The Record Newspaper - 13 February 2013 by The Record

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Looking for ways to make your Lent a more meaningful experience? - Pages 10-11

She’s got a passion for life and is one of Perth’s best-kept secrets on the music scene - Page 15

As the penitential season arrives, Archbishop Costelloe speaks to his people

LENT: time to turn to the Lord

Members of Catholic Youth Ministry’s leadership training group pose with Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB and CYM chaplain Fr Thomas Zureich outside St Mary’s Cathedral last weekend. Archbishop Costelloe commissioned the youth leaders to represent the Archdiocese in youth work. Report - Page 7. PHOTO: MICHAEL CONNELLY

Lent is about many things but at its heart are prayer, fasting and almsgiving ... It’s a time for seeking the Lord’s help to see and judge things as he does.

ear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Wednesday, February 13, marked the beginning of Lent with the annual celebration of Ash Wednesday. If we were able to come to Mass on that day our foreheads would have been marked with ashes as a sign of repentance, and the priest or minister who administered the ashes would

either have reminded us that “we are dust, and to dust we will return” or called us to “repent, and believe in the Gospel”. In his Lenten message for 2013, Pope Benedict reflects on this theme of believing and reminds us of the close relationship between faith (believing) and charity. This is an important part of our lives as Catholics and I would like to invite

all of us to reflect on this relationship between faith and love as we begin our Lenten journey, travelling the road of obedience and suffering with Jesus as he takes his final journey to Jerusalem, to Calvary and to the new life of Easter. When I was a little boy it was the common practice that we give up lollies and chocolates during Lent as a way of “doing penance” and

preparing ourselves for the great feast of Easter. As I grew older I came to realise, as we all must, that Lent is about more than simply “giving up things”. It is about prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It is, in other words, about our relationship with God, with ourselves and with others. Please turn to Page 2 Project Compassion begins - Page 15

ARCHBISHOP COSTELLOE’S PASTORAL

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February 13, 2013

A season to return to the Lord Continued from Page 1 In prayer we are invited, especially in this Year of Grace, to gaze more closely on the face of Christ, so that we might come to know him more fully, and in knowing him come to love him more deeply, and in loving him serve him more faithfully as his disciples. In fasting, whether that be from food and drink, from laziness and self-indulgence, from selfcentredness or from anything else that holds us back from God, we are seeking to re-orient our lives so that we re-establish the right priorities. In fasting, in fact, we are seeking to respond to the reminder the Lord gives us that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6:21). Lent is a time for asking what it is we really treasure and seeking the Lord’s help to see and judge things as he does. Lastly, in almsgiving, we are trying to open ourselves to the power of God’s Holy Spirit who will always inspire and empower us to live lives of active care and concern for others. In reaching out to others in need, we learn what it means to have generous hearts and to have in us “the same mind that was in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5) who “did not come to be served but to serve” (Mk 10:45). For a Christian, almsgiving (charity) will always be intimately linked with believing (faith). In his Lenten Message for 2013, Pope Benedict explains that faith is a question of a “personal adherence – which involves all our faculties – to the revelation of God’s gratuitous and ‘passionate’ love for us, fully revealed in Jesus Christ”. Faith is born of an encounter with God and it is this encounter, if we allow God’s Spirit to nourish it and deepen it within us, which leads us to commit

Ashes symbolise renunciation of self.

ourselves in trust to God who has revealed himself to us in Christ and who continues to encounter us in the life and teachings of his Church. But the Pope goes on to explain that a genuine encounter with God in Christ “awakens (our) love and opens (our) spirits to others. As a result, love of neighbour will no longer be for (us) a commandment imposed, so to speak, from without, but a consequence deriving from (our) faith, a faith which becomes active through love. Christians are people who have been conquered

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by Christ’s love and, accordingly, under the influence of that love ... they are profoundly open to loving their neighbour in concrete ways”. As we travel the road to Jerusalem with Jesus this Lent, I invite all of us to reflect on, and if necessary be challenged by, the words we find in the First Letter of St John: Anyone who says “I love God” and hates his brother or sister is a liar, since a person who does not love the brother or sister he can see cannot love God, whom he has never seen. So this is the command-

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c. 1565-1601 February 27

Anne is one of three laywomen among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI. Anne Heigham and her brother were disowned by their Protestant father for converting to Catholicism. She married another disinherited convert, Roger Line, who died in exile in Flanders in 1594. Left penniless and always in poor health, Anne began working with Jesuits in London, where she organized and operated safe houses for priests and embroidered vestments. She took voluntary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Within one month, February 1601, she was arrested, tried at the Old Bailey, convicted of hiding a priest, and hanged at Tyburn. Anne is a patron of the childless, widows and converts.

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Sunday 17th - Violet 1ST SUNDAY OF LENT 1st Reading: Deut 26:4-10 The Lord heard us Responsorial Ps 90:1-2,10-15 Psalm: I am with you 2nd Reading: Rom 10:8-13 Your lips and heart Gospel Reading: Lk 4:1-13 Jesus is tempted Monday 18th - Violet 1st Reading: Lev 19:1-2,11-18 Act with justice Responsorial Ps 18:8-10, 15, Psalm: God’s law is perfect Gospel Reading: Mt 25:31-46 When did we see you? Tuesday 19th - Violet 1st Reading: Isa 55:10-11 God’s word fruitful Responsorial Ps 33:4-7, 16-19 Psalm: Praise God’s name Gospel Reading: Mt 6:7-15 Pray to God thus Wednesday 20th - Violet 1st Reading: Jon 3:1-10 God saw their efforts Responsorial Ps 50:3-4,12-13,18-19 Psalm: A contrite heart

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Representatives of the US’ Catholic Bishops and four Protestant denominations in the Reformed tradition in that country have publicly reaffirmed a mutual agreement in effect since the Second Vatican Council that recognises the validity of each other’s baptisms. The four Protestant bodies are the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Christian Reformed Church in North America, the Reformed Church in America and the United Church of Christ. The signing took place on January 29 at St Mary Cathedral in Austin, Texas, during a prayer service at the opening of the annual meeting of the ecumenical association Christian Churches Together, which includes over 40 Christian denominations and groups. It marked the first time the Catholic Church in the United States has ever signed on to such an agreement, although Catholic bishops’ conferences elsewhere in the world have done so. The USCCB in Washington announced the signing on February 1 and released the text of the agreement. The signing in Austin comes amid a trend that has developed over the past 20 or so years to introduce non-traditional baptismal rites in which Protestant pastors, and sometimes priests, use a formula other than the traditional Trinitarian formula of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” according to the US bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. A common example of this non-traditional formula is “Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer” which the Catholic Church cannot accept as the proper form of baptism.

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Gospel Reading: Lk 11:29-32 The sign of Jonah Thursday 21st - Violet ST PETER DAMIAN, BISHOP, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH (0) 1st Reading: Esth 4:1,3-5,12-14 Come to my help Responsorial Ps 137:1-3,7-8 Psalms: God’s fidelity Gospel Reading: Mt 7:7-12 The Father’s goodness Friday 22nd - White THE CHAIR OF ST PETER (FEAST) 1st Reading: 1 Pet 5:1-4 I am a witness Responsorial Ps 22 Psalm: The Lord is my shepherd Gospel Reading: Mt 16:13-19 Who do you say? Saturday 23rd - Red ST POLYCARP, BISHOP, MARTYR (M) 1st Reading: Deut 26:16-19 God’s own people Responsorial Ps 118:1-2, 4-5, 7-8 Psalm: Do not forsake me Gospel Reading: Mt 5:43-48 Love your enemies

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+Archbishop Timothy Costelloe Archbishop of Perth

Catholics, Protestants agree on baptism

READINGS OF THE WEEK

SAINT OF THE WEEK

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ment that God has given us, that anyone who loves God must also love his brother or sister (1 Jn 4: 20-21). Through our contemplation of the face of the suffering Christ this Lent, and through our works of penance and almsgiving, may we all discover where our true treasure lies and recognise the same Christ in the faces of our needy brothers and sisters.

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Catholic Ed welcomes low-rate loans in the West THE Director of Catholic Education in Western Australia, Dr Timothy McDonald, has welcomed the recent announcement by Education Minister Peter Collier regarding $25 million of capital loans at a reduced interest rate available to non-government schools in 2013. Dr McDonald noted the 17 projects which will be supported in 2013 including some funding for new primary schools to commence in Ellenbrook and Hocking in 2014.

“The range of projects supported will add significantly to the schools involved and will ultimately contribute to an increase in opportunities for students,” Dr McDonald said. While the loans will benefit the schools involved for 2013, Dr McDonald noted that for the past 18 years the amount available had been pegged at $25 million. Over this period, the cost of building a primary school for 450

students has more than quadrupled. “In times when the total cost of building a small primary school is approximately $20 million and a secondary school closer to $60 million, the loans are clearly less than what is required,” he said. “Perth’s booming population and rapidly changing demand for a variety of educational offerings point to an urgent need to increase the loans available to closer to $50 million per year.

The record low interest rates available in Australia provide an opportunity to increase the quantum of loans with little impact on the level of government subsidy.” Dr McDonald acknowledged that the failure to increase the total loans for nearly two decades has been raised as a serious issue for many years now and was likely to be an election issue for the 20 per cent of WA families whose children attend Catholic schools.

Dr Timothy McDonald.

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All at play in nature’s beautiful setting By Peter Rosengren AS TENS of thousands of students returned to school last week, Good Shepherd Primary in Kelmscott had a special surprise in store for their kindergarten and pre-primary students - a nature playground provided by parents. The youngest of the school’s 2013 crop of students can now spend their recreation time running, climbing, rolling and even pumping water through the enclosed playground provided entirely by the parent group - to name just a few of the activities available to children. When The Record visited, it looked very much as if Good Shepherd’s littlies were enjoying every inch of their recreation space while the cubby house on raised legs was looking very much the place to be. “This adds to our already estab-

lished programs that include an area for bush play, vegetable gardens, animals and outdoor education,” school principal Gabrielle Doyle told The Record. “Children in the early years are able to pump water, follow a creek bed to a pond, play on grass mounds, a log tangle, climbing frames, tree trunk steps, log bridges, swinging ropes, platforms under the historic flame trees, sandpits, as well as to experience a range of textures of natural surfaces.” She said nature play is becoming more important in the lives of our children as a result of diminished use of public spaces and smaller backyards. Ms Doyle said she was delighted and proud the playground was completely funded by monies raised by parents and families over the previous two years; no loans or government grants were needed to build it.

Good Shepherd’s pre-primary and kindergarten students man the pump and hold the bridge in their new nature playground. PHOTO: P ROSENGREN

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Building delayed but classes on time By Matthew Biddle HAMMOND PARK Catholic primary school has completed its first week of kindergarten classes, two years after the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia endorsed its establishment. The new primary school has 17 children enrolled in its kindergarten program that began on Monday, February 4. Principal Chris Cully said he was excited to have the school up and running. “After six months of planning and preparation, it’s a delight to actually be operational and to see all the things that we talked about and planned start to happen, so it’s a very good feeling,” he said. As a parish school, there will be a close connection between Mater Christi Catholic Parish and Hammond Park Primary. Mater Christi parish priest, Father Bryan Rosling said he was looking forward to working closely with the school. “The parishioners are very excited about it,” he said. “It’s gotten off to a really good start, I’m very pleased with it.” Fr Rosling said the school would meet an urgent need in the community. “The population is growing so quickly here,” he said. “This is the largest parish in the diocese, and one of the largest in the country.” Fr Rosling personally interviewed each of the founding staff members before they were appointed. Mr Cully said it was vital that the school exhibit a strong commitment to the Catholic faith. “We have to maintain that because that’s what makes us different and sets us apart from other good educational institutions,” he said. “We have to be faith-filled and faith-active people ourselves to give witness to the children and the families which come here.” Unfortunately, a delay in the construction of the school building has required the first term classes be held at Mater Christi school hall. “We had a number of challenges

commencing the building because of environmental concerns and issues with the local jurisdiction,” Mr Cully said. “Once they were overcome, building commenced and is mov-

Staff need to be “faith-filled and faith-active ... to give witness to the children and the families”. ing fairly smartly.” The school building is due to be completed on April 22, with staff and students able to take up residence there two weeks later. Mr Cully, who has been a school

principal for 14 years, said he was extremely grateful to Mater Christi Parish and Primary School for providing Hammond Park Primary School with temporary accommodation. “I know other schools in our system which have started in shopping centres or houses which have been converted,” he said. “We’re starting in a facility that is airconditioned, it’s big, it’s the perfect situation really, so I am very grateful.” As a further result of building delays, the school has had to alter its planned entry levels for 2013. Rather than beginning with one kindergarten, one pre-primary and one year one class, the school could only begin with kindergarten. However, Mr Cully said it plans to have two classes of each group in 2014.

Interaction and fun painting are already happening at the new Hammond Park Catholic Primary School. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED

New local Dawson Society aims to invigorate By Robert Hiini THE prayers of lay Catholics looking for intellectual stimulation in the faith may have been answered with the announcement last week of a series of dinner lectures to be given by some of the best Catholic minds Perth has to offer. The newly-founded Dawson Society for Philosophy and Culture will present Christian Man in the Modern World on Tuesday, February 26, with lectures from Perth’s Dr Andrew Kania and Jing-Ping Wong, a recent Masters graduate of Melbourne’s John Paul II Institute. The monthly series is the brainchild of of Dawson Society cofounders Thomas Gourlay and Daniel Matthys, inspired by the towering figure of the late Catholic historian Christopher Dawson and his exploration of the intersection between faith and culture around us. “The idea was to provide an opportunity for primarily lay men and women in the Church to have a greater understanding of the theological and philosophical roots of some issues in contemporary culture,” Mr Gourlay told The Record. “We hope it will translate the high and lofty ideas that are discussed in theological circles and

really bring that to an everyday level while retaining the integrity of the message.” Some of the inaugural event’s content would likely be similar to that of Pope Benedict XVI’s Address to the Curia on December 21 last year, Mr Gourlay said. In that address, published in full in The Record last month, Pope Benedict said that many contemporary ailments, particularly with regard to family breakdown and sexuality, had their genesis in a mistaken idea of what it meant to be human. “While up to now we regarded a false understanding of the nature of human freedom as one cause of the crisis of the family, it is now becoming clear that the very notion of being – of what being human really means – is being called into question,” Pope Benedict said. “Can one bind oneself for a lifetime? Does this correspond to man’s nature? Does it not contradict his freedom and the scope of his self-realisation? “Does man become himself by living for himself alone and only entering into relationships with others when he can break them off again at any time? Is lifelong commitment antithetical to freedom? Is commitment also worth suffering for?”

The late Catholic historian, Christopher Dawson.

According to a Catholic understanding of what it means to be human, the Pope said, men and women can only find themselves in self-giving to others. “This is one of the great themes that underpinned John Paul II’s

PHOTO: ONLINE SOURCE

pontificate,” Mr Gourlay said. “[It is also] one of the best ways to reach people, to teach them about their own dignity, as a creature of God, fallen, and redeemed by Christ.” Mr Gourlay said he was in agreement with Melbourne Auxiliary

Bishop Peter Elliott’s recent comment, as reported in The Record last week, that adult believers needed more than “some childish jumble of pious bits and pieces or sentimental feelings, lingering since primary school years”. The foundation of the Dawson Society and the monthly dinner lecture series were attempts to meet the perceived gap in formation that Bishop Elliott identified. Mr Gourlay said, in trying to meet that challenge, he was inspired by Christopher Dawson’s all encompassing view of history and culture and the part religion had in shaping culture. “We saw the void and thought that this could be something to fill it, for people who wanted to engage intellectually as well as spiritually.” The lecture series will not solely be about intellectual stimulation, however, with organisers hoping the choice of Rosie O’Grady’s, Northbridge, will provide a relaxed backdrop for socialising as well as lively discussion. Details of future lectures in the series will be released in forthcoming weeks. For more information or to confirm attendance (cost $25, inclusive of dinner), contact Thomas Gourlay, gourlayt@gmail.com or 0434 402 884.

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Veneration a testament to devotion By Matthew Biddle ALMOST 450 Catholics from around Perth gathered for the annual torchlight procession around Lake Monger on Friday night in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes. In near-perfect weather, the group processed around the lake with a large statue of Our Lady of Lourdes while reciting the Rosary and singing Marian hymns. The crowd included numerous families, youth and the elderly, as well as several priests and religious from the diocese. Organiser Judy Woodward said it was great to see so many people take part. “It just amazes me, every time I turn up,” she said. “We’ve had hot nights, we’ve had nights where the mosquitoes have been dreadful, but the [people] still come.” Mrs Woodward, a member of the Legion of Mary for more than 20 years, said when she first organised the event 14 years ago, it was only meant to be a one-off. “I did it for the Jubilee Year because no one was doing anything for Our Lady, so I decided we had to do something,” she said. The event was an immediate success, and has continued to grow in popularity. Mrs Woodward said she hoped the 3.5km procession would continue to be held annually for many years. “The people keep coming, so while they keep coming, we’ll run it,” she said.

A wonderful reason for a walk, praying the Rosary and singing Marian hymns in the annual procession honouring Mary at Lake Monger.

PHOTO: MATTHEW BIDDLE

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THE INTERVIEW WITH

LARA MALIN

Lara Malin, musician and coordinator of Pregnancy Assistance, gets personal with The Record. She opens up about helping women facing crisis pregnancies and the special connection between music and faith. She also tells us what an old worn-out Beatles book means to her and which singer she thinks is attractive.

does music mean to Q What you? beautiful way for people A A to express themselves crea-

tively. Something with the hidden power to touch hearts and bring people together. A gift. your opinion, what is the Q In relationship between faith

and music?

