The Record Newspaper 15 June 2006

The Parish. The Nation. The World.

Thursday June , 

Perth, Western Australia ● $1 Western Australia’s Award-winning Catholic newspaper

ENDING INNOCENCE: Year One students to learn ‘sexual health’ Page 4

■ By Jamie O’Brien

One question grabbed attention during last week’s live webcast for the Lifelink Appeal, as a secondary school student asked Archbishop Barry Hickey about homeless people.

Schools had the opportunity to email questions to the Archbishop and Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton and to view and hear their responses, although the volume of traffic was so great most questions were not answered.

The Prendiville College student asked the Archbishop, “Your Grace, do you have to face a lot of people who are homeless and wanting food and water?”

“What I am going to say,” replied Archbishop Hickey, “I want you to remember for the rest of your life.

“It’s the most important question I have had so far - do I have to face a lot of people who are homeless and wanting food and water?

“Most of us don’t.

“We live out in the suburbs and people have got their own homes, but I live in the centre of the city - that’s where God has placed me if you like - and in the centre of the city there are a lot of homeless people.

“Many of them have found a refuge on my front verandah.

“Last night there were eight homeless people wrapped up in blankets.

“ I give them food…a little. I give them water.

“I give them coffee and I could say these people are unwashed, they’re smelly, they’re dirty and I don’t want them, they should go elsewhere.

“But there is nowhere else for them to go!

“Wherever they go they get kicked out. So what is God asking me to do? Is he asking me to kick them out like everybody else?

“Jesus said words that I can’t forget. He said, ‘whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me.’

TRAGEDIES WANTED: New book to tell of courageous Catholic women Page 5

“What I am going to tell you, I want you to remember for the rest of your life...”

Archbishop speaks to students

“So I am challenged to see Jesus in all these homeless people with tons of problems and I have to respond as if I am responding to Jesus.

“So do you!

“So does everybody who has been baptised.

“It is the most important lesson that we can learn.

“I have had to learn it the hard way, and it is still hard.”

More than 120 primary and secondary schools took part in the two 45-minute sessions.

Students logged on through the IT facilities of the Catholic Education Office. Lifelink Day is an annual event that encourages young people to show they care for people in the community who need help.

Lifelink is the umbrella organisation through which the Archdiocese funds 13 agencies that help more than 60,000 West Australian families and individuals each year.

The agencies provide practical assistance and supportive programs for the unemployed, homeless, migrants and refugees, people with physical and intellectual disabilities, those suffering from HIV/AIDS, families in crises, those battling addictions and abused women and children.

The appeal is ongoing, and many schools use it as the foundations for practical education in Christian charity.

The Archbishop said that classes and groups of students in Catholic schools showed creativity and leadership in developing service programs within the schools through Lifelink agencies, in the general community and in mission experiences elsewhere in the State or overseas.

The complete recording of last Wednesday’s webcast is available at www.lifelink.com. au. Information is also available about the Lifelink agencies and there are facilities for donations to be made.

All 13 agencies of Lifelink deliver more than $24 million in services each year.

Archbishop: pray for rain, page 6

CATHOLIC ORIGINS: World Cup founded by Catholic Page 2

Doubleview gets ready for concert

■

By Sylvia Defendi

Some of Western Australia’s finest gospel performers will fill Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Doubleview with song for a uniquely ecumenical and spiritual concert on Sunday June 25, from 2pm to 4.30pm.

The afternoon will see Lionel Cranfield from Zenith Music hosting the event and the WA Folk Federation presenting an array of uplifting music in both tradition-

al, indigenous and gospel styles. Highlighting the afternoon concert will be a production by Indij Spirit, who will be performing dance and song repertoires that reflect the indigenous relationship between God and the land.

“Their songs speak of Australia’s unique landscape and provoke a spirit of understanding and oneness with God and nature,” said president of the WA Folk Federation, Carmel Charlton.

Peter and Ben Nelson and Lee West, who make up Indij Spirit,

have performed extensively overseas, including Italy, France, England and the USA.

“Last year’s event at St Michael the Archangel Chapel in Leederville was a great success. The audience joined in, making it an afternoon to remember,” said Mrs Charlton.

Tickets can be purchased through Carmel Charlton at $12 for adults and $2 for children and are only available in advance.

Email: carmel@carmelcharlton. com or phone: 94461558.

Mass to mark St Mary’s closure

■ By Sylvia

Defendi

Dean of the Cathedral, Rev Mgr Thomas McDonald announced the celebration of a farewell Mass on Sunday August 13, the anniversary of the Cathedral’s dedication, to commemorate its imminent closure.

Western Australia’s Premier, Leader of Opposition, Lord Mayor and councillors have been invited and will be joined by His Excellency Ken Michael, Governor of WA, who has

confirmed his attendance.

Bishop Sproxton will be the main celebrant for the solemn sung Mass, which will begin at 10am.

In preparation for the Cathedral’s closure, tours of the cathedral as it presently stands will be conducted for two weeks after the farewell Mass, three days a week in the mornings and afternoons.

Those who are interested in the tours can phone 9223 1351 for further information.

SAME SEX MANUAL

‘Mummy’ and ‘Daddy’ out - ‘Parents’ and ‘carers’ in, according to new school resource

Page 3

SOCCER SUPERSTAR

Dutch bishops launch online competition to find soccer’s Christian champion

Music with Spirit: ‘Indij Spirit’ at Ab Music in Manning where they were performing as part of Reconciliation week on May 31.

World Cup exploitation

■ By

Sylvia Defendi

Amidst the world cup fever sweeping the nation is a warning of sexual exploitation through trickery and ‘legal’ trafficking says Perth’s former brothel madam, Linda Watson.

“Three million fans – mostly men - have converged on Germany from all over the world. But who will spare a thought for the thousands of women who have been tricked and trafficked into Germany to ‘service’ those fans?” said Ms Watson.

Ms Watson, who now runs Linda’s House of Hope, a rehabilita-

tion centre for prostitutes, is urging Prime Minister John Howard to recognise the problem and send a message of protest to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Adamant that Australian women will be among the world cup victims, Ms Watson states that she knows all too well, from her own experience, what will happen to the women.

“The girls involved will suffer and the fans will bring their diseases back home to their wives or girlfriends in Australia and elsewhere,” she says.

In a bid to control trafficking, prostitution was legalised in

Germany in December 2001. However, women who are on welfare and refuse a job in a brothel risk losing their financial support.

“These women are generally very poor. Many have been told that they are going to Germany to be models or waitresses. They will learn the truth too late,” said Ms Watson.

Germany currently houses a brothel capable of serving 650 customers not far from the main soccer stadium in Berlin.

As Ms Watson contends, “to give you an idea of the problem, a prostitute can get a work visa for Germany in just four weeks. Pastors have to wait up to six months.”

Parents give gifts for women with none

■ Jamie O’Brien

Anawim Women’s Refuge received a special Mother’s Day gift this year from the mothers and students at St Pius X Primary School Manning. Anawim is one of 13 agencies supported through Archbishop Hickey’s Lifelink Appeal.

The agency assists 3000 aboriginal women escaping domestic, family or social violence each year. Gift baskets filled with toiletries and cosmetics – much of it considered luxury items by the women at the refuge but essentials to mothers at the school – were collected over

two months. Coordinator of the Anawim Centre, Gabrielle Whitely said the women don’t have much.

“We were able to share the gifts out with the women who come here and they appreciated it,” Mrs Whitely said.

Lifelink Consulting Manager

Brett Mendez said the donation is a great example of Catholic school communities reaching out to those in need within the community.

“They have demonstrated to our young people ‘Faith in Action,’ ” Mr Mendez said.

A live webcast of Archbishop Hickey answering questions of students to raise funds for Lifelink was held on June 7.

Soccer = Latin Mass

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■ By Paul Gray

I f football is religion, soccer is the Mass in Latin. It is a variety of football every nation understands.

That this is true is shown by the huge worldwide reaction to the current FIFA World Cup in Germany, which has captivated people from every continent.

This includes, for the first time, millions of Australians who were thrilled this week by their team’s 3-1 victory over Japan, in the Socceroos’ first World Cup finals appearance since 1974.

Less noted has been the Catholic origins of World Cup soccer, which were documented in an article on World Cup founder Jules Rimet, published by Agence-France Presse this week.

Rimet was a Frenchman, born in the late 19th century, who was inspired by the famous Encyclical Letter by Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, which encapsulated the Church’s social teaching for the first time.

This social teaching was later developed by other Popes, especially John Paul II, and played a significant role in the Second Vatican Council.

Inspired by Catholic social teaching, Rimet wanted “to reconcile the different classes in a Christian spirit and to relieve the moral and physical suffering of the poorest”.

He saw the potential for its application to soccer which he saw could

make a contribution to “universal peace and brotherhood.”

The original World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, was named after this Catholic sporting pioneer.

Rimet played a key role in developing soccer as an amateur game in France, and in 1921 was elected President of FIFA, which sponsors today’s World Cup.

With other FIFA leaders of his time, Rimet wanted to establish a stand-alone international soccer tournament, separate from the Olympic Games.

Rimet convinced the Uruguayan government to host a “World Championship” in 1925, and three years later FIFA decided to organise “a World Cup competition every four years”. Rimet carried the first World Cup trophy, a gold and silver statue by the French sculptor Abel Lafleur, to the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, in 1930, for the inaugural tournament. Uruguay won that first tournament, defeating Argentina 4-2.

The match was played in the same Montevideo stadium where Australia was defeated 1-0 by Uruguay last November in the first leg of the play-off for the current World Cup finals.

Australia then triumphed in the return leg of that play-off, winning the right to participate in this year’s finals in Germany.

As well as his work in soccer, Jules Rimet founded a Christian magazine with democratic and republican leanings, called The Review Read it in The Record

Faith in action: St Pius X Principal, Rob Romeo, centre with parents who assisted with the donations. Photo: Jamie O’Brien

Going for a goal: A World Cup match between Germany and Costa Rica on June 9 in Munich, Germany. Photo: CNS

Same-sex manual affects all

■ By Sylvia Defendi

Amanual, widely used in Victorian schools, advising teachers to promote samesex parenting is now available to teachers in Western Australia.

Out of sensitivity to same-sex parent families, the manual urges teachers to forfeit the words “mother” and “father” and use “parent” or “carer” instead.

“Now, in Western Australia, we have a book that encourages teachers to include pictures of notable lesbians and gay men among images around our pre-primary schools,” said Gerard Goiran, WA director for the Christian Democratic Party.

The news succeeds earlier reports of federal education minister Julie Bishop having the courage to say that teaching pre-schoolers about same sex relationships would be “perverse and skew their development.”

Ms Bishop spoke in response to revelations that a Sydney daycare centre used children’s books featuring same-sex parent families to promote a ‘gay-friendly’ learn-

ing environment. The Christian Democratic Party congratulated the minister on her moral stance, adding that children raised by same sex couples were at a significant disadvantage.

“Education Departments should not sacrifice children on the altar of political correctness.

“There is a mountain of evidence to show that the complementary role models of husband and wife make a huge difference to children,” stated Mr Goiran

For Ms Bishop, the social and moral implications of such an educational environment are clear.

“Obviously, pre-school education’s a very important part in a child’s development. I wouldn’t want to see any perverse biases put into early childhood development that could affect children one way or another,” she said.

Mr Goiran believes the issue of same sex relationships is not just a religious, Christian one.

“It is very much one that affects the whole of society and will have significant adverse consequences on future generations if not handled properly now,” he said.

Indexing The Record Newspaper

Perth nun thanks Perth diocese for donations

■ The Bendigo Advertiser with The Record’s Jamie O’Brien

The Karema Well Project has been completed and the people of Othaya, Kenya, have access to clean water, thanks to all the people that donated from the Perth archdiocese and beyond.

The well project was in aid of the Sacramentine Sisters where former St Gerard’s Mirrabooka parishioner and former St Vincent de Paul member Margaret Talbot is now a religious sister. The project was organised by Sr Margaret’s sister, Karen Morrissey, of Bendigo,

In Brief

Men want marriage more

The idea that men are less keen on marriage than women has taken a knock in a new study from the United States. The survey by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention involved more than 12,000 men and women aged 15 to 44 and asked a variety of questions related to marriage. It is the first time men have been included in the agency’s study, which has been conducted periodically since 1973. Responding to the statement, “It is better to get married

General

“That

Victoria and other family members here in Perth. The aim was to raise more than 40,000 to drill for fresh water in this small community 150 kilometres from Nairobi, Kenya. The taps at the monastery were turned on a few weeks ago, providing clean water for more than 2000 Kenyans. “The water they used to drink was quite dirty and full of worms,” Mrs Morrissey said. “They had to boil and strain it so they could drink it.”

