The Record Newspaper 13 January 2010

The spiritual, cultural and moral The cultural and moral dimensions to the growing problem dimensions to the of scores of slim young women of scores of slim young women convinced they are... convinced are... FAT and

SEE: FEATURES, PAGE 19

SEE: PAGE 19

“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

How we celebrated How we CHRISTMAS in 2009

Across Western Australia, thousands of Catholics came together in December to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child two millennia ago. See our special parish roundup beginning on Page 3.

In December we invited parishes to send us their stories of how they celebrated a WA Christmas. Here’s just a few of the many responses we received:

SAINT OF THE WEEK

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APalestinian man, above, escorts his children into one of the most wonderful places to be in the world at Christmas (or any other time), Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity. The photo is a poignant reminder of what makes Christianity so special. Around the world, year after year, hundreds of millions of people observe this wonderful feast, not for its shopping potential but for its essential meaning. As in previous years, we at The Record invited Western Australian parishes to share with us how they celebrated their own Christmas and, in doing so, how they shared in the worldwide communion of those who believe in the Christ Child and His promise. Why wait until January? We extended our deadline to include as many parishes as possible. You can find their contributions from Page 3 onwards. We hope you like them.

Tradition more than just a name for art glass specialists Advertorial

AT Tradition Stained Glass and Leadlights you not only find a studio steeped in history going back three generations but also a bustling art studio specialising in the latest techniques in art glass for modern and contemporary commissions.

Tradition Stained Glass has been producing stained glass since 1908 and has had the pleasure of working on many historic buildings such as the Parliament of Western Australia and many churches throughout WA. It also undertook the complete restoration of many stained glass windows at the Catholic Education Office in West

Leederville, and just recently was commissioned to make new matching handpainted stained glass for the reception of the head office and adjacent entry doors to staff offices.

Tradition Stained Glass also had four of its latest works blessed by Bishop Donald Sproxton on 21 June at St Simon Peter Parish in Ocean Reef. These beautiful hand-painted windows were the culmination of many years of hard work and dedication. As with all works carried out by Tradition Stained Glass, it is its aim to be creative at the highest level and to excel in craftsmanship at all times. Viewed online at www.traditionstainedglass.com.au and latest works can be viewed in an updated gallery.

Palestinian Khaled Bamoura, with sons Durad, 8, and Bashara, 4, visits the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on 24 December.

PHOTO: CNS/DEBBIE HILL

St Francis Xavier prepares and celebrates that which comes whether we are ready or not

WHAT exactly makes a good Christmas? Is it the excitement, the eager anticipation of Christmas Day or is it the careful preparation?

In recent years we have discovered that all the intricate planning, the music, the foods, the parties, the bright lights etc can be incredibly beautiful, yet in themselves don’t make a good Christmas.

There is the inevitable manic shopping, the buying or making of gifts.

This can be lots of fun, or frustration, but again doesn’t really make a good Christmas.

In fact for some this is a cause of sadness as they cannot afford to buy or even make gifts for one another.

They may not even get to talk to or see their loved ones.

Prepare spiritually, that will do it – that will make it a good Christmas.

Try not to be too weighed down with your troubles, your difficulties.

In Armadale we offered Advent groups and we studied the readings using several sources.

We journeyed through Advent, focused on the Gospel message for each week and asked God to help us to respond generously.

As a parish we collected items for Pregnancy Assistance and the St Vincent de Paul Society, hoping to bring practical assistance to those in need.

Every group - the youth group, the small Christian community groups, the choirs etc plunged into preparing for Christmas.

The children practised for the nativity play and carols needed to be practised.

The gift of time was given by young and old and it was given generously.

As Christmas approached the weather got hotter and hotter, and “us oldies” recognised we had to take those little rests to revive ourselves.

During the homily for the last week of Advent we had the story of

the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth while she was pregnant with Christ.

Mothers, remember the feeling of being heavily pregnant and needing to take short rests?

When heavily pregnant the woman needs to rest quietly, only then can she enjoy the little move-

ments of the new life within her. These little movements were going on all through the day but when lying there quiet and still the movements told the mother her baby was alive and well and they felt connected.

It is true that whether the mother is fully prepared or not, the

Is it true our Company philosophy is “We are a friendly and efficient company trading with integrity and determined to give our customers the very best of service?”

Is it true I regularly publish testimonial letters from satisfied customers praising us for our outstanding level of customer service?

Is it true that although I spend a lot on advertising, most of my sales are from a combination of personal recommendation, repeat business and reputation?

Is it true I believe that before anyone buys a new or pre-owned vehicle they should choose their dealer before they choose their car and that dealer should be me?

Is it true I am Australia’s top selling Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Kia dealer? * Is it true I sell on average over 1400 vehicles every month, which is the highest in Australia from one location.

Xavier School closed its gates for the holidays, the final Advent candle was lit there was a little gap of time. In the week before Christmas, we can go on a frenzy of tidying, last minute buying. We do want the food we offer family and friends to be fresh. We want everything to go well. Or perhaps we want to impress others with our faultless preparation?

We need to ask: is our preparation about appearing faultless, or is our preparation about being generous?

Our seniors came together for afternoon ‘high tea’, and there were generous offers of transport for the seniors who can no longer drive.

The familiar names appeared on the Christmas rosters for readers, acolytes, and special ministers which amounted to approximately 40 names.

As a parish we act in warmth and generosity.

Those without family were invited to the homes of others. We checked to try to ensure no-one was without a home or place to go this Christmas.

We eagerly say yes to our Saviour, and prepare our heart; not to party but to rest quietly as a new mother rests with her newborn child.

baby arrives. Babies arrive suddenly with little warning, quickly or slowly and sometimes easily and sometimes not.

Babies have a habit of arriving at the most impractical times.

Was Jesus’ birth any different for Mary? When the Parish School Thanksgiving Mass was over, the

This year was a good Christmas.

We contemplate the generosity of Mary’s gift of “yes”. The gift of salvation.

This gift comes to us ready or not.

The Masses were beautiful - all of them.

The gentle reality that generosity means different things to different people, but together our gift is ourselves to one another, whether we are ready or not.

We are all connected to the same truth, that we can never ever be prepared enough or deserving enough for Jesus.

About 1,400 people went to our Church over Christmas. We had celebrations in Armadale and Serpentine.

It was also a time of generosity.

In this 2009, part of the year of the Priest, we must remember the generosity in the work of the parish priest, deacon and our regular relief priest Fr Greg Carroll as they share their gifts in this parish.

So too, Fr Kazimierz Stuglik and Deacon Patrick Moore.

Presented

Term one:

WITH THE SICK AND THE DYING 10th February – 31st March, Eight

-12noon)

Term two: WORKING WITH THE BEREAVED

12th May – 30th June, Eight consecutive Wednesdays (9.30am – 12 noon)

Term three: GOOD COMMUNICATION IN PASTORAL CARE

-15th

Term four: HEALTHY CARER…. HEALTHY CARING

– 12 noon)

13th October – 1st December, Eight consecutive Wednesday (9.30am- 12 noon)

These courses are designed to assist the development of existing skills, so that the Pastoral Carer will Minister even more effectively, with competence and confidence.

Above, Fr Greg Carroll reads to children; below, parish youth form a Nativity scene; the Advent candles shine bright.

Bateman

Christmas Blessings at St Thomas More

BY C HERYL LOPEZ

CHRISTMAS Eve 2009 was a perfect summer evening in a perfect outdoor setting for the first of six Christmas Masses at St Thomas More Parish Bateman.

Families arrived early to ensure a good spot and to enjoy beautiful carols by the Youth Music Ministry. As the crowd built up, a feeling of excitement and anticipation grew. After weeks of preparation by clergy, musicians, liturgists and events coordinators, the moment had finally arrived. A gentle sea breeze wafting through the gum trees and excited murmurs from children added to the sense of joy as Mgr Michael Keating welcomed all to celebrate the birth of Christ.

At Christmas Masses in Bateman, a baby of the parish is presented to the congregation as a representative of the infant Jesus.

This year Ryder McKay, Felicity Trautman, Riley Huang and Christopher Loanata were the lucky ones.

The babies may not remember this day, but the parents will surely treasure it in their hearts.

During the outdoor Mass, families were invited to give gifts and food to the St Vincent de Paul Society Christmas Appeal. Children proudly filled the baskets with goods until they were overflowing, representing the outpouring of generosity of these good people.

After the outdoor Mass, chairs and sound systems were packed

away. Clergy, musicians and servers re-grouped and relocated to the parish church where the next five Masses were held during the evening and on Christmas Day.

On entering the church, one’s breath is quite taken by the wonderful spectacle around the altar.

The parish Creative Liturgy Team recreated striking scenes of Mary and Joseph’s journey and the town of Bethlehem.

In front of the altar is the crib. It is beautifully constructed, simple and graceful. Adorned by flowers and softened by gentle lighting, it is a focal point.

Parents bring their children to admire and be touched by it. How many generations of children have done that?

About 7,000 people attended Mass at St Thomas More Parish this Christmas, including 3,893 at the outdoor Mass on Christmas Eve.

The blessings are numerous as well. Our parish is very blessed with wonderful clergy – Mgr Michael Keating, Fr George James, Fr Jeronimo Flamenco Castillo and Deacon Bruce Talbot; talented and generous musicians, liturgists and servers; volunteers of every age and ability; and a congregation that joins in celebrations wholeheartedly.

Everyone knows that the more one puts into life the more one receives. That is evident in Bateman.

Talent, generosity, kindness and plain old hard work certainly paid off in our parish this year. We experienced a holy, joyous and peaceful few days. Truly, there were Christmas blessings in Bateman.

East Fremantle

Parish of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception at East Fremantle

ON December 13 in the parish hall, the parish celebrated its “togetherness” with a Christmas lunch. A special feature of the day was the emphasis on The Year of the Priest, with two seminarians from the Morley seminary as guests of the parish and with talks by the chairman and members of the parish council touching upon the role of our priests.

Above, parishioners at the Outdoor Christmas Eve Mass. Below left, Fr Michael with Bree and Ryder McKay, a Christmas baby. Middle, Children giving to St Vincent de Paul Christmas appeal. Right, Fr George James blessing a child.

PHOTOS: BEVERLEY BUCAT

Belmont

Left, parishioners enjoying their bring-a-plate-to-share lunch. Above, seminarian Rodrigo da Costa of Brazil regales the parishioners with his response to the parish hospitality with East Fremantle parish priest Fr Blasco Fonseca enjoying it.

Bayswater

Bentley

Below

Left,

Below,

Doubleview

call

Right, lighting the Advent Candles are the Depiazzi Family with Fr Minh-Thuy.

right, parishioners of all ages took the time to write a prayer or special intention for the tree.

parishioners add their prayer to the Prayer tree.

the Children’s Liturgy Magi

Children at Santa Clara, Bentley acting as "shepherds and animals" fast asleep during the nativity play at the annual Christmas party for the parish. The party this year was attended by a record number of people. Below, Muriel Gallagher with children at their “Little Church” at Santa Clara, Bentley preparing the ‘Jesse Tree’ and the Advent wreath.

Sophie Carroll dressed as a Guardian Angel for Book Week at Holy Rosary School Doubleview. This was a character in her favourite book, An Angel in the Waters by Regina Domain. It is the moving story of a tiny baby and its guardian angel, from before birth to early childhood. Sophie likes this book because she believes that she is the baby in the story. Her little brother thinks that he is the baby.

Karratha

Karratha Christmas Party

BY C LARE CORVAIA

THE hall is full of tinsel, the drinks are cooling, the smells of wonderful food are wafting through the air, and all children are excited, dressed in party clothes.

It is the recipe for the annual St Paul’s Karratha Christmas Party.

The Christmas Party was held in the newly renovated parish hall which was enjoyed by all, even Father Christmas. Seating arrangements were improved this year, with plenty of presents given out to wide-eyed children.

The adults were not forgotten in all the frivolity with plenty of games and laughter abounding, as the reigning Queen of Spit the Dummy was toppled.

As the night drew to a close, we all sang a carol or two and wished each other a Happy Christmas, as our pillows beckoned us to lay our heads.

So the tinsel was packed and the dishes done and off we all went.

City Beach

Gosnells

Christmas Vigil at Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament

MANY Roman Catholic churches traditionally celebrate a Midnight Mass which begins either at or some time before midnight on Christmas Day.

This ceremony, which is held in churches throughout the world, marks the beginning of Christmas Day. Christmas vigil in our parish started at exactly 12 midnight and was joyfully celebrated by not less than 500 people. In the picture to the right is parish priest Fr Nicholas Nweke, altar servers and the congregation at the Midnight Mass.

Left, Father Christmas gives presents. Above, Olivia Simons and Harry enjoy the games. Below, Carol, Sunny and Roger enjoying the evening.

Kalamunda

Christmas 2009 in Kalamunda

BY JO DOYLE

THANKS to our Parish Council, Fr Paul Raj and parishioners, the Holy Family Church in Kalamunda sparkled this Christmas.

The carpets and organ are new, the walls and ceiling repaired and the lighting updated after a major renovation in the second half of the year. To mirror this physical shipping and shaping of our church, the Children’s Liturgy team focused on readying hearts to welcome Jesus on Christmas Day.

We considered how opening the little windows on an advent calendar gave us 24 chances to practise welcoming Jesus into our homes and hearts.

We made a Christmas stocking for birthday boy Jesus and considered the gifts we could tuck into it. No books or Lego or games, thanks, but acts of kindness, love and forgiveness that each of us could dedicate to Jesus.

We wanted to honour in a real and practical way our all-powerful Saviour squeezed into the form of a teeny, weeny baby and put among mere humans so they could know, serve and be served by loving and learning from Him.

We had a Christmas party for the children on 6 December, St Nicholas Day, and received a letter from Father Christmas himself (aka Santa Claus or St Nicholas) thanking the children for bringing gifts for other children who were not as lucky as they were.

We were sure these acts of gen-

Advent Season and Christmas in the Goldfields

BY HARRY ARGUS

ALL three priests stationed in the parish of Kalgoorlie-Boulder were very busy during the Christmas Season. On Wednesday evening of 23 December about 30 parishioners attended the Second Rite of Reconciliation in St Mary’s Church in Kalgoorlie. Celebrations began well when 40 parishioners attended St Mary’s Church in Coolgardie for the 6pm Christmas Eve Mass celebrated by Fr Chris Alambe.

The most popular Mass was the 6.30pm children’s Christmas Eve Vigil Mass celebrated by Fr Arnel Taracina in St Mary’s Church in Kalgoorlie, where about 600 parents and children filled the church and choir to overflowing.

The children were very active in the liturgy, partaking in reading parts of the Rite of Reconciliation, Liturgy of the Word, the General Intercessions; and also acting out the Gospel in a joyful play read by Fr Arnel. The beautiful hymns sung by the choir added to the moving warm evening of prayer and celebration. Bags of sweets were given out to the children at the end of Mass.

Four hours later, St Mary’s in Kalgoorlie was full again for a beautiful Midnight Mass that was celebrated by Fr Joseph Rathnaraj, and combined again with a lovely choir, that made the long night so wonderful and serene.

On Christmas Day, All Hallows Church in Boulder was full to capacity when 150 parishioners attended the 9am Mass celebrated by Fr Arnel. The choir added a number of moving hymns to the

erosity swelled Jesus’ Christmas stocking!

One of our Children’s Liturgy leaders and website whiz, Gabby Hoffman, put photos of the event on our church website (www.holyfamilykalamunda.org.au).