I write a song, it A When reflects where I am in my

faith journey. Am I writing songs to God or is my songwriting becoming an escape and reflecting more of my imagination, desires and feelings? Am I close to God or far from him? Regardless, God works through all things for good so I’m always encouraged to share my personal expression through song and see what he does with it. Listening to music and singing psalms within the Church helps to strengthen my faith and bring me into a space for prayer. are your musical Q Who influences? first music I loved was A The my Dad’s Beatles record

collection. In Year 10, a poetry teacher introduced me to the Cocteau Twins – I loved harmonies! I liked Enya’s Sail away, sail away, sail away and enjoyed playing sonata form on the piano. Most of my teens and early 20s were spent in the 90s so I grew up with the Pixies, The Smiths, REM, Nirvana, Beck, Sebadoh, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Tom Waits and Pavement. Aussie faves were Nick Cave, Paul Kelly, The Clouds, Midnight Oil and Crowded House. I loved female artists Suzanne Vega (she would probably be my biggest influence) and Billie Holiday. I loved the Jazz greats eg Dave Brubeck, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Roland Kirk. Influences keep growing with time. I like story in song. is your favourite Q What hymn and why? Amazing Grace how sweet A the sound that saved a

wretch like me. I relate to it.

is your fondest Q What memory regarding music?

playing with your family A (ie etc …)

Being 10 or so, I would play the piano and sing along with my Dad using the well-worn Beatles book. us about your work at Q Tell Pregnancy Assistance? really blessed to be A I’m coordinating Pregnancy

Assistance. It is such a beautiful, peaceful place to be. The on-site chapel is a gift and small miracles

occur at the House of Elizabeth most every day. Along with coordinating the volunteers and keeping the house operating smoothly, my main work is to be part of the crisis support team, welcoming all who visit with the love of God and bringing hope to those who are pregnant and feeling afraid or facing loneliness and despair. We offer free and confidential support and services in the following areas: practical (baby clothes/ furniture and maternity clothes), emotional, accommodation, financial, fertility education, pregnancy testing, perinatal/postnatal resources, study pathways and abortion grief counselling.

What are some of the obstacles you have faced?

main obstacle is my A The own Faith. Trusting that

God will have all the solutions and meet every need as it arises. Sometimes women or couples will come in with impossible situations – the pressure to abort their baby is huge. Those without permanent residency face an increased financial pressure; without medicare they must pay the full cost of delivery. How will they continue to meet their study visa requirements? How will they survive once baby is here without receiving government support? Will they have to return home if they have their baby? In many situations, the mother would face further pressure to abort if she returned home. With God’s help we listen to her worries and then we offer a new vision of hope for the life of this mother and child. We believe that what seems impossible now is really possible with God, that instead of choosing abortion to fit in with their current situation, they can choose to have their baby and still succeed. With our help they can meet their visa requirements. We can support them financially, practically and emotionally when necessary. This new vision of hope requires trusting in the Lord. Trusting that God will provide the resources and the way. is the best thing Q What about your job? best thing about my job A The is the JOY that comes with

it.

does faith mean to Q What you? means trusting that A Faith God goes before me and has been with me throughout all of my history. Faith is something I need to embrace every day. you could do a duet with Q If anyone famous, living or

dead, who would it be and why?

With her colleagues at Pregnancy Assistance, Lara Malin, above, at work, reaches out to women facing a crisis pregnancy and uncertain what to do, offering them a message of hope and some of the resources they desperately need. She is also an accomplished singer-songwriter who has produced her own CD. PHOTO: ROBERT HIINI

Stevens. When I A Sufjan heard his song To be alone

with you on the radio I was really encouraged to share my music. I knew he was singing about his relationship with Jesus and he did it in such an honest and indi kind of way that I could relate to. In many ways it’s because of his album Seven Swans that I got the courage to get out there amongst the local music scene and share my work. He’s got a beautiful voice and I admit he’s attractive too! is your patron saint Q Who and why did you pick him

or her?

chose St Elizabeth of A IHungary as my confirmation saint. When searching for a saint I fell in love with a story where she had snuck out to bring food to the poor. She had hidden some bread in the mantle of her apron and was on her way to make the delivery when someone stopped her and asked her to show them what she was carrying. The person who stopped her was very much against someone of her nobility serving the poor like this. Miraculously, when Elizabeth opened her apron, the bread had changed into roses. you were stuck on a Q If deserted island, what three

things would you have with you? bible, my guitar and A My dark chocolate. you tell us about the Q Can horrors of abortion? believe the whole act of A Iabortion is so sad, damag-

ing and deceptive. Physically, it is invasive and attacks a woman at her most precious maternal and creative level. Emotionally, the horror of abortion is made manifest in the suffering which follows. Current statistics state one in three women have had an abortion and we are seeing many

women and men presenting with abortion grief symptoms. The abortion/s continues to impact on their life, family and future and many seek healing through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and continued abortion grief counselling. So many men and women are hurt from abortion, their vocation to be a mother or father is affected and often the horror of one abortion leads to a cycle of further abortions. The loss of the children is so sad but we take comfort in the fact that they are in heaven and we honour their lives through important memorial events like the coming Day of the Unborn on March 23, 2013.

What is your favourite colour?

(light pink, like A Pink Everlastings!)

Q What is your favourite CD? hard to have just one! A It’s Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours

What do you listen to in your car?

I’m alone, I’ll listen to A If the voice recordings on

my phone of songs I’m currently crafting. If I’ve got company, usually the radio or whatever my son wants to listen to. advice would you Q What give to someone who wants

to pursue a career in music?

network, be A Practise, authentic, share, gig lots, get

your name out there, utilise the local community radio station and online social media. Perth has a great local music scene who are very supportive of each other. sort of artist would Q What you describe yourself as?

A An independent artist. I like the freedom to create art

and share it at my leisure without concern for gaining profit or popularity. you ever been in a Q Have church choir? If so, can you

tell us about it?

I was a teenager I A When played the saxophone at the

Youth Mass at Our Lady of The Blessed Sacrament in Gosnells. It was so long ago now but I really enjoyed the weekly practice. Thank you, Mrs Evans! I currently cantor with the Neocatechumenal Way and it’s a treasure for my life to sing the Psalms. you tell us about your Q Can first CD? debut CD is a pretty A My personal one. Much of it

reflects my dialogue with the Lord or reactions to important events in my life put down in song. Dedicating the album to my son’s late father was very important to me. was involved in Q What launching the album? interdenominational A An Christian women’s group,

AGLOW, asked me to play at their Sydney conference in 2010. This invitation coincided with the recording of my album and naturally acted as a launch where I played to a crowd of 700 and sold 500 albums. I don’t think I could have organised a better launch if I had tried. are your hopes and Q What dreams for the future? walk humbly with God. A To To give his love to others. To

be a good mum to my awesome son, Finn. To collaborate musically and put a show together that incorporates large screen visual imagery alongside live music performance. I’m looking for a violinist if anyone is out there. - Juanita Shepherd

MILESTONES

therecord.com.au February 13, 2013

Archbishop announces clergy changes ARCHBISHOP Timothy Costelloe SDB has announced a number of clergy changes and parish appointments. Most of the changes will take effect from February 20, 2013. Fr Peter Whitely (Vicar General); Fr Bronislaw Pietrusewicz SDS (Parish Priest – Greenmount); Fr Zygmunt Smigowski SDS (Parish Priest – Merredin); Fr Stanislaw Bendkowski SDS (Parish Priest – Nollamara); Fr Karol Kulczycki SDS (Assistant Priest – Ocean Reef); Fr Mariusz Adamczyk SDS (Assistant Priest – Balcatta); Fr Andrew Albis

(Parish Priest – Floreat/Wembley); Fr Robert Carillo (Parish Priest – Clarkson); Fr Wayne Davis (Parish Priest – Claremont); Fr Phillip Fleay (Parish Priest – Applecross); Fr Chien Quyet Nguyen (Parish Priest – Canning Vale); Fr Dominic Savio (Parish Priest – Mundaring); Fr Pavol Herda (Administrator – Northam); Fr Richard Ye Myint Dun (Parish Priest – Bencubbin); Fr Kenneth D’Souza (Parish Priest – Goomalling); Fr George James (Assistant Priest – Rockingham); Fr Noel Latt (Assistant Priest –

Lesmurdie); Fr Stephen Ochola (Tribunal; Assistant in Cathedral); Fr Do Huy Nhat (Michael) Quynh (Assistant Priest – Cathedral); Fr Chris Webb (Assistant Priest – Greenwood); Fr Thomas Zureich (Assistant Priest – Wanneroo; Archdiocesan Youth Chaplain [part-time]); Fr Tiziano Bogoni (Sunday chaplain, Villa Terenzio [in addition to All Saints Chapel]); Fr Erasmus Norviewu-Mortty (Chaplain Joondalup Hospital; Chaplain Edith Cowan University, Joondalup Campus); Fr Cyprian

Shikokoti (Priest-in-Residence, Bateman; Chaplain Murdoch University; Chaplain Lumen Christi College [continuing]); Fr Nino Vinciguerra (Chaplain Catholic Education Office; Adult Faith Education); Fr Benny Calanza (Broome Diocese [on loan]); Fr Joseph Pelle (Vice-Rector – Redemptoris Mater Seminary); Fr Rodrigo Tomala (Brisbane Archdiocese [on loan]); Fr Richard Tomelty (Alotau-Sideia – PNG [on loan]); Fr Leon Russell (Chaplain, Rottnest Island).

A deeper kind of leadership

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB talks to youth on the spirituality of Christian leadership. Youth, below, participate in group discussion.

PHOTO: MICHAEL CONNELLY

By Matthew Biddle TWENTY-SIX youth leaders took part in a youth ministry training day on February 9 that was aimed at preparing them for leadership roles in their parishes, communities and movements in 2013. At the conclusion of the day a larger group of youth leaders was commissioned to undertake their ministry within the diocese by Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB at St Mary’s Cathedral. Catholic Youth Ministry director, Anita Parker said the day was a great success. “From teenagers to young adults, they are a great group of leaders who have answered the call to work with young people,” she said. During the day the youth leaders examined a new Australian resource, Empowering Young People: Implementing a Vision for Catholic Youth Ministry, written by Fr Christian Fini OMI. Archbishop Costelloe also spoke to the group on the ‘Spirituality of leadership and what it means to be a Christian leader’. Ms Parker said the day was a good opportunity for the leaders to set foundations for their ministry, to build strong networks, and to make prayer a focus of their work. “Young people who are able to take active roles and work with our clergy and the community to continue to build the faith life of the parish are a wonderful gift to our Church,” she said.

Fr Vincent says thanks to parish full of friends By Matthew Biddle FATHER Vincent Glynn farewelled parishioners at Our Lady of Victories on Sunday after more than 18 years residing at the FloreatWembley parish. Hundreds of parishioners attended his farewell Mass and morning tea, with many taking the opportunity to personally thank Fr Glynn for his time at the parish and to wish him well. Fr Glynn said he had thoroughly enjoyed his time at the parish. “I’ve been a priest for 30 years, so I’ve spent more than half my priesthood living in Floreat-Wembley,” he said. “The [parish] has been a great support to me, and a great encouragement to me. “I’ve made some very good friends here, so it will be very hard to leave in the next few weeks.” Fr Glynn arrived at the parish in July 1994, and has assisted as the residential priest during the time of three different parish priests. He said that he would sorely miss the people of Our Lady of Victories. “I’ll miss saying Mass for the same community every Sunday, the one that I know and love … I’m going to miss the people very much,” Fr Glynn said. “They’ve been a real faith and community base for me on weekends; they’ve almost been like a family to me.” Fr Glynn, who is taking up residence in Joondanna from February 15, will continue to work at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle as a lecturer in sacramental theology. He will also be assisting as a supply priest for the diocese. “I’d really like to thank the people for what they’ve done for me here,” Fr Glynn said. “They’ve been very supportive, very kind, very generous, and they’ve been a real faith family to me.” Floreat-Wembley parish priest Fr Wayne Davis is also on the move, taking up his appointment as parish priest of Claremont from February 20. COUNTRY

US bishops hold line on contraceptives law

“It is important to recognise that they are part of the current active Church, not the common misconception that they are part of only the future of the Church.” The leaders will be involved in a variety of ministry roles during the year, according to Ms Parker.

“Some people will take on a main leadership role, others will be part of leadership teams or youth councils in their parishes,” she said. “They will be running a variety of programs from Bible studies and prayer groups, to faith formation, service groups and everything else

in between.” The group included youth from a variety of parishes around the Perth archdiocese, as well as leaders from non-parishbased communities and movements. CYM will continue to offer monthly training to youth leaders throughout 2013.

The new proposed rules issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services regarding insurance coverage of contraceptives show movement but fall short of addressing the US bishops’ concerns, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said in a February 7 statement. The Cardinal, who is president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the 80-page document released on February 1 by HHS concerning the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act indicates that the administration “seeks to offer a response to serious matters which have been raised throughout the past year”. He also noted that the bishops “look forward to engaging with the administration, and all branches and levels of government, to continue to address serious issues that remain. Our efforts will require additional, careful study”. The rules are open for a 60-day comment period and are expected to be finalised by mid-year. After evaluating the proposed rules, Cardinal Dolan said in his statement that the bishops continue to stand by the statement on the HHS mandate issued last March. - CNS

LOCAL

therecord.com.au

February 13, 2013

Morley step to future will help others By Mark Reidy AN ENCOUNTER with extreme poverty in Sri Lanka in 1979 sparked a fire within the heart of Perth Catholic Maggie Box and it is still burning brightly today. After witnessing two young children eating from a garbage tin while their parents stood sadly by with an infant in their arms, Maggie knew her life would never be same. The experience planted a seed of inspiration that has since spread its branches into Sri Lanka, India, Burma, Nigeria, Peru,Thailand and Vietnam and she is now embarking on her next initiative, the “Retired Teachers Mission Outreach”. This innovative project, which invites retired teachers to utilise their skills by tutoring Perth students for one hour a week and donating half the money to projects supported by Mission Partners Morley, will be introduced to parishioners of the Infant Jesus Church in Morley over the next six weeks. Maggie is excited with the potential of this new project, which she hopes will be the launching pad to many more parishes across the diocese. The idea, she explained to The Record, is to invite primary and secondary teachers who are no longer in the workforce and match them up for an hour each week with a local student who is seeking extracurricular support with their education. Supervisors will be provided to support the project and a monthly meeting will be held to share ideas and empower teachers. Maggie is excited by the potential of the arrangement. “Teachers will be able to utilise their skills by assisting Aussie kids with their education while simultaneously empowering children and families overseas through a wide range of projects supported by Mission Partners Morley. Maggie is well aware of the ben-

Courtesy of Perth teachers organised by Morley parishioner Maggie Box, this Sri Lankan woman can earn income by breeding rabbits.

PHOTO: MAGGIE BOX

certs, quiz and card nights, has also provided materials for community endeavours such as the building of dormitories, sewing centres, classrooms and hygienic toilet facilities. Maggie, and other members of Mission Partners, have been able to make visits to Sri Lanka, Vietnam and India to witness the life-changing effects their support has had in the lives of individuals, families and communities.

“One of her sayings was ‘if you can’t feed 100 people, then just feed one’. It is an attitude I take into each project I approach.” efits of such projects, having initiated many herself through Mission Partners Morley, which she established, along with friends, in 1988. “I was profoundly challenged by what I saw in Sri Lanka all those years ago and I have been involved in one form or another of overseas mission ever since,” she said. Such projects have included the building of an orphanage as well as assisting in the establishment of small businesses by supplying cooking trolleys, milking cows, goats, chickens, rabbits, sewing machines, food stalls and small shops. Mission Partners, which has relied on fundraising through events such as dinners, dances, conFREMANTLE

Candidates to debate at UNDA Fremantle Candidates for the State seat of Fremantle will be answering questions from the public at the University of Notre Dame on Tuesday, February 26. ABC political reporter Peter Kennedy will chair the forum which begins at 6.30pm at the University’s Tannock Hall of Education. The seat of Fremantle is currently held by Independent MP Adele Carles, who won a by-election in 2009 when she was part of the Greens. Questions can be emailed

While Maggie’s experiences have exposed her to the immensity of the plight of those caught in the cycle of poverty, she does not allow herself to be overwhelmed by the enormity of it. To maintain her enthusiasm and compassion, she looks toward people such as Mother Teresa, whom she met in 1981. “One of her sayings,” Maggie recalls, “was ‘if you can’t feed 100 people, then just feed one’. It is an attitude I take into each project I approach.” And it is an attitude Maggie knows will be embraced by the parishioners of Morley this Lenten season, well aware of the generosity they have provided toward the work of the Missions Partner pro-

in advance to freodebate@gmail. com.

FREMANTLE

A summer movie night for Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame is holding a movie night on Friday, February 22 at its Fremantle campus. There will be a special screening from Notre Dame film students at 6.30pm before the movie 500 Days of Summer is shown at 8pm. There is no entry fee and members of the local community are invited to attend. The event concludes the

Maggie greets a Sri Lankan woman who has opened a small shop courtesy of retired Perth teachers.

jects over the past 25 years. “My hope is that this is only the first step to something greater,” she says. “I pray that many retired teachers will hear the call of this initiative and be inspired to become involved.

The more teachers we have willing to offer their time and skills, the greater the impact we will be able to make into the lives of those who are most vulnerable in our world”.

University’s orientation week, with semester one classes set to begin on Monday, February 25.

especially if humanity is going to have a hopeful, generous future. The Pope made his remarks on February 7 during an audience with members and advisers of the Pontifical Council for Culture. The council was hosting a plenary meeting at the Vatican from February 6-9 on “Emerging Youth Cultures”. The vast majority of people under the age of 25 live in developing nations, and the Pope said these young people represent “a challenge to the world of globalised consumerism and the culture of entrenched privileges of which a small segment of the population of the western world benefit.

VATICAN

Youth a challenge to global consumerism Young people’s essential needs, including decent work and an education, demand a serious, effective response from both the Church and the wider community, Pope Benedict XVI said in one of his last statements as Pope. Problems facing young people “cannot be met with responses that are evasive or banal”, he said,

PHOTO: MAGGIE BOX

For more information or to become involved with the “Retired Teachers Mission Outreach”, contact Maggie Box on (08) 9272 8263 or email margaretbox7@bigpond.com.