Mrs Morrissey and her husband Bernie and three children travelled to Kenya last year, together with Sr Margaret’s mother, Crystal Talbot.

“I hadn’t seen my sister for more

than to go through life single,” 66 per cent of men agreed compared to 51 per cent of women. Another statement, “It is more important for a man to spend a lot of time with his family than be successful at his career,” won agreement from 76 per cent of men and 72 per cent of women.

The survey also showed that 55 per cent of men and 46 per cent of women intend to have a child. And among fathers in their first marriage, 90 per cent live with their kids and are involved with them, from feeding and bathing to helping with homework and taking them to activities. - USA Today, May 31

Mission intention: “That Pastors and the Christian faithful may consider inter-religious

and the work of acculturation of the Gospel as a daily service to promote the cause of the evangelisation of Peoples.”

than 18 years, so I thought raising money back here at home for the well was exactly what they needed.”

Mrs Morrissey said the project took more than a year to complete, and was surprised by the amount she received.

“I want to thank everyone who donated for the well and to tell them that it is now working.

“There are just so many charities out there and to receive the support that we did is wonderful.

“We have had so many people wanting to be kept informed of how the project was going and what was happening in Kenya.”

Mrs Morrissey explained that it

wasn’t a very easy project to complete – contracting a drilling company in one of the world’s poorest countries – proved to be quite challenge, because the permit to drill was only valid for three sites.

“We received help from an engineering friend and without this the project would never have happened.

“Clean water was finally reached at a depth of 145 metres on the third site.”

The Sisters plan to eventually expand the drill site and are now using the water to grow crops to raise money to help the local community.

Sr Mary Margaret

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

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

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

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

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

I ve been Australia s top selling Hyundai dealer?

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

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

The Record and discovery are currently in the process of being indexed by the Church Archives Office, and is need of volunteers to help finish the task effectively. The Archives Office is looking for people who are interested in reading old newspapers and have an interest in history. Computer literacy would also be helpful. Above are some of the ladies, togther with Sr Frances Stibi, who volunteer at the archives office. Interested persons can contact The Record on 9227 7080. Photo: Jamie O’Brien

Sex education insanity

■ By Sylvia Defendi

In the midst of Western Australia’s struggle to accept the looming OBE plan, children as young as five or six are in the middle of a contentious campaign bidding year one teachers to instruct students in the do’s and don’ts of sexual health and relationships.

Spokeswoman for the Family Planning Association of WA’s sexual health services, Rebecca Smith said young people who had access to sexual health information often delayed their first sexual experience and were better prepared to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.

However WA president of the Australian Family Association, John

Barich said “teaching nine year olds to fit a condom on to a carrot is not appropriate.”

“If anything, children should be taught about the overwhelming advantages of abstinence before marriage. Indeed the refusal to mention marriage, as so many sex education courses do, is a recipe for disaster – as increases in STIs, abortion and teenage pregnancy figures have demonstrated over the past 30 years,” he said.

While the Department of Education and Training curriculum provides ‘relationship education,’ which includes sex education from kindergarten, it is not compulsory and each school is free to decide when to begin implementing the syllabus.

“Parents are the best teachers in

this sensitive area as they know when their child, whom they have known intimately since birth, is psychologically ready to absorb such knowledge. When teachers become involved they should have parental input, as children in a class of 30 are at different stages of personal development,” said Mr Barich.

The contentious debate was even aired on June 9 as the lead news story for Channel 10’s 5pm news report. The station interviewed Mr Barich, Premier Carpenter and conducted man-in-the-street interviews, all of which “highlighted the insanity of such a proposal,” said Mr Barich.

“Even the Premier, who has four girls of his own, was totally stumped and just didn’t know how the proposal could be defended,” he said.

Priests served Australia generously

■ By Sylvia Defendi

F

r Luke Fay and Fr Charles Martin Branagan, Redemptorist priests for 66 and 74 years respectively, passed away in early April this year, leaving behind devoted parishioners and friends.

Both priests, who served for many years in Perth, were farewelled at funeral services in their home state of Victoria.

Fr Luke was born at Carranballac near Skipton in Victoria in 1914 and studied for the priesthood in Ballarat.

Merely four years after his 1932 ordination he was assigned to teach Physics, Maths and Christian Doctrine to the boys in the Junior seminary at Galong.

After scarcely a year of work in Australia, he spent six months in the Philippines and was only 36

when he was made Rector of the Kew Mission house.

Fr Luke served in every Redemptorist Monastery in Australia that existed at that time, and five years in Wellington, New Zealand.

At the age of 54, when some were looking towards retirement, he enrolled at the Divine Word Institute in Canada, taking a course for a Diploma in Religious Education. Fr Luke used his degree in Perth for three years at Aquinas College. At 92 years of age, Fr Luke passed away.

Born one of 12 children in Ballarat Victoria, Fr Marty Branagan “longed more than ever to become a Redemptorist priest,” and was accepted into the Novitiate in January 1926.

After being ordained in 1932 Fr Charles was appointed to Galong where he taught in the Junior

Seminary for nine years. He joined the Perth community from 1962 till 1964 and was involved in missions, retreats and work in the Monastery church.

He returned to the community in Townsville again in 1964, where he was immensely popular in Townsville, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in April 1995 in recognition of his services to the community.

Aged 97, Fr Charles passed away, at the Good Shepherd Nursing Home in Melbourne.

Fr. Martin Brannagan:

- Born July 25, 1908

- Ordained February 11, 1932

- Died April 1, 2006 in his 97th year

Fr. Luke Fay:

- Born December 14, 1914

- Ordained March 10, 1940

- Died April 2, 2006 in his 92nd year.

Religious violence leads nowhere

■ By Mark Reidy

T

he blurred lines of what constitutes “religion” contributes greatly to the myth that religion causes violence, prominent US Catholic theologian William Cavanaugh told a small gathering in Highgate on May 26.

The informal stopover at the Catholic Pastoral Centre was organised by the Western Australian Council of Religious Institutions (WACRI) as part of Dr Cavanaugh’s Australian tour. During the relaxed discussion, Dr Cavanaugh presented his views on a variety of topics, including his experiences while living in Chile in the last years of the Pinochet regime from 198789. He also shared his ideas on the Catholic sex scandals in the US, the concepts of freedom and capitalism, the death penalty, the separation of Church and State, free market trading, the policies of George Bush and the US involvement in Iraq.

The main purpose for Dr Cavanaugh’s visit to Perth was to deliver lectures at Notre Dame University and the University of

PARENTS & FRIENDS’ FEDERATION OF WA INC.

Invites members of Catholic School Communities to the ANNUAL CONFERENCE & AGM

Sunday 25 June 2006

Mercy College, Koondoola Conference Mass 9am, 52nd AGM 10am

Conference Opening 1.30pm (Hon. Ljiljanna Ravlich, MLC)

Sessions on Reporting to Parents, Outcomes Based Education and Upper Secondary Courses of Study

Preceded by the ANNUAL CONFERENCE DINNER

7pm, Sat. 24 June 2006

Royal Perth Yacht Club, Crawley Conference programme and Registration details from PFFWA 9271 5909 or 9271 5901

Western Australia on May 29. The UWA talk, entitled, “Does Religion Cause Violence?” elaborated on the several concepts that he touched upon in his discussion at the Pastoral Centre.

In the text of this lecture he claimed that the division of ideologies and institutions into the ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ categories were based on arbitrary assumptions. He believes, however, that Western society finds these blurred boundaries “comforting and ideologically useful” as they are able to subjectively define what does or does not count as religion. This then creates a blind spot, he says, in which countries are able to condemn certain kinds of violence, but ignore others.

They are able to say, “Their violence is religious, and therefore irrational and divisive. Our violence, on the other hand, is rational, peacemaking, and necessary.”

Dr Cavanaugh also spoke at Melbourne University as part of the prestigious Dom Helder Camara Lecture series, as well as attending engagements in Sydney and Brisbane.

One day pilgrimage

■ By Sylvia Defendi

More than 70 Parishioners from Our Lady of the Mission Parish, Whitfords, packed a charter bus for a one-day pilgrimage to St Joseph’s Parish in Northam in celebration of Foundation Day – June 12. Whitfords Parish Priest Fr Joseph Tran led parishioners on the first of many pilgrimages.

The group first stopped at Spencer’s Brook and then continued on to Northam, where Fr Geoff Aldous was awaiting their arrival.

Parishioners from both Whitfords and Northam parishes joined in celebration of Mass, before boarding the bus for York, and then returning to Perth.

“Forming ties with parishioners from other parishes is a mission Whitfords parish takes very seriously. We are all part of the Catholic community, and should be encouraged to maintain this sense of community at all times,” said Kerry Monaghan, co-ordinating parishioner at Whitfords parish.

US Catholic theologian William Cavanaugh, seated on the desk, speaks to an audience at Notre Dame. Photo courtesy Notre Dame University

Bishop confirms work of advocacy service

■ By Mark Reidy

Bishop Don Sproxton affirmed the unique mission of those working with people with intellectual disabilities during the “Missioning Celebration” of the Personal Advocacy ministry on March 26. Sixty-four volunteers attended the inaugural occasion at the organisation’s Morley Centre and received words of encouragement and a personal blessing from the Bishop.

Personal Advocacy is an Archdiocesan ministry that reaches out to people with intellectual disabilities, supporting their faith development and inclusion into the local community.

There are currently 130 volunteers throughout Perth who guide and befriend an individual with a disability.

Throughout the afternoon Bishop Sproxton led the gathering through a symbolic portrayal of the ministry’s 2006 spiritual program, which is built around the theme of “Jesus, the Good Shepherd”. He began by

walking amongst leaders and advocates, carrying his shepherd’s staff, as they gathered outside the Centre. He then called everyone together and led them in procession into the warm and welcoming environment inside.

As the ceremony unfolded the Bishop spoke of the apprehension, doubts and uncertainties that advocates may experience as they embraced their roles of guides and protectors. He encouraged them to continue the journey in the knowledge that they were carrying out the mission of the Church in a unique way as they reached out to those who would otherwise be left on the fringes of the community.

The Bishop’s words were echoed through visual images, reflections, song and music. The singing, led by Angela Bendotti of Shine Creations, centred on the theme of “I am with you on the journey, I will never leave you; you are mine” and inspired enthusiastic participation from all.

For further information on the Personal Advocacy ministry contact Sue on 9275 5388. Go with strength:

Knights challenged to know what’s important

Port Pirie Bishop Eugene Hurley recently challenged members of the Knights of the Southern Cross to discern between the necessary and the important things in life.

Bishop Hurley made the challenge during the opening Mass of the fourth Triennial National Conference of the KSC held in Adelaide from May 19 to 21.

KSC members from around Australia attended the event, including Western Australian members Peter Lewis, Chris Hunt, Nigel Haywood, Joe Palandri, Peter Murray and Neville Ward.

State Chaplain Fr Brian O’Loughlin was also present for the occasion and said the conference was organised to consider the Objects of the Order.

Knights of the Southern Cross aim to promote the advancement of Australia, foster the Christian way of life, promote the welfare of the members and their families, conduct and support educational, charitable, religious and social welfare work and encourage social and intellectual activities among the

members. KSC National Chaplain Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, who gave the homily for the opening Mass, spoke about the importance of the Christian calling, making reference to Australian spiritual writer Bishop Eugene Cuskelly.

Liberal Member for Sturt Christopher Pyne, who made the

first presentation of the Conference, spoke of his personal witnessing to the Catholic faith in Parliament and of his juggling electorate demands with family commitments as husband and father. “He establishes his priority by setting aside Saturday as family day,” Fr O’Loughlin said.

“He acknowledged his debt of

gratitude to the strong faith he received from his parents, supported by Catholic education.

“In Parliament and his electorate, he readily admits the Catholic perspective he brings to issues and discussions.”

“He also said that his constituents may not agree with him, but they admire his stand on values and ethical issues.”

Fr O’Loughlin also detailed that a consistently recurring question of the conference was how does the KSC attract new and younger members?

“The Knights are not alone in finding it difficult to attract new members,” Fr Loughlin said.

“Spiritual formation of the members distinguishes the Knights from service clubs.”

The conference ended with the investiture of the new National Office bearers, David Huppatz, of South Australia as Supreme Knight, Peter Lewis, of Western Australia as Deputy Supreme Knight, and Rod Mills of Queensland as National Secretary.