To get a sense of the tough trek that Joseph and Mary undertook on their way to Bethlehem, we set up a small, empty stable and each week moved our carvings of Joseph, Mary and the donkey closer and closer.

The three kings and shepherds were also advancing from different directions until all were so, so close to the stable at our last gathering just days before Christmas.

(The kings, of course, lagged to time their arrival on the feast of the Epiphany.)

Each Sunday of Advent, before going to Children’s Liturgy, we helped Fr Paul light the appropriate candle on our church Advent wreath until three purple and one pink candle glowed and told us the time of preparation was near an end.

Anna van Eck made an artistic Jesse tree for our church foyer and week by week dangled from it the symbols that formed the back story to Jesus’ arrival on earth.

On the warm and wonderful Christmas Eve, the children performed a nativity play before an overflowing church. Decked out in costumes with splashes of tinsel and tea towels, they did organisers

Sue Blair and Anna van Eck proud.

Sean Christie played the organ and Katie Hunt conducted the choir for a joyful, carol-punctuated Mass. Now the task is to maintain and spread the joy of this happiest of seasons.

were laid by Ron Yuryevich, the Mayor of the City, a number of representatives of the mining companies and family members at the foot of St Barbara’s statue.

Two new names were also honoured and added to the list of another 1,200 miners who have been killed since the foundation of WA in 1829.

The two new miners who were killed on the mines in 2009 were: Karen Rosalind Mitchell (died 6 January at KCGM, Kalgoorlie Super Pit) and Daniel Owen Williams (died 7 August at Barrick Ltd, Kanowna Bell Mine).

For those interested, a list of these deceased miners is reprinted each year when a special souvenir addition is published by the Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper in the issue on or near the feast of St Barbara, being 4 December.)

celebration. The 10am Mass at St Mary’s in Kalgoorlie was again full to capacity which was celebrated by Fr Chris, and helped by lovely hymns sung by the choir.

In the outlying centres of the parish on Christmas Day, about 25 parishioners attended the 9am Mass in Kambalda, and about ten parishioners gathered at Norseman Church for the 11.30am Mass which were both celebrated by Fr Joseph.

For the parishioners in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, the Christmas festive season began in earnest at the beginning of Advent on

December

Last month, at 7pm on the

On the Saturday afternoon of 4 December, about 10,000 lined one side of Hannan Street in Kalgoorlie to see the popular St Barbara’s Parade, which includes many items of mining machinery that travel down the street. In a moving ceremony before the parade began, Fr Joseph blessed the miners, vehicles, machinery and the roads that they travel

Also during Advent the parish praises and honours our elderly, and also our wonderful diverse cultures that make up our beautiful city and family lifestyle.

The parish does this by providing on a suitable day in December an annual “Seniors Meal” for the elderly to attend. On a separate occasion, a “Cultural Meal” is also celebrated. In this meal our parishioners and families of all the different nations that live in the city bring their own traditional foods to the banquet.

The beautiful sit-down meal is held at St Mary’s Parish Centre in Kalgoorlie.

3

when the parish of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, the Shire of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the mining industry celebrated the feast of St Barbara, who is the patroness of miners.

Thursday evening of her feast day, Fr Chris led about 150 people of many Christian denominations in prayers and a blessing at the moving annual Miners Memorial Service at St Barbara’s Square in central Kalgoorlie, where wreaths

Kalgoorlie-Boulder

Above: During the St Barbara’s Parade down Hannan Street in Kalgoorlie. Hal pack carries 220 tones each load. Right: The wreaths that had been laid at the foot of St Barbara’s Statue in Central Kalgoorlie for the deceased miners

Joondanna

St Denis parishioners immersed in the Christmas story

CHRISTMAS Eve Mass at St Denis Parish began with more than the usual Christmas carols. This year 35 children (four years ago there were only 10 children involved) dressed in appropriate costume were stationed around the body of the church to take their part in a dramatic presentation of the Christmas story. People in the pews, for example, were right there to experience the frustration of Mary and

Karrinyup

Joseph when the inn keepers said, “no”. They also were able to rejoice with the Angels and shepherds as the birth of Jesus was celebrated in song.

The youngest child participating was two years of age and the eldest was 14. The words of the carols were projected on the big screen together with live action video as the children gradually retold the story of Jesus’ birth.

The children gathered around the altar to not only honour Jesus’ birth but also to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

The enthusiasm of the children permeated the entire congregation to make the Mass both spirit-filled and joyful.

Kelmscott

Children were at the fore of much of the Christmas celebrations in Kelmscott this year as traditionally strong Christmas attendance from families swelled attendance at the Parish of the Good Shepherd over the Christmas period, keeping Parish Priest Fr Frances Sundararajan and Assistant Priest Fr Andrew Lotton busy with pastoral duties. Here, although the letter ‘T’ is obscured, children from the parish display the letters of the name of the child born two millennia ago and whose birthday is one of the major celebrations of the year. Minutes after this photograph was taken they led the entrance procession up the main aisle of the picturesque church during the Vigil Mass, watched proudly by parents and relatives. Meanwhile, at top right, their peers briefly re-enacted one of the beautiful scenes from the Gospel accounts of Christ’s birth, laying the Christ child in the manger and portraying his adoration by the shepherds. After Mass, many parishioners came forward to the statue of Mary and her Son to reflect and to pray.

PHOTOS: PETER ROSENGREN

Mt Lawley

A visit from St Nicholas

ON Sunday evening, 6 January, children and parents gathered in St Paul's Church, Mt Lawley for a short prayer service led by Fr Tim Deeter.

The service featured a DVD, Nicholas: The Boy Who Became Santa Claus, which dramatised - in a cartoon motion-picture - the life of the real St Nicholas of Myra, the Turkish Bishop who is the foundation of the Santa Claus legend. As the children left the church, they encountered parishioner Barry Chapman

Nollamara

robed in red mitre and chasuble.

St Nick greeted each child and gave him or her a nativity scene ornament as a special feastday gift.

The children were both astounded and delighted by this surprise encounter.

Everyone then went to the parish centre, where the children made Christmas cards to be added to the baskets and hampers that the parish gave to homebound parishioners. Parents served refreshments and everyone agreed that a delightful new Advent tradition had begun at St Paul’s.

Billings WA

Billings LIFE WA and Loving for Life WA

MEMBERS of Billings LIFE WA

Inc and Loving for Life WA came together at the South Perth foreshore at the beginning of Advent to celebrate a year of bringing God’s message of life and love to the Western Australian community.

Teachers of the Billings Ovulation Method of Natural Fertility Management give couples the knowledge to manage their combined fertility in a healthy and holistic way.

The Loving for Life team have challenged the younger members of the Catholic community this year by offering them the chance to reflect upon the various aspects required for life-long and fulfilling relationships in their futures.

It has been a busy year for both sections of the Billings organisation. As well as providing clinic services, many Billings Ovulation Method™ teachers attended the International Conference and Teacher Training Programme in Melbourne this year as part of their ongoing Accreditation while facilitators for the various Loving for Life programmes were kept busy with their own professional development and presentations in a number of Perth secondary schools.

Giving thanks for a wonderful year at the beginning of Advent allowed the members the chance to come together and contemplate the true meaning of Christmas in a relaxed and communal atmosphere.

Mundaring

Christmas at Sacred Heart parish, Mundaring

ON 25 September the parish welcomed Fr Elver Delicano and three months later Fr Elver is having his first Christmas in the hills.

The Christmas celebrations start with the children’s Mass at 6.30pm on Christmas Eve at Sacred Heart Church Mundaring.

The highlight of this Mass is the entrance of the Christ child and his placement in the manger.

The Christmas tableau is now complete. This is very much the ‘Happy Birthday’ celebration with excitement buzzing around our young parishioners. They know there is only ‘one more sleep’ before they get their presents.

As dark falls, Father goes on to Chidlow for the 8.30pm Vigil Mass. The drive through the bush and farming areas brings thoughts of the Shepherds tending their flocks.

The stars are so clear in the night sky and there is the little granite Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel with light spilling from its porch.

Inside, it is packed with local parishioners and happiness and good cheer fill the air with the joyful singing of the carols.

After Mass, everyone gathers for a cup of tea and Christmas cake and there is much laughter in this rural community.

Midnight arrives and back at Sacred Heart an overflowing church prepares to greet Christmas Day with prayer and song. The choir has been practising and everyone joins in.

This is a Mass for family and friends. Parishioners nod to each other and younger adults see former school friends who are also back visiting the parents.

After Mass, everyone catches up, boyfriends and girlfriends are introduced, interstate guests are welcomed and a happy congregation go home to hopefully sleep in before a busy Christmas day.

On Christmas morning at the 9.15 Mass there is still a full church but this is very much the locals.

There is a calmness about this Mass, the Christ child is born and welcomed and thanks is given for this blessed event.

The talk after Mass is very much on what is happening that day as many of the parishioners go off to visit family and friends down on the flatlands.

For Fr Elver, the first Christmas is over and he can now take a break and prepare for his own celebration. Thank you, Father, for helping all of us celebrate the coming of the Christ Child and our own families.

Left, St Nicholas (Barry Chapman) with the children. Above, children making cards for the elderly.

Mukinbudin

A nativity play was performed by children of Mukinbudin on 5 December at Lord of the Harvest Parish. The play was organised by Trish O’Neil and included some lovely Christmas carols.

From left: Daniel Bowen, Kathleen Kearns, Carol Ann Norris. Middle Mary Prentice, Jo Bell, Gail Rose. Right, Claire Cox, Trish Beale, Robert Rose

Northampton

More kilometres covered but less numbers attending was how Fr Robert O’Bryan, St Mary’s Parish Northampton parish priest, in part experienced the feast of Christmas in 2009.

ST MARY’S Parish links the parishes of Northampton, Kalbarri, Nanson, Shark Bay/Denham and Yuna, involving five parish centres and Christmas Mass at the Hamelin Station Homestead, plus the added bonus of three weekend Masses for the celebration of the Holy Family: a total of nine Masses.

Christmas Mass attendances ranged from five at Shark Bay/ Denham on the Monday evening, which included four visitors, to 80 at the 6pm vigil at Nanson. Four members of the Wake fam-

Rockingham

Communities come together to celebrate the birth of Jesus

FOR the second year running, many families from Our Lady of Lourdes parish and Kolbe Catholic College once again celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ on the “Avenue” of Kolbe Catholic College.

Over 550 parishioners, teachers and students from local schools came together in the true festive spirit as the sun went down on Christmas Eve.

With the chapel as a backdrop, the Gospel was enacted by the children of the parish who had been well rehearsed by Sharron and Rob Cordina.

The music for the Mass was a combined community effort with the liturgical band and choir from Kolbe Catholic College under the direction of Mrs Helen Metcalf and well supported by the World Youth Day 2008 pilgrims from OLOL parish.

A very special thank you to the principal, Robyn Miller, for assisting us in being able to celebrate such an important event with a wonderful family atmosphere.

As the Christmas and nativity festivities continued at the parish church at the 9pm and midnight vigil, baby Jesus was carried with utmost care and placed into the nativity scene by Sage Mickle with Fr Michael Separovich and Fr Vittorio Ricciardi, the parish assistant priest, looking on.

Southern Cross

ily celebrated Mass on the Monday afternoon in the breezeway of the homestead with a temperature of 46°C. It cooled down to 40°C for the overnight stay before driving back to Northampton.

Just under 1,400km were travelled for the six days, with a fair amount of traffic travelling both north and south, some very much in a hurry to get somewhere before me and it was not Mass.

My guess by the way some were driving was they were either trying to beat me to Heaven or that other place where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth and fire that will never go out.

Many of the vehicles had small pushbikes strapped to the trailers they were towing, which to me suggested that they were carrying children in the cars that made it even harder to understand why they were travelling so fast. I know the police are not out on the roads to raise revenue, but they would have made a killing (pardon the pun) had they been out there.

There were an abundance of wild goats, kangaroos, emus, sheep, eagles, crows, a variety of the parrot family and more rabbits

than I have seen in the seven years I have been covering this area.

I couldn’t help thinking that as it was Christmas we were celebrating, and not Easter, they were out for the wrong feast.

How do I survive these long trips? I take along some music; I pray a lot and try to tell God how I would run the world given the

chance, and God now has enough ammunition on me not to give me the chance.

I also admire, with caution, the great gift of the countryside that God has blessed us with in Australia, and thank God that I can travel all that distance without seeing the sadness that other countries see on a daily basis.

We are blessed to be able to live out Christmas peace every day; as we still have some of the peace that Jesus came to bring the world.

I also pray the Rosary. I can do the four Mysteries in one trip most times. The person who thought of putting the Rosary on CD did a great thing - I don’t lose my spot if I am distracted by an errant driver or the odd animal that may decide that they are in a hurry to get somewhere (not Mass) in a hurry and hop or run across the road without warning.

Many of my friends and in some cases my Spiritual Director have asked why I bother travelling so far for so few; in fact, I have asked myself the same question at times.

Why bother? Because those one or two people come to celebrate Mass because they want to, not because they are bound to. If they want Mass, I am happy to celebrate it with them. Initially, before the shepherds and wise men arrived, there were only three people in that stable at Bethlehem.

Perhaps that is where Jesus thought of the saying wherever two or three are gathered in my name.

THE birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago came alive in Southern Cross at Our Lady of Montserrat during the season of Advent.

Fr Kenneth Asaba, along with his close friends from Perth, saw a dream come true. Directed by Maryann Heredia and her assistant Nadine Williams from Perth, the 25 children from Southern Cross parish put on a nativity play. Parents and the local community were very supportive with this event. The story of the birth of Jesus was demonstrated through Christmas carols

and drama. A candle light set the scene of the stable in Bethlehem.

The scene was very angelic. The true spirit of Christmas could be felt among the parents, grandparents and the parishioners who attended from far and wide. The church was packed and the evening ended with a surprise visit from Santa who greeted the children and gave them lolly bags.

Parishioners told Fr Ken that a nativity scene had not been experienced before by children at Southern Cross in a long time. Fr Ken was pleased that he saw his dream come true.

Children act out the Gospel at Kolbe Catholic College. Fr Michael presents an “angel” with a gift after Mass at Kolbe Catholic College. Fr Michael, Fr Vittorio and Sage Mickle (alter server) place baby Jesus in the nativity scene at the 9pm Mass. PHOTOS LEANNE JOYCE

Fr Robert O’Bryan roadside with the car that takes him around the State.

For a humanity largely ‘tone-deaf’ to God who put Him last in priorities, Pope reveals:

Why Christ came into the world

Jesus came to conquer pride, violence, greed with his love, Pope Benedict XVI says

BY CAROL GLATZ Catholic News Service

With the birth of Jesus, God came to the world as a defenseless child to conquer human pride, violence and greed with his love, Pope Benedict XVI said.

“God conquers our hearts not by force, but by love, and thus teaches us the way to authentic freedom, peace and fulfilment,” he said during his general audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall on 23 December.

The Pope dedicated his audience talk to the importance of the mystery of Christ’s birth and the tradition of the nativity scene.

St Francis of Assisi was particularly devoted to the incarnation and “the God among us,” the Pope said.

The 13th-century saint wanted to recreate “the humble grandeur of the event of Jesus’ birth in a concrete, living and topical way and to communicate this joy to everyone,” he said.

During a visit in 1223 to the Italian town of Greccio to celebrate Christmas, St Francis preached to the local residents at a mountainside grotto where he assembled a hay-filled manger and an ox and ass to represent the scene of Christ’s birth.

