry WA chief executive James Pearson is urging other industry leaders to join him for a long, cold and uncomfortable night’s sleep as a participant in the 2010 Vinnies CEO Sleepout, a major fundraising event of the St Vincent de Paul Society on 17 June in all capital citys around Australia.

WA’s SVDP, which is hosting theirs at the WACA, is aiming to attract more than 100 CEOs, business and community leaders and raise over $1.5 million nationally to go directly towards the ongoing provision of Vinnies’ homeless services across the country. Other participants include Suzanne Ardagh, WA State manager of Australian Institute of Company Directors, John Poulsen, managing partner of Minter Ellison and the Hon Fred Chaney AO, board director and chairman of Reconciliation Australia and Desert Knowledge Australia. Mr Pearson has chosen to experience homelessness firsthand for one night and gain a fresh insight on this serious issue which will effect change in social opinions amongst industry leaders.

“Most of us take for granted having a roof over our head, a hot meal and a shower, and a warm bed to sleep in at the end of a long day. Sadly, not everyone enjoys these simple things in life. There are many Western Australians who are doing it tough. I’ve risen to the challenge as it is one small way I can help to make people aware of homelessness and encourage them to do something about it,” he said, adding that it’s important for WA’s community leaders, including business, to find ways to reduce homelessness, “especially when the State is gearing up for a new wave of economic growth”.

To register for the CEO Sleepout visit www.ceosleepout.org.au.

Geoff Beyer, 77, now retired, is one of the few married priests in the Archdiocese and has been a Catholic priest for 41 years.

He retired in 2006 after 11 years as parish priest at St Joseph Pignatelli Church in Attadale where his wife of 54 years, Dorothy, joined the Catholic Women’s League. She is currently Archdiocesan president and State Treasurer of the CWL in WA.

Born in Cottesloe, he was the only child of a father of German parentage – who became naturalised before WW1 - and an Australian-born mother.

After leaving UWA with a Science degree, he went into Public Health pathology and a short time with the Department of Agriculture. Then he studied for a Dip Ed at UWA and Claremont Teachers’ College and trained to be a high school teacher. In 1956, he married Dorothy and their daughter Valery was born that year. From 1957-61 he taught at Narrogin Agricultural

High School, a town where their three sons Stephen, David and Mark, were born. They returned to Perth and Fr Beyer went to Wollaston College at City Beach and completed his Licentiate in Theology, much of which he had studied before externally.

In 1963, he went back to Narrogin as a curate with his family, as the Anglican community there had supported him when he was in college. The next year he became Rector at Kojonup for four years, and the children went to a Catholic school there.

In 1967, they left and came up to Perth. “I had already received dispensation from celibacy from Bishop Goody to be ordained,” he said.

He was able to get a teaching position at St Louis School teaching science and maths.

In 1968, the whole family were received into the Church by the then Archbishop Launcelot Goody. In October, 1969, aged 36, Fr Beyer was ordained with the late Fr John Lisle and Fr Rodney Williams, all married priests. He stayed at St Louis’ to the end

of 1973, then was appointed Armadale parish priest where he spent 10 years, then 11 years at Karrinyup and 11 years at Attadale. For their 50th wedding anniversary on 4 February 2006, Fr Beyer and Dorothy received a Papal Blessing from Pope Benedict XVI.

After he retired, Fr Beyer completed a degree at Notre Dame in Theological Studies, which he started before he retired.

He and Dorothy have six grandchildren, aged from 11 to 29.

For over 30 years, he has been involved in the Matrimonial Tribunal, where he is a judge.

He said: “Again it is pastoral, dealing with people who have a failed marriage and want to do better next time.

“I must have heard every possible combination of circumstances that cause a marriage to break down. I am fortunate to have such a happy marriage myself.

“I gave my biretta recently to (Perth Archdiocesan Latin Mass community chaplain) Fr Michael Rowe. I wore it when I was an Anglican priest.”

Building the Future

Cultural differences a challenge, not burden

Indian-born priest in Perth Archdiocese says cultural differences between East and West enhance his priesthood, are not a hindrance

BY ANTHONY BARICH

THE cultural differences overseas-born and trained clergy must overcome are far from insurmountable and enrich their priesthood, Kalamunda parish priest Fr Paul Raj told The Record

Speaking after The West Australian quoted Vicar General Mgr Brian O’Loughlin on 5 May as saying overseas-born and trained priests can pose difficulties as they have a more spiritual outlook than their Western counterparts, Fr Raj, born and ordained to the priesthood in southern India, said the differences between the way parishes function in poorer countries and Australia are “very great”.

However, Fr Raj, who was ordained in Chennai in 1982 and lived as a priest in the Diocese of Tanjore for six years before coming to Perth, said clergy are “put up on a pedestal” culturally, are more isolated from their congregations and are not used to women having such prominent roles on parish councils. He added, however, that these situations are changing back in India even now.

Mgr O’Loughlin told The Record that, “by and large, Australians are laid back, and priests and the people mix with familiarity; while some priests from other countries may expect to be more on a pedestal and be almost part of a ‘clerical caste’, whereas the great missionary contribution of priests in Australia is that priests and people work together and shoulder the load together”.

“Some other priests would be more inclined to run the parish from the presbytery and expect people to come to them when they’re summoned, whereas here we engage in pastoral work as a service and there’s a familiarity,

but I don’t see these differences as very major.

“But if people are not made aware of the way parish life is conducted here then they can cause minor problems,” he said.

“If they expect that an Australian parish would be the same as a village in India or Africa, there are major differences they need to focus on.”

Fr Raj, who has been in Australia for 21 years and was incardinated into the Archdiocese of Perth 15 years ago, agreed with these assessments of parish life in countries with rampant poverty like India.

However, the cultural obstacles were merely challenges to be met by Fr Raj, who was “looking forward to learning new things –that’s why I came here”, he said.

He was only meant to visit Perth for two years, then return to India with a different perspective that would enhance his ministry back home, but loved it so much he stayed on.

In India, he said, poor people rely on material and spiritual help from priests and wait at his presbytery for aid. This lies in stark contrast to Australia where ”we have to meet the people, who still depend on priests for spiritual guidance”.

“The more you go out to them, the more they’re hospitable. I’ve been really enjoying mixing with local associations, I feel comfortable to reach out; it helps me learn,” he said.

He said it is easy for priests to live an easy life, but there is always much work to be done engaging

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with people, organising social and spiritual events and building up their faith community, which he thoroughly enjoys doing.

Mgr O’Loughlin said overseasborn and trained priests may also not be used to women holding positions on the parish board.

Fr Raj says this is true, but in some cases parish councils or even secretaries don’t exist, as parishes are a one-man show, except maybe for an accounts person and maybe a Legion of Mary or other pious association helping him.

“In my time, women couldn’t even stand up and read at Mass in India, but now lots of nuns are getting more involved in parishes, giving communion.

“Women weren’t involved in parish councils, there’s not even a parish secretary. Priests, with the help of some accountants, run the parish. There may be parish councils, but women are not part of it. Sometimes the Legion of Mary and other pious associations are involved, though.” He appreciates the collaborative effort in Australian parishes with lay people – “without them I’m lost”, he said.

Priests are also under more pressure in India, he says, as people are always at his presbytery, as opposed to Australia where “people respect our privacy more”.

Fr Raj, 55, has served at Brentwood-Willetton, Highgate, Gin Gin-Chittering, Bindoon College (where he learned to play football), Spearwood and Kwinana, where he built the parish church and school, and is also a part-time Navy chaplain.

Catholic

Priest appeared to have a breakdown: VG

BY ANTHONY BARICH

THE overseas-born Perth priest who reportedly told a mentally and physically disabled girl to walk during a Sunday Mass needs prayers as it appears he had suffered a breakdown, Vicar General Mgr Brian O’Loughlin said. On 2 May, he picked up the girl – who was from the same continent as him – from her chair and placed her on the altar and anointed her with oil in an attempted healing. A witness told The Record the girl reacted badly and was screaming.

The witness told The Record that the mother was not crying, as The West reported, but testified that her daughter had shown signs of movement for the first time in years. Mgr O’Loughlin told The Record that the incident caused some parishioners to become alarmed; “some left, others were in tears; it was traumatic for the parish. Our first concern is that he gets the care and that his needs and those of the parish are addressed”.

Speaking to The Record after The West Australian paraphrased him on 5 May as saying that there had been difficulties with overseas-born and trained priests as they have a more spiritual outlook than Westerners who are more logical, Mgr O’Loughlin said that while The West’s report was “misdirected”, he was grateful it did not name the priest or parish or publish photos it had taken at the parish.

“My reaction to the daily paper was to say this wasn’t something that’s regularly part of our Sunday Mass; this was the action of a priest who was under pressure and it’s not something we’d countenance,” Mgr O’Loughlin said.

“Parishes often have anointing of the sick and it would be

advertised; sick would come to receive the anointing - it’s a wonderful way of recognising the compassion of our Saviour and responding to sickness through the Sacrament of the Church.

“This seemed to be (the priest’s) response to what he saw as a need at the time, but to my mind was an imposition on the family and on the whole congregation, and thus we wouldn’t countenance it.”

He said that a psychologist likened the priest’s state at the time as “that of a person experiencing a breakdown”.

However, the Monsignor said he took exception to “the fact that this was imposed on the regular Sunday congregation, and that’s where the lack of balance has come in”. “We all know the healing ministry of Christ our Saviour; the Gospels are replete – and also the Acts of the Apostles – with healings that took place,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to belittle healing but while it has a place, we need to rely on ordinary means, so if one is sick you go to the doctor and you can pray you’ll be cured but you don’t ignore the medical help as God expects us to use ordinary means. In addition to that, we can turn to God in prayer, ask for comfort and pray for health of the sick.”

Mgr O’Loughlin affirmed to The Record that overseas-born priests were “in no way” a problem, but were an invaluable asset, especially with increasingly multi-cultural congregations.

On 5 May he wrote to all priests in the Archdiocese advising “that our brother priest is sick and has taken leave”, inviting prayers and announcing a programme of counselling for the parish’s congregants by Centacare. He also addressed the parish’s Vigil and main Sunday Masses over 8-9 May.

A Religious priest has been appointed administrator of the parish, while its former priest is being assessed and is recovering in a mental health clinic and has accepted the advice of Vicar for Clergy Fr Brian McKenna’s direction to step down from parish duties.

Edmund Rice Centre pans ad

THE Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) has called for the Federal Liberal Party’s television advertisement on asylum seekers broadcast in WA and Queensland on 9 May to be withdrawn.

Fr Bob Faricy

Condemning both sides of politics who “make the mistake of confusing border protection with dealing with the issue of asylum seekers”, ERC Director Phil Glendenning said the advertisement campaign is a prime-time attack on asylumseekers, and “can only be regarded as another low in Australian politics”.

Against the background of a small asylum-seeker boat in open ocean, the ads show a map upon which five large red arrows stream towards Australia from the north-west – with the arrows bearing the names Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.

“This playing of the race card ignores the facts of the matter: that Australia receives only 1.6 per cent of global applications for asylum in industrialised countries; that an Afghan asylum seeker is four times more likely to apply for protection in Norway than in Australia; and that the end of the war in Sri Lanka does not mean peace – especially for the Tamil minority,” Mr Glendenning said in a statement released on 10 May.

Kalamunda parish priest Fr Paul RajVicar General Mgr Brian O’Loughlin

Western Tradition to be unlocked at Campion

BY ANTHONY BARICH

CAMPION College, Australia’s first Liberal Arts college in the Catholic tradition, will launch a new Centre for the Study of Western Tradition to clarify the link between teaching and research, facilitate dialogue with other academic institutions and encourage its students to participate in research.

The Centre, to be launched during semester early next year at the College’s Old Toongabbie campus, will be devoted to research in the ‘humane studies’ that characterise Western civilisation and culture, including European, GraecoRoman, Byzantine and Near Eastern traditions.

It will encourage critical reflection and research on the history, literature, languages, philosophy and theology that characterise Western civilisation and culture, in order to raise the profile of these “vital” disciplines in Australian tertiary education, according to the Centre’s draft terms of reference. These integrated humane studies evolved from the classical and medieval Liberal Arts, including European, Græco-Roman, Byzantine and Near Eastern traditions.

“They remain an essential key to a rich understanding of Australian culture and society, including our ideals of democracy, our Enlightenment heritage, our Christian-oriented past, our multicultural identity, and the classical underpinnings of our education,” the terms of reference said.

“During the past generation, the

epicentre of Australian academic interest has shifted very distinctly towards Asian and Indigenous studies. The Centre fully recognises the rightness and appropriateness of that, given Australia’s geographical placement in the world, but insists on the need to affirm the equal importance of the traditional humanities within the ecology of our nation’s collective intelligence.

By adopting a broad scope, the Centre avoids the trappings of focusing too narrowly on the methods and ideals of one discipline. Instead, it aims to draw attention to the inter-disciplinary foundations of scientia, ie the knowledge that we seek in our interaction with the world and in the canons of Western tradition which are promoted in all branches of scholarship.”

The Centre’s research themes will include:

● Christianity in Australia

● The Emergence of the Medieval World View through the Scholarly Examination of Primary Sources in the Original Language

● Liberal Education in the Twenty-First Century

● The Development of European Scientific Thought

● The Conceptualisation of Democracy and Freedom in the West.

The Centre will host its first workshop on ‘History of the Liberal Arts and its Relevance to Tertiary Education Today’ on 3 December this year.

The workshop will examine what recent trends in tertiary education – including ‘the Bologna Modal in Europe and ‘the Melbourne Model’ in Australia - mean for modern universities and will explore the premise that liberal studies should form the foundation of moves towards broad-based undergraduate degrees, before students enter into post-graduate and vocationally-oriented programmes.

The Centre will stage a seminar series, annual conferences and student symposia.

Luciano Boschiero, Vice Dean of Campion College, history professor and Centre coordinator, told The Record that, to start with, Campion College hopes the opening workshop on Liberal Arts will gauge how other academics, journalists and commentators rate the place of Liberal Arts in tertiary education. Students will also be invited to participate in symposia from next year.

Catholics seek reassurance on hospital reform

THE Federal Government has given a guarantee to Catholic Health Australia (CHA) that no Catholic hospitals will be worse off under the Commonwealth’s proposed health reforms.

The Government has also assured the group that the ethical independence of Catholic hospitals will be maintained, CHA chief executive Martin Laverty said after the bi-monthly meeting of the CHA Board of Directors in Brisbane last month.

Describing several positives in the proposed reforms, Mr Laverty nevertheless warned of problems ahead if the Government puts too much focus on financial issues and not enough on patients and those in need of health care, the Archdiocese of Sydney’s website reported.

“We have told the Government the success of the Catholic system has come from our focus on mission which has resulted in a beneficial balance between areas of financial management and clinical and pastoral care,” he said.

Mr Laverty said CHA had long experience in setting up hospital boards which will be a key component of the hospital reforms with the Government planning to set up Local Hospital Networks in each state, run by locally appointed Hospital Boards.

“We have consistently said if these boards are set up and don’t have a mission, they risk disaster,” he said, and gave examples where this has occurred, including one incidence in New Zealand where a cost-cutting hospital board in

Otago directed local GPs to write fewer prescriptions in a bid to save money, and ordered the number of home visits to the aged be cut in half.

During discussions with the Government over the past year, Martin Laverty said CHA had expressed concern about how Catholic hospitals would fit into the Government’s proposed Local Hospital Networks scheme which is one of the key elements of the reforms.

CHA believes this is an important question, as the public and private not-for-profit hospitals it runs make up 10 per cent of Australia’s hospital system, with Catholic public hospitals accounting for 9,500 of the nation’s 89,000 public hospital beds. CHA is also in charge of 10 per cent of Australia’s aged care beds. At this stage, after analysing the proposed reforms and after further talks with the Government, Mr Laverty said it looks likely that some small Catholic hospitals will become part of a local network with the larger Catholic hospitals such as Sydney’s St Vincent’s Public, being classed as individual Local Networks.