Morley couple’s shining example help poor in India

■ By Sylvia Defendi

Inspired during a rosary prayer meeting in Perth with Sr Rosa Mary, a Servite sister from Narrogin, Nick and Bernadette D’Amico, of Infant Jesus parish in Morley donated enough money to Catholic Mission to fund the much needed purchase of a minibus for blind children in India.

Sr Rosa Mary, whose brother Fr Henry Amirtharaj runs a rehabilitation centre for blind children in Tamil Nadu, witnessed the couple’s desire to help these children in a very practical way.

The minibus purchased will allow hundreds of blind and physically handicapped children to access regular schooling.

“This is typical of more than 2,700 projects in child health and education for developing countries around the world, through donations to Catholic Mission Office in Perth,” said WA director of Catholic Missions, Francis Leong.

Mr and Mrs D’Amico visited the centre for disabled children recently and were warmly welcomed by the all the students, teachers and carers who demonstrated their gratitude by acknowledging their names in large print on the side of their prized possession.

“The D’Amico’s are a shining example of many Catholic families in Perth who, inspired by prayer and devotion to Mary, act as a solid vessel of God’s Love to the suffering children of our world,” said Mr Leong.

Tragedies wanted

■ By Jamie O’Brien

ASydney author is on the lookout for women who would be interested in sharing their story of tragedy.

Linda Baraciolli-Cox is in the beginning stages of writing a collection of true stories about Catholic women in Australia who have overcome serious issues in their life. The book will feature little known as well as more prominent Catholic women.

The issues will encompass a range of challenges women face, such as abortion, infertility, teen pregnancy, raising children, separation, divorce, depression, mental illness, eating disorders, suicide, abuse and same-sex attraction.

“Catholic women who are going through struggles often feel insecure about sharing personal information with others, particularly in the context of the Parish community,” Mrs Baraciolli-Cox said.

“While the Church has compassion and understanding, often women feel that individuals within the Church community would look upon them differently if they knew the truth about their life,”

“Through the book, the individual finds an understanding friend and ‘sister’ in Christ, without having to reveal her own personal situation,” “She can connect with other Catholic women who have been through the same nightmare – or even worse – and survived,”

Interested women can contact Ms Baracioli-Cox on 0404 931 031 or via email at llcox13@yahoo.com.au.

Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton imparts a blessing on a volunteer of the Personal Advocacy Service.

Linda Baraciolli-Cox

New National KSC Office Bearers David Huppatz, Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, Rod Mills and Peter Lewis.

Photo courtesy Chris Hunt

Mission accomplished: Fr Henry Amirtharaj with some of the disadvantaged children the bus will assist.

Photo courtesy Fr Henry Amirtharaj

“Establishment” political parties W

estern democracies tend to make a big fuss about how clever they are because they have achieved the separation of Church and State, with no religion formally ‘established’ as the religion of the State. The unashamed exception, of course, is Britain where the monarch and anyone remotely connected to the line of succession cannot become a Catholic without penalty. It is hard to tell whether this is a greater insult to Catholics or to the royal family. It is, however, a useful reminder that the greatest need for the separation of Church and State was caused by the common tendency of kings, princes and emperors to impose whatever religion they thought would suit them best at the time.

In our own part of the world, and in quite a few others, the separation of Church and State is now so badly understood that we are constantly being told that MPs may not consider their religious or moral views when debating legislation. Atheists can impose whatever views they like, as can all other ‘ists’ like communists or socialists, but the spiritual and moral understanding of human nature that has been the foundation of our law and democracy is no longer welcome in the public square, according to many. When we don’t understand the meaning of what we stand for, we are likely to repeat errors of the past even if in different form.

Miracle ignored

I read Paul Gray’s article on Nguyen Tuong Van [RIP] with interest and thoroughly empathised with Julian McMahon’s concern that Australia ‘is suffering from a pervasive absence of rigorous intellectual debate, on issues, particularly moral issues,and issues concerning justice.’

Principle of death the same

Like many of your readers I was deeply moved to read Paul Gray’s interview with Julian McMahon, the lawyer who defended the luckless Nguyen Tuong Van executed by the Singapore Government last December.

McMahon’s life-changing experience as a result of his friendship with Van and his sympathy for his young client make his arguments for the universal abolition of capital punishment all but incontestable. The case for abolition was further emphasised by the report about the anaesthetists refusing to cooperate in an execution in California which was printed immediately below the McMahon interview – surely not an editorial coincidence! To borrow King Edward Vll’s oft-quoted boast about being socialists, “We are all abolitionists now-a-days.”

But are we?

PO Box 75, Leederville, WA 6902

Today, it is our political potentates agreeing to establish their particular kinds of politics as integral parts of the structure of the State. It comes in the form of Liberal Party support for the Labor Party’s proposal that the State will pay incumbent political parties in order to help them remain incumbent and in order to ensure that change in the political order will be very hard to achieve. All sorts of arguments will be advanced to justify this, but you can be fairly sure that no one will attempt to explain how existing political parties suddenly gained a place in our constitutional structure so that they can be paid by the State while potential opponents will not be.

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

Parties have no formal place in Parliament or government. Members of Parliament are elected by their communities as individuals. Their oath of office requires them only to swear personal loyalty and integrity in their actions towards to the State collectively and towards the individuals with whom they deal in the course of their parliamentary duties. Premiers are invited to form governments only because they can command the support of the majority of MPs in the Legislative Assembly. Constitutionally, any MP is entitled to allocate his support to the Ayes or the Noes on any issue presented to Parliament.

“In our own part of the world, and in quite a few others, the separation of Church and State is now so badly understood that we are constantly being told that MPs may not consider their religious or moral views when debating legislation.”

Most important of all, any citizen is entitled to stand for election to Parliament against any other citizen on an equal footing. It is the essence of democracy that all citizens are equal under the constitution and in law. Under this proposal put forward by Labor and now supported by the Liberals, this equality has been abandoned. Those who have been elected before will now be paid by the State to give them a financial advantage to seek re-election. The fact that WA is the last Australian State to do this does not make it any less duplicitous that Parliament is about to ‘establish’ existing political parties at the expense of any future parties that clear thinking and decency might bring forward.

We have been conditioned for this for a long time. For the last 25 years, at least, Labor MPs have always announced personal decisions “for the good of the party”, never for the good of the parliament, the people or the State. Few people, inside or outside the party, have recognised that this is a fundamental betrayal of their oath of office. The pre-eminence of the party has also been shown by the recent appointment of the state president of the ALP to a government position that should not exist. It is only the second time in Australian history that such an appointment has been made. The first was in 1983 when, shortly after his election, Brian Burke appointed the then state president of the ALP (now the late Tom Butler) as industrial relations adviser to the Premier, despite the fact that Burke had a Minister for Industrial Relations and a department to do that job for him. The position existed until Mr Butler was elected an MLC in 1986, whereupon it became unnecessary. Back in 1983, the Liberals and many others in the community shook their heads in sorrow that an almost unassailable standard had so easily fallen.

Alan Carpenter has repeated the dose within months of his appointment, and now we find the Liberals agreeing to unprincipled, undemocratic and unconstitutional public funding of political parties. Sadly, we cannot look to our constitution for protection because it was given to us as a mess by the British and none of our political leaders since has had the wisdom or the courage to convert it into a proper constitution entrenched in the people.

I would add that there is also a grave absence of ‘rigorous intellectual debate’ on anything concerning the origin of human beings and their ultimate destiny.Never was this more evident than in the ‘cheque book journalism’ of Channel Nine and how it portrayed the rescue of the two miners at Beaconsfield in Tasmania

Previously, the townspeople had been reported as saying that a miracle had occurred when the miners were found alive.

Channel Nine studiously chose to ignore asking anyone [particularly the miners and their families] who they thought it was that had performed the miracle. Moreover, millions of people around the world had offered prayers for their safety, yet this fact was ignored too.

I didn’t expect the program to be conducted on spiritual terms exclusively but I had expected some spiritual substance in the questions put to these to men.

After all they could have died at any moment [through further rock falls] in the two weeks they were trapped.

Consequently,the program turned out to be nothing more than two hours of hyped up anthropocentricity -glorifying man instead of God as the centre of the universe.

Instead the miners’ fears at having their legs pinned by rock was exploited for the sake of this empty ‘religion’.

The mercy and goodness of God [or even whether He might exist at all] did not enter into the dialogue at any point.

Pointing out these quite legitimate and logical arguments through letters to Editors one correspondent [an unbeliever] chastised me by saying it was absurd of me to expect that the men speak only in religious terms and that it was religion that was the major cause of prob-

Archbishop Hickey calls for prayers for rain

At the recent Council of Priests meeting the Archbishop spoke of the critical situation existing in the wheatbelt. A number of the priests on the Council come from country

Does anyone else note the irony in the appearance of the McMahon interview and accompanying arguments for complete abolition of the death penalty in The Record in the same week that the Western world rejoiced at the news that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was - in a real sense - “summarily executed”. I hold no brief for Zarqawi – far from it – and clearly there is no comparison between the enormity of his crimes and what may have been the venial sin of Van. But the principle, surely, is the same. Both were put to death by the state, the one to the sound of universal applause; the other to the protests of all who oppose the death penalty.

To be consistent should we not admit that the death penalty should be retained under certain clearly defined, extreme circumstances?

Tony Evans East Fremantle

lems in the world today. That the men were not given the opportunity to say anything remotely spiritual did not seem to concern this writer at all.

This strangulation of meaningful debate by large sections of the media and the irrationality of the secularists in our society whose major desire is to silence or ridicule anyone who dares to write or speak on any subject in a spiritual vein shows that there is a great intellectual and spiritual emptiness in our society about the things that really matter.

Patricia Halligan Riverside Gardens

Opinion disgrace

I refer to the report by Paul Gray on page 6 of The Record of June 8, 2006 which states that “high-profile” Jesuit Priest Fr Frank Brennan criticised “church leaders” who oppose the deliberate creation of embryos through IVF as being at odds with “the conscience of the nation”.

Fr Brennan’s remarks came in a speech given to a Catholic schools’ parents and friends group in Queensland.

One “Church Leader” who was totally opposed to the IVF process for the reason that excess ‘disposable’ embryos are created by it (besides other objectionable aspects of IVF), was Pope John-Paul II.

In his Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) he wrote:

“The various techniques of

areas and spoke of the desperate situation of farmers, many of whom have not even been able to commence seeding.

The Archbishop wants every Parish, School and Religious Community to pray for rain until the heavens open.

“City people”, he said, “are

artificial reproduction... actually open the door to new threats against life.

“Apart from the fact that they are morally unacceptable, since they separate procreation from the fully human context of the conjugal act, these techniques have a high rate of failure: not just failure in relation to fertilisation but with regard to the subsequent development of the embryo, which is exposed to the risk of death, generally within a very short space of time.

“Furthermore, the number of embryos produced is often greater than that needed for implantation in the woman’s womb and these so-called “spare embryos” are then destroyed or used for research which, under the pretext of scientific or medical progress, in fact reduces human life to the level of simple “biological material” to be freely disposed of.”

This teaching could not be clearer and I suggest that Catholics read the entire Encyclical for themselves.

Written with great authority, it contains much more on this whole subject than the brief quote I have reproduced above.

The morality of an action is not determined by “the conscience of the nation” which can easily, in some circumstances, also be moral relativism.

The infallible teachings of the Magisterium, on the other hand, are our sure guide - nothing else.

Jerome Gonzalez Willetton

often unaware of the plight of the farmers yet most of the fresh produce they eat comes from our agricultural areas.”

“Let us show solidarity with them by asking God in his providence to send rain now to ensure good crops and a livelihood for the farmers”, he said.

Growing the Church of Asia Vista

In a continent with more than 4 billion people, a mere 110 million are Catholic in Asia. As Pope, John Paul II envisioned a bright future for Christianity in Asia - one that newly-elected Benedict XVI is trying to replicate. tGerard O’Connell reports.

Catholics in Asia rejoiced when Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would give red hats to the archbishops of Manila, Seoul and Hong Kong. Many read it as an indicator of his personal interest in the Church in Asia; some gave it a more political interpretation.

John Paul II envisaged a bright future for Christianity and the Church in Asia, a continent where two-thirds of humanity lives but where Catholics are a tiny minority - a mere 110 million out of 4 billion at the end of 2002.

Pope Benedict seems to share his predecessor’s vision, and has followed developments there with interest and sometimes too with concern, particularly in the fields of theology and the dialogue with other religions, and in the area of religious freedom.