The people were so moved by the ceremony they went home with hearts “filled with ineffable joy,” the Pope said.

Soon the tradition of recreating a nativity scene representing the mystery of the Incarnation spread and became one of the most beautiful and intense parts of Christmas celebrations, he said.

The nativity teaches believers to warmly welcome God’s message “and to love and adore Christ’s humanity,” he said.

While Easter celebrations focus on “the power of God which conquers death, ushers in a new life and teaches hope in the world to come,” the Pope said, the Christmas creche helped give the Christian faith “a new dimension.”

St Francis and his creche highlighted “the defenseless love of God, his humility and his harmlessness,” showing humanity that there is a new way to live one’s life and to love, he said.

God, by becoming man, could not ever be separated or secluded from the rest of humanity, the Pope said.

“God is manifested in that baby as love; God came unarmed, without force because he did not intend to conquer from the outside, but intended instead to be freely welcomed by mankind” and to win people over with love and lead them to new life, he said.

“God became a defenseless child in order to conquer human pride, violence and the desire to possess,” he said.

The Pope said the Nativity scene also shows the faithful how they can meet God and bask in his presence.

As Jesus said, “Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” so Jesus must be wel-

comed with the humble, simple heart of a child, the Pope said.

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Christmas with a call for unselfish charity and solidarity with the suffering, and underlined the message two days later by lunching with the poor at a Rome soup kitchen.

The Pope’s Christmas was marred by a security scare on Christmas Eve when a mentally unbalanced woman rushed the 82-year-old pontiff and knocked him to the marble floor of St Peter’s Basilica.

The Pope was unharmed but French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray suffered a broken hip when he fell in the confusion.

The incident occurred as the Pope processed into the basilica at the start of the 10pm Mass.

Amateur videos posted on YouTube showed a woman wearing a red sweatshirt leaping over the security barrier and grabbing the Pope’s vestments as Vatican security guards swarmed above them.

The alarmed congregation inside the basilica broke into applause when the Pope quickly rose to his feet and continued the procession down the main aisle, looking somewhat shaken.

The liturgy proceeded without further incident.

Vatican sources confirmed that the woman was the same person who attempted to rush the Pope at Midnight Mass last year, but was tackled by guards before she could reach the pontiff.

The woman, 25 year old Susanna Maiolo, an Italian and Swiss citizen, was taken into custody for psychiatric evaluations.

In his Christmas Eve homily,

the Pope said conflict in the world stems from the fact that “we are locked into our own interests and our desires.” He said many people have become “religiously tonedeaf” and unable to perceive God, absorbed by worldly affairs and professional occupations.

“For most people, the things of God are not given priority ... And so the great majority of us tend to postpone them. First, we do what seems urgent here and now. In the list of priorities God is often more or less at the end. We can always deal with that later, we tend to think,” he said.

“People have become religiously tone-deaf and unable to perceive God, absorbed by worldly affairs and professional occupations” -Benedict XVI

Despite this mentality, he said, a path for discovering and appreciating God exists for everyone.

It is a path marked with signs, he said, and at Christmas God’s sign is that “he makes himself small; he becomes a child; he lets us touch him and he asks for our love.”

On Christmas Day, the Pope delivered his message and blessing urbi et orbi - to the city of Rome and to the world - from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica. He prayed for peace in world trouble spots like the Holy Land, Iraq, Sri Lanka and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In Europe and North America, he said, the Church “urges people

to leave behind the selfish and technicist mentality, to advance the common good and to show respect for the persons who are the most defenseless, starting with the unborn”.

The Pope said the Church began with Christ’s birth “in the lowly cave of Bethlehem” and through the centuries has become a light for humanity, most recently as it has experienced a “grave financial crisis” and a more general moral crisis. The Pope then offered Christmas greetings in 65 languages, saying in English: “May the birth of the Prince of Peace remind the world where its true happiness lies; and may your hearts be filled with hope and joy, for the Saviour has been born for us.”

The Pope’s Christmas message included a call for “an attitude of acceptance and welcome” for the millions of people who migrate from their homelands, driven by hunger, intolerance or environmental degradation.

On 27 December, the Pope lunched with a mostly immigrant group at a Rome soup kitchen and language school run by the Sant’Egidio Community, a Catholic lay organisation. He listened during the meal to personal stories of persecution, arduous immigration routes and homelessness.

Among those seated at the Pope’s table was Qorbanali Esmaili, 34, a political refugee from Afghanistan; Roukia Daud Abdulle, 63, a Somali woman who came to Italy so that her disabled son could receive care; and Boban Trajkovic, 24, who lives in a gypsy camp on the outskirts of Rome.

The event in the popular Rome

quarter of Trastevere drew hundreds of residents who cheered the Pope when he arrived and watched video pictures of part of his visit on a giant TV screen outside.

They applauded when the pontiff greeted Aniello Bosco, 25, who gets around the neighbourhood in a wheelchair; he was abandoned by his family because of a disability.

“I am here to tell you that I am close to you and I love you, and that your experiences are not far from my thoughts,” the Pope said in a speech, before being serenaded with a Christmas carol.

Outside the centre, the Pope stopped to personally greet many of the residents who packed the adjacent street.

Despite the Christmas Eve incident at the Vatican, no attempt was made to keep people at a distance from the pontiff.

Earlier on 27 December, the Pope marked the feast of the Holy Family at his noon blessing at the Vatican, saying that like modern immigrants, Jesus, Mary and Joseph endured many trials and hardships.

He emphasised that the family is the primary “school” of values for younger generations today.

One of the best services Christians can offer is the example of a sound family, “founded on marriage between a man and a woman,” he said.

On 26 December, the feast of St Stephen, the Pope noted that the saint, known as the first martyr, was also the Church’s first deacon, who gave special service to the poor. His example shows that love for the poor is a privileged way to live the Gospel and witness it credibly to the world, the Pope said.

Pope Benedict XVI walks near a figurine of the baby Jesus as he prepares to give Communion during Christmas Eve Mass in St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on 24 December.

PHOTO: CNS/PAUL HARING

People attend a Mass led by several European Bishops in central Madrid on 27 December. Thousands of Catholics gathered for the outdoor service to celebrate traditional family values on the feast of the Holy Family.

PHOTO: CNS/SUSANA VERA, REUTERS) (DEC. 28, 2009)

How they celebrated Christ’s birth around the world

Open your eyes: Christ is in our midst

Pope Benedict XVI’s Christmas Vigil Mass homily at the Vatican. It may just change your life.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, “A child is born for us, a son is given to us” (Is 9:5). What Isaiah prophesied as he gazed into the future from afar, consoling Israel amid its trials and its darkness, is now proclaimed to the shepherds as a present reality by the Angel, from whom a cloud of light streams forth: “To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord” (Lk 2:11).

The Lord is here. From this moment, God is truly “God with us”.

No longer is He the distant God who can in some way be perceived from afar, in creation and in our own consciousness. He has entered the world. He is close to us.

The words of the risen Christ to his followers are addressed also to us: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20). For you the Saviour is born: through the Gospel and those who proclaim it, God now reminds us of the message that the Angel announced to the shepherds. It is a message that cannot leave us indifferent.

If it is true, it changes everything. If it is true, it also affects me. Like the shepherds, then I, too, must say: Come on, I want to go to Bethlehem to see the Word that has occurred there.

The story of the shepherds is included in the Gospel for a reason. They show us the right way to respond to the message that we too have received. What is it that these first witnesses of God’s Incarnation have to tell us?

The first thing we are told about the shepherds is that they were on the watch - they could hear the message precisely because they were awake.

We must be awake so that we can hear the message. We must become truly vigilant people. What does this mean?

The principal difference between someone dreaming and someone awake is that the dreamer is in a world of his own. His “self” is locked into this dreamworld that is his alone and does not connect Him with others.

To wake up means to leave that private world of one’s own and to enter the common reality, the truth that alone can unite all people.

Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world.

Selfishness, both individual and collective, makes us prisoners of our interests and our desires that stand against the truth and

separate us from one another. Awake, the Gospel tells us. Step outside, so as to enter the great communal truth, the communion of the one God.

To awake, then, means to develop a receptivity for God: for the silent promptings with which He chooses to guide us; for the many indications of His presence.

There are people who describe themselves as “religiously tone deaf”. The gift of a capacity to perceive God seems as if it is withheld from some. And indeed - our way of thinking and acting, the mentality of today’s world, the whole range of our experience is inclined to deaden our receptivity for God, to make us “tone deaf” towards Him.

And yet in every soul, the desire for God, the capacity to encounter Him, is present, whether in a hidden way or overtly. In order to arrive at this vigilance, this awakening to what is essential, we should pray for ourselves and for others, for those who appear “tone deaf” and yet in whom there is a keen desire for God to manifest Himself.

The great theologian Origen said this: if I had the grace to see as Paul saw, I could even now (during the Liturgy) contemplate a great host of angels (cf in Lk 23:9). And indeed, in the sacred liturgy, we are surrounded by the angels of God and the saints.

The Lord Himself is present in our midst. Lord, open the eyes of our hearts, so that we may become vigilant and clear-sighted, in this way bringing you close to others as well. Let us return to the Christmas Gospel.

Insensitivity, smugness,

BY CAROL GLATZ Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY - An insensitive, hardened heart, over-confidence and world-weary smugness keep people from experiencing the true joy and love found in Jesus Christ, said Pope Benedict XVI.

While the Christ child born in Bethlehem seems weak and fragile, in reality “he has the power to give the human heart the greatest and most profound joy” in the world, he said.

The babe in the manger, he said, represents “the stupendous reality that God knows us and is near, that His grandeur and strength do not follow the logic of the world, but the logic of a defenseless baby whose only strength is the love he entrusts to us.”

The Pope made his remarks at a Mass in St Peter’s Basilica on 6 January, the feast of the Epiphany, which marks the manifestation of Jesus as saviour to the world.

In his homily, he asked people to reflect upon why there always seem to be so few people who believe in Jesus Christ.

It tells us that after listening to the Angel’s message, the shepherds said one to another: “‘Let us go over to Bethlehem’ … they went at once” (Lk 2:15f.). “They made haste” is literally what the Greek text says. What had been announced to them was so important that they had to go immediately. In fact, what had been said to them was utterly out of the ordinary. It changed the world.

The Saviour is born. The long-awaited Son of David has come into the world in his own city. What could be more important?

No doubt they were partly driven by curiosity, but first and foremost it was their excitement at the wonderful news that had been conveyed to them, of all people, to the little ones, to the seemingly unimportant. They made haste - they went at once.

In our daily life, it is not like that.

For most people, the things of God are not given priority, they do not impose themselves on us directly, and so the great majority of us tend to postpone them.

First, we do what seems urgent here and now. In the list of priorities, God is often more or less at the end.

We can always deal with that later, we tend to think. The Gospel tells us: God is the highest priority. If anything in our life deserves haste without delay, then, it is God’s work alone. The Rule of Saint Benedict contains this teaching: “Place nothing at all before the work of God (ie the divine office)”. For monks, the Liturgy is the

first priority. Everything else comes later. In its essence, though, this saying applies to everyone. God is important, by far the most important thing in our lives. The shepherds teach us this priority. From them we should learn not to be crushed by all the pressing matters in our daily lives.

From them we should learn the inner freedom to put other tasks in second place - however important they may be - so as to make our way towards God, to allow Him into our lives and into our time.

Time given to God and, in His name, to our neighbour is never time lost.

It is the time when we are most truly alive, when we live our humanity to the full.

Some commentators point out that the shepherds, the simple souls, were the first to come to Jesus in the manger and to encounter the Redeemer of the world. The wise men from the East, representing those with social standing and fame, arrived much later. The commentators go on to say: this is quite natural.

The shepherds lived nearby. They only needed to “come over” (cf Lk 2:15), as we do when we go to visit our neighbours. The wise men, however, lived far away. They had to undertake a long and arduous journey in order to arrive in Bethlehem. And they needed guidance and direction. Today, too, there are simple and lowly souls who live very close to the Lord. They are, so to speak, His neighbours and they can easily go to see Him.

pretention keep people from God: Benedict

Just as after Christ’s birth many people witnessed the star of Bethlehem, but only a few - like the Wise Men or Magi - actually responded to God’s invitation to follow a new path that would change the world, he said.

“What is the reason that some see and find (Christ) and others don’t? What opens one’s eyes and heart? What is lacking in those who remain indifferent, those who know the way, but do not take it?” he asked. People do not accept Christ’s invitation to come to him when they are too selfassured and display the “pretentiousness of understanding reality perfectly well and the presumption of already having come to a definite judgement about things, which makes their hearts closed and insensitive to the novelty of God,” he said. People need to let themselves be completely bowled over by “the adventure of a God who wants to come to them,” he said. What is missing in the world, he said, is authentic humility and courage, which allow people to recognise and put their trust in what is truly great, “even if it is manifested

in a defenseless baby.” The capacity to be surprised, to be a child at heart, is missing, said the Pope. Only when people use that sense of wonder to come out of their shell can they “follow the way indicated by the star, the way of God.”

The Pope said that by bringing gifts fit for a king and prostrating in adoration, the Magi demonstrated their willingness to submit to the authority of the Christ child - the king of the Jews - and renounce their allegiance to the cruel and powerful sovereignty of King Herod.

“They were led to also follow the way of the child, which would make them ignore the great and powerful of this world and would bring them to the one waiting among the poor, to the path of love, which is the only thing that can transform the world,” he said.

After the Mass, Pope Benedict gave his noonday Angelus address from his studio window to those gathered in St Peter’s Square. He dedicated his remarks to the Magi who were guided to Bethlehem by a star and who were the first to come and

XVI

adore Jesus. He said the three men of learning and science are excellent examples of “authentic seekers of the truth” and of “the unity between intelligence and faith.”

Far from believing that the knowledge gleaned from books and scientific research was sufficient, they were “open to further revelations and divine summons. In fact, they were not ashamed to ask for guidance from Jewish religious leaders,” he said. They could have, but didn’t, exhibit the fear evident today of any “‘contamination’ between science and the word of God,” said the Pope. They listened and welcomed divine prophecies and embodied “a perfect harmony between human research and divine truth, a harmony that filled the hearts of the authentically wise men with joy.”

Pope Benedict asked that people let themselves be open to Christ and strike an even greater harmony in their lives between “reason and faith, science and revelation.”

Actors re-enact the story of the birth of Jesus at Nazareth Village, a recreation of a Galilean community from the time of Christ, in Nazareth, Israel.

But most of us in the world today live far from Jesus Christ, the incarnate God who came to dwell amongst us. We live our lives by philosophies, amid worldly affairs and occupations that totally absorb us and are a great distance from the manger. In all kinds of ways, God has to prod us and reach out to us again and again, so that we can manage to escape from the muddle of our thoughts and activities and discover the way that leads to Him. But a path exists for all of us. The Lord provides everyone with tailor-made signals. He calls each one of us, so that we, too, can say: “Come on, ‘let us go over’ to Bethlehem - to the God who has come to meet us. Yes indeed, God has set out towards us. Left to ourselves we could not reach Him. The path is too much for our strength. But God has come down. He comes towards us. He has travelled the longer part of the journey. Now He invites us: come and see how much I love you. Come and see that I am here. Transeamus usque Bethlehem the Latin Bible says. Let us go there. Let us surpass ourselves.

Let us journey towards God in all sorts of ways: along our interior path towards Him, but also along very concrete paths – the Liturgy of the Church, the service of our neighbour, in whom Christ awaits us. Let us once again listen directly to the Gospel. The shepherds tell one another the reason why they are setting off: “Let us see

this thing that has happened.” Literally the Greek text says: “Let us see this Word that has occurred there.” Yes, indeed, such is the radical newness of this night: the Word can be seen. For it has become flesh.

