The Record Newspaper 17 September 2008

the R ecoRd

the Parish. the Nation. the World.

Papal Honours to Perth trio

n By Anthony Barich

Archbishop barry hickey has bestowed papal honours on three perth catholics, peter Tannock and Denis and Ann cullity, for their significant contribution to society and the church in the name of christ.

The papal honours recognise a special bond with the pope. it is one of five pon-

tifical orders of papal honour in the catholic c hurch, bestowed on c atholic men and women in recognition of their service to the church, unusual labours, support of the holy see and the good example set in their communities and country.

Dr peter Tannock, who was appointed as a Knight of the order of st Gregory the Great, received his award at Notre Dame University. Dr Tannock’s Knighthood is in recognition of his unique contribution to the life of the church and for his contribution to the betterment of society.

i n awarding the Knighthood, the Archbishop noted that Dr Tannock’s contribution to Australian society has been in university life as a professor of education at state level, in edu cation policy formation at national level with the Australian government and in football administration, “a pursuit which goes to the very heart of our identity”.

The Archbishop also noted that he was director of catholic education for a number of years, during which time he guided “enormous expansion” of the catholic school system in WA, framed and implemented forward-looking policy for our schools, encour-

Continued on page 8

n

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

-Bishop Matthew Gibney

1874

The media report on it every day. Sometimes it seems as if it talks about little else. Even elections around the world are being partly won and lost on the issue of global warming. But for decades a potentially far more important and alarming new phenomenon has been emerging that the media and policy makers seem to have entirely missed:

If you believe overpopulation and global warming are the key challenges facing the future of the globe, be prepared for a shock.

After analysing demographic trends from the last century, particularly from the 1960s onwards, increasing numbers of demographers, economists, sociologists, politicians and others are beginning to conclude we are on the cusp of a ‘Demographic Winter’ - in fact, it has already begun.

Their projections are alarming: because of plummeting birthrates across entire continents, by the year 2050 almost all European countries, to take one example, will be facing catastrophic economic and political problems that dramatically compound as fertility continues to decline.

Whereas most countries in Europe currently have about 25 people of pensionable age for every 75 of working age, many highly respected institutions including fiscally hard-headed international banks and economics thinktanks believe that by approximately the same year these ratios will have equalised - one pensioner to one worker - and continue to reverse.

The UN estimates that in the decade of the 2040s alone, Europe will lose approximately 28 million people.

Unbelieveable though it may sound, some demographers are

now talking seriously about the possibility of whole nations, such as France, becoming effectively extinct - well within this century.

Countries such as Australia are not immune either.

The problem is, the social, political and economic implications are staggering: there are no known taxation or social welfare systems that can cope with the tectonic pressures that will begin to rip societies and nations apart as they age.

Our current societies, if such experts are correct, will be populated by increasingly elderly populations whose working young are unable to support - or care - for them. Economies will continue to collapse or decline and be unable to be resurrected. There’s more bad news: because of the time-lags involved, immigration will not solve the problem.

If such experts are correct, even if global warming is happening it won’t really matter: for these nations there’ll be fewer and fewer people left to be affected.

The anti-marriage, anti-child policies of the 60s, designed to liberate us from the burdens of having children, are now looking likely, for many nations, to be the end of all of us.

Western Australia’s award-winning Catholic newspaper since 1874 - Wednesday September 17 2008

Perth, Western Australia $2

Bright occasion: Denis and Ann Cullity with Archbishop Barry Hickey, Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton and Vicar General Fr Brian O’Loughlin at St Thomas More College Chapel.

Saint for the week

Thomas of Villanova

1488-1555

feast – September 22

Students sent out in pairs for Vinnies

n By Robert Hiini

Born in Spain to virtuous, generous parents, omas graduated from the University of Alcala and joined the Augustinian friars in Salamanca. Not long after his ordination in 1518, he was made prior of that house; during the next 25 years he held various Augustinian posts and became a wellknown preacher. He also had an intense prayer life. In 1544, under order from his superiors, he was ordained archbishop of Valencia, and until his death used that diocese’s wealth to assist those in need and restored order among the clergy and laity after a long period of neglect.

© 2005 Saints for Today ©

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel, the vineyard owner says, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous? ”

The vineyard owner chose to be generous. We are likewise free to use our gifts as we choose. We are all called to a generous response to the Lord in gratitude for His many blessings. Do the choices you make daily reflect your gratitude to God?

For further information on how stewardship can build your parish community, call Brian Stephens on 9422 7924.

Walking with Him Daily Mass Readings

21 25TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Gr Isa 55:6-9 Seek the Lord Ps 144:2-3.8-9.17-18 The Lord is kind

Phil 1:20-24.27 To be with Christ

Mt 20:1-16 Why are you jealous?

22 M

Gr Prov 3:27-34 If you can, do it now

Ps 14:2-5 Walking without fault

Lk 8:16-18 Nothing is secret

23 T St Pio of Petrelcina (M)

Wh Prov 21:1-6.10-13 To act virtuously

Ps 118:1.27.30.34-35.44 The way of truth

Lk 8:19-21 Hear the word of God

24 W

Gr Prov 30:5-9 Who is the Lord?

Ps 118:29.72.89.101.104.163 Lies I hate

Lk 9:1-6 Apostles sent out

25 T

Gr Eccl 1:2-22 All is vanity

Ps 89:3-6.12-14.17 Anger forever?

Lk 9:7-9 Anxious to see Jesus

26 F Ss Cosmas and Damian, martyrs (O)

Gr Eccl 3:1-11 Seasons and times

Ps 143:1-14 The Lord is my rock

Lk 9:18-22 Jesus puts a question

27 S St Vincent de Paul, priest (M)

Wh Eccl 11:9-12:8 Remember your Creator

Ps 89:3-6.12-14.17 The Lord our refuge

Lk 9:43-45 Full of admiration

JeSuS sent them out in pairs and so did the Society of St Vincent de Paul for their annual street appeal throughout Perth.

Students from Catholic high schools took to the streets on September 12 with balloons and tins, with one pair busking down at Perth Central train station to raise funds for emergency relief assistance. Last year the people of Perth gave $43,000 in loose change to street appeal volunteers, a figure that street appeal coordinator Lucinda Ardagh hopes to eclipse this year. Ms Ardagh said that donations would be used in the area or suburb in which they were made with money raised in Perth’s central business district going to their Major Relief Fund to be redistributed to those areas in most need.

“So it’s the community giving to the community directly,” she said.

Most of the money will be used in home visitation, Vinnies core work, where local volunteers visit people in their homes and provide emergency food relief, assistance with utilities, clothing and help with budgeting among other services.

Students who helped in the appeal came from Trinity, Mercedes, Mater Dei, Santa Maria and ursula Frayne Catholic high schools.

The students participate as part of their required community service but also out of a desire to promote the social work of the Church. Ms Ardagh says that she was impressed by the way the students held themselves. “They’re all fantastic and polite and so respectful of the job that

they’re doing. Schools should be proud of them”, Ms Ardagh said. “They’re having a good time and people like to see the students out there doing something,” she said.

Following discovery’s recent article about homelessness, Ms Ardagh also detailed the significant work the Society is doing to help those caught up in Perth’s growing homeless population. The Society

has recently opened a Vincentian Village in Midland that provides housing for homeless men.

Vinnies’ Passages Resource Centre, a joint initiative with Perth Rotary in the CBD, offers help to young people on the street aged 12 – 25, providing a place to wash clothes and shower, counselling, help with Centrelink as well as legal assistance.

St John of God Sister fosters discernment in spiritual community for young women

SJOG Sister helping women finding their path in life, while building mini spiritual communities.

n By Robert Hiini

LIke the disciples after the Ascension, so many people who come to believe in Jesus are asking the question: “What do I do with my life?”

For the past two years St John of God Sister Ann Cullinane has been helping small groups of women find their own answers to that very question.

Sr Ann currently has three groups of women of varying ages, professions and ethnicities, who come together to talk about scripture and in the process, their own lives and longings.

The groups use The Great Adventure Bible Timeline DVD series developed by American theologian and scripture scholar Jeff Cavins. The tagline of the series is: “73 Books. One story. Your story”.

In sharing their own thoughts and feelings on scripture and day-to-day life, discernment happens. “It’s through sharing our story with each other that people may just say something that

helps us; that enlightens us and helps us to see the bigger picture”, Sr Ann said.

Women not only discern whether they are being called to married, Religious or single life but also help each other discover what profession would be most life-giving.

“There’s a great understanding of ‘well, you’ve been there, tell me what it’s like, let me come and see if that’s for me’,” Sr Ann said. “When you are not happy in your work or ministry you can’t give of your best.”

What about when a woman feels called to a religious vocation? “We accompany them on the journey and help them through the discernment process,” she said.

“Once they feel that ‘yes, this is where the Lord is calling me to’ then the formation process will commence.”

each group has grown into a small community of women who share their joys and pains. Groups celebrate birthdays and personal anniversaries as well as helping each other through significant personal challenges.

Rebecca Thomas, a 24-yearold teacher at Santa Maria College, has only missed one night since she started attending the discernment groups. She says that the experience helped her discern that she was being called to teach reli-

gious education fulltime when she had originally intended to teach science.

“We often get the feeling of being alone in our beliefs (but) I now have the big picture of salvation history and what it is that God asks of me,” Rebecca said.

After many years as a parish pastoral assistant, involved in the ups and downs, joys and bereavements of parishioners’ lives, a ministry which she really loved, Sr Ann was asked by her provincial leader to make the move to vocations ministry in 2006.

With some trepidation, she agreed and approached Fr Don kettle, then director of Catholic Youth Ministry, to see what he was doing to help young men discern their vocation. She began her first group for young women in early 2006 and has begun another three groups since then.

Ironically, Sr Ann recounted how she first came to discover her own vocation after being asked to help out in a small youth group by a priest in her hometown of knock, Ireland.

She recalled thinking “there must be more than this”.

After becoming a Religious and journeying to Australia as well being as being a busy nurse, involved in administration and later parish life, she would seem to have come full circle in her current work of

small group vocations discernment. Sr Ann sees such small communities as being of great benefit to parishes – helping parishes to “really come alive” - having formed the groups with the support of St Thomas More Parish in Bateman.

The small groups will continue the “great adventure” by embarking upon Adventures in St Matthew’s Gospel, the next component in the Bible Timeline series, continuing

Tuesday 23 September.

“I have learnt so much myself, not alone from the scripture but also from the people and their sharing; the young people and their lives and what they’re up against today, in today’s society,” she said.

“I admire them, the way they stand up for the truth and that gives me great joy and hope for the future.”

Young women discerning where God is calling them can find out more by calling 0409 602 927.

In it together: SVDP staffers Lisa Guagliardo and Anne Smith, street appeal coordinator Lucinda Ardagh and communications coordinator Deana Tesoriero with Trinity College students Conor McKnight, Michael Mallon, Jakeb Norman and James Whelan. PhoTo: Robe RT hii N

St Ann Cullinane

Barnett to bury Prostitution Bill

Onus is on new Premier Colin Barnett to follow up on preelection promise made to Christian groups and Church leaders.

PR em I e R Colin Barnett will tear up the prostitution Bill passed by the previous government and will re-examine the Swedish system for the control of prostitution and trafficking in women.

The Premier gave these undertakings in front of an audience of nearly 1000 people at the grand ballroom at Burswood on the Wednesday night before the election at a function organised by the Australian Christian Lobby.

The ACL event was attended by mr Barnett and the then-Deputy Premier eric Ripper who were given 20 minutes to address the crowd and were then invited to answer questions from a number of Christian Churches.

Representing Archbishop Barry Hickey, his communications officer Hugh Ryan asked the two men whether, in view of the success of the Swedish system and its spread to other countries in europe, they would halt the implementation of the Government’s Bill and reexamine the whole question in the light of what was happening in europe.

mr Ripper replied that the Government would stick with its Bill which had been passed by Parliament, but not yet implemented.

mr Barnett told the audience that one of the first things he would do would be to tear up the Bill which he found utterly unacceptable.

Colin Barnett

He said he had been involved in some discussions about the Swedish system when the current Bill was before Parliament, but had not been totally convinced by it.

However, he would re-examine it if returned to government.