The Philippines is the only Catholic country in this vast continent: 80 per cent of its 81.5 million people are Catholic, 7.5 per cent Protestant and 5 per cent Muslim. Manila is the largest diocese and for many years its archbishop - the legendary Cardinal Sin who died in June 2005 - gave extraordinary moral leadership to the whole nation at some of its most difficult moments in recent history.

Pope John Paul II chose Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, a profoundly spiritual and humble man, to succeed Sin as pastor to the 2.7 million Catholics in the Manila archdiocese.

Many, if not most, of his flock are poor people, and Rosales though far less political than Sin has spoken out strongly on their behalf, demanding that central government and local authorities work to improve their sad condition.

He could be called to give even greater moral leadership to the nation if the political situation in the country were to deteriorate further.

When Benedict XVI named him cardinal on February 22, it came as no surprise. The news was received with great joy in the Philippines, and 12 bishops and many Filipinos are due in Rome when he receives the red hat.

Rosales is the sixth Filipino cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church. The first - Rufino Santos was created by Pope John XXIII on March 28, 1960. In the event of

a conclave, the Philippine Church would now have two cardinal electors: Ricardo Vidal, 75, archbishop of Cebu, and Rosales.

The second Asian cardinal named by Pope Benedict was Korea’s Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, the 74-year-old archbishop of Seoul (South Korea) and apostolic administrator of Pyong-Yang (North Korea).

He was number eight on the list of 12 new cardinal electors - that is, cardinals under the age of 80 with the right to vote in a conclave. Like Rosales in Manila, Pope John Paul II chose Cheong Jin-suk on April 3, 1998 to step into the shoes of one of the giants of the Church in Asia who was universally recognised for his moral authority: Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, the first Korean cardinal, created by Pope Paul VI in 1969.

total population, however, does not profess any religion. Since 1978, the Catholic Church has been growing rapidly in South Korea, at an average rate of 4% per year, and vocations have flourished.

At one stage it was the fastest growing Church in the world, but in more recent years that growth has slowed somewhat.

future conclave, until he reaches the age of 80. Beside the national pride, however, shortly after his nomination a local on-line media site in Seoul revealed a sadder, more personal aspect in the life of the new cardinal: he has never seen his own father.

last of the 12 new cardinal-electors named by Pope Benedict: Joseph Zen Ze-kuin, the courageous and outspoken Chinese bishop of Hong Kong.

Vatican sources say the Pope wanted to create a new Chinese cardinal and, in this way, to honour the Chinese people and, in particular, all Chinese Catholics.

Today, 9.3 per cent of Korea’s 49 million people are Catholic, Protestants count for 18 per cent, Buddhists 25 per cent. Half of the

As archbishop of Seoul, the new cardinal, is pastor to the 1.27 million Catholics in a city of 10 million people. He is also apostolic administrator to a tiny flock on the other side of the demilitarised zone, in Pyong-yang (North Korea), but he has no space to work there.

All Koreans rejoiced at his nomination: they considered it good news that one of their people had become an international leader; “they feel recognised as a major presence in the international community and in the Universal Church,” one South Korean source said.

They know too that the new cardinal will have a right to vote in a

At the time Nicholas - the future cardinal - was born in December 1931, his father was imprisoned under Japanese colonial rule following an incident involving the Communist Party. After his release, he left his wife and went on to become a vice-secretary in a government ministry in Communist-ruled North Korea, but was reportedly removed from his post in a purge in the late 1950s, following an internal struggle in the North Korean Communist Party.

John Paul II envisaged a bright future for Christianity and the Church in Asia, a continent where two-thirds of humanity lives but where Catholics are a tiny minority. Pope Benedict seems to share his predecessor’s vision

Many factors converged in his decision to give the red hat to the 74-year-old Shanghai-born bishop of Hong Kong, particularly the fact that he heads the diocese with the largest number of Chinese Catholics in the world.

The cardinal’s only comment: “I heard of my father, but not so much:’

While most of the press never even picked up on that detail, the entire world’s media pounced on the

Ideally, the Pope would have liked to name one or more cardinals in mainland China, but that was not possible as the Holy See and China have not yet established diplomatic relations, or indeed any kind of formal and friendly relationship such as those that exist, for example, between Vietnam and the Holy See. If the Pope had named a cardinal in mainland China in the absence of any formal relations between the Holy See and China, the authorities in Beijing would almost certainly have considered it interference in the internal affairs of their country,

Praying for unity: The Pope would have liked to name one or more Cardinals in mainland China, but that has not been possible because the Vatican and China have not established diplomatic relations.

Photo: CNS

Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk

Zen Ze-kuin

Gaundencio Rosales

Training in the Faith

Precepts show us the proper form for spiritual fitness; whether we do the repetitions is up to us

By

■

CT Maier

When last Christmas fell on Sunday, many Protestant megachurches in the US raised some eyebrows when they announced that they were cancelling their Sunday services.

“No one was going to show’ ministers said.

“Besides, Christmas is a day for families, isn’t it?”

Cancelling Sunday Mass, let alone Mass on one of the holiest days on the Church calendar, would never enter a Catholic’s mind, but it fits Protestant theology. While Protestants consider specific actions, like attending church or fasting, to be important for Christians, they aren’t obligations. In Protestant thinking, you can miss something like Sunday church services if conscience, or convenience, dictates otherwise.

For Catholics, though, being a Christian is a way of life and a journey of body and soul. It involves participation in the Church’s liturgical life. The “precepts of the Church” define what that liturgical life entails.

Bound and nourished

The precepts name the basics of Catholic life. Some, like Sunday Mass attendance, are so ingrained that Catholics can be puzzled a Protestant church cancels Sunday services that happen to fall on Christmas.

The list is short, but complete. “The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life” the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches (see Page 12 for Catechism citations).

They “guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbour” (No. 2041).

Notice how the definition works. Through the precepts, Catholics simultaneously find themselves “bound” and “nourished.” The obligations are binding - not accepting them is an occasion of sin - but instead of telling us what not to do, they tell us what we can do to grow as Christians “in love of God and neigh-

bour.” These aren’t petty rules but spiritual commands for our spiritual and moral health. We become better Christians - and better people - by obeying them.

“The Church establishes [the precepts] to help guide the members of the Church,” said Mgr Daniel Kutys, deputy secretary for catechesis for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. “They give positive direction on how to live.”

List shifts

with needs

The task of defining the precepts of the Church falls to the bishops because of their governance role. Though the intent and purpose has remained the same, the list of precepts has changed over time and has varied from place to place. At some points in history, some bishops have counted as many as 10 precepts. At others, fewer have held.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church currently lists five:

• Attending Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation;

• Confessing one’s sins at least once a year;

• Receiving the Eucharist during the Easter season;

• Observing days of fast and abstinence;

• Providing for the material needs of the Church. This is the basic list for all churches around the world, though bishops in different countries may add more.

In 1978, for example, the US bishops added two precepts binding on American Catholics but not here in Australia or elsewhere. The US

Church follows the five from the Catechism and two others: obeying the Church’s marriage laws and joining in the missionary spirit of the Church.

Though they may not always seem easy to follow, each obligation speaks to a dif-

Through the precepts Catholics simultaneously find themselves “bound” and and “nourished”.

ferent part of Christian life. Taken together, they lay the foundation for being a complete Christian.

Colouring in the lines

The Christian life is a work of inspired creativity. With broad strokes, the precepts draw the lines of the Christian life. They encourage us in the basic disciplines of living a sacramental life and encourage us in our families and our world. They help us know what to do, but the precepts are the only the beginning. We would be poor artists if we remained content with a half-completed canvas. We need to colour in the lines. We can respect the design the Church sets before us, proceeding with reverence and care. Or we can be haphazard Christians, doing what we will. Will the portrait of our lives be a thing of beauty, or a scribbled mess?

Second precept: Confess your sins at least once a year

The second precept encourages us to lead a sacramental life by obliging us to receive the sacrament of reconciliation at least once a year if we have sinned seriously.

Some Catholics may find confession intimidating. Others may go through life making excuses that they haven’t done anything bad enough to confess.

But instead of being a chore to avoid, confession is really a fundamental part of a healthy Catholic spiritual life. Confession isn’t a sign that something is wrong with us, but a sign that something is truly right.

“All have sinned,” St Paul says (Rom 3:23). We all fall short of God in our actions, thoughts and attitudes. Regardless of what we

may feel or think about confession, we still need it. Sin hurts our relationship with God, the Church and others.

But Jesus gives us a second chance, no matter what we do. He calls everyone to a life of continuing conversion, in which we “turn toward” him and away from our sins.

The Church teaches that Christ instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation to give us the chance of recommitting our lives to him, even after we fail. The obligation of receiving penance at least once a year reminds us of our need to examine our lives to see where we have gone wrong and what we need to change. Going to confession isn’t a guilt trip but a path toward growing our faith in Christ.

Third precept: Receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter Season

The Synod of Bishops held in 2005, which focussed on the Eucharist, underlined the essential, universal nature of the Eucharist in the life of the Church. Catholics are a people of the Eucharist.

Given the centrality of the Eucharist in Catholic life, it’s not surprising that it makes its way onto the list of precepts.

The choice is up to us.

First precept: Attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from unnecessary labour

The first precept goes all the way back to the Ten Commandments: “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day” (Ex 20:8). From the earliest days of the Church, Christians were setting aside the first day of the week, Sunday, to rest and worship the Lord.

isn’t just another day off.

For Catholics, Sunday means attending Mass and making time for rest, family and friends. In making Sabbath-keeping a precept, the Church reminds us to respect God’s command to put him first and devote a day to worshipping him completely. On holy days of obligation, like the Immaculate Conception, Catholics are obliged to attend Mass as well.

Today, though, Sunday has lost significance in our secular culture. For increasing numbers of people, job responsibilities have made Sunday another workday. And for many of us who aren’t required to work, Sunday has become a “second Saturday.” We may use that extra day off to go to the mall, pick up the dry cleaning or even mow the lawn. Sometimes, we may even get a little annoyed when we see a closed shop. But Sunday

For many Catholics, the Easter duty is easy to meet. There are plenty of Masses to choose from during the paschal season, which lasts from the first Sunday of Lent until Trinity Sunday. Our easy access to the Eucharist can some-

times lead Catholics to take the Sacrament for granted. Of course, the Blessed Sacrament wasn’t always readily available in Australia, and it still isn’t in many mission territories around the world. For Catholics in a remote African village, the Easter duty is an obligation they may have to walk miles to meet. And they do.

Even in the most difficult circumstances, Catholics around the world do what it takes to come before the altar during the Easter season. Their devotion is a testament to the sacrament’s power and beauty that the precept encourages us to receive.

Fourth precept: Observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church

The precept obligation to fast (which varies in definition from country to country) on certain days gives Catholics an opportunity to slow down and draw nourishment from a different source. It also allows them renew the penitential practice of reparation for sin.

And although not of obligation, Catholics can also choose whether to abstain from meat or to substitute other sacrifices, works of charity or devotions on non-Lenten Fridays as well.

But what if we have to work on Sunday?

Attending Mass is a non-negotiable, of course, but the Church has always understood that people have to work to make a living. The operative word is “unnecessary”: Can we work or run an errand just as easily at some other time? Are we using the Lord’s day to rejuvenate our lives as God asks, or are we buried in busy work just because it’s convenient?

Meeting the Sunday obligation is harder than it may seem. Though we may find it easy to set aside an hour for Mass on Saturday evenings or

Sunday mornings, simply putting in some time in a pew isn’t completely respecting what the Church says.

We need to participate in the liturgy wholeheartedly, and we also need to avoid doing things that get in the way of the rest that God commands. Keeping the Sabbath means planning ahead and organising our lives differently: doing odd jobs on Saturday instead of putting them off to Sunday afternoon, or taking initiative to deepen relationships with family and friends instead of spending the day in front of the television.

The Lord’s day is truly a gift. Receiving it is a blessing.

As acts of penance, fasting and abstinence help us acknowledge the sin in our lives.

One bishop said he regularly abstains from meat on Fridays as an act of reparation for the offenses against life in our culture. In the process, he acknowledges his sorrow at the state of our culture and remembers, in a personal way, some sins that many try to forget.

In the years before the Second Vatican Council, Christians observed many days of fasting throughout the year, and meat was forbidden every Friday.

Today, the obligations are easier. In Australia, only Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of both fast and abstinence.

Fridays of Lent are days of penance but it is up to individuals how they observe these.

The obligation for fasting and abstinence doesn’t fall on young children or people with health concerns, though they are encouraged to do acts of penance instead.

