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Two great Italian priests who gave their lives to Australia and its people - Pgs 10 -11
Laying of foundation stone begins Midland St John of God hospital’s site
SJOG ‘sets the benchmark’
By Robert Hiini ST JOHN OF GOD set the benchmark for health care services and the people of Midland would be thankful for access to them, State health minister Kim Hames told dignitaries at a foundation laying ceremony on Wednesday, August 8. Dr Hames was joined by his Federal counterpart, Tanya Plibersek, Bishop Donald Sproxton and senior SJOG staff for speeches in an marquee before watching a fly-over video of the public and private hospitals which will be built on the site. After a smoking ceremony and an Indigenous “Welcome to Country”, Bishop Sproxton prayed that God would bless the project and read the parable of the Good Samaritan from the Gospel of Luke. Addressing the presence of a small group of union protestors outside the site, Dr Hames said their concerns about the private provision of public services were more than adequately answered by the quality of care offered at SJOG’s Murdoch and Subiaco hospitals. “Would anybody in this region love to go to one of those hospitals for their care? Of course they would. They are fantastic hospitals and provide an excellent level of service and they are in fact the benchmark of the standard of service in this State,” he said. The Federal Government is contributing half of the public hospital’s $360m construction cost (the total cost of building both hospital’s is $430m). Ms Plibersek said that for the first time, people in the Midland area would have local access to free chemotherapy, highdependency care, coronary care and a dedicated children’s ward. Thanking Bishop Sproxton for sharing the story of the Good Samaritan, Ms Plibersek preferred a theological musing of her own: “It’s a particular favourite of mine but I also think of what [St Vincent de Paul founder, Blessed] Frederic Ozanam said in response to the parable of the good samaritan which is that pouring oil on the wounds of the traveller is charity but preventing the attack in the first place is social justice,” she said. Both Bishop Sproxton and Ms Plibersek welcomed members of the Sisters of St John of God at the gathering, noting the Order’s 117year history in the provision of healthcare in the State. The ceremony followed the State Government’s confirmation on June 14 that St John of God was their preferred contractor for the construction and operation of the new Midland public hospital, signing a 23-year Public Private Partnership with the healthcare group. SJOG’s chair of trustees, Clive Macknay,
Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek is joined by St John of God CEO Dr Michael Stanford and Brookfield Multiplex’s Chris Palandri at the foundation ceremony on August 8. PHOTO: ROBERT HIINI
Catholic-managed model a bridge too far for protestors
Ministers Tanya Plibersek and Kim Hames prepare for the laying of the foundation of Midland’s new hospitals. PHOTO: ROBERT HIINI
said the group had a strong community focus and looked forward to working with infants, young families and troubled youths. The Midland public hospital will have 50 per cent more beds than the Swan District hospital it is replacing.
A SMALL group of protesters met Federal and State politicians as they arrived for the laying of foundations of Midland’s new public and private hospitals on August 8. Made up of members from United Voice and the Health Services Union, the protesters said they were unhappy the State Government had put the management of a public hospital in private hands. “We don’t oppose the Catholic Church running hospitals. We don’t oppose St John of God running hospitals, they do a great job, but we don’t think they should be running public hospitals,” Carolyn Smith, Acting Secretary of United Voice told The Record. The State
Government’s agreement with St John of God that contraceptive and vasectomy services would not be provided by the group, were a “real concern for the whole community”, she said. Convenor of the Save Midland Hospital Action Group Dee Parry, said a public hospital should be “completely secular”. “It should provide all services that secular hospitals provide … St John’s won’t provide a whole range of services, particularly those pertinent to woman.” If a clinic is built on site providing procedures regarded as morally unacceptable by the Church, neither the hospitals nor their staff will be involved in any way.
Police remain on hand as a protestor displays a placard opposing the new campus. PHOTO: ROBERT HIINI
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August 15, 2012
Dealing with rising tide of secularism
Round-Up MARK REIDY
UNDA bring the noise for 2012 open day
Retreat to mark God’s Farm’s 25 year harvest LONG-TIME popular retreat centre God’s Farm will be celebrating its 25th anniversary with a weekend retreat focusing on the theme of ‘God the Father of all mankind’ on October 5-7. Located at Wilyabrup in the south-west of the State, approximately 260 kilometres south of Perth, the centre, situated on a farm nestled next to the coastline, has been guided over its life by Mrs Betty Peaker. Mrs Peaker is a figure of almost legendary status who has been the main driving force behind God’s Farm since its inception. The retreat will be led by Fr Brian Morgan and those wanting to travel from Perth will be able to take advantage of a speciallybooked bus departing for the Farm. Tickets for the weekend are $65, while those interested in further information can contact Mrs Peaker on 9755 6212. For further information on bus departure contact Yvonne on 9343 1897.
Hope for women trying to escape the life LINDA’S House of Hope, a unique joint initiative between a former Perth madam and former Archbishop Barry Hickey, is seeking donations to help it raise $3000. Linda’s House of Hope is a residence facilitating the exit of women and girls from the slavery and degradation of prostitution. Founder Linda Watson has been invited to speak against the legali-
AN opportunity for a day of entertainment, while discovering the courses and campus of Notre Dame University, is being offered to prospective students on August 19. The Open Day, which will occur between 10am–4pm, will include information sessions, interactive workshops, giveaways, expert advice, live entertainment, halfhourly campus tours, BBQ with current students plus a courses expo with teaching staff available to individually discuss course details. For more information contact the Prospective Students Office on (08) 9433 0533 or at future@ nd.edu.au
Trinity to mark 50 years on Swan’s bank Attadale priest, Fr Sean Fernandes will tackle the subject of secularism head-on when he gives this year’s St Dominic Lecture on Friday, August 24. Recent census data shows Christianity declining while those claiming no religion have increased. Organisers say Fr Fernandes will cover the way the Church can tackle the issue, including the approach put forward by Benedict XVI. The 7pm talk will take place at the Holy Rosary School Library in Doubleview. To RSVP call Kevin 9285 0298 or Kaye 9446 2055 or email Kesusau@gmail.com. PHOTO: ANTHONY BARICH
sation of prostitution in South Australia, which will be voting on the issue in September. Donations can be sent to: PO Box 5640, Perth, St George’s Terrace, WA 6831.
Scholar to share travails of Northern Ireland JESUIT scholar Dr Oliver Rafferty will give a public lecture on Thursday September 6 on the Catholic Church, the nationalist community and the troubles in Northern Ireland from 1969-1997
at the University of Notre Dame from 6pm - 7pm. Dr Rafferty is a member of the Jesuit order and lecturer in Church history at Heythrop College, London. He has great knowledge of the Catholic Church and experience in teaching in several other universities including Oxford University in the United Kingdom and Trinity College in Ireland. His life stories and accomplishments are known by many, making this an important lecture to come and see for yourself. To reserve your seat please contact Anthony Coyte at (08)
SAINT OF THE WEEK
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Though he studied medicine in Paris and practiced briefly in his hometown of Florence, Italy, this son of two noble families became a lay brother in the Servites and eventually a Servite priest. In 1267, he was unanimously elected head of the order, thereafter guiding its growth. He also mediated a conflict between warring Guelfs and Ghibellines in northern Italy, assisted at a general church council and helped establish the Servite nuns’ order. When Pope Clement IV died in 1268 and he was mentioned as a successor, Philip reportedly hid in the hills until another man was chosen. He was canonized in 1671 and is the patron of a minor basilica near Florence.
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The Record PO Box 3075 Adelaide Terrace PERTH WA 6832 21 Victoria Square, Perth 6000 Tel: (08) 9220 5900 Fax: (08) 9325 4580 Website: www.therecord.com.au
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Whitfords seek married couples for milestone OUR LADY of the Mission Parish in Whitfords is seeking couples who will be celebrating their wedding anniversaries in 2012, with a Mass being held on Saturday, October 20 at 6.30pm. If you want to sign up, registration forms are available at the information desk. The deadline to register is on
Sunday 19th - Green 20TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 1st Reading: Prov 9:1-6 Come, eat my bread Responsorial Ps 33:2-3, 10-15 Psalm: Avoid evil, deceit 2nd Reading: Eph 5:15-20 Give thanks to God Gospel Reading: Jn 6:51-58 The living bread Monday 20th - White ST BERNARD, ABBOT, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH (M) 1st Reading: Ezek 24:15-24 Ezekiel to be a sign Responsorial Deut 32:18-21 Psalm: I shall hide my face Gospel Reading: Mt 19:16-22 Treasure in heaven Tuesday 21st - White ST PIUS X, POPE (M) 1st Reading: Ezek 28:1-10 A man and not a god Responsorial Deut 32:26-28, 30, Psalm: 35-36 Ruin is close Gospel Reading: Mt 19:23-40 Who can be saved? Wednesday 22nd - White THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY (M) 1st Reading: Ezek 34:1-11 Flock left unfed
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TRINITY college Old Boy’s Association is inviting all past students to join them in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the College’s present site on the Causeway. The reunion, which will be held on the College grounds on September 22, is expected to attract over 1500 ex-students – including two bishops. Tours of the school will commence at 4.30pm and the reunion will begin at 6pm. Tickets are $85.00 (including Gourmet cocktail food and canapes). For more information please follow the link - http://www.toba.net. au/50YearReunion.htm or call the College on 9325 3655. Got a Parish Roundup item? Send it to: m.reidy@therecord.com.au
READINGS OF THE WEEK
Philip Benizi
Peter Rosengren
Friday October 5. Further information from www.olm.myparish.net. au or ph: 93072776.
Responsorial Psalm: Gospel Reading:
Thursday 23rd - Green ST ROSA OF LIMA, VIRGIN (O) 1st Reading: Ezek 36:23-28 New heart, new spirit Responsorial Ps 50:12-15, 18-19 Psalms: A steadfast spirit Gospel Reading: Mt 22:1-14 Many are called Friday 24th - Red ST BARTHOLOMEW, APOSTLE (FEAST) 1st Reading: Rev 21:9-14 The holy city Responsorial Ps 144:10-13, 17-18 Psalm: Mighty deeds Gospel Reading: Jn 1:45-51 Heaven laid open Saturday 25th - Green ST LOUIS (0), ST JOSEPH CALASANZ, PRIEST (0) 1st Reading: Ezek 43:1-7 The spirit lifted me up Responsorial Ps 84:9-14 Psalm: Peace for God’s people Gospel Reading: Mt 23:1-12 The chair of Moses
Send your Year of Grace stories to parishes@therecord.com.au
Michael Deering 9322 2914
Catholic clarity for complex times CATHOLIC families and those searching for truth need resources to help them negotiate the complexities of modern life. At The Record’s bookshop you can find great books for the family at good prices. Turn to Page 20 for some brilliant deals NOW!!
Ps 22 The Lord is my Shepherd Mt 22:1-14 Many are called
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Festivities on their way for Our Black Madonna THE ASSOCIATION of Maria Santissima del Tindari will again take to the streets of Fremantle on Sunday, September 9, for their annual procession and religious festival. Many people are expected to take part in the procession and festivities in a colourful display of faith and devotion to the Black Madonna. The secretary of the association, Mr Joe Franchina said festivities would begin with a Solemn Triduum at the Basilica Saint Patrick on Thursday, September 6 to Saturday, September 8, at 7.30pm. On Sunday, S eptember 9 at 9.45am there will be a Concelebrated Solemn Mass presided by Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey. The procession will leave the Basilica on Sunday at 2pm. The statue of the Black Madonna will be carried through the streets to the Esplanade, where there will be a brief pause for a daytime fireworks display. At the conclusion of the fireworks, the procession will return to the Basilica for Benediction. Mr Franchina said that according to the popular legend, which had been passed through the ages, the Black Madonna arrived in the small Sicilian town of Tindari through miraculous circumstances, after a merchant ship sailing from the east sought shelter in the bay of Tindari because of a storm, in 726AD. When the storm had finished, the small ship could not set sail again towards its destination, until the crew left behind a chest containing the statue of the Black Madonna, which the locals housed in a small temple. “It was the devotion and determination of the association’s President – Andrea Pellegrino and above all, the faith of our community in Fremantle,” Mr Franchina told The Record, “another statue of the Black Madonna was commissioned and produced in Fremantle in 1996, exactly 1270 years later”. The statue was housed at Saint Patrick’s, and religious celebrations are held every year during the second week in September, culminating in Mass and procession.
Kindness beats mean streets
By Robert Hiini TINA De Sousa and Christine Stock decided it was time to stop wondering. The St Bernadette’s, Port Kennedy, pre-primary teacher and teacher’s assistant had both been privately thinking about the plight of Perth’s homeless for some time when Mrs Stock heard an ad for Sonshine fm’s Helping Bags for the Homeless on the radio. The pair put out the word to their fellow staff and the families of their pre-primary students, netting 12 sleeping bags and a sizable collection of toiletries in a little over a week, as well as a $200 donation from their local IGA supermarket at Stargate Shopping Centre, Port Kennedy. Mrs Stock said an encounter with
ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF GERALDTON EMPLOYMENT VACANCY PERMANENT FULL TIME FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION OFFICER/REGIONAL MANAGER, CDF
Applications are invited from suitably qualified people to fill the dual role of Diocesan Financial Administrator / Catholic Development Fund Regional Manager for the Diocese of Geraldton. Employees of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Geraldton must be fully supportive of the objectives and ethos of the Roman Catholic Church. You will be required to demonstrate commitment to the mission of the Catholic Church, have some knowledge and understanding of the structures and various ministries of the Church in Australia and be able to demonstrate experience in leading a small team with minimal supervision. Electronic, oral and written communication skills, and a sound knowledge of accountancy is essential, together with relevant Tertiary qualifications or equivalent experience. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Geraldton is an equal employment opportunity employer that promotes and supports a family friendly workplace. You must be eligible to work in Australia. Further information and a detailed job description may be obtained by contacting Rose at finmanager@diocese-geraldton.org or by phoning (08) 99213221 or Fr Michael Morrissey on (08) 99611181 during normal office hours. Applications close at 4.00pm on Friday 14th Sept 2012.
Fr Michael Morrissey Chancellor DIOCESE OF GERALDTON
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the reality of homelessness in Perth, earlier this year, got her thinking about what she could do to make matters better. Walking in the city with her
Why don’t you do something about it, he said and afterwards thought, why don’t I do something about it? granddaughters, she passed a homeless man asking for money. While she obliged his request, she was left feeling that she could have done more. “Afterwards, I thought, I should have sat and talked to him. What
a witness that would have been for him and for my granddaughters,” Mrs Stock told The Record. More recently, she mentioned the thought of wanting to assist Perth’s homeless to her son. “He said, “well, why don’t you do something about it?” and afterwards he thought, “well, why don’t I do something about it?”,” Mrs Stock said. Her son Josh had subsequently joined the Holy Spirit of Freedom Community for their homeless street ministry in the Perth CBD. Ms De Sousa and Mrs Stock dropped off St Bernadette’s community donation at Sonshine fm last Thursday. Sonshine fm’s Helping Bags for the Homeless was run to coincide with national Homeless Persons’ Week, August 6-12.