Under the Swedish system, it is an offence to buy sexual services, but not an offence to supply them.

This reversal of the traditional system of prosecuting prostitutes but ignoring their clients was based on the realisation that every act of prostitution is an abuse of women.

Once properly implemented, the new law produced a sharp reduction in the level of prostitution in brothels and on the streets, and proved effective in protecting Sweden from the modern scourge of europe, trafficking in women.

The Swedish law also provided for community education about the real meaning of prostitution and required the Government to fund programs to enable women to escape from prostitution and to recover their normal place in society. Because of its success, the Swedish model has been introduced in other countries, including Norway and Scotland, and is being considered elsewhere.

Man who died saving his son a model of fatherhood, say friends

ARLINGTON, Virginia (CNS)

- A Virginia man who died while trying to rescue his son after he had fallen into a septic tank was remembered by friends and family as a loyal friend, volunteer and above all a devoted father and husband.

Thomas Vander Woude, 66, died on September 8 in an accident at his home in Prince William County. He drowned while trying to save his youngest son, Joseph.

Joseph, 20, who has Down syndrome, was hospitalised on September 9 and was expected to make a full recovery, according to Father Francis Peffley, pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in Gainesville, where the Vander Woudes are members.

“Tom was a most humble man,” said longtime friend Bob Laird, executive director of Divine mercy Care and an administrator at Tepeyac Family Centre in Fairfax.

“For all of the good that he did, he took no credit for it, but gave the credit to others and to the intercession of the Blessed mother.

“He dedicated his entire life to his family and his faith. This dedication cost him his life saving his son,” Laird told the Arlington Catholic Herald, the diocesan newspaper.

Besides Joseph, Vander Woude is survived by his wife, mary ellen, and six other sons, one of whom is a Catholic priest, Father Thomas P. Vander Woude, pastor of Queen of Apostles Parish in Alexandria. Anne Carroll, director of Seton School in manassas, said the

briefly...

PARIS (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI has warned that Western cultural efforts to marginalise religion and believers would bring disaster for humanity and ultimately “play into the hands of fanaticism.”

The Pope made the remarks on September 12 to academics at the College des Bernardins, a medieval landmark confiscated during the French Revolution and recently reacquired by the Church for scholarly events. The 81-year-old pontiff, looking energetic on the first leg of his four-day visit to France, was

greeted with a standing ovation as he entered the vaulted hall of the 13th-century building.

Vatican officials said the Pope had worked long and hard on this speech, which took up one of his favourite topics, the relationship between faith and reason.

He warned that if modern culture tries to drive the question of God into the realm of the merely subjective and unscientific, that would be “the capitulation of reason, the renunciation of its highest possibilities, and hence a disaster for humanity, with very grave consequences.”

Vander Woudes moved to the area from Georgia in the early 1980s so their children could attend a solid Catholic school. While six of his seven sons made their way through the school, Vander Woude served on the school’s board of directors and coached varsity basketball and soccer.

As late as last year, Vander Woude was coaching a junior varsity team for his son Dan, Seton’s athletic director.

“As a coach, he was excellent but was also a real mentor and real role model,” Carroll said. “Whenever anything needed to be done around the school he was there. He and his wife kept the school going (in the early years) - he was building things and his wife was in the chapel praying.”

After retiring as a commercial airline pilot six years ago, Vander Woude worked as the athletic director at Christendom College in Front Royal until last year when his son Chris took over.

“He was a great man, a devout Roman Catholic, and great friend of the college,” said Christendom’s president, Timothy O’Donnell. “He sent his children here and made an incredible contribution to not only our athletics program, but also the larger life of the community here. Our hearts go out to his family at this time. He will be deeply missed.”

Vander Woude also was a dedicated volunteer at his parish.

Fr Peffley said Vander Woude was responsible for training altar servers at Holy Trinity.

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

Is it true that most of my sales are not from direct advertising, but from personal recommendation, repeat business and reputation?

Is it true I have my own finance company to assist good people with poor credit to buy cars from me?.

Is it true I sell over 1,300 vehicles every month in Victoria Park, and that is the biggest number from any one location in Australia?

Is it true that I refuse to sell any vehicle that has had previous major accident damage?

Is it true that when people come to do business with me, I guarantee they will be treated with courtesy, sincerity, professionalism and efficiency?

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

Is it true that every year for the last 20 consecutive years I have been Australia’s top selling Hyundai dealer?

the Parish

Charity event to boost Linda’s House of Hope

n By Robert Hiini

A CHARITY event aimed at empowering women to love and accept themselves will help raise funds for Linda’s House of Hope, a body that helps women involved in drug abuse and prostitution to do the same.

‘Inside Out’, to be held October 10 at the wA Rowing club, is the brainchild of Jane Sawicki, a naturopath specialising in natural fertility and an enthusiastic supporter of Linda’s House of Hope.

The event promises to explore a powerful message in a fun and relaxed atmosphere including organic food and wine as well as African drumming and dancing.

Linda watson, a former Madam and founder of Linda’s House, will share her story and work with attendees and Chris Fernandez from Natural Fertility Services will teach the women about the gift of their natural fertility.

Ms Sawicki says that her inspiration for creating the event came from her professional contact with women. “I started to notice through my work that one of the reasons many women are suffering hormonal imbalances and not conceiving is because of strong emotional feelings of self-hate and a rejection of their bodies,” she said.

She says that she could empathise with other women because of her own experience battling with an eating disorder. She has spent much time praying and meditating on why women find it so hard to love and accept themselves.

“There are a lot of negative influences and expectations in today’s society, and it wasn’t until I could truly believe that God loved me just how I am, unconditionally, that I was able to start loving myself.”

She said it was then that she came across Linda watson whose personal story inspired her and urged her “to get out there and create an event that encourages women to celebrate how wonderful they already are”. And so ‘Inside Out’ was born.

Linda watson, to be a keynote speaker, says she is looking forward to the fundraising event, particularly as requests for help intensify during the upcoming school holiday and Christmas period. Linda’s House receives calls from 20 – 30 women per week as well as providing ongoing and long term help to many.

Ms watson says that due to the level of need, the organisation is always operating under financial strain and threat of closure, providing emergency accommodation, food, clothing and many other forms of assistance to women and their children.

Linda’s House was flooded earlier this year leading to the destruction of computer equipment and parts of their premises require significant work to remain functional.

The theme of the Inside Out event is entirely suited to the work Linda’s House is doing. “I’m very excited that Jane is helping women to nuture themselves,” Ms watson said. “It’s so good that I have learnt to love myself and the good things and work that have come from that.”

PRINCIPALSHIP

ST JOSEPH’S SCHOOL, MOORA

St Joseph’s School, situated in Moora, 174 kilometres north of Perth, is a Catholic primary school catering for students from Kindergarten to Year 7. The school was founded by the Sisters of St Joseph in 1913 and is nestled in a growing regional centre which offers excellent community and recreational facilities.

A broad and comprehensive curriculum supports the needs of all students, with literacy and numeracy being the major focus throughout the school. St Joseph’s is in the 5th Year of the RAISe (Raising Achievement in Schools program) Literacy and has, this year, committed to RAISe Numeracy. Specialist areas include Library, the Arts, Information Technology, Science, Drumbeat, Choir, Enrichment and Extension Programs.

St Joseph’s School community enjoys a strong partnership with the Parish, the School Board and Parents & Friends’ Association, as they work together in supporting the current Capital Development Plan, enhancing school facilities, building on resources and fostering a dynamic community spirit.

The successful applicant will take up the position on 1 January 2009. Applicants need to be practising Catholics and experienced educators committed to the objectives and ethos of Catholic education. They will have the requisite theological, educational, pastoral and administrative competencies, together with an appropriate four-year minimum tertiary qualification, and will have completed Accreditation for Leadership of the Religious Education Area or its equivalent. A current WACOT registration number must also be included.

The official application form, referee assessment forms and instructions can be accessed on the Catholic Education Office website www.ceo.wa.edu.au Enquiries regarding the position should be directed to Helen Brennan, Consultant, Workforce Relations & Development Team on (08) 6380 5237 or email wrd@ceo.wa.edu.au. All applications, on the official form, should reach The Director, Catholic Education, Catholic Education Office of WA, PO Box 198, Leederville 6903 no later than Monday, 22 September 2008.

To be Vincentian is to love Christ and neighbour

Being a Vincentian is not just work, it’s a way of life, centred on Christ and a genuine love of God and neightbour, the new State president of the St Vincent de Paul Society has told The Record’s Anthony Barich

New St Vincent de Paul Society wA State president Joseph Clement Astruc has affirmed the Catholicity of the society in a wide-ranging interview with The Record after his commissioning Mass on August 24.

For Mr Astruc, 63, being a Vincentian is not just work, it’s a way of life – though even as State president he’s still a volunteer, doing home visits and looking after the largely parish-based members.

Mr Astruc first encountered the Society in Zambia, where he worked in management in the corporate world for a Canadian footwear manufacturer.

He followed his family to Australia in the 1960s and has worked for the Society for 34 years.

Now retired, he brings to the Society experience in corporate management, finance, marketing and advertising from his professional life.

Having been vice president of a Rotary Club for 10 years, he was appointed head of the first committee of the Cheshire Foundation in Botswana, which built, under his guidance, a centre for 60 disabled children.

The patron of that foundation’s first home was former Botswana President Sir Quett Ketumile Joni Masire, a central figure in that country’s transformation from British colony to multiparty democracy.

In 1988, he was appointed by Bishop Boniface Setlalekgoski of Gaberone as the liaison officer between the Church and the corporate world for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Botswana.

Mr Astruc’s life – and work – is deeply embedded in Catholicism.

“To love God and to love our neighbour is the most important thing about why we are Vincentians,” he says.

“we don’t join to volunteer, but to love our neighbour.”

A major turning point in his own faith journey occurred when a priest in Botswana helped him realise that his best friend was not the priest or anyone else he worked or lived with, but Jesus, who he encounters in his everyday life and in the Blessed Sacrament.

Mr Astruc’s work is faith-driven. He prays daily and visits Jesus present in the tabernacle in any church whenever he’s in the area.

He disagrees with the re-badging of the Society’s fundraising shop fronts as ‘Vinnies’ centres – a national initiative outside of his control - but can see the practical side in that it’s a colloquial term of endearment and helps recruit youth unfamiliar with Catholic concepts.

Mr Astruc admits that elements of the Society’s public face has caused some angst among its mainly Catholic membership base,

but he said that the Society has never lost its Catholic identity, and never will.

He was surprised to learn that a condom promotional poster had been placed on a wall at Bendat House, a referral and support centre for street kids in Northbridge run jointly by the Society with the Rotary Club of Perth, and said it must be taken down.

“I think we should drop that sign,” he said. “But it’s a joint venture with Rotary, who have a say on that.

“Do we break a partnership, though many people benefit from the centre’s work? Maybe sometimes.

“It is a difficult question, but it’s not a question of what is more important. This is the teaching of the Church.

“we abide by the teachings of the Church, but the balance must be there because it’s not entirely our project. I’d like to go back and take that poster down.”

Lucinda Ardagh, the Society’s State fundraising and public relations manager, pointed out that anyone who signs on to work in the Society must accept and follow its Catholic ethos, or they won’t fit in.

“You can’t have someone come in who’s not Catholic then not agree with those values,” she said.

“It’s very hard to survive, because every member around you agrees and every event we have is a Mass.

“I’ve had people who have said they don’t want to work for the Church, and I say, ‘fine’, this is what you’ve signed on for – the whole package.

“If you can’t cope with opening and closing every meeting with a prayer, you go and work somewhere else.

“You don’t just accept the charity side of the work.”

Then there are the ‘Vinnies’ centres around the country that offer clothing and goods, sales from which are used to provide resources for people in need.

“I know there’s angst about that in the community,” Mr Astruc said of the Vinnies centres losing the reference to ‘Saint’ in their name.

“Personally, for me it’s always the St Vincent de Paul Society. It’s not ‘Vinnies’.

“Sometimes (the Vinnies name)

is a thing of endearment. we cannot stop that.

“But for us, for myself as State president, I shouldn’t use ‘Vinnies’, which is only used in shop fronts.”