Barring any health concerns that would present extenuating circumstances, the obligation of abstinence begins at the age of 14, and the law of fasting is binding on all adults to the age of 59.

Pastors and parents are to see that minors who are not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are educated in an authentic sense of penance (Canon 1252).

Though the obligations may have been relaxed from the past, we should see days of fasting and abstinence are opportunities to mature as Christians, not as inconveniences. They teach us self-denial, and they help us grow closer to God.

Fifth precept: Help to provide for the needs of the Church

Though Christians have called it by many names, stewardship - giving our time, talents and treasure to the Church - has been one of the precepts for centuries. The fifth precept encourages us to live a life that puts giving to the Church first.

For many Catholics, tithing - donating a tenth of one’s income to the Church - may seem to be relatively new territory, but giving financially is important. Everything that the Church does costs money. Schools cost money, youth groups cost money, and even simple things like crayons and pencils for the catechism program don’t fall from the sky. Someone has to pay for them. Even parishes that seem to have all the money they need still have to balance their budgets and adjust programs with limited resources.

The Church has other needs, too: voices for

the choir, cooks for parish events, catechists for CCD - and even warm, welcoming smiles for parish visitors. Regardless of our age or ability, we all have something to give.

Vocations are also an important way to give. In Australia, vocations to the priesthood and religious life have been declining for decades, even reaching crisis levels in some places.

Encouraging people to pursue priesthood, religious life or lay ministry - or pursuing a vocation yourself- is another important way of providing for the Church’s needs.

For the Gospel to grow in our world, the Church needs our support. Giving to the Church, whether it is with our wallets or our lives, is a leap of faith.Yet, the Church obliges each of us to take that leap and to encourage others to do so as well. - OSV

Building the bridge towards Asia

Continued from Vista 1 and this could have caused considerable problems for the new cardinal.

Furthermore, given the current state of relations between the two sides, the likelihood of the new cardinal being able to travel to Rome for meetings, or for a conclave, appeared to be excluded, particularly in the light of the fact that China refused to allow even one of the four bishops invited by the Pope to attend the October 2005 World Synod of Bishops in the Vatican. Pope Benedict, of course, could

Many interpreted the Pope’s action as a direct challenge to China’s rulers, something Vatican sources categorically denied. Others wondered whether the German born pontiff’s nomination of Zen, a champion of human rights and democracy in Hong Kong, could really serve as a bridge between the Vatican and Beijing.

have named a bishop from Taiwan as the new Chinese cardinal, but that too risked being badly interpreted by Beijing. It would have also meant that Taiwan would then have two cardinals while the People’s Republic of China had none.

In 1998, John Paul II gave the red hat to the Jesuit, mainland-born bishop of Kaohsiung, Paul Shan, now 82 years old, whose resignation the Pope recently accepted.

Balancing all these considerations, and determined to honour the Chinese people and, in particular, all Chinese Catholics, Pope Benedict decided to give the red hat to Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kuin, a member of the Salesian Order, who had actually handed in his resignation last January, in view of the fact that he will reach the retire-

Continued from Vista 3

ment age of 75 on January 13, 2007.

Many interpreted the Pope’s action as a direct challenge to China’s rulers, something Vatican sources categorically denied. Others wondered whether the German born pontiff’s nomination of Zen, a champion of human rights and democracy in Hong Kong, could really serve as a bridge between the Vatican and Beijing.

The authorities in Beijing at first reacted in a low-key manner to Zen’s nomination, with mild comments from the foreign ministry. Not long afterwards, however, a harder, more negative stance seemed to emerge, as reflected in an interview with Reuters, on March 8, given by Liu Bainian, vice-chairman of the Chinese Patriotic Association, a government-sponsored body.

Liu, who had earlier welcomed Zen’s elevation, now told Reuters that the Hong Kong bishop’s promotion indicated Vatican hostility to China. “Bishop Zen is widely known as an opponent of Communism. If China’s bishops were all like him it would be dangerous like Poland,” he said in an obvious reference to

Sixth precept: Observe the marriage laws of the Church

In a world where so many marriages end in divorce and same-sex marriage is a growing issue, many people today are confused about marriage.

The Church teaches that marriage is a permanent bond between a man and a woman.

As one of the sacraments, marriage ties a couple together in love and sets the foundation for raising children in the faith.

By seeing marriage as a sacrament, the Church declares marriage to be a covenant that imparts a special grace and a special vocation to the couple.

As they enter marriage, the husband and wife mirror the relationship of Christ to the Church.

Though popular culture often emphasizes the romantic and sexual side of marriage, the Catholic vision of marriage embraces a love purified by mutual self-sacrifice and self-giving.

In the American culture of nofault divorce and sexual permissiveness, this precept emphasizes the need for Catholics to respect the bond of marriage and embrace it for the countercultural choice it is.

Obviously, a large part of this pre-

cept involves following the Church’s teachings on marriage and its guidance on natural family planning.

Yet, the sixth precept also obliges married people to make a deep commitment to their marriage and family.

Children are a vital part of married life, and they deserve to be loved and to have a vital relationship with their parents. They also deserve a relationship with God.

Parents are obligated to love each other and their families and to pass their faith on to their children.

John Paul II’s role in bringing down Communism in his homeland.

Later, however, Liu seemed to backtrack, when he told UCAN, the main Catholic news agency in Asia, that “this is not my view,” and claimed to be only reflecting the views of others in China who were not Catholics.

Cardinal Zen, for his part, hit the right note when he described his appointment as “a sign of special benevolence of the Holy Father for the Chinese people.”

He thinks the Pope named him cardinal “probably because of my experience in mainland China, more than what I have done in Hong Kong.”

Zen taught in seminaries in the mainland from 1989 until 1996, when John Paul II appointed him as coadjutor bishop. He later succeeded Cardinal John Baptist Wu Cheng-chung as bishop of Hong Kong in 2002.

As the sixth Chinese cardinal in the history of the Church - Pope Pius XII created the first, Thomas Tienken-sin, in 1946 - Zen will certainly be called upon by the Pope

In a society that values individual freedom over anything else, marriage roots us to family and obliges us to love and care for them.

As our social fabric continues to unravel, the precepts of the Church encourage us to understand marriage as more than a legal contract, more than a cultural convenience.

and the Vatican for his input on matters concerning the Catholic Church in China. As a cardinal elector, he might also be called to vote for the next Pope in a future conclave, if such were to take place before he reaches the age of 80. No Chinese cardinal voted in the last conclave. In matters regarding negotiations for the establishment of diplomatic relations, however, Vatican officials have stated clearly on several occasions that the Holy See has not, and does not intend to delegate to any person or group, the

authority to negotiate on its behalf. Zen knows this.

Vatican officials have repeatedly said that the Holy See wants to engage “in direct negotiations” with Beijing. They are willing to sit down at the negotiating table with China, as soon as the authorities in Beijing indicate their own willingness to do so. How, and in what way, Cardinal Zen can help promote better relations between the Holy See and China, and hasten the day when the two sides agree to establish diplomatic relations, remains to be seen.

- Gerard O’Connell, an Irish journalist, lives in Rome.

Seventh precept: Join in the missionary spirit and apostolate of the Church

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all of all nations,” Jesus commanded the apostles (Mt 28:19). His command is for us as well.

The Church of Jesus Christ has a mission in the world: to win souls for Christ, care for souls, clothe the naked, feed the poor, heal the sick and teach those who need knowledge.

Every parish is full of ministries that need workers. With the “new evangelisation” proposed

by Pope John Paul II, the entire world is our mission field. The seventh and final precept obliges us to participate in the new evangelization, pursuing vocations to the priesthood, religious life or lay ministry, volunteering at soup kitchens, becoming catechists or helping out in whatever way we can.

In the workplace, we are obliged to share our faith and be leaven in a secular world.

The obligation to join in the apostolic mission of the Church reminds us that we must serve in addition to being served, that we must give as well as take. The first six precepts build our faith. In the seventh, our faith reaches out to help save the world.

Cardinal Cuddle: Philippine Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila is embraced by Pope Benedict XVI during the consistory at the Vatican. Photo: CNS

i say, i say

Timeless echo of the love of God

■ With Mark Reidy

Ionly met Sarah once, many years ago, but I pray that her memory will never fade. She was eighteen years old and had nowhere to call home. The police had found her hitchhiking at night and were at a loss as to what to do with her.

As I had worked with abused young women for a number of years, Sarah’s appearance was tragically familiar to me. The dull eyes, scarfilled forearms (from self-inflicted wounds), the immodest dress, the difficultly in focusing on one subject and the limited eye contact ensured that I was not surprised when, after 15 minutes of casual chatting, she disclosed a history of prolonged sexual abuse.

Her father had been the per-

Unity

is strength: In a time of suffering and pain, unity with Christ will help a person to work through their difficulties.

petrator and he had begun from at least the age of ten – “probably before that”, she said, “but I can’t really remember.” She recounted, almost clinically, the terror that had she lived with for many years. This was at a time when I had only just begun my own

Christian journey and I remember angrily questioning God in my mind, “Where were you when this was happening?”

He must have heard me, because the answer came in her next breath, “I guess I could have run away when I got older”, she said, “But I

couldn’t leave me little sister. He hadn’t touched her yet and I wanted to make sure he never did. I thought that if I was there for him to do it to, then he would leave her alone.” I remember my hands clenching tightly as tears welled in my eyes. I didn’t know what to say.

I would later recall the words of John, Chapter 15, “No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.” Sarah’s sacrifice was a timeless echo of the love of God. She had chosen to suffer and die (in so many ways) for the salvation of her sister. Whether she realised or not, she had united her sufferings with those of Christ and He had remained always with her.

I came to realise that if “God is love” (John 4:3) and God is, “the same yesterday and today and for ever” (Heb 13:8) then despite an individual’s choice to sin or hate, this love can never be extinguished.

Only Divine intervention could have resurrected love from within the tortured body of this young girl. While she may have enveloped herself in a casing of self-loathing, there remained a spark within her that would always be there. It was this ember that ignited love from beneath the ashes of evil. Only God could have salvaged it from amidst the loneliness, betrayal and pain that was Sarah’s Gethsemane.

Her story gives me hope. At a time when hate, fear and selfishness seem to take centre stage in our world, it reminds me that there will always be a light behind the darkness.

It reminds me that the love of God is eternal.

responses: reidyrec@iinet.net.au

Family creates a flourishing person and future

At a recent get-together with my parents and all but one of my six siblings and their families, I was struck by the fact that though we all remember different things, one thing we agree on is that we always felt loved, and first learned love in the heart of a loving family. Not, I hasten to add, a perfect family, but a loving one. There isn’t one of us that ever felt unwanted, I don’t think there is one of us that wishes they were never born - except in that frivolous way you do when you have damaged the new car and have to ‘fess up’.

I think it is a great pity that so few people think there is any benefit attached to having more than a couple of children, let alone sing the praises of such a choice! But I had a wonderful, happy childhood, wanted for nothing and felt loved and safe - and it had nothing to do with being rich or poor. What it did have to do with was my family. We didn’t think about it consciously, we just accepted that lots of children came as a corollary of a loving marriage, a gift to be welcomed, simply because that is what happened in our family. We only gradually became aware of the responsibilities and worries that our parents cheerfully undertook to bring us up. We didn’t always make it easy, either. We were often naughty, frequently difficult and always noisy - but always loved. And we had such fun!

Now, as an adult and parent of five, I still believe there’s still a lot to be said for bigger families. We didn’t have Game Boys, but it’s amazing how much fun you can have just climbing trees, especially with thick foliage to hide you as you dropped honky nuts on unsuspecting passers-by. And an old scooter, an ancient tin car and a 44 gallon drum when combined with a fairly decent gradient can not only provide hours of harmless (well, almost) fun, but have great educational value - gravity, momentum, centrifugal force, inertia, and the

Catherine Parish @ home

list goes on! Individuality seems to flourish in a healthy large family; but also a sense of belonging quite specifically to a group becomes very strong. There is always someone to play with, to whinge to, to be in trouble with, to blame. You learn the fact that you won’t always get on with everyone all the time, but that getting on with people most of the time makes life easier. You also learn, conversely, to stand up for yourself. You learn the pain of injustice and the healing power of forgiveness and love. You learn to read the signals of body language - at a very early age; otherwise you never know when to run! You learn the pleasure of close companionship and have a precursor of that wonderful closeness of spirit that is supposed to develop in a marriage.