Consequently, youth cultures are also ‘emerging’” in the sense that they are showing signs of important, unmet needs that should be addressed, he said. Today’s young people are showing in many different ways “a deep need, a call for help or even a ‘provocation’ that cannot be ignored or left out either by civil society or the Church community”, he said. The Pope highlighted his and the Church’s concern about the crisis in education and the labour market as well as “other ‘emergencies’ that touch on the different dimensions of the human person and his fundamental relationships”. - CNS

WORLD

therecord.com.au February 13, 2013

UNITED STATES

Unity still the Christian goal, says CDF head The prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in a February 2 address in Houston called for a “culture of communion” and the continued path toward reunification. “Christ’s prayer ‘that they all might be one’ underscores the imperative of seeking full visible unity among Christians,” Archbishop Gerhard Muller told a symposium marking the first anniversary of the Catholic Church’s US ordinariate for former Anglicans. The Houston-based Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter sponsored the symposium, exploring the ecclesiology, evangelising and liturgical missions of personal ordinariates created by the Vatican for former Anglican groups and clergy seeking to become Catholic.

BELGIUM

Belgian Archdiocese plans closures Belgium’s Mechelen-Brussels Archdiocese has become Europe’s latest to plan Church closures in the face of declining Catholic participation. An Archdiocesan official told the German Catholic news agency KNA that “dozens of churches” faced closing and that the city’s largest Catholic landmark, St Catherine Church, was expected to be turned into a fruit and vegetable market. An Archdiocesan spokesman said on February 6 that final decisions on which of the Brussels deanery’s 108 churches was “not just a question of closing them, but also of knowing what to do with the communities attached to them”. The planned church closures follow a fall in practising Catholics to around 1.5 per cent of the city population, with average Sunday Mass attendance of around 100 people per parish. - CNS

US wasteland ‘is also an opportunity’ IN SEXUAL morality, family life and education, the Baby Boom generation ushered in a series of cultural changes that led to an “anthropological crisis” in American society, leaving younger generations yearning acutely for what the Catholic Church has to offer. That is the assessment of Pia de Solenni, a Seattle-based writer with theology degrees from two Vatican-chartered universities, who now serves as a consultant to the Pontifical Academy of St Thomas Aquinas. She spoke with CNS in Rome while participating in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture, which met in early February to address the theme of “emerging youth cultures”. The sexual revolution, promoted by mass media and facilitated by abortion and contraception, led to a breakdown of the family, so that an estimated 40 per cent of births in the US today are to single mothers, de Solenni said. “There is something missing there, in terms of a father for the child, the security of knowing that your mother and father love each other,” she said. Lacking complete or stable families, many raised since the 1970s have failed to develop the capacity for strong and intimate relationships, de Solenni said. They have also failed to receive religious education in the home, which the

Theologian Pia de Solenni says the current cultural landscape in the US represents a momentous opportunity for Catholic evangelisation. PHOTO: PAUL HARING, CNS

Church teaches should be the primary site of such instruction. Yet the ethos of promiscuity is losing its lustre for the young, de Solenni said, pointing to evidence from popular culture. In the last decade, the television series Sex and the City portrayed a libertine lifestyle as a glamorous option for women, she said, but the current hit Girls highlights the anomie and alienation that such behaviour produces. “It’s a very gritty, almost depress-

ing portrayal,” de Solenni said. “I honestly don’t think that’s what women want, or what most young women want. I think people do that because they think that’s what you’re supposed to do.” Younger Americans today are also suffering effects of the ideology of inflated self-esteem that prevailed for decades in their schools, she said, since such education is poor preparation for the harsher tests of adult life. More recently, Solenni said, advances in technology have made possible what she calls the “iWorld”, in which one can adjust one’s environment to taste, in every respect from climate control to entertainment, facilitating an increasingly disconnected society of “atomistic selves”. As discouraging a picture as she paints of the American sociocultural landscape, de Solenni insists that all this represents a momentous opportunity for Catholic evangelisation. Young Americans are hungering for the sorts of relationships, love and intimacy that they can best find in the Church, she said, as well as for the personal dignity that Catholic moral teaching ensures. “One woman in particular told me that it wasn’t till she met her husband, who is a Christian, that she had any sense that she could not have sex on a date,” de Solenni said.

“She thought it was something you were supposed to do.” The Church’s social teaching is also eminently suited to addressing the nation’s current economic woes, she said, which are largely the consequence of the previous generation squandering young Americans’ future. “I think it would be a great opportunity for the Church to step up on the side of youth and to talk about the injustice, and also to give a plan for going forward, because clearly we need something different,” she said. De Solenni stressed that evangelisation must be serious, with an emphasis on authentic doctrine and prayer, to be effective. She praised the work of college ministries, particularly through the Fellowship of Catholic University Students and various Newman Centres, as well as youth groups in parishes across the country. Such groups, she said, provide an experience of community in which faith naturally thrives. “The Trinity is relationships of love,” de Solenni said. “Helping people to experience that on a natural level helps them to understand it on a supernatural level. If we don’t understand intimacy and relationships on a natural level, it’s almost impossible to understand (them) on a supernatural level. - CNS

Rubber hits the highway for Notre Dame’s bells

VATICAN

Prelate clarifies ‘gay marriage’ comments The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family said his defence of the dignity of homosexual persons and their individual rights was misinterpreted, perhaps intentionally. At a Vatican news conference on February 4, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, council president, had insisted that only a lifelong union of a man and a woman could be termed a marriage. The Archbishop also said the Church’s affirmation of the full dignity of all human beings led him to oppose laws that outlaw homosexuality. His remarks were reported around the world under headlines such as “Vatican recognises the rights of gay couples”. While reaffirming his opposition to so-called “gay marriage” in the interview, he also reiterated Church teaching against unjust discrimination toward homosexual persons. - CNS

UNITED STATES

US bishop welcomes stay of execution A US judge issued a stay of execution on February 7 for death-row inmate Christopher Sepulvado, who had been scheduled to be executed at the Louisiana State Penitentiary on Ash Wednesday, February 13. The seven Catholic bishops of Louisiana had urged that the inmate be given a life sentence without possibility of parole. At a prayer service in New Orleans on February 7, Archbishop Gregory Aymond told 150 laypeople and seminarians that while he was pleased to hear the news, Sepulvado’s fate appeared to rest on “technicalities“. “We ask God to speak loudly and clearly. We, as Catholics, cannot accept and can never accept the death penalty,” he said. - CNS

The eight replacement bronze bells for the north tower of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral are seen on a truck near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on January 31, as they are transported from Normandy to Paris. The new bells are scheduled to ring for the first time on March 23, in time for Palm Sunday and Holy Week. PHOTO: PHILLIPE WOJAZER, REUTERS, CNS

Genesis Creation account not a scientific text, says Pope NEVER ONE to avoid speaking the truth even when unpopular, Pope Benedict addressed a subject in the final weeks of his pontificate touchy for some Christians – Creation and its description in the Bible. The biblical account of Creation isn’t a textbook for science, the Pope said. Instead, the first chapter of Genesis reveals the fundamental truth about reality: that the world is not the result of chaos, but is born of and continually supported by

God’s love, he said on February 6 at his weekly general audience. In a series of Year of Faith audience talks about the Creed, Pope Benedict touched on the description of God as “creator of heaven and earth”. In an age of science and advanced technology, how are Catholics supposed to understand the Old Testament account of Creation that says God created the heavens and earth in six days, and rested on the seventh, the Pope asked.

“The Bible isn’t meant to be a manual of natural science,” he told the estimated 5,000 visitors and pilgrims gathered for his audience. “Instead, it is meant to make understandable the authentic and deep truth of all things,” he said. The Creation account in Genesis reveals the fundamental truth that “the world is not a collection of opposing forces, but has its origin and steadiness in the Word, in the eternal reason of God, who con-

tinues to sustain the universe,” the Pope said. The Creation story also points to the fact, he said, that God has a plan for the world and for humanity, a plan that gives people “the courage to face the adventure of life with trust and hope”. It shows that everything God creates is “beautiful and good, filled with wisdom and love; God’s creative action brings order, leads to harmony and gives beauty”, Pope Benedict said. - CNS

Wise people invest money for the future. How much more should we invest in eternal life?

Some of the greatest people in history were Massgoers: St Francis, Blessed Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II ...

It’s the best way to identify yourself with Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

It’s the central, necessary activity of Christian worship (Lk 22:14-23; Jn 6:53; 1 Cor 11:23-26).

If you spend eternity with Christ, you need to get to know him now.

When was the last time you prayed too much?

If a man is confessing drunkenness while he has plans with his buddies to go barhopping and get drunk again the next weekend, he can’t be forgiven. He has to have decided to stop. Confession stops sins; it doesn’t start them.

Confession just gives people the idea that it’s all right to sin as long as you’re sorry later.

If we think of sin as merely breaking rules, it is hard to understand why God can’t just “look the other way”. But sin is real; it hurts us and makes us distant from him – and unable to enter Heaven. We can only be restored if we confess.

Doesn’t God forgive no matter what?

You may know your friend broke your iPod, but wouldn’t it be aggravating if he knew you knew but still didn’t say, “I’m sorry?”

If God knows everything we do, then how come we have to go to confession?

Not according to the Bible. Read Jn 20:21-23; 2 Cor 2:0; and 2 Cor 5:18.

Can’t I talk to God directly instead of a priest to receive forgiveness?

and Answers

Concerns

1 2 3 It’s your way to relive the Last Supper.

Is one hour too much to give to God? How many other hours do you spend on other priorities?

It’s your way to go most directly through Jesus Christ to God the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Life is complicated. Get directions that work from the one who created life.

You’ll become a better person at Mass. The more you are a part of God’s life, the better you’ll be.

One out of Ten Commandments asks us to go to Mass every Sunday.

It’s the best way to pray for your family and friends – and to cope with troubled times.

How (and Why) to

Statistics say that people who go to church are less stressed.

Guaranteed Bible readings, countless lives have been changed by Scrip ture. Might yours?

Almsgiving is an important part of Lent; please help out those in need by giving to Project Compassion. See Page 15 for details.

There are 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week. Mass takes one hour. That’s less than 1 per cent of your week. You have time; find it.

As they leave the confessional, people smile a smile of freedom.

Mortal sin, unconfessed “causes exclusion from Christ’s Kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the pow er to make choices forever, with no turning back” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1861).

You shower to show respect to others. Cleansing your soul makes you bet ter to be around, too!

7 8

Be strong. Face your sins; deal with them and move on.

Don’t be scared to death of confession. Be scared of death without confession.

Make sure there are no unpleasant Hoping to convert on your surprises deathbed? That’s not at your particular likely. Most likely, you will judgement or die as you lived. at the Final Judgement. It is itself a serious sin to go to Communion if you have a serious sin on your soul and have not asked forgiveness in confession.

Blessed Mother Teresa went. Frequently.

You will grow humility, sincerity and selfknowledge.

Because love means having to say you are sorry to the one you love.

I don’t have the time.

Don’t expect it to be entertainment. Learn about what it does: joins us to Christ, separates us from sin, wipes away venial sins, commits us to the poor and prepares us for Heaven.

I don’t get anything out of Mass.

This is always sad. But many of us also had bad teachers – and we know that the whole education system isn’t bad. Jesus wants to bring you healing at Mass.

I had a bad experience with the Church.

At Mass, you receive God himself – Jesus Christ truly present in the sacrament. Even a beautiful mountain vista can’t compare to that.

I don’t need to go to Mass to get close to God.

Everything! God desires only and always your good. He became a man in large part to give us himself in the Mass. Why should you deny yourself such a gift?

What’s in it for me?

‘Good Excuses’

The priest will listen to your sins and never tell a soul on pain of losing his soul. Priests learn to forget what they hear.

Return to Confession

If you knew Jesus would be somewhere, wouldn’t you go and see him?

If you’ve been to confession, you get to receive Jesus Christ.

The presence of sin can easily lead to depression and anxiety.

8 9 It has to be better for you than TV.

Return to Sunday Mass

How (and Why) to

Common

Lenten Guide - How to make your Lent count!

VISTA

therecord.com.au

February 12, 2013

Life and times of a

happily married

priest

Fr Geoff Beyer wasn’t the only one to experience dramatic changes upon his entering the Catholic Church in 1968; so did his wife Dorothy and their children. Now he’s written a book about his life. It has been an interesting ride, Fr Beyer told The Record’s Matthew Biddle.

N 1969 Father Geoffrey Beyer and two other former Anglican ministers were ordained Catholic priests in an event forever etched in the history of the Perth Archdiocese. The ordination took place under the leadership of the late Archbishop Goody, and made news around Australia. Now married for more than 55 years and with four children, six grandchildren and one greatgrandchild, Fr Beyer recently published his autobiography titled Father and Father: A Married Priest’s Tale. The now retired priest said he had been eager to tell his story for some time. “A lot of people, including my family and parishioners, have been at me to put it down on paper,” he said. “People who have read it have said they found it interesting; one person said it was a real ‘pageturner’. All the comments have been very positive.” The book was completed with the help of Fr Beyer’s wife and children, Valery, Stephen, David and Mark. “It’s been a real family enterprise, putting it together,” Fr Beyer said. “I think they’ve discovered a few things about me that they didn’t know before.” Frederick Geoffrey Beyer was born in Cottesloe on September 10, 1931, the only child of parents Theodore and Angela. He was raised in the Anglican church, where he assisted as an altar boy and sang in the church choir for many years. In 1953, he met Dorothy and the couple were married in 1956, with Fr Beyer at the mid-point of his theological studies for ordination. The pair had four children before Fr Beyer was ordained in the Anglican church in 1963. It was around this time that the first glimmer of Fr Beyer’s conversion appeared. “I came across the AngloCatholic movement, which was an eye-opener for me … and I was

attracted to it,” Fr Beyer said. “I thought, this is something good, it has roots that go back a long way, way back before the formation of the Anglican church in the 16th century.” After ordination, Fr Beyer began his pastoral work in the Anglican parish of Kojonup; however, his leanings towards Catholicism were slowly gaining momentum. “My feelings towards Catholicism were beginning to crystallise more and more and I found certain aspects of the Anglican church hard to accept,” he said. T hes e asp e c t s i nclu d ed the Anglican denial of Transubstantiation, as well as its ambiguous position on the remarriage of divorced people. Although Fr Beyer began to question the Anglican beliefs, he believed his marriage automatically made it impossible for him to ever become a Catholic priest.

“By the time I went there they had got used to the idea of a married priest ... and any opposition had evaporated. That was until, through colleagues he had met, Fr Beyer became aware of the possibility of a dispensation. “I began to make moves in that direction and Bishop Goody, who was then Bishop of Bunbury, accepted me without demur, along with two other men in the Bunbury Anglican diocese,” he said. “I have asked myself if, had I not been accepted would I have remained an Anglican priest – probably not. I think I had reached that point where I just didn’t feel at home in the Anglican church.” Fr Beyer and his family were

received into the Catholic Church in March 1968. In October of the following year, Fr Beyer, along with two other former Anglican ministers – Fr Rodney Williams and Fr John Lisle – were ordained to the Catholic priesthood. Life as a married Catholic priest has certainly had its challenges for Fr Beyer. “It was very difficult for my wife, because it was entirely new for her too although, like me, she was certainly attracted to the Catholic Church,” he said. “Once Dorothy had got used to the idea, and got over the shock, she got some help from Catholic people we knew, and one or two religious sisters, and was able to talk to them about it. “Once she realised that we were going to have plenty of support from the Church, because that was one of her concerns, she was quite happy to follow me and support me.” For Fr Beyer’s four children, life changed significantly as well. “They’ve all said it was difficult. When they went to school – they got all the usual questions … it wasn’t easy for them, but I don’t think it got them down,” Fr Beyer said. Youngest son Mark said his father’s occupation was the source of much curiosity at school. “Sometimes you’d tell a person and they’d just have a blank response,” he said. “It was always funny to see what response you got.” Mr Beyer, the editor of WA Business News, said his father’s conversion required great bravery. “All of us admire immensely the strength of his belief, and the way that he has put that into practice in his life,” he said. “Dad’s faith and his values are why he’s become a good priest and why he’s been a good father.” Whilst it was a new experience for Fr Beyer and his family, the first parish that he was appointed to had become somewhat accustomed to

married priests. Fr Beyer, who had been working at the Jesuit school of St Louis since his ordination, replaced fellow Anglican-cumCatholic priest Fr John Lisle at Armadale in 1974. “He paved the way if you like, it wasn’t easy for him at first, but he was very well accepted by the people,” Fr Beyer said of his predecessor. “By the time I went there they’d got used to the idea of a married priest and any opposition which he had encountered had evaporated, so we were made most welcome in the parish.” Having already spent four years juggling the responsibilities of having a family and running a parish

when he was an Anglican pastor, Fr Beyer gradually found a good balance between fulfilling both roles. “It was a learning curve,” he said. “The only thing was that I had to be careful that I didn’t allow parish obligations to interfere with my role in the family as husband and father. “I always tried to share as much as I could with [my children], maybe I wasn’t always as successful as I should have been, but I’ve tried to do that.” Financially, the Beyers were initially concerned about being able to support their young family. “When I first was ordained I wanted to know how we’d manage financially but there was no prob-

VISTA

therecord.com.au February 12, 2013

Sacrament no natural retainer

Jesus said to the apostles: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained”. What are the situations which would call for retention of sins and does this have anything to do with excommunicating the person?