On other aspects of the proposed reforms, CHA has endorsed the Government’s $739 million plan for Aged Care with its “one stop shop” for all aged services. Under the reforms, the Federal Government would handle all aged care services rather than the current system which the elderly find confusing and difficult to navigate with some services operated by the States and others by

Sydney Archdiocese re-establshes the permanent diaconate

THE Archdiocese of Sydney has re-established a permanent diaconate after more than a decade in hibernation.

From this week, the restored diaconate will have its own website and begin selection of candidates for its diaconate programme.

the Commonwealth. However, Mr Laverty cautioned that unless fundamental regulatory reform was also included in the way aged care was financed, the elderly and their families would continue to miss out on the type and range of services they needed.

CHA also welcomed the Federal Government’s promise to free up hospital beds by providing more aged care accommodation.

However, Mr Laverty pointed out that even with new beds, the underlying issues that prevented aged care operators from expanding, had not yet been addressed.

Currently, every high care bed for older Australians operates at a $13 per day loss.

Multiplied across all high care beds in Australia’s aged care system, this was simply not sustainable, he said and urged the Rudd Government to update the funding mechanisms put in place by the previous government which he described as “inflexible and out of date.”

Under the health reforms proposed by the Rudd Government, the Commonwealth will cover 60 per cent of the funding for all hospitals in return for taking back 30 per cent of Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue from all States bar Western Australia, which was yet to sign on to the deal.

However, it will be some months before the reforms receive a green light and have yet to be approved and passed by individual state and territory governments as well as by the Upper and Lower Houses of Federal Parliament.

Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Julian Porteous has been appointed Director of the Sydney diaconate, with Bernard Toutounji, Education officer for the Life, Family and Marriage Centre for the Archdiocese, ss Executive Officer.

Mr Tatuanhim, who will split his working week between the diaconate and his duties with the Life, Family and Marriage Centre, says the re-establishment of the diaconate is a return to the fullness of the Sacrament of the Holy Orders: Bishop, Priest and Deacon.

The sacred Order of Deacons and permanent diaconates gradually declined throughout the 20th century in Western Churches, and in Sydney the last few men to be ordained permanent deacons was in 2000.

A 5 May statement from the Archdiocese said that Sydney Cardinal George Pell is eager to restore a permanent diaconate to the harbour city and cites the Second Vatican Council as providing the basis for renewal of this ancient and vital role.

“I am happy to re establish a programme for the selection, formation and deployment of deacons in the Archdiocese,” Cardinal Pell said.

The Sydney Archdiocese currently has five permanent deacons and the Cardinal said he prayed other men would feel called to “this life of service,” pointing out that the word “deacon” literally means “servant.”

In a recent address to the permanent deacons of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI said the role of deacon was to serve the poor and

noted in modern times a new poverty had emerged, describing this as a “spiritual and cultural poverty”.

Currently, there are 35,000 deacons worldwide compared with 409,000 priests but in keeping with Vatican II, and at Pope Paul VI’s urging at the time, permanent diaconates are once again becoming part of the life of the Latin Church, Cardinal Pell said.

One of the reasons permanent diaconates fell into abeyance in the West is partly due to ignorance and also because the role of a deacon is often misunderstood, Mr Toutounji said.

Unlike a priest, a deacon can marry - or be married - and have a family of his own. Many of a deacon’s duties are similar to those of a parish priest. He is an official minister in the liturgy and is entitled to carry out Baptisms, celebrate marriages and officiate at funerals. He can also minister to his parishioners, witness his faith and provide pastoral care. However, he is not permitted to celebrate Mass and the Holy Eucharist, nor is he permitted to hear Confessions.

Men who believe they may have a vocation as a deacon should pray, talk it over with their parish priest or pastoral mentor as well as family, Mr Tatuanji said, and urged them to also make contact with the Archdiocese’s new diaconate.

“The path of discernment is not one to be rushed into,” he cautioned.

The diaconate programme includes four years of personal, spiritual, theological and pastoral formation, including a theology degree from an approved Catholic institution. The formation programme consists of giving part of a weekend each month to deepen the candidate’s spiritual life and to equip him for the skills needed in serving the People of God,” Mr Tatuanji said.

Luciano Boschiero

Perth Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton embraces a dean he just ordained. While Perth has 14 permanent deacons, the Sydney Archdiocese is re-establishing its diaconate training after 10 years in hibernation.

Tess Lee reflects on a youth camp with a difference

“IF GOD IS LOVE and we are all loving does that mean... what does that mean?” asked Aloyse, aged 10, one of the children who attended the Focolare camp during the Easter break.

That question caught me a little by surprise as we walked to the park to play some games. Our theme was “God is love” but somehow like Aloyse I also felt that it was much more than a theme; in some way it was the reality we were all living. It was as if in we had entered into paradise (where everyone loves).

We spoke about God Love – a theme Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Focolare, shared with the youth of 1974 when she said: “Since the world today seems to want to do without God we need to say with our lives.. ‘God exists because...come and you will find him in our midst.’ Take courage we are on a marvellous path, a modern and daring path, and rich with promise that makes us forsee a splendid springtime. God will then be on the lips of every person...”

Here are the impressions of a few of the children who took part in the weekend.

Daniel aged 12 “I learnt that God is love and no matter what he will always be there for me in good times and bad...He loves each and every one of us for who we are...”

Chevonne aged 10 “There must always be love because teamwork and trust helps us think of others before ourselves. If we love we can be as Jesus wants us to be.”

Matthew aged 14 “...When you love and give more than you take, others as well as yourself are happy...”

Alida aged 11 “...the fact that God loves me immensely makes me feel happy...knowing that even if I muck up God will forgive me because he loves me no matter what.”

We left Swanleigh Camp, Midland so happy. We were boys and girls. We were Primary school children and High school youth. We were Asians, Africans, New Zealanders, Europeans and Australians.

We were Catholics and Anglicans. But more than anything we were united – we were one.

We made the appointment to see each other again on the 16 May for the Focolare Afternoon at Little Sisters of the Poor, Glendalough, which was a meeting open to people of all ages but with a special program for children.

For further information on Focolare and its youth camps, contact Tess on (08) 9349 4052.

An historic Anzac day in Rome

Monsignor Michael Keating, the Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral, remembers a special Anzac Day in Rome which saw Anglicans and Catholics come together for an ecumenical service – a rarity in 1966

ANZAC Day 2010 is special in Australia – a time to remember, to pray for those who have died in wars and a time to recall the futility of war. Rome Anzac Day 1966 was very special. With the Second Vatican Council concluded, some of the fruits of the Council were beginning to emerge and in Rome, 25 April 1966 saw possibly the first ever ecumenical service arranged by a group of Australians and New Zealanders in that city.

The Australian Ambassador to Italy from 1962 had been Alfred Stirling, a kindly, erudite man; not a Catholic, he was nonetheless very knowledgeable about the Church and his former diplomatic post had been the Philippines.

It was to be several years (not until 1973, in fact) before Australia and the Vatican were to have formal ties. However, informally, Alfred Stirling was a wonderful Australian representative and provided a very valuable perspective on the years of the Vatican Council (1962-1965) in his book, A Distant View of the Vatican published by The Hawthorn Press, Melbourne in 1975.

This historical ecumenical service was held at the English Catholic Church of San Silvestro in Rome. Australian visitors of the time will remember the cup of tea and cakes available courtesy of some English women in a room near the Church. I took many Australian visitors there.

At the first ever such ecumenical service in Rome, the preacher was the Rector of the Anglican Church of All Saints in Rome, Fr Douglas Wanstall. So innovative was the occasion, the famous Jesuit, Cardinal Augustine Bea himself had to give permission.

At a similar service the following year in the Anglican Church, it was thought necessary to have the permission of Pope Paul VI himself for the Catholic priest to preach in the Anglican Church in Rome of All Saints.

The service in 1966 had been prepared by

AT A GLANCE

Forthcoming events around the diocese

Personal Advocacy Service, a faithformation support group for young adults with intellectual disabilities which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, is holding its major fundraising quiz night.

Singer, dancer, DJ and compere Adam Penn from Curtin FM will MC the night, which will include beer, wine and soft drink on sale with afternoon tea provided, and people can bring their own snacks. Tables of eight to 10 can be booked at $20 per person. Inquiries - 9275 5388 to pre-register tables as numbers are limited.

When: 23 May at 7pm at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

What’s on at St Simon Peter, Ocean Reef

The Catholic Guy Mission - Bruce Downs aka “The Catholic Guy” and his team will visit Ocean Reef for five nights around early June. The programme includes talks, music, multimedia and opportunity for prayer, reflection and spiritual growth. All ages welcome and a light supper will be provided afterwards.

When: Mon-Fri, 31 May to 4 June from

several of us in a great state of excitement and over 250 attended. Many Ambassadors including Alfred Stirling were there.

At the time, New Zealand had no Ambassador to Italy, so the British Ambassador representing New Zealand was present.

After the service, we were kindly invited to lunch by the Ambassador, Alfred Stirling, in his beautiful residence on Monte Parioli.

From this residence, the Ambassador had a view over the trees to the Dome of St Peter’s.

At the luncheon were the Italian General, the British Ambassador, several priests including Fr Basil Meeking (now retired as Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand) and Fr Ted Clancy, later Cardinal Clancy of Sydney. It was a Friday and, much to my surprise, we were served chicken. Usually, the Ambassador was meticulous about such things.

In the days of abstinence from meat on Fridays, this presented no difficulty to the Catholic priests present, knowing that moral theology excused them from this law if refusing to eat meat would cause embarrassment to their host.

This was not so for the Anglican priest beside me. He whispered, “Father, what will we do?” I said, “Canon, I’ll give you a dispensation,” and he was so pleased, he said, “I’ll give you one too”, and both of us tucked into the chicken. It was delicious!

I have a recollection that in those days, people travelling on airlines, certain ones at least, could also eat meat on Fridays.

Remembering this travelling somewhere, I was very disappointed when, at dinnertime, a gushy flight attendant came and loudly whispered to me, wearing my clerical collar, “Father, I know you would prefer fish on Fridays”, and gave me a piece of what we then called South African fillet: the orange flavoured fish was one of my pet hates for years in the St Charles Seminary.

Those of us still alive remember Alfred Stirling with gratitude.

With his sister, he provided gracious hospitality to most of the Australian Bishops in the years of the Council.

Moreover, for the student priests then in Rome, he was kindness itself.

He provided the necessary encouragement for this first ever ecumenical service.

He deserves our recognition and our prayers for the repose of his kindly soul, some 44 years after Anzac Day 1966 in Rome.

It was probably the first ever coming together ecumenically in prayer in Rome between Anglicans and Catholics.

7.30-9.30pm each evening at St Simon Peter, 20 Prendiville Ave, Ocean Reef

Parish International Night - A cultural night to share a plate of food from your country of origin and an opportunity to sing or dance, or to be entertained by cultural presentations from Holland, Africa, Poland and other places around the world. Feel free to wear your cultural costumes.

Tickets ($5 per person or $15 per family) on sale now after weekend Masses or call the parish Mon-Fri 9300 4885 or call Allison on 0417 188 731.

When: Saturday, 29 May at 8pm (after 6.30pm Mass) in the Fr Simon Carson Hall at St Simon Peter Catholic Primary School Salvatorian Vocation Weekend - All young men who want to think about their life with God will have an opportunity to do so at this Salvatorian Reflection Weekend. Inquiries: call Fr Karol Kulczycki on 9304 2907. When: 3pm, 29 May to 1pm, 30 May at Salvatorian Community House, 2 Caledonia Ave, Currambine.

Novena for Pope Benedict XVI - The parish of Ocean Reef will be praying a Novena for Pope Benedict XVI from 15-23 May. It will be recited before each 8.30am Mass at Ocean Reef. The Novena is an initiative of the Knights of the Southern Cross WA.

Mirrabooka marks Year for Priests

Good Shepherd Sunday takes on extra significance in the Year for Priests at Mirrabooka parish

BY MIRIAM ROMITI

THE parish of St Gerard Majella, Mirrabooka celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday in this Year for the Priest by recognising and thanking the former priests of the parish.

The parish was established 45 years ago by Bishop Peter Quinn and the church building is celebrating the 40th year of its existence.

The Feast of the Good Shepherd (fourth Sunday of Easter) was regarded as the best liturgical time for celebrating the gift of priesthood, remembering the many priests who built the parish church, both as a building and community of faithful people.

The 9.30am Mass was the focus of the festivities where all the priests who served the parish were acknowledged, and also the priests who had already returned to the Father were remembered.

Perth Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton, a former parish priest of Mirrabooka, was the main celebrant with Frs Francisco Mascarenhas and Bonaventure Echeta and past and present priests of the parish assisting him.

Fr Giosue Marini, present parish priest, received apologies from priests unable to be present, but their photos were displayed at the back of the church for all to see and reminisce about.

The parish council was unable to obtain photos of all past priests but there were several of the first parish priest Bishop Peter Quinn

and a youthful Mgr Michael Keating, present Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral, Fr Geoff Aldous, currently in Geraldton Diocese, as well as a selection of Bishop Sproxton with his former assistant priests.

Fr Bonaventure’s birthday was recognised, with the choir playing

Happy Birthday and a sausage sizzle was provided by the St Gerard’s Youth Group, as they are fundraising for the World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011.

The Year for Priests, inaugurated last year by Pope Benedict XVI, closes on 11 June. In the par-

ish of St Gerard, the parishioners wanted to express with this feast their gratitude to the Lord for the many priests who served the Lord and the local community for many years, for the gifts of their faith and the celebration of the Sacraments shared with the parishioners.

Ukrainian Catholic icon renders Christ’s Easter victory

BY BRIDGET SPINKS

AN ICON depicting Christ’s Descent into Hades was unveiled at the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Maylands on 2 May.

This ‘Icon of the Resurrection’ expresses what occurred after Christ’s death and before his Resurrection - Christ’s visit to Hades to restore life to those who had been denied Heaven up to that point.

“Byzantine art never presents the actual Resurrection. Instead, it shows what happened before or after the Resurrection. This icon is one of the icons of the Resurrection,” says Perth iconographer Richard Charlwood, who worked on the icon as his ‘Lenten project’.

Unlike other icons of the Resurrection, which also include images of Solomon and David, this icon focuses on our first parents, Adam and Eve, whom Christ pulls out of Hades and into eternal life.

It is a reflection of the Sixth Ode in the Resurrection Matins: “You have descended into the realm of Death, O Christ, and have broken the ancient bonds which held the captives; and, like Jonah from the whale, on the third day You rose from the

tomb”. The colour of the raiment and the symbols included in the icon add meaning to the image.

Traditional Eastern representations of the Descent into Hades depict Christ’s garments as brilliant and illuminating the darkness of Hades.

Christ’s presence fills the darkness with the light of His divine presence. He stands upon the broken gate of the kingdom of Death, indicating His victory over Death by His own death and resurrection.

The bolts, broken chains, and keys are scattered about to signify the freeing of those held captive and the breaking of Death’s hold over men.

In the Eastern Catholic Churches, a troparion (Greek) or ‘repeated phrase’ is sung to remember the Resurrection. This Resurrection troparion is the subject of this icon - “Christ is risen from the dead.

Trampling death by death, and to those in the tombs giving life”.

The icon of Christ’s Descent into Hades, freeing Adam and Eve written by Perth iconographer Richard Charlwood, which now hangs in the Ukrainian Catholic Church at Maylands.

By Tom Gourlay

This App (screenshot below) was released only very recently and was quite useful to me over the Lenten season.