I know now that there is no learning curve for parenthood no matter how many children you have - it is a vertical line of unexpectedness between earth and heaven and you never entirely get to grips with it - like a greasy pole. But I can say from experience so far, the unquantifiable, frequently unexpected and often indescribable joys of life in a large family are still very much there, and for the difficulties the answer is still the same one I learnt from my parents; faith, hope and love - and sometimes just straight-out grim determination.

The World

Da Vinci a marketing coup for Church

Church handled ‘Da Vinci’ well, says Michigan marketing professor

■ By Joe Kohn

There were no excommunications or top-down, churchwide boycotts to oppose “The Da Vinci Code,” the movie many Christians believe distorts the legacy of Jesus Christ.

With a ready-made audience owing to huge sales of the novel of the same name, not to mention copious advance publicity, the movie had a strong box-office opening around the globe.

But according to University of Detroit Mercy marketing professor Michael Bernacchi, such a tempered response from the Catholic Church was exactly what the situation called for.

“The Church as a formal, institutional body could not have handled it any better,” Bernacchi said after the movie’s first week in theatres. “I think they’re at the top of their game.”

The movie - which was classified as “morally offensive” by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office for Film & Broadcastingmade more than $77 million in its first weekend, according to the movie industry Web site BoxOfficeMojo.com.

“The Da Vinci Code” is centered on a “religious symbologist,” played

by Tom Hanks, who uncovers a church-facilitated conspiracy to hide the “fact” that Christ had children by St Mary Magdalene, resulting in a continuous bloodline that has survived to the present day.

A highly touted adaptation of a best-selling novel by author Dan Brown, the movie got off to a rocky start at the popular Cannes Film Festival in France, where it was jeered by some critics, but that was because of its artistic execution rather than its anti-Christian

content. But despite the bad press, BoxOfficeMojo.com reports that the movie had the second-largest opening among pictures geared for adults, trailing only Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie, “The Passion of the Christ” - ironically considered by many the most pro-Christian film to hit theatres. Still, Bernacchi said, if the Pope had spoken strongly against “The Da Vinci Code” or had the Vatican pleaded with Catholics to boycott the film, it might have prompted more people to see it.

“Anytime you pronounce you’re against anything, inevitably that has some impact on the folks who are on the edges,” he told The Michigan Catholic, newspaper of the Detroit Archdiocese.

As it is, Catholics and other Christians organised some opposition to the movie, including some prelates, pastors, Catholic television and radio hosts, and especially the personal prelature of Opus Dei, which was portrayed in Brown’s novel and in the film as a secretive

cult within the Church plotting to take over the Church and willing to kill those who stand in its way.

Opus Dei formally requested a disclaimer notifying the audiences that the movie is, indeed, fiction. Anglican officials in London banned the movie’s producers from filming scenes in Westminster Abbey. Several Catholic and non-Catholic television programs also have been created to point out the falsehoods of “The Da Vinci Code.” Bernacchi said vocal opposition to the film did help make it more popular - but it didn’t help too much. Brown’s novel already was popular, with 60 million copies of the book sold before the movie debuted. “Inevitably, it probably helped the box office a little bit - but there’s very little box office that needed help,” Bernacchi said. “The fact remains that 60 million books were sold.” A USA Today/ Gallup Poll of 1,013 adults indicates that most who see “The Da Vinci Code” don’t plan on letting it shape their religious perspective.

Most adults polled - 72 percent - said they see such work as entertainment rather than commentary on religion. Seventy-two percent also said a movie wouldn’t affect their religious beliefs. In an episode of Detroit Cardinal Adam J. Maida’s talk show, “Dialogue,” that aired on the Catholic Television Network of Detroit, the cardinal urged Catholics to adhere to the truth of Christ, despite popular media’s tendency to mix it with fiction for entertainment purposes. CNS

Cardinal signs up against torture Dropping ‘West’ stirs East

Orthodox express concern about dropping ‘patriarch of the West’ title

■ By Cindy Wooden

The bishops of the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople have expressed concern over Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to drop “patriarch of the West” from his official titles in the Vatican yearbook.

In a June 8 statement, the chief secretary of the Orthodox bishops’ synod said dropping “patriarch of the West” while retaining the titles “vicar of Jesus Christ” and “supreme pontiff of the universal Church” is “perceived as implying a universal jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome over the entire Church, which is something the Orthodox have never accepted.”

The statement was issued after synod members discussed the change during their early June meeting. The Vatican said in March that Pope Benedict dropped the title in the 2006 edition of the Annuario Pontificio because it was theologically imprecise and historically obsolete.

From a Catholic point of view, being in communion with the bishop of Rome - the pope - is neces-

sary for a full expression of being church. But while the Pope exercises full jurisdiction over the entire Latin rite of the Catholic Church around the world, his governance over the Eastern Catholic churches is less direct.

Dropping the title of patriarch in reference to the pope does not minimise the importance of the patriarchal office, particularly in relation to the ancient Eastern churches, said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in a March statement.

“Even less can this suppression be seen as implying new claims” of power or authority on the part of the Vatican, he said. However, members of the Orthodox synod disagreed. From their point of view, “the geographical limits of each ecclesiastical jurisdiction” have been a key part of the structure of the Church from the earliest days of Christianity. The Church as a whole is “a unity of full local churches” and not a monolith divided into local units simply for the sake of easier governance. The Orthodox synod’s statement said that, with the international Catholic-Orthodox theological dialogue set to begin again in September with plans to deal with the “thorny problem” of papal primacy, it would have been better not to have dropped the title without consultation. CNS

Torture ‘morally intolerable,’ says ad signed by cardinal, others

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick joined with 26 other faith leaders on June 13 in calling for a clear US policy against torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of detainees.

The cardinal, the retired archbishop of Washington, was among the signers of an ad in The New York Times sponsored by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

“Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions, in their highest ideals, hold dear,” the advertisement said.

“Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable.”

In a news release, Cardinal McCarrick said every human being has “a special dignity ... that comes from the fact that we are brothers and sisters in God’s one human family.”

“It is because of this that we all feel that torture is a dehumanising and terrible attack against human nature and the respect we owe for each other,” he added.

The release said that although torture has “long been banned by US treaty obligations,” a statement

issued by President George W. Bush at the signing of the McCain Amendment banning the use of torture “implies that the president is not bound by the amendment in his role as commander in chief.”

It was referring to Bush’s signing statement, released on December 30, 2005, when he signed the amendment, which was attached to the Department of Defense Authorisation bill.

Such a statement is an official document in which the president outlines his interpretation of a new law.

Regarding McCain, the president said he would view its limitations on interrogation in the context of protecting national security.

“As such, continued inhumane methods of interrogation remain a real possibility,” the news release added.

Specifically, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture asked Congress and Bush to prohibit: “exemptions from the human rights standards of international law” for any arm of the government; the transfer of suspects to countries that allow torture; the existence of secret US prisons around the world; and any denial of Red Cross access to US detainees.

National religious leaders signing the ad included the Rev. Ted

Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Sayyid M. Syeed, national director of the Islamic Society of North America; Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; and Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Centre of Reform Judaism.

Among the other signers were Nobel laureates Elie Wiesel and former US President Jimmy Carter; Jesuit Father William J. Byron, a professor at Loyola College in Maryland; Mary Ellen O’Connell, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame; the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Rabbi Jerome M. Epstein, executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; and Maher Hathout of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture was launched in January at a conference in Princeton, New Jersey.

It lists Pax Christi USA and Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns as participating members and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men as an endorsing member.

Tom Hanks stars in a scene from the movie “The Da Vinci Code.”

PHOTO: CNS

The World

Oh, to be a Christian soccer star!

Dutch churchman praises online contest for Christian soccer star

■ By Jonathan Luxmoore

ADutch bishops’ spokesman has welcomed the launch of an online contest to elect a Christian soccer star during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

“There’s a lot of resistance to the idea that a footballer can also be a Christian,” said Pieter Kohnen, spokesman for the Utrecht-based Dutch bishops’ conference. “It’s good to show that players who’ll become superstars during this tournament are also spiritual people who believe in Christ. It’s a great way of evangelising where you wouldn’t normally expect it.”

Gristelijk, a group of Dutch Catholic and Protestant teachers and lecturers, published a list of 11 leading Christian soccer stars on its Web site, www.gristelijk.nl. Visitors can vote for their favourite in the site’s right column.

Kohnen said he hoped the players, who include several Catholics, would speak openly about their faith. “Your personal religious beliefs aren’t something you draw attention to at that level,” Kohnen said in a June 12 telephone interview with Catholic News Service. “But even here in the Netherlands, players often make the sign of the cross when they step onto the pitch

or score goals. Any personal feedback, explaining the gesture - why they want to thank God at such a moment - would be helpful.”

Unveiling the Web site initiative, Gristelijk said it was inviting votes for World Cup players who showed they are “not ashamed about their Christian faith” during the June 9July 9 tournament in Germany.

The 11 on the list include three Brazilians, two South Koreans and two Dutch players, as well as two US players, Brian McBride and Tim Howard, and a Ghanaian, Sammy Kuffour. The list also includes Andranik Teymourian, the only Christian on the Iranian team.

Speaking after arriving in

Germany on June 4, Teymourian, 23, told Agence France-Presse, “In terms of being a religious minority, I’ve got no problem, and relations are really good at the heart of the team.”

One of the online poll’s organisers, Menno Rasch, said the site selected “only players who’ve chosen to be open about their Christianity.”

“Some have given their name to Christian organisations and openly supported the churches. They’ve given a great example of how one can be Christian in such a public way,” he told CNS on June 12.

Catholics make up a third of the 15 million inhabitants of the Netherlands, although only 8

percent attend church. In a June pastoral letter, the Dutch bishops urged Catholics to be more active in spreading the Gospel in the heavily secularised country, whose seven Catholic dioceses are expected to ordain only 11 priests in 2006.

Kohnen said the Gristelijk initiative contradicted “the usual way of talking about footballers.”

“You have to look for Christians in the sports world, especially those who can be challenged to speak about their faith,” he said. “But although superstars don’t usually give much away about their personal beliefs, there could be a lot more practicing Christians among them than we expect.” CNS

Japanese martyrs

The canonisation process is proceeding for 188 17th-century Japanese martyrs who were decapitated, burned at the stake or scalded to death in the boiling water of a volcanic hot spring, said the promoter of the cause.

Augustinian Father Fernando Rojo said the historical and theological commissions of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes have issued opinions in favour of beatification, a step toward sainthood.

However, the priest said that since the congregation’s cardinal members and Pope Benedict XVI still have to approve the decree of martyrdom a beatification ceremony is unlikely to take place before May, 2008.

The 188 martyrs include four Jesuit priests, other priests, brothers and nuns, lay men and women. They were killed in different cities between 1603 and 1639 after the Japanese government outlawed Christianity.

In official terms, the martyrs’ cause is referred to as that of Jesuit Father Petro Kassui Kibe and 187 companions.

Father Kibe, a convert to Christianity, initially managed to escape persecution and traveled to Rome, where he became a Jesuit and was ordained to the priesthood.

He returned to Japan to minister to other oppressed Christians, but was captured, tortured and martyred in Tokyo in 1639.

Popes No.1 body guard retires at age 80 after 59 years of service

Six popes later, Vatican security chief turns in his jogging shoes

Camillo Cibin holds the world record for miles jogged alongside a moving popemobile.

But he made his last run around St Peter’s Square on May 31 and retired on June 3, two days short of his 80th birthday.

Pope Benedict XVI accepted

the world in brief

Globalisation concerns

Cibin’s resignation as director of security services and civil protection for Vatican City State and named 43-year-old Domenico Giani to succeed him. In effect, the director is the Vatican’s chief of police, but when the pope is in public view at home or abroad, he is the No. 1 papal bodyguard. Cibin, a broad-shouldered, white-haired tower of strength, did not ease into retirement. His farewell tour was accompanying Pope Benedict to

While globalisation is creating wealth, it is not helping enough people either because working conditions are poor or jobs do not exist, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi told the International Labor Conference. The Vatican’s representative to Geneva-based international organisations spoke on June 8 at the conference sponsored by the International Labor Organisation. According to the ILO, the global unemployment rate in 2005 remained at 6.3 percent. Although 2.8 billion people over age 15 are working, half of them do not earn the $2 a day per family member needed to raise them above the global poverty line. Archbishop Tomasi said the benefits of the new wealth produced by globalisation are

Poland May 25-28, coordinating in advance with local security services, then walking or running at the pope’s side in the midst of massive crowds. When the hordes broke through the security cordon after the Pope’s May 26 Mass in Warsaw, Cibin exhibited his well-honed skill of gently tossing interlopers aside like they were pieces of tissue.