Top, children from St Bernadette’s pre-primary in Port Kennedy with their donations for national homeless week and below, the women who made it happen, Tina De Sousa and Christine Stock. PHOTO: ST BERNADETTE’S
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Bishop welcomes 43 catechist teachers of the faith WEEK-IN, WEEK-OUT, the catechists of the Archdiocese carry out crucial but often unseen work introducing the meaning and spirit of what it is to be a Christian to, mainly, children across Perth. That was one reason why it was a particular pleasure for Bishop Donald Sproxton to welcome 43 new catechists at a Commissioning Mass in the Chapel of St Michael the Archangel in the grounds of the Catholic Education Office of WA in Leederville on August 8th. Bishop Sproxton affirmed and encouraged the new catechists in his homily for their dedication to this work of evangelisation. The Mass was an important occasion, not only for the newlycommissioned catechists but for shepherds of the faith like Bishop Sproxton, to celebrate the vital work catechists carry out. While catechists work mainly with children not attending Catholic schools, they also teach adults with special needs and those who have chosen to enter the Church. In his homily Bishop Sproxton urged catechists to listen to the spirituality of Saint Mary of the Cross, whose feast day is also August 8, and reminded them of St Mary MacKillop’s unique contribution to religious education in Australia. “There seems a natural flow from her own spirituality to the educational needs of those she taught,” he said. “Her reflection and mysticism filtered through her experience of life and enabled her to form her mission and we thank God for that prayerful, persistent model for our
Bishop Donald Sproxton commissions the new catechists in the chapel of St Michael the Archangel in Leederville on August 8.
work. Listen to her wisdom and follow her to bring those we serve to know Christ and to love Christ.” At the end of the liturgy, another 26 catechists were acknowledged for completing their Provisional Accreditation as Catechists (the first stage towards commissioning), while six more were congratulated
PHOTOS: CATECHIST SERVICES TEAM CEOWA
for acquiring certificates for ongoing formation. Eleven parish priests were also on hand to concelebrate the liturgy. Special guest, Debra Sayce, director of Religious Education at the Catholic Education Office, thanked catechist Coordinators for their commitment to this work.
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The Eucharistic rosary designed by the Vatican rosary makers will be sent out to all those who give a donation of $15 or more and tick this box. Aid to the Church in Need …. a Catholic charity dependent on the Holy See, providing pastoral relief to needy and oppressed Churches
Happy day: Sylvia Dias, above, receives her Certificate II for Ongoing Formation from Bishop Sproxton during the ceremony. Team Leaders from the RCIA, below, Karen Hart, Leonie Reid, and the Catechist Service:’s Pina Ford with Bishop Sproxton. Personal Advocacy Service team member Anabelle May, bottom, with PAS Catechists Kriemhild Porreca, Angela Spina and Emilia D’Orazio, Fr Thomas Zureich (Assistant Priest at Clarkson Parish) and PAS Catechist Linda Westwood. PHOTOS: COURTESY CATECHIST SERVICES TEAM CEOWA
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An epiphany wins artist the Mandorla By Sarah Motherwell IT IS no papal title but for Melbourne-based artist John Paul being a two-time winner of the Mandorla Art Award is a great achievement. The 58-year-old artist received $25,000 prize money for his winning painting titled Palm Sunday, in the 2012 Mandorla Art Award, which he also won in 1990. The exhibit judges said Palm Sunday looks like a medieval stone carving brought to life and demonstrates a great understanding of the exhibit’s theme “born of a woman”. Mr Paul is originally from Perth and taught himself how to paint at the age of eight. “I was desperate to do something because I was useless at everything else so I just grabbed my father’s enamel paints and started pushing them around,” he said. Mr Paul left school aged 15 to work as a clerk, a career that lasted all of six months after his friend urged him to apply for art school because all he would do at his desk was draw in his binder. Cleaner by day, artist by night, Mr Paul said his passion lies with painting and took about three months to paint Palm Sunday after one month of looking at a blank canvas. “I just switch off and wait - look at the canvas until I see an image and then I go for it. I can sit there for a month and see nothing then all of a sudden I’ll be working.” Mr Paul said he plans to spend the money to “get out of town” and continue to pursue his artistic work. John XXIII Year 10 student Julian Poon won $5,000 in the Mandorla Youth Award category for his painting My Beloved Son. Julian’s painting of Jesus’ crucifixion with his mother Mary crying at his feet, was selected amongst 20 entries by artists between the ages of 16 and 24. This is the second year the Youth category has been included in the Mandorla Art Award. Thelma Cluning’s textile artwork
Above, John Paul’s winning painting in the 1990 Mandorla Art Award, Ante lucem. Right, Winner of the 16th Mandorla Art Award, Palm Sunday by John Paul. PHOTO COURTESY: ST JOHN OF GOD
We Honour Our Women and Roddy Darlington’s painting Reverence were highly commended by the judges, each receiving $5,000 prize money. The four artist’s works were selected from among 65 finalists, 20 youth entries and 45 for the main prize, by the judges Rod Pattenden, Rachael Kohn and Annette Pedersen The judges said the two winners and the highly commended artists demonstrated a depth of understanding for the theme from St Paul’s letter to the Galatians (4:4): “But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law”. Judge Dr Pattensen said the Mandorla Art Award is different to most art prizes because it invites artists to take up the challenge to produce work for a very specific theme and you don’t have to be religious to enjoy the exhibit. All 65 artworks will be exhibited at the Perth Town Hall until Sunday, August 19 after which a selection of artworks will be displayed at the New Norcia Art Gallery.
Right, Highly commended painting Reverence by Roddy Darlington. Far Right, Highly commended textile artwork We Honour Our Women by Thelma Cluning. Below, Year 10 student Julian Poon’s painting My Beloved Son, which won the Youth Award. PHOTO COURTESY: ST JOHN OF GOD
Dr Angela Shanahan on why John Paul won the Mandorla - Page 17
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Santa Clara treasure in the diocese By Glynnis Grainger ON THE Feast Day of Santa Clara, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB told the congregation of Santa Clara Church, Bentley that their parish was a “treasure in the Archdiocese.” Parish priest Dennis Sudla had invited the Archbishop to concelebrate the 9.30am Mass to mark the Feast Day of the parish’s patron saint. The Rector of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary Fr Michael Moore and Fr Dennis were the other celebrants on the altar of the newly-renovated church, which was packed with people. Before the Mass, Fr Dennis welcomed the Archbishop and Fr Moore, the staff and children of the school and principal Mr Richard Win Pe. Fr Dennis told The Record Saint Clare’s relics were dedicated when the foundation stone was originally laid 49 years ago. In his homily, Archbishop Costelloe said: “One of the things that is very characteristic of our Catholic faith is that we name one of our churches after one of the saints. “These names are attached to the various churches throughout the archdiocese. So you all have a special friend in Heaven, Santa Clara. “You also have someone who is meant to be an example for you together as you live out your faith in this community.” He added: “As the disciples found out, they did everything to follow Jesus. “If we were to look to Santa
School children singing in the hall on the Feast Day of Santa Clara celebrated at the Santa Clara Church in Bentley.
Clara, we would actually find many dimensions ... she left everything to follow Christ in absolute poverty. The Poor Clares today keep that spirit alive in absolute poverty ... she and her Sisters sought to live in total silence.”
The Archbishop said that we need to ask what poverty and silence have to do with us today. “Should we just engage with God and just forget about everyone else?” he asked. “We have to let go of everything
that takes us away from Christ. Whatever else we have going in the parish community, it must all have its centre in Christ. “St Francis of Assisi was the one that Santa Clara was imitating. She said: ‘My God and my all’.
PHOTO: GLYNNIS GRAINGER
“We run the risk of losing sight of what really matters. “This parish is a place where people really gather to listen to the Lord. You as a community live a poverty of spirit to make sure that Christ is at the heart of our lives.”
East Timor hospital blessed by Bishop of Dili terparts with a clear focus on building the capacity of local health professionals to better manage their own healthcare systems. Director General of the HNGV, Dr Odete de Vigeas, welcomed the St John of God team in the presence of all the hospital’s chief nurses and nurses from all of the wards currently involved with the Nursing Development Program (Emergency Department, Neonatal, Paediatric and Intensive Care) prior to Bishop Ricardo’s official blessing ceremony. Group Manager for International Health, Anthea Ramos and Country Manager, Lionel Rudd also spoke on behalf of St John of God Health
Care. “It was a great privilege for us to have the Bishop of Dili bless our offices at the HNGV,” Ms Ramos said. “And we are very grateful to be able to work from these offices in the national hospital, where we can fulfil our value of hospitality by extending the invitation to our Timorese partners in sharing the space. “During our eight years in Timor we have always felt welcome and we are delighted to be able to offer a small space in return where our partners feel comfortable to come and work with us and use the facilities.”
Did you know that the most powerful, practical and lasting way to help the St Vincent de Paul Society is to leave a gift in your Will? It ensures that our programs that support people in need will continue well into the future.
Remember Vinnies in your Will and leave a lasting legacy.
While no one likes to think about Will-related matters, it is never too early to plan ahead. We have prepared three useful publications to help you ensure your personal affairs are in order. Simply complete and return this form for your free no-obligation copies.
The Bishop of Dili Alberto Ricardo (centre) at HNGV.
Please tick all that apply Mapping your Assets – a valuable and practical tool for recording your personal information Preparing your Will – a simple guide to putting your legal and financial affairs in order Executors and Probate – A complete guide to everything you need to know about the role and responsibility of an executor when making or executing a Will I would like to remember the St Vincent de Paul Society in my Will – please contact me for a confidential discussion. I have already remembered the St Vincent de Paul Society in my Will
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CAREGIVERS working in St John of God Health Care’s East Timor health development programs welcomed a very special guest recently when the Bishop of Dili Alberto Ricardo, officially blessed the organisation’s offices at the Hospital Nacional Guido Valdares (HNGV). Having worked closely with the Timorese Ministry of Health since 2004, to provide Pathology and Nursing Development Programs from the HNGV, the Dili-based caregivers were provided with new offices on the site earlier this year. The offices allow the St John of God Health Care team to work closely with their Timorese coun-
PHOTO: UNDA
Title ..................................................................................... First Name .......................................................................... Last Name .......................................................................... Address .............................................................................. ............................................................................................ Postcode............................................................................. Phone ................................................................................. Mobile ................................................................................. Email...................................................................................
Post to: The Bequest Officer, St Vincent de Paul Society (WA) Inc, PO Box 473, BELMONT, WA 6984 or contact our Bequest Officer on Tel: 08 9475 5400, Fax: 08 9475 5425 or email bequests@vinnies.org.au/wa
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Couples celebrate marriage and all it represents By Deirdre Lyra SIX couples were recognised for more than 245 years of marriage during National Marriage Day celebrations held at St Columba’s Parish, South Perth on August 12. Those married for 50 years are John and Dawn Barich, Dunstan and Margaret Hartley, Robert and Deirdre Applebee and young marrieds Derek and Karen Boylen who celebrated their 10th anniversary. These couples were given certificates sponsored by the Knights of the Southern Cross and the Australian Family Association. Derek Boylen is the director of Perth’s Archdiocesan Catholic Marriage and Fertility Centre, which promotes and supports Catholic understanding and teaching on marriage and natural family planning, as well as providing marriage preparation and enrichment courses, relationship education and counselling services. John and Ursula Hearn who were absent on the day, were also awarded a certificate for an impressive 60 years of marriage. Parish priest Monsignor Brian O’Loughlin will present the certificate to the long married couple at a later time. Another acknowledged couple were absent on the day. In his Homily, Monsignor O’Loughlin made reference to the Gospel message of marriage and the family, of Jesus being the son of Joseph and of the fact the Jews
knew his mother and father. The celebration followed the 9.30am Mass, during which hundreds of couples from the parish and around the Archdiocese renewed their marriage vows. Many wore the red and gold rosettes,which are a symbol of marriage and are often used for wedding anniversaries held in Parishes. This Mass preceded a bigger celebration on a national scale, a rally
National Marriage Day marks the Marriage Amendment Act 2004, defining marriage as “a union between one man and one woman”. in Canberra on August 14, which was addressed by guest speaker American lawyer and journalist Don Feder. National Marriage Day marks the Marriage Amendment Act 2004 which defined marriage as “a union between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life”. Rabbi Shimon Cowen spoke at the rally as well as Warwick Marsh from the Fatherhood Foundation. Federal politicians showing cross-party support who spoke
at the event included Eric Abetz, Mark Furner, Kevin Andrews, Barnaby Joyce and John Madigan. A delegate from Perth joined attendees all across the country to show their support at the rally hosted in Canberra. The National Marriage Day rally was first held in 2009. Debate on two Marriage Equity bills currently before federal par-
liament has ended and a vote is expected to be taken in September this year. Australian Family Association committee member Luke McCormack, who attended the rally, said the changing of Australia’s marriage laws would have a severe impact on children and would destroy the natural biological bonds of heterosexual marriage.
Celebrating more than 245 years of marriage between them (left to right) John and Dawn Barich, Robert and Deirdre Applebee and Karen and Derek Boylen, who are pictured with their children. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Pope’s former valet to face the music over theft THE FORMER personal assistant of Pope Benedict XVI, Paolo Gabriele, who is accused of allegedly copying private Vatican correspondence and giving them to a journalist has told a Vatican investigation he acted out of concern for the Pope and the Church. Documents released by the Vatican on August 13 outline the case against Mr Gabriele and included his own statements about his motivations, as well as character witness’ descriptions of him and selected quotations from reports by psychiatrists and psychologists asked by the Vatican to examine him. The documents explain why the Vatican decided to formally indict Gabriele and try him on charges of aggravated theft. The trial date will not be announced until late September. A professor of psychiatry at Sapienza University of Rome, Roberto Tatarelli said Mr Gabriele showed no signs of “clinically significant disturbances” that could explain his actions or cast doubt on his ability to understand what he was doing was wrong. Dr Tatarelli wrote Mr Gabriele has a “simple intelligence” and a “fragile personality with paranoid tendencies, covering up a deep personal insecurity and an unresolved need to enjoy the esteem and affection of others.” The Vatican’s investigating judge Piero Bonnet summarised what other witnesses told Vatican investigators. Mr Bonnet said Mr Gabriele was described as believing and committed Catholic, able to carry out his job as sort of a papal valet “with the diligence and reserve required” while another described him as very pious. -CNS
Students of St Joseph’s College Cunningham House participating in the All School Tunnel Ball to raise money for charity.
PHOTO COURTESY: ST JOSEPH’S COLLEGE
Green and gold helps raise money for shoes and socks Susan Scanlon STUDENTS, staff and parents of St Joseph’s College Cunningham House joined forces to raise money for the Mary MacKillop Foundation’s Shoes & Socks 4 Kids in Regional Australia Program. The day began with a House Liturgy in Ave Maria Chapel. During this time, students from
pre-primary to Year 12 had the opportunity, through scripture readings, music and prayer, to develop a deeper understanding of what it means to be a student of St Joseph’s College and, in particular, a member of Cunningham House. A total of $649.85 was raised for the Mary Mackillop Foundation by students donating a gold coin to dress in green and gold for the day.
Green and gold jelly-cups, supplied by parents, were also sold from the canteen during recess and lunch, with proceeds being added to the Shoes & Socks 4 Kids program. To add some fun to the green and gold day and in the spirit of the London Olympics students from pre-primary to Year 12 lined up in their four respective houses for a
whole school tunnel ball challenge. This event was enjoyed by both staff and students with the tunnels being approximately 160 students long. The real winners on the day, however, are the children throughout Australia who will benefit from new shoes and socks. The Mary MacKillop Foundation was founded by the Sisters of St Joseph.