The God of whom no image may be made - because any image would only diminish, or rather distort Him - this God has Himself become visible in the One who is His true image, as Saint Paul puts it (cf 2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15). In the figure of Jesus Christ, in the whole of His life and ministry, in His dying and rising, we can see the Word of God and hence the mystery of the living God Himself. This is what God is like.

The Angel had said to the shepherds: “This will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12; cf 2:16).

God’s sign, the sign given to the shepherds and to us, is not an astonishing miracle. God’s sign is His humility. God’s sign is that He makes Himself small; He becomes a child; He lets us touch Him and He asks for our love.

How we would prefer a different sign, an imposing, irresistible sign of God’s power and greatness. But His sign summons us to faith and love, and thus it gives us hope: this is what God is like. He has power, He is Goodness itself.

He invites us to become like Him. Yes, indeed, we become like God if we allow ourselves to be shaped by this sign; if we ourselves learn humility and, hence, true greatness; if we renounce violence and use only the weapons of truth and love.

Origen, taking up one of John the Baptist’s sayings, saw the essence of paganism expressed in the symbol of stones: paganism is a lack of feeling, it means a heart of stone that is incapable of loving and perceiving God’s love.

Origen says of the pagans: “Lacking feeling and reason, they are transformed into stones and wood” (in Lk 22:9). Christ, though, wishes to give us a heart of flesh. When we see Him, the God who became a child, our hearts are opened.

In the Liturgy of the holy night, God comes to us as man, so that we might become truly human. Let us listen once again to Origen: “Indeed, what use would it be to you that Christ once came in the flesh if He did not enter your soul? Let us pray that He may come to us each day, that we may be able to say: I live, yet it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20)” (in Lk 22:3).

Yes indeed, that is what we should pray for on this Holy Night. Lord Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, come to us. Enter within me, within my soul. Transform me. Renew me. Change me, change us all from stone and wood into living people, in whom your love is made present and the world is transformed. Amen.

The faithful from Zhujiajiao Catholic Church take part in a Christmas Eve procession on a street on the outskirts of Shanghai, China, on 24 December. PHOTO: CNS/ALY SONG, REUTERS

Children observe a nativity scene outside the Cathedral in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 23 December.

PHOTO: CNS/ANDREW BIRAJ, REUTERS

pilgrim

candles in the Church of the Nativity, the site revered as the birthplace of Jesus, in the West

Church-goers gather outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing before Christmas Eve Mass on 24 December. PHOTO: CNS/DAVID GRAY, REUTERS

Children dance before an evening unveiling of the nativity scene in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on 24 December.

PHOTO: CNS/PAUL HARING

Three more Irish Bishops resign

Dublin abuse report claims more prelates, prompts apologies for Church cover-ups

BY CIAN MOLLOY Catholic News Service

DUBLIN, Ireland - Three more Irish Bishops have announced their resignations, bringing the total to four who have resigned as a result of a recent report on how the Dublin Archdiocese covered up clerical sex abuse allegations and put children at risk of further abuse.

On Christmas Eve Dublin Auxiliary Bishops Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field announced they were offering their resignations to Pope Benedict XVI. “As we celebrate the feast of Christmas, the birth of our saviour, the prince of peace, it is our hope that our action may help to bring the peace and reconciliation of Jesus Christ to the victims/survivors of child sexual abuse,” the Bishops said in a joint statement.

“We again apologise to them. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have so bravely spoken out and those who continue to suffer in silence. We will not be saying anything further at this time.”

The previous day, 23 December, Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare and Leighlin announced his resignation, saying that he should have challenged the prevailing culture in Dublin’s Archdiocesan administration. The independent inquiry into the Archdiocesan actions, known as the Murphy Report,

was published in November. At that time, the three Bishops said that the report did not find them individually at fault in failing to report child abuse and that the most serious charge against any of them was a failure to consult diocesan records when complaints of abuse were made against priests.

In his 23 December resignation statement, Bishop Moriarty said: “I fully accept the overall conclusion of the Commission - that the attempts by Church authorities to ‘protect the Church’ and to ‘avoid scandal’ had the most dreadful consequences for children and were deeply wrong. It does not serve the truth to overstate my responsibility and authority within the Archdiocese.

“Nor does it serve the truth to overlook the fact that the system of management and communications was seriously flawed.

“However, with the benefit of hindsight, I accept that, from the time I became an auxiliary Bishop, I should have challenged the prevailing culture.”

Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick announced his resignation on 17 December.

The only other serving Bishop named in the report, Bishop Martin Drennan of Galway, said he does not believe the report finds him at fault and does not believe he should resign.

In 2002, Bishop Brendan Comiskey resigned as head of the Ferns diocese after a television documentary showed that he had covered up child abuse allegations there.

He served as an Auxiliary in Dublin from 1980 to 1984; Bishop Walsh administered the Ferns diocese for several years until a successor was appointed.

Thousands brave government ban, freezing cold for underground Chinese Bishop’s funeral

XIWANZI, China (UCAN)

- Some 2,500 Catholics braved freezing conditions on 6 January to pay their last respects to “underground” Bishop Leo Yao Liang of Xiwanzi, who had spent almost 30 years of his life behind bars.

Vatican-approved Coadjutor Bishop Yao, who the government recognised only as a priest, died on 30 December at the age of 86. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1958 as he refused to join the independent Church movement, and released only in 1984. In 2002, he was clandestinely ordained as a Bishop and had been detained several times since then.

The funeral service was held in Xiwanzi town, Chongli county, in Hebei province. Bishop Yao was referred to as “shepherd” during the service, after authorities disallowed the use of the term “Bishop.”

The government also banned Catholics outside the county from attending the funeral, while snow-covered roads prevented others from coming, according to sources.

Of the 15 diocesan priests, only three who have registered with the government were allowed to conduct the funeral Mass and the burial liturgy.

Country beset by woes as Cathedral cops grenade

Philippine aid workers fear disease in overcrowded volcano shelters

LEGAZPI, Philippines (CNS)

- For the second time in three months, a grenade exploded at the Cathedral of the Vicariate Apostolic of Jolo in the southern Philippines on 10 January. No-one was injured in the blast which took place before the first Sunday morning Mass, though some of the Cathedral windows were shattered.

While 81 percent of the nation’s 88.7 million people are Catholic, the Jolo area is heavily Muslim: fewer than 3 percent of the area’s one million residents are Catholic. Jolo’s previous ordinary, Bishop Benjamin D de Jesus, was slain in front of the Cathedral in 1997.

Bishop Yao’s death leaves the local Church in a dilemma.

Bishop Andrew Hao Jinli of Xiwanzi, 93, is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and other illnesses, and is confined to a wheelchair.

Sources say that due to the difficult relations between the underground and governmentapproved Church communities, the Holy See is unlikely to appoint a younger coadjutor Bishop to succeed Bishop Hao.

The issue of Bishop succession had worried Bishop Yao before his death, sources say.

The prelate fell seriously ill in mid-December and died of multiple organ failure two weeks later. Authorities had prohibited him from leaving Xiwanzi parish after he was released from a 30-month detention in February 2008. Bishop Yao was born in 1923 and ordained a priest in 1948. Three years later, under the Communist regime, he was banned from doing pastoral work and forced to grow vegetables and cut firewood for a living. The late Bishop is remembered for laying the foundation stone of a new Gothic church building in Xiwanzi town after the older building was demolished. The new building is still being constructed.

Meanwhile, Church aid workers trying to bring relief to evacuees from the danger zone around the Mayon volcano feared outbreaks of disease as evacuation centres surpassed their limits.

Workers told the Asian Church news agency UCA News there was a need for portable toilets, tents and building materials.

“We now have 502 families - 2,288 people - in our school. Of course, our classrooms can’t accommodate all of them,” Adelia Vibar, principal of the primary school in the town of San Jose, told UCA News.

“I have only five toilets for all these people. If we are to avoid epidemics we need more, urgently,” Vibar said.

The Social Action Centre of the Legazpi Diocese initially provided six portable toilets for the evacuation camp in Anislang and planned to provide another 100 for other camps, said Jason Sevilla, a Social Action Centre team member.

In all, nearly 10,000 families, more than 47,000 people from 32 villages, have been evacuated from their homes around the volcano, which has been spouting ash and rumbling.

The government warned an eruption was imminent. The Social Action Centre has begun to focus on the many evacuees from remote areas who have so far received little attention.

“We will try to provide blankets,

mosquito nets, toilets, water, disinfectant, medicine and milk for the kids,” said the centre’s director, Fr Ramoncito Segubiense.

Evacuees might not be able to return for up to three months, putting intense strain on infrastructure and resources. Water supplies are already erratic and water was hard to find in some places.

“We have to spend hours fetching water from the pump,” said Amelia Bolanos, 27, a resident of Calabayog village staying in San Jose. “We are very afraid of what will happen to our homes and also for our men who, despite the danger, go to the village during the day to protect our belongings and animals from theft.”

Querino Volante, 59, Calabayog village leader, voiced worry about the future and the damage already done to crops.

“The wind is blowing ashes toward our village. All our crops are lost and I don’t have any idea how we will recover our livelihoods,” he said.

More than 5,000 people from Santa Misericordia and Fidel Surtida villages were living in small bamboo shelters on just under 10 acres of land.

Venecia Banta, 47, a resident of Fidel Surtida who has seven children, noted the worst part was not knowing how long the families would remain displaced.

Hundreds of thousands of people have also gathered in the

Philippines for an annual festival honouring the “Black Nazarene”, a wooden statue of Jesus, to pray for relief from natural disasters, according to an AFP report in the Sydney Morning Herald. Tropical storms, floods, landslides, and maritime disasters killed nearly 2,000 people across the Philippines in 2009, a year in which an election-linked massacre claimed 57 lives and a volcano also erupted.

Bishops in the southern Philippines also said they would tolerate martial law for a short time, providing it is not abused, following the massacre in Maguindanao province in early December.

Archbishop Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato told the Asian church news agency UCA News that the complex situation in the province called for extraordinary measures.

He expressed hope that military rule would be short and would facilitate justice for victims.

President Gloria MacapagalArroyo declared martial law on 4 December and allowed government troops to arrest people without court warrants in some areas of Maguindanao.

She said it was necessary because “lawless elements” had “taken up arms and committed public uprising” against the government and the president.

In a 6 December statement, Martial Law in Maguindanao: A Pastoral Perspective, Archbishop Quevedo said human rights must be respected under martial law.

A girl eats a snack in an evacuation centre at San Antonio school in the town of Tabaco in the Philippines on 28 December. Nearly 50,000 people had been evacuated from around the base of the active Mayon volcano. PHOTO: CNS/ROMEO RANOCO

Manila

Legazpi

PHILIPPINES

CHINA

AUSTRALIA

INDONESIA

PHILIPPINES

©2009 CNS

Mount Mayon

Thornlie

Advent and Christmas at Sacred Heart

CHRISTMAS is traditionally a time for families and friends to be together in joyous celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Advent is the time of preparation and reflection for that Christmas season and presents an opportunity to reach out to others.

For five years some of the music ministry of Sacred Heart Parish in Thornlie, comprising youth and children, have given their time to spend an afternoon with the homeless and marginalised clients of Shopfront at the annual Christmas gathering which is held in Maylands.

They entertain the guests while they eat dinner and the children re-enact the nativity to remind everyone of the true meaning of Christmas.

Whitfords

Christmas at Our Lady of the Mission Parish

THIS year a new backdrop to the altar - a magnificent landscape of Bethlehem at night - was painted by artist Carmel and members of the creative liturgy team.

This was in place for the beginning of Advent. At each Mass over the Sundays in Advent a different family was invited to light the candles on the Advent wreath.

As Advent progressed, new decorations and symbols marking the journey towards the celebration of our saviour’s birth were gradually added around the church.

On 1 December, 25 priests celebrated the Second Rite of Reconciliation in the parish in readiness for Christmas.

One of the priests was overheard joking to parish priest Fr Joseph Tran that “there is certainly a large number of sinners in the Whitford parish”.

The weekend of the third Sunday of Advent saw the celebration of the St Nicholas Mass and parishioners brought in gifts for less fortunate children. St Nicholas visited all weekend Masses, accepting the gifts the children brought up to the altar.

The Christmas Eve 5.30pm children’s Vigil Mass on the oval next to the church saw the largest congregation to attend this Mass so far - approximately 5,000.

Children came dressed as angels and shepherds and took part in the dramatisation of the gospel.

Mary and Joseph and a donkey made their way through the congregation to the altar where they were greeted by Fr Tran and assistant priest Fr Patrick Puthota.

Later, the Three Wise Men rode in upon camels bearing their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

At Holy Communion, Fr Tran invited all those unable to receive Holy Communion to come forward for a blessing.

It was beautiful to see so many people unable to receive Communion come forward in an act of faith to receive a blessing.

After the thanksgiving prayer, children of the parish performed a ‘liturgical movement’ in celebration of the birth of Jesus.

At the conclusion of Mass, a display of firework streamers and confetti covered the congregation.

The outdoor Mass was followed by a very beautiful and prayerful 8.30pm Vigil, Midnight and

The highlight of its Christmas Masses this year was the 7.30pm Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve which is specifically geared to families and children.

With the church having a usual capacity of approximately 600, this year there would have to have been nearly 1,000 with all our extra chairs stacked along the back wall of the church and in the foyer. Even then, many had to stand outside. Some even came from as far as Fremantle to attend Mass.

One of the attractions to the church is its priests, Mgr Tim Corcoran and Fr Pavol Herda, who always make liturgies meaningful, and its music ministry, who make all of its Masses very special and inclusive.

The re-enactment of the nativity in the Gospel by the children was a reminder of what we are really celebrating. But the addition of our Christmas tree, complete with twinkling lights was also a reminder of the magic of Christmas.

8am and 9.30 am Masses in the church. Every Mass had one of the five weekend Mass choirs provide beautiful music to herald the birth of Jesus.

At all Masses the Christ child was represented by newly born babies in the parish.

The child and its parents were seated on the sanctuary and the baby held up and presented to the congregation by Fr Tran. Each baby was presented with an embroidered shirt that said: “I was baby Jesus at Whitfords Parish 2009.”

After the 8am Mass on Christmas Day, Santa landed in a helicopter on the school oval. He greeted all the children, giving

them lollies and stayed for the 9.30am Mass before flying off in the helicopter at the conclusion of Mass. This has become an annual event.

In all, approximately 7,500 people attended the Christmas Masses at OLM.

Clarkson

Clarkson patron saint ties into Christmas

THE Clarkson Parish of St Andrew's celebrated the feast of our patron saint with a food fair and entertainment after the Sunday morning Masses. As it was the First Sunday of Advent, we marked the feast with a prayer to St Andrew at the prayers of intercession.

The Mass concluded with the congregation singing Amazing Grace accompanied by the Haggis Baggis Bag Pipes group.

We then continued the celebration with a food fair and entertainment. Entertainment was provided by the parish choirs, Haggis Baggis and Scottish dancers and the youth provided music requests.

The parish has celebrated St Andrew's for many years and the celebration has grown from year to year.

Earlier in the year, the parish placed our new icon of St Andrew’s in the church.

The left icon is St John the Baptist directing St Andrew to follow Jesus; the centre icon is St Andrew’s martyrdom; and the right icon reflects the ministry of St Andrew; our church in the background reminds us that we are also called to follow the example of St Andrew.