Cibin also is master of a modified karate chop that prevents people from grabbing onto the Pope or

not reaching millions of people, including undocumented agricultural workers, factory workers and domestic servants, women in the textile industry, and “workers labelled by their race, caste or religion” who are given access only to menial labour.

Orthodox invite

The Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow has invited top Vatican officials as well as the bishop of western Siberia to attend a World Summit of Religious Leaders July 3-5 in Russia’s capital. Through its interreligious council, the Moscow Patriarchate was organising the initiative to bring together top religious leaders from a variety of spiritual traditions to discuss how world religions could help give a moral response to the challenges the world is facing. Russian Orthodox

his vestments yet leaves no broken bones. At the urging of his parish priest, Cibin and four other young men from his hometown applied and were accepted into the Vatican security services in 1947. He was appointed director more than 40 years ago and was in charge of Vatican security during the Second Vatican Council and the conclaves that elected Popes John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict. He is the only person to have

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow invited Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the pontifical councils for Culture and for Interreligious Dialogue; Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; and Bishop Joseph Werth of Russia’s Novosibirskbased Transfiguration Diocese. The inclusion of Bishop Werth, a Russian citizen born in Kazakhstan, signaled an important gesture of rapprochement on the part of the patriarchate toward the Vatican.

Trouble in Zimbabwe

Without a strong leader, residents of Zimbabwe will not risk taking to the streets to protest chronic food shortages and spiraling poverty, said Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo. “It is hopeless: There is no one to inspire confidence,” Archbishop Ncube said

been on all the papal flights for pastoral trips abroad. In what Vatican Radio described as “the day, hour and minute” of Cibin’s worst nightmare, the commander also was alongside Pope John Paul’s popemobile in St Peter’s Square May on 13, 1981, when Mehmet Ali Agca shot the Pope. While the director of the Italian police detail assigned to St Peter’s Square jumped into the popemobile, Cibin apprehended the Turkish gunman. CNS

in a telephone interview from Bulawayo. He said Morgan Tsvangirai, who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, “is big talk but has no vision.” President Robert Mugabe, who has led the southern African country since its independence from Britain in 1980, “is the only leader people know,” Archbishop Ncube said in early June. Most Zimbabweans “have been intimidated into silence” by the government, and “many have left to make a living in other countries,” he said. Zimbabwe, which has an unemployment rate of more than 70 percent, is chronically short of food as well as foreign currency to import essential commodities, including drugs and fuel.

The country’s inflation rate is the highest in the world at more than 1,000 percent and, according to the World Bank, it has the fastest-shrinking economy outside a war zone.

Brazil’s Kaka battles for the ball with Croatia’s Marko Babic during Group F World Cup play in Berlin, Germany on June 13.

Dodos, dinosaurs and declining birth rates

In the first of a series of essays on soon-to-be-extinct ideas, an economist contends that small families are on the way out.

MercatorNet, launched one year ago, asked several creative people to answer a single big question: “What big idea of 2006 will be extinct in 2036?” Here is a response from

JENNIFER

ROBACK MORSE.

We will be happier and richer if we reduce our birth rate.

Once upon a time, there was an idea that the world was overpopulated. The Population Bomb frightened millions of people into believing that our planet was doomed to destruction from over-population and that we were all doomed to starvation. That idea has already been exploded. New books have titles like The Birth Dearth, The Empty Cradle and simply, Fewer.

What seems to work for an individual doesn’t work for the society as a whole. It seems that having fewer children makes a family wealthier. After all, children are expensive and have no particular economic value to an individual family. When a family says, “we can’t afford another child right now,” this is perfectly intelligible.

But it doesn’t work that way for the society as a whole. Children are not just an expense for the society as a whole. In most modern societies, people are counting on the future earnings of the children of the whole society to pay for their care at retirement. Those children will grow up to be the workers who pay taxes; the nurses who provide their care, the home health aides who visit them, the doctors who perform surgery, the truck drivers who keep food on the shelves.

We have the idea that we are independ-

SUNDAY JUNE 18

TAIZE MEDITATIVE PRAYER

7pm. Come bring your friends and pray in a candlelit chapel in stillness and peace. Bring along a torch with you. St. Joseph’s Chapel, 16 York Street, South Perth. Enquiries: Sister Maree Riddler 0414 683 926

Sunday June 18

ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK

ACCESS 31: 1  2 PM

Drawn to the Eucharist / David and Barbie Walker, former Methodist Seminarians, with Marcus Grodi [Journey Home]

Sunday June 18

FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI

To celebrate the special feast of Corpus Christi a procession and Rosary will be held in the grounds of St Anne’s Church, 11 Hehir Street, Belmont. Procession will commence at 5pm and conclude with Benediction. St Anne’s is one of the churches of the Archdiocese that has Perpetual Adoration. Why not come and spend some time with Jesus? For further details contact 08 9277 2251.

Sunday June 18

CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION

“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” The words of scripture describe the Corpus Christi procession honouring Jesus’ presence among us. Come join in the Corpus Christ Feast 9am Mass with procession followed by parish and school BBQ. St Joseph’s Parish Community, 20 Hamilton Street, Bassendean.

Sunday June 18

FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI

This feast will be celebrated with a 40 hour Eucharistic Adoration commencing at 6pm Friday June 16 and ending 8am Sunday June 18 at Holy Trinity Church 8 Burnett St, Embleton. After Mass there will be a Eucharistic procession around the

ent. If we are taking care of ourselves financially, we needn’t be concerned about whether we have children or not. If my husband and I are better off by having fewer kids, or no kids, what’s the problem?

The problem is that no one really “takes care of themselves” in a market economy. Everyone is interdependent. And the whole economic system depends on continual inflow of productive workers who produce more than they consume. The social economy depends on having enough prime age workers to produce enough to care for themselves, their personal dependents such as their children and their parents, and still have enough left over to help other people. None of this can happen without some new people being born.

Unfortunately, the modern welfare state has undermined many of the private incentives to have children. The lethargic culture of public assistance drains the enthusiasm of the young for beginning families. State financial support displaces the economic function of marriage, for women and men alike.

Women don’t need a husband to support them if they have a child. Husbands are a nuisance, when the government provides money without the inevitable difficulties of dealing with a flawed human being as a partner. Men dislike the feeling of powerlessness inherent in having the state claim a large fraction of one’s earning power, and then give it back in dribs and drabs. In this environment, children become consumption goods, optional life-style appendages to acquire only if one happens to enjoy children.

Europe is in worse shape than the US in this regard, because most European countries require high wages, short working hours and expensive benefits. These mandates obviously increase the cost of hiring a worker. The productivity of skilled, experienced workers can justify this generous compensation package. But the young are less employable. In the 25 countries of the EU, the unemployment rate for those under 25 hovers just below 20 per cent.

The high unemployment rate contributes to the delaying of marriage and child-bearing. According to Pavel Kohout, “An incredible 70 per cent of unmarried Italians between the ages of 25 and 29 live with their parents, where they benefit from subsidised housing and where their poor incomes amount to a handsome pocket money.”

Across the European continent, the political classes show no signs of dealing with this problem.

As the idea of over-population becomes obsolete, we will begin to re-examine many of the social attitudes and cultural changes that we have created around delayed child-bearing. We will begin to realise how odd and truly unnatural it is, that we expect young people to spend their years of peak fertility doing anything other than having babies. People create sexual relationships that are not based on the prospect of procreation, but are built on the understanding that pregnancy is something to avoid at all costs.

the birth rate even further, as men and women alike are reluctant to bring more children into unstable personal and cultural situations. But we sweep this all under the rug because we think we are having “safe” sex.

Imagine asking young people the following question: if you thought your contraceptive method had a fifty percent failure rate, would you be involved with your current partner? For many young people, the answer would be, “no way!”

Unfortunately, the attitudes and behaviours they are cultivating with Mr No-Way or Ms Out-of-the-Question will actively undermine their ability to build up life-long married love when they do finally decide to become parents. Studies show that the probability of divorce is correlated both with living together prior to marriage, and with the number of sex partners prior to marriage. And of course, divorce reduces

PANORAMA a roundup of events in the archdiocese

Church compound and finally ending up with benediction.

Sunday June 18

CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION  TOODYAY

The annual Corpus Christi procession will be held in Toodyay, commencing at St John the Baptist Parish Church (36 Stirling Tce, Toodyay) at 12.30pm (holy Mass at 10.30am). The procession will honour the Blessed Sacrament with prayers, hymns and benediction. A reception will follow (please bring a plate). Bus services will be available – please contact either Nita Campbell on 9367 1366. Flo Cue on 9367 8632 or Chia Sticca on 9337 3831. Enquiries please contact Franciscans of the Immaculate on 9574 5204.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 21 “GOOD GRIEF” THE HEALING OF GRIEF OR LOSS

Presenter Lin Young (Psycho-Therapist) 7.30pm to 9.30pm, John XXIII College, the MacKillop Room (formerly the Multi-Purpose Room). Cost - $10

Donation Unwaged. Further Details from Murray Graham on 9383 0444.

Friday June 23

CATHOLIC FAITH RENEWAL PRAISE AND WORSHIP

Being held at St John and Paul’s Church, Pinetree Gully Road Willetton at 7.30pm. There will be a Praise and Worship evening followed by a talk with Fr Greg Donovan titled Heart Speaks to Heart and a Thanksgiving Mass. There will be light refreshments after Mass. You are all welcome to attend and we encourage you to bring your family and friends to this evening of fellowship. For more information contact Rita on 9272 1765 or Rose on 040 330 0720.

Friday June 23

SOLEMNITY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

To be held at St Mary’s Cathedral commencing at 6.50pm with the Rosary and Litanies. Mass at 7.30pm and consecration to the Sacred Heart of

Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary followed by Benediction. Principal celebrant is Archbishop Hickey. Novena to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart from Thursday June 15 to Friday June 23 after weekday 12.10pm Mass, after Saturday 6.30pm Mass and after Sunday 11.30am Mass at the Cathedral.

Friday to Saturday June 23-24

ALLIANCE AND TRIUMPH OF THE TWO HEARTS

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Holy Mass at 9pm on Friday evening. At St Bernadette’s Church 49 Jugan St Glendalough followed by an all night Eucharistic adoration in reparation to the two hearts (including rosaries, hymns, scripture readings and reflection during the night). Please join us for any length of time at your convenience. Solemnity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary – Saturday morning with usual parish Mass at 7.30am. Reconciliation available prior to both Masses. There will be a first Friday all night vigil winter break from June to August. We will recommence from Friday 1 September. Enquiries 9444 6131 or 9342 5845.

Friday June 23 – Sunday June 25

WEEKEND DANCE RETREAT

Glorify God with your Body. Venue: Penola by the Sea, Sisters of St Joseph Retreat Centre, Safety Bay at 7.30pm. For more information contact Sr Shelley Barlow on 9271 3873.

Saturday June 24

MASS FOR PARENTS WHO HAVE LOST A BABY BEFORE BIRTH OR SHORTLY AFTER

A special Mass for babies who died before baptism and for the healing of their families will be celebrated at St Francis Xavier Parish, 6 Third Rd, Armadale, at 6.30pm Enquiries: 9399 2143.

Saturday June 24

25TH ANNIVERSARY OF MEDJUGORJE

You are invited to St Bernadette’s Church, Glendalough, for a morning of Prayer with Our

Future generations will be amazed that so many women postponed having children for so long. When they read that the richest people in the richest countries the world has ever known, thought they couldn’t afford more children, they will laugh at us. And they will be enjoying many more children and grandchildren, earlier in life than most of us now do.

Dr Jennifer Roback Morse has a doctorate in economics, is the Senior Research Fellow in Economics at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, and the author of Smart Sex: Finding Life-long Love in a Hook-up World, available at her website, www.jennifer-robackmorse.com. She has written more on this and related topics on the Acton website and her own website.

Lady Queen of Peace commencing at 10am with Rosary at 10.30am and Mass followed by a talk by Fr Timothy Deeter. Concluding with coffee at the LJ Goody Bioethics Centre. Please bring a plate. For more information contact 9341 8082.

Saturday June 24

ANNUAL FUNDRAISING DINNER

CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY will be having its annual fundraising dinner on Saturday the 24th of June at South Fremantle Football Club. Tickets cost $45 per person. Please ring CRC on 9319 8344 to inquire further.

Saturday June 24

“A MORNING RETREAT”

(Inner Freedom and Healing Part 2)

Presenter Murray Graham (M.Ed, Inigo Centre Director). 9am to 12pm, John XXIII College. The MacKillop Room (formerly the Multi-Purpose Room). Cost - Donation for Inigo Centre. Further Details from Murray Graham on 9383 0444.