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LOCAL
therecord.com.au
August 15, 2012
Prison chaplains find God on the inside By Sarah Motherwell THEY befriend some of the most dangerous people in the State and meet daily with killers, sex offenders, petty thieves, drug dealers and everyone in-between, but Catholic prison chaplains say their ministry is one of the most rewarding out there. Behind the automated, locked doors of Western Australia’s main maximum-security prison, Casuarina, Fr Bob O’Neil reaches out to every inmate to offer support, friendship and, if they wish, spiritual guidance. Splitting his part-time ministry time between Casuarina and Karnet Prison Farm, Fr O’Neil spent eight years in the field, in the United Kingdom, before moving to Australia in 2008. Fr O’Neil says when he began his vocation he thought he was bringing God into the prison, but came to realise God was very much alive and active among the prisoners. “The ministry is about listening at a deep level to the person in front of you; making no judgments, just listening to their story,” he says. “They are the only ones that can tell their story, there is neither right nor wrong to it. It’s just as it is.” Peter Toohey is a Catholic prison chaplain at Hakea Prison in Canning Vale, which manages people remanded in custody and newly sentenced prisoners, and Acacia Prison in Wooroloo, the only privately managed prison in WA. “We see people regardless and their problems are often human problems to do with the breakdown in their relationships with their partners or problems with drug and alcohol addiction, but underlying all that is a great spiritual hunger,” he says. “It’s about building relationships of trust and as you do people begin to share more and more of their pain and problems and issues.” The prison ministry is not without its dangers, Fr O’Neil says. While a positive relationship with
every prisoner is what they strive for, it is not always possible. “If you have a good relationship with one prisoner, in the prison that can sometimes have a knock on affect among other guys, but if there is a couple of prisoners that don’t get along, and you’ve got a good relationship with one, that can sometimes backfire on somebody else.” The Catholic prison chaplains of WA meet on a regular basis to discuss issues unique to their profession. Every chaplain expresses a great passion for their vocation but they are very aware of the unique problems and added stress that comes with their job and Fr O’Neil says they often meet one-on-one with a spiritual supervisor to discuss any issues that impact negatively on the chaplains. “Unconsciously you are picking up a lot of stuff from other people and its not your stuff and you shouldn’t be carrying it and you need to recognise what is yours and what isn’t and get rid of it.” When asked if there are any myths about prison life that they would like to dispel, Fr Toohey says the idea there is nothing you can do for people who end up the prison system, that they are just “crims” who should be locked up and the key thrown away is false. “If you listen to these people you
Archbishop Costelloe meeting with Catholic prison chaplains for the first time in July.
ing number of criminal offenders. “So many prisoners come from single-parent families and there has been trouble for years before they get into the adult prisons anyway because these kids are alienated from society and don’t see them-
ly affect the prosecuted and as Fr Toohey explains, the families are sentenced to hard times as well. “Their families, who do prison in the outside in a sense, they come and visit their family member in jail but the kids don’t have a dad or a
It is a myth that you can’t do anything for people in prison, that they are just “crims” who you should simply lock up, and throw away the key. realise that they have the very same hunger for meaning and a place in society and for love, and ultimately for God, as you and I.” He says many of prisoners from broken homes and have experienced violence in the home or never felt at home, even within their families. Fr Toohey says there is no simple solution to the problems in the prison system but early intervention is vital to reduce the grow-
selves as having a place there.” But Fr O’Neil says there is not one type of person who is likely to end up in prison and it comes down the individual’s decisions. “There have been people from very poor, adverse situations who turn out, through their own efforts and maybe help from others, [to be] truly inspiring people. You wonder why one and not the other.” A prison sentence does not sole-
mum, and they suffer tremendously because of that. And when that person comes out they’ve got to find a place within their family, which is often a big challenge.” Life after prison is almost as challenging as the time spent behind bars but Fr Toohey says he believes it would be beneficial to have parish communities in WA who are prepared to welcome people who have served time.
Joy is possible, even in the face of death By Prof Peter Black “We all want to be happy”. These words of St Augustine, quoted by guest presenter, Fr Paul Murray OP, caught the attention of the audience gathered for his public lecture at The University of Notre Dame Australia’s Fremantle Campus on Wednesday 1 August 2012. Despite Christ telling his disciples that his joy should be their joy, the philosopher, Nietzsche, was obviously a little disappointed in Christians when he remarked that: “His disciples should look a little more redeemed”, and that it was not their arguments that let them down but their faces. With this introduction, Fr Murray proceeded to reflect on the nature of happiness and joy for the Christian, drawing on witnesses of such joy and happiness. His first witnesses were prisoners condemned to death in a South African prison. Reading from their letters, one written personally to him, Fr Murray uncovered the root of our deepest desires and the means to break through the challenges of life to real joy. He suggested three means; the experience of prayer, the experience of being loved, and the experience of suffering. His stories of these contemporary witnesses of transformation were both moving and instructive. Then calling on his Dominican tradition, Fr Murray introduced the audience to the world and reflec-
Theologians, Michelle Jones and visiting speaker from the Angelicum in Rome, Fr Paul Murray OP.
tions of two great medieval Doctors of the Church, St Catherine of Siena and St Thomas Aquinas. St Catherine experienced joy and happiness through prayer because it connected her to her deepest desires, what she called ‘our inconsolable secret’. Prayer helped her to realise what she was truly seeking and the God she met in prayer was a gentle mirror of her own goodness despite her limitations. As for St Thomas, Fr Murray argued that his writings reveal that play, wit, laughter and joy are essen-
tial to the spiritual life, not enemies. The lecture concluded with questions and comments from the audience; questions about what people in a post-enlightenment age are really seeking and how they are attempting to find happiness and joy in their lives. Fr Murray demonstrated the gift of weaving together the riches of the Christian tradition on happiness and desire with stories that witness to the lived reality. Father Paul Murray OP is a Dominican priest ordained in 1973. He is Professor of Spirituality and is President of the Institute
PHOTO: COURT UNDA
of Spirituality at the Angelicum (Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas) in Rome and also a poet. He holds a doctorate in English Literature from University College, Dublin. The School of Philosophy and Theology regularly hosts public lectures on the Fremantle Campus. For more information, please contact the School on 9433 0138 or email fremantle.theology@nd.edu. au. Fr Peter Black is Black is a lecturer in UNDA’s School of Philosophy and Theology at Fremantle.
PHOTO: SARAH MOTHERWELL
“It would have to depend on the nature of the sentence and how it was done, but to find a welcoming Catholic parish community that would even be prepared to reach out to the people who would otherwise not feel welcomed.” The job of a prison chaplain is not everyone’s cup of tea as Fr Toohey says with a smile but he still finds it a wonderful opportunity to meet people you would not normally meet in a parish. “It’s an immensely enriching ministry. I get so much strength and inspiration just from the people, people who have problems that I have never faced in my life and have an immense weight of pain and defeat and all the rest of it and here they are, determined to try and stop their drug habit and asking for help from God and want you to help them journey towards healing.”
Veiled call for a workaround A KEYNOTE speaker and a group of panelists addressing the 900 sisters at the annual assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious urged the sisters to embrace new challenges. Speakers did not refer directly to the Vatican doctrinal assessment calling for a reform of LCWR, whose members are the 1,500 leaders of US women’s communities representing about 80 per cent of the country’s 57,000 women in religious congregations. Instead, they spoke broadly about how the sisters can bring about change or specific challenges they should consider. The St Louis gathering was the first time the organisation had assembled since the release of the April 18 Vatican assessment, which said reform was needed to ensure LCWR’s fidelity to Catholic teaching in such areas as abortion, euthanasia, women’s ordination and homosexuality. Barbara Marx Hubbard, the main speaker on August 8, essentially told the sisters to embrace the notion of change and growth reflected in biblical passages that speak of rebirth and “making all things new.” Ms Hubbard pointed out that although she is not Catholic, she was drawn to the work of the sisters and called them “the best seed bed I know for evolving the church and the world in the 21st century.” -CNS
NATION
therecord.com.au August15,2012
9
Our Lauren flies high on the floor in London NOTRE Dame Biomedical Science student and World Champion gymnast, Lauren Mitchell, has been successful in reaching the final of the floor routine at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Ms Mitchell finished fifth with a final score of 14.833 – just 0.067 points from a medal position. Her routine received a score of 6.4 for difficulty, the second highest of the competition. One of Australia’s shining lights in gymnastics, Ms Mitchell made her Olympic debut at the 2008 Games in Beijing, China. Since then, she has claimed a World Championship crown, four Commonwealth Games gold medals and numerous national titles and World Cup medals. In her preparation for the 2012 Olympics, she took out the 2011 Australian Championships in the all around, beam, floor and vault and began her Olympic year with a gold medal in the women’s floor at the World Cup event in Zibo, China. Vice Chancellor, Professor Celia Hammond, said the University community had been watching Ms Mitchell’s performance in the Games closely and was proud of her efforts in the final. “Lauren’s placing in the world’s top five is just amaz-
Notre Dame’s Lauren Mitchell (right) at the 42nd Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in October 2010 in the Netherlands.
ing,” Vice Chancellor Hammond said. “She is truly inspirational as an athlete and is a wonderful role
model for young Australians. “We look forward to continuing to support her with her studies and
love of gymnastics.” American, Alexandra Raisman, took out the gold medal ahead of
PHOTO: JAMIE MCDONALD/GETTY IMAGES
Romanian, Catalina Ponor, and Russian, Aliya Mustafina.Vannessa Ferrari of Italy placed fourth.
Religious not a dirty word for pontiff By Anna Krohn THERE is distinct air of both surprise and hope at the announcement this week that Fr Paul Bird CSsR, the regional head (provincial) of the Redemptorists will be the eighth Catholic Bishop for the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat. It is interesting that commentators and bloggers from different theological quarters in the Church have been united in their positive reception of the news. The note of surprise comes because in the modern history of the Church in Australia it the normal expectation that priests of the diocesan clergy are appointed as bishops. Pope Benedict XVI is setting his own trend by selecting as bishops not only diocesan clergy but also some particularly outstanding representatives of what the Church calls its “religious orders”. There are many kinds of religious orders in the Catholic Church, but they all have in common a particular commitment to witness to Jesus Christ in a radical way by taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and by living in a special mission to the wider society while living in community life. Members of religious orders often work outside the organisational square of both the conventional Church and the prevailing culture. They try to live the Gospel faithfully but in a transforming way. Many of the religious orders were founded by saintly people who formed communities of followers to address particular problems that faced the Church and society in their times. They became the trouble-shooters for their age and it is clear that Pope Benedict believes that the Church is facing many intractable troubles which need the sharp and radical creativity that continues to motivate religious men and women today. For example, into the bank-
Above: Anna Krohn is a lecturer in ethics in Ballarat and an occasional writer on women’s and religious issues. Lefr: Ballarat’s Bishop-Elect Paul Bird CSsR is part of a wave of appointments from religious orders, and for good reason, writes Ansna Krohn. PHOTO: DIOC. OF BALLARAT
rupt and fractured American Archdiocese of Boston, wracked by the most appalling accounts of child-sexual abuse and bureaucratic mismanagement the Pope appointed the Franciscan Cardinal Sean O’Malley. O’Malley insists on wearing the sandals and brown
Salesian in Archbishop Timothy Costelloe in Perth, a Jesuit in Bishop Greg O’Kelly in Port Pirie, a Dominican in Bishop Anthony Fisher of Parramatta, and in Brisbane an Auxiliary Bishop is a Capuchin Franciscan, Bishop Joseph Oudeman. Auxiliary Bishop
er than by words. The Pope also sees the beauty of art and music as a great ally of spirituality and faith - a point noted recently by the popular atheist philosopher Alain de Botton. In Bishop-Elect Paul Bird there is a winning quadrella. He a highly
A highly effective organiser, musician, theologian and liturgist, Fr Paul Bird is a highly cultured man. habit and being visibly Franciscan. He shocked many by selling prime Boston Church property in order to assist the victims of abuse. In Australia the distinctive spirituality, scholarship and mission of different orders is beginning to be visible in some key diocesan appointments around Australia. A
Vincent Long is the first Australian Bishop of Vietnamese background and he is a Conventual Franciscan. Pope Benedict frequently comments on the need for the Church to spread the gospel of Christ in ways which engage and challenge the culture more intelligently, more imaginatively and by example rath-
cultured man who is a musician, theologian and liturgist. One commentator has noted that he is the first Australian Bishop to have composed a Mass setting. Yet he is also a highly effective organiser and one with a heart and ear to the concerns of people both Catholic and non-Catholic. The name “Paul
Bird” is a quietly household one for Catholics from urban to outback parishes. As writer of spiritual reflections, retreats and as editorin-chief of The Majellan, a national magazine for down-to-earth family spirituality (founded in Ballarat in 1949) he deserves to be called a Catholic household name. The Redemptorists (whose full title is the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer) were founded by Saint Alphonsus Ligouri who was a lawyer, a priest and later a bishop himself. Alphonsus was concerned to help the poor and to guide priests who were facing dramatically changing cultures in their congregations. Alphonsus Ligouri also brought to some of the most troubling moral issues of his time a bridge building wisdom and clarity. He also embedded in his Congregation a deep concern for those who were homeless, stateless and without hope - those the order sees as the abandoned in society. The Redemptorists are part of the physical landscape and spiritual heartland of Ballarat. Their original monastery which was once a place of retreat for people is no longer in their possession - but its presence still stands as a striking image on the Wendoree sky-scape. Yet their social and spiritual commitment to the disadvantaged continues on in the Exodus Community run by the Redemptorist Fr Frank Smith. The Exodus community aims to provide a lively yet healing presence and outreach to the struggling and outcast. It provides an educational, spiritual and practical assistance to unemployed youth, to lonely older people and a meeting place for people who just do not know where they belong. Believers, some very confused, damaged and disenfranchised and the wider Ballarat community may take hope from the announcement of the new Bishop which took place on August 1 - Feast day of Saint Alphonsus Ligouri.
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MILESTONES
therecord.com.au
August 15, 2012
Beloved Fr Nanni farewelled Obituary
Fr Gaetano Nanni Born: L’Aquila, Italy, September 3, 1919 Entered eternal life: July 30th, 2012, Fremantle, Australia r Gaetano Nanni OMI was a living legend among a large section of the Catholic Church in Western Australia; many would have believed it quite feasible that he knew every Italian in Perth, especially those in Fremantle. He was also one of that rare breed of individuals, foreign-born priests who made Australia and its people, particularly migrants, their life’s work. The well known and widelyloved diminutive and humble Italian-born priest who died on July 30 in Fremantle was less than a year away from celebrating his Platinum (70th) anniversary of ordination to the priesthood, due in May 2013. If he had lived just a few months longer, he would have turned 93 on September 3. With his death, the Australian Province of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the order to which he belonged, is mourning the loss of its longest-serving priest. Born in San Giovanni di Santa Maria, L’Aquila, Italy, in 1919, Fr Nanni entered the Oblate Junior Seminary at Santa Maria à Vico at 16 years of age, taking First Vows in 1937 at the Oblate Scholasticate in Ripalimosani; he was ordained by Bishop Rostagno at San Giorgio Scholasticate on May 3, 1943. Fr Nanni arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia, in 1951 where he worked closely with the Italian community in the Oblate parishes of Fremantle and Karragullen. In the decades that followed he was to work with thousands of Italian pre- and post-war migrants and their families. In 1960, Fr Nanni became the first non-Irish or Australian parish priest of St Patrick’s Basilica in Fremantle. The appointment caused a stir but proved to be a popular one as Fr Nanni carried out three successive terms there as Parish Priest. In 1977 he was appointed to the diocesan parish of West Perth as Parish Priest; his curate was the future Archbishop Barry Hickey and it has been occasionally remarked that Fr Nanni had a significant influence on the future Archbishop. He worked there for 10 years and in 1999, the Perth City Council recognised his significant contribution when the adjacent city square was officially named ‘Piazza Nanni’ by the then Minister of Planning. Another 11-year appointment as Parish Priest at Carilla in Perth followed before Fr Nanni rejoined the Fremantle community at St Patrick’s as chaplain to the Italian community – a role he continued in up to his death. In October each year, Fr Nanni also played a key role in the Blessing of the Fleet, an important religious and civic tradition that was introduced to Fremantle Harbour in 1948 by a group of Italian fishermen. In 2001, Fr Nanni was presented with a certificate of honour by the Italian Consul, on behalf of the Italian Government, to commemorate his 50 years of work in Australia. He was also due to receive an Order of Australia – until the authorities discovered he wasn’t an Australian citizen. In May this year, Fr Nanni was presented with a plaque from retiring Archbishop of Perth, Most Rev Barry Hickey, in commemoration of his remarkable 69 years of priestly service and their 60 years of personal friendship. Archbishop
MILESTONES
therecord.com.au August15,2012
UNDA gets new Deputy Vice Chancellor
A Franciscan heart to the end Fr Filipo Magni, Priest Born: January 11th, 1918 Entered eternal life: June 26th, 2012 By Fr Filipo Magni
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Fr Gaetano Nanni’s coffin is sprinkled with holy water by fellow Oblate Fr Harry Dyer OMI at Fremantle Cemetery on August 7.