Clockwise from above, Fr Geoff Beyer at left, with fellow Anglican priest converts, Frs John Lisle and Rodney Williams; the cover of Fr Beyer’s recently released book; Fr Beyer and wife, Dorothy Beyer. PHOTO: M BIDDLE, SUPPLIED

lem there thanks to the bishop’s generosity,” Fr Beyer said. “In the parishes, we were supported by the parish first collection, and by and large they were quite adequate. “While we haven’t been by any means wealthy, we’ve always had adequate support.” While Fr Beyer was heavily involved with his parishes, his wife Dorothy preferred to focus on her family. “Her priority was always the family,” Fr Beyer said. “When we first went into a parish people would wonder if she wanted to take over running things, but she didn’t. “People would often ring up with

problems and she was able to help them, probably better than I could. “We often joked that she would get all the curly ones.” After 11-year stints as the parish priest in Armadale, Karrinyup and Attadale, Fr Beyer retired in 2006. He now lives with his wife Dorothy in Swanbourne, in the house that he grew up in. With slightly more free time, Fr Beyer was able to complete his Masters in theological studies at the University of Notre Dame in 2008. He has also continued to work as a judge at the Catholic marriage tribunal, where he has been for more than 30 years. Additionally, Fr Beyer said he is often asked to supply

Mass at various parishes. “That keeps me in touch with what’s going on in the Church,” he said. Reflecting on the momentous decision he made to become a Catholic priest almost 50 years ago, Fr Beyer said he had never regretted the choice he made. “I’ve always said I feel like I’ve come home but at the same time I’ve always retained a love for the Anglican church because I learnt so much in it,” he said. “It was hard leaving but I’m sure I’ve done the right thing”. Copies of Fr Geoff ’s autobiography, Father and Father: A Married Priest’s Tale, are available for purchase from The Record Bookshop.

UST to remind ourselves, the words you quote are from Our Lord in the upper room on the evening of his Resurrection. St John relates the scene: “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them ... ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (Jn 20:19-23). By these words, Jesus gave the Church the great sacrament of mercy as the fruit of his death and Resurrection. It is worth noting the role of the Holy Spirit in the forgiveness of sins. Not for nothing did Jesus first say, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. The Holy Spirit is the paraclete, the advocate who pleads our cause before the Father and, as the spirit of love, wants all souls to be united with God. For this reason, the priest says in the prayer before the absolution of our sins that God “sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins”. Since the apostles, and their successors, the priests in the ministry of reconciliation, had to judge whether they could forgive the sins or had to retain them, it is clear that they must first hear the sins of each person in a private confession. Only in exceptional circumstances, which I can describe in another column, can the priest absolve sins without first having heard the person’s confession. What is meant by “retaining” sins, as distinct from forgiving them? To retain in this context means not to forgive the sins. Under what circumstances would the priest not forgive someone’s sins? Could it be that there are some sins that are so serious that they simply cannot be forgiven? No, there are no such sins. All sins, no matter how serious or how frequent, can be forgiven, provided the person is sorry for them. Therefore, what determines whether penitents can be forgiven or not is whether they are sorry for their sins. There are some people who, for a variety of reasons, are not sorry and have no intention of changing their behaviour. Ordinarily these people know that because they are not sorry they cannot be forgiven either by God or by the priest, and so they do not go to confession. When someone does go to confession, this usually implies that they are sorry for their

Q&A FR JOHN FLADER

sins and they wish to be forgiven. For this reason it is very rare that a person who goes to confession is not forgiven. Why might this happen? One possibility is that the person is falling repeatedly into serious sin and is making no serious effort to avoid it. They are taking advantage of the sacrament to cleanse their soul, perhaps to be able to receive Communion, and then they go back to their habit of sin. This is an attitude which non-Catholics sometimes attribute to Catholics and we must be very careful to avoid it. If the confessor knows that the penitent is repeatedly confessing the same sins and he suspects that he/she is not really trying to improve, he will usually ask some questions to clarify to what extent he/she

Are there any sins so serious that they cannot be forgiven in the Sacrament? There are no such sins. is really struggling to overcome the habit of sin. He will also give practical advice on how to struggle more effectively. As long as the person shows that he/she is sincerely sorry and struggling, albeit unsuccessfully, he/she can be forgiven. What is necessary for absolution is the determination and effort to struggle to overcome the sinful habit, not success in the struggle (cf J Flader, Question Time 2). A person may take years to overcome a habit of sin, or may never fully overcome it, but as long as he/ she is sincerely struggling, he/ she can be forgiven. Our Lord knows our weakness and he has given us the sacraments for that reason. The sacraments are not rewards for virtue but help for the weak. Another situation where sins cannot be forgiven is when the person has gone to confession simply to please a mother or spouse or some other person, and is not really sorry for his/ her sins. This will usually become clear to the priest and he will explain that he cannot forgive him/her until he/she is truly sorry. And no, retaining sins has nothing to do with excommunication, which is imposed either by the law itself or by a bishop. A priest cannot excommunicate anyone.

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Across 3. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this ____ to turn into a loaf.’ 4. Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the ____ of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and their splendour, for it has been handed over to me, for me to give it to anyone I choose. Do homage, then, to me, and it shall all be yours.’ 5. But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture

GOSPEL READING

Luke 4:1-13 Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for forty days being put to the test by the devil. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry.Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf’. But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says: Human beings live not on bread alone.’ Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and their splendour, for it has been handed over to me, for me to give it to anyone I choose. Do homage, then, to me, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says: You must do homage to the Lord your God, him alone you must serve.’ Then he led him to Jerusalem and set him on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said to him, ‘throw yourself down from here, for Scripture says: He has given his angels orders about you, to guard you, and again: They will carry you in their arms in case you trip over a stone.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ Having exhausted every way of putting him to the test, the devil left him, until the opportune moment.

says: Human beings live not on ____ alone.’ Down 1. But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says: You must do homage to the Lord your God, him alone you must ____.’ 2. Having ____ every way of putting him to the test, the devil left him, until the opportune moment. 3. Filled with the Holy ____, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for forty days being put to the test by the devil.

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Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said ... do homage, then, to me, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says: You must do homage to the Lord your God, him alone you must serve.’ - Luke 4: 1-13

therecord.com.au February 13, 2013

PROJECT COMPASSION 2013

Beaming children from the village of Matuba in Mozambique, where many are orphans supported by Caritas Australia through Project Compassion.

PHOTO: SUPPLIED

Gospel bound to reach out and give

Caritas Australia’s Nicole Clements reflects on why we should all support Project Compassion this Lent

HANKS to your support, Caritas Australia funds the Matuba Children’s Centre. This Centre provides education, food and life skills for orphaned and vulnerable children like Ditosa, 12. Ditosa lives in the village of Matuba, near Chokwe in Mozambique. Her parents died of AIDS-related illnesses, so Ditosa and her little sister, Fique, 7, are cared for by their grandmother and aunt who are both HIV positive and too weak to work. An extremely poor community, most of the houses in Matuba are built of mud bricks. There is no sewage system, so the toilets are deep holes in the ground surrounded by reed screens. Until two years ago, Ditosa’s family had to walk 2km to collect water from a water pump. Now, with one installed in the village, there are two taps which dispense clean water for the community. Without having to walk such a long way to collect water, Ditosa’s daily routine is now much simpler. On the days she attends school, she enjoys sharing what she has learnt with her grandmother. “I like my grandmother because she takes care of me; she helps me wash and gives me clothes,” said Ditosa. Many children in this area have lost one or both parents to AIDS. In Mozambique, an estimated 11.5 per cent of adults live with HIV and there are approximately 670,000 children aged 0-17 orphaned to AIDS (UN 2009). In Matuba, the proportion of people with HIV is even higher. Five years ago, when Caritas Chokwe offered free HIV tests in Matuba, over 50 per cent of the people

Hard at at study, Ditosa’s face reflects her joy at having the opportunity to learn.

PHOTO: SUPPLIED

who came forward for testing With a generation missing and Caritas Australia supplied the were HIV positive. many grandparents struggling to funding for the Matuba Children’s “Lots of local people go away provide for grandchildren, the Centre. looking for Here, children learn work. They computer skills and contract HIV The vulnerable, especially the children, need us to crafts such as sewing while they and jewellery making, are away and and receive extra help reach out and provide support. bring it back with their study. The to the comCaritas’ Project Compassion Appeal makes it easy Centre also provides munity, and it children and family spreads. Many for us to do this. members with antiare sick and retroviral drugs (ARVs) many parents have died of AIDS, need for a centre for orphaned to help manage HIV/AIDS. leaving children with no food or and vulnerable children was idenThere is a chicken house, where education,” said Mama Cacilda, tified in 2007. Caritas Chokwe they learn how to raise chickens Director of Caritas Chokwe. coordinated the project and for food and to sell, and a work-

shed where they learn carpentry and make wooden stools. The Centre also has a vegetable garden where the children help to grow vegetables to eat and to sell. In the kitchen, lunch is prepared every day by community volunteers. This is often the children’s only meal for the day. Hygiene is also an important aspect and, to help with this, a toilet and shower block was installed. “I teach the children that they always must be clean,” said Elvira Mabundi, Centre Coordinator. Ditosa’s favourite things to do at the Centre are carpentry and jewellery making, and she appreciates the extra help she receives with schoolwork. “I like coming to the Centre because it helps me. I come to study and I get something I don’t get at school. What I enjoy most is making earrings and necklaces,” she said. As Ditosa’s grandmother and aunt are both too sick to work, their family depends on the kindness of more distant family members. So the food, medicines and support they receive from the Centre are a lifeline. With your support, Matuba Children’s Centre opens doors for children and young people. Here, they find hope for the future and a safe place where they can grow. Your donation to Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion gives expression to the Gospel imperative to pursue justice and help those suffering from poverty and disadvantage in more than 30 countries around the world. To donate, support or fundraise for Project Compassion 2013, please visit our website at www.caritas.org.au/projectcompassion

OPINION

EDITORIAL

therecord.com.au

February 13, 2013

It happened in our time

A voice that proposed love and fulfilment

t seems near impossible to say anything that will be unique or new about the most talked about news of the week, and probably of the year. However, we imagine that one of the first acts of the 267th pope to lead the Catholic Church since it was established by Jesus Christ will be to receive former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who served as his predecessor from April 19, 2005 until his shock resignation for reasons of health on February 11, 2013 and to give him his blessing. Despite the drift from traditional religious faith in many societies since the 1960s, that Pope Benedict’s decision to resign the papacy on Tuesday evening this week Australian time immediately took over global news broadcasts and current affairs programs for most of the rest of the evening indicated, if anything, just how seriously the Catholic Church and this latest successor to the See of Peter is taken, even by those most opposed to its teachings. This is very interesting. Most Catholics would be aware that the Church is not popular with modernity and its pervasive pop culture. The last several decades have seen entire nations and an increasingly globalised culture seemingly bent on abandoning the spiritual and moral patrimony of Christianity and most especially the Catholic Church which is the chief architect of the western European tradition. Modernity regards the Church as hopelessly out of date and mediaeval, usually because of its unwillingness to compromise on its moral vision, usually to do with issues of sex, gender, marriage, the family, the human person and the sanctity of human life. This hostility, expressed as a preference for radical isolation of the individual and freedom from almost all moral codes of conduct for life, has seen numerous social, legal and political onslaughts over decades against traditional concepts such as the sanctity of human life of the weak and defenceless, or the sanctity of the family unit, or the idea of an unqualified commitment to children for their own good and development – to name just a few. Modernity sees the Church in mainly negative terms - as an institution opposed to things whose time has come, as something essentially repressive. Benedict, on the other hand, sees the Church as the path to true human freedom and, in a series of brilliant diagnoses conducted over decades, he set out the essential nature of the problem confronting modern life - that to live without reference to God robs us of the true PO Box 3075 meaning of our lives. This, in Adelaide Terrace the eyes of modern life, simply PERTH WA 6832 does not compute. What really earned him simplistic categorisations from office@therecord.com.au popular culture was that he Tel: (08) 9220 5900 was fundamentally counterFax: (08) 9325 4580 cultural. He once remarked that the supreme duty of a Christian is to be countercultural, precisely because of faith in Jesus Christ. Because of his own faith, Benedict refused to let popular culture and the media dictate their gospel to him – or to be the only voice preaching. In fact, what defined this remarkable Pontiff perhaps more than anything else was his belief in the persuasive power of truth and reason and his vision of the beauty of God and the possibilities of the life he has given us. On this basis he was able to propose in often-absorbing new ways the timeless truths of a God who, as he was fond of saying, became little for our sake and loves every person regardless of whether they love him. When Archbishop Timothy Costelloe became Archbishop of Perth he pointed out on one occasion that it is much more important for Catholics to show what we are for rather than what we are against. In numerous ways, Pope Benedict has represented precisely this attitude and has therefore provided a model for the Church of the future. This difference in emphasis – between arguing against what is wrong as opposed to explaining what is true, good and beautiful – is a legacy of numerous things but, in a special way, it has been the legacy of Pope Benedict XVI, one of the key architects of the Second Vatican Council, the landmark event in the life of the modern Church. Catholic Christianity, as Pope Benedict and our own Archbishop Costelloe have pointed out, is what we are for. In this sense, and like a lover approaching his beloved, Benedict XVI has constantly proposed the image of what it is like to be loved by God and to love God to a world giving daily signs of having forgotten precisely these things. Seen in this way, Catholicism becomes something new, something mysterious, something beautiful which brings joy when it is realised that it really is true. It is a proposal to the world, a shining path of truth, a way to be walked that brings growth, communion and peace between people and nations – and between us and the Creator of the universe. In a world which believes material possessions and passing entertainments, together with the abandonment of inconvenient moral principles, are what bring true human fulfilment and ultimate happiness, the Church is transcendent. We can only stand in awe of a God who has delivered to us such remarkable popes of the modern era to remind the world of its true origins and its true destiny. Regarding him from a distance, the world sensed that Benedict XVI was different. It could not - yet - bring itself to assent to the truth of what he said. But the fact that the whole world seemed to be glued to every minute aspect of his resignation of the See of Peter was proof enough, if any were required, that deep down in its heart it was unsettled by everything he said and wrote, and sensed that it was true.

Benedict, on the other hand, sees the Church as the true path to freedom and fulfilment of life.

THE RECORD

By Michael Cook

fter a week in Rome last November, I flew into London. The closelycropped immigration officer had probably been dreaming about abusing a referee in tomorrow’s soccer match. He looked me up and down and said, “So what have you been doing in Rome, eh?” I responded a bit defiantly, “Seeing the Pope”. “The Pope, eh?” said the officer. “And did he have anything to say for himself?” Three months later, that is the question everyone is asking. Benedict XVI has announced that he is abdicating, the first pope in 600 years to do so. Does he have anything to say for himself? For many journalists the answer was no. Greg Sheridan, of The Australian, wrote, “Benedict XVI is a good man but a poor pope”. But how do you measure the success of a Pope, the spiritual leader of a billion-plus Catholics, and a benchmark for Christian teaching for millions of others? Twitter followers? B16 only has 1,536,000 and Paris Hilton has 9,751,000. Is she a more influential thinker, a more inspiring example? The core business of Catholicism is evangelisation, helping people to fall in love with God. As @Pontifex said in one of his last tweets, “Every human being is loved by God the Father. No one need feel forgotten, for every name is written in the Lord’s loving Heart”. The monsignori whispering their petty complaints to journalists in the colonnade, the thieving butler, the red ink in the Vatican book – none of these matter much for a pope. Or, rather, they only matter as obstacles to his mission. The journalists who focus on process are missing the real story. When I visited St Peter’s Square that Sunday in November, tens of thousands of people were there to see him speak at noon from his balcony window – Italians, Americans, Russians, Koreans, Spaniards, Chinese. Most of them were youngish; many were obviously honeymoon couples. This morning I was on a train to work when a lawyer friend hailed me. We chatted about the resignation. “You know,” he said. “He’s in Rome, but he was very influential in my entering the Catholic Church last year. He is so gentle and prayerful and his writings are so piercingly intelligent. It’s amazing that he had such influence on me from so far away.” Benedict XVI’s legacy will become clearer with time, but I highlight six key contributions.