The icon was donated by the Morrow family in remembrance of Forrest (Frosty) Morrow and his daughter Diane and was painted by Marice Sariola from Dunsborough.

Above, Fr Andre Albis (the future parish priest of Clarkson) sings with the parishioners. Below, Scottish dancers.

Above, Mary and Joseph and donkey’s owner. Right, Fr Joseph presents Lachlan, who represented baby Jesus at the Midnight Mass. Below, The Three Wise Men with camel attendant Rebecca bring the gifts to the Christ. Angels holding stars accompany those giving out Holy Communion so that Communion points can be found amid the crowds of people.

Cathedral speaks of Christ’s mission for us

World Youth Days past and present tied to St Mary’s Cathedral

BY ANTHONY BARICH National Reporter

KEY parts of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary that were blessed on 17 December speak volumes for the mission of Catholics sent out by Christ, Perth Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton said.

A part of the history of World Youth Day was also enshrined in stone during the final Liturgy of Blessing associated with the reopening of the Cathedral on 8 December.

Bishop Sproxton blessed the Entrance Door, the Baptismal Font and Immersion Pool, the Holy Oils containers and recognised the presence in the Cathedral grounds of the World Youth Day 2008 olive tree.

Bishop Sproxton spoke of the sculpture of the Good Shepherd that adorns the Cathedral door and was sculpted by Herne Hill blacksmith Antonio Battistessa.

The door, the prelate said, is now known as the Prendiville Door, commemorating the Archbishop who served the Archdiocese of Perth as Archbishop for 33 years.

“He saw and promoted enormous growth of the Church in his time, and ministered personally in the Cathedral, making it a doorway for so many as they sought to follow Christ,” Bishop Sproxton said.

Bishop Sproxton pointed out that both the entrance to the Cathedral and the door of the tabernacle are adorned with images of the Good Shepherd.

It is through the gate of the Good Shepherd that we enter the Church, he said, where we are nourished by the Good Shepherd with his own Body and Blood, the Eucharist.

From the Church, we are then missioned – that is, sent forth to be the presence of Christ the Good Shepherd in the World, he added.

Through the waters of the baptismal font, located just inside the entrance to the Cathedral, “so many more will be welcomed into the Catholic community, when they will see the Cathedral as their spiritual home. With their brothers and sisters in the Catholic faith, they will take their place”, he said.

“Realise that as you all have your feet in the enlarged Cathedral, you truly have your place in the Church in Perth,” he said.

“We have to make room for one another and for the gifts and talents each one brings to build up the Church.

“Your gifts and the gift of yourself, is welcome and we look forward to the contribution you have to make today and for the rest of your lives.

“Remember that what you are receiving by way of the skills for living and leadership are precious and will serve you for the rest of your lives. These skills will help you to make your contribution and to help build the spiritual home of the Church as a community that is a place of welcome.”

Bishop Sproxton told the assembly that it is through Baptism that we enter the Church. The new baptistry area allows for the option of Baptism by pouring (using the baptismal font), or Baptism by immersion (using the immersion

pool).

Bishop Sproxton said that through the action of Baptism by immersion, we symbolically die and rise to a new life in Christ.

He spoke of the strength and longevity of the olive tree and how this should be a metaphor for young people in their journey of faith, growing ever stronger and enduring the storms of life. Bishop Sproxton said that the olive tree is a reminder of World Youth Days past and urged those assembled to embrace World Youth Days to come.

Anita Parker, director of Perth’s Archdiocesan Catholic Youth Ministry office, said during the liturgy that Perth’s young Catholics have awaited the day of the Cathedral’s completion to see the WYD tree planted on its grounds and to call the Cathedral home.

Miss Parker, who attended her

first WYD in Rome with over two million young Catholics, said that the late Pope John Paul II started WYD as a means for Bishops to meet with young Catholics and for Bishops to teach and deepen the faith of young Catholics.

On Palm Sunday last year, Miss Parker was in Rome with an Australian delegation to hand over the WYD Cross and Icon to Spain, the next country set to host the event in 2011. She also met Pope Benedict XVI on that trip and thanked him for choosing Australia as the host nation for the 2008 WYD and “for being a part of the 2008 WYD celebrations that revived the faith life of our nation”.

“Today we bring a part of the WYD history to St Mary’s Cathedral in Perth,” she said. A small olive tree was commissioned as the WYD tree for the Archdiocese of Perth at the

Vietnamese Catholic community centre in Westminster in July 2007, celebrating the one year to go countdown for the WYD celebrations to be held in Sydney from 15-20 July 2008. Youth groups from parishes, schools, communities and movements brought a cup of soil to place around the olive tree to signify the contribution of their efforts towards WYD 2008.

This tree was then blessed by Archbishop Barry Hickey with holy water brought from Switzerland, from where one of the international groups was preparing to visit Perth for Days in the Diocese immediately prior to WYD in Sydney.

The tree has been kept safely and been growing healthily towards the day that it would be planted on the Cathedral grounds as a permanent reminder of the diocesan efforts towards WYD08 and beyond, Miss Parker said. The WYD Tree was present on the Perth Esplanade for the Youth Festival and Commissioning Mass which was part of the Perth Days in the Diocese programme the week prior to WYD in Sydney.

The WYD tree, she said, is a mere physical reminder to future generations that, as young people, “we must take on the call to continue to learn and deepen our faith and to be witnesses in today’s world”, and respond to Pope Benedict XVI’s call at WYD08 based on its theme ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses’ (Acts1:8).

The Pope asked a question in his final homily – “what will you leave to the next generation?”

In reminding Perth youth of Spanish olives, Miss Parker said the olive tree also provides a link to the next WYD to be hosted in Spain. The Madrid WYD Scriptural theme also links to the 17 December olive tree planting: Arraigados Y Edificados En Cristo, Firmes en La Fe (Col 2:7) - “Planted and built up in Christ, Firm in the Faith”.

“May this WYD tree and the Cathedral be a gathering place for young people to remember the World Youth Day celebrations in Australia and signify the commitment to growing youth ministry in our Archdiocese beyond WYD,” she said.

“Our hope is for the young people here today and those who couldn’t be with us, that as the WYD tree grows, we grow to be as the Scriptural theme of the next WYD calls us all to be ‘Planted and built up in Christ, Firm in the Faith’.”

- Contributing to this article was Fr Robert Cross

Noongar elders welcomed to completed St Mary’s

BY ROBERT HIINI Parish Reporter

THE fire of reconciliation was kept alight on 15 December as Perth Catholics were welcomed to the completed St Mary’s Cathedral by Noongar elders. A flame was lit in the Cathedral’s new processional forecourt for the welcome and blessing of its Aboriginal mosaic lamé designed by local artist, Laurel Nannup, depicting Christ as the light of the world.

Laurel Nannup presented the Ceremonial Candle to Archbishop Barry Hickey for his signing with the Cross of Christ, the Alpha and Omega, and the year 2009, symbolising all time and ages belonging to

Christ. Having blessed and lit the Ceremonial Candle, he presented the candle to Richard Walley who welcomed it with an Aboriginal song and then carried the candle into the darkened Cathedral, symbolising Christ who came to bring light to our darkness. Soon the illuminated Cathedral shone as intended as a beacon on a hilltop, the light of Christ illuminating the City of Perth, bringing hope to all who look to Christ for light.

Congregants gathered in the forecourt prior to Mass for the blessing of the ceremonial fire before Mr Walley asked for the prayers of his ancestors and sang a song of praise in the Noongar language.

Mr Walley carried a can-

dle lit from the fire into the Cathedral - a candle presented to the Archbishop by Ms Nannup - which Archbishop Hickey said was a “constant reminder to us of the original owners of this land of Australia.”

Students from Catholic schools throughout the Archdiocese played clapsticks throughout the opening ceremony. In his address, the Archbishop emphasised some of the assertions he made in two papers he released earlier in the day on Aborigines and the Church.

Archbishop Hickey spoke about the need to ask questions surrounding the poor participation of indigenous people in parish churches and the state of Aboriginal health, education and wellbeing.

Clockwise from top: Perth youth celebrate the planting of the World Youth Day tree in the Cathedral grounds; the new and former Deans of St Mary’s Cathedral, Monsignors Michael Keating and Thomas McDonald, bless the oil containers; Catholic Youth Ministry director Anita Parker addresses the congregation.

PHOTOS: FR ROBERT CROSS

Right: Laurel Nannup presents the Ceremonial Candle for Archbishop Barry Hickey to bless.

PHOTO: ROBERT HIINI

WYD singer releases debut CD

Port Kennedy artist’s debut delivers music for the soul

BY MARK REIDY Parish Reporter

GIVING in to popular demand, Rockingham resident Lisa Howard, who was chosen to sing at the World Youth Day Festival in Sydney last year, has produced her long awaited first CD entitled Whispers of my Spirit

The CD has received plaudits from Perth Vicar General Mgr Brian O'Loughlin and the world renowned healing priest, Fr John Rea.

Mgr O'Laughlin, who picked up a copy at Ms Howard's parish in Port Kennedy, praised her "beautiful voice," "clear diction" and "exquisite" accompaniment.

Ms Howard told The Record that she was inspired by “a desire to answer the poignant ‘why’ questions; to discover a deeper meaning to life and the answers that lie within us, if only we open ourselves to God through prayer”.

The easy listening CD features six of her own compositions and four traditional hymns.

One of the artist's own compositions Veni Deus (God come), written in Latin and featured on the CD, was accepted and approved by the Pontifical Council for World Youth Day for last year's celebrations in Sydney.

The album was featured recently on the UK's Cross Rythms Christian Radio website and has been played locally on Sonshine FM.

Ms Howard said she hopes the CD "will give people hope in their faith walk, and take them on a journey to rediscover their soul, their own worth and God's incredible love for them."

For more information on Lisa Howard and to hear excerpts of her music, visit www.lisahoward. com.au.

Copies of the CD can be obtained from The Record Bookshop for $24.95.

Joeys open to fellow travellers

BY GLYNNIS GRAINGER Record Contributer

An Australian Pilgrimage titled In the Footsteps of Blessed Mary MacKillop will be held again this year from 12-22 April and 12-22 October in Sydney, Victoria and South Australia.

The pilgrimage has been prepared by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart and is designed to inform and inspire people of all denominations.

By visiting the districts which were the scene of Mary’s family life and ministry, the pilgrim will better appreciate the sacrifices she made and difficulties she encountered.

Josephite Sisters will lead the pilgrimage and provide input at significant sites associated with Mary’s life.

Opportunity for prayer and reflection will be provided throughout the pilgrimage.

The notion of going on a pilgrimage and being a pilgrim is a very ancient one that belongs to the spiritual tradition of all great faiths.

For Christians, centres throughout the world are recognised as places of pilgrimage.

It is not only the site that takes people deep into the heart of their faith, but the journey itself, the setting out to capture something of the spirit of the place and the tradition.

A pilgrimage is a very personal experience but it is usually a journey with others: seeking, listening, reflecting and seeing the hand of God at work in their own lives.

Josephite Sr Monica Barlow RSJ, Australian Pilgrimage

Coordinator, told The Record: “People find it an absolutely wonderful experience.

“It is not just getting in touch with places significant in her (Mary’s) life – their lives as well.

“A very strong bond builds up, which is about our own lives.”

This Australian pilgrimage to many of the sites associated with Mary MacKillop’s life and work is a unique opportunity for people to absorb some of the aspects of her life and appreciate anew her role as our first beatified Australian.

The pilgrimage begins in North Sydney on Monday, 12 April/ October at Mary MacKillop Place, touring the museum, including Alma Cottage, where Mary lived and died. There is time to pray at her tomb in the Memorial Chapel.

On the Tuesday, there will be a Pilgrim Mass and Sydney sacred sites, such as the graves of cofounder of the Order, Fr Julian Tenison Woods and Mary’s mother, Flora MacKillop, as well as the Rocks area where Mary and the Sisters lived, will be visited.

On day three, the pilgrims fly to Melbourne where they visit the Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre, East Melbourne, Mary’s birthplace, and St Francis’ Church.

Day four starts at the Heritage Centre, continues to Mary’s birthplace, family graves and early Josephite ministry, then travels to Bacchus Marsh and overnights at Ballarat.

On day five, Friday, 16 April/ October, they take a coach trip through the majestic Grampians to Hamilton to visit the grave of Mary’s father Alexander, then to St Mary’s Church, and an overnight stay.

On the Saturday, they visit Portland, where the MacKillop family lived in the 1860s, Port

McDonnell and overnight at Mt Gambier. Day seven sees them visit Penola for Josephite beginnings, the schoolhouse, the Interpretive Centre, cemetery, Fr Woods’ tree, dinner at the Royal Oak and overnight at Mt Gambier.

On day eight, they travel to Adelaide via Robe and Our Lady Star of the Sea Church built by Fr Woods.

On day nine, Tuesday, 20 April/ October, they are at Port Adelaide and St Mary’s Church, the Chapel of the Excommunication at Franklin Street, St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral and Square in the city, then on to Morphett Vale Church, where the excommunication was lifted.

On day 10, in Adelaide, they visit graves of the early Sisters, St Ignatius’ Church, Norwood, and the Mary MacKillop Centre, Kensington, and reflect on on the pilgrimage experience.

Flights home to destinations take place on the final day 11, Thursday, 22 April/October, with optional extension in Adelaide at personal expense.

Bookings should be made early to ensure a place as there is a maximum of 36 participants on each pilgrimage.

Pilgrimage costs are ex-Perth 11 April/October, per person twin share $2,895; ex-Perth 12 April/ October, per person twin share $2,795, including airfares, accommodation, coach travel, admission fees and all meals. A deposit of $200 is required, of which $50 is non-transferable and nonrefundable.

Cancellation and/or travel insurance is recommended and available on request.

Please send an application form and $200 deposit to: Cardigan Touring Services,

Mary MacKillop Pilgrimage, PO Box 4010, Alfredton VIC 3350. Please send a copy of the application to: Australian Pilgrimage Coordinator, Mary MacKillop Place, PO Box 1081, North Sydney NSW 2059.

Blessed Mary MacKillop (18421909) was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Sydney on 19 January, 1995 before a crowd of more than 200,000 Australians and New Zealanders. With Fr Woods (1832-1889), she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph in Penola, South Australia, in 1866.

At the age of 24, Mary began her religious life at Penola, teaching in the school and under the direction of Fr Woods. In 1867, she moved to Adelaide, took her religious vows, and began her formal life as a Sister of St Joseph.

The Congregation attracted many young women whose work in education and caring for the needy slowly spread across Australia and New Zealand, despite much opposition from Church authorities.

In the early 1890s, after years of travelling around Australia as Mother General, Mary was able to return to her home city and spent some years establishing St Joseph’s Home in Surrey Hills and a night school and House of Providence in Latrobe Street, Sydney.

Illness accompanied her all her life and her later years were spent suffering from rheumatism and the effects of a stroke. She died at Mount Street, North Sydney, on 8 August, 1909.

For more information or to receive an application form, please contact: Sr Monica Barlow, Australian Pilgrimage Coordinator, on (02) 8912 4818, email: mmp.ministries@sosj.org.au

The WA Coordinator, Sr Christine Symonds, on 9334 0999, is away until the end of January.

Knights promote valour in faith education via scholarships

AROUND 50 people turned out on the night of 14 December to see 35 aspiring and established educators receive some of the $900,000 in scholarships awarded by the Knights of the Southern Cross (KSC) Education Foundation every year.