PHOTO: COURTESY OBLATES OF MARY
Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey of Perth with Fr Nanni in April this year. Fr Nanni was a personal friend for 60 years. PHOTO: COURTESY ARCHBISHOP BARRY HICKEY
Fr Nanni in recent years. Despite his advancing age he remained energetic and active, only giving up driving a car in 2011. PHOTO: COURTESY, OBLATES
The editor of the Oblate Bulletin approached his task in trepidation when he printed a tribute to Fr Nanni. Hickey was the homilist and main celebrant at a vigil Mass for Fr Nanni at St Patrick’s Basilica, Fremantle on August 6 where he was joined by Australian Oblate Provincial, Fr Harry Dyer OMI and 18 concelebrants. Described as a dedicated, hardworking priest with genuine compassion for people, particularly the sick, Fr Nanni was also regarded as a happy, human and humble priest who had a ready sense of humour, well-loved by the closeknit Fremantle Oblate community, the Italian community and
throughout the diocese of Perth. Speaking to a capacity congregation at St Patrick’s Basilica for Fr Nanni’s funeral on August 7, Australian Oblate Provincial, Fr Harry Dyer OMI reflected that: “The priesthood for Fr Nanni was about being called to serve God’s people no matter what time of day or night and his generous devotion endeared him to the people. He presided over countless baptisms, reconciliations, weddings and funerals, however his real passion was to care for the sick and dying – he believed in surrounding them with the love and affection of God.” “It is a great grace and blessing for the Oblates of the Australian Province, the Archdiocese of Perth and the many people who met Fr Nanni that he remained active and healthy right up to the minute when the Lord called him from this earthly life to his eternal reward on July
30. Today is about giving thanks to God for the gift that Fr Nanni has been to all of us, especially our congregation, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Catholic Church in Australia,” he concluded. Fr Nanni was farewelled at a concelebrated Requiem Mass led by Australian Oblate Provincial, Fr Harry Dyer OMI with retired Archbishop Barry Hickey and Auxiliary Bishop of Perth, Bishop Don Sproxton and 41 priests at a packed St Patrick’s Basilica on August 7. Fr Nanni was buried at the Oblate plot in Fremantle cemetery. Fr Nanni typically refused fuss and attention such as jubilee celebrations and didn’t like a fuss being made over him. The editor of the Oblate News Bulletin of May 2003 approached his task in trepidation when he re-printed a tribute to Fr Nanni written by fellow Oblate and well-known Perth Priest Fr Don Hughes OMI on the occasion of Fr Nanni’s 60th anniversary of ordination. It emerged in the tribute that Fr Nanni had not been entirely happy with liturgical changes in the 1960s and 70s, including what liturgical committees had been allowed to do to the interiors of churches and their sanctuaries; he grieved for the
beautiful marble altars, side altars, communion rails and candlesticks - many of them works of art - that were torn down and thrown out by liturgistas citing Vatican II as their authority. For him, much of what happened was vandalism. Although he could have retired from active service years ago, the energetic priest still celebrated the Sunday 9.45am Mass in Italian at St Patrick’s Basilica and only gave up driving a car late in 2011. “He’s done a tremendous service to the Italian community,” fellow Oblate Fr Tony Maher OMI told The Record during a telephone interview earlier in April this year when Fr Nanni was presented with a special Certificate of Appreciation by Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey. “He knows all the Italians throughout Perth, particularly Freo,” Fr Maher said. “The people love him. He still concelebrates at funerals, too. Even now he visits the sick and the dying.” Fr Maher described Fr Gaetano as a great visitor. “He loves to visit the people, and he visits the sick. He is close to the people and always there for them.” “He’s got a heart of gold and the people know that; he looks after them. No one says a bad word about Fr Nanni.”
he University of Notre Dame Australia has announced the appointment of Professor Shelda Debowski as the new Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University and head of the Fremantle Campus. Professor Debowski has an extensive background in Western Australian higher education. After lecturing in Library and Information Science at Edith Cowan University, she moved to Murdoch University as Senior Lecturer in Business. Her most recent role has been at the University of Western Australia as Winthrop Professor (Higher Education Development) and Director, Organisational and Staff Development Services (OSDS). In this capacity she has led a number of national and international projects relating to research capacity building. Prof Debowski holds a Master of Education and a PhD from the University of Western Australia and a Diploma from the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Professor Debowski is a fellow of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) (where she is also the current President), of the Australian Institute of Management (AIM) and of the Association of Tertiary Education Management (ATEM). She was a recipient of a 2011 Churchill Fellowship and a finalist in the 2008 Telstra Business Women’s Awards. She also served a two-year term as the President of the International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED), a collaborative network of the presidents of higher education development societies from across 22 countries. Professor Debowski is renowned as a strategic innovator with an extensive knowledge of the higher education sector both in Australia and internationally. She has high level expertise and experience in educational theory and practice, research management and strategy, academic development, leadership development, human resource management, change management, organisational analysis and development, knowledge management and project management. The Vice Chancellor of Notre Dame, Professor Celia Hammond, said that she was delighted with the appointment of Professor Debowski to this senior leadership role. “Professor Debowski’s track record shows that she has the capacity, drive, dedication and passion to be a creative and innovative leader of the Fremantle Campus and to help it further consolidate its reputation for quality learning within a strong belief based university,” said Professor Hammond. Professor Debowski will commence at the University in September 2012.
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was born in a small town near Milan, in Northern Italy to a poor family, the youngest of six children. After completing five years state school, I joined a Capuchin Franciscan Seminary to start my “apprenticeship” to the priesthood. This lasted almost fifteen years. I was ordained in 1942 at the age of 24. During the war I attended a nursing course and this enabled me to assist the victims of air raids on the spot or to administer the Last Rites. I also held the office of Prison Chaplain and assisted at a firing squad, the war being just over. After the war I continued my active ministry until the time I came to Australia as an official chaplain to Italian immigrants. I arrived in Sydney in January 1950 and after 12 months I was sent to work for two years as a chaplain in the Migrant Camp of Bonegilla, in Victoria. The small town on Lake Hume is just a few miles east of the border towns of Albury-Wodonga. Migrant camps were not designed for permanent living. We were accommodated in barracks, with possums in the roof as our nocturnal visitors. The idea was to house people on a temporary basis and get them to integrate into society as soon as possible. After Bonegilla I was asked to work as one of the Italian/English secretaries to Archbishop Carboni who was the Apostolic Delegate to Australia. I did this for one year until it was decided that I should do Italian Missions in a number of places in Queensland. I went to places like Bundaberg, Biloela, Mackay and Rockhampton. In Biloela, I spent a night on an improvised bed in the sacristy of the small corrugated iron Church, which was in the middle of the bush. When I returned to Sydney, the Apostolic Delegate sacked me because he thought he had not been told by me where I had gone, an over-sight on his part. I then worked in Adelaide. For two years I went out giving missions to Italians in towns all over the country as far as Broken Hill, Wollongong, Riverina and Myrtleford. In 1955, I was sent to care for Italian migrants in the distant area of Harvey in Western Australia. This was over 2500 kilometres away from Adelaide, the nearest Capuchin House. I left Sydney with my Superior’s blessing and his assurance that I would find everything I needed in the place of my new destination. Nevertheless, after a seemingly interminable flight and an overnight stay in Wanneroo, I got to Harvey. This was quite a different situation from what I had expected. It was an old house with worn out furniture. It also lacked some of the essential things like cutlery, crockery and other wares. I had to borrow almost everything I needed. There was no car for me to visit people and reach outer stations to celebrate Mass in places as Mornington Mill and Brunswick Junction. However, with a loan from Bishop Goody I was able to purchase an old car and free myself from depending too often on other people. I remember it took me a long time to get over the isolation. Harvey seemed then like the end of the earth. At this stage the Bishop of Bunbury remonstrated in writing to my superior about leaving a friar alone for so long. A couple came over from Sydney to join me,
Fr Filipo Magni as a younger Franciscan Capuchin, above, and later in life as a priest of the Diocese of Bunbury, at bottom. Bishop Gerard Holohan of Bunbury presides at the burial of Fr Magni’s remains on July 2nd at Pinnaroo.
Brothers Domenic Pontilillo and Vincent Ryan, but they left soon afterwards. Isolation, I think, was the main reason, the very reason that prompted the Capuchins to remove the Order from the West in 1997-98. It is too far away from the bulk of the Fraternity. I was on my own for a short while longer until the arrival of Father Nazario Mammi. He had asked to be changed from Melbourne. He was a mate of mine from student days and also a fortunate survivor of an execution in Italy during the
Migrant camps were not designed for permanency. We lived in barracks with possums in the roof. war. He had come to Australia in 1949 and had already been in North Queensland, so isolation was no problem for him. We worked together in amity for some time and often talked, in passing, about the importance of an Italian speaking priest in the area for the sake of the immigrants, who were still arriving from Italy at that time. It was no surprise then, that after consulting with Bishop Goody, Father Nazario asked St
Francis’ consensus if he could have permission to join St Peter’s ancient Order. He was gladly received into the Diocese of Bunbury. Reverting to his baptismal name Luigi, as Father Luigi Mammi he became the first Parish Priest of Brunswick Junction. I followed Father Luigi by also asking for a dispensation from the Order and so I remained Parish Priest of Harvey. Though the change was the end of the Capuchin presence in the Diocese of Bunbury, Harvey’s loss was Balcatta’s gain. St Lawrence’s Church, Balcatta, was entrusted soon after, to the competent care of
the same Capuchin Order, a presence that endured for more than three decades. For 25 years from 1960, I continued to serve the Diocese in several parishes with many Italian settlers after Fr Luigi returned to Italy. After two years in my second time in Harvey, I was advised by the doctor to forego parish work and therefore moved to Bunbury into the Parish House near the Cathedral. For a long while I was Chaplain to St John of God Hospital, helping out as well at St Vincent’s Hospital, and also the Carmelite Monastery. After recovering form an aneurysm I resumed work at St John of God Hospital for 17 years. I also helped at the Regional Hospital with a weekly Mass and alternately celebrating Mass weekly at Elanora Villas and Wattle Hill Lodge. Each Sunday morning I would celebrate Mass for the Italian Community at St Mary’s Church, South Bunbury, a practice I continued until retirement. I had often voiced my desire to rejoin the Order and in 1998 I did ask seriously to be readmitted. In due time and in the same year my request was granted by the Minister General. The Provincial of the Australian Province, John Cooper was prepared to receive me but when I expressed my wishes to rejoin my original Province (Parma), circumstances changed. I wrote several letters to the Parma Provincial but these were unanswered. Naturally I interpreted this silence as unwillingness on his part and decided then to join the Australian Province. The Provincial John Cooper contacted me soon after saying he had intended to assign me to Adelaide, but the Fraternity there had remonstrated. I started then to think that God’s will was in it, pointing, perhaps, to something else for me, still in the Franciscan frame but in another capacity. In fact the Cabrini Sisters at Villa Terenzio had previously offered me a place to retire. They had been looking for someone like me, a retired priest, who could still celebrate Mass. I asked the permission of the Provincial to accept this opportunity. He arranged for me to meet with the Secular Franciscan Order in Perth and eventually I was received into the Third Order by Brother Patrick Colbourne OFM Cap. During my attempt to rejoin the Order, the Provincial came over from Sydney to see me. More than once I travelled East to see him. I always enjoyed my stay with the Fraternity, especially the last time when I celebrated 50 years of ministry in Australia with Brother Atanasio; (we came together from Parma Province). When I retired to Villa Terenzio it ended an echo of Capuchin presence in the Diocese of Bunbury. I use the word “echo” deliberately, for I was a Capuchin when I went to Harvey in 1955. Although I left the order to join the secular clergy in 1959, I retained the name Philip that the Friars gave me in my novitiate. I have continued in my love of St Francis and the Capuchins over the many years since I left the Order. Over the past 40 years in the Diocese of Bunbury I have continued to do the apostolate to Italian migrants that I was sent by my superiors to Australia to do in 1950. It has been a long journey for me, not always smooth, but never the less a great ministry, in the East first and then in the West, especially to the people of the Diocese of Bunbury. God has given me many blessings and I thank Him. This account of his own life was written by Fr Magni several years ago.
12
VISTA
therecord.com.au
August 15, 2012
A plenitude of sinners, but still a holy Church The Saints show that the Church is holy despite the sometimes spectacular failings of its members, as Cindy Wooden reports ...
C
atholic devotion to the saints appears to be alive and well, and Pope Benedict XVI continues to proclaim new saints at a regular pace. The official calendar of saints’ feast days will grow in October when the Pope canonises seven men and women, including Mother Marianne Cope of Molokai and three laypeople: the Native American Kateri Tekakwitha, the Filipino Peter Calungsod and the German Anna Schaffer. The Canonisation Mass on October 21st will be one of the first big events of Pope Benedict’s Year of Faith, which is designed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and to launch a strengthened commitment to the new evangelisation. According to Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, the appeal of the saints and their concrete examples of holiness give them “an undeniably posi-
A painting of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, the Catholic MohawkAlgonquin young woman who will be canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on October 21st. PHOTO: KAREN CALLOWAY, CATHOLIC NEW WORLD
tive role to play in this time of new evangelisation,” since they are living proof that the Church is holy. In a new book, currently available only in Italian, Cardinal Amato writes that it’s easy to understand how people can question the Church’s holiness when they see the sinful behaviour of some of its members. But the good, loving and charitable activities of other members are the best evidence that the Church truly is the holy body of Christ, he says. “The holiness of the Church is not the sum of the holiness of its children, but is a spiritual gift received from the spirit of the Risen Christ,” he writes. “Throughout history, the Church carries the treasure of
its holiness in earthen vessels. Being aware of that, the historic church can do nothing other than continually convert to the cross of Christ.” The saints and martyrs officially recognised by the Church are the “demonstration that the Church, even if it is not already perfect, given the misery of many of its sons and daughters, is not less holy, but continues to produce the fruits of holiness and always will.” Individual Christians and Christian communities thus have an obligation to pursue holiness “to counterbalance the humiliations” Christ’s body suffers because of the sins of its members, he writes. For Jesuit Father Paolo Molinari, who served as an
The holiness of the Church is not the sum of the holiness of its children. It’s a gift from the Lord.. expert at Vatican II and shepherded Blessed Kateri’s sainthood cause for 55 years, saints are not mythic heroes but real men and women who show all Christians that it’s possible to live holy lives no matter where they were born or what their state of life. It’s not a matter of demonstrating extraordinary courage in a dangerous situation, but “living an ordinary life in an extraordinary way,” a way that “comes from the spirit of Jesus poured into our hearts,” Father Molinari said. Another great thing about the saints, he said, is that they are ready, willing and able today to help the Church’s members along the path of holiness. The Second Vatican Council “purified” exaggerated practices related to the veneration of the saints, for example, where the faithful would “enter into a church and go to the statue of St Anthony or St Rita and touch it, but not even think that the Lord is present in the tabernacle,” he said. But the council still emphasised the fact that those friends of God are part of the Church and will intervene on behalf of those still living on earth, he said. Veneration of the saints, the Jesuit said, is a sign of “the link between the pilgrim Church (on earth) and the ones who have gone to God.” Blessed Kateri is, like all the saints, still part of the Catholic family, concerned about the needs of her kin, Father Molinari said; and so, “being with God, she will probably whisper into the ear of God something of what we say to her.” - CNS
Facts vs
FACTS Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, a Jesuit priest, has a huge job on his hands as he grapples on a daily basis with trying to quickly help the media get the truth, as Carol Glatz reports ...