But even then, Mr Astruc, or ‘Clem’ as he’s affectionately known, is philosophical about embracing others. He gave the example of a volunteering couple that did not like praying the Hail Mary, and wanted to leave the Society. He kept them involved by telling them they can still volunteer at the shop fronts.

Since being commissioned at Ocean Reef’s St Simon Peter Church last month, Mr Astruc has made a point of acknowledging the crucial work of the seven past State presidents, and seeks to draw on their vast experience and knowledge.

A big challenge for the Society, he says, is the ‘Generation X’ are not volunteering. Many Society members are elderly and must be guided.

It’s in this way that he sees himself as a grandfather to a family –“the greatest family you can join”.

There are 12,500 volunteers and 800 members, and the one of his first orders of business was to promote unity among them.

“My goal as State president is to promote unity, because it is my strong belief that in unity there is strength, and that strength can achieve our common goal to improve the welfare of the people we assist,” he said upon being appointed for a three-year term as president.

POSITION: PRINCIPALSHIP: ST JOSEPH’S SCHOOL, MOORA

Joseph Clement Astruc

Linda Watson

Vale Bishop Quinn

A brilliant mind, a considerate shepherd

On August 23, Bishop Peter Quinn died aged 80 after a four-month battle with cancer. His funeral Mass was held at Bunbury Catholic College on September 3. Priests and lay alike mourned the passing of a legend. Here, two priests who knew him well and a parishioner who he inspired during his rural ministry write exclusively for The Record about what they believed made the great man tick, and the legacy he left on the State.

Bishop Peter Quinn was one of the sharpest minds in the Church to come out of Perth, says Fr Pat Cunningham, who studied with him at St Charles Seminary.

It all started in the parish of Highgate, where a young Peter Quinn was taught by the sisters of Our Lady of the Mission in Mary street, and the Christian Brothers in Harold street.

As the man himself has attested, the parish provided the seed of his vocation. At his golden Jubilee, he was asked why he became a priest, and he replied, “ the nuns knew us well and we knew them well; we used to run errands for them. At the presbytery, there were three priests who seemed happy in their pastoral life. I decided I wanted to be one like them.”

so in 1942, he became one of the 20 foundation students of st Charles seminary who had been recruited personally across WA by rev Dr LJ goody, later to become Perth’s Archbishop.

Of that original 20, eight became priests, and today two survive - myself and fr gaetano grocetti. In that first 20, five candidates came from Highgate parish, four of them reaching priesthood. two more followed in subsequent years. At st Charles’ seminary, Peter Quinn began to show some of his qualities. He had a sharp intellect and a tenacious drive to get to the bottom of a question. Heaven help anyone who took on Peter Quinn for a long discussion. He would not give in easily, and enjoyed every moment of the spirited discussion.

for that reason, it was no surprise that in 1947, he was offered a place at the famous Propaganda fide College in rome at which many earlier Perth priests had studied and more were later to do so, including Archbishop Barry Hickey.

His four years of theology studies in rome included his ordination to the priesthood in December 1951 at which his mother and aunt were present. several of his contemporaries with him at Propaganda fide later became members of the Australian hierarchy, Bishops John gerry of Brisbane, Bishop Bede Heather from NsW, Archbishop Len faulkner of Adelaide and Archbishop frank Little of Melbourne, at whose recent funeral Peter Quinn took suddenly ill.

After those four years of study he resided at Casa Pallotti while he studied for three years Canon Law at the Lateran University in rome. At the end of this, he gained the rare honour of achieving 10 marks (full

Having been a chaplain to the British during World War II, Perth retired priest Fr John Chokolich has seen his fair share of upstanding men of honour. But few compare to the towering intellect yet compassionate pastoral care of the late Bishop Quinn, who was his close friend for decades. Here he recounts the quirks of this friendship to The Record

I f I rst met Bishop Peter Quinn in september 1946. I had just returned from serving in the British royal Air force that trained tito’s men in Algeria. Keith sprune, the editor of The Record, had asked me to give a talk

marks) in every subject except one, whose professor, on principle, would never award full marks.

Like many Canon Law students, he spent six months on a practicum in Boston Archdiocese before returning to Australia. In his first appointment back in his home parish of Highgate in 1955, he blazed a trail by commencing regular sermons in Italian –many priests have formerly spoken Italian in the past, but had never bothered to preach in it, so Bishop Quinn started the practice of regular sermons in Italian – well before the vernacular liturgy.

Also at Highgate, he became a strong supporter of the Xaverian Club for friendships for the ‘older set’.

His gifts and Canon Law background quickly proved to be needed at the Church office and he became part of the staff at st Mary’s Cathedral, with service for a time as secretary to the archbishop.

In the course of time he received his first parish appointment to the new parish of Mirrabooka, which he named after st gerard Majella to whom his mother, by then his housekeeper, had a strong devotion.

He quickly became a friend of many young families establishing themselves in this new frontier suburb. the accession of Archbishop goody late in 1968 was to be another turning point in Peter Quinn’s life. the Archbishop called for nominations for the position of Vicar general and Peter Quinn received a resounding vote, at which point Archbishop goody felt it was appropriate that his new Vg should leave Mirrabooka and become administrator of st Mary’s Cathedral with the title of Monsignor.

Bishop Peter Quinn… enabler of lay ministry. A tribute from parishioner Jo Bell

refLeCtINg on my association with Bishop Peter Quinn from the day of his installation as Bishop of the Bunbury Diocese in 1982, until we also left the diocese in 2001, I feel his major achievement was encouraging and empowering to the ministry of the laity. His predecessor, Bishop Myles McKeon, was known for dropping in for morning tea in the most unexpected and remotest places… and possibly staying for lunch. He had established a precedent of consultation and close collaboration, reflected in the lively and participative Diocesan Pastoral Council meetings, which people enjoyed attending regularly.

Bishop Quinn’s first DPC meeting continued that tradition, as he listened attentively to delegates from esperance to Mandurah explaining, proclaiming, complaining and entertaining, in their individual and parish capacities. Indeed he found one delegate’s report so entertaining that he ‘ordered’ her, ‘Never stop coming to these DPC meetings!’

He heard and recognised that the laity were already working hard to spread the faith in this far-flung diocese, where priests and sisters were relatively few and far between.

gee’s guitar. the bishop followed his Irish predecessor’s tradition of entertaining us with hilarious stories. One year he hired a large bus and collected delegates all the way to esperance – seven hours drive - where we held our weekend meeting.

some of the lay initiatives which sprouted or flourished in Bishop Quinn’s time were:

l training and formation for Lectors and eucharistic Ministers,

l establishment of a Charismatic Core group, and many prayer groups around the diocese; a Youth Ministry Office and travelling youth ministry,

l the Net team, which visited every year from Brisbane,

l a training program for teachers of the Billings Method of Natural family Planning,

l hosting Drs John and Lyn Billings at Busselton in 1982,

l Marriage encounter, engaged encounter, marriage preparation programs,

l Catechists’ training and formation,

l Justice and Peace Committee,

l Houses of prayer at Dardanup and Bridgetown,

l Holy spirit of freedom Community at Pemberton, and many more…

No doubt I have missed many… and most of these are still thriving, even if evolving. Others such as Catholic Women’s League, Knights of southern Cross and the Missions Office were already active.

the same resounding vote was sufficient confirmation for Archbishop goody that Peter Quinn should be promoted as a potential Auxiliary Bishop. the result was that in August 1969, on the feast of st Augustine, he was consecrated Auxiliary Bishop in st Mary’s Cathedral, taking up the position of parish priest of Nedlands for the next few years.

on my war experiences and particularly tito’s Yugoslavia.

Unknown to me, Keith had advertised my talk by putting dodgers (flyers) in The Record newspaper in such a manner: “fr John Chokolich will talk (on his war experiences) at the Catholic Library”… When I got there, there were about 50 men all wearing a red tie - later I found them to be tito sympathisers. At the end of my talk they attacked me by saying I was a Yugoslav betrayer etc.

A young 19-year-old Peter Quinn was present and he got up and defended me, saying: “It’s obvious that you are in favour of russian and tito’s Communistic ways – why don’t you pack up go either to russia or Yugoslavia?”

Peter left for r ome to study a couple of weeks later. We renewed our friendship when he returned from r ome. He was stationed at Highgate and I was at spearwood. Later when I was appointed parish priest of North Beach, his sisterKath hap-

He heard our pleas for more information and faith formation. He heard and acted upon an exhortation in Micah, which happened to be the first reading at Mass one particular DPC weekend: ‘With shepherd’s crook lead your people to pasture, the flock that is your heritage, living confined in a forest, with meadowland all around’. (7:14) Most DPC meetings would include some formation sessions, and at least one residential weekend a year, often at the Catholic Youth Camp at Busselton. saturday night was reserved for community building activities, helped along by a bottle of red and Paul

pened to live in the parish and this brought us closer once again. After he was appointed assistant Bishop of Perth, instead of following Bishop Miles McKeon at Highgate he was appointed parish priest of Nedlands and I was appointed parish priest of Highgate. His sister Kath and their mother returned to live at Highgate, so it was really at Highgate that I got to know him.

After his duties on sundays he would come to Highgate presbytery either to have tea with us or for a game of scrabble.

the late fr Leslie Baccini, who was an excellent s crabble player, always joined us, along with Monsignor Jim Bourke. Mrs Val stevens, my housekeeper - an excellent cook and receiving instructions to be received into the Church - was also a lover of the game and joined us.

Peter, a fierce competitor, sensed a weakness in my game and he always wanted to sit at my left so he could move after me, and on

two initiatives stand out though, as rare if not unique examples of his commitment to lay ministry. In 1992, he asked a group of lay people, members of the Charismatic Core group, to conduct the annual retreat for the priests of the diocese. It was a challenging, inspiring and blessed few days for all involved. In the mid-90s he formed a team of clergy, religious and lay people who embarked on a Pastoral Ministry training program that ran for two years, involving around 200 people in monthly sessions, conducted in different locations throughout the diocese. this became known as ‘ the Mustard seed’, which grows into a large tree, where all kinds of birds can shelter in its branches. More than 100 people completed the program, many of whom are still active in diocesan apostolates and leadership. He actively participated in most of these sessions, leading his people out into the rich pastures of knowledge and understanding, with much input from teaching staff of the newly established Notre Dame in fremantle. this is a tribute to a forward-thinking bishop whom we will sadly miss, who enriched the lives of so many by empowering us to develop and use gifts god has given us to enrich the Body of Christ on earth.

occasions he would score a premium which he was always looking for.

On one occasion I took a while to move, I had a couple of ‘U’s and all the ‘Q’s were out. Peter got up to stretch his legs and when he returned he said, “you have moved – how did you get rid of your ‘Q’s?”

While he was away, fr Leslie and Val permitted me to play a trick on him by putting the ‘Q’s in the bag. It was then that I realised why he insisted sitting on at my left. He would lean over and look over my shoulder to see what tiles I had. In our retirement we met almost weekly. We both watched t V programs such as Compass and religious and biblical programs, and we would discuss them the following time we met. We were keen readers of the writings of the fathers of the Church and we were both traditional in our outlook. Peter loved continental cooking, and cooking being my hobby Peter

loved simple peasant and national dishes such as Dalmatian soups and fish brudjet (stew), Italian pastas, Hungarian gulas, spanish Paella Valenciana (rice with seafood sauce); Pollo al Cacciatore (chicken stew) and Carne inviolate (beef wrapped with cheese, bacon, garlic, parsley and tomato paste).

His favourite pasta was Pasta alla Zangara (with Italian sausages).

Peter was well liked by everybody. He had a friendly disposition and could carry on a conversation with all, the learned and the unlearned.

He was a very good ‘mixer’. He was intellectually gifted and blessed with great pastoral care. Learned as he was, he was always prepared to learn more, particularly in regards to peoples, cultures and traditions so that he could be of help to those seeking help.

He sought to unite the old and the new, and in this way, to me, he was truly a man of Vatican II.

Bishop Peter Quinn, may you rest in peace.

Our Lady’s Birthday

Traditional procession in ways of old

The Good Shepherd Parish in Kelmscott wished Our Lady a Happy Birthday with a Rosary procession on September 7 following their normal Sunday Mass, led by parish priest Fr Francis Sundararajan. The parish community continued the celebration with a BBQ, a bric-a-brac sale and classic rock and roll music played by talented locals.