Established by the Knights in 1992 to provide Religious Education units for Catholic teachers through the University of Notre Dame, the ceremony took place at the Catholic Education Office in Leederville. As in previous years, the scholarships are for both undergraduate and post-graduate study and are aimed at bolstering the propagation of the Faith.

Dignitaries included Ron Dullard, Director of Catholic Education in WA

and Professor Michael O'Neill from the University of Notre Dame Australia, with both thanking the KSC for their support.

Joe Palandri, the Chairman of the KSC Education Foundation, presented the successful applicants with their certificates.

The evening was also well attended by scholarship winners, members of the KSC Education Foundation Board, the KSC (WA) State Council, Peter Lewis, KSC National President and Mgr Brian O’Loughlin, Vicar General and State Chaplain to the KSC.

From left: Ron Dullard, Peter Lewis, Dianna Panzich-Sekulla, scholarship recipient and Joe Palandri, Chairman of the KSC Education Foundation.

PHOTO: COURTEOUSY OF THE KSC

Geraldton

Bishop Justin Bianchini celebrated the Christmas Vigil Mass in the grounds of St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Geraldton. The Vigil is held outside each year as the Cathedral cannot accommodate the large crowd.

Redemptorist Monastery

Do real men pray the Rosary?

Texas man says yes and finds many agree

BY ROSE YBARRA Catholic News Service

McALLEN, Texas - Throughout his childhood, David Calvillo’s mother urged him to pray the Rosary but he admits the recommendation went in one ear and out the other.

“I thought the Rosary was for old ladies and funerals,” Calvillo said.

His mindset began to change when he attended a retreat at the Benedictine Sisters of the Good Shepherd Monastery outside Rio Grande City - reluctantly, Calvillo’s wife Valerie pointed out.

“He was a bit hesitant,” Valerie Calvillo said. “He didn’t know what to expect.”

Going to the retreat proved to be a life-changing experience.

“As we were praying the Rosary at the retreat, I saw something that I had never seen before,” David Calvillo said. “I felt this incredible connection.”

Before he left the retreat, Calvillo stopped by the gift shop and bought a copy of the book, The Secret of the Rosary by St Louis de Monfort for each man who attended the retreat.

Over time, through his research, prayer, retreats and fellowship with other men of faith, he developed a deep appreciation for the Rosary. He was finally sold on the notion that the Rosary was indeed a prayer for men, a prayer for all Christians.

After exploring ways to promote the Rosary, Calvillo formed an apostolate called Real Men Pray the Rosary. The apostolate encourages praying the Rosary in several ways: through education via a variety of channels, by physically making Rosaries during Rosary-tying events and finally, by distributing the Rosaries.

Calvillo created a logo with a tough-looking hand clutching a Rosary, which is now the face of the apostolate.

He said the inspiration for the logo was a man named Alex Gamboa Jr, a parishioner at St Joseph the Worker Church in McAllen.

“I used to see him walking around with the Rosary around

his hand and I thought it was powerful to see a strong man doing that,” Calvillo said.

Gamboa said he wraps the Rosary around his hand during trying times and during times of intense prayer. “Pray for me” is a phrase Gamboa hears often because friends and family members know he takes the request seriously.

Calvillo also created a presence online through the web site, www. RealMenPraytheRosary.org, and with a page on Facebook, a social networking site.

“I thought if we could get 200 members from the (Rio Grande) Valley, we could consider the Facebook page a success, but it just exploded,” he said.

“Before we knew it, we had more than 4,100 members from all over the world.”

Calvillo recalled one particular day when he started a virtual Rosary. By the time it was completed, it was pieced together in 13 languages.

Rosary-tying events draw the faithful of all ages from different parishes who gather together for the common goal of making rosaries. They are fashioned from colourful twine and metal crucifixes. Each Rosary is as unique as the person who ties it. No two are alike.

“I think these Rosaries have

more significance than storebought Rosaries,” said Tito Salinas, a parishioner at St Joseph the Worker. He and his wife, Norma, are regulars at Rosarytying events.

“They may not be made perfectly, but they are made by someone who cares,” he added. “I think knowing that the Rosary came from somebody who took the time and effort to put it together motivates the recipient to pray it more often and to appreciate it.”

During a recent Rosary-tying event at Calvillo’s law office, dozens of people made Rosaries for the troops serving overseas. The event also promoted fellowship among local Catholics, some who already knew each other and some who didn’t.

The Rosaries are given out at retreats, confirmation classes and wherever else they are needed. More than 100 Rosaries were completed for the troops and they will be distributed through servicemen and servicewomen with ties to the Valley.

Gamboa said he hopes the popularity of the apostolate “is only the beginning and that it will expand parish life.”

“I hope we will have more lectors, catechists and eucharistic ministers through this and of course, better mothers and fathers,” he said.

David Calvillo, right, founder of Real Men Pray the Rosary, helps a volunteer make a hand-tied Rosary. Calvillo, a Catholic from McAllen, Texas, began the apostolate to encourage men to pray the Rosary.

PHOTO: CNS/THE VALLEY CATHOLIC

Raphael Barich lies in the crib with statues of Mary and Joseph among the hay at the Redemptorist Monastery in North Perth after Midnight Mass, during which he and his parents, Anthony and Cheryl, formed a living nativity scene, as seen on page 1

DAWN BARICH

This old world’s tawdry voices

“That means they're anorexic,” said a young woman I know when asked why the great majority of the girls at her elite college had declared themselves vegetarians or vegans. I thought she was being sarcastic, but she wasn't.

BY DAVID MILLS

She was being witty. The ideological self-description has become a code word for an illness the girls didn't want to admit, she said. Being a vegetarian or vegan justified eating very little, and explained why you didn't go to the dining hall or got only a small salad when you did.

The girls at this college are all high achievers, driven, type-A personalities who have succeeded at almost everything they've tried in life, capable of long hours of intense work and assured, as much as anyone in this world can be, of future success. And yet an astonishing number hate their bodies and try to starve them into an image of perfection they know is ridiculous and unnatural, not to mention culturally determined and commercially driven.

It is, at first sight, baffling. Girls who profess a Marxist contempt for large corporations want to look like the girls in the ads those corporations use to sell their dresses, shoes, perfume, luggage, vodka, cars. They take for their personal ideal an image created by people whose ability to tell the truth about the world they flatly (and rightly) deny. You hear of a girl you know, an active, intelligent Christian, obviously successful, apparently discerning, apparently confident, who thinks she's fat and ugly when she is quite beautiful. I have heard the explanations for this, and they all make perfect sense. Still, I cannot understand how such an obviously

insane and self-destructive ideal has taken such a hold on so many young women.

I have been reflecting on this as a father of two daughters. But I have also been reflecting on this simply as a father. The world lies to my children, and I cannot always keep them from hearing the lies of the world and believing some of them. I have but one voice, and the world has many. It not only preaches with attractive confidence but seduces with flattery and false promises. It has vast resources for bribery.

Girls who profess a Marxist contempt for large

corporations

want to look like the girls in the ads those corporations use to sell their dresses, shoes, perfume, luggage, vodka, cars.

Worse, it makes the wicked, the cheap, the mediocre, and the tawdry all feel normal. Recently I went to Barnes & Noble to look at the books being written for teenagers for a talk I was giving at a local parish. It was a mixed lot, as you could guess. Some offered lessons one could endorse, but even in these the lesson was usually mixed with some form of immorality: The teenager learns a painful lesson in telling the truth, perhaps,

but only because she is caught lying to a boy she has been sleeping with and loses him. That sleeping with the boy is itself a form of lying is a moral insight far beyond the author.

Other books told stories of silly children, almost always girls, living the anxious but oddly chipper life of the teenage libertine, concerned with the acquisition of boys and

things and the status derived from both. Pitched at younger children, these seem to be the better selling. In either case, the books' heroes (if there are any, as admirable males are rare in these stories) and heroines do not live the kind of life a Christian father wants his children to emulate. They do nothing very heroic or sacrificial or self-abnegating. They respond to

no higher call or self-transcendent principles. In the better stories, they get by; in the worse, they get boys, designer clothes, and a place in the inner circle.

Ever since our children were very young we have read to them from the great books, immersed them in the life of the Church, shared with them the pleasures of good music and good art and good conversation, and pointed them to the saints and other heroes. We have shielded them from the worldly influence of television (we don't watch it at all) and trivial magazines. We have showed them how to enjoy the world's productions (we do watch movies on DVD) while discerning what they teach.

And still we see the world in them all, as I can still see it in myself. They have heard some of those worldly voices and believed what they said, probably without knowing it. There's only so much a parent can do to keep out the world; you can't keep it completely out of your own mind, much less theirs.

But even I, with an Augustinian realism about the ubiquity of the world, did not see how powerful it was. I think now that I relied too much on arranging our life the way we did - not that we ought to have done less, but that we should have done more to make obvious the love that drove us to live such a life.

You cannot keep your children pure by force of will and the application of techniques. You must love God so that they learn to love Him too, giving them at once the power to resist the seductive, relentless old world and the desire (with God's help) to keep themselves free from its stain till the day they die.

David Mills is the editor of Touchstone magazine, "a journal of mere Christianity." He and his family were received into the Church in 2001.

Applecross trio record the ‘new’ Mass in all its glory

BY GLYNNIS GRAINGER Record Contributer

TWO WA composers from St Benedict’s parish, Applecross have produced a revolutionary music CD of the new sung Mass to alert people to the fact that there are going to be global changes to the Mass.

Joe Orifici and Tony Harris, both 59, have collaborated with music teacher Deborah Searson, and started making the CD at an Applecross recording studio in September.

It was ready within a few days of an interview with The Record on 1 December and is in response to a call for new musical settings for the revised translation of the Mass.

Joe told The Record that he and Tony had written many hymns, some for the opening of the new church and parish priest Fr Peter Whitely kept pushing them to publish and record and with a bit of prompting, they did that.

Joe said: “Deborah dragged us along to a music workshop which was run by the Liturgy Office for composers of music in the Archdiocese to introduce them to the new translation of the missal.

“They challenged us to write new music for the new Mass and submit it to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Sydney for possible inclusion in the new Catholic hymnal for the new Mass.

“What

used across Australia for the new Mass.

They hope to include them in a new Catholic worship hymnal.

“We ended up writing a Mass and we have just finished recording it and we hope some of the things we have written will be in the new hymnal - which will be nice,” Joe added.

“Fr Albert Lynch is a famous composer (from St Benedict’s parish) and had his Masses played before the Pope – a fine tradition in St Benedict’s – and we hope to follow in his footsteps.

“We still do his Masses here and right across Australia. We think competition will be pretty stiff.”

The CD will feature Joe as cantor, Tony’s daughter Pia, 25, singing, Deborah playing guitar, and organ music, piano and flute –standard accompanying instruments – and may be called Singing Praises to God

The new Mass and the hymns will be on one CD.

Joe, whose band Clique won the Battle of the Bands in 1966, plays the piano and sings and Tony plays guitar and sings.

Joe studied music for one year at University and, like Tony, used to play in rock bands.

Deborah conducts the St Benedict’s Church choir and is a music specialist at St Benedict’s Primary School and at St Pius X Primary School in Manning.

She has played the guitar and does vocals and has been a liturgical advisor on the CD’s production. “It has been a terrific learning experience. Tony and I have funded it ourselves,” Joe said.

As a boy, Joe won a scholarship to CBC Terrace, then Trinity College, and sang in St Mary’s Cathedral choir.

Tony, from Winthrop, and Joe are brothers-in-law as Tony married Joe’s sister, Maria, whom he met after playing music with Joe. Both have three daughters.

Both Tony and Joe sing in St Benedict’s choir and Joe is a cantor who leads the Psalms and welcomes the Gospel. Deborah has two sons and a daughter who plays the flute on the CD. “We came up with a theme pretty early and some things came easily. We were very conscious of the fact that we had to write it as a complete musical setting – it has a similar feel or ‘colour’,” Tony said.

Speaking about inspiration, Joe said: “Sometimes it happens quickly, sometimes it takes ages.”

“The integrity of the music reflects the Church and the Mass –the music actually takes the nuance of the text, it mirrors the text.”

They wish to acknowledge parish choirmaster and organist Stephen Court and parish pianist Catherine Carboon.

They plan to launch the CD in St Benedict’s parish at Easter.

they hope to be able to do is have four or five musical settings for the Mass across Australia, so you can join in.”

Tony said that a committee at the Sydney conference will select a number of different settings of music to be recommended to be

Applecross parishioners and composers Tony Harris and Joe Orifici with music teacher Deborah Searson who collaborated on a new CD.

Caritas work is prayer in action

Jim Smith

As Diocesan Director of Caritas in the Archdiocese of Perth, my work is prayer in action. It comes from the Young Christian Workers (YCW) notion that you can make everyday activity a form of prayer or worship by doing it as well as possible. It is a strong element I have been aware of since my YCW days.

How I Pray

Caritas Australia is one of the world’s largest and most effective emergency response networks. We help people help themselves regardless of race, religion or political beliefs. Caritas provides overseas aid and development, conducts Project Compassion, emergency disaster relief appeals and Just Leadership Days and informed speakers to parishes and schools. Caritas Australia is part of an international organisation in about 140 countries.

with Debbie Warrier

We have three main functions. Firstly, we respond to a crisis situation. Secondly, we establish sustainable community development.

Rather than dropping a lot of money on a community and telling them what is good for them, we work with a local partner as much as possible to establish projects that can be sustained after we pull out. It may be that someone from Caritas Australia goes there to help out but it is more likely to be a local person because they understand the situation better. The third function is raising local awareness.

In Australia, we spend a lot of time educating Australians about the need in developing countries. We urge them to take action to alleviate that problem. Our work is broader then just raising funds for that project. It may also involve advocating that members of Parliament approach the government of another country lobbying for the stamping out of corruption or fairer distribution of resources.

The type of the work Caritas Australia does, for example, is a horticultural project like the one we established in Tanzania. We were approached by locals for assistance so we approached Caritas Tanzania and started developing a plan with them. Our organisation taught the villagers how to grow vegetables and install and maintain reticulation systems. We provided a clean water supply through our funding which was a major contribution.

I have been fortunate to visit the Kimberly region where Caritas Australia supports a number of indigenous programmes. One is in conjunction with the United First People Association, an Aboriginal group that conducts an anti-diabetes programme through five or six communities.

Diabetes is a serious problem within the Aboriginal community. Members of the community are trained to conduct these programmes.

They are educated about nutritious diets, horticultural skills for fresh vegetables, limiting alcohol intake and generally about leading a healthy lifestyle. I joined Caritas in August 2009. I previously had some involvement in my parish fundraising for Caritas and as a Catholic school principal encouraging parents to support Project Compassion.

As an employee, I find the organisation’s approach fits with my perception of what is fair and reasonable. It is about supporting a worthwhile cause. The impact of Caritas Australia makes a lasting difference to many people in developing countries.

I find my work interesting, challenging and rewarding. Jesus empowered people (and still does). He made others feel confident and worthwhile members of the community who didn’t deserve to be downtrodden as some had for years. He lifted them up and brought joy and fulfillment into their lives. That is what Caritas tries to do in the communities it works with.

Spouses a reminder of the Cross

Body Language

By Christopher West

The Immaculate Conception and Theology of the Body

One of my favourite feast days is 8 December. Why? Because Mary’s Immaculate Conception is the certainty that what Christ did on the Cross worked. It is the living hope of humanity’s redemption.

For redemption to be complete, it not only has to be perfectly given, it also has to be perfectly received.