Based on the scriptural Way of the Cross by the now Venerable Pope John Paul II the Great, this simple App is a sure-fire winner.

The App itself is quite simple and contains beautifully expressive artwork of each station, a biblical reflection of each station followed by short prayer.

Having it on the iPhone or iPod Touch makes it very convenient for users to pray the stations anywhere, anytime.

As mentioned previously, the App takes JPII’s Biblical Way of the Cross and presents it in a way that is easily accessible and very easy to use.

John Paul II’s Biblical Stations are somewhat different to the traditional stations as Stations 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 don’t exactly have a clear scriptural foundation.

Pope Benedict XVI made use of these newer stations in 2007 on Good Friday.

Biblical Way of the Cross

● Jesus prays in the garden.

● Jesus is betrayed and arrested.

● Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin.

● Peter denies knowing Jesus.

● Jesus is condemned by Pilate.

● Jesus is scourged and crowned ● with thorns.

● Jesus takes up his cross.

● Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus.

● Jesus meets the weeping women.

● Jesus is crucified.

● Jesus promises paradise to the crucified thief.

● Jesus cares for his mother.

● Jesus dies.

● Jesus is buried.

Traditional Way of the Cross

● Jesus is condemned to death

● Jesus is given his cross

● Jesus falls the first time

● Jesus meets His Mother

● Simon of Cyrene carries the cross

● Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

● Jesus falls the second time

● Jesus meets the daughters of Jerusalem

● Jesus falls the third time

● Jesus is stripped of His garments

● Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross

● Jesus dies on the cross

● Jesus’ body is removed from the cross (Deposition or Lamentation)

● Jesus is laid in the tomb and cov ered in incense.

This is one of the best of the many Catholic prayer resources that are available to iPhone and iPod touch users so it’s well worth taking advantage of this opportunity.

Fr Francisco Mascarenhas, Perth Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton and Fr Giosue Marini were just some of those celebrating, at St Gerard’s Mirrabooka, the Year for Priests called by Pope Benedict XVI last year. The special year, focusing on the gift of the priesthood, will conclude with an international gathering of priests with the Pope in Rome from 9-11 June. Not all former priests of St Gerard’s could be on hand but the photos of previous Mirrabooka priests, below, were on display. Can readers spot who’s who?

PHOTOS: COURTESY ST GERARD’S PARISH MIRRABOOKA.

Hundreds gather for Bove’s anniversary

of the Rosary. This year’s event, the 30th anniversary of the Rosary gathering at the farm of Luigi and Luisa Bove south of Busselton, continued to see growing numbers participate in the popular annual event. Among those attending this year were new pilgrim groups from Fremantle and Mandurah, and a group of Vietnamese Catholics from Perth. Other photographs show hundreds listening to Bishop Holohan’s homily and processing.

BY MATTHEW MONISSE

At least 500 pilgrims attended the annual Busselton May Rosary Celebration at Bove Farm on Sunday, 2 May.

This celebration is held annually in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Luigi and Luisa Bove’s Farm, located south of Busselton.

The property is home to the Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine where Mass was celebrated.

Being the 30th anniversary of the May celebration, there was an increased number of pilgrims attending, many from Perth as well as from around the South West.

New pilgrim groups also came from Fremantle and Mandurah as well as a group of Vietnamese pilgrims from Perth making their first trip to the Shrine.

A concelebrated Mass was led by Bishop Gerard Holohan with priests from Perth and the Bunbury diocese.

The crowning of a statue of Our Lady followed Mass, the statue beautifully adorned with flowers.

After the crowning, pilgrims processed around the property praying the Rosary.

The many flower girls dressed in white sprinkled rose petals in front of the statue of Our Lady which led the procession. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament followed.

At the end of proceedings Luisa Bove thanked the many friends who contribute so much in helping her and Luigi make this day possible.

During his homily Bishop Holohan spoke of the impor-

tance of Catholics witnessing to their faith.

Referring to early persecutions of the Church under the Roman emperors, he said that during the reign of the Emperor Decius official efforts tried to force all to worship the traditional gods of the Roman empire.

From 249 - 251 AD Christians were rounded up, taken to pagan temples and ordered to sacrifice to the Roman gods or be martyred.

Although the empire had an estimated population of 40 million, Roman persecutors watched carefully for signs of Christian love, like caring for the poor, and other forms of kindness which were likely indicators of Christian faith.

Those who showed love for others were identified as Christians and taken to the temple to sacrifice to the gods or be killed.

Bishop Holohan concluded by asking the congregation to reflect on their own lives, asking whether they would be identified as Christians in the same way as their early Roman ancestors in faith.

The day concluded with a popular afternoon tea.

Many gathered to catch up with one another on a delightful autumn afternoon.

After 30 years the Busselton May Rosary Celebration continues to bring grace and joy to the many who come along to venerate the Mother of God.

All this is made possible by the generosity and sacrifice of Luigi and Luisa Bove, who on this day and throughout the last 30 years have always provided a warm welcome to everyone coming to the Shrine.

Grace Monisse, aged 8, crowns the statue of Our Lady after the Mass concelebrated by Bishop Holohan. Her father Matthew, above, was one of those who led recitation of the mysteries

Children spreading rose petals lead the Rosary procession of hundreds around the Bove Farm on 2 May. PHOTOS: DOUGLAS VYNER

Homeschoolers honour Mary in May

HOMESCHOOLING families gathered at the popular Schoenstatt Shrine in Armadale on 3 May to honour Mary in the month traditionally celebrated by many as hers.

The day had been organised to honour Mary as Our Lady Queen of Heaven and Earth, and Queen of the May.

Boys holding a crucifix and candles led the procession, followed by the children carrying flowers, many wearing white and blue. Some little girls looked even

more stunning, with flowers and veils to decorate their hair.

Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate, Fr Joseph Michael processed with young Clare O’Callaghan, who carried a small cushion holding the beaded crown.

The crown had been made, lovingly and beautifully, by Kayla Roatch. Parents followed in the procession, singing Immaculate Mary

The procession wound its way up the slope to the chapel, where children laid their flowers on a small, specially set up altar. To

the singing of Bring Flowers of the Fairest, Our Lady was crowned, a decade of the Rosary (the fifth Glorious Mystery) was recited, and Fr Joseph gave a talk about Mary as our Mother.

After a short break, Fr Joseph celebrated Mass and families then moved to St Emilie’s Centre for afternoon tea. The children played happily, later on aided and abetted by Fr Joseph with his (sometimes strenuous) organised activities. The programme finished with a light meal around 6.30pm.

Poverty can be ended, say UNDA students

Sejla Perviz, Bianca Saggers and Stephanie Holt have been selected as some of 1,000 young ambassadors to lead a nationwide campaign against global poverty.

In May, they will join other young Australians for the Make Poverty History Roadtrip: the biggest continuous mobilisation of its kind ever seen in Australia.

“We’re taking to the road and speaking to people all over Australia. We expect to talk to over 100,000 people in their com-

munities in every state and territory of Australia” says Sejla.

Ambassadors like Sejla, Bianca and Stephanie will host forums, stage meetings with regional and national MPs, and take part in community events to encourage everyday Australians to speak out and participate.

“In just one generation we’ve more than halved global poverty. In 1990, 42 per cent of the world was living in extreme poverty. Now it’s 19 per cent - this shows how success is possible” said

Bianca. Make Poverty History Ambassadors will converge on Canberra from 12-14 May for a summit focused on what Australia can do to end poverty.

Viv Benjamin, the National Campaign Director said “our Aid can have an enormous impact –for example Australia’s own Aid effort has wiped out Polio in the Pacific.

“Through our efforts this crippling disease will no longer disable the people of our region. We should be proud.”

 CAROL PHILLIPS

Children looking resplendent in their outfits gather for a group photo with Fr Michael Mary FFI outside the Schoenstatt Shrine in Armadale on the day, which honoured Mary under her titles as Queen of Heaven and Earth and as Queen of the month of May. Traditionally, Catholics have celebrated May as a special month of devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CAROL PHILLIPS

Whoever won the tug of war during the homeschooler’s 3 May gathering to honour Mary, a good time was had by all. PHOTOS: COURTESY CAROL PHILLIPS

NOTRE DAME Students

Catholic Youth Ministry Ball 2010

The Catholic Youth of Perth were all invited to a beautiful night out at the Mercure Hotel on Saturday, 1 May. The glamorous night consisted of great food, entertainment, dancing and prizes. It was wonderful to see beautiful women getting dressed up in their ball gowns and handsome men looking smart in their formal attire. Everybody looked so elegant and it’s a pity an event like this only happens once a year.

Catherine Gallo Martinez and Genevieve Yii

Catherine Gallo Martinez

Silvana Scarfe, Bronia Karniewicz and Siobhán Hinton

Anita Parker, John Keogh, Tammie Nguyen

Emcees, CYM Reps: Catherine Gallo Martinez, Tom Gourlay

Bronia Karniewicz, Siobhán Hinton,

Hwie Morgan Quartet

Hwie Morgan Quartet

All photos provided by Matt Lim

Voice of dissident Kung causes a stir

In the last three weeks, Catholics and Church observers around the world have been treated to a fascinating public theological brawl. First, wellknown Swiss theologian Hans Küng, whose permission to teach theology was withdrawn by the Vatican in 1979, issued an open letter to the world’s Bishops highly critical of his old colleague and now Pope, Benedict XVI. The astonishing nature of some of his claims and harshness of its criticism surprised many. Shortly after, leading American layman and theologian George Weigel responded with his own public and bluntly worded letter to Fr Kung. This week, The Record carries both public letters for readers to assess.

VENERABLE BISHOPS, Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and I were the youngest theologians at the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. Now we are the oldest and the only ones still fully active. I have always understood my theological work as a service to the Roman Catholic Church. For this reason, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict XVI, I am making this appeal to you in an open letter. In doing so, I am motivated by my profound concern for our Church, which now finds itself in the worst credibility crisis since the Reformation. Please excuse the form of an open letter; unfortunately, I have no other way of reaching you.

I deeply appreciated that the Pope invited me, his outspoken critic, to meet for a friendly, fourhour-long conversation shortly after he took office. This awakened in me the hope that my former colleague at Tubingen University might find his way to promote an ongoing renewal of the Church and an ecumenical rapprochement in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.

Unfortunately, my hopes and those of so many engaged Catholic men and women have not been fulfilled. And in my subsequent correspondence with the Pope, I have pointed this out to him many times. Without a doubt, he conscientiously performs his everyday duties as Pope, and he has given us three helpful encyclicals on faith, hope and charity. But when it comes to facing the major challenges of our times, his pontificate has increasingly passed up more opportunities than it has taken:

Missed is the opportunity for rapprochement with the Protestant churches: Instead, they have been denied the status of churches in the proper sense of the term and, for that reason, their ministries are not recognised and intercommunion is not possible.

Missed is the opportunity for the long-term reconciliation with the Jews: instead, the Pope has reintroduced into the liturgy a preconciliar prayer for the enlightenment of the Jews, he has taken notoriously anti-Semitic and schismatic Bishops back into communion with the Church, and he is actively promoting the beatification of Pope Pius XII, who has been accused of not offering sufficient protections to Jews in Nazi Germany.

The fact is, Benedict sees in Judaism only the historic root of Christianity; he does not take it seriously as an ongoing religious community offering its own path to salvation. The recent comparison of the current criticism faced

by the Pope with anti-Semitic hate campaigns – made by Rev Raniero Cantalamessa during an official Good Friday service at the Vatican – has stirred up a storm of indignation among Jews around the world.

Missed is the opportunity for a dialogue with Muslims in an atmosphere of mutual trust: instead, in his ill-advised but symptomatic 2006 Regensburg lecture, Benedict caricatured Islam as a religion of violence and inhumanity and thus evoked enduring Muslim mistrust.

Missed is the opportunity for reconciliation with the colonised indigenous peoples of Latin America: instead, the Pope asserted in all seriousness that they had been “longing” for the religion of their European conquerors.

Missed is the opportunity to help the people of Africa by allowing the use of birth control to fight overpopulation and condoms to fight the spread of HIV.

Missed is the opportunity to make peace with modern science by clearly affirming the theory of evolution and accepting stem-cell research.

Missed is the opportunity to make the spirit of the Second Vatican Council the compass for the whole Catholic Church, including the Vatican itself, and thus to promote needed reforms in the church.

This last point, respected Bishops, is the most serious of all. Time and again, this Pope has added qualifications to the conciliar texts and interpreted them against the spirit of the council fathers. Time and again, he has taken an express stand against the Ecumenical Council, which according to canon law repre-

“Even the papal ven the youth meetmeetings, attendattended above all by con- ed above all cons e r v a t i v e - c h a r i s m a t i c servative-charismatic groups, have failed to groups, have failed to hold back the steady hold back the drain of those leav- drain ing the Church or to ing the Church or to attract more vocations more to the priesthood ” to the priesthood.”

- Fr Hans K - Küng ng

sents the highest authority in the Catholic Church: He has taken the Bishops of the traditionalist Pius X Society back into the Church without any preconditions – Bishops who were

illegally consecrated outside the Catholic Church and who reject central points of the Second Vatican Council (including liturgical reform, freedom of religion and the rapprochement with Judaism).

He promotes the medieval Tridentine Mass by all possible means and occasionally celebrates the Eucharist in Latin with his back to the congregation.

He refuses to put into effect the rapprochement with the Anglican Church which was laid out in official ecumenical documents by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, and has attempted instead to lure married Anglican clergy into the Roman Catholic Church by freeing them from the very rule of celibacy that has forced tens of thousands of Roman Catholic priests out of office.

He has actively reinforced the anti-conciliar forces in the Church by appointing reactionary officials to key offices in the Curia (including the secretariat of state, and positions in the liturgical commission) while appointing reactionary Bishops around the world.

Pope Benedict XVI seems to be increasingly cut off from the vast majority of Church members who pay less and less heed to Rome and, at best, identify themselves only with their local parish and Bishop.

I know that many of you are

pained by this situation. In his anti-conciliar policy, the Pope receives the full support of the Roman Curia. The Curia does its best to stifle criticism in the episcopate and in the Church as a whole and to discredit critics with all the means at its disposal. With a return to pomp and spectacle catching the attention of the media, the reactionary forces in Rome have attempted to present us with a strong Church fronted by an absolutistic “Vicar of Christ” who combines the Church’s legislative, executive and judicial powers in his hands alone. But Benedict’s policy of restoration has failed. All of his spectacular appearances, demonstrative journeys and public statements have failed to influence the opinions of most Catholics on controversial issues. This is especially true regarding matters of sexual morality. Even the papal youth meetings, attended above all by conservative-charismatic groups, have failed to hold back the steady drain of those leaving the Church or to attract more vocations to the priesthood.

You in particular, as Bishops, have reason for deep sorrow: Tens of thousands of priests have resigned their office since the Second Vatican Council, for the most part because of the celibacy rule. Vocations to the priesthood, but also to religious orders, sisterhoods and lay brotherhoods are down – not just quantitatively but qualitatively. Resignation and frustration are spreading rapidly among both the clergy and the active laity. Many feel that they have been left in the lurch with their personal needs, and many are in deep distress over the state of the Church. In many of your dioceses, it is the same story: increasingly empty churches, empty seminaries and empty rectories. In many countries, due to the lack of priests, more and more parishes are being merged, often against the will of their members, into ever larger “pastoral units,” in which the few surviving pastors are completely overtaxed. This is Church reform in pretence rather than fact!

And now, on top of these many crises comes a scandal crying out to heaven – the revelation of the clerical abuse of thousands of children and adolescents, first in the United States, then in Ireland and now in Germany and other countries. And to make matters worse, the handling of these cases has given rise to an unprecedented leadership crisis and a collapse of trust in Church leadership.