60 years of concerts for the blind celebrated with style

n By Mark Reidy

A speciAl gathering to acknowledge those who have contributed their time and skills to producing the legion of Mary’s concerts for the blind over the past 60 years was held on August 17 at the edel Quinn centre in perth.

liz White, one of the event organisers, told The Record that a number of current performers and helpers were able to attend and receive thanks for their dedication and support in providing ten concerts each year for those with visual impairments.

Ms White said the concerts had been occurring every third sunday of most months since 1948 and their success was founded on the countless volunteers who had given their time singing, playing instruments, driving (including Geraldine McGrade who has been driving since 1954), plus setting up and providing afternoon tea.

This celebration was to recognise all those whose dedication had contributed to the

success of the concerts over this time. The August 17 gathering featured the singing talents of evelyn Thompson and the Wesley singers who have been performing each August since 1969.

several other performers, who are usually up on stage, were able to sit back with the audience and enjoy the talents of Ms Thompson who has been associated with the Western Australian symphony Orchestra.

After the concert there was a presentation and discussion on the history of the concerts over the past six decades, which was followed by fellowship and afternoon tea.

Ms White said that it was appropriate that the event closed with singing from laurie Hoare accompanied on the piano by Fay cumper who are both blind. Ms cumper, who has been organising the concerts held in March for many years, has been attending the event since the early 1950s.

Any people with visual impairments wishing to attend future Legion of Mary concerts should contact the Legion Centre on 9328 2726 or Liz on 9364 6996.

Whitford does its bit for Mary’s big day

Mary’s birthday Celebration in Our Lady of the Mission Parish.

FOr several years, Our lady of the Mission parishioners in Whitford and those from the surrounding areas have celebrated the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the first saturday in september. Fr erasmus celebrated Mass where chil-

dren presented a signed birthday card for Our Blessed Mother as part of the Offertory, and parishioners brought flowers for Our lady to her statue beside the altar. Mass was followed by Benediction and the rosary. Morning tea prepared by the legion of Mary was in the parish centre where after singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Our lady, Fr Bosco pudhota cut the cake and children blew out the candles.

Celebrations: Young people had their faces painted as part of the family day for the birthday of Our Lady; enjoyed traditional dances and live music was played.

Ph OtO s: r O bert Zagari

Festive season: Kelmscott parishioners carry a statue of Our Lady to celebrate her birthday.

Ph OtO rO bert h iini

Happy day: Whitford parishioners make Mary’s birthday special.

Rosary Bouquet

Students give Our Lady the perfect birthday present

School children around the Archdiocese gave Mary a special birthday present.

THE 20th year of the 48-hour Perpetual Rosary Bouquet in Western Australia was one to remember, as students from five schools united to show their love of the Blessed Virgin by wholeheartedly embracing the prayer fest.

The Rosary was continually prayed throughout the State from Derby to Albany, from Kalgoorlie to Perth. This year, many small country parishes took part plus individuals ensuring they had their name on the Rosary Bouquet, and the devotion even spread across the country and across the Pacific.

The WA Indonesian Catholic Community covered many hours, while parishioners from Our Lady Help of Christians parish in Fitzroy, New Plymouth, New Zealand also took part in the Bouquet.

The Catholic schools that took part this year made a tremendous effort to involve the students in reciting the Rosary.

Loreto Primary School in Nedlands, St Lawrence Primary School in Balcatta, Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School in Lockridge, Corpus Christi Catholic College in Bateman and Ursula Frayne Catholic College in Victoria Park all took part in the 48-hour Perpetual Rosary Bouquet in its 20th year.

The morning celebrations at St Joachims Pro-Cathedral in Victoria Park started at 11.30am with a Scriptual Rosary led by Fr Paul Carey, with the Bouquet being presented during Mass, celebrated by Archbishop Barry Hickey, with Mgr Thomas

McDonald and Fr Carey concelebrating.

The Pro-Cathedral was nearly filled with Marian devotees, led in singing by Cantor Daniel Mullaney, accompanied by Cathedral musical director Jacinta Jakovcevic. It was a fitting tribute to Our Lady, and after the Mass Archbishop Hickey led the congregation in an Act of Consecration to Our Blessed Mother.

Over 100 children and parents of Ss John and Paul Parish in Willeton also gathered with their catechist Joan Rodricks to pray the Rosary on September 9 in honour of Our Blessed Mother.

The children, part of the parish’s After School Religious Education Program, attend weekly classes on Tuesday afternoons at Orana Catholic Primary School.

Ms Rodricks wrote the meditations for each decade and prayers on the Joyful Mysteries, focusing on calamities that beset the world so the children would be aware of what is happening in the ‘outside world’.

It also offered them the opporunity to offer up their Rosary for those around the world afflicted by some of the calamities mentioned by Ms Dordicks, like cyclones.

Each child was given a shaped piece of card on which they wrote their names and placed them at the feet of a statue of Our Lady.

Pope Benedict XVI at Lourdes...

More than 100,000 pilgrims gathered in Lourdes on September 14 for the final Mass of the celebrations surrounding the 150th anniversary of the apparitions there. In his homily, Pope Benedict XVI noted that Bernadette was the eldest daughter of a poor family, with neither knowledge nor power, and in poor health. He said: “Mary chose her to transmit her message of conversion, prayer and penance, which fully accord with the words of Jesus: ‘What you have hidden from the wise and understanding, you have revealed to babes’. When the ‘beautiful

           

Helping hand: Year 7 students with their Year 1 buddies saying the Rosary around the Grotto. Photos: PR ovided

Left: st Lawrence Primary school principal Marg Williams with students having prayed and meditated on two decades of the Rosary with Years 1, 3, 5 and 6 attending. Right: Mark Laundy (unseen) and Christine Kelly present Archbishop h ickey with the Rosary Bouquet. Photos: PR ovided

Clockwise from left: Loreto Year 7 students with their Year 1 buddies pray the Rosary; Willeton students gather for the Rosary; Good shepherd Primary school students hold up plastic balls to make a human set of Rosary beads. Photos: PR ovided

lady’

revealed her name to Bernadette - ‘I am the Immaculate Conception’she disclosed the extraordinary grace that she has received from God. Mary is the woman from this earth who gave herself totally to God, and who received the privilege of giving human life to His eternal Son. She is beauty transfigured, the image of the new humanity. By presenting herself in this way, in utter dependence upon God, Mary expresses in reality an attitude of total freedom, based upon the full recognition of her true dignity. This privilege concerns us too, for it discloses to us our own dignity as men and women, admittedly marked by sin, but saved in hope, a hope which allows us to face our daily life.” -CNA

the Nation New

Papal honours for Perth trio for work in the name of Christ

Continued from page 1

-aged lay formation in Christian leadership for teachers and principals and protected and fostered the Catholicity of our education system. At national level he served as chairman of the national Catholic education Commission and in more recent years as Vice Chancellor of the University of notre Dame in Fremantle, Broome and, “in record time”, Sydney.

“His awesome contribution at all levels of education, primary, secondary and tertiary, including the theological education of our seminarians, has moved the Holy Father to honour Peter with the Papal Knighthood of membership of the Order of St Gregory, whose insignia and documents of admission I gladly present to him now with my heartfelt congratulations,” the Archbishop said.

Dr Tannock said that he was surprised to receive the prestigious award, and that he has loved his work for the Church over a long period of time.

Mr and Mrs Cullity received their Papal Honours at St Thomas More College on September 14. Archbishop Hickey said that for many years, the Church in Perth and beyond has been edified by the commitment of Denis and Ann Cullity to the betterment of society, as a direct expression of their love for Jesus Christ and His Church. The couple were also presented with membership of the Order of the Knights of St Gregory the Great, prestigous awards that are given by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI.

“I could read out a long list of causes, charities and education projects they have supported, but I know I would never have a complete list,” the Archbishop said of the Cullitys’ efforts for the Church and society.

The Archbishop, who presented the awards to the Cullitys on the Feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross – the victory of Christ through His death and resurrection

– said that the redemption Jesus won for us is the inspiration for those who follow Him to bring His Good news to the world, “not only to the Church but to every sector of human activity”. “In this, Christ is revealed as a light to the world through those who carry his flame of love and practical assistance,” the Archbishop said, adding that the spirit of the call to mission is made clear in Vatican II”s Gaudium et Spes – the Church in the Modern world.

“The Church’s voice has been heard by Denis and Ann in their sense of mission,” he said. “I know that at least during the period when Denis was a member of the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council he kept a copy of John Paul II’s encyclical on Social Justice, Centessimus Annus, in his pocket to dip into on his travels.

“For accepting the mission of the people of God in the world so effectively and fully, I thank God that their work has been acknowledged suitably by the Papal Award to both husband and wife.”

New rector for St Charles

Continued from page1

Fr Long, 54, has been rector of St Thomas More College in Crawley, adjacent to the University of wA, for eight years and has taught St Charles Seminary students since the University of notre Dame Australia’s Fremantle campus was founded through an Act of Parliament in December 1989.

He has also taught Redemptoris Mater Seminary students since that missionary seminary of the neocatechumenal way was established in 1994 as they did their studies at UnDA also.

“I teach mostly Church history, which I love, and I am looking forward to moving to the seminary,” Fr Long told The Record. An intellectual, Fr Long has a MPhil from

Dublin, a PhD from UwA and a BTheol from Melbourne.

Archbishop Barry Hickey said Fr Long brings to the role his leadership qualities, his love of the priesthood, his belief in the value of study and good liturgical preparation for aspiring candidates for the priesthood, a deep spirituality and an “in the deep end” experience of young university students. The Archbishop said that as an exCarolingian, Fr Hughes has good memories and a love for the seminary, which has been evident over his three years there as rector, “despite some very difficult problems he has had to face”. “we wish him a good rest after he leaves and God’s blessings on his future ministry,” Archbishop Hickey said.

n By Robert Hinii

A new wave of revamping and conserving cathedrals that has swept across Australia was the motivation behind a colloquium held in Darwin recently.

with dioceses in Perth, Hobart, Broome and Darwin restructuring, renovating and reordering their Cathedrals, the August 7 event was aimed squarely at providing useful resources and discussion about Cathedrals.

The theme of the colloquium was ‘The Cathedral: a living church at the heart of the diocese’ with architects, liturgists, cathedral rectors and diocesan property officers taking part.

Participants talked about the history and tradition of Catholic cathedrals, the many roles and functions of cathedral today, the cathedral church according to Church documents, the contemporary spatial arrangement of cathedrals, the contributions of art and technology in cathedrals, and future challenges for cathedral architecture and liturgy.

Professor Romaldo Giurgola, the architect of Parliament House in Canberra and St Patrick’s Cathedral at Parramatta, gave a

the parish the nation the world

dinner speech on ‘Prayer and Celebration in the Cathedral’. The colloquium was of special importance for the Diocese’ of Broome and Darwin who convened the event. The Diocese of Broome is preparing to erect a new cathedral while the Diocese of Darwin has commenced a program of conservation, completion and liturgical reordering works in its cathedral.

There were also presentations on cathedral projects, including the completed St Patrick’s Cathedral at Parramatta and the work currently under way at St Mary’s Cathedral in Hobart.

Fifty people participated in a setting that was intentionally conversational, to ensure that all participants could share their knowledge, insights and experience, as well as benefiting from the expertise of those who gave presentations on the different topics.

Fr Peter williams, executive Officer of the national Liturgical Council, expressed the hope of many participants that the event be the beginning of a forum for ongoing conversation between liturgists, architects and those who commission their services for the design of cathedrals and churches, for the good of Catholic communities in dioceses across the country.

You are invited to a Seminar

OUR SEARCH FOR THE LOST MYSTERY OF THE EUCHARIST WITH

FR FRANK ANDERSEN MSC

Friday 26th September 2008

9.30 am - 12.30 pm

[Concluding with Lunch]

Nestor Hall

Catholic Education Centre

50 Ruislip Street Leederville

To register: crwasec@highgate-perthcatholic.org.au

Ph: 9422

7919 Fax: 9328 2833 or maranatha@ceo.wa.edu.au

Ph: 6380 5160

Registrations close Monday 22nd September ’08

Cost: $5.00

Sponsored by CRWA & Maranatha

In talks: Darwin Bishop Eugene Hurley, Prof. Romaldo Giurgola and Broome Bishop Christopher Saunders at the colloquium P H oto S ?????