Benedict as a defender of Christian culture. As an analyst of Western culture, he has no peer. The 21st century is experiencing a radical rupture with its Christian past as a process of secularisation which began with the French Revolution. Benedict has used his bully pulpit to warn politicians and intellectuals that expelling God from public life will have disastrous consequences. He has made a number of stunning speeches in Paris in 2008, in London in 2010, and in Berlin in 2011 about the consequences of deChristianisation. He told French intellectuals: “A purely positivistic culture which tried to drive the question concerning God into the subjective realm, as being unscientific, would be the capitulation of reason, the renunciation of its highest possibilities, and hence a disaster for humanity.” Benedict as a defender of reason. In an often-quoted speech just before he was elected, he said, “We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognise anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one’s own ego and desires.” Paradoxically,

Council. But, like John Paul II, Benedict sees a new springtime for Christianity beneath the snows of a secularised culture. He created a new section in the Vatican which is dedicated to the new evangelisation. The clarity of his message and his encouragement have given new optimism to Christians all over the world. Benedict as the West’s link with Islam. The media are recycling the myth that Benedict poisoned relations with Islam. This is superficial and wrong-headed. If anything, his call for a united front against secularisation has attracted Muslims. Admittedly, his Regensburg address in 2006 caused great consternation, but he put his finger on the difference between Islam and Christianity: that the God of Islam is pure will, above and beyond reason, and that the God of Christianity is creative reason, ordering and guiding the world. But he delivered the same message – in slightly different words – in a mosque in Jordan in 2009, to great applause. The West’s engagement with the Islamic world will be one of the great challenges of the 21st century; Benedict has created

Joseph Ratzinger burned with a hard gem-like flame of transcendent intellectual clarity. modern culture has less and less respect for reason as it distances itself from truth. Time and time again, Benedict pointed out that the world around is only intelligible if it comes from the hands of a Creator. And without truth, politics becomes a game of thrones and science loses prestige. Benedict as a defender of tradition. In the Catholic world, “tradition” is not crusty conservatism, but faithfully passing on, from one generation to the next, the teachings of its founder in all their original integrity. One of Benedict’s strong points has been a tremendous sensitivity to the centuries of tradition in the Church. Every Wednesday for years he gave talks on contributions made by saints from the early years of Christianity. Unlike many radical theologians, he refused to interpret Vatican II as a radical break with the past. Instead, he insisted that nothing good from the past was truly outmoded. He called this the “hermeneutic of continuity”, as opposed to the “hermeneutic of rupture and reform”. Benedict as an evangeliser. Media critiques have focused on empty pews and empty seminaries in Europe. This is the result of corrosive secularisation stretching back many, many decades, long before his election, or even before the Vatican

a framework for understanding our differences. Benedict as a reformer. He was bitterly criticised for sexual abuse within the Church. Time will show that this is absurd. Shortly before his election, he bitterly lamented “How much filth there is in the Church, even among those who, in the priesthood, should belong entirely to Him.” He was aware of how much had to be done and, as Pope, he was unsparing in his treatment of proven abusers. He made a personal visit to Ireland to castigate the bishops and demand reforms. ***** A poor Pope? I’d say, a poor analysis. As Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger burned with the “hard gem-like flame” of transcendent intellectual clarity which puts his critics to shame. Critics like the pope of atheism, Richard Dawkins. He tweeted, “I feel sorry for the Pope and all old Catholic priests. Imagine having a wasted life to look back on and no sex.” The best response to such tripe is to quote the first Pope: “To silence, by honest living, the ignorant chatter of fools; that is what God expects of you.” By that standard, Benedict XVI has been all that Catholics expected of him, and more. Michael Cook is editor of www.mercatornet.com

OPINION

therecord.com.au February 13, 2013

Have no scruple choosing your wolf We have a choice to make – to be a new creation or an old one ever-mired in the obvious and subtle influences that desire our ill. THERE is a Cherokee Indian parable describing a conversation between a grandfather and his grandson. The grandfather tells the young boy there are two wolves in constant battle within each person, endeavouring to take control of their spirit. One is good and the other is evil. The grandson is enthralled by this concept and asks his grandfather which of these wolves is the strongest. “The wolf we feed the most,” was the wise man’s response. In my last column (January 30th), I touched on this issue in relation to our journey as Christians. I consider it to be vital in our spiritual walk and worthy of a more detailed exploration, because the incessant battle taking place in our minds is one many of us are not aware of. We can unconsciously allow thoughts, ideas and images of the secularised world to play out on the screens of our minds and inadvertently allow them to mould our attitudes and behaviours. If we are not vigilant we can even allow them to overshadow the Holy

I Say, I Say MARK REIDY

Spirit who lives within us and beckons us along the path toward God. Our destiny is determined by how we respond to the Cherokee grandfather’s statement - What wolf do we feed? St Paul describes this inner conflict as the battle between the New Man and the Former Self. Through faith in Christ, he claims, we are able to receive the rewards of his sacrifice and we are born anew and consequently the door is opened for us to leave behind the part of ourselves that has been imprisoned by self-desires. We already have the victory, St Paul tells us, but it requires the ongoing co-operation of our free will if we are to maintain our identity in Christ. St Paul is, in essence, asking us a question. Which wolf are we choosing to feed?

Are we willing to follow his advice to “pray without ceasing” of consciously drawing Christ into every aspect of our lives – or are we allowing the input into our minds, either intentionally or inadvertently, to be moulded by the world we live in? The reality is that we think without ceasing, so why, as followers of Christ, can we not choose to pray without ceasing? We must begin by choosing to become consciously aware of the incessant whirlwind of activity that is playing out in our minds.

What are we choosing to feed into our minds? Are we aware that everything we see, hear or read, no matter how trivial or inconsequential we may believe it to be, is giving sustenance to either the new creation we have become in Christ or to our own self-desires? Each time we choose to invite God into the midst of our thinking our spirits are more closely aligned with the Holy Spirit within us. Conversely, if we choose to allow our thoughts to be moulded by the secular influences around us, we

Everything we see, hear or read is giving us sustenance to be new creations, or selfish ones. For some of us it has become so constant and habitual we are often not even aware of its presence or the impact it has on our spirits. St Paul’s plea to us is to not only invite Jesus into every aspect of our thought process, but to also filter every detail of our cognitive input through him.

will be feeding the spirit that is only satisfied by the fulfilment of our wants. This conscious realignment of our thinking, however, must not become an exercise in scrupulosity. We are not called to selfcondemnation but simply to the recognition of our personal

weaknesses and then to invite God to help us overcome these. Are we watching shows or reading books that we know are not spiritually life-giving? Are we lingering our gaze on images that will lead to lust? Are we speaking of ourselves or others with words that are not uplifting? Are we engaging in spiritually degrading conversations?Are we choosing to satisfy ourselves at the expense of others? We are all vulnerable to our brokenness and this creates the raging battle between the desire to fulfill our own will and the desire to fulfill the will of God. What better time than Lent to discover where we are in our walk with him. It is an opportunity to consciously invite God into every aspect of our life, not just on Sundays or even as bookends at the beginning and conclusion of each day, but rather to create a habit of including him in every thought we have. It is a time to discover which of the wolves we are feeding. m.reidy@therecord.com.au

Kind friends and gentle hearts “T A homeless man called Dennis Kearney taught Fr Peter Day a lesson two decades ago that he has never quite forgotten ... HE small room is bulging with people. Some are on chairs, some on the floor while others straddle the staircase. The air reeks of body odour and cigarette smoke. The priest sits on a tired, dirty sofa and shares a laugh with those near him, while the house dog rests comfortably under the altar: a low lying, wooden coffee table. “Mass is about to begin at Cana: a community house in inner-city Sydney that offers prayer, support and friendship to people on the margins. “It is always a special occasion, too, because it is one of those rare moments when the Eucharist is indeed a banquet for all: the homeless, mentally ill, university graduates, pimps, religious, addicts, professional types, street workers, students, seminarians, and anyone else so inclined.” - Mass at Cana - August 1991 It was at Cana where I first met Dennis Kearney: a truly princely man whose battle with mental illness led him to the misery of asylums, the streets, and hostels for the lonely. Mr Kearney was tall and thin, at least six foot three - and a twopack-a-day smoker. He walked with a confident, elongated gait, and spoke the Queen’s English as it should be, ‘proper like’. He enjoyed a truly catholic faith, spending time on Baptist, Anglican, Salvation Army, Catholic and Evangelical ‘pews’ throughout the city. He was especially fond of the Mass. He loved clothes. It was unusual to see him without a combination of hat and tie and jacket; sometimes the tie was replaced by a cravat, and he always tried to wear nice trousers. But rarely did he wear anything new - the cigarette budget made sure of that. So he tended to be a clothing horse for unwanted hand-medowns that he picked up from a small clothing room located on the ground floor of his hostel: a threestorey monstrosity with 80 odd rooms for homeless men, mostly alcoholics, run by St Vincent de Paul. And while his secondhand ensembles tended to be messy mix-

and-match affairs featuring zipperless trousers, stained shirts, and shoes that allowed toes to be seen, what he wore, he wore proudly, regally. He loved animals. His face would always light up when a dog, or cat, or guinea pig allowed him some patting time. Hello, beautiful creature, it’s good to be with you, his eyes would sing. He loved plants. I remember walking back to Surry Hills with him from a funeral at St John’s Church, Kings Cross; normally a leisurely 15 minutes’ walk but, on

this occasion, 45. Every hundred or so metres we would stop while Mr Kearney stroked a plant as though he was greeting a friend, all the

sentimental or outwardly affectionate - except towards animals and plants, of course. Rather, it was the way he wore humility and dig-

I don’t think I’ve ever held anyone in such high regard - and I don’t know why. while sharing with me its common and Latin names, its origins and what climate best suited its thriving. He loved people but he wasn’t

nity and silence and suffering that belied a deep respect for others, for life. Every so often, when I was on duty at St Canice’s soup kitchen, he would come in and, without saying

a word, pull out from his coat pockets a couple of bread rolls. It was his way of thanksgiving, and what better way than an offering of Bread. While my encounters with him tended to be fleeting at best, with very few words spoken other than pleasantries, there was never any prolonged conversation. I don’t think I’ve held anyone in such high regard, and I don’t know why. I really loved him. He was a holy man. Every now and then I look back fondly on a brief 18-month period in which I occupied a space at Mr Kearney’s hostel. I used to earn my keep by cleaning some of the rooms, his included. Vacuuming his floor, clearing out his ashtray and making his bed became a sacred ritual for me: something akin to washing the feet of a Teacher. It all seems rather strange, this admiration, and I’m loath to project sentimentalism. I can only turn to an old spiritual director of mine to make some sense of it all. He once told me that he would often imagine Jesus wandering the streets disguised in rags, as if to test our humanity. “The question is,” he mused, “How in my life have I greeted this hobo?” I have no doubt that Jesus would have been very comfortable wandering the streets in Mr Kearney’s skin. I think this is why I loved him so. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth … After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong … (Isaiah 53: 2-3, 7, 11-12) Fr Peter Day is a priest of the Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn

PANORAMA

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16 Auslan Café 10am-12 noon at Emmanuel Centre, 25 Windsor St, Perth. Auslan Café is a social setting for anybody who would like to learn or practise Auslan (Australian Sign Language). It’s a great place for families with adults and children to meet deaf people, chat with new people or catch up with old friends and learn Auslan together. Cost: free. Enq: Fr Paul 9328 9571 SMS: 0401 016 399 or emmanuelcentre@westnet.com.au.

UPCOMING MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18 Early History of the Palmyra Parish Talk 7pm at Palmyra parish hall, 8 Foss St, Palmyra. PowerPoint presentation From Petra St to Canning Bridge by Fr Ted Miller. Free entry. Supper will be served. All welcome. Enq: 9339 1298 or 9433 1183. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19 Lent Sessions: Spirituality and The Sunday Gospels 7-8pm at St Benedict’s school hall, Alness St, Applecross. Presenter Norma Woodcock. Accreditation recognition by the CEO. Everyone is welcome. Cost: collection. Enq: 9487 1772 or www.normawoodcock.com. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20 Alan Ames Healing Service 7pm at Our Lady of the Mission, 270 Camberwarra Dr, Craigie. Holy Mass followed by talk and healing service. Enq: Loretta 0400 809 833. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21 Higher Certificate in Biblical Studies Information Session 6.30-7.30pm at The Faith Centre, 450 Hay St, Perth. The Higher Certificate in Biblical Studies, offered by Lebone Biblical Studies, is a distance education program that can be followed in your own home at your own pace with periodic face-toface contact workshops. Equivalent to a one-year tertiary course, with the aim to complete it in two years. Enq: 6140 2420 info@thefaith.org.au. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22 Medjugorje Evening of Prayer 7-9pm at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, cnr Lesmurdie and Glyde Rds, Lesmurdie. In thanksgiving for the reported daily apparitions of Our Blessed Mother in Medjugorje. Begins with Eucharistic Adoration, Rosary, Benediction and holy Mass. All warmly invited. Free DVDs on Medjugorje conversions and information on Perth pilgrimage departures to Medjugorje available on the night. Enq: 9402 2480 Mob: 0407 471 256 or medjugorje@y7mail.com. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23 First Introductory day to Christian Meditation 10am–3.30pm at St Luke’s, 2 Rowlands St, Maylands. Join members of the Christian Meditation Community, bring a friend. Christian Meditation will be introduced. BYO lunch, morning tea provided. Cost: donation. Enq: christianmeditation@iinet.net.au or 0429 117 242. FRIDAY, MARCH 1 World Day of Prayer WA 1pm at Wesley Church, cnr Hay and William Sts, Perth. This is a worldwide ecumenical movement of Christians who hold services annually in more than 170 countries. This year’s service was prepared by French women, using the theme, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me”. Enq: Lucie 9384 4480 or fouvy@iinet.net.au. SATURDAY, MARCH 2 Day with Mary 9am-5pm at St Anne’s Church, 13 Hehir St, Belmont. 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 on Our Lady. Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet and Stations of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enq: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286. SUNDAY, MARCH 3 Divine Mercy: An afternoon with Jesus and Mary 1.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, Windsor St, East Perth. Main celebrant (TBA). Homily on St Pedro Calungsod. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Rosary and Chaplet of the Divine Mercy. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: John 9457 7771. SATURDAY, MARCH 9 Divine Mercy – Healing Mass 2.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, Windsor St, East Perth. Main celebrant will be Fr Marcellinus Meilak OFM. Reconciliation in English and Italian will be offered. Divine Mercy prayers followed by veneration of first class relic of St Faustina Kowalska. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: John 9457 7771. St Padre Pio Prayer Day 8.30am at Our Lady of Fatima, 8 Foss St, Palmyra. Begins with St Padre Pio DVD in parish centre. 10am – Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Divine Mercy, silent Adoration and Benediction. 11am – holy Mass, St Padre Pio Liturgy. Confessions available. 12pm BYO shared lunch, tea and coffee supplied. Enq: Des 6278 1540.

Divine Mercy – Healing Mass 2.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, Windsor St, East Perth. Main celebrant will be Fr Marcellinus Meilak, OFM. Reconciliation in English and Italian will be offered. Divine Mercy prayers followed by veneration of first class relic of St Faustina Kowalska. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: John 9457 7771. SUNDAY, MARCH 10 AND MARCH 24 Latin Masses 2pm at Good Shepherd Church, Streich Ave, Kelmscott. Enq: John 9390 6646. SUNDAY, MARCH 17 St Joseph’s School Waroona 70th Anniversary Celebration Mass 10am-3pm at St Joseph’s School, Millar St, Waroona. Inviting all past students, staff and families to help celebrate its 70th anniversary at the school. Begins with Mass celebrated by Fr Chiera, Vicar General of Bunbury Diocese, and will be followed by a day of fun, food and festivities. Please pass on this information to anyone you know from the school in the last 70 years. Enq: Admin 9782 6500 or www.stjoeswaroona.wa.edu. au. SUNDAY, APRIL 7 Feast of Divine Mercy celebrating 21 years of devotions in the Archdiocese of Perth 1.30pm at St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth. Reconciliation 1.30pm followed by holy Mass at 2.30pm. Main celebrant, His Grace Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB and other priests are welcome to concelebrate. 3.30pm, Benediction. Conclude with Veneration of two first class relics of St Faustina Kowalska. Parking for clergy will be available outside St Mary’s Presbytery. Enq: John 9457 7771.

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

Cathedral Cafe Cathedral Cafe is now open every Sunday 9.30am1pm at St Mary’s Cathedral parish centre, downstairs after Mass. Coffee, tea, cakes, sweets, friendship with Cathedral parishioners. Further info: Tammy on smcperthwyd@yahoo.com.au or 0415 370 357. Pilgrim Mass - Shrine of the Virgin of the Revelation 2pm at Shrine, 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. Commencing with Rosary followed by Benediction. Reconciliation available before every celebration. Anointing of the sick administered during Mass every second Sunday of the month. Pilgrimage in honour of the Virgin of the Revelation last Sunday of the month. Side entrance to church and shrine open daily between 9am-5pm. Enq Sacri 9447 3292. Life in the Spirit Seminar 3–5pm at 67 Howe St, Osborne Park. From Sunday, March 10-24 for 8 weeks. Designed to set hearts aflame for God in an environment of faith and acceptance. You’ll be guided in your spiritual journey as you form a stronger, deeper relationship with Christ. Enq: Reg 0429 777 007 or reg@disciplesofjesus.org. Praise and Worship 5.30pm at St Denis Parish, cnr Osborne St and Roberts Rd, Joondanna. Followed by 6pm Mass. Enq: Admin admin@stdenis.com.au. EVERY FIRST SUNDAY Singles Prayer and Social Group 7pm at All Saints Chapel, Allendale Sq, 77 St Georges Tce, Perth. Begins with Holy Hour (Eucharistic Adoration, Rosary and teaching) followed by dinner at local restaurant. Meet new people, pray and socialise with other single men and women. Enq: Veronica 0403 841 202. EVERY SECOND SUNDAY Healing Hour 7-8pm at St Lawrence Parish, Balcatta. Songs of praise and worship, exposition of Blessed Sacrament and prayers for sick. Enq: Fr Irek Czech SDS or office Tue-Thu, 9am-2.30pm 9344 7066. EVERY FOURTH SUNDAY Shrine Time for Young Adults 18-35 Years 7.30-8.30pm in Schoenstatt Shrine, 9 Talus Dr, Mt Richon; Holy Hour with prayer, reflection, meditation, praise and worship; followed by a social gathering. Come and pray at a place of grace. Enq: Schoenstatt Sisters 9399 2349. Holy Hour for Vocations to the Priesthood, Religious Life 2-3pm at Infant Jesus Parish, Wellington St, Morley. Includes exposition of Blessed Eucharist, silent prayer, Scripture, prayers of intercession. Come and pray that those discerning vocations can hear clearly God’s call. EVERY LAST SUNDAY Filipino Mass 3pm at Notre Dame Church, cnr Daley and Wright Sts, Cloverdale. Please bring a plate to share for socialisation after Mass. Enq: Fr Nelson Po 0410 843 412, Elsa 0404 038 483.

therecord.com.au

February 13, 2013

LAST MONDAY Be Still in His Presence – Ecumenical Christian Program 7.30-8.45pm at St Swithun Anglican Church, 195 Lesmurdie St, Lesmurdie (hall behind church). Begins with songs of praise and worship, silent time, lectio divina, small group sharing and cuppa. Enq: Lynne 9293 3848 or 0435 252 941. EVERY TUESDAY Novena to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal 6pm at Pater Noster Church, Marmion and Evershed Sts, Myaree. Mass at 5.30pm followed by Benediction. Enq: John 0408 952 194. Novena to God the Father 7.30pm at St Joachim’s parish hall, Vic Park. Novena followed by reflection and discussions on forthcoming Sunday Gospel. Enq: Jan 9284 1662. EVERY FIRST TUESDAY Short MMP Cenacle for Priests 2pm at Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. Enq: Fr Watt 9376 1734. EVERY WEDNESDAY Holy Spirit of Freedom Community 7.30pm at Church of Christ, 111 Stirling St, Perth. We welcome everyone to attend our praise meeting. Enq: 0423 907 869 or hsofperth@gmail.com. Bible Study at Cathedral 6.15pm at St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Sq, Perth. Deepen your faith through reading and reflecting on holy Scripture by Fr Jean-Noel Marie. Meeting room beneath Cathedral. Enq: 9223 1372. Holy Hour - Catholic Youth Ministry Mass at 5.30pm and Holy Hour (Adoration) at 6.30pm at Catholic Pastoral Centre, 40A Mary St, Highgate. Enq: www.cym.com or 9422 7912.