There is no denying the fact that the worldwide system of covering up cases of sexual crimes committed by clerics was engineered by the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under

Theologian Father Hans Küng is pictured in his office in Tubingen, Germany, in this February 2008 file photo. In an open letter to the world’s Bishops published in The Irish Times and The New York Times, the dissident theologian criticised Pope Benedict XVI’s management of Church affairs, including the recent lifting of the excommunications of four traditionalist Bishops. However, leading US layman and theologian George Weigel replied in language just as direct in the influential US publication First Things (see article on opposite page 11).

PHOTO: CNS/HARALD OPPITZ, KNA

Cardinal Ratzinger (1981-2005). During the reign of Pope John Paul II, that congregation had already taken charge of all such cases under oath of strictest silence. Ratzinger himself, on 18 May 2001, sent a solemn document to all the Bishops dealing with severe crimes (epistula de delictis gravioribus), in which cases of abuse were sealed under the secretum pontificium, the violation of which could entail grave ecclesiastical penalties. With good reason, therefore, many people have expected a personal mea culpa on the part of the former Prefect and current Pope. Instead, the Pope passed up the opportunity afforded by Holy Week: On Easter Sunday, he had his innocence proclaimed urbi et orbi by the dean of the College of Cardinals.

The consequences of all these scandals for the reputation of the Catholic Church are disastrous.

Important Church leaders have already admitted this. Numerous innocent and committed pastors and educators are suffering under the stigma of suspicion now blanketing the Church. You, reverend Bishops, must face up to the question: What will happen to our Church and to your diocese in the future? It is not my intention to sketch out a new programme of Church reform. That I have done often enough both before and after the council. Instead, I want only to lay before you six proposals that I am convinced are supported by millions of Catholics who have no voice in the current situation.

1 Do not keep silent: By keeping silent in the face of so many serious grievances, you taint yourselves with guilt. When you feel that certain laws, directives and measures are counterproductive, you should say this in public. Send Rome not professions of your devotion, but rather calls for reform!

2 Set about reform: Too many in the Church and in the episcopate complain about Rome, but do nothing themselves. When people no longer attend church in a diocese, when the ministry bears little fruit, when the public is kept in ignorance about the needs of the world, when ecumenical co-operation is reduced to a minimum, then the blame

cannot simply be shoved off on Rome. Whether Bishop, priest, layman or laywoman – everyone can do something for the renewal of the Church within his own sphere of influence, be it large or small. Many of the great achievements that have occurred in the individual parishes and in the Church at large owe their origin to the initiative of an individual or a small group. As Bishops, you should support such initiatives and, especially given the present situation, you should respond to the just complaints of the faithful.

3 Act in a collegial way: After heated debate and against the persistent opposition of the Curia, the Second Vatican Council decreed the collegiality of the Pope and the Bishops. It did so in the sense of the Acts of the Apostles, in which Peter did not act alone without the college of the apostles. In the post-conciliar era, however, the Pope and the Curia have ignored this decree. Just two years after the council, Pope Paul VI issued his encyclical defending the con-

troversial celibacy law without the slightest consultation of the Bishops. Since then, papal politics and the papal magisterium have continued to act in the old, uncollegial fashion. Even in liturgical matters, the Pope rules as an autocrat over and against the Bishops. He is happy to surround himself with them as long as they are nothing more than stage extras with neither voices nor voting rights. This is why, venerable Bishops, you should not act for yourselves alone, but rather in the community of the other bishops, of the priests and of the men and women who make up the Church.

4 Unconditional obedience is owed to God alone: Although, at your episcopal consecration, you had to take an oath of unconditional obedience to the Pope, you know that unconditional obedience can never be paid to any human authority; it is due to God alone. For this reason, you should not feel impeded by your oath to speak the truth about the current crisis facing the Church, your

diocese and your country. Your model should be the apostle Paul, who dared to oppose Peter “to his face since he was manifestly in the wrong”! (Galatians 2:11). Pressuring the Roman authorities in the spirit of Christian fraternity can be permissible and even necessary when they fail to live up to the spirit of the Gospel and its mission. The use of the vernacular in the liturgy, the changes in the regulations governing mixed marriages, the affirmation of tolerance, democracy and human rights, the opening up of an ecumenical approach, and the many other reforms of Vatican II were only achieved because of tenacious pressure from below.

5 Work for regional solutions: The Vatican has frequently turned a deaf ear to the well-founded demands of the episcopate, the priests and the laity. This is all the more reason for seeking wise regional solutions. As you are well aware, the rule of celibacy which was inherited from the Middle Ages, represents a particularly

delicate problem. In the context of today’s clerical abuse scandal, the practice has been increasingly called into question. Against the expressed will of Rome, a change would appear hardly possible; yet this is no reason for passive resignation. When a priest, after mature consideration, wishes to marry, there is no reason why he must automatically resign his office when his Bishop and his parish choose to stand behind him. Individual episcopal conferences could take the lead with regional solutions. It would be better, however, to seek a solution for the whole Church, therefore:

6 Call for a council: Just as the achievement of liturgical reform, religious freedom, ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue required an ecumenical council, so now a council is needed to solve the dramatically escalating problems calling for reform. In the century before the Reformation, the Council of Constance decreed that councils should be held every five years. Yet the Roman Curia successfully managed to circumvent this ruling. There is no question that the Curia, fearing a limitation of its power, would do everything in its power to prevent a council coming together in the present situation. Thus it is up to you to push through the calling of a council or at least a representative assembly of Bishops.

With the Church in deep crisis, this is my appeal to you, venerable Bishops: Put to use the episcopal authority that was reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council. In this urgent situation, the eyes of the world turn to you. Innumerable people have lost their trust in the Catholic Church. Only by openly and honestly reckoning with these problems and resolutely carrying out needed reforms can their trust be regained. With all due respect, I beg you to do your part – together with your fellow Bishops as far as possible, but also alone if necessary – in apostolic “fearlessness” (Acts 4:29, 31). Give your faithful signs of hope and encouragement and give our Church a perspective for the future.

With warm greetings in the community of the Christian faith,

Yours, Hans Küng

Hans, you owe your friend an apology

An Open Letter to Hans Küng

BY GEORGE WEIGEL

Dr Küng:

Adecade and a half ago, a former colleague of yours among the younger progressive theologians at Vatican II told me of a friendly warning he had given you at the beginning of the Council’s second session. As this distinguished biblical scholar and proponent of Christian-Jewish reconciliation remembered those heady days, you had taken to driving around Rome in a fire-engine red Mercedes convertible, which your friend presumed had been one fruit of the commercial success of your book, The Council: Reform and Reunion

This automotive display struck your colleague as imprudent and unnecessarily self-advertising, given that some of your more adventurous opinions, and your talent for what would later be called the sound-bite, were already raising eyebrows and hackles in

the Roman Curia. So, as the story was told me, your friend called you aside one day and said, using a French term you both understood, “Hans, you are becoming too evident.”

As the man who single-handedly invented a new global personality-type—the dissident theologian as international media star—you were not, I take it, overly distressed by your friend’s warning. In 1963, you were already determined to cut a singular path for yourself, and you were media-savvy enough to know that a world press obsessed with the man-bites-dog story of the dissenting priest-theologian would give you a megaphone for your views. You were, I take it, unhappy with the late John Paul II for trying to dismantle that story-line by removing your ecclesiastical mandate to teach as a professor of Catholic theology; your subsequent, snarling put-down of Karol Wojtyla’s alleged intellectual inferiority in one volume of your memoirs ranked, until recently, as the low-point of a polemical career in which you have become most evident as a man who can concede little intelligence, decency, or good will in his opponents.

I say “until recently,” however, because your 16 April open let-

ter to the world’s bishops, which I first read in the Irish Times, set new standards for that distinctive form of hatred known as odium theologicum and for mean-spirit-

ed condemnation of an old friend who had, on his rise to the papacy, been generous to you while encouraging aspects of your current work.

Before we get to your assault on the integrity of Pope Benedict XVI, however, permit me to observe that your article makes it painfully clear that you have not been paying much attention to the matters on which you pronounce with an air of infallible self-assurance that would bring a blush to the cheek of Pius IX.

You seem blithely indifferent to the doctrinal chaos besetting much of European and North American Protestantism, which has created circumstances in which theologically serious ecumenical dialogue has become gravely imperilled.

You take the most rabid of the Pius XII-baiters at face value, evidently unaware that the weight of recent scholarship is shifting the debate in favor of Pius’ courage in defense of European Jewry (whatever one may think of his exercise of prudence).

You misrepresent the effects of Benedict XVI’s 2006 Regensburg Lecture, which you dismiss as having “caricatured” Islam. In fact, the Regensburg Lecture refocused the Catholic-Islamic dialogue on the two issues that complex conversation urgently needs to engage— religious freedom as a fundamental human right that can be known Please turn to Page ???

A priest gives Communion during the closing Mass for World Youth Day attended by more than one million people at Marienfeld outside Cologne, Germany, in August 2005. Controversial Swiss-born theologian has described such events as dominated by conservative-charismatic groups in a wide -ranging condemnation of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.

PHOTO: CNS/BOB ROLLER

Noted lay Catholic theologian and author George Weigel countered Fr Küng’s attack on Pope Benedict XVI, describing it as a manifestation of ‘odium theologicum’ - the theological hatred of others. Or should that be the Odious Theologian?

PHOTO: CNS/MICHAEL ALEXANDER, GEORGIA BULLETIN

Cardinal Ratzinger (1981-2005). During the reign of Pope John Paul II, that congregation had already taken charge of all such cases under oath of strictest silence. Ratzinger himself, on 18 May 2001, sent a solemn document to all the Bishops dealing with severe crimes (epistula de delictis gravioribus), in which cases of abuse were sealed under the secretum pontificium, the violation of which could entail grave ecclesiastical penalties. With good reason, therefore, many people have expected a personal mea culpa on the part of the former Prefect and current Pope. Instead, the Pope passed up the opportunity afforded by Holy Week: On Easter Sunday, he had his innocence proclaimed urbi et orbi by the dean of the College of Cardinals.

The consequences of all these scandals for the reputation of the Catholic Church are disastrous.

Important Church leaders have already admitted this. Numerous innocent and committed pastors and educators are suffering under the stigma of suspicion now blanketing the Church. You, reverend Bishops, must face up to the question: What will happen to our Church and to your diocese in the future? It is not my intention to sketch out a new programme of Church reform. That I have done often enough both before and after the council. Instead, I want only to lay before you six proposals that I am convinced are supported by millions of Catholics who have no voice in the current situation.

1 Do not keep silent: By keeping silent in the face of so many serious grievances, you taint yourselves with guilt. When you feel that certain laws, directives and measures are counterproductive, you should say this in public. Send Rome not professions of your devotion, but rather calls for reform!

2 Set about reform: Too many in the Church and in the episcopate complain about Rome, but do nothing themselves. When people no longer attend church in a diocese, when the ministry bears little fruit, when the public is kept in ignorance about the needs of the world, when ecumenical co-operation is reduced to a minimum, then the blame

cannot simply be shoved off on Rome. Whether Bishop, priest, layman or laywoman – everyone can do something for the renewal of the Church within his own sphere of influence, be it large or small. Many of the great achievements that have occurred in the individual parishes and in the Church at large owe their origin to the initiative of an individual or a small group. As Bishops, you should support such initiatives and, especially given the present situation, you should respond to the just complaints of the faithful.

3 Act in a collegial way: After heated debate and against the persistent opposition of the Curia, the Second Vatican Council decreed the collegiality of the Pope and the Bishops. It did so in the sense of the Acts of the Apostles, in which Peter did not act alone without the college of the apostles. In the post-conciliar era, however, the Pope and the Curia have ignored this decree. Just two years after the council, Pope Paul VI issued his encyclical defending the con-

troversial celibacy law without the slightest consultation of the Bishops. Since then, papal politics and the papal magisterium have continued to act in the old, uncollegial fashion. Even in liturgical matters, the Pope rules as an autocrat over and against the Bishops. He is happy to surround himself with them as long as they are nothing more than stage extras with neither voices nor voting rights. This is why, venerable Bishops, you should not act for yourselves alone, but rather in the community of the other bishops, of the priests and of the men and women who make up the Church.

4 Unconditional obedience is owed to God alone: Although, at your episcopal consecration, you had to take an oath of unconditional obedience to the Pope, you know that unconditional obedience can never be paid to any human authority; it is due to God alone. For this reason, you should not feel impeded by your oath to speak the truth about the current crisis facing the Church, your

diocese and your country. Your model should be the apostle Paul, who dared to oppose Peter “to his face since he was manifestly in the wrong”! (Galatians 2:11). Pressuring the Roman authorities in the spirit of Christian fraternity can be permissible and even necessary when they fail to live up to the spirit of the Gospel and its mission. The use of the vernacular in the liturgy, the changes in the regulations governing mixed marriages, the affirmation of tolerance, democracy and human rights, the opening up of an ecumenical approach, and the many other reforms of Vatican II were only achieved because of tenacious pressure from below.

5 Work for regional solutions: The Vatican has frequently turned a deaf ear to the well-founded demands of the episcopate, the priests and the laity. This is all the more reason for seeking wise regional solutions. As you are well aware, the rule of celibacy which was inherited from the Middle Ages, represents a particularly

delicate problem. In the context of today’s clerical abuse scandal, the practice has been increasingly called into question. Against the expressed will of Rome, a change would appear hardly possible; yet this is no reason for passive resignation. When a priest, after mature consideration, wishes to marry, there is no reason why he must automatically resign his office when his Bishop and his parish choose to stand behind him. Individual episcopal conferences could take the lead with regional solutions. It would be better, however, to seek a solution for the whole Church, therefore:

6 Call for a council: Just as the achievement of liturgical reform, religious freedom, ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue required an ecumenical council, so now a council is needed to solve the dramatically escalating problems calling for reform. In the century before the Reformation, the Council of Constance decreed that councils should be held every five years. Yet the Roman Curia successfully managed to circumvent this ruling. There is no question that the Curia, fearing a limitation of its power, would do everything in its power to prevent a council coming together in the present situation. Thus it is up to you to push through the calling of a council or at least a representative assembly of Bishops.

With the Church in deep crisis, this is my appeal to you, venerable Bishops: Put to use the episcopal authority that was reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council. In this urgent situation, the eyes of the world turn to you. Innumerable people have lost their trust in the Catholic Church. Only by openly and honestly reckoning with these problems and resolutely carrying out needed reforms can their trust be regained. With all due respect, I beg you to do your part – together with your fellow Bishops as far as possible, but also alone if necessary – in apostolic “fearlessness” (Acts 4:29, 31). Give your faithful signs of hope and encouragement and give our Church a perspective for the future.

With warm greetings in the community of the Christian faith,

Yours, Hans Küng

Hans, you owe your friend an apology

An Open Letter to Hans Küng

BY GEORGE WEIGEL

Dr Küng:

Adecade and a half ago, a former colleague of yours among the younger progressive theologians at Vatican II told me of a friendly warning he had given you at the beginning of the Council’s second session. As this distinguished biblical scholar and proponent of Christian-Jewish reconciliation remembered those heady days, you had taken to driving around Rome in a fire-engine red Mercedes convertible, which your friend presumed had been one fruit of the commercial success of your book, The Council: Reform and Reunion

This automotive display struck your colleague as imprudent and unnecessarily self-advertising, given that some of your more adventurous opinions, and your talent for what would later be called the sound-bite, were already raising eyebrows and hackles in

the Roman Curia. So, as the story was told me, your friend called you aside one day and said, using a French term you both understood, “Hans, you are becoming too evident.”