Big day: Prof. Michael Quinlan and Dr Peter tannock with Archbishop Barry Hickey after he presented the former UNDA Vice Chancellor with the award.

P H oto: A RCHD io CESE of P ER t H

Vista Demographic Winter’s INCONVENIENT TRUTH

Are we looking at the decline of the human family?

n by Natalie Thomas

If you believe that overpopulation and its effects on the Earth’s environment is the biggest problem facing our world be prepared for a shock. Demographic Winter: the decline of the human family is a newly released documentary film set to shake up the way the world’s population concerns have been portrayed over the last forty years.

After analysing the demographic, social and economic data of the last century, and its correlating projections, an increasing number of the world’s leading demographers, economists, sociologists, psychologists, parliamentarians and diplomats, religious and non-religious alike and including at least one Nobel Prize-winning economist, have come to agreement that we are on the cusp of a ‘Demographic Winter’, a worldwide decline in birthrates and family structure that has already begun to cause global social, political and economic problems.

It is a problem more imminent than global warming and climate change, and its effects will be confounded for each new generation unless humanity takes action now.

The ‘Overpopulation Problem’

In 1968 Paul Ehrlich, an expert in butterflies, wrote a book entitled The Population Bomb. The book became a best-seller, causing widespread belief - verging on hysteria in some quarters - that in the 1970’s and 1980’s the world would become overpopulated, causing mass starvation due to a lack of resources.

Whilst his predictions have not come to pass, his claims that the world is overpopulated to the point of outstripping resources has been carried into the consciousness of many people who have in turn perpetuated numerous myths to combat the ‘overpopulation problem’, and who have used ‘overpopulation’ as the basis for supporting their agendas.

Now, if looking at the example of starving children in Ethiopia, you are thinking at this point that Ehrlich was right, perhaps reflect on the fact that it is a lack of property rights that is the main cause of famine, not overpopulation.

Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and North Korea, for example, all experienced massive famine when property rights were abolished. When people are not given access to property they have no access to water, livestock, subsistent farming and resources that they can use to trade for other resources that they need and they then cannot break into the world economy.

Another inconvenient truth is that only a small percentage of the world’s population consumes the majority of the world’s resources. Perhaps the problem is not overpopulation, but overconsumption, greed and an inability or unwillingness to share resources. Maybe the question we need to ask ourselves is how much of the world’s resources do we unnecessarily consume or waste every day?

The population topic is a heated one. There are many issues that are affected by it, such as reproductive rights, family rights, children’s rights, the rights of the elderly, eugenics, euthanasia, gay rights, the world economy, political strategies, educational

Continued overleaf

UN numbers paint a frightening picture of continent’s future as population decline begins to bite

Europe faces slippery slope of its own making: aging societies with nowhere to go except downwards.

n By Philip Longman

Today, most European countries have already passed a demographic tipping point that virtually assures not only rapid population aging, but also absolute population decline.

In Spain for example, the cohort now in its infancy (ages 0-4) is more than 42 per cent smaller than the cohort now in its prime reproduction year (ages 30-34).

What will happen when this tiny younger generation reaches adulthood?

In order to replace all members of the previous generation, each female would have to bear close to four children, as compared to the average 1.15 children produced by their mothers.

Since this hardly seems likely without an extraordinary transformation in both cultural values and the economic cost of children, Spain is all but fated to decline rapidly throughout at least the first half of this century….

According to demographer Massimo Livi-Bacci, never in the past... has Europe’s ability to renew and sustain its population been more compromised by a dwindling supply of youth.

The United Nations projects that Europe as a whole will lose 3.2 million in population between 2000 and 2005.

In the following ten years, the population will decline by more than 11.3 million.

After 2025, population loss continues compounding. Even assuming a 33 per cent increase in fertility rates over today’s levels the UN projects a loss of 28 million Europeans in the 2040s.

If European fertility rates remain unchanged, the only European countries that will avoid population

Continued from Vista 1 philosophies, immigration issues, the status of first, second and third world countries and the impact on the environment. Thus, no matter what this film says it is bound to get a passionate reaction of some sort. So, what does it say?

Demographic Winter: the decline of the human family (part 1)

Demographic Winter explores the economic and social consequences of family decline and plummeting birthrates worldwide over the last forty years. Whilst the film’s editing is problematic, its main points are worthy of note.

The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) refers to the number of children a woman can expect to bear during her reproductive lifetime. The replacement level TFR is 2.1. This is the rate needed to maintain population equilibrium, where the population is neither growing nor declining.

Fifety-nine nations, with 44 per cent of the world’s population are below replacement level. Europe has a TFR of 1.3. The European Union estimates that by 2030 it will have a shortfall of 20 million workers. Even in this age of technology there are still concerns as to who will work in the factories, farms, offices and develop natural resources. Russia’s TFR is 1.17. Russia is losing 700,000 people per year and

loss by 2050, according to UN projections are France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Luxembourg, and even these countries will face rapidly aging populations.

Without an increase in its fertility rate, France’s working-age population (15-64) will decline by more than 9 per cent by 2050, while its elderly population will increase by 79 per cent.

The financial implications are staggering. In Europe there are currently 35 people of pensionable age for every 100 people of working age. By 2050, on present demographic trends, there will be 75 pensioners for every 100 workers.

In Spain and Italy the ratio of pensioners to workers is projected to be one to one. Since in most major European countries pensions are financed out of current revenues, tax rates will have to soar if benefits are not cut.

The Deutsche Bank calculates that average workers in Germany are already paying around 29 per cent of their wages into the state pension pot, while the figure in Italy is close to 33 per cent.

The social implications are also staggering. By mid-century, if current trends continue, Europe will be a society in which most adults have few biological relatives...

Europe doesn’t face the prospect of gradual population decline; it faces the prospect of rapid and compounding loss of population unless birth rates soon turn upward.

Like population growth, population decline operates on a geometric curve that compounds with each generation.

If Europe’s current fertility rate of about 1.5 births per woman persists until 2020, this will result in 88 million fewer Europeans by the end of the century.

To adopt a somewhat poignant metaphor: If Europe were a woman, her biological clock would be rapidly running down. It is not too late to adopt more children, but they won’t look like her.

Excerpted from the book by Philip Longman - The Empty Cradle: How falling birthrates threaten world prosperity and what

now regards the issue of population as the most important facing the nation. There are grave concerns as to the future of its manpower and national defence.

The United Nations originally estimated that by 2050 the world’s population will reach 11.5 billion. However in 2002, in light of the declining birthrates in both developed and developing countries, it reviewed its world population projections to be 8.9 billion in 2050.

Whilst some argue this is a positive, its effects will not be so joyous.

Although the population is set to increase, if current birthrates continue their trend, by 2050 there will be 248 million children less than there are today, leaving an increasingly aging population, where the number of people over 65 years of age outnumbers people aged 15 or below. Who will care for this greying population?

As a large portion of the world’s population ages and enters retirement the workforce will shrink. Every affected nation’s medical and social security system depends for its existence on taxpayer money.

To counter the diminishing workforce states will be forced to raise taxes meaning increased financial pressure on workers, or significantly reduced medical and social security benefits which will affect everyone, including the elderly, those with serious health problems, the

unemployed, the disabled and their carers, single parents and families. Living standards will decrease, and societal co-operation will decrease. Will euthanasia be so voluntary?

The University of Chicago’s Dr Gary Becker, who won the 1992 Nobel Prize for Economics, also explains that population growth and demand is the engine of economic growth.

The constant decline in birthrates will stunt the growth of national economies.

As the consumer population decreases, production and product advancement will decrease due to a lack of demand and economies will follow.

Also, as the baby boom generation hits retirement and their spending peaks in 2009, the stockmarket will slow.

It will then continue to slow due to declining birthrates over the last 40 years, as it did with the Nikkei Dow in Japan.

Is Immigration the answer?

In a bid to subvert population decline and its consequences, developed nations have increased levels of immigration. This may be a necessity for developed countries, but there are concerns about its effects on developing nations.

As the young and skilled members of developing nations migrate to developed countries, their own

educated, skilled and trained labour force dwindles. As a result, their labour productivity falls along with the momentum of their economic productivity. Effectively, poorer countries are bailing out richer countries at their own expense, at a time when they need their economy to increase the most.

Added to this, as their younger population moves out, their population also begins to age, and children, whose fathers leave their families to work in developed countries are raised without their fathers, compounding social problems. Immigration may be good for developed countries but it is costing developing countries their future.

Causes of the Demographic Winter

Political economist Dr Nicholas Eberstadt explains that the number one cause of population growth is not the incessant breeding of the human species during the Baby Boom.

Rather, it is the advancement in science and medicine and the increase in health conditions that has stopped people dying like flies. But even despite these advances, Demographic Winter identifies why the birthrate is still falling.

While finances and lack of support play a role in people’s attitudes toward reproduction, it is actual-

ly not the major cause of declining fertility rates. It is something more deeply embedded. The Sexual Revolution has significantly changed the developed world’s attitudes to sex, marriage and children.

The aim of the Sexual Revolution was to open up the way for people to be sexually active without consequence, without future responsibility and without the need for the lifetime commitment of ‘patriarchal’ marriage. Contraception and abortion played a key role in this.

Today, however, it is clear that future generations are paying the price for this ‘liberation’. The wide-

The future? The computer-generated image of the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl above deserted cities and nations, once considered the stuff of science fiction, are now being discussed consequences are staggering. Social and economic systems based on societies where the

Russia’s Day of Family, Love and Fidelity

Population decline is already here - or about to hit.

In July, the Melbourne-based FamilyEdge e-magazine reported that Russian authorities are showing some creativity about arresting the phenomenon which former KGB officer and Russian President Vladimir Putin recently described as the number one issue confrontin the nation.

On July 7 the country celebrated its first Day of Family, Love and Fidelity as a national holiday.

In a Moscow park a Bench of Reconciliation was inaugurated - a romantic device with a back shaped like angel wings and a curved seat that encourages couples to slide closer together and work out their differences.

The intention is that parents not only have children but provide those children with two-parent, stable family lives.

Financial incentives to procreate have also been offered. Last year, as president, Vladimir Putin declared

2008 the Year of the Family. However, a good idea was taken too far when a new holiday called Family Contact Day, on September 12, encouraged Russians to stay home and engage in marital intimacy in the hope of producing children on Russia Day - June 12.

One report also notes some resulting abuses, such as induced births and caesareans to meet the target date.

This month’s new holiday coincides with the Russian Orthodox saints’ day of Fevronia and Pytor.

According to tradition, Fevronia saved Pytor from disease in exchange for the promise of marriage, and they stayed together until they died on the same day.

In Orthodoxy they are viewed as the prime example of a happy marriage.

By contrast, Russia today has very high divorce rates, which, together with lowered life expectancy among men, leaves many children without fathers at home.

The country’s population of 141 million is expected to fall by 667,000 people this year as deaths outnumber births.

By 2050, it is estimated the nation will have lost one third of its population.

spread use and promotion of contraception and abortion has led to a subconscious belief that children are not a gift to help further the world but a burden on parents, society and the environment.

Happiness is seen to come from career, romance, travel and personal growth, not from commitment, monogamy and obligation to others. Happiness is about living for oneself.

These values have transferred to future generations, despite feeling that the previous generation has failed them. As a result, people have delayed children to pursue their

careers and hobbies. Unstable sexual relationships have led to a delay in marriage and children.

Cohabitation rates have increased and in this less stable relationship people are having fewer children at a later age, if at all. Single motherhood has increased dramatically.

The focus on self-gratification, immediate happiness, avoidance of responsibility and desire for absolute freedom has been carried into marriages, leading to a rise in nofault divorce.

With this possibility in mind people are reducing the number of children they have in case of the worst. Also, children from divorced marriages are having fewer children later in life when they feel more secure, or having no children for fear they will also have a failed marriage.

Can it be reversed?