EVERY FIRST FRIDAY Mass and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 11am-4pm at Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, 2 Rawlins St, Glendalough. Exposition of Blessed Sacrament after Mass until 4pm, finishing with Rosary. Enq: Sr Marie MS.Perth@lsp.org.au.

II. Free of charge and all welcome. Enq: Giovanny 0478 201 092 or ssra-perth@catholic.org.

Healing and Anointing Mass 8.45am Pater Noster Church, Evershed St, Myaree. Begins with Reconciliation, then 9am Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, anointing of the sick and prayers to St Peregrine. Enq: Joy 9337 7189.

Acts 2 College, Perth’s Catholic Bible College Is now pleased to be able to offer tax deductibility for donations to the college. If you are looking for an opportunity to help grow the faith of young people and evangelise the next generation of apostles, please contact Jane Borg, Principal at Acts 2 College on 0401 692 690 or principal@ acts2come.wa.edu.au. Divine Mercy Church Pews Would you like to assist, at the same time becoming part of the history of the new Divine Mercy Church in Lower Chittering, by donating a beautifully handcrafted jarrah pew currently under construction, costing only $1,000 each. A beautiful brass plaque with your inscription will be placed at the end of the pew. Please make cheques payable to Divine Mercy Church Building fund and send with inscription to PO Box 8, Bullsbrook WA 6084. Enq: Fr Paul 0427 085 093.

Catholic Faith Renewal Evening 7.30pm at Sts John and Paul Parish, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Songs of Praise and Prayer, sharing by a priest, then thanksgiving Mass and light refreshments. Enq: Kathy 9295 0913 or Ann 0412 166 164 or catholicfaithrenewal@gmail.com. Communion of Reparation All Night Vigils 7pm-1.30am at Corpus Christi Church, Lochee St, Mosman Park or St Gerard Majella Church, cnr Ravenswood Dr/Majella Rd, Westminster (Mirrabooka). Vigils are two Masses, Adoration, Benediction, prayers, Confession in reparation for outrages committed against the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357; Fr Giosue 9349 2315; John/Joy 9344 2609. Pro-life Witness – Mass and Procession 9.30am at St Brigid’s Parish, cnr Great Northern Hwy and Morrison Rd, Midland. Begins with Mass followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at nearby abortion clinic, led by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. Please join us to pray for an end to abortion and the conversion of hearts. Enq: Helen 9402 0349. EVERY SECOND FRIDAY Discover Spirituality of St Francis of Assisi 12pm at St Brigid’s parish centre. The Secular Franciscans of Midland Fraternity have lunch, then 1-3pm meeting. Enq: Antoinette 9297 2314.

EVERY FIRST WEDNESDAY Novena to St Mary of the Cross MacKillop 7-7.45pm at Blessed Mary MacKillop Parish, cnr Cassowary Dr and Pelican Pde, Ballajura. Begins with Mass, novena prayers and Benediction. Followed by healing prayers and anointing of the sick. Enq: Madi 9249 9093 or Gerry 0417 187 240.

EVERY FIRST SATURDAY Healing Mass 12.35pm at St Thomas Parish, cnr Melville St and College Rd, Claremont. Spiritual leader Fr Waddell. Enq: Kim 9384 0598, claremont@perthcatholic.org.

EVERY SECOND WEDNESDAY Chaplets of Divine Mercy 7.30pm at St Thomas More Parish, Dean Rd, Bateman. Accompanied by Exposition, then Benediction. Enq: George 9310 9493 or 6242 0702 (w).

Vigil for Life – Mass and Procession 8.30am at St Augustine Parish, Gladstone St, Rivervale. Begins with Mass celebrated by Fr Carey, followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at nearby abortion clinic. Please join us to pray for the conversion of hearts and an end to abortion. Enq. Helen 9402 0349.

EVERY THURSDAY Divine Mercy 11am at Sts John and Paul Church, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Pray the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy and for consecrated life, especially in our parish. Concludes with veneration of the first class relic of St Faustina. Enq: John 9457 7771. St Mary’s Cathedral Praise Meeting 7.45pm every Thursday at the Legion of Mary’s Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. Includes praise, song and healing ministry. Enq: Kay 9382 3668 or fmi@flameministries.org. Group Fifty - Charismatic Renewal Group 7.30pm at Redemptorist Monastery, 150 Vincent St, North Perth. Includes prayer, praise and Mass. Enq: Elaine 9440 3661. EVERY FIRST THURSDAY Prayer in Style of Taizé 7.30-8.30pm at Our Lady of Grace Parish, 3 Kitchener St, North Beach. Includes prayer, song and silence in candlelight – symbol of Christ the light of the world. Taizé info: www.taize.fr. Enq: secretary 9448 4888 or 9448 4457. Holy Hour Prayer for Priests 7-8pm at Holy Spirit Parish, 2 Keaney Pl, City Beach. All welcome. Enq: Linda 9341 3079. FIRST AND THIRD THURSDAY Young Adults (18-35) Dinner and Rosary Cenacle 6.30pm at St Bernadette Parish, 49 Jugan St, Mt Hawthorn. Begins with dinner at a local restaurant. 8pm - Rosary Cenacle, short talk and refreshments at the parish. Enq: st.bernadettesyouth@gmail. com or 9444 6131. EVERY THIRD THURSDAY Auslan Café – Sign Language Workshop 12.30pm at St Francis Xavier Emmanuel Centre, 25 Windsor St, Perth. Its Australian Sign Language - Auslan Café is a social setting for anybody who would like to learn or practise Auslan in a relaxing and fun atmosphere. Light lunch provided. Enq: Emma emmanuelcentre@westnet.com.au. EVERY FRIDAY Eucharistic Adoration at Schoenstatt Shrine 10am at Schoenstatt Shrine, 9 Talus Dr, Mt Richon. Includes holy Mass, exposition of Blessed Sacrament, silent adoration till 8.15pm. In this Year of Grace, join us in prayer at a place of grace. Enq: Sisters of Schoenstatt 9399 2349. Healing Mass 6pm at Holy Family Parish, Lot 375, Alcock St, Maddington. Begins with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Stations of the Cross, Healing Mass followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Enq: admin 9493 1703 or www.vpcp. org.au.

EVERY FOURTH SATURDAY Voice of the Voiceless Healing Mass (Change of venue on February 23) 11.30am at Holy Cross Church, Hamilton Hill. Begins with Songs of Praise, followed by Mass. Please bring a plate to share after Mass. Enq: Frank 9296 7591 or 0408 183 325. EVERY LAST SATURDAY Novena Devotions – Our Lady Vailankanni of Good Health 5pm at Holy Trinity Parish, 8 Burnett St, Embleton. Followed by Mass at 6pm. Enq: George 9272 1379.

GENERAL Free Divine Mercy Image for Parishes High quality oil painting and glossy print – Divine Mercy Promotions. Images of very high quality. For any parish willing to accept and place inside the church. Oil paintings: 160 x 90cm; glossy print - 100 x 60cm. Enq: Irene 9417 3267 (w).

Enrolments, Year 7, 2014 La Salle College now accepting enrolments for Year 7, 2014. For prospectus and enrolment please contact college reception 9274 6266 or email lasalle@lasalle.wa.edu.au.

Abortion Grief Association Inc A not-for-profit association is looking for premises to establish a Trauma Recovery Centre (pref SOR) in response to increasing demand for our services (ref.www.abortiongrief.asn.au). Enq: Julie (08) 9313 1784. RESOURCE CENTRE FOR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT - 2013 COURSES Resource Centre for Personal Development Holistic Health Seminar The Instinct to Heal Tue 3-4.30pm; RCPD2 Internalise Principles of Successful Relationships and Use Emotional Intelligence and Communication Skills Tue 4.30-6.30pm, 197 High St, Fremantle - Tuesdays 3-4.30pm. Enq: Eva 0409 405 585. Bookings essential. 1) RCPD6 ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ This course combines theology with relationship education and personal/spiritual awareness by teaching self-analysis. 2) ‘The Wounded Heart’ Healing for emotional and sexual abuse promotes healing and understanding for the victim and the offender. Holistic counselling available - http:// members.dodo.com.au/~evalenz/. Religious item donations for Thailand Church Fr Ferdinando Ronconi is the parish priest at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Phuket, Thailand. He is in need of religious items such as rosaries and holy medals for his local congregation and visitors. If you are able to help, please post items to: PO Box 35, Phuket 83000, Thailand or, if you are on holiday in Phuket, bring your donated items with you to church and stay for Mass! Fr Ferdinando can be contacted on tel: 076 212 266 or 089 912 899 or ronconi.css@gmail.com. Good Shepherd Parish History I am compiling the history of the Good Shepherd Parish and everyone who has been a part of building the Good Shepherd community is invited to write their story and include photos. An editor has been engaged and the deadline to receive your story is January 30, 2013. Please forward on

Sacred Heart Pioneers Would anyone like to know about the Sacred Heart pioneers? If so, please contact Spiritual Director Fr Doug Harris 9444 6131 or John 9457 7771. St Philomena’s Chapel 3/24 Juna Dr, Malaga. Mass of the day: Mon 6.45am. Vigil Masses: Mon-Fri 4.45pm. Enq: Fr David 9376 1734. Mary MacKillop Merchandise Available for sale from Mary MacKillop Centre. Enq: Sr Maree 041 4683 926 or 08 9334 0933. Financially Disadvantaged People Requiring Low Care Aged Care Placement The Little Sisters of the Poor community is set in beautiful gardens in the suburb of Glendalough. “Making the elderly happy, that is everything!” St Jeanne Jugan (foundress). Registration and enq: Sr Marie 9443 3155. Is your son or daughter unsure of what to do this year? Suggest a Cert IV course to discern God’s purpose. They will also learn more about the Catholic faith and develop skills in communication and leadership. Acts 2 College of Mission and Evangelisation (National Code 51452).Enq: Jane 9202 6859. AA Alcoholics Anonymous Is alcohol costing you more than just money? Enq: AA 9325 3566. Saints and Sacred Relics Apostolate Invite SSRA Perth invites interested parties, parish priests, leaders of religious communities, lay associations to organise relic visitations to parishes, communities, etc. We have available authenticated relics, mostly first-class, of Catholic saints and blesseds including Sts Mary MacKillop, Padre Pio, Anthony of Padua, Therese of Lisieux, Maximilian Kolbe, Simon Stock and Blessed Pope John Paul

At the

Heart of the

Gospel Reclaiming the Body for the New Evangelisation The sexual revolution brought a terribly distorted vision of the body and sex into the mainstream. How should Christians respond? With his illuminating Theology of the Body, Pope John Paul II challenged the modern world not to stop at the surface, but to enter the depth of the “great mystery” that the body and sex reveal: a mystery that lies at the heart of the Gospel itself.

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

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PILGRIMAGES PILGRIMAGE OF MERCY - Departs May 11, 2013. Fatima/Poland/Czestochowa/ Auschwitz/Divine Mercy/Vilnius Lithuania/Rome/Gennazzano. Fra Elia (Stigmatist) Civitavecchia (miraculous Madonna shrine) Subiaco/Medju-gorje five countries. Exceptional value all inclusive $6,890. Fr Bogoni (Spiritual Director) Yolanda 0413 707 707/Harvest toll free 1800 819 156 23 days. 19 DAYS - Petra, Amman, Holy Land, Dubai, Fatima and Medjugorje. Cost: A$6,000. Monday, May 13, 2013. Spiritual Director: Fr Francis Huy Thanh Nguyen. Tel: 9296 7088. 24 days - Italy, Fatima, Lourdes, Paris and Poland. Cost: A$6,300. Sunday, September 1, 2013. Spiritual Directors: Fr Dariusz Basiaga SDS and Fr Sabu (Sebastian) Kalapurackal VC. Tel: 9398 2331 or 9381 5383. 22 days - Petra, Amman, Holy Land, Poland and Dubai. Cost: A$6,000. Monday, October 7, 2013. Spiritual Director: Fr Ireneusz Czech SDS. Tel: 9344 7066.

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

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

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

ACROSS 2 He accompanied Joshua as he reconnoitered the land of Canaan 7 OT book about a Jewish heroine 8 Judas’ surname 9 Abner’s father (2 Sam 2:8) 10 Biblical hunter 12 From the ___ of Peter 13 Pit stop for a patriarch? 14 Number of sacraments, in Mainz 15 Vatican Guard 16 ___ of the Lord 18 One of two names in a Catholic book publishing company 20 The Hebrews had to find their own (Ex 5:10) 22 Diocese or bishop starter 23 Jesus is the ___ of Life 24 Patron saint of prisoners 26 Church runway 28 A non-coveting commandment 29 Patron saint of Scotland 31 Mary ___ Killop, saintly founder of the Sisters of St Joseph 32 Eucharist received by a dying person 33 Religious ceremony 34 Father-in-law of Caiaphas (Jn 18:13) DOWN 1 US state in which the Diocese of Nashville is found 2 Baby angel? 3 City in the Archdiocese of Westminster and the Diocese of Brentwood

Though celebrated throughout the world over a span of centuries, there is more to the Mass than meets the eye. Mike Aquilina not only answers practical questions about this central act of

W O R D

Catholic worship but also explains the meaning behind the prayers and practices, just in time for the new translation of the missal.

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S L E U T H

4 5 6 11 12 16 17 19 21 22 23 24 25 27 30

They were created on the fifth day Church musician, at times St Martin de ___ Notre Dame nickname, “The Fighting ___” Redemptorist community (abbr) “…and ___ our salvation, He came down from heaven.” ___ Wednesday Divine time ___ Meal Second woman mentioned by name in the Bible (Gen 4:19) Catholic star of “The Life of Riley” A member of the clergy Passover meals Aquinas’ opus, for short Luke has these with his Beatitudes

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

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FEBRUARY

High Gloss Prints (20 x 25cm)

$15

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$50

BIBIANA KWARAMBA Bookshop Manager

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

â&#x20AC;&#x153; ... the Church is strong and will be guided by the Holy Spirit through the days and weeks ahead, just as she has been for the last two thousand years.â&#x20AC;?- Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB

Farewell

Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, born April 16, 1927 l Elected Pope Benedict XVI, April 19, 2005 l Resigned the papacy, February 11, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI shocks the Church and the world when he announces

I cannot do it justice Dismay and amazement were visible on the faces of cardinals and bishops when Pope Benedict XVI announced on February 11 that he would step down at the end of the month. DEAR brothers, I have convoked you to this consistory, not only for the three canonisations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world,

subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last

“Strength of mind and body are necessary, which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me. few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full

freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of bishop of Rome, successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the cardinals on April 19, 2005, in such a way, that as from February 28, 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a conclave to elect the new supreme pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is. Dear brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the holy Church to the care of our supreme pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the cardinal fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new supreme pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

Holy See press director Fr Federico Lombardi SJ talks to media.

PHOTO: CNS

Archbishop: Pope served with courage By Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB IT was with great surprise and sadness that I heard the news on Monday night that Pope Benedict XVI had decided to resign effective as of February 28 this year. I want to assure our Catholic community that the Church is strong and will be guided by the Holy Spirit through the days and weeks ahead, just as she has been for the last 2,000 years. Pope Benedict has served the Church with extraordinary courage, fidelity and steadfastness in his time as Pope and indeed for the whole of his adult life. As he enters into this time of retirement I would ask all Catholics and all people of good will to pray for him. He has made an extremely difficult and courageous decision. He deserves our admiration, our gratitude and our support. As the cardinals prepare to gather in Rome to elect a new Pope, they will be accompanied by the prayers of all the Catholics of the Archdiocese of Perth and all who wish to see the Catholic Church flourish. Catholics believe that the Church was founded by Christ and is guided by the Holy Spirit. We have full confidence that, beyond the politics and intrigue which will claim so much attention at this time, the grace of God will continue to be with the Church. We therefore await the election of a new Pope with hope and trust in God’s unfailing goodness and mercy.

Pope Benedict XVI presents Perth’s Archbishop Timothy Costelloe with his pallium at St Peter’s Basilica on June 29 last year.

PHOTO: CNS

Pope who wanted to retire served Jesus valiantly

By Bishop Donald Sproxton THE announcement of the abdication of Pope Benedict last night, Perth time, came as a surprise. The reason the Holy Father has given is his deteriorating health. This certainly would be attested to by the many bishops and people of the Church who have met him in the last two years. He has become increasingly frail in recent times. I met him last November when I attended a health conference in Rome. We were privileged to be granted an audience. The Holy Father entered the audience hall unaided and seemed very cheer-

ful. However, by the time the audience was finishing, his energy was greatly diminished and he could only manage to receive a very small group of bishops. We have all admired his enormous courage from the moment he was elected to the See of Rome. He had expectations that he would soon retire to complete a life’s work of thought and writing. The election changed that. He obviously believed that with the support of the Holy Spirit he would be able to walk into the unsure future in the awesome role as Successor of Peter. This he has done splendidly. The eight years that have passed

have seen the Holy Father not only govern the Church with astuteness and sensitivity, but he has been one of the finest papal teachers in modern times. He has managed to write profound encyclicals, which were surprising at the time of their release for the subjects he chose. He has published insightful books, especially on the life of Christ, in which he has given us the fruit of a lifetime’s theological study, reflection and writing. Pope Benedict has reached out to our Jewish brothers and sisters in a way that has built new avenues of understanding and reconciliation. In the same spirit, he has sought

to develop close relationships with the Orthodox Churches, building on the work done by Blessed John Paul II. Last night’s news would have stunned many around the world. The resignation is the first in modern times and we are not sure how to handle it. This is new territory for the universal Church. Yet we will move through this time with the same spirit the Holy Father conveyed in his announcement speech: we entrust the Church to Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. His decision required him to wrestle with his conscience and confront honestly his physical sit-

uation. He will experience a real peace of heart having reached the decision. Courage is required to accept the decline in health and know the need for more personal help. We need to receive this witness and learn from it. The decision also makes it possible for the canonical abdication to be used again without judgement by others. Let’s pray for Pope Benedict and for his strength as he retires. May his retirement be peaceful, supported by his own prayer as he draws closer to the Lord. I pray with all in the Church as the cardinals discern who to choose to carry on the Petrine ministry.