It has been perfectly given in Christ, and perfectly received in Mary, who, through “a singular grace and privilege” was “redeemed from the moment of her conception” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 491).

Volumes could be written about the connection between this feast and the “great mystery” unfolded in Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body (TOB). For starters, it’s no mere coincidence that John Paul II began writing his TOB on this marvellous feast day – the handwritten date on page one of his original manuscript says 8 December 1974.

And above that he wrote this dedication: Tota Pulchra es Maria – “You are all beautiful, Mary” – a clear adaptation of the bridegroom’s words in the Song of Songs, “You are all beautiful, my love, there is no blemish in you” (Song 4:7).

It’s a long held tradition of the Church to recognise Mary as the “unblemished” bride spoken of in the Song of Songs.

As the perfect model of the Church, Mary represents the mystical bride for whom Christ “gave himself up ... that

he might sanctify her,” that she might be “without spot or wrinkle ... holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:25-27).

Of course, it may seem odd to speak of Mary in some way representing Christ’s “bride.”

Archbishop Fulton Sheen explained it this way: “Now we’ve always thought, and rightly so, of Christ the Son on the cross and the mother beneath Him. But that’s not the complete picture. That’s not the deep understanding. Who is our Lord on the cross? He’s the new Adam. Where’s the new Eve? At the foot of the cross. And so the bridegroom looks down at the bride. He looks at His beloved. Christ looks at his Church. There is here the birth of the Church”

(Through the Year with Bishop Fulton Sheen, Ignatius Press, 2003).

The work of redemption was consummated on the Cross. And so, in a very real way, Mary was immacu-

lately conceived – that is, she perfectly received the gift of redemption – not only in her mother’s womb, but also at the foot of the Cross.

In fact, the event that took place in St Anne’s womb is inexplicable without the event that took place at the Cross. As John Paul II once observed, “Spouses are ... the permanent reminder to the Church of what happened on the Cross” (“Familiaris Consortio” 11).

Perhaps the spouses that reveal this most clearly are Sts Joachim and Anne.

In the art of the East, the icon of the Immaculate Conception is actually an image of Joachim and Anne embracing.

Behind them is their marriage bed, and behind that sacred mystery we see the gates into the holy city of Jerusalem.

Through this “all holy” image (the Fathers of the Eastern tradition call Mary “the All-Holy”), we are led to contemplate a spousal love that not only cooperated with God in His power to create human life, but also cooperated with God in His power to redeem it.

In this holy embrace of Joachim and Anne, we can truly speak of a love that was not only “pro-creative” but also, at the very same time, “pro-redemptive.”

As we learn in John Paul II’s TOB, authentic spousal love draws its deepest essence from the very mystery of creation and redemption.

It’s not only meant to bring new life into the world, it’s meant to save us from sin and prepare us for heaven. Who by his own strength can live this divine kind of love?

Only the grace of salvation makes it possible. It’s not something we can muster up.

It’s only something we can receive. And this is precisely what we celebrate on this grand feast of the Immaculate Conception – the receptivity of the human heart (Mary’s) to the saving love of God.

Mary, in all the joys and trials of life, teach us how to open our hearts to so great a love.

Empty yourself and receive abundance

Sacrament t of charity

The Liturgy of the Bread

Recalling that ‘memorial’ means to ‘make present again’ the very actions of Jesus at the Last Supper (which actually were spread out over his entire life), we now go on to see step by step how we actually do this in the Eucharist. We take up the first of Jesus’ four actions: He took the bread!

Bread Symbolic of Life Itself

Initially, after the Prayers of the Faithful, in order to ‘take the bread’ as Jesus did, a collection was made to help the poor in the community.

The faithful brought all kinds of material gifts, usually things that represented their very lives, “the work of human hands”, the fruits of their daily labour.

They generously shared these with the needy, and among these gifts would be also the bread and wine required for the Eucharist.

As time went on, this practice of taking up gifts gradually died off – but the general idea of making a contribution still remained.

Now the person/family that ‘offered’ the Eucharist would ‘pay’ for the bread, wine, candles and other things needed for it. This contribution was meant to

also cover the needs of the poor – but eventually even this was limited only to supplying the needs of the clergy. Soon, at least in the minds of the people, this money given began to be seen as a “price-tag” attached to each Eucharist.

Back to the Sources

Vatican II re-introduced the practice of the Preparation (Presentation) of the Gifts.

However, the idea of a compulsory donation is far from the mind of the Council. Each person who contributes reflects how much s/he has experienced God’s love during the week.

Since God has blessed us so lavishly, we too would want to share at least a part of that blessing with our needy brothers and sisters.

We believe that God will not refuse to

bless us in the future as well, and so we don’t greedily retain everything for ourselves or self-centredly provide against the future (see Acts 5:1-11).

The best way to thank God for His gifts to us is to share them with others.

However, our giving must be like that of God. Jesus warns us: ‘don’t blow a trumpet before you when you give alms … don’t let your left hand know what your right is doing’ (Mt 6:3).

Our giving must be done with our gaze fixed on God’s goodness to us.

When we continue to give even though no appreciation is shown, or better still when we and our gift are ridiculed or taken for granted – that would a true sign of selfless giving.

Besides, in order to receive, our hands must be empty; if they are full clutching at gifts we have received, then there is no room to receive any more. Hence, the more we empty ourselves by sharing with others, the more likely are we ourselves to receive.

It is important to stress that there is no ‘offering’ at this time – we simply bring the gifts to the altar.

The offering will be made after our gifts are transformed into Jesus. Hence, at this time, no reference should be made to ‘offering’, asking God to receive and so on.

The song, if sung, should merely accompany the procession with gifts and stop once the gifts are placed on the altar.

The focus should be on the meaning of the gifts for each of us, as we present them at the altar: which aspect of our lives do we surrender?

Do we really think about this as we celebrate the Eucharist each Sunday?

Ss Anne and Joachim with Mary

Fr Erasto Fernandez SSS

There’s more to life than science: try beauty

Unearthing Treasure

By Fr Sean Fernandez

Attadale parish priest and Notre Dame lecturer arms Catholics to defend and be proud of their Faith

Iwas listening to the radio a few days ago and was struck by a news item. The presenter was talking about some subject and said repeatedly that scientists were saying such-and-such on the topic of climate change. I was struck by use of the word ‘scientist’.

It is not a word which tells us a great deal; were the scientists in question climatologists, astro-physicists, chemists? It could have been just laziness on the part of the presenter, but I think it indicates a certain attitude towards the sciences.

It sets ‘scientific knowledge’ apart from all other knowledge; it privileges this knowledge above all other ways of knowing.

Richard Dawkins is a scientist, more precisely an evolutionary biologist, yet he spouts forth on history, philosophy and theology; and the general public listens to him as if he were the fount of all knowledge.

Two books, Alister McGrath’s Dawkins’ God: Genes, Memes and the meaning of life and David Bentley Hart’s Atheist Delusions: The Christian revolution and its fashionable enemies, do a sterling job of demolishing Dawkins’ positions.

Back to my topic. One has only to turn on the television to see the grip ‘science’ has on people’s imaginations – it seems that every police TV series has a scientist with a centrifuge, Bunsen burner and vial of blue liquid with which he or she can solve any puzzle. I am assured that the real world is far more mundane and complex; an astrophysicist suggested to me that what one sees on the tube is more akin to alchemy than chemistry: it is almost magical and far from the reality of modelling, probabilities, continual correction and imagination which the scientific method generally involves.

Yes, I did include imagination in that list; Richard Feynman said of Paul Dirac in a lecture honouring the great physicist that ‘he had the courage to simply guess at the form of an equation, and try to interpret it

afterwards’. John Polkinghorne, the physicist and theologian, has written often of the affinities between scientific and theological knowing.

Scientists are fallible human beings with hopes, fears, dreams and ambitions.

Don’t get me wrong – scientific discovery has changed our world for the better.

I would like, however, to address two issues which lead to muddle-headed thinking. In this article I shall look at knowledge and science (don’t yawn, it is interesting).

In the next article I shall discuss the relationship between the Church and science (even more interesting).

Have you heard of ‘the Anglophone heresy’? It is way of naming the narrow approach to knowledge and science which prevails in the English-speaking world.

This approach is characterised by William Ward who, writing in the Dublin Review in 1867, said that “we shall use the word ‘science’ in the sense which Englishmen so commonly give to it: as expressing physical and experimental science, to the exclusion of theological and metaphysical.” This approach says that we attain true knowledge to the extent that we approximate the accuracy and scientific rigour of the physical sciences.

There are some who argue that the only true knowledge one can have is the knowledge which ‘science’ puts forward.

This may look nice on paper, but it makes sane life impossible.

If one were to ask a husband and wife in a healthy relationship if their spouse loved them, they would say, ‘Yes.’ There is knowledge which comes from love and shared

life – it is not knowledge which is subject to proof. Ordinary, human life is based on trust. Most of us are born into relationships of love and trust – we instinctively trust our parents and develop from there. If someone were actually to say that they would trust nothing without proof, they would not have a philosophical problem, but a psychological one. A parishioner tells me often that she has studied in the university of life.

I do respect this (don’t tell her), however (there is always a however), the university of life focuses on knowledge in relation to immediate, personal concerns; it is the university of common sense.

Academic study is focused on the relation things have between themselves.

University study is interested in things as they are in themselves. And theology, philosophy, the arts, the physical, biological sciences all have their place in the university.

In other European languages the words for the ‘sciences’ encompass broader areas of human knowledge than the physical or mathematical sciences; they include philosophy, theology, the study of the arts, etc.

In German they speak of Wissenschaften, in Italian of scienze, in French of sciences

These languages recognise that reality is rich, multi-layered and complex, and that there are many different and complementary ways of studying this reality.

A poem can open us up to truth in the world as much as an equation can. There are many, systematic, critical approaches to reality – the molecular biologist has his object of study and his questions; the physicist has her object of study and her ques-

tions; and the theologian has his object and questions. In the case of the theologian, her study is given her by Divine Revelation; and the questions the theologian asks comes out of Divine Revelation.

Before I wrap up, just a word on science and morality. One hears reports which talk about a clash between pure science and religious-moral points of view. Put in such terms, one gets the impression that moralists are standing in the way of science.

This is deceptive. Even the scientist approaches his study with certain questions and with his own sense of what it is to be human and so what is permissible and not.

So, for example, in the case of embryonic stem cell research, one does not have a clash between science and religion. One has a clash of different moral perspectives.

The scientist who thinks it permissible to perform embryonic stem-cell research is basing that decision on assumptions about the nature of human life and personhood.

She is taking a moral stance whether she recognises it or not. The disagreement I would have with her stance is a moral one. It is not a scientific one.

Science plays an important role in human life, but it is not the only form of knowledge and it is not the one thing necessary.

Our completed Cathedral speaks to us of the importance of beauty, of community, of worship and of contemplation to life.

It is part of a long tradition, an alliance between faith and art, as the Archbishop reminded us, quoting the Holy Father.

In that same speech, the Pope said:

“The experience of beauty - beauty that is authentic, not merely transient or artificialis by no means a supplementary or secondary factor in our search for meaning and happiness; the experience of beauty does not remove us from reality.

“On the contrary, it leads to a direct encounter with the daily reality of our lives, liberating it from darkness, transfiguring it, making it radiant and beautiful.”

A mathematician may see beauty in an equation, Paul Dirace stated that ‘physical laws should have mathematical beauty’, and we may all marvel at the photographs of distant galaxies taken by the Hubble telescope, but there is an uncreated beauty which shines forth in faith and the knowledge to which it opens us.

And all knowledge achieves its end when it leads us to worship. The last word belongs, fittingly, to a poet: “He fathersforth whose beauty is past change: Praise Him.” (Hopkins, Pied Beauty).

Fr Sean Fernandez is parish priest of Attadale and Senior Lecturer in the College of Philosophy and Theology, Notre Dame.

Don’t just stand by and watch the crib, commit to Him

Being Heard

By John Heard

Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in – O Little Town of Bethlehem

SHY Christians stand back a little from the manger. Certainly same sex attracted men and women hesitate at Christmastime. All of us can doubt.

We can start to wonder about the Christmas miracle: did He really come for us? There is, after all, a sadness that visits at this time of year.

However, sadness indulged grows into a crutch (not for me, we think during the dry times, He came for them). We may start to think that we have a separate dispensation, if we think at all.

Typically, there is just a sense, a sad and lazy hunch, that we

are separate from the strictures of Faith.

This is the danger at Christmastime: that Catholics will leave Him behind just as the mystery of the Incarnation is coming into view.

Therefore, we learn again that a Christian cannot just nod and watch. That is the Advent lesson: active hope. We are not happy if we merely witness the passing scene.

We must commit to Him. Never really assenting intellectually, never permitting the grace of Christmas to transform our hearts, these are ways to miss Christ. (Kitsch, or an obsession with pointing out things about Christmas that are ostensibly kitsch, is a way to miss Christ too).

Despair is always a way to miss Christ. Despair is, traditionally, a sin against the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, Christmas Christians yield to hope. We must. At Christmastime, we return to faith and hope, and love.

We try to give and we try to keep ourselves open for the secret we all know is the most wonderful, the most surprising aspect of the

Christmas festival: that it can come so easily. If only we let it undo our doubts Christmas makes sense, it makes complete sense. It is everything we want it to be.

Still, we hesitate. There is family and travel, which can seem like chores, and there are prepa-

rations, and – in many cases, significant financial outlay. The English-speaking peoples still celebrate Christmas as a major feast, perhaps for many it is the major festival, and that costs. Still, people will say, “it’s Christmas”, to justify the expense.

It is, indeed, and Christmas is justification enough for a bit of extravagance.

Finally, there is the night. I have often written about Christmas night. It is effortlessly impressive. It is fascinating. It is one of those rare times, the other is the Easter Vigil, when the Church stays up and waits for Christ. The darkness gives way to light. Anxiety cedes to jubilation. The Church, united with the Holy Father and led by the Bishops and priests, participates in the Communion of Saints and marks the turning of the tide.

In the dark of Christmas night, we measure a still point. We use the precious Cross to find peace at the centre of our turning world (stat crux dum volvitur orbis is the motto of the eremitical and coenobitic Carthusian order). On Christmas night, most awesomely,

we trace the shadow of the cross to the manger at Bethlehem. Advent shriven, newly meek Christians, then, stand back a little from the manger too - but not out of hesitation. There is little doubt. Now come faith and awe. Christmas night restores the sacred and on Christmas morning, we grow into the warm light of grace.

That Christmas comes ringing is a sweet boon. Christmas comes shining! It frees and saves. Christ is God-with-us, after all. We long to meet him. Same sex attracted men and women, Catholics everywhere, we stretch forward to touch His manger.

This is, then, the specific Christmas lesson - it is joy. Prepared by Advent hope, we believe at last that He came for us. That He came especially for those who despair. That he came, indeed, for same sex attracted men and women and for the least likely Christians, those who stand back a little from the manger. He came to show Himself, and teach us how to love.

Venite, adoremus Dominum! - emaildreadnought@gmail.com

PANORAMA

A roundup of events in the Archdiocese

Panorama entries must be in by 12pm Monday.

Contributions may be emailed to administration@therecord.com.au, faxed to 9227 7087, or mailed to PO Box 75, Leederville WA 6902.

Submissions over 55 words will be edited. Inclusion is limited to 4 weeks. Events charging over $10 will be put into classifieds and charged accordingly. The Record reserves the right to decline or modify any advertisement.