Saturday June 24 to Monday June 26

NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF LAY PASTORAL MINISTERS

Following the theme River of Life, creating, empowering, renewing a vibrant people of God. Registration forms can be downloaded from the Pastoral Ministers of Brisbane Website on www. catholic.net.au/layministry/pma. Interested persons can contact Margaret Walker 9390 8365 or Lesley McMinn on 9337 6295.

Sunday June 25 PARENTS & FRIENDS’ FEDERATION OF WA INC.

Invites members of Catholic School Communities to the ANNUAL CONFERENCE & AGM at Mercy College, Koondoola. Conference Mass 9am, 52nd AGM 10am, Conference Opening 1.30pm (Hon. Ljiljanna Ravlich, MLC), Sessions on Reporting to Parents, Outcomes Based Education and Upper Secondary Courses of Study. Preceded by the ANNUAL CONFERENCE DINNER, 7pm, Sat. 24 June

ACCOMODATION NEEDED

■ URGENTLY WANTING TO BUY HOME.

Any condition, near John XXIII or easy driving. For large family. Will pay up to $600,000. Will give it TLC. Ph: 0400 990 397.

BUILDING TRADES

■ BRICK REPOINTING

Phone Nigel 9242 2952.

■ PERROTT PAINTING PTY LTD

For all your residential, commercial painting requirements. Phone Tom Perrott 9444 1200.

■ PICASSO PAINTING

Top service. Phone 0419 915 836, fax 9345 0505

CATHOLICS CORNER

■ RETAILER OF CATHOLIC PRODUCTS

Specialising in gifts, cards and apparel for baptism, communion and confirmation. Ph: 9456 1777. Shop 12, 64-66 Bannister Road, Canning Vale. Open Mon-Sat.

FOR SALE

■ NATIONAL VESTMENT BUSINESS FOR SALE

Home run from WA for 4 yrs. Kinlar vestments serves all christian churches. Approx. 300 clients. Purchase includes, patterns, materials and goodwill. Call John Ryall: 9378 4752

■ HOME BUSINESSES

Redirect part of your supermarket shopping mail order. Buying environmentally friendly safe products. Home business potential. Part or fulltime. www.aussiehomebiz.com.au/

FURNITURE REMOVAL

■ ALL AREAS

Mike Murphy 0416 226 434.

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

■ BED AND BREAKFAST

Holiday Accommodation. B&B. Pt Mandurah Canals. Boutique B&B. Walk to CBD. www. mymandurah.com/pmcanalb&b.html. 9535 2252 or 0438444707

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

■ BED AND BREAKFAST

B & B low rates, lovely riverside walks close to Perth. Ph: 9272 8263 or 0438 946 621.

■ DENMARK

Holiday House 3bdr x 2bath, sleeps up to 8. BOOK NOW. Ph: Maria 0412 083 377.

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS

■ REPAIR YOUR LITURGICAL BOOKS

Tydewi Bindery offer handcrafted fine bindings, journals, leather recovering. Repairs fo all your books, liturgical, bibles, missals and statues. Ph. 9293 3092.

■ RICH HARVEST  YOUR CHRISTIAN SHOP

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

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS

■ HUMBLE MESSENGER

Shop 16/80 Barrack St (Inside Bon Marche

Arcade) Perth WA 6000. Trading Hours: MondayClosed,Tues-Fri-10am-5pm, Sat-10am-3pm, Ph/ Fax 9225 7199, 0421 131 716.

THANKS

■ ST CLARE

For favours granted.

23 Mass for Feast of Sacred Heart, St Mary’s Cathedral - Archbishop Hickey

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2006, Royal Perth Yacht Club, Crawley. Conference program and Registration details from PFFWA 9271 5909 or 9271 5901.

Sunday June 25

INTERNATIONAL FOOD FAIR

International Food Fair at 10am To be held in our Parish Hall, Lot 375 Alcock Street, Maddington This is a fundraising venture to help with costs associated with the 3 Servite Sisters from Myanmar who will be arriving in our Parish at the end of the month. If you have any questions you can ring Father Francis Ly on 9493 1703 (Presbytery) during work hours.

Sunday June 25

AUSTRALIA’S FINEST GOSPEL PERFORMERS

Our Lady Of The Rosary Church, Angelico Street, Woodlands 2pm to 4.30pm. Featuring Western Australia’s Finest Gospel Performers. – Camelot, Gospel Train, Indij Spirits, The Cranfields, A Cappella Praise. Tickets - Adults $12 - Children $2. Advance purchase only. For tickets and information contact Carmel Charlton 9446 1558 or erichancock@swiftdsl. com.au. Tickets also available from Zenith Music, 309 Stirling Hwy, Claremont.

Monday June 26

CHRISTIAN LIFE COMMUNITY INVITATION

Christian Life Community invites you to lean more about spirit led decisions and Ignatian spirituality at their enquiry night. At 7.30pm, St Thomas More College, Mounts Bay Rd Crawley. For further details phone Veronica on: 93101147 or Trish: 93453729

Friday June 30

LA SALLE COLLEGE QUIZ AND AUCTION NIGHT

La Salle College is holding its 2nd annual quiz and auction night at 7.30pm in the Laurence Murphy Hall at La Salle College. Tables are of 8. BYO snacks and cool drinks only. Alcohol will be on sale. Tickets can be purchased from the College Office at $10 each. Should you have a business and be in a position to donate, please contact Sabrina Lynsdale at the College on 9274 6266 and your company will be acknowledged in our Delagram and Western Lasallian.

Saturday July 1

DAY WITH MARY

St Brigid’s Church, 64B Morrison Rd, Midland. 9am5pm. A video on Fatima will be shown at 9am. A day of prayer and instruction based upon the message of Fatima. Includes Sacrament of Penance, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, sermons, rosaries, procession of the Blessed Sacrament and stations of the cross. Please BYO lunch. Enquiries – Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate – 9250 8286.

Sunday July 2

DIVINE MERCY

An afternoon with Jesus and Mary at St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Square, Perth, at 1.30pm.

Program: Holy Rosary and Reconciliation, Sermon: with Fr Tony Vallis on St Thomas the Apostle followed by Divine Mercy prayers and Benediction. Enquiries: John 9457 7771 or Linda-9275 6608.

Tuesday May 2 - Friday July 7

CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY

Term 2 for: Family & Friends Support Groups of Substance Abusers are on Wednesdays 7–9pm, Substance Abusers Support Groups are on Tuesdays 5.30 to 7.30pm & Friday’s All day Group for Substance Abusers is from 9.30am to 2pm including Healing Mass on Fridays @ 12.30pm during term. Rosary is from Tuesday to Thursday at 12.30 to 1pm.

Friday July 7-9

ANNUAL FAMILY FORMATION WEEKEND

The Schoenstatt Family Branch invites you to a family faith development weekend. To be held at the IHD centre at Jarrahdale pm Friday 7 July to afternoon 9 July. Working with the theme of hoping and daring to be more than mediocre with our faith, this weekend combines live-in accommodation, faith development discussions with other parents just like you, Sunday Holy Mass, socialising and some fun, for all the members of your family. The Spiritual Leader will be Fr Ivanhoe Allies. Bookings will be required by 18 June to confirm accommodation. For registration and/or additional information contact: Sister Renee: 9310 5461, or Terry Huxtable: 9399 2349.

Sunday July 23

EVERYTHING OUT OF LOVE, WITH JOY

The Schoenstatt Family Branch invites you to a day for families. COME AND SEE. Mark your diary for 23 July, 10am at the Armadale Shrine. More details soon - watch this space!

Sunday September 17

KOORDA CHURCH 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Our Lady of the Assumption Church at Koorda will celebrate its Golden Anniversary this year on September 17. Past Parish Priests and past parishioners are invited to come and join us for the celebrations. Anyone who has any photos they would like to include in a display is welcome to send them to Kath Gosper at PO Box 68, Koorda 6475. You could send copies or we will copy and return them to you. The day will commence with Mass at 10.30am to be followed by lunch at the Recreation hall.

Sunday Septermber 24 to Saturday September 30

FIVE DAY DIRECTED RETREAT

At the Redemptorist Monastery Retreat House, 190 Vincent Street North Perth. Director: Fr Joe Carroll CSSR. For more information contact Jan Broderick on 9328 9736.

AL

If

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you – please call

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29 Ordination of Permanent Deacons, St Mary’s Cathedral - Archbishop Hickey, Bishop Sproxton

Al Anon Family Groups for confidential information meetings etc… Phone Number on 9325 7528 – 24 hrs.

ATTENTION COUPLES

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

TUESDAY NIGHT PRAYER MEETINGS

St Mary Cathedral Parish Centre, 450 Hay Street, Perth, 7pm. Come join us! Overcome the burdens in life making prayer your lifeline with Jesus. Personal healing in prayer, Rosary, meditation, Scripture, praise in song, friendship, refreshments. Be united with Our Lord and Our Lady in prayer with others. Appreciate the heritage of the Faith.

EVERY SUNDAY

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

FIRST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH

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

Saturdays PERPETUAL HELP NOVENA DEVOTIONS

Saturdays 4.30-5pm. Redemptorist Church, 190 Vincent Street, North Perth.

ART EXHIBITION

Art exhibition every Saturday and Sunday at the Parish Hall, Star of the Sea church, Cottesloe, cnr of Stirling Highway and McNeil Sts 11am – 4pm. All proceeds from the sale towards the extension of St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

Is alcohol costing you more than just money?

Alcoholics Anonymous can help. Ring 9325 3566.

BLESSED SACRAMENT ADORATION

Holy Family Church, Alcock Street, Maddington.

Every Friday 8.30 am Holy Mass followed by Blessed Sacrament Adoration till 12 noon. Every first Friday

of the month, anointing of the sick during Mass. Enq. 9398 6350.

PERPETUAL ADORATION AT ST BERNADETTE’S Adoration: Chapel open all day and all night. All welcome, 49 Jugan St, Glendalough, just north of the city. Masses every night at 5.45pm Monday to Friday, 6.30pm, Saturday and the last Sunday Mass in Perth is at 7pm.

Wednesdays SIGN LANGUAGE COURSE

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

QUEEN OF APOSTLES SCHOOL

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

LINDA’S HOUSE OF HOPE APPEAL

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

The Last Word

a series on society and Church

Changing Approaches

■ By Tony Paganoni CS

Shifting one’s own pastoral strategies from a set position to a more dynamic arrangement has never been an easy task. Even subtle changes, beckoned by the Spirit and the world in which they occur, find no easy accommodation within the two millenniums old Church. All four cited authors agree that while recognising the positive aspects handed down by an enormous historical cycle of Church involvement with the world and vice versa, particularly during the Middle Ages, the present model of Church operation is in need of an overhaul.

“...we are heading towards a simpler more gospel like Church”

It is to be noted that the authors, particularly Liege, stress that their recommendations originate from their loyalty to the Church. Indeed, their suggestions are not the result of purely intellectual posturing, aimed at demolish-

ing outdated practices or challenging ‘incompetent’ Church leadership.

Recent statements from Church leaders carry the prognosis that we are heading towards a simpler and more gospel-like Church. This statement needs investigation. It must not be confused with the attitude of those who decide to stop evangelising.

“all human endeavours recieved their justification and right to exist from the Church”

The keenness to do intensive “roving” activities as in the past is no longer prevalent, simply because the personnel available are always in short supply. Such an attitude must not present a resignation to developments that appear irreversible – empty pews, dwindling participation, and the disenchantment of youth. The nostalgic desire for a recent past, in the life of the Church, may blind us to the alternatives and options currently emerging.

In the essay, ‘Church of Jesus Christ

and Church of the World,’ Liege states rather categorically:

“You can certainly say that down through the centuries the Church had a tremendous impact on the world. It stirred and managed culture and art, the professions, politics and entertainment, almost to the point of monopolising all human expression. At times, however, all human endeavours received their justification and right to exist from the Church. In certain periods, all worldly expressions came to fall under the jurisdiction and tutelage of the Church.

By doing this, Christianity ran the risk of becoming an ideology, pretending to predicate with authority on most aspects of social and political life, on what every man was allowed to think and do. Christianity ran the danger of occupying the human sphere, suppressing at times freedom of thought and expression. Needless to say, this intertwining of religious and civil forces produced that civilisation which we see embodied in Cathedrals…

But, as Liege suggests, “did such

lisation result from a free adhesion of people to the values of the gospel?”

The Church has had a tremendous impact on the world.