T
hroughout history, the Vatican has dealt with so many accusations and scandals, one would expect the Holy See to have a welloiled PR machine primed to deal with the constant media onslaught. Well, better late than never. Recent changes – some official, some done on-the-fly – demonstrate the Vatican is taking seriously its need to face the media clearly and directly both on offense and defence. The first pivotal indication was the hiring of a seasoned lay journalist at the Vatican Secretariat of State to help “manage” the message. The Vatican created the new adviser position in June and handpicked US-born Greg Burke, a member of Opus Dei and longtime Rome correspondent for Fox News. The idea was to get someone knowledgeable about the Church, yet culled from far enough outside the Vatican bubble to be able to see if any train wrecks were coming. The Regensburg controversy is an example of one derailment that could have been avoided, many journalists have said, including Burke. A deeply intellectual and nuanced speech citing a controversial 14thcentury Byzantine emperor on the evils of a faith disconnected from reason may not present problems in a lecture to a group of theol-
ogy students, “but in a sound-bite, headline culture, it’s a whole different thing,” Burke told CNS. Someone, in fact, who understood and sated the media’s hunger for quick concise sound bites was Joaquin Navarro-Valls, another Opus Dei member and longtime lay journalist who headed the Vatican press office for 22 years. Some have said, in fact, that the Vatican’s tailspin into the media maelstrom began not long after Navarro’s retirement in July 2006 – just two months prior to the pope’s speech in Regensburg. He was replaced by a much more understated and paternal figure – Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, a northern Italian mathematician, who learned to compute the media equation as head of Vatican Radio and the Vatican television station. Measured, frank and open, Father Lombardi always answers journalists’ questions patiently and in a timely way; he also tries to keep up with monitoring the deluge of what gets written about the pope and the Vatican. One of his jobs, in fact, is to decide when to call out absurd or untrue stories. He said his style is to hold back and not give added attention to something that doesn’t deserve it. One example was when an Italian scent maker created, on her own initiative, a cologne for Pope
Benedict XVI; it morphed into headlines such as “Pope orders his own custom-made cologne.” When the Vatican was asked at the time if it were true, one journalist was met with an arched eyebrow and a shake of a head. Not even “no comment” was uttered. Father Lombardi said prudence is key because making any kind of comment, including saying a story is false, often is taken as an “official” position statement from the Vatican and gives a baseless story even stronger legs to walk on, he told CNS.
The nature of news reports, many of them bordering on libel, prompted him to intervene firmly. He said he has had journalists respond to denials with “See! You are just defending so-and-so!” when the problem was that the claim was unfounded and no one bothered to verify it or back it up. Part of the problem is media outlets competing to be the first out with the story or the first to repeat it to their own audience, he said. Writers may blindly rely on a shaky source, skip verifying or double-
VISTA
therecord.com.au August15,2012
13
The problem with jumping to sensational conclusions About five years ago the Vatican issued a list of seven new “deadly sins”. Do you know where I could get a copy of them as well as details about them?
T checking the facts “because they’re afraid of being behind.” Father Lombardi went on the offence this year in an effort to preempt the preposterous. He organised a landmark tour for journalists of the Vatican bank, which included a Q&A session and two-hour long presentation by the bank’s director, as a way to bust its “secretive” image and help reporters get correct information. He also had a Vatican judge give a 90-minute briefing on the complex workings of the Vatican court system and explain what could or might happen to the papal butler accused of aggravated theft of confidential documents. Also on his own initiative, Father Lombardi started holding almost daily briefings. He said they were not part of a new communications strategy as much as a response to the nonsense and inaccuracies being written in the press in the wake of the “VatiLeaks” scandal. “I wouldn’t have had to hold so many briefings, and everyone could have gone on vacation,” if so many false and unsubstantiated stories hadn’t been coming out every day, he said. The nature of the so-called news reports – many bordering on libel – also prompted him to intervene often and firmly, he said. The “VatiLeaks” scandal, which saw private correspondence between
Father Lombardi, right, holds the book, Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times, as he summarises its key points for journalists during a press conference at the Vatican in 2010. Greg Burke, left, a former Fox News correspondent in Rome, was appointed senior adviser for communications at the Vatican in June this year. The journalist was to counsel Pope Benedict XVI and his closest staff on how to better project the Catholic Church’s image to the rest of the world. PHOTOS: RIGHT: PAUL HARING, CANS; LEFT: CHRIS WARDE-JONES
the pope and Vatican officials published in the press, erupted in January. The leaked letters, revealing allegations of corruption and infighting, fuelled an already sensationalist-minded press. In criticising poor journalism, Father Lombardi hasn’t gone as far as Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, who recently blamed the ongoing scandal on unethical journalists “imitating Dan Brown,” and continuing “to invent fables or repeat legends.” Father Lombardi has taken a more pastoral approach, peppering his statements and briefings with reminders that distortions and mistruths not only are not journalism, they are not in the public interest. At a time when the press is clamouring for the Vatican to be more transparent, Father Lombardi said he agrees, but he added that truth, honesty and high standards also should apply to journalism. Recognising the pressure some writers are under from editors or management to favour fast over facts, he said he’s tried “to get journalists to reflect on their real duty and a sense of serious professionalism.” Writers need to strive to “understand things more and better, to have a critical eye toward information,” which will benefit their audiences as well, he said. - CNS
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi walks through a crowd of media and demonstrators in Rome in this Oct. 31, 2010, file photo. Measured, frank and open, the Vatican spokesman always answers journalists’ questions patiently and in a timely way. PHOTO: PAUL HARING, CNS
he first thing I should say is that yes, someone in the Vatican did give a list of new sins, but this was not an official declaration of the Vatican. The list came from Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, Regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, in an interview with the Vatican’s official newspaper L’Osservatore Romano on March 9th, 2008. The Apostolic Penitentiary is the tribunal responsible for such matters as indulgences and the forgiveness of sins reserved to the Holy See. The Regent is the second highest official in the tribunal. Bishop Girotti was interviewed by the Vatican’s newspaper at the close of a course for confessors conducted by the Penitentiary. His statement came in answer to one of many questions put to him by the newspaper and thus carries no official status. It was given “off the cuff ”, not as a prepared statement. The world’s media, however, picked up on the statement and made it appear to be an official declaration of the Vatican. Some journalists even ventured to call this a new list of seven “deadly sins”, following the list of seven “deadly sins” drawn up in 590 AD by Pope Gregory the Great. The traditional “deadly” or “capital” sins are pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1866). So exactly what did Bishop Girotti say? I take the text of the interview from the English translation offered by the Istituto Acton in Rome. In answer to a previous question about why people today do not understand the Church’s teaching and practice of indulgences, the bishop said: “Repentance, therefore, today takes on a (special) social dimension, due to the fact that relationships have grown weaker and more complicated because of globalisation.” He was emphasising by this the social dimension of sin, and this led to the next question: “In your opinion, what are the ‘new sins?’” The bishop answered: “There are various areas today in which we adopt sinful behaviour, as with individual and social rights. This is especially so in the field of bioethics where we cannot deny the existence of violations of fundamental rights of human nature – this occurs by way of experiments and genetics modifications, whose results we cannot easily predict or
Q&A FR JOHN FLADER
control ... Another area, which indeed pertains to the social spectrum, is that of drug use, which weakens our minds and reduces our intelligence. As a result, many young people are left out of Church circles. “Here’s another one: social and economic inequality, in the sense that the rich always seem to get richer, and the poor, poorer. This [phenomenon] feeds off an unsustainable form of social injustice and is
Bishop Girotti listed five - at most. But the media, including Catholic media, still sought seven. related to environmental issues – which currently have much relevant interest.” This is the full text of Bishop Girotti’s answer to the question. If one asks how many sins he identified, the answer could be varied. He certainly spoke of experiments and genetic modifications in the area of bioethics, drug abuse, social and economic inequality and possibly sins in the area of the environment. That is a total of five at most. Nonetheless the media, even Catholic media, sought to find seven sins, presumably to match the traditional seven deadly sins. The new sins given by various organisations, including CNA and Bloomberg, were bioethical violations such as birth control, “morally dubious’” experiments such as stem cell research, drug abuse, polluting the environment, contributing to the widening divide between rich and poor, excessive wealth, and creating poverty. As is obvious, this is quite a gratuitous elaboration on what the bishop said. What are we to make of all this? Most importantly, there is no new official list of deadly sins. Certainly, we should be aware that the sins mentioned are important and we should do everything possible to avoid committing them. But they are not new in the sense that this is not the first time the Church has spoken about them. So all in all, in spite of the media hype, in the words of William Shakespeare it is a question of “much ado about nothing”.
FUN FAITH WITH
AUGUST 19, 2012 • JOHN 6: 51-58 • 20TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
SARAH O’BRIEN, AGED 5
WORD SEARCH
LIVES FLESH BLOOD FATHER ETERNAL BREAD JEWS
WIN!!
SEND YOUR COLOURED IN PICTURE TO THE RECORD AT PO BOX 3075, ADELAIDE TERRACE, PERTH WA 6832 TO BE IN THE RUNNNG TO WIN THIS WEEK’S PRIZE.
CROSSWORD Across 2. For my _____ is real food and my blood is real drink. 4. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood _____ in me and I live in that person. 5. Jesus replied to them: In all truth I tell you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his ______, you have no life in you. 6. As the living _______
BREAD
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person. - John 6: 51-58
WORD LIST BLOOD
JEWS FLESH
LIVES
FATHER
sent me and I draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will also draw life from me. Down 1. Then the ____ started arguing among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ 3. Anyone who does eat my
ETERNAL
flesh and drink my blood has _______ life, and I shall raise that person up on the last day. 5. I am the living ______ which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’
VISTA
therecord.com.au August15,2012
Patience is the Cardinal’s message to Latin Mass fans A leading Vatican official is seeking greater balance in the treatment afforded to the older form of the Mass in Latin, reports Francis Rocca.
Cardinal Burke is pictured in the chapel of his residence at the Vatican in early June.
FIVE years after Pope Benedict XVI lifted most restrictions on celebration of the Tridentine Mass, a senior Vatican official says that much work remains to make the traditional liturgy fully accessible to the faithful, and to bring its influence to bear on the form of the Mass most Catholics attend. “There’s no question that there remains in certain places a resistance to what the Holy Father has asked, and that’s sad,” says Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature and a former archbishop of St Louis. “It’s sometimes even an expression of disagreement with the Holy Father’s discipline and even an expression that this is harmful for the Church.” With his apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, issued on July 7th, 2007, Pope Benedict allowed priests to offer the Tridentine Mass without special permission from their bishops. The decree also provided for the establishment of “personal parishes” dedicated to the traditional liturgy, which had passed out of use amid the modernising changes that fol-
lowed the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965. “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful,” the pope wrote at the time in a letter to the world’s bishops. Pope Benedict made it clear that he was acting in part to promote reconciliation with the disaffected traditionalists of the Society of St Pius X, who had broken from Rome to protest some of the teachings of Vatican II and subsequent changes to the liturgy. Last month, following three years of on-again, off-again talks, the Vatican announced that the traditionalists had been offered formal terms of reconciliation. Though the SSPX has warned of persistent “doctrinal difficulties” that could prolong negotiations, Cardinal Burke has told CNS he believes a reunion will ultimately take place. But satisfying the demands of the traditionalists was not Pope Benedict’s only purpose in issuing Summorum Pontificum. The pope wrote that he acted in order to “preserve the riches which have
PHOTO: PAUL HARING, CNS
On the other hand, he says, reading scriptural passages in modern languages was a “tremendous gift” of the post- Vatican liturgy. developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place. In the same letter, the pope also affirmed that the older and newer versions of the Mass could be “mutually enriching.” For Cardinal Burke, such mutual enrichment is part of the so called “reform of the reform,” the process of repairing the deficiencies of the liturgy introduced under Pope Paul VI. The reform of the Roman Missal in the period following Vatican II was “too radical,” and “went beyond, and in some senses perhaps not completely coherently with, what the council fathers had set forth,” the cardinal says. “There was a stripping away, a changing of the form of the rite that
in my judgment was too much,” he says. “You can’t take a living reality, the worship of God as God has desired that we worship him, and tamper with it without doing violence and without in some way damaging the faith life of the people.” The use of Latin was far from the most important loss, the cardinal says, noting that even the newer form of the Mass is still regularly celebrated in the Church’s universal language. Among the other elements of tradition that Cardinal Burke hopes the Church eventually will restore to the Mass in its newer version are the opening prayers at the foot of the altar, which he says provide an “immediate tie-in” to the liturgy’s Jewish heritage: the psalms once sung by the high priest as he entered the temple in Jerusalem. Other features of the Tridentine Mass that the cardinal would welcome in the newer liturgy include the priest softly reciting the prayers before Communion, a period of near-silence that, he explains, “draws our attention to this most sacred part of the Holy Mass”; and the closing recitation of the prologue of the Gospel of St John, a “hymn to the redemptive incarnation” that “sets in your mind once again the great reality which you have encountered and in which you have participated.” On the other hand, Cardinal Burke says, the practice of reading scriptural passages in modern languages has been a “tremendous gift” of the post-Vatican II liturgy that should be incorporated in the Tridentine Mass. And he said that the newer version of the Mass, in which the priest typically faces the congregation, can encourage a deeper appreciation of the “transparent devotion” with which priests should celebrate both forms of the liturgy. Of course, for the two forms of the Mass to enrich each other, both must be available. But after half a century of neglect, the cardinal notes, there is a shortage of priests with any knowledge of Latin, not to mention experience with the older liturgy, a problem which he says calls for revising seminary curricula. In the meantime, the cardinal counsels patience to traditionalists who feel “embattled” when wellmeaning bishops cannot satisfy their demands quickly enough. “It would be improper and even offensive to our Lord,” he says,” to have someone offering the Mass who doesn’t know what he’s saying or doesn’t even know how to say it.” - CNS
India’s war against baby girls sparks growing opposition AN OFFICIAL in the Indian Catholic Church has endorsed the idea that participants in sex-selective abortions should be charged with murder. The backing by Holy Spirit Missionary Sister Helen Saldanha, secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India Office for Women, comes as momentum
builds to end female feticide, a practice that finds families terminating a pregnancy because the child they are expecting is a girl. Recent census statistics indicate that the practice appears to be widespread. Census data show that the national ratio of girls to boys younger than 6 years old has
dropped from 927 for every 1,000 boys in 2001 to 914 for every 1,000 boys in 2011. In some states, the ratio dropped to 800 girls. “Son preference is a major syndrome ... Sadly, the advances in medical technology are being used to prevent the birth of millions of unwanted girl children,” Sister
Over the last 10 years The Record’s old website won a national and international audience bigger than our weekly circulation - because alone among Catholic newspapers in the country we won a reputation for not being afraid to face up to the realities of modern life and the issues facing contemporary Christianity. The new Record website has taken some time to develop as we think about what’s important to share with our web audience and what we want to achieve with it. Our view is that newsprint is not dead - and not likely to die - but we are now realising the potential of newer forms of communication to help us reach a far wider potential audience as well for those far away or who simply just like to stay in touch via the web.