As the man who single-handedly invented a new global personality-type—the dissident theologian as international media star—you were not, I take it, overly distressed by your friend’s warning. In 1963, you were already determined to cut a singular path for yourself, and you were media-savvy enough to know that a world press obsessed with the man-bites-dog story of the dissenting priest-theologian would give you a megaphone for your views. You were, I take it, unhappy with the late John Paul II for trying to dismantle that story-line by removing your ecclesiastical mandate to teach as a professor of Catholic theology; your subsequent, snarling put-down of Karol Wojtyla’s alleged intellectual inferiority in one volume of your memoirs ranked, until recently, as the low-point of a polemical career in which you have become most evident as a man who can concede little intelligence, decency, or good will in his opponents.

I say “until recently,” however, because your 16 April open let-

ter to the world’s bishops, which I first read in the Irish Times, set new standards for that distinctive form of hatred known as odium theologicum and for mean-spirit-

ed condemnation of an old friend who had, on his rise to the papacy, been generous to you while encouraging aspects of your current work.

Before we get to your assault on the integrity of Pope Benedict XVI, however, permit me to observe that your article makes it painfully clear that you have not been paying much attention to the matters on which you pronounce with an air of infallible self-assurance that would bring a blush to the cheek of Pius IX.

You seem blithely indifferent to the doctrinal chaos besetting much of European and North American Protestantism, which has created circumstances in which theologically serious ecumenical dialogue has become gravely imperilled.

You take the most rabid of the Pius XII-baiters at face value, evidently unaware that the weight of recent scholarship is shifting the debate in favor of Pius’ courage in defense of European Jewry (whatever one may think of his exercise of prudence).

You misrepresent the effects of Benedict XVI’s 2006 Regensburg Lecture, which you dismiss as having “caricatured” Islam. In fact, the Regensburg Lecture refocused the Catholic-Islamic dialogue on the two issues that complex conversation urgently needs to engage— religious freedom as a fundamental human right that can be known Please turn to Page ???

A priest gives Communion during the closing Mass for World Youth Day attended by more than one million people at Marienfeld outside Cologne, Germany, in August 2005. Controversial Swiss-born theologian has described such events as dominated by conservative-charismatic groups in a wide -ranging condemnation of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.

PHOTO: CNS/BOB ROLLER

Noted lay Catholic theologian and author George Weigel countered Fr Küng’s attack on Pope Benedict XVI, describing it as a manifestation of ‘odium theologicum’ - the theological hatred of others. Or should that be the Odious Theologian?

PHOTO: CNS/MICHAEL ALEXANDER, GEORGIA BULLETIN

Kung’s former editor slams his lack of charity

Vatican newspaper says Fr Küng letter lacks charity

BY CINDY WOODEN Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY - A recent “open letter” by Swiss Fr Hans Küng to the world’s Bishops is off target in its criticism of Pope Benedict XVI and shows a lack of charity, an article in the Vatican newspaper said.

Fr Pier Giordano Cabra, the former editor of Fr Küng’s works in Italian, said Fr Küng’s letter focused almost exclusively on reforming church structures rather than on renewing the hearts of church members and promoting their ongoing conversion.

Fr Küng, in a letter distributed by The New York Times Syndicate on 16 April, said Pope Benedict has worsened relations with Anglicans, Jews and Muslims and failed to give adequate responses to modern problems such as AIDS and the challenges of new scientific discoveries.

Regarding the sex abuse crisis,

Fr Küng said many people expect a personal apology from Pope Benedict, who he said had helped engineer a “worldwide system of covering up cases of sexual crimes committed by clerics” when he headed the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation.

With the clerical sex abuse scandal “crying out to heaven,” Fr Küng wrote, “the handling of these cases has given rise to an unprecedented leadership crisis and a collapse of trust in Church leadership.”

The Church, he said, “now finds itself in the worst credibility crisis

since the Reformation.” Fr Küng taught with the future pope in Germany in the 1960s and had his permission to teach as a Catholic theologian revoked by the Vatican in 1979.

Vatican officials and many Bishops have credited Pope Benedict - when he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - with creating much stricter guidelines for dealing with abusive priests and easing procedures for removing them from the priesthood.

Fr Cabra’s brief 23 April article in L’Osservatore Romano, written as an open letter to the Swiss theologian, did not get into Fr Küng’s claims about the handling of clerical sex abuse but instead focused on the theologian’s assertions about Pope Benedict, the way he runs the Vatican and his reading of the Second Vatican Council.

The Italian priest also took issue with the tone of Fr Küng’s letter, which he said lacked charity.

“Truth is necessary, but ‘the greatest of these is love,’ which generously recognizes the work of others, which neither opposes nor divides (and) which does not highlight faults,” Fr Cabra wrote.

“Perhaps if your letter reflected a little more of the hymn to charity, it would have been a more elegantly evangelical greeting” to the world’s Bishops “and a more fruitful contribution to the church, which is suffering because of the weaknesses of its sons,” he said.

However, Fr Küng later recanted on some elements of what he said in his open letter to the world’s Bishops, warning against “condemning the Church and its priests wholesale” over clerical sex abuse and dismissed as nonsense claims that Pope Benedict has been “the worst” pontiff “for centuries”.

“It would be a bad generalisation to place the whole clergy and Catholic Church under suspicion,” the Roman Catholic priest was quoted as saying in an interview with The European, a Berlin-based online news service, according to a report in Insights

Fr Küng also said he still agrees with Pope Benedict XVI on some key issues, said the report.

“In the course of its five years, this pontificate has seen many breakdowns, as well as many wasted chances, above all in its approach to Protestant churches,” Fr Kung said.

Theologian attacks reading from the letter of Hans

Continued from Page ???

by reason, and the separation of religious and political authority in the twenty-first century state.

You display no comprehension of what actually prevents HIV/ AIDS in Africa, and you cling to the tattered myth of “overpopulation” at a moment when fertility rates are dropping around the globe and Europe is entering a demographic winter of its own conscious creation.

You seem oblivious to the scientific evidence underwriting the Church’s defense of the moral status of the human embryo, while falsely charging that the Catholic Church opposes stem-cell research.

Why do you not know these things? You are an obviously intelligent man; you once did groundbreaking work in ecumenical theology. What has happened to you?

What has happened, I suggest, is that you have lost the argument over the meaning and the proper hermeneutics of Vatican II. That explains why you relentlessly pursue your fifty-year quest for a liberal Protestant Catholicism, at precisely the moment when the liberal Protestant project is collapsing from its inherent theological incoherence. And that is why you have now engaged in a vicious smear of another former Vatican II colleague, Joseph Ratzinger. Before addressing that smear, permit me to continue briefly on the hermeneutics of the Council.

While you are not the most theologically accomplished exponent of what Benedict XVI called the “hermeneutics of rupture” in his Christmas 2005 address to the Roman Curia, you are, without doubt, the most internationally visible member of that aging group which continues to argue that the period 1962–1965 marked a decisive trapgate in the history of the Catholic Church: the moment of a new beginning, in which Tradition would be dethroned from its accustomed place as a primary source of theological reflection, to be replaced by a Christianity that increasingly let “the world” set the Church’s agenda (as a motto of the World Council of Churches then

put it). The struggle between this interpretation of the Council, and that advanced by Council fathers like Ratzinger and Henri de Lubac, split the post-conciliar Catholic theological world into warring factions with contending journals: Concilium for you and your progressive colleagues, Communio for those you continue to call “reactionaries.”

That the Concilium project became ever more implausible over time—and that a younger generation of theologians, especially in North America, gravitated toward the Communio orbit— could not have been a happy experience for you. And that the Communio project should have decisively shaped the deliberations of the 1985 Extraordinary Synod of Bishops, called by John Paul II to celebrate Vatican II’s achievements and assess its full implementation on the twentieth anniversary of its conclusion, must have been another blow.

Yet I venture to guess that the iron really entered your soul when, on December 22, 2005, the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI—the man whose appointment to the theological faculty at Tübingen you had once helped arrange—addressed the Roman Curia and suggested that the argument was over: and that the conciliar “hermeneutics of reform,” which presumed continuity with the Great Tradition of the Church, had won the day over “the hermeneutics of discontinuity and rupture.”

Perhaps, while you and Benedict XVI were drinking beer at Castel Gandolfo in the summer of 2005, you somehow imagined that Ratzinger had changed his mind on this central question. He obviously had not.

Why you ever imagined he might accept your view of what an “ongoing renewal of the Church” would involve is, frankly, puzzling. Nor does your analysis of the contemporary Catholic situation become any more plausible when one reads, further along in your latest op-ed broadside, that recent popes have been “auto-

crats” against the bishops; again, one wonders whether you have been paying sufficient attention.

For it seems self-evidently clear that Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI have been painfully reluctant—some would say, unfortunately reluctant—to discipline bishops who have shown themselves incompetent or malfeasant and have lost the capacity to teach and lead because of that: a situation many of us hope will change, and change soon, in light of recent controversies. In a sense, of course, none of your familiar complaints about post-conciliar Catholic life is new. It does, however, seem ever more counterintuitive for someone who truly cares about the future of the Catholic Church as a witness to God’s truth for the world’s salvation to press the line you persistently urge upon us: that a credible Catholicism will tread the same path trod in recent decades by various Protestant communities which, wittingly or not, have followed one or another version of your counsel to a adopt a hermeneutics of rupture with the Great Tradition of Christianity.

“T

hat, sir, is not true. I refuse to believe that you knew this to be false and wrote it anyway, for that would mean you had willfully condemned yourself as a liar.”

- George Weigel -

even modify, your views, even if every bit of empirical evidence at hand suggests that the path you propose is the path to oblivion for the churches. What can be expected, though, is that you comport yourself with a minimum of integrity and elementary decency in the controversies in which you engage. I understand odium theologicum as well as anyone, but I must, in all candor, tell you that you crossed a line that should not have been crossed in your recent article, when you wrote the following:

“There is no denying the fact that the worldwide system of covering up sexual crimes committed by clerics was engineered by the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Cardinal Ratzinger (1981-2005).”

That, sir, is not true. I refuse to believe that you knew this to be false and wrote it anyway, for that would mean you had willfully condemned yourself as a liar. But on the assumption that you did not know this sentence to be a tissue of falsehoods, then you are so manifestly ignorant of how competencies over abuse cases were assigned in the Roman Curia prior to Ratzinger’s seizing control of the process and bringing it under CDF’s competence in 2001, then you have forfeited any claim to be taken seriously on this, or indeed any other matter involving the Roman Curia and the central governance of the Catholic Church.

tory, but is belied by the experience of American bishops who consistently found Ratzinger thoughtful, helpful, deeply concerned about the corruption of the priesthood by a small minority of abusers, and distressed by the incompetence or malfeasance of bishops who took the promises of psychotherapy far more seriously than they ought, or lacked the moral courage to confront what had to be confronted.

I recognise that authors do not write the sometimes awful subheads that are put on op-ed pieces. Nonetheless, you authored a piece of vitriol—itself utterly unbecoming a priest, an intellectual, or a gentleman—that permitted the editors of the Irish Times to slug your article: “Pope Benedict has made worse just about everything that is wrong with the Catholic Church and is directly responsible for engineering the global cover-up of child rape perpetrated by priests, according to this open letter to all Catholic bishops.” That grotesque falsification of the truth perhaps demonstrates where odium theologicum can lead a man. But it is nonetheless shameful.

Still, that is the single-minded stance you have taken since one of your colleagues worried about your becoming too evident; and as that stance has kept you evident, at least on the op-ed pages of newspapers who share your reading of Catholic tradition, I expect it’s too much to expect you to change, or

As you perhaps do not know, I have been a vigorous, and I hope responsible, critic of the way abuse cases were (mis)handled by individual bishops and by the authorities in the Curia prior to the late 1990s, when then-Cardinal Ratzinger began to fight for a major change in the handling of these cases. (If you are interested, I refer you to my 2002 book, The Courage To Be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church.)

I therefore speak with some assurance of the ground on which I stand when I say that your description of Ratzinger’s role as quoted above is not only ludicrous to anyone familiar with the relevant his-

Permit me to suggest that you owe Pope Benedict XVI a public apology, for what, objectively speaking, is a calumny that I pray was informed in part by ignorance (if culpable ignorance). I assure you that I am committed to a thoroughgoing reform of the Roman Curia and the episcopate, projects I described at some length in God’s Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church, a copy of which, in German, I shall be happy to send you. But there is no path to true reform in the Church that does not run through the steep and narrow valley of the truth. The truth was butchered in your article in the Irish Times. And that means that you have set back the cause of reform.

With the assurance of my prayers,

George Weigel

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.

A woman holds a flag with a picture of Pope Benedict XVI as the pontiff celebrates an outdoor Mass in St. Charles’ Square in Turin, Italy on 2 May. Support remains strong for the Pope despite Fr Hans Kung’s attack on him. CNS

Cardinal Sodano ‘deeply wronged’ victims by blocking action on sexual abuse: Schonborn

Vatican official blocked action on abuse, Cardinal Schonborn

says

BY SARAH DELANEY Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY - Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn said a top Vatican official had blocked an investigation of sexual abuse and offended victims by calling their complaints “petty gossip,” according to news reports from Austria.

Cardinal Schonborn made his remarks about Cardinal Angelo Sodano, longtime Secretary of State under Pope John Paul II and now the Dean of the College of Cardinals, in a private conversation with Austrian news editors at the end of April, the news outlets reported.

A spokesman for Cardinal Schonborn, who is Archbishop of Vienna, said by phone on 10 May that the Archdiocese would have no comment on the reports.

According to the reports, Cardinal Schonborn said Cardinal Sodano had hindered the investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of minors by the late Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, who was forced to step

down as Archbishop of Vienna in 1995.

He served as prior at a Benedictine monastery until 1998, when additional allegations of abuse surfaced, and he relinquished all public ministry.

Cardinal Groer died in 2003 without having undergone a canonical trial.

Cardinal Schonborn, who replaced Cardinal Groer in Vienna, said Pope Benedict XVI, then head of the Vatican office in charge of investigating accusations of clerical sex abuse, had been thwarted by Cardinal Sodano in his efforts to take more direct action on the accusations against Cardinal Groer, the reports said.

Abusive German Bishop resigns

Pope accepts resignation of German Bishop accused of sexual abuse

BY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

AUGSBURG, Germany - Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of the Augsburg Bishop Walter Mixa, who has admitted hitting children but has denied sexually abusing them.

In addition, Bishop Mixa will no longer be responsible for German military personnel, the Vatican announced on 8 May. Just before the Vatican’s announcement, the Augsburg diocese confirmed media reports that it had informed the state prosecutor about accusations relating to sexual abuse by Bishop Mixa during his time as Bishop of Eichstatt, 1996-2005. According to those reports, the incidents involved a boy.

Bishop Mixa’s lawyer denied the accusations and said that the Bishop was cooperating with the prosecutor.

On 21 April, Bishop Mixa submitted his resignation following accusations that he had hit children during his time as priest in charge of a children’s home near Augsburg. He originally denied the charges, then admitted that he may have “boxed the ears” of children. A special investigator has been appointed by the children’s home to look into the accusations, as well as into evidence that then-Fr Mixa had used money from the children’s home for private purposes.

Whereas the incidents at the children’s home cannot be prosecuted because they occurred too long ago, the alleged abuse in Eichstatt may still be within the statute of limitations.

Bishop Mixa, who is currently in a Swiss sanatorium, told Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper that he had felt the letter informing him of the Vatican’s decision was “sincere and friendly.”

German commentators are noting that the Vatican’s decision to accept the resig-

tected abusers rather than victims.

The Cardinal’s remarks, originally published in Austrian newspapers in late April, drew the attention of the international media in early May.

The high-level criticism of Cardinal Sodano was unusual, and drew a rebuke from a former Vatican official.

Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, the former head of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, told an Italian Catholic website that Cardinal Schonborn should have spoken privately with the former secretary of state and that “accusations like this shouldn’t be made in this violent way through a newspaper.”

According to the press reports, Cardinal Schonborn also spoke of the need for urgent reform of the Roman Curia, the body of officials heading up the government of the Church.

Cardinal Schonborn also was quoted in the reports as saying Cardinal Sodano had offended victims of sexual abuse in the Church when he said at the Pope’s Easter Mass that the increasing reports of sexual abuse by clergy amounted to “petty gossip.”

Cardinal Schonborn said the Church has in the past often pro-

nation has come unusually quickly. In the case of Irish Bishops accused of similar offenses, the process took months. The prompt decision will help prevent the Bishop Mixa case from dominating the Kirchentag, ecumenical church assembly, which 150,000 Christians are expected to attend beginning on 12 May.

The Pope’s decision was greeted with relief by prominent figures in the German Catholic Church.

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg im Breisgau, president of the German Bishops’ conference, thanked the Pope “for his support of the German Church.” He said the Church had been “seriously burdened” by the case, which had cost the institution credibility.

The head of the Bavarian Bishops’ conference, Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, said that the resignation “ended a period of uncertainty for the (Augsburg) diocese.”

On 21 April, Archbishops Zollitsch and Marx took the unprecedented step of announcing to the press that they had advised Bishop Mixa to resign.

On 29 April they travelled with Augsburg Auxiliary Bishop Anton Losinger to the Vatican to inform the Pope personally about the case.

Although the visit was supposed to have been private, the Vatican press office reported it the next day. The former head of the German Bishops’ conference, Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz, told German television that “one has to recognise from time to time that someone is not up to the job.”

The Augsburg Cathedral Chapter has chosen Augsburg Auxiliary Bishop Josef Grunwald as diocesan administrator until a new Bishop is appointed. Bishop Grunwald, 73, wrote to diocesan priests, parishes and staff and called for an “honest new beginning” in the diocese.

He said that Pope Benedict was working on reform at the top but that he had many things to deal with as head of the worldwide Church.

Cardinal Schonborn reportedly told the newspaper editors that the Church needed to reconsider its position toward remarried divorced Catholics, who are not allowed to take Communion, and toward homosexuals in stable relationships.

Secret police tracked John Paul II

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) - Poland’s National Remembrance Institute has published a book of documents detailing how the communist secret police kept the future Pope John Paul II under surveillance and sought material for blackmailing him.

“As a priest, lecturer and pastor, and later as a Bishop and Metropolitan of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla was seen by the government as an especially dangerous ideological opponent,” the book’s editor, Marek Lasota, said in an introduction.

“This was proved by the use of a full range of operational methods and technical means against him, from telephone bugs and the opening of correspondence to direct observation through an agent network used for disintegration and disinformation activities.”

The 687-page Toward Truth and Freedom: The Communist Secret Police and Karol Wojtyla opens with a police document from May 1946, when the future pontiff was a seminarian, investigating his links with a patriotic student group in Krakow.

The final document, a cryptogram to the Interior Ministry in Warsaw, dated 24 May 1978, cites a demand by then-Cardinal Wojtyla to be allowed to stage a Corpus Christi procession from the southern city’s Wawel Cathedral and explains the reasons for official refusal.

The collection suggests that surveillance and harassment increased sharply after Fr Wojtyla’s appointment as a Bishop in 1958, as the secret police sought more precise information about his life and work. Among dozens of questions recommended for informants, the secret police asked about the Bishop’s clothing and shaving habits, as well as about his radio and typewriter and who helped him maintain them.

About 10 per cent of Catholic clergy are believed to have acted as informants in communist-ruled Poland, although higher recruitment rates were recorded in some dioceses in the 1980s. In April 2005, shortly after the Pope’s death, the National Remembrance Institute accused a Polish Dominican, Fr Konrad Hejmo, of spying on him for two decades in Rome.

The book is the third published on the surveillance of communist-era church leaders by the Warsaw-based institute, whose president, Janusz Kurtyka, was among 96 people killed in an April 10 plane crash in western Russia.

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna, Austria, said that Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the former Vatican Secretary of State, had “deeply wronged” the victims of sexual abuse by downplaying the importance of the issue. Right, Cardinal Sodano walks in procession with other Cardinals as they arrive for Ash Wednesday Mass with Pope Benedict XVI at the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome on 17 February. At the Easter Mass days later, he thanked the Pope for his strength and courage and said Catholics are unmoved by the “current petty gossip,” a reference to the barrage of news stories about how the Church and Pope Benedict handled clerical sexual abuse cases in the past. PHOTOS: CNS

Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg, Germany, arrives for a vespers service at the Cathedral in Augsburg on 4 April. Pope Benedict XVI has accepted his resignation, which was tendered to the Vatican three weeks after he was accused of hitting children while he was the chaplain of a children’s home.

PHOTO: CNS

Hundreds gather for Bove’s anniversary

of the Rosary. This year’s event, the 30th anniversary of the Rosary gathering at the farm of Luigi and Luisa Bove south of Busselton, continued to see growing numbers participate in the popular annual event. Among those attending this year were new pilgrim groups from Fremantle and Mandurah, and a group of Vietnamese Catholics from Perth. Other photographs show hundreds listening to Bishop Holohan’s homily and processing.

BY MATTHEW MONISSE

At least 500 pilgrims attended the annual Busselton May Rosary Celebration at Bove Farm on Sunday, 2 May.

This celebration is held annually in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Luigi and Luisa Bove’s Farm, located south of Busselton.

The property is home to the Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine where Mass was celebrated.

Being the 30th anniversary of the May celebration, there was an increased number of pilgrims attending, many from Perth as well as from around the South West.

New pilgrim groups also came from Fremantle and Mandurah as well as a group of Vietnamese pilgrims from Perth making their first trip to the Shrine.

A concelebrated Mass was led by Bishop Gerard Holohan with priests from Perth and the Bunbury diocese.

The crowning of a statue of Our Lady followed Mass, the statue beautifully adorned with flowers.

After the crowning, pilgrims processed around the property praying the Rosary.

The many flower girls dressed in white sprinkled rose petals in front of the statue of Our Lady which led the procession. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament followed.

At the end of proceedings Luisa Bove thanked the many friends who contribute so much in helping her and Luigi make this day possible.

During his homily Bishop Holohan spoke of the impor-

tance of Catholics witnessing to their faith.

Referring to early persecutions of the Church under the Roman emperors, he said that during the reign of the Emperor Decius official efforts tried to force all to worship the traditional gods of the Roman empire.

From 249 - 251 AD Christians were rounded up, taken to pagan temples and ordered to sacrifice to the Roman gods or be martyred.

Although the empire had an estimated population of 40 million, Roman persecutors watched carefully for signs of Christian love, like caring for the poor, and other forms of kindness which were likely indicators of Christian faith.

Those who showed love for others were identified as Christians and taken to the temple to sacrifice to the gods or be killed.

Bishop Holohan concluded by asking the congregation to reflect on their own lives, asking whether they would be identified as Christians in the same way as their early Roman ancestors in faith.

The day concluded with a popular afternoon tea.

Many gathered to catch up with one another on a delightful autumn afternoon.

After 30 years the Busselton May Rosary Celebration continues to bring grace and joy to the many who come along to venerate the Mother of God.

All this is made possible by the generosity and sacrifice of Luigi and Luisa Bove, who on this day and throughout the last 30 years have always provided a warm welcome to everyone coming to the Shrine.

Grace Monisse, aged 8, crowns the statue of Our Lady after the Mass concelebrated by Bishop Holohan. Her father Matthew, above, was one of those who led recitation of the mysteries

Children spreading rose petals lead the Rosary procession of hundreds around the Bove Farm on 2 May. PHOTOS: DOUGLAS VYNER

Homeschoolers honour Mary in May

HOMESCHOOLING families gathered at the popular Schoenstatt Shrine in Armadale on 3 May to honour Mary in the month traditionally celebrated by many as hers.

The day had been organised to honour Mary as Our Lady Queen of Heaven and Earth, and Queen of the May.

Boys holding a crucifix and candles led the procession, followed by the children carrying flowers, many wearing white and blue. Some little girls looked even

more stunning, with flowers and veils to decorate their hair.

Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate, Fr Joseph Michael processed with young Clare O’Callaghan, who carried a small cushion holding the beaded crown.

The crown had been made, lovingly and beautifully, by Kayla Roatch. Parents followed in the procession, singing Immaculate Mary

The procession wound its way up the slope to the chapel, where children laid their flowers on a small, specially set up altar. To

the singing of Bring Flowers of the Fairest, Our Lady was crowned, a decade of the Rosary (the fifth Glorious Mystery) was recited, and Fr Joseph gave a talk about Mary as our Mother.

After a short break, Fr Joseph celebrated Mass and families then moved to St Emilie’s Centre for afternoon tea. The children played happily, later on aided and abetted by Fr Joseph with his (sometimes strenuous) organised activities. The programme finished with a light meal around 6.30pm.

Poverty can be ended, say UNDA students

Sejla Perviz, Bianca Saggers and Stephanie Holt have been selected as some of 1,000 young ambassadors to lead a nationwide campaign against global poverty.

In May, they will join other young Australians for the Make Poverty History Roadtrip: the biggest continuous mobilisation of its kind ever seen in Australia.

“We’re taking to the road and speaking to people all over Australia. We expect to talk to over 100,000 people in their com-

munities in every state and territory of Australia” says Sejla.

Ambassadors like Sejla, Bianca and Stephanie will host forums, stage meetings with regional and national MPs, and take part in community events to encourage everyday Australians to speak out and participate.

“In just one generation we’ve more than halved global poverty. In 1990, 42 per cent of the world was living in extreme poverty. Now it’s 19 per cent - this shows how success is possible” said

Bianca. Make Poverty History Ambassadors will converge on Canberra from 12-14 May for a summit focused on what Australia can do to end poverty.

Viv Benjamin, the National Campaign Director said “our Aid can have an enormous impact –for example Australia’s own Aid effort has wiped out Polio in the Pacific.

“Through our efforts this crippling disease will no longer disable the people of our region. We should be proud.”

 CAROL PHILLIPS

Children looking resplendent in their outfits gather for a group photo with Fr Michael Mary FFI outside the Schoenstatt Shrine in Armadale on the day, which honoured Mary under her titles as Queen of Heaven and Earth and as Queen of the month of May. Traditionally, Catholics have celebrated May as a special month of devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CAROL PHILLIPS

Whoever won the tug of war during the homeschooler’s 3 May gathering to honour Mary, a good time was had by all. PHOTOS: COURTESY CAROL PHILLIPS

NOTRE DAME Students

Being a single man: the script is not mine

Deacons: a new vision needed

Emerging Ministry

The permanent diaconate: Its genesis, growth, issues.

By Anthony Paganoni CS

It is true that a new vision is needed, one that widens the focus of the deacon from his threefold ministry of Altar, Word and Charity, that is, worship leadership, preaching and charity.

that implied carrying out tasks of whatever kind under a mandate, be it political, religious, civic or domestic.

Being Heard

IBy John Heard

open my mouth and place inside the things I have longed to taste. I dress the way I feel. I “live and move and have my being” in the midst of a world of incredible advantage. Order and rhythm, bright light, and clean lines all round – these say I am modern. I am educated. I am doing well. All of this, this glittering now, it seems like my birthright.

Freedom is mine, that is for sure. It is my right. With it, I can make the people and things about me shift and shake. I can convince, and when that does not work or I cannot be bothered, I can coerce.

Yes, I can (pos sum). That is my right. I have this rare power, this gift - the peculiar threat of secular modernity. Everything that is done to me, is done at my command, or at least with my tacit approval. I do not resist. I do not need to; everything here reflects my will. If not, it stops. I can make it so it stops.

We are to believe that this is the pinnacle of human endeavour. That this is freedom. That we live at last in an age where all of history, the blood, the struggle, the glimpses of peace and light, these have come together and fallen apart.

Same-sex attracted men and women, in particular, we hear about our liberation all the time.

Women too. Even black men, we are all so free and lucky. We strain against the future and pop into the past, usually when it suits us, on a whim. We have these things: nostalgia, melodrama, celebrity, and romance.

They are real. We can have it all, all of the time. Or not at all. Whatever. We are fortunate. Still.

Lately I have longed for other things. I have wanted a child.

That is something this worldthe world of Pride marches and “gay marriage” - cannot give to me, not legitimately, not so that I know it is right, and good, and natural. I have also (perhaps predictably) become fixated on dogs. I think about how I would get one and how I would train him.

I fantasise about how faithful and clever and good he would be to us. Sitting outside. Next to

me on the sofa. Alert, but wise. Energetic, but sure. A sight hound. A wolf hound. A surrogate son. I could get one. I probably will, if I want to get a dog. Still.

Lent rushes up like that shockwave across the Pacific.

It brings news of suffering, of other people and their loss and struggle. It brings Haiti and Chile. It brings Him. The Cross undoes modernity because the Passion is bleak and bloody and cruel. So is life. That is real.

There are few clean lines on Golgotha and little left standing in Port au Prince. There is so much darkness in Concepcion.

The rhythm of the world is blunt, staccato. It is shocking. It is not order. It is the centurion’s stomp, and the people’s wickedness drones (ison).

Lent, which starts with ash and, if you are lucky enough, with a worthy performance of Psalm 137 Super flumina Babylonis - Lent reveals the limit of modernity.

Why? Because there are not enough beautiful things in the world to sustain us – not enough for even one same-sex attracted man, let alone all the men on earth.

We live in a degraded reality, after the Fall.

We are broken too. There is only so much we can do. Rights do not come into this, this is about that feeling I get when I see a child and know he is not my son and that my son will not be.

There is a limit to the spaces, the apartments, the stages, and the parties one can beautify, for instance, in light of that fact.

One’s appearance can only be perfected, and then what? The social graces one can own and deploy? The men one can gather and discard? The silence. The money. Always, that lack. Our inheritance? Barren. We are sick of ourselves. Same-sex attracted men must look elsewhere, then, we must turn to God. For nourishment, we must turn to God.

For love, we must look at God’s wounds. This is what Lent is about.

Lest our souls turn dry, our hearts cold, we must fight the bitter and seek truth. We must serve truth. We must model love. I must model love. How? Submit. Learn. Serve. Love. People ask me all the time, as if I know, as if I made it up.

That is the script, though. It is not mine. It is His. It is Him. This is what I write: Love Him and live.

All of the rest of it passes away. That is Lent too: remember man that Thou art dust, and unto dust.

The mix of these three factors, however, has yet to reach an amicable level of acceptance. Ever since the introduction of permanent diaconate by the Vatican Council, there has been a juggling act around the globe, with varying expectations and emphases being brought to bear on it by countless external factors and agents. The overall tilting is in favour of service, that magic area called diakonia

But even this Greek word seems on the verge of losing its long-revered meaning and century-old understanding for a wider application.

German scholars have yielded interesting results in relation to the meaning that diakonia carried for the Greek-speaking people who were members of the early communities of the Church.

In the book Diakonia: Re-interpreting the Ancient Sources, it is argued that the various meanings of diakonia had nothing to do directly with “Works of Charity”. For ancient Hellenists –whether Christian or not – diakonia was an expression

At first, this novel interpretation has not been well accepted. Recently, at least in academic circles, however, this interpretation has been gaining ground. It is argued that the term diakonia never occurs in the New Testament: it is rather part of the general currency and has nothing to do with the radical Christian emphasis on love of neighbour. If this is accurate, it clearly signals the need to make a sustained effort at radical re-thinking. This new understanding would also reposition the sense of the deacon’s identity and ministry in Catholic circles. In the midst of this startling diversity of theological understandings, the diaconal identity should rather be pursued in his relationship with the Bishop, by way of assisting and serving the needs of pastoral oversight as determined by the one who exercises that oversight. According to Prof John N Collins, the Australian New testament scholar with a special interest in issues of

ministry, “it is no longer acceptable to try to define the ministry of the deacon in terms of such service, as many have done in the past …”. Instead, he proposes a theology of the diaconate grounded in ways in which the historical diaconate was shaped toward servicing the Bishop’s ministry of episcope.