Developed countries around the world are not only experiencing a decline in birthrates and economic strain, they are also experiencing a decline in family quality and thus life quality and social quality.

People are the backbone of any society and the family is the backbone of every person. Family is the basis of human capital, social capital and moral capital. The Demographic Winter documentary explores how restoration of the family is the best hope to combat the looming demo-

graphic winter. Meanwhile, child psychologists and sociologists are beginning to understand that marriage and family matters to the development of children.

Evidence is mounting to prove that a child thrives first and foremost when they experience their mother and father together in a relationship of solid permanent mutual love, support and co-operation.

In the stable environment of marriage, children have a strong sense of purpose, happiness, identity, commitment, generosity and confidence to be prepared to contribute to society, engage in the modern economy, and have children.

As one expert interviewed during the documentary says: “On every indicator that has ever been used, the intact family based on marriage comes out far ahead of all the other alternatives.”

Children raised outside the stable marital environment, such as cohabitation, divorce and single parenthood are much more likely to experience attention problems, poverty, neglect, abuse, depression and suicide.

In grappling with their interior problems they are on the backfoot in preparation to engage in the modern economy, societal life and ill-equipped for marriage and family life.

The sustainable development of any nation depends upon strong marriages. Such marriages are the

key to raising stable children who will be the backbone to a societies life quality and economics. If we are to weather the impending demographic winter and its consequences, governments, interest groups and individuals must value and support strong marriages and strong families. In essence, attitudes must change. For those who have used overpopulation and an anti-marriage mentality as the basis for pushing their agendas it is time to re-evaluate, or they risk impeding the task of addressing the consequences of the demographic winter and wasting opportunities for its solution. It is up to us to take action now to help our current 0-40 year olds and future generations stem the tide and reverse the course of the Demographic Winter.

Where Australia stands

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that in 2001 the Australian TFR reached its record low at 1.73. It has somewhat stabilised in recent years at 1.81. (see graph left)

Australia is below replacement levels, and has been since 1976 as increasing numbers of women chose to delay or forego having children and contraception and abortion rates increased. Australia is among the middle-ranked nations in TFR.

Australia currently has a relative-

ly positive age structure, with only 13 per cent of Australia’s population over retirement age, and 20 per cent of the population aged 15 years or below.

Our birth rate is twice that of deaths, keeping our rates of ‘natural increase’ somewhat healthy. Our Numbers of Migration are increasing. Since 2001 divorce rates have been decreasing and marriage rates have been increasing, but 76.1 per cent of registered marriages include cohabitation prior to marriage.

The Australian Population Projection shows that if the TFR continues its current trend the population of Australia will grow to 33 million, but the population will be significantly aging.

By 2044, deaths will outnumber births. By 2051 26 per cent of the population will be at retirement age and only 16 per cent will be aged 15 or below.

In 2006 67 per cent of births were nuptial. This number is decreasing. 23 per cent of births were ex-nuptial. This is increasing.

Under these projections, Australia is doing better than other countries, but is still not far from the repercussions of Demographic Winter unless it changes its attitude toward marriage, family and children.

Natalie Thomas, a graduate of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family Studies in Melbourne, is the founding Manager of The Record Bookshop.

is what an increasing numbers of demographers and other experts are projecting: European and other societies where childbirth has become an increasing rarity and populations begin to rapidly age.

discussed as not just possible, but unavoidable without a radical re-thinking of the way we have developed. If what is predicted as the future for

the majority of members are beyond working age simply break down. What happens next?

Cracks begin to emerge in the population control consensus

When the leading advocates of reproductive choice cannot agree, things begin to look interesting.

n By Carolyn Moynihan

JOSEPH Chamie, a former director of the United Nations Population Division now working in migration research in New York, is worried.

According to a recent article, he finds himself caught in the abortion bind: on the one hand he supports a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion; on the other, he opposes the growing practice of choosing to abort a child (usually a girl) because it is the wrong sex.

Actually, he writes about this dilemma in the third person plural, but it is clear that he is one of the “many people” wrestling with it.

The problem as he describes it is less a moral one than a demographic one: in the world’s two largest countries, China and India, the ratio of boys to girls at birth is badly skewed and there is a growing gender gap.

Abortion, embraced by their governments as an instrument of population control, has in the past two decades joined hands with the ultrasound machine to open up some scary scenarios.

In another decade or so there could be as many as 35 million “surplus” males in China and 25 million in India.

Unable to find brides of their own age, says Chamie, many may look in younger age groups, “allowing the re-emergence of customs like child brides and marriage promises”; they may try to import brides from distant regions; the trafficking of women, prostitution and bride kidnapping may increase, and gangs are likely to

Europeans begin their decline in just seven years

WHILE some experts and officials harp on about the population explosion in the developing world, a problem is developing on their own back doorstep which is usually downplayed.

Recently, the International Helrald Tribune reported, for the first time the European Union conceded just how close the region is to demographic decline.

A report from Eurostat, the official number cruncher, warns that in a mere seven years, deaths will begin to exceed births in Europe as a result of low fertility.

Germany would lose its status as Europe’s most populous nation but several East European nations would experience a sharp drop in numbers, with populations shrinking by a quarter or more. Ireland would be one of the few countries with significant population growth.

Adding immigration at the current level would stave off population decline until around 2035.

The EU’s population would grow from the present level of 495 million to 521, but then fall back to 506 million in 2060.

gender with them, and although some Western countries have specific bans on sex-selection abortions for social reasons, most have already conceded so much ground to “reproductive rights” that it is difficult to see how they can withstand this new pressure, which comes not only from immigrants.

Just recently, a New Zealand government committee has recommended allowing sex selection by parents using in vitro fertilisation technology - to “balance their family”.

Freedom to abort a child is something Chamie supports in the interests of balancing the world’s population - although he knows very well how much compulsion surrounds abortion, especially in China.

But freedom to choose the sex of children is something he clearly does not support because, whatever it might do for individual families, it unbalances the population, with far-reaching consequences.

Both China and India have outlawed sex-selection abortions and Chamie clearly believes this is the correct line of action, even if the laws are widely flouted. He would like a consensus on this point.

But he is evidently not going to get it. Pro-choice feminists, who have carried the flag for abortion, and nowhere more than at the UN, will not accept any limits on “a woman’s right to choose”.

They say that son-preferenceon which the gender gap is blamed, although it could more justly be blamed on population control itself - must be corrected through public education campaigns.

(Something for the bloated standing armies of China to do in the 2010s and 2020s?)

Earlier this month the czar of the World Health Organisation’s HIV/AIDS department, Kevin de Cock, announced that the WHO no longer believes there will be a heterosexual epidemic of the disease outside of sub-Saharan Africa.

As many people have always thought, and as some experts have insisted, AIDS is largely a disease of men who have sex with mena fact, says Dr de Cock, that has been badly neglected in the developing world, and masked in the developed world by general public health campaigns, including safer sex lessons for schoolchildren.

This may be an inconvenient truth for AIDS activists who wish to protect homosexual lifestyles from criticism, but those actually at risk from HIV/AIDS have nothing to lose and much to gain from a more soundly based, independent stance by UNAIDS - if, indeed, the UN needs to be involved at all in epidemics that are localised and call for specific solutions.

AIDS is part of the fallout, the cruellest, of the sexual revolution set in motion by the birth control, or population control, movement.

Misguided and dishonest campaigns to manipulate fertility and deal with epidemics such as AIDS will no doubt continue.

But new winds of realism blowing through the ranks indicate that they will not have it all their own way, and that more thoughtful approaches to the world’s problems may prevail.

Carolyn Moynihan is deputy editor of MercatorNet.

generate other types of crime and disorder.

“The trends could even lead to the build-up of large militias to provide a safety valve for the frustrations of numerous bach-

elors.” And how would they let off steam?

Moreover, problems have a way of spreading in a globalised world. Asian immigrants abroad bring their ideas about family size and

By then, the United States population would have grown from the current 301 million to 468 million.

Of course, these are only projections, but the implications are a stark warning.

At present, there are four persons of working age for every person aged 65 or over, says Eurostat.

In 2060, the ratio is expected to be two to one. The burden of pensions and healthcare for an expanding older population will be economic and political problems.

immigration may be an option, but at present it is unpopular with Europeans.

Most low fertility countries are trying to encourage more births, but economists tend to be afraid of the impact of an increasing young population needing services right at the time when older citizens are draining the public purse.

It looks as though meddling with fertility, as most governments have done, was not a good idea after all. - FamilyEdg E

Chamie thinks this is pie in the sky, and that economic development, education and equal employment opportunities for men and women is more likely to be effective.

But even that will not happen as fast as concerted action to stop sex-selection abortions.

Do we see here a significant crack opening up in the pro-choice facade that has made population control respectable during the last two to three decades?

If demographers and feminists cannot agree about reproductive choice, how will the former justify their efforts to manage the world’s population in future?

And which of the two will governments listen to? There is another reason for the population control movement to rethink its strategies, if not its goals.

A new book by Columbia University history professor Matthew Connelly documentsprobably for the first time in mainstream academic publishing - the arrogant and coercive nature of the movement that arose from distaste for brown and yellow skinned people and alarm over their growing numbers in the mid-20th century.

Connelly seems to think those days are over and that the net gain from 60 years of interfering with other people’s fertility is, yes, reproductive choice.

Whether he is right about that is a matter of opinion, but his book, Fatal Misconception, stands as a major rebuke to the movement and another sign that it cannot count on the old consensus to throw a veil over dubious and inhumane tactics.

Interestingly enough, something similar may be happening in the AIDS establishment.

Baby Boomers’ retirement has ‘dire consequences’

IN July, the ABC reported that Australian industry groups are now warning of dire consequences unless the Federal Government adopts a population policy by 2013.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has decided to lead the way in developing a policy to cope with the mass exodus from the work force as baby boomers retire.

The Victorian Employers Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s Andrew Rimington told the national broadcaster that there will be a 20 per cent drop in aged workers by 2020.

He said current fertility and migration rates will not make up the loss.

“The impacts of a shrinking available work force will be a negative impact on industry and productivity, lower participation rates, it will impact on our gross domestic product and standards of living,” he said.

Mr Rimington said the government must act quickly to ward off a significant drop in productivity post-2030.

“Presently, per year the workforce grows by about 180,000 people and within just a 12-year period for the whole decade of 2020 to 2030 that will drop to 18,000 per year and that gives a proportion of the problem that we face.”

Increased

Eery: The 2006 movie Children of Men is set in a childless future. In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child’s birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.

Road to unity is tough without Christian roots

Without the moral vision of its founding fathers the new Europe is a hollow and fragile achievement.

THE warfare that has just flared over Georgia, like the war in the former Jugoslavia leading to the creation of several separate states, is a reminder that the road to a completely united Europe is a rocky and uncertain one.

At the same time such conflicts throw into relief an important fact about the Europe that is, so far, united: for more than 50 years there has been peace among its member states, a peace that is unprecedented in European history.

The ruins of the Second World War cried out for peace and the need to prevent this kind of disaster from ever happening again.

Europe had been the scene of warfare for centuries, but the world wars of the twentieth century - the first such in the history of mankind - saw the greatest accumulation of atrocities that had ever taken place.

The divisions caused by nationalism and the people’s longing for hegemony through the ideologies of national socialism, fascism and communism during the Second World War and later had shaken Europe to its foundations.

Europe had to be cleansed and cured deeply, so as to avoid a repetition of those major conflagrations, and any warfare whatsoever among its nations.

It should no longer be national interests that governed Europe, but a common identity that would bind the nations together.

The founding fathers wanted a union at the service of man and his transcendent being. But is this still the case?

“The general law of love and mercy - which could be considered the foundation of our social relations in the Christian world - turned each person into our brother.”

An additional motive in this was the fact that Europe had lost practically all its colonies and therewith its position of dominance in the world.

In that sense Europe as a whole and not only Germany had lost the war.

America was now the great leader, followed by Japan as it recovered quickly from World War II, and the Soviet Union, which had built up an empire with its many satellite states.

Europe also needed to recover fast so as neither to fall prey to communism nor to give Germany a chance to regain strength and start a third world war.

The financial support to rebuild the economy offered by the United States with the Marshall Plan brought relief and made Europe’s recuperation and unification possible.