Pope Benedict XVI is pictured during Mass in Yankee Stadium in New York on April 20, 2008. The Pope who never expected to travel eventually undertook 24 official trips.

PHOTO: CNS

A shy academic became one of the Church’s greatest servants

Benedictus XVI

Joseph Ratzinger never wanted to be Pope and told senior Church figures that his pontificate would not be a long one. Eight years later, he is standing down. John Thavis and Francis Rocca remember his achievements and origins.

uring his almost eightyear pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI impressed the world as a teacher, guiding Catholics to the sources of the faith and urging modern society not to turn its back on God. Citing his age and diminishing energy, the 85-year-old Pope announced on February 11 that he would be resigning effective February 28 and would devote the rest of his life to prayer. As pastor of the universal Church, he used virtually every medium at his disposal - books and Twitter, sermons and encyclicals - to catechise the faithful on the foundational beliefs and practices of Christianity, ranging from the sermons of St Augustine to the sign of the cross. Having served in his 30s as an influential adviser during the 196265 Second Vatican Council, he made it a priority as Pope to correct what he saw as overly expansive interpretations of Vatican II in favour of readings that stressed the council’s continuity with the

Church’s millennial traditions. Under his oversight, the Vatican continued to highlight what the Church sees as its life-affirming teachings on end-of-life medical care, marriage and homosexuality. But the Pope’s message to society at large focused less on single issues and more on the risk of losing the basic relationship between the human being and the Creator. He consistently warned the West that unless its secularised society rediscovered religious values, it could not hope to engage in real dialogue with Islamic and other religious cultures. In his encyclicals and in his books on Jesus of Nazareth, the Pope honed that message, asking readers to discover the essential connections between sacrificial love, works of charity, a dedication to the truth and the Gospel of Christ. The German-born Pontiff did not try to match the popularity of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, but the millions of people who came to see him in Rome

and abroad came to appreciate his smile, his frequent ad libs and his ability to speak from the heart. Although he did not expect to travel much, he ended up making 24 trips to six continents and three times presided over World Youth Day mega-gatherings, in Germany in 2005, in Australia in 2008, and

“The Pope focused less on single issues and more on the risk of losing touch with God. in Spain in 2011. Talking about ageing last March when he met the 85-year-old Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana, Pope Benedict told him, “Yes, I’m old, but I can still carry out my duties”. On a historic visit to the United States in 2008, the Pope brought his

own identity into clearer focus for Americans. He set forth a moral challenge on issues ranging from economic justice to abortion. He also took Church recognition of the priestly sex abuse scandal to a new level, expressing his personal shame at what happened and praying with the victims. The Pope met three times with former US President George W Bush, including a formal visit to the White House, and the two leaders found wide areas of agreement on pro-life and family issues. When President Barack Obama was elected, the Pontiff sent him a warmly worded telegram and a promise of his prayers, but when they met at the Vatican the next year, the Pope spoke clearly about the Church’s objections to the administration’s policies on several life issues, including abortion and embryonic stem cell research. Pope Benedict was 78 and in apparent good health when elected on April 19, 2005, but was said to have told his fellow cardinals that his would not be a long papacy like

that of his predecessor. In an interview with German author Peter Seewald in 2010, Pope Benedict said: “If a pope clearly realises that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign.” As inevitable as his election seemed to the media after Blessed John Paul died in 2005, his path to the papacy was long and indirect. Joseph Ratzinger was born April 16, 1927, in the Bavarian town of Marktl am Inn, the third and youngest child of a police officer, Joseph Sr, and his wife, Maria. Young Joseph joined his brother, Georg, at a minor seminary in 1939. Like other young students, he was automatically enrolled in the Hitler Youth program, but soon stopped going to meetings. During World War II, he was conscripted into the army and, in the spring of 1945, deserted his unit and returned home, spending a few Continued on pages 4-5

Pope Benedict has been much maligned by critics as a confrontational figure but his pontificate has been marked by outreach to other religions and groups with historical links to the Catholic Church. Right, pictured at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem in 2009. Below right, a much younger Joseph Ratzinger, on May 28, 1977, the day of his ordination as Archbishop of Munich and Freising. PHOTOS: CNS

Continued from Page 3 months in an Allied prisoner-of-war camp. He returned to the seminary late in 1945 and was ordained six years later, along with his brother. In a meeting with young people in 2006, the Pope said witnessing the brutality of the Nazi regime helped convince him to become a priest. But he also had to overcome some doubts, he said. For one thing, he asked himself whether he “could faithfully live celibacy” his entire life. He also recognised that his real leanings were toward theology and wondered whether he had the qualities of a good pastor and the ability “to be simple with the simple people”. After a short stint as a parish priest, the future Pope began a teaching career and built a reputation as one of the Church’s foremost theologians. At Vatican II, he made important contributions as a theological expert and embraced the council’s early work. But he began to have misgivings about an emerging anti-Roman bias, the idea of a “Church from below” run on a parliamentary model, and the direction of theological research in the Church - criticism that would become even sharper in later years. In a 2005 speech that served as a kind of manifesto for his young papacy, Pope Benedict rejected what he called a “hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture” in interpreting Vatican II as a radical break with the past. The Pope called instead for reading the council through a “hermeneutic of reform” in continuity with Catholic tradition. In 1977, Pope Paul VI named him Archbishop of Munich and Freising, and four years later Pope John Paul called him to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he wielded great influence on issues such as liberation theology, dissent from Church teachings and pressure for women’s ordination. Serving in this role for nearly a quarter century, then-Cardinal Ratzinger earned a reputation in some quarters as a

sort of grand inquisitor, seeking to stamp reminded people that modern ideals of to do a better job using the Internet in out independent thinking, an image money and material success are passing the future. Instead, the mishaps continbelied by his passion for debate with realities, saying: “Whoever builds his life ued, and for most of the year preceding thinkers inside and outside the Church. on these things - on material things, on Pope Benedict’s resignation, press covAs the newly elected Pope in 2005, he success, on appearances - is building on erage of the Vatican was dominated by explained that he took the name Benedict sand.” the so-called “VatiLeaks” affair, a scandal to evoke the memory of Pope Benedict Pope Benedict’s outreach to tradition- over confidential and sometimes embarXV, a “courageous prophet of peace” dur- alist Catholics brought him some opposi- rassing confidential documents that had ing World War I, and said he wanted to tion and criticism. In 2007, he widened been provided to the press, allegedly by place his ministry at the service of rec- the possible use of the Tridentine Mass the Pope’s own butler, Paolo Gabriele. onciliation and harmony among peoples. and began introducing touches of antiqA Vatican court found Gabriele guilty The new Pope spent most of his energy uity in his own liturgies, including the in October and sentenced him to 18 writing and preaching, in encyclicals, requirement of kneeling when receiving months in jail. Pope Benedict, meeting letters, messages, homilies and talks Communion from the Pope. his former aide outside his cell in the that eventually numbered more than a Then, in 2009, in an effort to recon- Vatican police barracks, pardoned him thousand. cile with the traditionalist Society of St just before Christmas. Surprising those who had expected Pius X, he lifted the excommunications The Pope’s 2009 letter to bishops also a by-the-book pontificate from a man of four of the society’s bishops who were summarised what he saw as his main who had spent more than 23 years as ordained illicitly in 1988. mission as the successor of Peter: “In our the Vatican’s chief doctrinal official, A storm of criticism erupted because days, when in vast areas of the world the Pope Benedict emphasised faith is in danger of dying that Christianity was a out like a flame which no religion of love and not a “Later that year, visiting a mosque in Turkey, longer has fuel, the overridreligion of rules. During ing priority is to make God the 2010-11 Year for he turned toward Mecca and prayed silently present in this world and to Priests, Pope Benedict show men and women the held up the 19th century alongside his host, generating way to God.” French St John Vianney as The idea that God is disa model of clerical holiness considerable goodwill. appearing from the human who struggled against the horizon and that humanindifference and hostility of ity is losing its bearings a militantly secular society. one of the four, Bishop Richard with “evident destructive effects” was a He convened a Synod of Bishops on Williamson, had made a number of state- theme Pope Benedict saw as common Scripture in 2008 in an effort to move ments - widely available on the Internet, ground for dialogue between Christians the Bible back to the centre of individual but unknown to the Pope - denying the and Muslims. He voiced the Church’s spirituality and pastoral planning. He extent of the Holocaust. The Vatican opposition to a potential “clash of civiopened a Year of Faith in October, pre- scrambled to distance Pope Benedict lisations” in which religion was seen as sided over a synod focusing on the new from the bishop’s views and reaffirm the a defining difference. But sometimes his evangelisation and a revival of Christian Pontiff ’s commitment to Catholic-Jewish words drew as much criticism as praise, faith in the secular West, one of the pri- dialogue. particularly among Muslims who felt the orities of his pontificate. The Pope himself wrote an unusually Pope was unfairly questioning the founSome of Pope Benedict’s most memo- personal letter to the world’s bishops, dations of their religion. rable statements came when he applied defending his efforts to restore Church In a lecture at Germany’s University simple Gospel values to social issues such unity by reaching out to traditionalists of Regensburg in 2006, the Pope quoted as the protection of human life, the envi- and expressing sadness that even some a Christian mediaeval emperor who said ronment and economics. Catholics seemed ready to attack him the prophet Mohammed had brought When the global financial crisis “with open hostility”. “things only evil and inhuman, such as worsened in 2008, for example, the At the same time, he clearly acknow- his command to spread by the sword the Pope insisted that financial institutions ledged mistakes in Vatican communica- faith he preached”. Following protests in must put people before profits. He also tions and said the Holy See would have the Islamic world, which included the

burning of churches in the Palestinian territories and the murder of a nun in Somalia, the Pope said he was sorry his words had offended Muslims and distanced himself from the text he had quoted. Later that year, visiting a mosque in Turkey, he turned toward Mecca and prayed silently alongside his host. This interfaith gesture generated considerable goodwill and, over the succeeding years, Pope Benedict continued to meet with Muslim leaders. Yet some Muslims continued to view the Pope with suspicion or hostility, such as the prominent cleric who reiterated complaints about the Regensburg speech in the run-up to the Pope’s trip to Lebanon in September. Pope Benedict also visited synagogues, in Germany in 2005, in New York in 2008 and in Rome in 2010, and his strong condemnations of anti-Semitism won the appreciation of many Jewish leaders. However, tensions arose in 2008 over the wording of a prayer for Jewish conversion, which the Pope had revised for use in the Tridentine-rite Good Friday liturgy. The Pope considered Christian unity one of his priorities, and he took steps to improve dialogue with Orthodox Churches in particular. The most visible sign was the Pope’s decision to accept the invitation of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to visit the patriarch at his headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2006. Two years later, the Pope invited the patriarch to give a major address at the Synod of Bishops. The Vatican also arranged the resumption of theological talks with the Orthodox in mid-2006 and began new forms of cultural collaboration with the Russian Orthodox Church. The fate of Christian minorities around the world was one of the Pope’s major concerns, especially in places like Iraq and other predominantly Muslim countries. The Pope strongly defended the right to religious freedom in his

speech to the United Nations in 2008. In early 2007, the Pope turned his attention to China, convening a meeting of Church experts to discuss ways to bring unity to the Church and gain concessions from the communist government. A papal letter to Chinese Catholics a few months later encouraged bold new steps to bridge the gap between Catholics registered with the government-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association and the so-called underground communities, whose leaders were frequently harassed or imprisoned by the authorities. The Pope’s letter also issued a broad invitation to government authorities for dialogue on the appointment of bishops and other topics. A number of bishops were subsequently ordained with both papal and government approval, before the government returned to the practice of choosing bishops without the Vatican’s approval. One of the most important documents issued under Pope Benedict, and with his explicit approval, was a doctrinal congregation instruction on bioethics in 2008. The document warned that some developments in stem-cell research, gene therapy and embryonic experimentation violate moral principles and reflect an attempt by man to “take the place of his Creator”. The Pope’s own writings frequently explored the relationship between personal faith in Christ and social consequences. His first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love), issued in 2005, reminded all people that God loves them and called on them to share that love in a personal and social way. It won high praise, even from quarters typically critical of the Church. Two years later, his second encyclical, Spe Salvi (On Christian Hope), warned that without faith in God, humanity lies at the mercy of ideologies that can lead to “the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice”.

Bavaria

Germany

REGENSBURG professor of theology 1969-1977 brother’s home owns house in Pentling

ALTÖTTING

family burial site

prayed as boy at Marian Shrine

FREISING attended seminary ordained priest 1951

MUNICH archbishop of Munich-Freising 1977-1981

MARKTL AM INN birthplace 1927

His third encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), was released in 2009 and said ethical values are needed to overcome the current global economic crisis as well as to eradicate hunger and promote the real development of all the world’s peoples. Several months ago, the Vatican said Pope Benedict had completed work on another encyclical, this one on the virtue of faith, and its publication was expected in the first half of this year. The Vatican has not said whether or not the letter would come out before the Pope’s resignation takes effect. His three-volume work, Jesus of Nazareth, published between 2007 and 2012 in several languages, emphasised that Christ must be understood as the Son of God on a divine mission, not as a mere moralist or social reformer. The

books argued that while Christ did not bring a blueprint for social progress, he did bring a new vision based on love that challenges the evils of today’s world from the brutality of totalitarian regimes to the “cruelty of capitalism”. The Pope spent much of his time meeting with bishops from around the world when they made ad limina visits to the Vatican to report on their dioceses. Some of his longest and most-revealing encounters were with priests, in Rome and elsewhere. He frequently spoke of the importance of quality formation of priestly candidates, and in 2005 approved the release of a long-awaited document barring those with deep-seated homosexual tendencies from the priesthood. In a few areas, Pope Benedict asked Church experts to engage in careful study and reflection:

- He asked Vatican agencies to consider the moral and scientific aspects of condom use in AIDS prevention, after some theologians argued that condoms were acceptable for married couples in which one spouse is infected with HIV. At the same time, his own statement in 2009 that condom-distribution campaigns aggravate the problem of AIDS prompted widespread criticism. - He convened scientific and theological scholars for private discussions about the theory of evolution. In his own remarks on the subject, he emphasised that the acceptance of evolutionary theory should not mean the exclusion of a fundamental divine purpose in Creation. One of the Pope’s most notable actions came in May 2006, when he approved a decision saying that Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, should not exercise his priestly ministry publicly. Fr Maciel, who enjoyed favour for many years at the Vatican, had been accused of sexually abusing minors. In 2009, the Pope approved an apostolic visitation of the late priest’s order. Although he was expected to reverse a trend set by Pope John Paul, Pope Benedict did not slow the Vatican’s saintmaking machinery, but he did immediately announce he would not preside over beatifications. The Pope’s decision was meant to highlight the difference between a beatification and a canonisation but, in effect, the Pope’s decision lowered the profile of beatification liturgies. Pope Benedict did make two exceptions to his new rule: the first to beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman during a September 2010 visit to England; and the second to beatify Pope John Paul in May 2011. While Pope Benedict asked Vatican experts to be more selective in picking candidates for sainthood, he ended up canonising 44 new saints, including the Native American Kateri Tekakwitha and Mother Marianne Cope of Molokai. CNS

Pope Benedict has always

loved

the

Church and worked to do what was best for Her … We thank him for his years of devoted leadership and service, and his brilliant teaching.”

- Cardinal George Pell Archbishop of Sydney

“On his election, Joseph Ratzinger said he wished to be ‘a simple humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord’ and in his resignation that humility has been amply demonstrated.”

- Julia Gillard Prime Minister of Australia

“This is a man of great integrity and looking out for what he believes is the best interest of our Church. I admire him for it.”

- Joe Biden Vice-President of the USA “Benedict XVI is and will remain one

the

most

important

religious thinkers of our time.”

- Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany “Pope Benedict leaves an indelible mark on the life and history of the Roman Catholic Church, sealed not only by his brief papacy, but also by his broad and long-standing contribution as a theologian and hierarch of his Church, as well as his universally acknowledged prestige.”

- Bartholomew I Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople “From his work as a young theologian at Vatican II to his ministry as universal pastor of the Church, Joseph Ratzinger has served God and the global Christian community with intelligence, eloquence and extraordinary self-sacrifice.”

- Charles Chaput OFM Cap, Archbishop of Philadelphia “I have admiration for this greatly responsible gesture, that demonstrates a

noble

and

high

purpose.”

- Silvio Berlusconi Former Prime Minister of Italy

Coming to terms: a policeman holds a copy of L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, in Rome on February 11. PHOTO: GIAMPIERO SPOSITO, REUTERS, CNS

Now it begins

Because it usually happens rarely, a conclave is something of a mystery to many people. How does the Church choose its new global spiritual leader?