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Helen said. The call for mandatory murder charges for female feticide has gained momentum in recent weeks. The plan was endorsed in July at a convention of more than 300 leaders from village councils in northern Indian states. A similar call came a week later from officials in Maharashtra state. - CNS
15
VATICAN
Vatican newspaper takes on Melinda Gates UNDER the headline “birth control and disinformation,” the Vatican newspaper took to task Melinda Gates, wife of the Microsoft founder, who announced in early July that the couple’s foundation would give US $560 million during the next eight years to increase women’s access to artificial contraception. Written by Giulia Galeotti, a frequent contributor on abortion and other life issues, the article on the front page of the July 29 edition of L’Osservatore Romano said Gates is free to make charitable donations to whomever she wants, but not to spread incorrect information. In an interview on July 10th with The Guardian, a British newspaper, Gates identified herself as a practicing Catholic who “struggled” with the idea of publicly opposing Church teaching to promote a project aimed at giving 120 million women in developing countries access to contraceptives by 2020. Gates said she felt compelled to act to “keep women alive. I believe in not letting women die, I believe in not letting babies die.” In the Vatican newspaper piece, Galeotti wrote, “The American philanthropist is off the mark,” the victim of “bad information and persistent stereotypes on this theme. To still believe that by opposing the use of condoms, the Catholic Church leaves women and children to die because of misogynist intransigence is a baseless and shoddy reading” of reality.
CANADA
Maternal rights charter sought MATERCARE International has drafted a “Charter of Maternal Rights” it hopes will be adopted by leaders and decision makers around the world to help stem the high number of maternal deaths. The charter was drafted with the goal of changing the neglect that mothers in much of the world experience, said Dr Robert Walley, executive director of the organisation of Catholic health professionals working with mothers and babies around the world. He said paying attention to the needs of mothers and their children has “hardly been a high priority with anybody.” The preamble to the charter makes the case that “ The charter, which draws its substance from statistics as well as sources including the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the documents of the Second Vatican Council, focuses on the human rights of mothers, the delivery of maternal health care and necessary actions by obstetricians and midwives to provide adequate health care. “The causes of maternal deaths are well known, are readily preventable and can be successfully treated at comparable low cost,” the charter reads. “Proper measures, availability of skilled personnel at the time of birth and prompt emergency obstetrical care if things go wrong may save the lives of 90 per cent of the mothers.” - CNS
16
OPINION
EDITORIAL
An economy for the family unit
A
s referred to in last week’s editorial, a crisis of childcare is really a crisis of motherhood, of parents, of families and of children, therefore a crisis of society, a symptom that something is deeply wrong in our very midst. That Perth and Australia have a crisis of childcare is because the society we have constructed does not actually deeply value any of these things for their real and intrinsic worth. That, in a nutshell, is the problem revealed by the discovery that there are not enough childcare places in Perth for children aged 0-24 months. And if childcare is a crisis, in any sense, of motherhood it is also necessarily a crisis of fatherhood because the two things cannot, and should not, ordinarily be separated as a normal state of affairs. To question our society’s addiction and pressure to enter the system of childcare can be a dangerous thing. It invites the dismissal that one who questions the status quo is some sort of dissident retrograde individual, insensitive to the needs of families and especially the needs of women. Childcare, after all, has come to be a god of political correctness. Childcare, after all, frees mothers – in the main – to work to support their family, to win economic empowerment for themselves, to become economically contributing members of society, thereby contributing to the common good. Or so we have been consistently told over many years. And yet little of this is actually true. One wonders why any infant aged from 0-24 months should be separated on a consistent and protracted basis from its parents and especially from its mother? That this is considered a normal practice gives some idea of the deep nature and real scope of the problem. The importance of the issue can also be glimpsed in the fact that increased funding for childcare places has been regularly embraced by some political parties in Australia in recent years as a strategy for winning votes. In fact, if politics in Australia was ever to be conducted on any sane basis, political parties would be scrambling past each other to present voters with policies discouraging the economic pressures on families and mothers to sever family ties and participate in childcare. The problem, in so far as that it affects women, and therefore mothers, is that over the course of half a century Australia has embraced an economic model which now depends on forcing both members of a couple to work on a full-time basis in order to own their own home. Home ownership is the great dream of any society but especially the dream of married couples and those wishing to start their own families. However what began as an attempt to win empowerment for women who were historically paid lower wages than their male counterparts has evolved into an economy which forces many women into the workforce against their own natural desires to be with their children in the early years of their lives. Far from being a positive, socially empowering economic system, Australia has presided for decades over the development of an economy which is economically and financially anti-family in its effects and the pressures it brings to bear. If it is anti family, the effects are negative for all members of the family. PO Box 3075 What the childcare crisis Adelaide Terrace reveals is actually that what PERTH WA 6832 was started in the 1960s stopped after it cleared the office@therecord.com.au first hurdle of ensuring ecoTel: (08) 9220 5900 nomic equality for women, but Fax: (08) 9325 4580 without finishing, so to speak, the race. To ‘finish the race’ in economic terms would have meant constructing an economy which recognised and valued the deep worth of the feminine contribution of motherhood as a real economic factor and the deep and intrinsic importance of the family unit, which is the natural basis of any society. This is why last week’s editorial in The Record proposed the formulation of a Primary Care Giver’s payment which, in effect, would begin to help short-circuit the tectonic economic pressures now routinely placed on families, but especially on mothers, by economic institutions such as banks and corporate bodies who care not one whit for whether a mother wants to work or to be with her children nor for the family as the most important social unit in the life of the nation. A Primary Care Giver’s Payment would finish the race begun decades ago because the solution to the problem is to offer women the option that, so far, they have never been offered. A Primary Care Giver Payment would not need to be the equivalent of a full-time wage but of a sufficient level to give Primary Care Givers, almost all of whom would be mothers, the option to decide which they would want to do. Australia is a society that often talks the talk of rights for women but it is doubtful that it has ever walked the walk. Couples would be free to designate which – father or mother – is the designated primary care-giver, who would be the recipient of the payment to be indexed against cost of living indices. The Primary Care Givers’ Payment would free families form the burden of absent parents and the institutionalisation of children in childcare centres. In recent years Australian governments have provided paid parental leave which extends up to 18 weeks duration but this goes little towards solving the deeper underlying problem. What is needed is a system that couples with children should regard themselves as entitled to for years and which should be paid by state and federal governments on the principle that they are acknowledging the primary social and economic importance of families and, in particular, mothers. A Primary Care Givers’ Payment is also a moment of opportunity. Although the present system is inhuman and unjust towards parents, families, children and mothers, it is not insoluble. In time, it could prove to be an election-winning measure.
THE RECORD
therecord.com.au
August 15, 2012
LETTERS
Scrap The Record’s proposed competition UNFORTUNATELY I missed the June Editorial, but I am totally opposed to renaming ‘Marriage”. This institution has stood the test of time for centuries and has produced countless offsprings who have become worthy citizens, the vast majority being law abiding. Bishops may well consider new words ‘’for what we know as the Sacrament of Matrimony””, but the issue is not to pre-empt the bastardisation of the word ‘marriage’ by politicians as Graham Geoghegan states. The problem society is faced with is the ‘’Same Sex Marriage”” debate. Firstly, let’s refer to the Oxford dictionary - “marriage is 1. Condition of man and woman legally united for purpose of living together and usually procreating lawful offspring.” Two males or two women who unite cannot procreate. These persons seek recognition of their union and I am firm of the belief that what the Governments should - and can - do is to formalise a ‘’Civil Union”. They already receive financial recognition similar to de-facto arrangements. (Again, the Oxford dictionary...civil: “of or proper to citizens”, and “not ecclesiastical’’) They already enjoy all the benefits/ taxation/ pension/ treatments etc. The ‘’same sex’’ debate is covered. Their actions have generally exhibited a lack of interest in what the Churches say or do, so they can call each other partners. No one will object and really married persons continue to refer to their husband or wife. Graham alludes to a need to emphasise to the participants the type of commitment the man and women in the wedding service are making to each other, a point sometimes lost in the modern world’s view of the word marriage. The Civil Union pair will be totally transparent, and the married couples reinforced in the continuum of marriage. Scrap the proposed competition. Neil Mannolini BOORAGOON, WA
Same thing goes for me, as well THOUGH Graham Geoghegan (Letters, June 11th) presented a good case for a name change I do not believe we should move away from the universally recognised one. We should not surrender the name ‘marriage.’ We are all familiar with our Lord’s presence and miracle at a certain Marriage feast, and also his references to marriage in all the English translations of the Bible. It is important to bear in mind that marriage is not a Catholic creation. It is a phenomenon designed in our human nature. One feature that separates humans into two distinct groups (across all cultures and races) is gender. The principal organs associated with these genders meaningfully and beautifully complement each other. When two people from these two genders commit themselves to each other, a marriage takes place. As Jesus
said: “The two become one flesh” This marriage is blessed in that it provides pleasure as well as stability and continuity. No other relationship is like it. Any attack on this natural human institution is an attack on the community. States register these marriages (they do not create them) and religions bless them. Catholic spouses are blessed by the sacrament of matrimony in which “a baptised man and a baptised woman bind themselves for life in a lawful marriage and receive the grace to discharge their duties.” Marriage is good, beautiful and meaningful. We should stand by it. M Lyons CARLISLE, WA
Evangelical successes a challenging reality ON THE MATTER of the Protestant inroads into Catholicism in Latin America, I’d like to point out that Pope John Paul II described this phenomenon as a serious threat to Catholicism. By all means, Catholics should strive for good working relations with Protestants and respect them; we obviously have much in common. We should work together wherever possible. The Catholic Church, however, goes back to Christ and the Apostles: Protestantism began in the 16th century and now consists of hundreds of various sects, some quite large, others miniscule, but all quite different from the One, True Church. MJ Gonzalez WILLETTON, WA
I am not an obstacle on a training course I AM SICK of being nearly run over by those middle aged hoons on bicycles who shout out “Bike! (never a bell) or “Keep left!” as they suddenly roar past us within inches, going at 60 kph. What about ordinary communing cyclists, families out for a ride? Our paths are not training tracks for Olympic cyclists. Why are the authorities not putting in speed humps? Peter Gilet BELMONT, WA
Bills not about equality but redefinition THERE ARE three bills before Parliament proposing to legalise same-sex unions (two in the House of Representatives and one in Senate). The main claim for changing the Marriage Act is that it unfairly denies the status of marriage to those with same-sex attraction. Australian law has already been amended, with bipartisan support, to remove inequalities and provide property protection to same-sex partners. The real issue of wanting law change then, is not discrimination, but the definition of marriage. Only natural marriage has a place in law because the comprehensive union of a man and woman, freely entered into for life to the exclusion
of all others, may produce children who have the prior right to life, to secure identity and to nurturing and education by their natural mum and dad – all of which government has a duty to mature and protect. The family, not the individual is the basic unit of society and is badly needed for a strong social fabric and stability today. The definition of marriage has been long time tested in history, in law, culture and religion and by all measures of health and happiness has proved to be the proper way to go. Brendan Keogh BENDIGO, VIC
Marriage’s truth is writ deep in the heart IT IS IN the nature of humans to know that honesty, truthfulness, justice, consideration for others, fidelity to commitments, respect for rule and law, are instinctive. The newborn calf somehow knows it needs its mother’s milk and instinctively knows where to find it. Consequently, because humans have been gifted with intelligence, as well as instinct, they know the unchangeable nature of specific facts, for example, All new life requires the male and female union. For someone to deny such basic realities would have him or her categorised as lacking human intelligence. For intelligence enable us to recognise the difference between any two subjects, eg. the difference between different shapes and different colours makes it impossible to declare them the same or equal. So why cannot Marriage and same-sex unions be declared ‘equal’? The first difference is the genders involved in each of the two unions. Secondly, the Marriage union may produce a completely new human person. For any couple in a same-sex union that outcome is an absolute impossibility. So already there are differences that cannot possibly be reconciled so as to bring the two unions to ‘equality’. It is unfortunate that the Greens and advocates of same-sex ‘marriage’ are seemingly unable to comprehend this fundamental instinctive ‘knowledge’, thus leaving them in a state of bewilderment when the Marriage Act is declared sacrosanct by those who would defend what is Truth. When apartheid was overturned in South Africa, the black population did not seek to be seen as ‘whites’, for they were different and it was that difference that became accepted, for they were South Africans, neither inferior nor superior. The acceptance of that difference by both black and white, was the only right that could be sought. And it is the difference between Marriage and same-sex unions that we are all asked to acknowledge and accept. I believe our philosophy should be to change what we can, accept what we cannot change, and have the wisdom to know the difference. Thus may the truth set all of us free on the real meaning of marriage. Peter Young NSW
Discovering a tradition that’s Great Richard M. Gamble’s superb anthology of classic readings on what it means to be an educated human being and reconstructs a centuries-long conversation about the goals, conditions and ultimate value of true education. Spanning more than two millennia form the ancient Greeks to contemporary writers, it includes substantial excerpts from more than 80 seminal writings on education. Paperback. $40
Available now from The Record Bookshop! 21 Victoria Square, Perth Opposite St Mary’s Cathedral
Phone: (08) 9220 5900 Email: bookshop@therecord.com.au
OPINION
therecord.com.au August15,2012
17
Artistic winner brings multiple elements to bear There were many elements to this year’s decision by the Mandorla Art committee, writes Dr Angela McCarthy.
J
ohn Paul’s Palm Sunday is a very rich symbolic view that stems from the theme of the Mandorla Art Award taken from St Paul’s letter to the Galatians 4:4. : “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law”. Born of a woman, Jesus learned to love through the love of his family, and particularly the love of his mother Mary. Love comes in many forms and in this image Jesus is surrounded by women. The sensual woman in the front of the artwork carries a basket of fruits and bread, fecund symbols representing our procreative gift that directly connects us to the creative nature of God. Jesus, with his Jewish curl and tranquil face, reaches out to her lovingly and gently. The olive fruit and leaves above him is a further symbol of the bounty of God’s gifts to us all. The woman has turned her back to the pagan image on the wall behind and reaches for Jesus instead. Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem to confront the Temple
leaders with a conscious reference to the prophet Zechariah 9:9-10 where the king comes “triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey”. John Paul comfortably jumbles the narrative with other iconographical details such as the crown of thorns and the crucifix, an emblem of his death, held by a woman, possibly his mother, in the background. The crown of thorns has a grape vine leaf attached to it giving a connection to John’s gospel where Jesus describes himself as the vine, necessary for the growth of the branches – the development of Christianity. The woman near Jesus’ right shoulder is serene and shows signs of wealth recognising the women who supported Jesus in his ministry through their own resources (Luke 8:2-3). The young woman to the right holds a newly hatched chicken, symbol of new life and resurrection. The palms present over the arch way certainly image the palms used to honour Jesus on this fateful ride and as a further symbol in Christian art they represent
martyrdom with a vine winding its way around them to anchor Jesus in this reality too. The aged Jewish man skulking off in the background symbolises the betrayal of the Jews in relegating the Law and work of God to mere words rather than a just and loving way of living. On the archway that links Jesus, the women and the Jew are some of the ancient symbols that are now used for the evangelists, linking this work directly to the gospels. John Paul has used a very interesting style in that he has created the work in a monochromatic way with all the action happening in a very shallow plane, just as in the bas relief works of early Christian sarcophagi. His use of this style places his work firmly in the Christian tradition. John Paul, like other great artists, has been able to encourage us into an understanding of Jesus, who was born of a woman, born under the law and fully realised in his suffering, death and resurrection. Dr Angela McCarthy lectures in theology at Notre Dame University and is a committee member of the Mandorla Art Prize.