Sacred Order 2. pastoral (basically boundary problems, involving the issue of who does what) and 3. personal (connected with the theological and pastoral grey areas, causing, in many dioceses, a morale problem for the diaconal ministers). This morale problem may be the result of an unclear theological interrelationship between roles, or it may stem from the issue of the deacon’s marital status. On many occasions, marriage or family life requires the full attention of the deacon.

He finds himself in a dual sacramental situation: his married life and his diaconal life. And the celibate clerical leadership, both Bishop and priest, may not be sensitive or appreciative of the pull factors between family and ministry.

The curious case of Mr Holes

In clear view

By Guy Crouchback

Heard of Shawn Holes? You should have, but through no fault of yours probably haven’t. He is an American Baptist preacher aged 47 who visited Glasgow recently.

He was preaching in a shopping centre there when a number of people came up to him and asked him his views on homosexuality. He replied that he considered it was a sin.

As if they were waiting for this, police leapt out and arrested him. He was locked in a cell and charged with breaching the peace.

As his parents in America were in very bad health (hospice inmates) and he wanted to get back to them as soon as possible, he pleaded guilty to the charge without contesting it.

Would you like to guess what the penalty was – for expressing an opinion? He was fined £1,000 plus time in the cells.

Leading homosexual rights

activist Peter Thatchell commented: “The conviction and £1,000 must be condemned an attack on free speech.

“Mr Holes should not be insulting people. He should be challenged and people should protest against his intolerance. However, in a democratic, free society it is wrong to prosecute him. Criminalisation is not appropriate.

“The price of freedom of speech is that we sometimes have to put up with opinions that are objectionable and offensive. Only incitements to violence should be illegal.

“Mr Holes’ £1,000 fine is totally disproportionate. Even people who commit robberies and violent assaults sometimes get off with lighter penalties. This prosecution was heavy-handed and an inappropriate use of the law.

“If I had known about this prosecution in advance, I would have gone to court to defend Mr Holes’ right to freedom of expression and to urge that the charges against him be dropped. Even though I strongly disagree with his views on homosexuality, if he had decided to appeal against either the conviction or the sentence, I would have supported him.”

This is more than political correctness, which, however much it has been abused as a concept recently, was originally based on an idea of keeping the peace and sparing people’s feelings. The

actual subject for which Mr Holes was prosecuted is, in fact, more or less irrelevant. It could have been any of a list of things.

Further, of course, the subjects which are censored are highly selective. Islamists in Britain have been allowed to picket Westminster Cathedral and intimidate worshippers with placards calling for the beheading of the Pope and gloating over 9/11 without a single arrest being made. This, apparently, does not count as a “hate crime.”

I said at the beginning of this that you probably hadn’t heard of Mr Holes. That is part of the real point.

Outrages against freedom of speech regarding certain areas of opinion have become so common that they are no longer newsworthy.

Further, the victims appear to be virtually unsupported. After this case there is no point in pretending that freedom of speech exists in Britain at present. Other Anglomorph countries have similar problems.

The administration of a Canadian University recently banned well-known conservative commentator Anne Coulter from speaking there – to be precise, they wrote her a letter before she was due to appear, giving a list of topics she might or might not speak on. This was an effective ban because naturally she refused to speak at all under such conditions.

An image from a 70s Gay Liberation Front poster. John Heard, a same-sex attracted Catholic, says the monotonous calls for the ‘liberation’ of same-sex attracted people is missing the key fact that turning to God is true freedom.

Mum’s prayers helped me stop selling girls

with Debbie Warrier

Ipray every day. I pray for the people at my work, I pray for my family, my friends, the priests – I pray for everybody. I became Catholic in 2000 and my journey was a strange one. My 92 year old mother prayed for me for 20 years whilst I was making money selling girls in the brothel industry. Knowing that my mother was praying for me though she was ageing and I was worldly was very sad.

My conversion began when Princess Diana of Wales died in a car crash in 1997.

I realised power and wealth were not enough to save you.

Then my mother’s words rang in my head, “I am praying for you.” I called out to God, “God, if you are there, reveal Yourself to me. I don’t know how to get out of this mess.”

That night I began the road to my recovery. I knew that I needed God’s help and I couldn’t do it alone.

I didn’t know what I was going to do after 20 years in the “game.” I decided that I would fight the legalisation of prostitution. Then I was very blessed to meet Archbishop Barry Hickey.

He helped me set up Linda’s House of Hope in 1999, an assessment centre for aid and shelter for prostitutes.

I thought, “Wow, I don’t have to sleep with anybody anymore. I don’t have to sell girls. There is a life.” So from there my rainbow shone.

I have never looked back.

To heal the girls is hard and we are always struggling at the shelter. It is all good though. Our services are provided free of charge and we often rely on Divine Providence for our needs as well as financial support from the Church.

We have one paid staff and six to 10 volunteers.

We can take four women at a time or a family. We also provide community outreach.

The women hear about us through word of mouth or at Church. Other referrals come from hospitals; community services, rehabilitation units or

shelters. They see if we have got rooms or can provide practical help.

First, we have to make sure that the women are detoxed. So we send them to places like “Bridge House,” “Next step” or “Palmerston” for alcohol and/or drug rehabilitation. Some even go to a private hospital with their psychiatrist and get detoxed there.

Then we assess them. We ask, “What are your immediate needs?” Some need clothes; others are in Homes West units (now government housing comes under the Ministry of Housing and Works) and have accommodation problems.

They may be in trouble, in debt or trying to get out of prostitution. There are other issues like mental illnesses.

They are such broken people and our aim is to get them on the

right track with the right support team.

I was always a believer but I definitely strayed from the flock.

Now my faith means everything to me. There is a reason that I am here. It is a comfort to have faith. It helps me cope.

In the Gospel of Luke there is a passage that I often quote and draw strength from.

A woman displays her remorse for her sins by crying on Christ’s feet, wiping them with her hair, kissing them and pouring perfume on them. Christ tells the stunned Pharisee present “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven - for she loved much” [Luke 7:47].

To make donations to Linda’s House of Hope contact Linda Watson on 0439 401 009 or 9358 1719. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.

Cheques can be sent to: Linda’s House of Hope PO BOX Z5640 St Georges Tce, Perth WA 6831.

By William R Shae and Mariano Artigas

By Fr John Flader

Q: My aunty, who is of Italian background, has always had a great devotion to St Rita and I would be very interested to know something about this saint. I really don’t know anything at all about her.

A: St Rita was born at Rocca Porrena near Cascia in Umbria, Italy in 1381. Her parents, Antonio and Amata, looked upon her as a gift from God since they were advancing in years.

Although her great desire was to become a nun, in obedience to her parents she agreed to be married at the age of 12 to Paolo Mancini, a minor official in the town. Soon after, twin sons were born. Paolo was often caught up in the rivalry between two political factions in the town, and this probably accounts for the stress and ill temper he often brought home.

For 18 years Rita patiently bore Paolo’s temper and was an exemplary wife and mother.

One day on his way home from work, Paolo was murdered. Rita tried in vain to dissuade her teenage sons from attempting to take revenge, following the tradition of the vendetta. She prayed insistently and, within the year, both sons died from natural causes, reconciled with God.

To fulfill her wish to become a nun, Rita then asked to join the Augustinian convent at Cascia. But she was refused, since some of the Religious were of the faction considered responsible for her husband’s death, and they did not want to risk straining the harmony of the convent. After repeated and ardent requests accompanied by much prayer, and having done much to heal the division in the town, she was finally admitted at the age of 36.

As a Religious, St Rita’s great desire was to be united with the redemptive sufferings of Christ, and she was known for her demanding penances.

When she was about 60, one

day as she prayed before a Crucifix a wound appeared on her forehead like that of a thorn piercing Christ’s forehead. For the next 15 years she was to bear the pain of that wound with great love and patience, never complaining even though the pain was intense.

During the last four years of her life, after experiencing a vision of Our Lord and the indescribable joy of heaven, she was confined to bed and ate so little that she practically existed on the Eucharist alone.

St Rita is often depicted holding roses, or roses and figs, and there is an interesting story behind it.

One day in the month of January when St Rita was very ill, a cousin of hers went to the convent to visit her. St Rita asked her to go to the garden she had once owned in Rocca Porrena but had since sold, and to bring back a rose. When her cousin objected that in the middle of winter there could not possibly be any roses, St Rita answered that nothing was impossible for God. Her cousin went to the garden and on a leafless rose bush she found a beautiful red rose in full bloom. St Rita received the rose with great joy and kissed it reverently, seeing in it her beloved Jesus crowned with thorns.

A short time later, in the same month, St Rita asked her cousin to go to the garden again and this time bring back two figs. When she arrived there she found two luscious ripe figs on a frozen tree, which she took back to St Rita. Needless to say, they amazed and delighted all the nuns in the convent.

St Rita saw these miracles as a sign that Our Lord was coming to call her soon, as indeed he did. As she breathed her last, her final words to the Sisters around her were, “Remain in the holy love of Jesus. Remain in obedience to the holy Roman Church. Remain in peace and fraternal charity.”

St Rita of Cascia died on 22 May 1457. Her body has remained incorrupt and is venerated in the shrine at Cascia. Her feast is celebrated on 22 May as an optional memorial. St Rita was canonised on 24 May 1900 and is often regarded, like St Jude, as the “saint of the impossible”.

Got a question for Fr Flader? Email him at: director@caec.com.au.

SATURDAY, 15 MAY

St Padre Pio Day of Prayer

8.30am at Villa Terrenzio, Cabrini and Marangaroo Dr, Marangaroo. St Padre Pio DVD, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Divine Mercy, Silent Adoration and Benediction. Holy Mass, celebrant Fr Tiziano Bogoni using St Pio Liturgy. Confessions available. 12 noon, BYO lunch to share. Tea and coffee provided. Enq: Des 9278 1540.

SUNDAY, 16 MAY

Focolare Open Afternoon

2.30-4.30pm at Little Sisters of the Poor, Glendalough, all who would like to know more about the Focolare are most welcome. There will be a programme for children as well. Please come along and see how you can make a change in your lives.

Meditative Prayer in the Taize Style

7-8pm Sisters of St Joseph Chapel, 16 York St, South Perth. Come and join in the Taize prayer as we remember Sr Irene McCormack on the Anniversary of her death. Join in the chants; listen to sacred Scripture, silent and intercessory prayers in a beautiful candlelit Chapel. Doors open at 6.30pm. Everyone welcome. Bring a friend and a torch. Enq: Sr Maree Riddler 0414 683 926.

The World Apostolate of Fatima

3pm at St John and Paul Church, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Eucharistic Hour, and the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue of the Apostolate will be brought. All welcome. Enq: 9339 2614.

Dominican Laity Meeting

2pm at St Catherine’s Convent, 31 Williamstown Rd, Doubleview. Visitors are welcome. Enq: Jeff 9446 3655.

MONDAY, 17 MAY  FRIDAY, 28 MAY

Tour of the Holy Land

12 day tour with Fr Roy Pereira visiting Sea of Galilee, Jericho, Masada, The Dead Sea, Bethany, Jerusalem and Cana. For cost, itinerary and more details, please contact: Francis Williams (Coordinator) T: 9459 3873 M: 0404 893 877. Email: francis@perthfamily.com.

WEDNESDAY, 19 MAY

Lesmurdie Mental Health Support

6-8pm at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Hall, 207 Lesmurdie Rd, Lesmurdie. Fr Kevin Cummins and his wife, Rula, from Graylands Hospital will share about supporting people with mental health problems. Admission free. Please bring plate to share. Enq: Ann 9291 6670 or Barbara 9328 8113.

SUNDAY, 23 MAY

The Legion of Mary Eastern Districts Curia – ACIES

3.30pm at St Brigid’s Catholic Church, Morrison Rd and Great Northern Hwy, Midland. All are welcome to consecrate their lives to Mary. Please bring a plate to share and tea will be provided.

MONDAY, 24 MAY

Abortion Trauma and Substance Abuse

7pm at All Saints, Liwara Pl, Greenwood. Presenter Julie Cook; National Director, Abortion Grief Australia. 24 published studies link abortion to substance abuse. Growing international research links abortion to psychiatric illness, suicide and domestic violence. Attendance donations to AGA tax deductible. All welcome. Enq: Kathleen and Colin 9448 4267 or 0400 512 206.

TUESDAY, 25 MAY

CaFE Programme

7.30pm at Infant Jesus Parish, Morley. Knowing God Better by David Payne, fun and stimulating DVD talks aimed at helping Catholics understand their faith more fully and to become more enthusiastic about God’s action in their lives. Programme will run for 7 weeks. All welcome. Enq: 9276 8500.

WEDNESDAY, 26 MAY

Conversational Sign Language

1-2.30pm at Emmanuel Centre. Enq: 9328 8113, or 9328 9571 TTY or SMS 0401 016 399.

Not-for-profit Management Seminar Series

5.30pm at The University of Notre Dame Australia, High and Cliff Sts, Fremantle. Topic: A Feminist Critique of NGO governance: real or imagined, a discussion paper. Speaker Dr Lucy Morris, Adjunct Professor.

PANORAMA

A roundup of events in the Archdiocese Panorama entries must be in by 12pm Monday.

Enq: 9433 0905 or business@nd.edu.au

THURSDAY, 27 MAY

Morley Mental Health Support Group

7-8.30 at Infant Jesus Hall, 47 Wellington St, Morley. Looking at the Saints, The Life of St Dymphna, Patron Saint of Mental Health. All welcome. Enq: Darren 9276 8500 or Barbara 9328 8113.

Council of Christians and Jews WA INC

7.30pm Temple David Social Hall, 34 Clifton Cr, Mt Lawley. Seminar on The Authority of Scripture, presented by Rabbi Marcus Solomon, Kenneth Arkwright OAM, The Right Revd Dr Anthony Nichols, The Revd Professor William Loader FAHA. $5 members, non-members $10 Light refreshments served. All welcome.

FRIDAY, 28 MAY

Alan Ames

7pm at St Bernadette’s Church, Jugan St, Glendalough. Mass, followed by talk and healing service. Enq: George 9275 6608.

FRIDAY, 28 MAY TO MONDAY, 7 JUNE

Fremantle Heritage Week – University of Notre Dame

11am daily tours of the campus with a range of public lectures offered at 1pm on archaeological excavations in Fremantle’s West End, role of Fremantle women in supporting American servicemen and nurses during WWII; the place of icons in the Christian community, Perth’s second Catholic Bishop, Unearthed; Notre Dame’s Art and Architecture. Enq: Rebecca 9433 0611 or rcassidy@ nd.edu.au.

SATURDAY, 29 MAY  SUNDAY, 30 MAY

Catholic Faith Renewal - Weekend Retreat

9am-6pm at James Neston Hall, Catholic Education Centre, 50 Ruislip St, West Leederville. Theme will be Tears of God, Christian Answer to suffering with guest Fr Gino Henriques, CSsR, an International Speaker who has preached to Bishops, priests, and Religious to laity through retreats, seminars and conferences, a postgraduate study in Sacred Scripture and Theology. Enq: 0433 224 541, Rita 0422 917 054.

Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference

At Gibney Hall, Trinity College, East Perth. Saturday 9am5.30pm; Sunday 10am-5pm. Theme: Moving in the Power of the Spirit, presented by Fr Bob Faricy SJ and Ms Cheryl Nguyen. Evening rally 7.30-10pm. Collections will be taken up. Enq: Pam 9381 2516, Dan 9398 4973.