The nations had to unite their interests into common European interests under a common European structure.

The unification of Europe was reasonable, obligatory, necessary, possible and a unique opportunity in history. But what would be the sources of this new European identity?

The Christian heritage

The founding fathers of European unification - Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer, Alcide de Gasperi and Jean Monnet - saw the Christian heritage, including the great impulses of the Enlightenment, at the core of this identity and as the inspiration for cooperation, interdependence and achievement of peace and security.

This is clearly reflected in the following words of Schuman in his book, Pour l’Europe. Schuman wrote that it was “Christianity that taught us that all people were equal in their

essence. “That the general law of love and mercy - which could be considered the foundation of our social relations in the Christian world - turned each person into our brother. And that it was this law and its practical consequences that changed the world completely.”

Commenting on this, Pierre Pfimlin, the last Prime Minister of the fifth Republic of France and President of the European Parliament from 1984-1987, observed that Schuman’s motives for political action were of a spiritual kind.

He recalled that it was one of the characteristics of Christianity to conquer egoism and it implied that nations needed to conquer their national egoisms and come to a united effort, to take care of the common good and to attain common welfare.

Pflimlin saw Schuman as a realist who worked towards and kept his eyes fixed on his ideals.

An economic giant with a fatal weakness

Next to the search for a common identity based on common history there was a tendency towards the acquisition of economic power, which can be regarded the first requirement for political power.

This aspect has emerged as the leading principle of European unification over the last few decades.

The introduction of the euro as common currency demonstrates that Europe sees itself primarily as an economic and monetary entity.

These days Europe is proud of its status as an “economic giant” and is working to get rid of its image of “political dwarf”.

It has achieved a period of more than fifty years of peace among its member states; it is in the process of constantly widening and deepening its integration among (new) member states.

Economic, social and political unification in a well-defined juridical framework were regarded by the founding fathers as necessary means to achieve this union of states at the service of its citizens - but not the ultimate goal.

Their main goal was a society at the service of human dignity based on its Christian roots.

And yet, at the hour of its economic success, Europe seems empty because of its lack of spiritual strength, a strength that is steadily being sapped, and with it the ethical character of Europe.

The technical aspects of prosperity are presented as the principal means for the citizen’s well being, while concern for man’s dignity and spiritual development is reduced to a focus on what is technically useful.

In short, I believe we can say that Europe seems to have things upside down: economic means have become the economic and political goals. At the same time they are

presented as the means to foster human dignity, but a human dignity without intrinsic Christian roots.

Christianity values man for who he is and not only for what he does.

Europe therefore needs to give new life to its identity, its spiritual pillar for unification based on its common history, and not settle for being just an economically powerful union of states without identity.

If not, once the economy turns down, it will disintegrate and be in an even more feeble state than it was after the Second World War; it will not have the spiritual strength of its common identity anymore, having cut itself off from its roots in Christianity.

Learning from the founding fathers

The founding fathers of Europe were men of both rationality and faith. Schuman, Adenauer, de Gasperi and Monnet were driven by circumstances to give shape to their rational insights and faith in launching a project that had an unforeseeable impact on history. Jean Monnet came up with a project of cooperation between allies and enemy, a step-by-step integration. First of all, there must be co-operation between France and Germany, so as to end their centuries of conflict over Alsace-Lorraine, a region rich in coal and steel. Other European countries could then join this agreement. He suggested that the governance of this cooperation should be under a High Authority, an organ that governed beyond national interests.

“Much is achieved in Europe for the material benefit of mankind, but what about man’s dignity as a creature of God, to which everything should be geared?”

Monnet also foresaw co-operation in other economic and also political fields. The first European organisation, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) became a reality soon followed by the legal body, the European Court of Justice, which nowadays considers all kinds of conflicts regarding issues of European integration. The founding fathers wanted a union at the service of man and his transcendent being.

But is this still the case? Much is achieved in Europe for the material benefit of mankind, but what about man’s dignity as a creature of God, to which everything should be geared?

Peace, prosperity, but what of human dignity?

Peace and security, prosperity and wellbeing are proper to the European Union. There

has been no war among its member states since its birth on the 9th of May 1951.

Since then the step-by-step functional integration among member states has taken place.

The internal market became a reality and was even more facilitated by the introduction of the euro as the common currency of most member states.

The enlargement of the Union from six at the beginning - France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg - to 27 in 2007 seems to guarantee even more its peace and prosperity.

Next to economic welfare, political unity remains a major goal. National interests decrease steadily now that European common policies are co-deciding more than half of national governmental policies.

It causes protests, but the advantages of membership outweigh those “inconveniences” in the shorter or longer term.

The European citizen feels ever more European as is evidenced by the way in which he moves across borders, communicates and works with fellow Europeans.

He is less bound to his national roots as he grows up in an ever more European environment. Educational programs across the borders and cultural and social exchange programs foster this attitude.

The question is, however, to what extent the new Europe may affect the individual citizen’s happiness.

According to the original ideal of the union, it is the citizen who is at the centre of its interests.

These days, however, it seems that economic interests determine the Union’s policies.

The union gives and provides, but does it contribute to the development of the individual’s human dignity?

The economy is booming and many citizens enjoy the enormous benefits that a sound economy brings.

At the same time there is the knowledge that economic welfare is not the whole story of man’s existence.

People, nevertheless, are trapped by a world that is led by the economy and dominated by consumerism, materialism, superficiality, individualism, inequality, and an increase of violence, terrorism, use of drugs and alcohol.

The economy seems to be man’s friend but it also shows itself to be his enemy.

It is only when the market is geared to man’s transcendent dignity that true economic success can become a reality and thereby foster solidarity and equality among men, peoples and nations.

European integration therefore needs to be accompanied by continuing thought and discussion about the moral and religious roots of European citizens and their common identity.

Dr Margriet Krijtenburg is a Lecturer in Spanish & Core Course on Europe in the Academy of European Studies, University of the Hague, the Netherlands.

Sketchy past, sketchy future: A promotional poster for the 2006 movie Children of Men, set in a childless future in 2027. Dr Margriet Krijtenburg argues that a Europe centred on the material benefit of mankind without any recognition of man’s dignity as a creature of God is doomed to fail.

Billings liberates Chinese women

Billings has made a remarkable breakthrough into China, where the government’s one-child policy is destroying the country, and has had an immediate liberating impact on its teachers. Jo Bell, a Senior Accredited Teacher of the Billings Ovulation Method with Billings LIFE WA, tells of her experience.

DOCTORS John and Lyn Billings were first invited to China in 1986.

Over the next two decades they made many visits, conducting teacher training seminars and setting up a teaching network throughout most of the countries’ provinces.

By 1995, after conducting independent trials, the Chinese government announced that the BOM (Billings Ovulation Method) is a reliable method and an acceptable option for the people of China.

This was great news for the women of China, who had been enduring the IUD (intrauterine device) and abortion as their main methods of birth control under a strict one child policy.

Books could be written about their experiences, and of those of the experienced Australian BOM teachers who accompanied them, usually two on each trip.

I felt incredibly excited and privileged when I was invited to join them to assist with conducting training seminars in China and Korea in 1999.

Marie Marshall from Melbourne and our interpreter, Grace Chan from Hong Kong, made up the rest of the team.

The China program was conducted on the top floor of a hotel in Shanghi, with a spectacular but smoggy view of the city.

Rice gruel and steamed dumplings for breakfast, banquets daily, green tea constantly on tap… all the colorful sights, sounds and smells of Asia were a little familiar to me from five years of living in Korea in the 1970s. But China has its own flavour.

Our trainees were mostly women doctors, gynaecologists and family planning officers from large workplaces which employed many women.

They came in on the first day looking serious and a little anxious about what these foreigners might have to teach them.

However, as the five-day program progressed, their faces relaxed, and they became quite excited about what they were learning.

They were impressed by the scientific knowledge, but most of all they found it liberating and affirming as women, wives and mothers.

In the final session we heard testimonies which confirmed what we read in their smiling faces - that they were keen to take this liberating method to their patients and clients.

There was fun and laughter and songs were sung - it was really quite hard to say goodbye.

Some weeks after returning home, I received an aerogram (air letter) from one of the doctors, in which she thanked us profusely for bringing this method to Shanghi.

She said that for the first time since her one son was born, 14 years ago, she was

Abortion killing off African Americans

Pro-lifer says abortion is leading cause of death in black community in the United States.

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNS) - As she held an umbrella to protect her from the blazing sun, Beverly Anderson clutched her Rosary beads and prayed on the sidewalk near an abortion clinic on Duke Street in Alexandria June 21.

She was joined by about 15 others who prayed for an end to abortion. It’s something she does every week.

However, for her as a black woman June has been particularly poignant because it is abortion awareness month in the black community.

For the last seven years the New Yorkbased National Black Catholic Apostolate for Life, headed by Franciscan Father James Goode, has declared June to be “Abortion and All Acts of Violence Awareness Month in the African-American Community.”

“Abortion is the leading cause of death in the black community,” said Anderson. “People are not aware of that.”

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s abortion surveillance report, 35 per cent of abortions in the United States are performed on AfricanAmerican women, who make up 12 per cent of the US population.

Since the legalisation of abortion in 1973, more than 14 million black children have been aborted.

“Being a black woman I have to be a witness,” Anderson told the Arlington Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Diocese of Arlington.

While she prays to stop any woman from having an abortion, she hopes that her presence may cause a black woman contemplating abortion to think twice.

“That’s the generation we need,” said

Anderson, a parishioner of St Joseph Church in Alexandria, where Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde celebrated Mass on June 21 before joining the group to pray.

“If we can’t respect life in the beginning, there is no life to defend at any other stage,” the bishop said during his homily.

Every month the bishop celebrates a respect-for-life Mass at a different parish in the diocese and prays with pro-lifers outside an abortion clinic.

“All of us, whatever our nationality or ethnicity, we must remain committed to upholding life from conception to natural death,” the bishop said to a small congregation that gathered for the Mass.

He called upon them to be “heralds of life and defenders of life,” to build a “new culture of life because that is who we are, a people of life and for life.”

While June is abortion awareness month in the black community, it is necessary to foster awareness year-round, said Day Gardner, director and founder of the National Black Pro-Life Union. “This should be personal for all of us,” she said.

The founder of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Margaret Sanger, supported sterilisation and said that it should be “imposed on many people, especially African-Americans,” said Gardner.

Sanger was a staunch advocate of birth control and eugenics.

Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States, “is continuing to limit the number of African-Americans even to this day,” said Gardner.

“It’s a true crisis... that there are more African-American babies being aborted than born,” said Sister Clare Hunter, a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist and director of the Arlington diocesan Respect Life Office. She was at the Mass and the abortion clinic.

“There’s a real need to minister to these families. This should concern everybody,” she said.

feeling secure in her understanding of her fertility, and was able to enjoy her marriage relationship without fear of pregnancy.

She concluded by saying that there must be a God who has given us this great wisdom, and sent us to bring it to the Chinese people.

We were so careful not to mention God

or religion in the seminars. As Dr John said in his concluding address: “Doctors want people to be healthy and happy.

“It is a joy and privilege for us that we have been able to offer this method to the people of China.”

It was certainly a joy and privilege for me to have taken part in this one seminar.

‘Treasure the family at all costs’

‘The family is a treasure, care for it,’ archbishop tells Catholics of Costa Rica.

SAN JOSé (CNA) - Archbishop Hugo Barrantes of San Jose in Costa Rica exhorted the more than 100,000 Catholics gathered for a pro-life march to care for the family, “the primary and fundamental cell of society” and “the first school of virtues,” against certain anti-family and anti-marriage laws in the country.

On August 31 at the Cathedral of San Jose, where he celebrated a Mass at the conclusion of the pro-family march, the archbishop underscored that “the family is one of the most precious gifts God has given humanity. We are convinced that there is no alternative to the family. The family is the first school of virtues that all societies need.”

In pointing out that there are some “who think they can be happy without God, that they can change and improve the world without God,” Archbishop Barrantes stressed that “without God, the family

falls apart and society crumbles.” He also touched on marriage, saying that it is not “the tale of Alice in Wonderland. Those who get married should remember that there is no success going downhill, nor true happiness at a cheap price. Spouses should pray frequently before the cross. They should pray for the grace and strength that come from the cross, they should put themselves under the protection of the cross and they should follow Christ on the way of the cross.”