HILE the surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is a first for the Church in centuries, it also leads to a complicated period of transition that ends in the election of a new pope. Regulated by ancient traditions and recent rules, the period between popes – known by the Latin term interregnum – will begin exactly at 8pm Rome time on February 28, a date and time Pope Benedict stipulated in a declaration he made on February 11 for when the See of Rome and the See of St Peter will be vacant. Normally, the interregnum begins with a pope’s death and is followed by a period of mourning. This time, the Pope will resign from his ministry and spend a short period of prayer and reflection at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, before moving to a monastery at the Vatican. The rules governing the interregnum are matters of Church law, not dogma. The apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis confirms that as long as the Holy See is vacant, the universal Church is governed by the College of Cardinals which cannot, however, make decisions normally reserved to the pope. Such matters must be postponed until the new pope is elected. Until there is a pope, the Roman Curia – the Vatican’s network of administrative offices – loses most of its cardinal supervisors and cannot handle any new business. The College of Cardinals is to deal solely with “ordinary business and matters which cannot be postponed”. At present, there are 209 cardinals, and all of them are asked to meet in Rome to help administer the transition period. The College of Cardinals does this through two structures: a general congregation, in which all the cardinals are to meet daily; and a particular

four-member congregation, consisting of the chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and a rotating team of three cardinal assistants. Only those cardinals under age 80 will be eligible to vote in the coming conclave. Cardinals who are age 80 or over by the time the conclave starts are excluded from the closed-door proceedings. There will be 117 cardinal-electors when the sede vacante begins on February 28; by March 5, that number will be 116. As chamberlain, Cardinal Bertone is to administer the goods and temporal rights of the Holy See until the election of a new pope. Meanwhile, the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, is charged with making preparations for a conclave to elect a new pope, and the cardinals must set the time for the conclave to start.

The word “conclave” comes from Latin, meaning literally “with key”, and reflects the previous tradition of locking the cardinals in an area where they would spend day and night until the new pope’s election. On the day set for entry into the conclave, the cardinalelectors assemble in St Peter’s Basilica to attend morning Mass. In the afternoon, they walk in procession to the Sistine Chapel, located just to the north of St Peter’s. The voting may begin that afternoon with one ballot; on following days, normally two ballots are held in the morning and two in the afternoon. A pope is elected when he obtains a two-thirds majority, reflecting a change Pope Benedict established in 2007 that effectively undid a more flexible procedure introduced by Blessed John Paul. According to the new rule, the two-thirds-majority rule

cannot be set aside even when cardinal-electors are at an impasse. If the cardinals are deadlocked after 13 days, the cardinals pause for a day of prayer, reflection and dialogue, then move to runoff ballots between the two leading candidates. A papal election will continue to require a majority of two-thirds of the voting cardinals. All voting is secret, in writing, on paper ballots, which are deposited in a receptacle by each elector, then counted. Ballots are taken to any cardinals residing at the Domus Sanctae Marthae but who are too sick to come to the Sistine Chapel. After each morning and afternoon round of voting, the ballots are burned. By tradition but not by rule, they are burned with special chemicals to produce the black smoke signifying an inconclusive vote, or white smoke if a new pope was elected. Due to confusion in the past as people in St Peter’s Square tried to determine what colour smoke was coming out of the Sistine Chapel smokestack, the basilica’s bell is also rung to confirm a successful election. Once a new pope has been elected, he is asked if he accepts the office – he is encouraged but not bound to do so by the current rules – and is asked to choose a name. Traditionally, the senior member of the cardinal deacons – currently Cardinal JeanLouis Tauran, 69 – announces the successful election results from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica. After the new pope has donned papal robes, he proceeds to the balcony, where he greets the public and offers his first blessing. At a time designated by the pope, usually a few days later, he officially opens his ministry with an investiture Mass at St Peter’s. The new pope is no longer crowned with a papal tiara, but receives a pallium, or stole, in recognition of his authority. - CNS

Hero with humility to hand the battle over Melbourne-based theologian Tracey Rowland is a leading world authority on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger. She tells Robert Hiini what she thinks of the decision by Pope Benedict XVI and what the future might hold ... What is your reaction to the news?

Biblical Commission. In 1985, he participated in the Synod called to reflect upon the reception of the Council and out of this meeting came the decision to publish a new Catechism or Compendium of Catholic teaching. He played a major role in its composition and presided over its release in 1992. As Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, he dealt with all manner of doctrinal issues, including, in the early years of John Paul II’s pontificate, the problems associated with liberation theology. He was, in short, the most significant intellectual supporter of the pontificate of John Paul II.

Cardinal Ouellet is a former Professor of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family and Cardinal Scola was the Rector of the Lateran University and International President of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family before being appointed to Venice, so I am immensely proud to say that the Institute has two candidates in the list of front-runners. As you would no doubt know, however, there is the saying that whoever goes into a conclave as a papabile, comes out a cardinal.

y initial reaction was that I would like to do the same thing – that is, retire to a Benedictine monastery. A lot of people are saying half-in-jest and half-seriously that they want to follow him. Queues are forming. However, having slept on the issue for a night I woke up feeling quite confident that this really could be the work of Providence. In an essay by Jean Danielou, who was one of Pope Benedict’s fellow Conciliar What do you think of the Periti, Danielou had this to say: expectation that he ought to “Our Lord has told us that be from the developing world, souls are to be won away from where Catholicism is growing? the Devil first by fasting and Why was Pope Benedict XVI Do you think he should come vigils, and that the great battle is so important? from the West? fought in the heart of the desert, in the depth of solitude, on the In general, one might say that I will leave this one to the summit of Carmel, before it is this papacy has been focused on Holy Spirit. St Augustine said fought through the ministry of healing the schisms of the 11th that God enriches the course preachers, on the great high- and 16th centuries and the of the world’s history by a kind ways and in the villages … We problems created by the ‘her- of antithesis which gives beauty must tear souls away from Satan meneutic of rupture’ approach to a poem. In the composition first of all through prayer, pen- to the Second Vatican Council, of the world’s history, there is a ance and sacrifice.” including the schism of 1988. beauty arising from the antithI imagine that something It has been a papacy devoted esis of contraries – a kind of like this thought has been to Christian unity. This has eloquence in events, instead of occurring to Pope Benedict and that he has decided the best thing he can do is to I think that he is a hero. He may go into the heart of the desert and fight well feel like he has been caught on for the Church there, while handing over the set of Lord of The Rings and the task of governance to a younger must hand the ring over to someone else. In this man more capable of bearing the particu- particular battle, that may be the correct decision.” lar responsibilities which go with the - Dr Tracey Rowland daily management of Dean, John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family the Church. I think that the witness this will give will be dramatically powerful. required a certain sensitivity to in words. The election of a Pole It says that prayer matters more historical and theological dif- at a moment in history when the than political action. Those of ferences not often possessed Soviet government was about us who love Pope Benedict can by the average tabloid journal- to run a propaganda campaign all “keep calm and carry on”, ist. His creation of an Anglican around a Polish cosmonaut was knowing that he is still very Ordinariate, though controver- one such example. The Soviets much on duty. sial, may well be the beginning were intending to market the of the end of the mess created Polish cosmonaut as an icon of Why was Joseph Ratzinger so by Henry VIII in 1531. Soviet-Polish relations but their important in the life of the His speeches and homilies campaign came unstuck when Catholic Church? have also been inspirational. the Archbishop of Krakow was Often, busy leaders rely on the elected to the papacy and totally Ratzinger is one of the great- speeches they are handed by relegated the cosmonaut to the est Catholic scholars of the aides which were in turn drafted back pages somewhere behind last century. He was a leading by committees with all the com- the sports results. The Holy theological advisor to Cardinal promises this inevitably entails. Spirit may well do something Frings of Cologne at the Second However, when Pope Benedict like this again and surprise us Vatican Council and someone speaks, one senses that he has all. who played a significant role written the material himself and The argument in favour of in the drafting of the Conciliar it is never bland. His Wednesday someone from the West is probdocument Dei Verbum – The audience addresses, or ‘cat- ably that most of the developDogmatic Constitution on echetics 101 classes’ have been ing world’s problems begin in Divine Revelation. He was also immensely popular and a great the West. I think that one reaa founder of the International tool of evangelisation. son why Cardinal Ouellet is so Catholic Review called high on the short-list is that he Communio which was designed Who do you think will likely is someone from the West, in to articulate an interpretation be the next Pope? his case a Canadian, who has of the Second Vatican Council’s worked in the developing world, documents, now described in There seems to be general so he has had experience of the theological parlance as a ‘her- agreement that the front run- problems from both ends as it meneutic of reform’ or some- ners are Cardinal Marc Ouellet, were. times, a ‘hermeneutic of conti- a French Canadian who has I know that this is a frivolous nuity’. worked in Latin America as comment but it has occurred to In 1981, he was called well as in the Curia in Rome, me that it would be very funny to Rome by John Paul II to Cardinal Angelo Scola who is if we ended up with a Canadian become the Prefect for the the Cardinal Archbishop of pope with a beaver on his coat Sacred Congregation of the Milan and former Patriarch of of arms succeeding a German Doctrine of the Faith, the Venice and thus the most sen- pope with a bear on his coat of President of the International ior of the Italian prelates, and arms. Theological Commission and Cardinal Peter Turkson who is the President of the Pontifical from Ghana. Is there a “Karol Wojtyja”, a

left-field candidate? Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary is the second youngest of the Cardinals, an intellectual and a canon lawyer. He is also the President of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe. If youth becomes a key criterion, and if being a canon lawyer is regarded as a desirable attribute that would aid the pontiff when dealing with all manner of internal ecclesial governance issues, then Erdo could be the ‘left-field’ candidate. He has a reputation for working particularly hard for the defence of the sanctity of human life.

“He unified Catholics and reached out to schismatic groups in hopes of drawing them back to the Church. More unites us than divides us, he said by word and deed. That message is for eternity.

- Cardinal Timothy Dolan Archbishop of New York “He has laid before us something of the meaning of the Petrine ministry of building up the people of God to full maturity … In his teaching and writing, he has brought a remarkable theological mind to bear on the issues of the day.”

- Justin Welby Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury

What do you think of the mainstream reaction to the news that you have seen?

“The Church plays a critical role in the

The press agencies managed to dig up a few ex-nuns and disgruntled priests to say the usual things but, surprisingly, some younger lay Catholics have also been interviewed. I was really impressed by an English girl who was interviewed almost as soon as the news broke. She was young, dignified and gracious and managed to express her admiration for the courage this decision would have required of Pope Benedict. I hope that members of the press might realise through this experience that they can get more interesting material by interviewing young professional laity rather than exnuns or priests with problems.

the best to those who will soon gather

What are the challenges the new Pope will have to confront, in your view? In the short, and long term? In the short term, I think he will have to get on top of an enormous amount of administrative detail and make some strategic decisions about internal governance issues. In the longer term, I think he will need to continue the serious intellectual leadership of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. They have done the backbreaking work but their successor will need to keep batting on, as it were. The plan is that we want a civilisation of love, not a culture of death. This means that the successor will need to understand the internal dynamics of both. He will need to be capable of intellectually analysing the pathologies of western culture and their significance for the developing countries. How do you feel about this Pope, not so much as a theologian and a biographer, but as a Catholic person? I think he is a hero. He may well feel as though he has been caught on a set of Lord of the Rings and he wants to hand the ring over to someone else. It may well be that in this particular battle that is the right decision. If it isn’t, then God is more than capable of coming up with a Plan B.

United States and the world, and I wish to choose His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI’s successor.”

- Barack Obama President of the USA “He has taught with clarity and charity what God has revealed to the world in Christ; he has handed on the apostolic faith; he has loved all of God’s people with all his heart. He has now shown great courage in deciding, after prayer and soul-searching, to resign his office at the end of this month.”

- Cardinal Francis George Archbishop of Chicago “I saw him to be a man of gentleness, of quiet and of calm, a deeply thoughtful and compassionate individual who carried with him an aura of grace and wisdom.”

- Jonathan Sacks Britain’s Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth “It is perhaps small-minded and selfish to say that, as a professor, I will miss Pope Benedict XVI’s intellect. As a woman, I will miss his tremendous attention to the questions concerning women, and concerning women and men together. As a family law scholar, I will miss his regular reflections ...”

- Helen Alvare Associate Professor of Law at the George Mason University School of Law

Sensing the dignity of age Perhaps it was a signal that no-one picked up. When Pope Benedict visited residents of an aged care home in Rome last year, he spoke not so much as a leader of a world religion but as a fellow aged traveller of life ... “I COME to you as Bishop of Rome, but also as an old man visiting his peers. It would be superfluous to say that I am well acquainted with the difficulties, problems and limitations of this age and I know that for many these difficulties are more acute due to the economic crisis. At times, at a certain age, one may look back nostalgically at the time of our youth when we were fresh and planning for the future. Thus, at times, our gaze is veiled by sadness, seeing this phase of life as the time of sunset. This morning, addressing all the elderly in spirit, although I am aware of the difficulties that our age entails I would like to tell you with deep conviction: it is beautiful to be old! At every phase of life it is necessary to be able to discover the presence and blessing of the Lord and the riches they bring. We must never let ourselves be imprisoned by sorrow! We have received the gift of longevity. Living is beautiful even at our age, despite some “aches and pains” and a few limitations. In our faces may there always be the joy of feeling loved by God and not sadness. In the Bible, longevity is considered a blessing of God; today this blessing is widespread and must be seen as a gift to appreciate and to make the most of. And yet frequently society dominated by the logic of efficiency and gain does not accept it as such: on the contrary it frequently rejects it, viewing the elderly as non-productive or useless. All too often we hear about the suffering of those who are marginalised, who live far from home or in loneliness. I think there should be greater commitment, starting with families and public institutions, to ensure that the elderly be able to stay in their own homes. The wisdom of life, of which we are bearers, is a great wealth. The quality of a society, I mean of a civilisation, is also judged by how it treats elderly people and by the place it gives them in community life. Those who make room for the elderly make room for life! Those who welcome the elderly welcome life! ... When life becomes frail, in the years of old age, it never loses its value and its dignity: each one of us, at any stage of life, is wanted and

Pope Benedict XVI talks with Enrichetta Vitali, 91, during a visit in November last year to a home for the elderly run by the Sant’Egidio Community in Rome. PHOTO: PAUL HARING, CNS

loved by God, each one is important and necessary. Dear friends, at our age we often experience the need of the help of others; and this also happens to the Pope. In the Gospel, we read that Jesus told the Apostle Peter: “When you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go” (Jn 21:18). The Lord was referring to the way in which the Apostle was to witness to his faith to the point of martyr-

dom, but this sentence makes us think about that fact that the need for help is a condition of the elderly. I would like to ask you to seek in this too a gift of the Lord, because being sustained and accompanied, feeling the affection of others is a grace! This is important in every stage of life: no one can live alone and without help; the human being is relational. And in this case I see, with pleasure, that all those who help and all those who are helped form one family, whose lifeblood is love. Dear elderly brothers and sisters,

the days sometimes seem long and empty, with difficulties, few engagements and few meetings; never feel down at heart: you are a wealth for society, even in suffering and sickness. And this phase of life is also a gift for deepening the relationship with God ... Do not forget that one of the valuable resources you possess is the essential one of prayer: become interceders with God, praying with faith and with constancy. Pray for the Church, and pray for me, for the needs of the world, for the poor, so that there may be no more violence

in the world. The prayers of the elderly can protect the world, helping it, perhaps more effectively than collective anxiety. Today, I would like to entrust to your prayers the good of the Church and peace in the world. The Pope loves you and relies on all of you! May you feel beloved by God and know how to bring a ray of God’s love to this society of ours, often so individualistic and so efficiency-oriented. And God will always be with you and with all those who support you with their affection and their help.”

A lack of precedent forces tradition to improvise By Mark Baumgarten

IFE for a Catholic seminarian in Rome is in large part defined by our proximity to the Holy Father, and as word began to trickle through the city last Monday morning of Pope Benedict’s intentions I could not help but become a little wistful as I reflected on the significant role he has played in my life. His election to the papacy in 2005 coincided with a profound deepening of my own faith, and his remarkably insightful teaching and humble example have impacted my formation greatly. Having the chance to see Pope Benedict in person from time to time has been a special grace, though in the past couple of years his decline in stamina has became quite noticeable (I took the attached photo at the opening of Domus Australia in October 2011, where even then he struck me as looking rather tired). He has also occasionally mentioned in public remarks that abdication might be a possibility should his strength give way too much. As such, while his decision to step down is in some ways quite unexpected and certainly unusual, I cannot say that I was entirely surprised.

And so the circus prepares to descend once more upon this ancient city, and the NAC will no doubt get swept up in it all to some degree. We had good practice for it last year when we hosted the bulk of the US bishops in groups over several months as they engaged in their five-yearly “Ad Limina” visits

“His insightful teaching and humble example have impacted my own formation greatly. to Rome, though I suspect the mayhem will be even greater this time. The sheer uniqueness and lack of modern precedent for this situation is forcing the tradition-laden process to improvise somewhat, which is fascinating to witness up close. Indeed, it feels a little weird to not have the traditional period of mourning be part of the process. Accepted decorum regarding the

recently deceased has historically served to check both excessively hostile commentary about a closing papacy and premature speculation about possible successors. Lacking this cause of restraint, I wonder how tastefully the coming weeks will be handled by world-wide observers. For my part, I am striving to keep my feet on the ground as much as possible, and to spend at least as much time in prayer and as I will spend following the unfolding events. Pope Benedict’s final public appearances will no doubt be packed, though I certainly intend to show my gratitude and affection with my presence as much as I can, and pay due respect to what has been before I give too much thought to what is to come. I will endeavour to write with some regularity in the coming weeks as these historic days unfold. In the meantime, I invite you all to join me in prayer for the intentions of Pope Benedict XVI as he prepares to leave office, and for the Holy Spirit’s guidance of the papal transition. May this special time bear abundant fruit in the lives of Catholics around the world and indeed in all people of good will. Mark Baumgarten is a Perth seminarian studying in Rome

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney points out a feature of Domus Australia, the Australian house of residence in Rome, to Pope Benedict XVI when the Holy Father opened the Domus in October 2011). PHOTO: MARK BAUMGARTEN