SATURDAY, 29 MAY

Novena Devotions - Our Lady of Good Health Vailankanni

5pm at Holy Trinity Church, Embleton. 6pm Mass. Enq: George 9272 1379 or Church Office 9271 5528.

FRIDAY, 4 JUNE AND FRIDAY 11 JUNE

The Alliance, Triumph and Reign of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary 9pm at St Bernadette’s Church, Glendalough. Eucharistic prayer vigil on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary. Each vigil concludes with midnight Mass in honour and thanksgiving of the coming Reign of the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary. There will be a winter break in July and August. Vigils will recommence in September. Enq: Fr Doug Harris 9444 6131 or Dorothy 9342 5845.

SATURDAY, 5 JUNE

Day with Mary

9am-5pm at Holy Family Church, Alcock St, Maddington. Day of prayer and instruction based on the Fatima message. 9am Video; 10.10am Holy Mass; Reconciliation, procession of the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons on Eucharist and Our Lady, Rosaries and Stations of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enq: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.

SUNDAY, 6 JUNE

Food Fair

10am-3pm at the Little Sisters of the Poor, 2 Rawlins St, Glendalough. Lots of food, fun and entertainment. Eat in or takeaway. All proceeds go to the home. Enq: 9443 3155.

Annual Corpus Christi Mass and Procession

10.30am at Our Lady Help of Christians, Franciscan Friary, 36 Stirling Tce, Toodyay. Mass, followed at 12 noon by Procession. Transport from Perth, Des 6278 1540 or Nita 9367 1366.

Secular Franciscan Order Day of Reflection

10am at the Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. You are invited to join the Secular Franciscan Order in WA, concluding with Mass at 2pm. Topics, Dreams, the Path of Descent and Profession in the SFO. Enq: Angela 9275 2066.

Divine Mercy

1.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, 25 Windsor St, East Perth. An afternoon with Jesus and Mary, with homily by Fr Anthony Van Dyke on Body and Blood of Jesus. Refreshments will follow. Enq: 9457 7771.

O’Brien Family Reunion

11am at Geraldton Turf Club. Reunion of the descendants of Michael and Honora O’Brien who arrived in WA from Ireland 150 years ago. The evening before there will be a Family Mass at St Francis Xavier Cathedral at 6pm. All family and friends are welcome Enq: Julie 9921 4242.

FRIDAY, 11 JUNE  SUNDAY, 13 JUNE

Weekend Live In Retreat

6pm at Mary MacKillop Centre, South Perth. Mary MacKillop, Our Australian Saint Retreat Limited numbers, Retreat director Sr Dora Maguire. Enq: Laura 9334 0999 lmccarthy@sosjwa.org.au before 8 June.

SATURDAY, 12 JUNE

Divine Mercy Healing Mass

2.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, 25 Windsor St, East Perth. Main celebrant Fr Marcellinus Meilak OFM. Reconciliation in English and Italian available. Divine Mercy prayers followed by Veneration of First Class Relic of St Faustina Kowalska. Refreshments later. Enq: 9457 7771.

GENERAL NOTICES

Perpetual Adoration

Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is in its seventh year at Christ the King Church, Beaconsfield. Open 24 hours except at Mass times. All welcome. Enq: Joe 9319 1169.

Perpetual Adoration

Sacred Heart Church, 64 Mary St, Highgate. All that is needed is for each one of us to be willing to spend one hour a week with Jesus so that all the hours are covered with one person in the Chapel. Available times, Monday 2-3am, 4-5am, Saturday 11am-12 noon, Tuesday 11am12 noon, Sunday 2-3pm, 3-4pm; Thursday 7-8pm. Enq: Helen: 9444 7962.

EVERY SUNDAY AND MONDAY

Extraordinary Form of Latin Holy Mass 11am Sunday and 7.30pm Monday except 3rd Monday of the month, at St Joseph’s Parish, 20 Hamilton St, Bassendean.

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

The Church of St Jude in Langford is seeking to put together a visit to Jordan, the Holy Land and Egypt, leaving mid-August 2010. Expect the pilgrimage to be for circa 19 days and could accommodate 28-30 people. Fr Terry Raj will be the Spiritual Director. Enq: Matt 6460 6877, mattpicc1@gmail.com.

EVERY SUNDAY

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

EVERY FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE MONTH

Holy Hour for Vocations to the Priesthood, Religious Life

2-3pm at Infant Jesus Parish, Wellington St, Morley. The hour includes Exposition of the Blessed Eucharist, silent prayer, Scripture and prayers of intercession. Come and pray that those discerning vocations to the Priesthood or Religious life hear clearly God’s loving call to them.

LAST MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH

Christian Spirituality Presentation

7.30-9.15pm at the Church Hall behind St Swithan’s Anglican Church, 195 Lesmurdie Rd, Lesmurdie. Stephanie Woods will present The Desert Period of Christianity, 260 to 600AD. From this time period came the understanding of the monastic lifestyle and contemplative prayer. No cost. Enq: Lynne 9293 3848.

EVERY WEDNESDAY

Holy Spirit of Freedom Community

7.30pm at The Church of Christ, 111 Stirling St, Perth. We are delighted to welcome everyone to attend our Holy Spirit of Freedom Praise Meeting. Enq: 9475 0155 or hsofperth@gmail.com.

EVERY 2ND WEDNESDAY

Year of the Priest Holy Hour

7-8pm at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 2 Keaney Pl, City Beach. Reflections on St John Vianney, Patron Saint of Priests with Fr Tim Deeter. Light refreshments later in the parish centre.

EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT

Chaplets of the Divine Mercy

7.30pm at St Thomas More Catholic Church, Dean Rd, Bateman. A beautiful, prayerful, sung devotion accompanied by Exposition, and Benediction. All welcome. Enq: George 9310 9493 H or 9325 2010 W.

EVERY TUESDAY

Novena and Benediction to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

6pm at the Pater Noster Church, Marmion and Evershed Sts, Myaree. Mass at 5.30pm. Enq: John 0408 952 194.

EVERY FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH

Group 50 – Catholic Charismatic Renewal Prayer Meeting

7.30pm at Redemptorist Monastery, 190 Vincent St, North Perth. Prayer and Praise, Mass and the Sacrament of Anointing. All welcome.

EVERY THURSDAY

Catholic Questions and Answers

7-7.30 pm at St Joseph’s Parish Centre, 20 Hamilton St, Bassendean. Catechesis learned easily with questions and answers. The Catechism of the Catholic Adult learning and deepening of the Catholic Faith, with Fr John Corapi DVD series, 7.30-9pm.

FIRST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH

Mass for Vocations

7pm at the Sisters of the Poor, 2 Rawlins St, Glendalough. Celebrated by Fr Doug Harris, followed by Holy Hour and Benediction, refreshments will follow.

Healing Mass

7pm at St Peter’s Church, 93 Wood St, Inglewood. Benediction, Praise and Worship followed by Mass with Fr Sam and Fr Joseph Tran as Celebrants, later fellowship. Enq: Priscilla 0433 457 352.

Communion of Reparation All Night Vigil

7pm-1am at Corpus Christi Church, Lochee St, Mosman Park. All are warmly invited to Holy Mass, Rosary, Confession and Adoration. Celebrant Fr Bogoni. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357.

EVERY FRIDAY LUNCH TIME

12.15-12.45pm at The Wesley Uniting Church, William and Hay Sts, Perth. Christian Meditation comes to the City. Ecumenical Christian meditation as taught by Fr Laurence Freeman. All Welcome. Enq: CMC WA 9444 5810, Anne 9335 8142 or christianmeditation@iinet.net.au or www.christianmeditationaustralia.org.

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23 Kyrie ____

24 God’s sign to Noah

27 Creche piece

28 Most important teaching

30 “If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a ____” (I Jn 4:20)

31 What the manger was for the Baby Jesus

32 French Christmas

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

Deadline: 11am Monday

ACCOMMODATION

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

ESPERANCE 3 bedroom house f/furnished. Ph: 08 9076 5083.

GUADALUPE HILL TRIGG www.beachhouseperth.com

Ph: 0400 292 100.

AVAILABLE IN NORTH PERTH

AND NORTH BEACH. Rent negotiable according to circumstances. Enquiries to phone 08 9448 8109.

HEALTH

PSYCHOLOGY and PSYCHOTHERAPY

www.peterwatt.com.au Ph: 9203 5278.

MASSAGE BY QUAL LADY for neck, back & sciatic. 22 years’ experience. Ph 9444 4409. LOSE WEIGHT safely with natural products. Free ongoing support. 02 9807 5337.

LAWNS

WRR LAWN MOWING and Weed Spraying. Get rid of Bindii & Jojo clovers, city of Stirling only. 9443 9243, or 0402 326 637.

BUSINESS

BOOK BINDING

BOOK REPAIR SERVICE

New Book Binding, General Book Repairs, Rebinding, New Ribbons; Old Leather Bindings Restored. Tydewi Bindery 9377 0005.

FURNITURE REMOVAL

ALL AREAS Mike Murphy Ph: 0416 226 434.

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS

CATHOLICS CORNER Retailer of Catholic products specialising in gifts, cards and apparel for Baptism, Communion and Confirmation. Ph: 9456 1777. Shop 12, 64-66 Bannister Road, Canning Vale. Open Mon-Sat.

OTTIMO Convenient city location for books, cds/dvds, cards, candles, statues, Bibles, medals and much more. Shop 108, Trinity Arcade (Terrace level), 671 Hay Street, Perth. Ph: 9322 4520. Mon-Fri 9am-6pm.

RICH HARVEST YOUR

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

KINLAR VESTMENTS Quality hand-made and decorated vestments: Albs, Stoles, Chasubles, altar linen, banners etc. 12 Favenc Way, Padbury. By appointment only. Ph: Vicki 9402 1318 or 0409 114 093

SETTLEMENTS

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WANTED

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TO LET

Mt Hawthorn area 3 x 1 Duplex

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TRADE SERVICES

BRENDON HANDYMAN SERVICES Home, building maintenance, repairs and renovations. NOR. Ph 0427 539 588.

PLASTERING homes and renovations. Phone Neil 9390 6333.

BRICK REPOINTING

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PERROTT PAINTING Pty Ltd

For all your residential, commercial painting requirements.

Ph: Tom Perrott 9444 1200.

PICASSO PAINTING Top service.

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MINI EXCAVATOR HIRE

Trenching and civil works. Daniel Mob: 0428 170 379.

THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving to Jesus, Mary, St Joseph and Blessed Mary MacKillop for prayers answered. R L Cruze

BEAUTY

Complimentary facial and skin care update. Great Mother’s Day gift. Ph Rose 0417 905 505.

BABYSITTER

Available day or night, 18 year old committed Catholic with own transport. Call Ben McCabe 0451 064 298.

later than Friday 1pm the week before publication. As

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Walking

Has the time come?

Ps 46:2-3.6-9 With trumpet blast Eph 1:17-23 Full knowledge [Alt. Heb 9:24-28;10:19-23 A new way]

Lk 24:46-53 Christ would suffer

17 M Acts 19:1-8 Baptism in the Name

Wh Ps 67:2-7 Joy at God’s presence Jn 16:29-33 Find peace in the Lord

18 Tu St John, pope, martyr (O)

Wh Acts 20:17-27 Paul’s way of life

Ps 67:10-11.20-21 A God who saves Jn 17:1-11 The hour has come

19 W Acts 20:29-38 Work met my needs

Wh Ps 67:29-30.33-36 Praise the Lord!

J n 17:11-19 That they be one

20 Th Bernadine of Siena, priest (O)

Wh Acts 22:30;23:6-11 Assembly was split Wh17:20-26 I have known you

21 F Ss Christopher Magallanes, priest, and companions martyrs (O)

Wh Acts 25:13-21 An appeal to Caesar

Ps 102:1-2.11-12.19-20 Bless God’s name Jn 21:15-19 Do you love?

22 s St Rita of Cascia, religious (O)

Wh Acts 28:16-20.30-31 Teaching the truth

Ps 10:4-5.7 The Lord is just Jn 21:20-25 True testimony

The Last Word

Whitford Parish welcomes Cornelia into the Church

Continued from Page 1 -grandchildren and great grandchildren were all present at the Mass as well as hundreds of parishioners.

Thea, a former fellow Dutch resident at Barridale Nursing Home in Kingsley who has since been moved to a high care nursing home in Wanneroo, used to receive communion regularly from Whitford acolyte of five years, Richard Van Leeuwen.

He would arrive singing songs from Holland bringing the Blessed Sacrament.

Mr Van Leeuwen says that it was through Thea telling Corrie “how much she looked forward to receiving communion from me, how she could relate to me because I always

entered her room singing a couple of Dutch jovial songs” that she asked if she could see him too.

“And in doing so, she told me that since being in that nursing home, she had received no visits or contact from anyone in the Dutch Reformed Church and she so much wanted to receive communion and become a Catholic,” he says.

With approval from parish priest, Fr Joseph Tran, Corrie began receiving communion each Sunday for these last 15 months prior to confirmation.

Mrs Teeuw’s actual birthday was 25 April but due to already arranged birthday festivities, Mr Van Leeuwen arranged for this Mass and celebrations to be held the following week.

Bishop Sproxton confirmed

After receiving the sacrament of Confirmation, she was presented with a papal certificate signed by Pope Benedict XVI.

She also received portrait photos of both English Queen Elizabeth and Dutch Queen Beatrix and was presented with a ‘delft blue’ (very popular Dutch design) soup set and gift on behalf of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and the Dutch consul of WA.

On the occasion of her 100th birthday, Mrs Teeuw received letters and cards of congratulations from English and Dutch royalty, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Beatrix respectively; Australia’s Governor-General Quentin Bryce

Welcome Home

In 1948, Mrs Teeuw migrated to Australia via Singapore from Holland. She was joined, six weeks later by her husband, Walter, and young son, Alfred, and they settled in Wundowie for sixteen years.

They were naturalised in 1954 by the then Lord Mayor of Perth and later moved to Bassendean for five years. When her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, they moved into the Masonic self care unit in Dianella where

she nursed him for 18 years, until his death in 1974 with acute Parkinson’s and after catching a severe case of pneumonia.

As for Thea, now suffering with severe dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, it’s the Dutch jovial songs that Richard sings when he brings her Holy Communion that alert her to Who is really coming, when she fails to recognise Richard.

“As soon as I start singing the two very well known jovial Dutch songs, immediately Thea can now connect that I am there to bring her Communion - and I sing those same two Dutch songs when I go to visit Corrie every Sunday morning to bring her communion,” says Mr Van Leeuwen.

Mrs Teeuw, Mr Van Leeuwen was her sponsor and she took Mother Theresa as her confirmation saint.

AC; Prime Minister Kevin Rudd; Opposition Leader Tony Abbott; Western Australian Governor, Dr Ken Michael AC; Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett and state opposition leader Eric Ripper and several members of federal and state parliament.

TOP LEFT: L-R: Whitford parish priest Fr Joseph Tran, her son, Alfred, Acolyte Richard Van Leeuwen, Auxilliary Bishop Donald Sproxton and Mrs Cornelia Teeuw, 100, holding flowers gifted to her by her confirmation sponsor and accompanied by family and friends. TOP RIGHT: Fr Tran congratulates Mrs Teeuw. BOTTOM LEFT: Mrs Teeuw is accompanied down the aisle with her son, Alfred. BOTTOM CENTRE: Corrie is congratulated by Bishop Don. ABOVE: Mrs Cornelia Teeuw is confirmed by Auxilliary Bishop Donald Sproxton. PHOTOS: FRANCIS TRAN

The Parish. The Nation. The World. Read it in The Record.