Melbourne artist John Paul’s winning entry in the Mandorla Art Prize, entitled Palm Sunday. PHOTO: COURTESY MANDORLA ART PRIZE
Perfect saints annoy. Sanctity is for all. We can be put off by the seemingly super-human or Olympian stories of the saints’ lives. Actually, it’s not that way at all. I Say, I Say MARK REIDY
I
F YOU have ever lied, cheated, committed adultery or even murdered – don’t panic – you’re still in the running for sainthood. Before the 1800s notorious details of the pre-conversion lives of some Saints was common knowledge, but as we entered the nineteenth century the Church decided to sanitise their public personas by simply stating, “They were once great sinners”. Those in the pews were no longer privy to the earlier lives of Saints such as St Callixtus the embezzler who became pope, or St Mary of Egypt who prostituted herself, or St Vladimir who had up to 800 concubines and indulged in human sacrifice or St Olga of Kiev the mass murderer who burned and buried alive those who opposed her. I can understand the motivation of Church leaders to suppress the details of such grave misdeeds – so that believers could focus on holiness rather than sinfulness - but by doing so I believe they also created an aura of unattainability that we still carry with us today. The post conversion stories of the prayer, fasting and selfless suffering of our highly esteemed Saints has led to many modern Christians convincing themselves that they could never achieve the levels of holiness portrayed by these people. The purpose of supplying such a list of indiscretions is not to downgrade these pillars of our Church, but rather to upgrade our own expectations. Sadly, many of us are spiritually shackled by our temporal existence and we spend our lives trapped within our imperfections. By enshrining our Saints on pedestals of perfection we run the risk of subconsciously excusing ourselves from striving to reach their heights - and this is a lie. The truth is that God “wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). In other words, it is not just an elect few who are called to reflect the perfection of Christ - it is an invitation
Never fall for the myth that saints always lived lives of virtue. The whole point of sainthood is that they were exactly like us, which means sanctity is a possibility for everyone, writes The Record’s Mark Reidy.
to all. The brokenness and failings of some of those who became Saints should, in fact, become beacons of hope for the rest of us. All that distinguishes their lives from ours is
that they chose to no longer identify themselves through the eyes of self-perception or by how the world recognised them, but to embrace their true spiritual identity as God
had revealed in Scripture. When Australian evangelist Christine Caine shares her testimony she refers to a pivotal point of her spiritual journey. As a young adult
she had unexpectedly discovered documents that showed that she had been adopted. She confronted those she had always believed to be her parents and they revealed that her natural mother had not wanted her and had given her up for adoption. Although she had been raised in a loving home, this revelation rocked her self-perception and sent her into deep depression. She recalls the moment when she sat down with her Birth Certificate in one hand and a Bible in the other. One told her that she had been rejected, abandoned and not even given a name by her own mother. The other told her that God had formed and named her in her mother’s womb and had loved her so passionately that He had sacrificed His own son for her. At that point she had to decide whether to lay the foundations for the remainder of her life on her earthly reality or on the truth of God’s Word. All of our Saints have had to make that same choice – and so do we. But firstly we need to identify the lies that we have embraced. Is it that we would never be good enough, smart enough, athletic enough or pretty enough? Is it that we have equated our worth with our achievements? Or is it a belief that others are better than us and we really are deserving of the hurtful words, actions or attitudes that have been inflicted upon us? How do we identify ourselves? No doubt many of our Saints, in their humanity, also battled with similar feelings of insecurity and self-doubt. The only difference is that they, like Christine Caine, came to a crossroad in their lives where they made a decision to no longer believe the barrage of lies that had moulded their lives so far. They were able to surrender their misguided self-perceptions to God and allow Him to reveal their true identity as His son or daughter. The Church did not choose our Saints to highlight the disparity in our own lives, nor as figures to be revered from afar, but rather, as examples of what can happen when we choose to love God above all else. All that separates us is the decision to believe, love and surrender. m.reidy@therecord.com.au
18
PANORAMA
SATURDAY, 18 AUGUST Carmelite Monastery Nedlands - Final Vows 11am at the Carmelite Monastery, 100 Adelma Rd, Nedlands. There will be a concelebrated Mass during which Sr Quynh Mary (Nguyen) will make her Final Vows. Principal Celebrant: Archbishop Costelloe. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: Monastery 9386 3672.
NEXT WEEK SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 Meditative Prayer in the Style of Taizé 7-8pm at Sisters of St Joseph Chapel, 16 York St, South Perth. Theme: Celebrating St Mary MacKillop’s feast day. Includes prayer, song and silence in a candlelight chapel – symbol of Christ the Light of the world. Please bring a torch and a friend. Enq: Sr Maree 0414 683 926. Feast of the Dedication - Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament 9.30am at Gosnells Parish, 175 Corfield St, Gosnells. Mass followed by a multicultural lunch in the Parish Centre. Past parishioners and former students of St Munchin's Primary School and Lumen Christi College are all welcome. Enq: Admin 93982331 or secretary@gosnellsparish. org.au. TUESDAY, 21 AUGUST ‘Choose life’ Seminar 7-8pm at St Benedict’s School Hall Alness St Applecross. View a weekly short video broadcast at www.thefaith.org.au. Presented by Norma Woodcock. Cost: collection. Accreditation recognition by the CEO. Enq: Norma 94871772 or www. normawoodcock.com. SATURDAY, 25 AUGUST Women of Grace Retreat 9.15am-2pm at Good Shepherd Parish, Cnr Morley Dr & Altone Rd, Lockridge. Retreat Mass, talks and prayer presented by Archbishop Emeritus Hickey and Dr Michelle Jones (doctorate in Spiritual Theology from the University of St Thomas Aquinas [the Angelicum] in Rome) Cost: donation. Booking essential. RSVP and Enq: catholicwomen. perth@gmail.com or Lydia, 0413 993 987
UPCOMING SUNDAY, 26 AUGUST ‘A day with Fr Cyril’- Emmanuel Centre 9.30am-3pm at Emmanuel Centre, 25 Windsor St, Perth. Begins with Mass; 10.30am – Morning tea; 11.30am – sausage sizzle; 1pm – Fr Cyril testimony; 2.30pm Afternoon tea. Fr Cyril is the first Deafblind Priest recorded in history. Come and listen to his inspirational testimony. RSVP: Friday, 24 August. Enq and RSVP: Admin 9328 8113 (voice) or 9328 9571 (TTY) or 9227 9720 (Fax) TUESDAY, 28 AUGUST “Come – and you will see” (John 1:39) Evening of Prayer and Song 7.30-8.30pm Infant Jesus Parish, 47 Wellington Rd, Morley. Jesus’ invitation to his early disciples is also an invitation to all of us, here and now. Experience ‘the fullness of God’. Enq: Angela 9276 8500. FRIDAY, 31 AUGUST Medjugorje Evening of Prayer 7-9pm at All Saints Chapel 77 St. Georges Tce, (Allendale Sq.), Perth. Thanksgiving for reported daily apparitions of Our Blessed Mother in Medjugorje. Begins with Eucharistic Adoration, Rosary, Benediction and Holy Mass. Free DVDs on Donald Calloways testimonal: life of drugs and crime to his conversion and priesthood. Pilgrimage to Medjugorje May 2013. Enq (inc. Pilgrimage): 9402 2480 or 0407 471 256 or medjugorje@y7mail.com SATURDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER Day with Mary 9am-5pm at Pater Noster Parish, Cnr Marmion & Evershed Sts, Myaree. Day of prayer and instruction based on the Fatima message. 9am Video; 10:10am Holy Mass; Reconciliation, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons on Eucharist and on Our Lady, Rosaries and Stations of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enq: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286. Now booking for bus to Bindoon for October DWM. Call Nita 9367 1366. TUESDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER ‘A Springtime walk with St Francis of Assisi’ four-week program on Franciscan Spirituality 7.30-9pm at The Alverna Centre in St Lawrence’s Parish, Albert St, Balcatta. The Secular Franciscan Order are presenting a short four week programme for youth 18+. A Time of Contemplation and Reflection. Next dates: Tuesday 11 September; Tuesday 18 September and Tuesday 25 September. Enq: Noel 042 302 9677 or Anthony 044 986 4287. SATURDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER Discovering culture night – Indian 7pm at Gosnells Parish, 175 Corfield St, Gosnells. Celebrating the multi cultural nature of our parish community with a series entitled "Discovering Culture". Join us for the food, fun and just a hint of "Bollywood" in the St Munchin’s School Hall.
therecord.com.au
August 15, 2012
Tickets & Enq: Arlene 0432 630 108 or Sandra 9398 8583.
socialisation after Mass. Enq: Fr Nelson Po 0410 843 412, Elsa 0404 038 483.
Meditation Day 10-3.30pm at Ned Kenny Centre, Kent St, Busselton. (next to St. Joseph’s Parish). Presenters: Stephanie Wood, John Coleman, Monica Mulcahy. The presenters will be introducing and exploring the ancient art of meditation within the Christian tradition. BYO lunch. Tea and coffee provided. Cost: Donation. Books and tapes available for sale. Enq: Jenny 9754 4006 or 0407 544 205.
EVERY MONDAY Evening Adoration and Mass 7pm at St Thomas Parish, Claremont, cnr Melville St and College Rd. Eucharistic Adoration, Reconciliation, evening prayer and Benediction, followed by Mass and night prayer at 8pm. Enq: Kim on 9384 0598 or email to claremont@perthcatholic. org.au.
SUNDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER
LAST MONDAY OF THE MONTH
Focolare - Faith in Families 2-4.30pm at Our Lady’s Assumption Parish, 356 Grand Promenade, Dianella. Children program held simultaneously. The Faith in Families afternoon is aimed at helping unite families through discovering Gods love and finding practical ways that families can bring Christ into the home. Focolare 9349 4052 or ffperth@iprimus.com.au
Be Still in His Presence – Ecumenical Christian Program 7.30-8.45pm at St Swithun Anglican Church, 195 Lesmurdie St, Lesmurdie (hall behind church). Begins with songs of praise and worship, silent time, lectio divina, small group sharing and a cuppa at the end. Enq: Lynne 9293 3848 or 043 5252 941.
SATURDAY, 8 TO SUNDAY 9 SETEMBER
EVERY TUESDAY
MenAlive men’s weekend 8am at St Denis Parish, Cnr Roberts and Osborne Sts, Joondana. Finishes 1.30pm Sunday. Enq: Ben 0407 088 431.
Novena to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal 6pm at Pater Noster Church, Marmion and Evershed Sts, Myaree. Mass at 5.30pm followed by Benediction. Enq: John 0408 952 194.
FRIDAY TO SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14-16
Novena to God the Father 7.30pm at St Joachim’s parish hall, Victoria Park. Novena followed by reflection and discussions on forthcoming Sunday Gospel. Enq: Jan 9284 1662.
‘Contemplating the Face of Christ in the Franciscan Tradition’ Retreat Retreat live in/live out at the Redemptorist Retreat House, 190 Vincent St, North Perth. Leader: Fr John Cooper from Sydney. Enq: Anthony 0449 864 287 or anthony.porrins@gmail.com and Angela 9275 5658 or 0408 801 215 or angelmich@bigpond.com. FRIDAY, 12 TO SUNDAY, 14 OCTOBER Inner Healing Retreat (live-in) 7.30am Epiphany retreat Centre, 50 Fifth Ave, Rossmoyne. A time to be healed and renewed. Leaders: Vincentian Father. Regn & Enq: Melanie 0410 605 743 or m.fonseca@curtin.edu.au.
REGULAR EVENTS EVERY SUNDAY Gate of Heaven Catholic Radio Join the Franciscans of the Immaculate from 7.309pm on Radio Fremantle 107.9FM for Catholic radio broadcast of EWTN and our own live shows. Enq: radio@ausmaria.com. Pilgrim Mass - Shrine of the Virgin of the Revelation 2pm at Shrine, 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. Commencing with Rosary followed by Benediction. Reconciliation available before every celebration. Anointing of the sick administered during Mass every second Sunday of the month. Pilgrimage in honour of the Virgin of the Revelation last Sunday of the month. Side entrance to church and shrine open daily between 9am-5pm. Enq Sacri 9447 3292. EVERY FIRST SUNDAY St Mary’s Cathedral Youth Group – Fellowship with Pizza 5pm at St Mary’s Cathedral, 17 Victoria Sq, Perth. Begins with youth Mass followed by fellowship downstairs in parish centre. Bring a plate to share. Enq: Bradley on youthfromsmc@gmail.com. Singles Prayer and Social Group 7pm at All Saints Chapel, Allendale Sq, 77 St George’s Tce, Perth. Begins with Holy Hour (Eucharistic Adoration, Rosary and teaching) followed by dinner at local restaurant. Meet new people, pray and socialise with other single men and women. Enq: Veronica 0403 841 202. EVERY SECOND SUNDAY Healing Hour 7-8pm at St Lawrence Parish, Balcatta. Join us for songs of praise and worship, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and prayers for the sick. Enq: Fr Irek Czech SDS or parish office Tue-Thu, 9am2.30pm 9344 7066. EVERY THIRD SUNDAY Oblates of St Benedict – Meeting 2pm at St Joseph’s Convent, York St, South Perth. For all interested in studying the Rule of St Benedict and its relevance to the everyday life of today for laypeople: Vespers and afternoon tea afterwards. Enq: Secretary 9457 5758. EVERY FOURTH SUNDAY Holy Hour for Vocations to the Priesthood, Religious Life 2-3pm at Infant Jesus Parish, Wellington St, Morley. The hour includes exposition of the Blessed Eucharist, silent prayer, scripture and prayers of intercession. Come and pray that those discerning vocations can hear clearly God’s call.