MASS TIMES FOR THE CATHEDRAL OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Weekday Mass Times

8.00am, 12.10pm (Monday - Friday), Weekend Mass Times Saturday 8.00am, 6.00pm (Vigil)

Sunday 8.00am, 9.30am, 11.00am, 5.00pm

Reconciliation

Saturday: 5.00pm – 06.00pm

Monday: 11.30am – 12.00pm

Wednesday, 20 January

SIC NEW NORCIA/MARIST REUNION ANNUAL MASS

4pm at Newman College, Empire Avenue, Churchlands. Mass will be celebrated by Marist old boy Priests in the Newman College Chapel in memory of deceased brothers and students. The reunion will follow in the College courtyard. BYO everything, barbecue available. SIC and Marist old boys most welcome. Enq: Ambrose 9387 1117 or 0419 912 187 or Frank 9446 6435.

LESMURDIE MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT GROUP

7.30pm at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Hall, 207 Lesmurdie Road, Lesmurdie.The meeting will focus on planning the year’s events. Everyone most welcome and we would value your input regarding how the group might best meet your needs. Enq: Ann 9291 6670 or Barbara 9328 8113.

Tuesday, 26 January

DIVINE MERCY PILGRIMAGE TO ST ANNE’SBINDOON

12 noon BYO lunch. 1pm, Holy Hour and Exposition, followed by Eucharistic Procession, Rosary and Benediction. 2.30pm Holy Mass, later Divine Mercy Chaplet, Consecration, Blessing of New Divine Mercy Image from Cracow (touched the relic of St Faustina) and veneration of Cross. Tea provided. 4.30pm return to Perth. Transport call Francis 9459 3873 or 0404 893 877. Enq: Lawrie 9576 0491, 0448 833 472 or Fr Paul 9571 1839.

Friday, 29 January

MEDJUGORJE EVENING OF PRAYER

7 to 9pm at St Bernadette’s Parish, Jugan and Leeder Streets, Glendalough. All are warmly invited to an evening of prayer with Our Lady Queen of Peace. Evening consists of Adoration, Rosary, Benediction and Holy Mass. Free DVD on Fr Don Calloway. Enq: Eileen 9402 2480.

Friday, 5 February

HEALING MASS

7pm at St Peter’s Church, 93 Wood Street, Inglewood. Praise and Worship followed by Reconciliation and Eucharistic Healing Mass; thereafter, fellowship. Enq: Priscilla 0433 457 352.

PRO-LIFE WITNESS

9.30am at St Brigid’s Catholic Church, Midland. Mass followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at abortion clinic, led by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. Enq: Helen 9402 0349.

Saturday, 6 February

DAY WITH MARY

9am to 5pm at Holy Family Church, 45 Thelma Street, Como. 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.

WITNESS FOR LIFE

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

Sunday, 7 February

DIVINE MERCY

1.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, 25 Windsor Street, Perth. Come for an afternoon with Jesus and Mary, main Celebrant, Fr Johnson Malayil CRS, on the Homily of St Jerome Emiliani. Enq: 9457 771

Friday, 12 February

TORCHLIGHT ROSARY PROCESSION AROUND LAKE

MONGER

Commencing at 7pm, congregate at the Northwest Corner at Park end of Dodd Street. Procession is in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes, with Rosary and hymns. Invitation is open to everyone. Paths are wheelchair and stroller accessible. Please bring torches, no naked flames allowed. Enq: Judy 9446 6837.

Saturday, 13 February

ST PADRE PIO DAY OF PRAYER

8.30am at St Brigid Church, corner Fitzgerald and Aberdeen Streets, Northbridge. St Padre Pio DVD, followed by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Divine Mercy, Silent Adoration and Benediction. 11am Holy Mass, celebrant Fr Tiziano Bogoni using St Padre Pio Liturgy. Confession available. Bring a plate for 12pm shared lunch. Tea and coffee provided. Enq: Des 6278 1540.

Sunday, 14 February

FEAST OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES

St Catherine’s Catholic Church, Gingin. 12 noon, BYO lunch, 1pm Holy Rosary, Exposition, Hymns, Benediction and Blessing of the sick followed at 1.30pm with Marian Procession. 2.30pm Holy Mass at the Grotto. 3.30pm tea provided. Transport booking, Francis 9459 3873 or 0404 893 877. Transport cost $15 per person return. Please confirm Coach bookings by 7 February. Enq: Sheila 9575 4023 or Fr Paul 9571 1839.

2010 JOSEPHITE – MARY MACKILLOP CALENDAR NOW ON SALE

Be inspired by Mary MacKillop’s inspirational quotes. Order your calendar by phone on 9334 0999 or mriddler@sosjwa.org.au.

ACTS 2 COLLEGE OF MISSION AND EVANGELISATION - 2010 ENROLMENTS/ SCHOLARSHIPS

Now open for full and part-time study at Acts 2 College for Semester 1. 16 week courses commence week of 1 March 2010. All courses may be taken towards a Certificate IV in Christian Ministry - national code 51881. Acts 2 College has available one full scholarship and three part scholarships for study at the College in 2010. The full scholarship is through an essay competition; the part-time are based on financial hardship. Enq: Jane 9202 6859.

Acts 2 College of Mission and Evangelisation BIBLE STUDY SESSIONS FOR PARISHES

Commencing 27 January at 7.30pm, 30 January and 6 February from 10am to 4pm respectively at 67 Howe Street, Osborne Park. Genesis to Jesus, complete the course and be trained to deliver it in your own parish for Lent and Easter. All resources provided. Registration required. Enq: Jane 9202 6859 or 0401 692 690.

Every day 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.

Every Tuesday Evening and Wednesday Morning ADVENTURES IN MATTHEW

Commencing 2 February at 7.30pm and 3 February at 9.30am, at St Jude Church, Prendiville Way, Langford. Come and enjoy this lively study into how Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of heaven on earth, building on the foundation laid in the Old Testament. 24 easy to follow sessions. Enq: Dominic 0447 053 347, 08 6253 8041 celestialorchids@gmail.com.

Every Sunday

PILGRIM MASS - SHRINE OF THE VIRGIN OF THE REVELATION

2pm at Shrine, 36 Chittering Road, 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 and 5pm. Enq: SACRI 9447 3292.

LATIN MASS

2pm at the Good Shepherd Parish, 40-42 Streich Avenue, Kelmscott, according to the 1962 missal, with Rosary preceding. All welcome.

Every Monday

LUNCHTIME MEDITATION

Christian Meditation comes to the city. 12.15 to 12.45pm, Wesley Uniting Church, corner William and Hay Streets, Perth. Ecumenical Christian meditation, in the tradition of the desert fathers and mothers. All welcome. Enq: christianmeditation@iinet.net.au, www.christianmeditationaustralia.org or 9444 5810.

Every 2nd Wednesday

YEAR OF THE PRIEST HOLY HOUR

7 to 8pm at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 2 Keaney Place, City Beach. Reflections on St John Vianney, Patron Saint of Priests. Light refreshments later in the Parish Centre.

Every Thursday

TAIZE PRAYER

7.30 to 8.30pm at Our Lady of Grace Parish, 3 Kitchener Street, North Beach. All parishioners and friends are invited for prayer and meditation using songs from Taize. In stillness and candlelight we make our pilgrimage. Spend some quiet time with the Lord. There will be no meeting in January.

HOLY HOUR

Commencing 11am to 12 noon on 7 January at Sts John and Paul Church, Pinetree Gully Road, Willetton. Please come and pray for a vocation in the parish. Enq: John 9457 7771.

First Friday of the Month

THE ALLIANCE, TRIUMPH AND REIGN OF THE TWO HEARTS

9pm at St Bernadette’s Church, Glendalough.  There will be Eucharistic Adoration, Rosaries, hymns and reflections etc.  Concludes with midnight Mass in honour and thanksgiving of the coming reign of the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary.  Enq: Fr Doug Harris 9444 6131 or Dorothy 9342 5845.

HOLY HOUR FOR VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

7pm at the Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, 2 Rawlins Street, Glendalough. Mass and Adoration by Fr Doug Harris. All welcome.

COMMUNION OF REPARATION ALL NIGHT VIGIL

7pm to 1am at Corpus Christi Church, Lochee Street, Mosman Park.  Vigil will have Mass, Rosary, Confession and Adoration with Fr Bogoni. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357.

READ IT IN THE RECORD

Second Saturday of the Month

DIVINE MERCY HEALING MASS

2.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, 25 Windsor Street, Perth. Main Celebrant Fr Marcellinus Meilak OFM. Reconciliation available. Refreshments provided later. Enq: John 9457 7771.

Fourth Sunday of the Month

HOLY HOUR FOR VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

2 to 3pm at Morley Parish Church, 47 Wellington Road, Morley. Includes Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Our prayers are powerful in assisting those called to the priesthood and Religious life to hear with a disciple’s ear the call of God for them. Come and pray. All welcome. Enq: 9276 8500.

AL-ANON/ALATEEN FAMILY GROUPS

If your home is unhappy because someone drinks too much, we can help you. For understanding and support to families and friends of problem drinkers. Enq: 9325 7528.

SACRED HEART OF JESUS – PIONEERS

Any Pioneers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus out there in society, we invite you to attend if you would like to meet other members in prayer and reflection. Enq: 9457 7771.

OFFICIAL ENGAGEMENTS - 2010

January

17 Mass at Hamilton Hill - Archbishop Hickey

Santo Nino Festival Mass. Redemptorist Monastery - Mgr Brian O’Loughlin VG

21 Australia Day Reception - Mgr Brian O’Loughlin VG

22 Flame Ministries Congress Keynote Address - Mgr Brian O’Loughlin VG

City of Perth’s Civic Reception celebrating 20th Anniversary Sister Cities of Perth and VastoMgr Michael Keating

23 Vasto Club celebrating 20th Anniversary Sister Cities of Perth and VastoMgr Brian O’Loughlin VG

24 Closing Mass of Flame Ministries Congress - Mgr Brian O’Loughlin VG

26 Irish-Australian Heritage Association Ecumenical Service, St Mary’s Cathedral - Archbishop Hickey Australia Day Citizenship and Awards Ceremony, Perth - Mgr Brian O’Loughlin VG

ACCOMMODATION

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

GUADALUPE HILL TRIGG www.beachhouseperth.com Ph: 0400 292 100.

HOUSE TO SHARE for clean living male, $120p/w Riverton. Ph: 0449 651 697.

MELVILLE AREA 1/2 b/rooms to rent from 1 February and full board available. 0428 121 342

BOOKS

REPAIR YOUR LITURGICAL BOOKS General book repairs, new bindings, old Bibles, leather restoration and conservation. Tydewi Bindery Ph: 9377 0005.

BUILDING TRADES

BRICK RE-POINTING Ph: Nigel 9242 2952.

PERROTT PAINTING Pty Ltd For all your residential, commercial painting requirements. Ph: Tom Perrott 9444 1200.

PICASSO PAINTING Top service. Ph: 0419 915 836, fax 9345 0505.

COUNSELLING

PSYCHOLOGY and PSYCHOTHERAPY www.peterwatt.com.au, Ph: 9203 5278.

EDUCATION

ADVANCED AND GRAD DIP in Educational Counselling also WACE Year 12 courses. Web: http://members.dodo.net. au/~uevalenz/. Ph: 0409 405 585.

FOR SALE

COROMEL CARAVAN , 5.5 dual axle. Excellent condition. Complete with soft annex. Licensed. $15,000 firm. 08 9526 2133.

FURNITURE REMOVAL

ALL AREAS Mike Murphy Ph: 0416 226 434.

ACROSS 1 LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION Walking with Him Weekly readings 17 S 2ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Gr Isa 62:1-5 The Lord’s delight Ps 95:1.3.7-10 Bless God’s name 1Cor 12:4-11 One and same spirit Jn 2:1-11 Jesus’ first sign 18M Gr 1Sam 15:16-23 Saul rejected Ps 49:8-9.16-17.21.23. Am I like you? Mk 2:18-22 Then they will fast 19 T Gr 1Sam 16:1-13 Come, anoint him Ps 88:20-22.27-28 David, my servant Mk 2:23-28 The Sabbath

NEEDED

Glory & Praise Songs for Christian Assembly Vol 1 and Eagle’s Wings Scripture in Song Everything I Possess, about 25 of each, more if possible. Please ring 9641 1477 or email stpatsyork@westnet. com.au to arrange pickup and payment.

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. MonFri 9am-6pm

HEALTH

LOSE WEIGHT stay healthy. Herbalife. Free support. 02 9807 5337

FREE Therapeutic Massage for women, Inglewood, 9473 0989.

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Ps 55:2-3.9-14 God is on my side

Mk 3:7-12 Crowds seek Jesus

22 F St Vincent, deacon, martyr (O)

Gr 1Sam 24:3-21 David spares Saul

Ps 56:2-4.6.11 God, our help

Mk 3:13-19 The Twelve appointed

23 S Ss Timothy and Titus, bishops (M)

Wh 2Tim 1:1-8 I long to see you [Alt, Titus 1:1-5 The faith we share]

Ps 95:1-3.7-8.10 Proclaim God’s help

Lk 10:1-9 Lambs among wolves

The Record Bookshop

ST PAUL SUNDAY MISSAL 2010

This two-colour Missal contains the Order of Mass, all the scripture readings and prayers for each Sunday of 2010 in calendar sequence, the complete Easter liturgy and a treasury of prayers.

$17.95 + p/h

THE BALLAD OF THE WHITE HORSE

G K Chesterton's masterpiece, and the work he himself considered his best, is a must read for everyone interested in history, literature and great poetry. King Alfred of England is almost forgotten as the hero of the times - the 800s, when Viking raiders continuously challenged the people living on the island that was to become England. If not for King Alfred, England would now be Norway or Daneland.

The whistling rock, the white horse on the hill, romance and chivalry live on in this masterfully woven tale of history.

$22.95 + p/h

CARITAS IN VERITATE

charity and truth

Benedict XVI has something for everyone in Charity in Truth from praising profit to defending the environment, from calling for a role for government in the economy to insisting on the necessity of moral transformation and "gratuitousness" in economic life, from the issue of immigration to the importance of technology. However, he also insists on discernment and the purification of our ideas by faith and reason, in order to temper any immoderate and one-sided enthusiasms.

$9.95 + p/h

ST PAUL ON THE POWER OF THE CROSS

A Bible study guide for Catholics Mitch Pacwa authored a wonderful resource for anyone who wishes to study the theme of the Cross in the Letters of St Paul. The book includes the salient Biblical passages as well as a commentary which reflects modern Biblical scholarship for a greater insight into the chosen Biblical passages. Good questions and Bible searches enable the reader to get to the core of Paul's teachings on the Cross of Christ.

$19.95 + p/h

LENT AND EASTER

Wisdom from Pope John Paul II

In Lent and Easter Wisdom From Pope John Paul II, the late Holy Father's thought provoking words lead readers through a journey of conversion throughout the Lenten season and Easter week. Each daily reflection - from Ash Wednesday through the Second Sunday of Easter - begins with thoughts from Pope John Paul II on some appropriate theme supported by Scripture, a prayer, and a suggested activity for spiritual growth.

$19.95 + p/h

NEW ATHEISM

Dismantling Dawkins’ Case Against God

By Dr Scott Hahn and Dr Benjamin Wiker

In a lively and fair analysis, Hahn and Wiker expose the shoddy reasoning, logical blunders and factual errors of Dawkins’ bestseller The God Delusion Along the way, Hahn and Wiker offer a cogent and convincing argument for God’s existence.

$26.95 + p/h