EVERY FIRST TUESDAY Short MMP Cenacle for Priests 2pm at Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. Enq: Fr Watt 9376 1734. EVERY WEDNESDAY Holy Spirit of Freedom Community 7.30pm at The Church of Christ, 111 Stirling St, Perth. We are delighted to welcome everyone to attend our Holy Spirit of Freedom praise meeting. Enq: 0423 907 869 or hsofperth@gmail.com. Bible Study at Cathedral 6.15pm at St Mary’s Cathedral, 17 Victoria Sq, Perth. Deepen your faith through reading and reflecting on holy Scripture by Fr Jean-Noel. Meeting room beneath Cathedral. Enq: Marie 9223 1372. Holy Hour - Catholic Youth Ministry Mass at 5.30pm and Holy Hour (Adoration) at 6.30pm at the Catholic Pastoral Centre, 40A Mary St, Highgate. Enq: www.cym.com or 9422 7912. Adonai Ladies Prayer Group 10am in the upper room of St Joseph’s Parish, 3 Salvado Rd, Subiaco. Come and join us for charismatic prayer and praise. Enq: Win 9387 2802 or Noreen 9387 2808. EVERY FIRST WEDNESDAY Holy Hour Prayer for Priests 7.30-8.30pm at Holy Spirit Parish, 2 Keaney Pl, City Beach. All welcome. Enq: Linda 9341 3079. Novena to St Mary of the Cross MacKillop 7-7.45pm at Blessed Mary MacKillop Parish, cnr Cassowary Dr and Pelican Pde, Ballajura. Begins with Mass, novena prayers and Benediction. Followed by healing prayers and anointing of the sick. Enq: Madi 9249 9093 or Gerry 0417 187 240. EVERY SECOND WEDNESDAY Chaplets of Divine Mercy 7.30pm St Thomas More Catholic Parish, Dean Rd Bateman. It will be accompanied by Exposition and followed by Benediction. Next devotion: Wednesday, August 8. Enq: George 9310 9493 or 6242 0702 (w). EVERY THURSDAY Divine Mercy 11am at Ss John and Paul Church, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Pray the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy and for the consecrated life, especially here in John Paul Parish. Concludes with veneration of the first class relic of St Faustina. Enq: John 9457 7771. St Mary’s Cathedral Praise Meeting 7.45pm every Thursday at the Legion of Mary’s Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. Includes praise, song and healing ministry. Enq: Kay 9382 3668 or fmi@flameministries.org. Group Fifty - Charismatic Renewal Group 7.30pm at the Redemptorist Monastery, 150 Vincent St, North Perth. Includes prayer, praise and Mass. Enq: Elaine 9440 3661. EVERY FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH Prayer in Style of Taizé 7.30-8.30pm at Our Lady of Grace Parish, 3 Kitchener St, North Beach. Includes prayer, song and silence in candlelight – symbol of Christ the light of the world. Taizé info: www.taize.fr. Enq: secretary 9448 4888 or 9448 4457.
EVERY SECOND AND FOURTH MONDAY
FIRST AND THIRD THURSDAY
A Ministry to the Un-Churched 12.30-1.30pm at St John’s Pro-Cathedral, Victoria Ave, Perth (opposite church offices). With charismatic praise, and prayer teams available. Help us ‘reach out to the pagans’ or soak in the praise. Enq: Dan 9398 4973.
Dinner & Rosary Cenacle - St Bernadette’s Young Adults. 6.30pm at Hans Cafe, 140 Oxford St, Leederville. Begins with dinner, followed by Rosary cenacle at St Bernadette’s Parish, 49 Jugan St, Glendalough. Cenacle includes: 8pm reflection by Fr Doug and Rosary. Tea and coffee afterwards. By repeating words of love to Mary and offering up each decade for our intentions, we take the shortcut to Jesus, which is to pass through the heart of Mary. Enq: Fr Doug st.bernadettesyouth@gmail.com
EVERY LAST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH Filipino Mass 3pm at Notre Dame Church, cnr Daley and Wright Sts, Cloverdale. Please bring a plate to share for
EVERY THIRD THURSDAY Auslan Café – Sign language workshop 12.30pm at St Francis Xavier’s Emmanuel Centre, 25 Windsor St, Perth. It’s Australian Sign Language - Auslan Café is a social setting for anybody who would like to learn or practice Auslan in a relaxing & fun atmosphere. Light lunch provided. Next event: Thursday, 16 August. Enq: Emma emmanuelcentre@westnet.com.au EVERY FRIDAY Eucharistic Adoration at the Schoenstatt Shrine 10am at Schoenstatt Shrine, 9 Talus Drive, Mt Richon. Includes: Holy Mass, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Silent adoration till 8.15pm. In this Year of Grace join us in prayer at a place of grace. Enq: Sisters of Schoenstatt 9399 2349 EVERY FIRST FRIDAY Healing Mass 7pm at St Peter’s Parish, Inglewood. Praise and worship, Exposition and Eucharistic Adoration, Benediction and anointing of the sick followed by holy Mass and fellowship. Celebrants Fr Dat and invited priests. 6.45pm Reconciliation. Enq: Mary Ann 0409 672 304, Prescilla 0433 457 352 and Catherine 0433 923 083. Holy Hour for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life 7pm - Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, 2 Rawlins St, Glendalough. Mass followed by Adoration with Fr Doug Harris. All welcome. Refreshments provided. Healing and Anointing Mass 8.45am Pater Noster Church, Evershed St, Myaree. Begins with Reconciliation followed by 9am Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, anointing of the sick and prayers to St Peregrine. Enq: Joy 9337 7189. Catholic Faith Renewal Evening 7.30pm at Ss John and Paul Parish, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton – Songs of Praise and Prayer, sharing by a priest followed by thanksgiving Mass and light refreshments after Mass. Enq: Kathy 9295 0913 or Ann 0412 166 164 or catholicfaithrenewal@gmail.com. Communion of Reparation All Night Vigils 7pm-1.30am at Corpus Christi Church, Lochee St, Mosman Park or St Gerard Majella Church, cnr Ravenswood Dr/Majella Rd, Westminster (Mirrabooka). The Vigils consist of two Masses, Adoration, Benediction, prayers and Confession in reparation for the outrages committed against the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357 or Fr Giosue 9349 2315or John/Joy 9344 2609.
Low Care Aged Care Placement The Little Sisters of the Poor community set in beautiful gardens in suburb of Glendalough. “Making the elderly happy, that is everything!” St Jeanne Jugan (foundress). Registration and enq: Sr Marie 9443 3155. Resource Centre for Personal Development The Holistic Health Seminar “The Instinct to Heal’’, every Tuesday 3-4.30pm; and RCPD2 “Internalise Principles of Successful Relationships and Use Emotional Intelligence and Communication Skills” every Tuesday 4.30-6.30pm, 197 High St, Fremantle - Tuesdays 3-4.30pm. Enq: Eva 0409 405 585. Bookings are essential. Is your son or daughter unsure of what to do this year? Suggest a Certificate IV course to discern God’s purpose for their life. They will also learn more about the Catholic faith and develop skills in communication and leadership. Acts 2 College of Mission & Evangelisation (National Code 51452). Enq: Jane 9202 6859. AA Alcoholics Anonymous Is alcohol costing you more than just money? Enq: AA9523 3566. Saints and Sacred Relics Apostolate Invite SSRA, Perth invites interested parties, parish priests, leaders of religious communities, lay associations, to organise relic visitations to their own parishes, communities, etc. We have available authenticated relics, mostly first-class, of Catholic saints and blesseds including Sts Mary Mackillop, Padre Pio, Anthony of Padua, Therese of Lisieux, Maximilian Kolbe and Simon Stock and Blessed Pope John Paul II. Free of charge and all welcome. Enq: Giovanny 0478 201 092 or ssra-perth@catholic.org. Enrolments, Year 7, 2014 La Salle College is now accepting enrolments for Year 7, 2014. For a prospectus and enrolment form please contact college reception on 9274 6266 or email lasalle@lasalle.wa.edu.au. Pellegrini Books Wanted An order of Sisters in Italy is looking for the following: The Living Pyx of Jesus, Fervourings From Galilee’s Hills, Fervourings From the LoveBroken Heart of Christ, Fervourings From the Lips of the Master, Listening to the Indwelling Presence, Sheltering the Divine Outcast, Daily Inspection and Cleansing of the Living Temple of God, and Staunch Friends of Jesus, the Lover of Youth. If you are able to help, please contact Justine on 0419 964 624 or justine@waterempire.com. Novena to Our Lady of Vailankanni
Pro-Life Witness Holy Mass at St Brigid’s Midland at 9.30am, followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at nearby abortion clinic, and led by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. Please join us to pray for an end to abortion and the conversion of hearts. Enq Helen 9402 0349. EVERY SECOND FRIDAY OF THE MONTH Discover the Spirituality of St Francis of Assisi 12pm at St Brigid’s Catholic Parish Centre. The Secular Franciscans of Midland Fraternity meet for lunch followed by 1-3pm meeting. Enq: Antoinette 9297 2314. EVERY FIRST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH Healing Mass 12.35pm at St Thomas Parish, cnr Melville St and College Rd, Claremont. Spiritual leader Fr Waddell. Enq: Kim 9384 0598, claremont@perthcatholic.org. au. EVERY LAST SATURDAY Novena Devotions – Our Lady Vailankanni of Good Health 5pm at Holy Trinity Parish, 8 Burnett St, Embleton. Followed by Mass at 6pm. Enq: George 9272 1379. EVERY FOURTH SATURDAY OF THE MONTH Voice of the Voiceless Healing Mass 12pm at St Brigid’s Parish, 211 Aberdeen St, Northbridge. Bring a plate to share after Mass. Enq: Frank 9296 7591 or 0408 183 325.
GENERAL Free Divine Mercy Image for Parishes High quality oil painting and glossy print – Divine Mercy Promotions. Images are of very high quality. For any parish willing to accept and place inside the church. Oil paintings - 160 x 90cm and glossy print - 100 x 60cm. Enq: Irene 9417 3267 (w). Sacred Heart Pioneers Is there anyone out there who would like to know more about the Sacred Heart pioneers? If so, please contact Spiritual Director Fr Doug Harris 9444 6131 or John 9457 7771. St Philomena’s Chapel 3/24 Juna Drive, Malaga. Mass of the day: Mon 6.45am. Vigil Masses: Mon-Fri 4.45pm. Enq: Fr David 9376 1734. Mary MacKillop Merchandise Available for sale from Mary MacKillop Centre. Enq: Sr Maree 041 4683 926 or 08 9334 0933. Financially Disadvantaged People Requiring
Holy Trinity Parish, 8 Burnett St, Embleton. Leader: Fr Trevor (India). Enq: Admin 9271 5528, Gordon 9377 4472, Anita 9375 1794 or George 9272 1379. THURSDAY, AUGUST 30 - Day 1 of Novena 7pm – Begins with Mass, Novena devotions and Benediction, followed by procession. Fellowship afterwards. Please bring plate. FRIDAY, AUGUST 31 - Day 2 of Novena 7pm – Begins with Novena devotions, homily and Benediction. Followed by blessing of children. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 - Day 3 of Novena 6pm – Begins with Vigil Mass, followed by Novena devotions and Benediction. Followed by food fete in hall. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 - Day 4 of Novena 6pm – Begins with Mass followed by Novena devotions, Benediction and blessing of all fathers. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 - Day 5 of Novena 7pm – Begins with Novena devotions, homily and Benediction. Followed by Blessing of the sick and elderly with the Blessed Sacrament. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 - Day 6 of Novena 7pm – Begins with Novena devotions, homily and Benediction. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 - Day 7 of Novena 7pm – Begins with Novena devotions, homily and Benediction (Novena raffle will be drawn). THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 - Day 8 of Novena 7pm – Begins Novena Devotions, homily and Benediction. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 - Day 9 of Novena 6pm – Begins with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Divine Mercy Chaplet and Litany of the Most Sacred Heart. Followed by silent Adoration. 7pm – Mass, anointing of the sick, followed by Novena devotions and Benediction. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 - Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary 6pm – Begins with concelebrated Mass by candlelight procession. Followed by fellowship. Please
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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 Rd, Canning Vale. Open Mon-Sat.
PRIME ART PICTURE FRAMING. See Simone for all your framing needs. We offer expert advice and quality for all types of framing, especially religious items. Prices are competitive and all work guaranteed. For a limited time we offer a Special discount of 30% 240 Main St Osborne Park 93448641
BRENDAN HANDYMAN SERVICES Home, building maintenance, repairs and renovations. NOR. Ph 0427 539 588.
RICH HARVEST - YOUR CHRISTIAN SHOP Looking for Bibles, CDs, books, cards, gifts, statues, Baptism/Communion apparel, religious vestments, etc. Visit us at 39 Hulme Ct (off McCoy St), Myaree. Ph 9329 9889 (after 10.30am Mon to Sat). We are here to serve. KINLAR VESTMENTS www.kinlarvestments.com.au Quality handmade and decorated vestments: albs, stoles, chasubles, altar linen, banners. Ph Vickii on 9402 1318, 0409 114 093 or kinlar. vestments@gmail.com.
BOOK BINDING RESTORATION BOOKBINDING and conservation, general book repairs, Bibles, Breviaries, sad, old and leather bindings renewed. Tel: 0401 941 577.
IN MEMORIUM KIRKWOOD (ARTHUR). In loving memory of my dear Father, who departed this life on August 11, 1991. With the passing years you remain forever in my heart and prayers, O my Pappa, and Darling Mother also. You know how much I love and miss you both. May God be with you always. Moira
FURNITURE REMOVAL ALL AREAS. Competitive rates. Mike Murphy Ph 0416 226 434.
TAX SERVICE QUALITY TAX RETURNS PREPARED by registered tax agent with over 35 years’ experience. Call Tony Marchei on 0412 055 184 for appointment. AXXO Accounting & Management, Unit 20/222 Walter Rd, Morley.
PROPERTY MAINTENANCE Your handyperson. No job too small. SOR. Jim 0413 309 821. BRICK RE-POINTING Ph Nigel 9242 2952. PICASSO PAINTING Top service. Ph 0419 915 836, 9345 0557 or fax 9345 0505. PERROTT PAINTING Pty Ltd For all your residential, commercial painting requirements. Ph Tom Perrott 9444 1200. WRR LAWN MOWING AND WEED SPRAYING Garden clean ups and rubbish removal. Get rid of bindii, jojo and other unsightly weeds. Based in Tuart Hill. Enq: 9443 9243 or 0402 326 637.
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ACCOMMODATION HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION Esperance holiday accommodation, three bedroom house, fully furnished. Phone 08 9076 5083. TO LET – MELVILLE AREA. Suit family - Unfurnished; 3 bed, 1 bathroom, large living, separate entry. Rent negotioable. Enq: 0426 447 284
THANKSGIVING THANK YOU ST JUDE for prayers answered. EIN.
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Continued on from page 18 bring plate. Secondhand Electric Organ Good working condition. Angela Vigolo would like to give it away to a good home; maybe a parish would like it? Enq: Angela 9276 9317. Acts 2 College, Perth’s Catholic Bible College, is now pleased to be able to offer tax deductibility for donations to the College. If you are looking for an opportunity to help grow the faith of young people and to evangelise the next generation of apostles, please contact Jane Borg, Principal at Acts 2 College on 0401 692 690 or principal@acts2come.wa.edu.au. Divine Mercy Church Pews Would you like to assist, at the same time becoming part of the history of the new Divine Mercy Church in Lower Chittering, by donating a beautifully handcrafted
jarrah pew currently under construction, costing only $1,000 each. A beautiful brass plaque with your inscription will be placed at the end of the pew. Please make cheques payable to Divine Mercy Church Building fund and send with inscription to: PO Box 8, Bullsbrook WA 6084. Enq: Fr Paul 0427 085 093. FRIDAY, AUGUST 31 AND SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 Theatrical play Women on the Fringe 7.30pm at Prendiville Performing Arts Centre by St Simon Peter Players. Written by Gerald Searle of St Anthony’s Parish about women marginalised because of gender, race, nationality, culture, religion and moral standing who were transformed when they encountered Jesus. 2pm matinee. Tickets after all Masses at parishes in Ocean Reef, Whitfords, Wanneroo,
Clarkson, and the Cathedral. Enq: Gerald 9404 7292. SUNDAY, 19 AUGUST 40th Anniversary An invitation is extended to all “Shalomites” (past and present). Enq: Anne 9248 1767 or theshalomites@gmail. com
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