Archbishop Barrantes then turned to the five new bills that threaten the family, which attack the definition of marriage being between one man and one woman, and threaten the freedom of parents to choose the kind of education they want for their children. Catholic legislators must reject these measures, he said urging that discussions about the measures be conducted to ensure that “the voice of Catholics is heard, within the context of the rule of law.” After encouraging spouses to renew their promises of love and fidelity, Archbishop Barrantes said “the great revolution in favour of the family” should begin with “living matrimonial holiness”.

Liberating: Trainees show their enthusiasm at the end of the Seminar for doctors in Shanghi, 1999. PhoTo: Cour T e S y Jo Bell

Essential unity: Pope Benedict XVI greets a newly married couple during a general audience at the Vatican. PhoTo: CNS

Political correctness drives medicos mad

A new oath for doctors:

the customer is always right, as political correctness drives ethical doctors to despair.

Conscientious objection is becoming harder and harder for doctors in the United States, Canada and Britain. A storm erupted not long ago when a Columbia University psychiatrist wrote that “My profession has been hijacked. I cannot do my job, my patients are suffering, and I am fed up.”

She was upset with the stringent political correctness in her profession, which dictated that she avoid being judgmental of her patients’ sexual practices. When they experienced problems due to their promiscuous behaviour, she could only repeat, “Make sure you’re protected.”

Today, medical professions on both sides of the Atlantic are hardening this political correctness into an official code of conduct.

Canadian doctors are starting to feel the heat in the nation’s largest province, where the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) has introduced a draft policy advising doctors that “there will be times when it may be necessary for physicians to set aside their personal beliefs” in providing services, and that decisions to restrict their practice “based on moral or religious belief may… constitute professional misconduct”. In other words, there may be times when doctors are called upon to violate their conscience for the good of the patient.

What’s happening here is a wholesale overhaul of the physician’s role in society.

A strange concept, but it gets stranger still: the CPSO policy also states that doctors “should not express personal judgments about the beliefs, lifestyle, identity, or characteristics” of their patients. Not express “personal judgments” even about a patient’s lifestyle?

It may have always been part of the doctor’s role, but now it’s no longer acceptable for doctors to make us uncomfortable about our actions.

We don’t want to hear about the dangers of promiscuous sexual behaviour or the benefits of teen abstinence; still less do we want doctors to “preach” about the negative effects women often experience from abortion (or, gasp, about the humanity of the fetus).

And least of all do we want doctors discouraging lesbians from artificial insemination, or young people from sex change operations.

Ontario is not alone. The General Medical Council in Britain introduced a similar policy in March.

The GMC also says it expects doctors “to be prepared to set aside their personal beliefs where this is necessary in order to provide care”.

And while British doctors are not being silenced altogether, they had better speak very carefully: “You must not express to your patients your personal beliefs, including political, religious or moral beliefs, in ways that exploit their vulnerability or that are likely to cause them distress”, and “You should not normally discuss your beliefs with patients unless those beliefs are directly relevant to the patient’s care.

“You must not impose your beliefs on patients, or cause distress by the inappropriate or insensitive expression of religious, political or other beliefs or views.”

The GMC’s possible interpretation of terminology like “inappropriate” and “insensitive” should be enough to place any doctor in fear of losing his license if he doesn’t leave his tongue at the door.

What’s happening here is a wholesale overhaul of the physician’s role in society, for familiar reasons: to eliminate any possible criticism of the ideological agenda that has cloaked sexual relationships and settled over the central institutions of marriage and the family.

In the United States, doctors may not be afforded even the dubious “protection” of official codes of conduct like those in

Ontario and Britain; they may simply be required to close their eyes and do the deed.

This is what the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled this month in a shocking decision, where it found that a California doctor couldn’t refuse to artificially inseminate a lesbian on the basis of religious objections, even though other doctors were available to perform the procedure. The Court said: “Do the rights of religious freedom and free speech, as guaranteed in both the federal and the California Constitutions, exempt a medical clinic’s physicians from complying with the California Unruh Civil Rights Act’s prohibition against discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation? Our answer is no.”

The California Court repeatedly relied in its decision on a 2004 case where it had ordered Catholic Charities to provide their employees with insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives, although this violated their religious beliefs.

Catholics are often in the firing line in these debates, because their hierarchy has tenaciously held to its disapproval of artificial contraception and abortion.

Although many Catholic doctors and pharmacists do not agree with their Church and many others are willing to compromise Catholic teaching, a growing number in the United States have been “conscientious objectors”.

Is this just dogmatic obstinacy? No, it is that the Catholic Church has developed, over the centuries, a coherent view of professional morals and a humane understanding of a physician’s role, much like the ancient Hippocratic tradition.

Pope John Paul II viewed medicine “more as a mission than as ordinary work,” and even called it “a commitment which, in its nobility, usefulness and ideality, is very close to the priest’s vocation”. He compared the doctor to a priest...

The Catholic understanding of the physician’s role is a holistic one.

Since the body and soul are not viewed as independent but as joined, the doctor is not healing only the body, but also has a certain responsibility to help in the spiritual healing of the patient.

Moreover, it is also recognised that actions done by individuals don’t occur in a vacuum but affect society; as a result, the doctor has a responsibility beyond the individual patient, to society and its common good – and beyond that still, like every Christian, to the ultimate Truth that is God himself.

It would thus be inconceivable for a doctor to divorce his ethics from his practice of medicine. Here’s how the Pope described the doctor’s calling in 2000:

“You have firsthand experience that in your profession medical care and technical services are not enough, even if provided with exemplary professionalism… The sick must be helped to regain not only their physical health, but also psychological and moral well being,” he said.

“This presupposes that the doctor, in addition to his professional skill, also has an attitude of loving concern inspired by the Gospel image of the Good Samaritan.

“With every suffering person, the Catholic doctor is called to bear witness to those higher values which have their firmest foundation in faith.”

It’s no surprise that the revamped face of the medical profession will be challenging for doctors who want to be consistent with pro-life convictions.

But it should ring alarm bells for all doctors whose faith and morals inform their daily working lives.

Physicians are now expected to carry out their patients’ wishes without being handicapped by moral hand-wringing.

Medical associations seem to believe the time has come to toss the Hippocratic Oath and its “never do harm” into the dustbin of history.

In an era of tolerance and individual autonomy, the emerging creed is “the customer is always right.”

Lea Singh graduated from Harvard Law School in 2003. She works for a nonprofit organisation in Ottawa, Canada. She writes here for Mercatornet

‘No fertility crisis’ in Australia, and we can take 40 million: Commission

While the onset of Europe’s decline seems imminent, it seems Australia has staved off similar trouble - for now.

AUSTRALIA seems to have recovered from a period of declining birth rates and the government has no need to encourage couples to have more children, according to the country’s Productivity Commission.

More babies were born in Australia last year than in any other year - more than 285,000 - bringing the country’s birth rate to around 1.93, its highest level since the early 1980s.

In a report issued this week the commission says Australia’s fertility rate may have stabilised at 1.75 to 1.9 babies per woman.

“Overall, Australia appears to be in a safe zone of fertility, despite fertility levels being below replacement levels,” it says, adding, “There is no fertility crisis.”

As the country’s birth rate declined to 1.73 in 2001 there were fears about a smaller workforce with a burgeoning older population to support.

In 2004, the government introduced a baby bonus, a one-off payment that now stands at $5000, and other family welfare measures including tax benefits have been introduced.

The stated intention was not to boost fertility but to provide support for families, and the Productivity Commission says they have had only a “modest” affect on fertility rates anyway.

Other important factors are:

l Good economic times and more parttime jobs, making it easier for women to leave and re-enter the job market;

l More flexible work arrangements allowing women to combine work and childrearing.

But the biggest factor in the baby boom,

says the commission, is “recuperation”delayed childbearing by women in their 30s.

But there is also an “anticipation” effect from women having babies sooner because of good economic times, and a “quantum” effect from some simply having more than the average birth rate would have predicted.

Today’s young women are saying they expect to have more babies over their lifetime.

They would have to have a lot more than almost two each, of course, to prevent the continued ageing of the population - which results not only from lower fertility but from longer lifespans - and the commission takes the view that Australia should not even try to do this.

Its message is that fertility is quite high enough and that any further increase would have minimal effects on population ageing but may hurt the economy.

It would do this by shifting women out of the workforce, thus depressing the labour supply and reducing the taxation base, and by costing the government more in family support and other services.

On the other hand, immigration can be expected to compensate for below replacement fertility.

But whether Australia is “fertile enough now, thank you” depends on philosophy and values more than on economic calculations.

The commission, for example, talks about “ultimate limits to population growth” in Australia.

It certainly believes the government should have a fertility policy, but this would be geared to a “target population” of, say, 40 million.

The commission is soon to deliver a report on whether the nation should adopt paid maternity leave; it will be interesting to see how it handles this issue.

Genuine concern: A doctor examines a child’s eyes as the mother looks on. Leah Singh argues that doctors who have the patients’ best interests at heart are being suffocated by political correctness which has engulfed the medical profession.

Photo: CNS

Perspectives

Happiness: truth, beauty and goodness

Life is not just a succession of events or experiences…

It is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this… that we find happiness and joy.

- Pope Benedict XVI

What a man most often means, of course, when he judges that X is “correct” and Y is “good” is, in fact, that X agrees with him, and that Y is like him in some way. That is, that X and Y do just what he would do when confronted by a relevantly similar set of facts or circumstances.

Being Heard

By John Heard

Similarly, when someone says a man writes “beautifully” they often mean just that he writes better than they do, or in the manner and style that they prefer.

We have such a muddled sense of things now. When challenged to explain, for instance, why we find some thing “good” - or “true”, or “beautiful” - we often retreat to a funny sort of solipsism: “It is good for me”, or “I know it is true, whatever anyone else might say”.

What to make of such statements?

Certainly, we do not accept them in other contexts. Unverifiable claims about the natural world, for instance, are typically rejected.

If someone told you she knew the moon was made out of cheese, you would be quick to suggest she were mistaken. The statement, “that is how the moon is for me, whatever anyone else might say” simply wouldn’t count as useful information about what the moon is really like.

Why do we think there is a difference between these two sorts of contexts?

In the past, of course, one might have appealed to an objective standard to root one’s aesthetic, or moral judgements too.

Appealing to some known, external understanding of value, one might have spoken of the truth encountered in some great work of literature, the beauty of a revelatory painting, and the sense of awe produced by some particularly good piece of music.

These statements would have encouraged the use of terms like “high”, “elevated”, “superior”, and “fine”, terms that were immediately contrasted with their antonyms: “low”, “base”, “inferior”, and “coarse”.

In this way, no one would have doubted a man was onto something if he used the former terms to describe the musical achievement of Mozart, for instance, while he would have come in for something like the incredulity the woman who knows about the moon might still encounter if he made less defensible claims about

Thank Paul VI for joys of life

Ithe superiority, say, of some rank amateur’s attempts to “improve” on Mozart’s most difficult work.

Great literature, further, was great because – in part – it was better than “low” journalism (for instance), and it was valued for being true. It contained the sorts of qualities that people could agree generally belonged to “high” art, understood as an encounter that changed a person for the better, that brought him into contact with the sublime.

There was a solid belief in the power of art and other things to improve man’s moral outlook, and to school him in virtue.

These sorts of ideas are, if known at all today, roundly rejected in most places. How can art, which is so hard to define and so often subverted, make a man any better?

People cannot even decide whether or not famous works are “good”, or “beautiful”, and there seems to be such a wide divergence in cultural attitudes to certain objects and modes of expression that it would be simply naïve, if not arrogant, to set apart one sort of thing as “true”, while ignoring or belittling other things.

This way of thinking is, however, the fruit of relativism, and relativism is - we are told - a new sort of totalitarianism. Pope Benedict XVI, indeed, has warned that such thinking builds:

…a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognise anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one’s own ego and desires.

Christians, he claims, “have a different goal: the Son of God, the true man.” Speaking in Sydney, earlier this year, he therefore told young people not to be:

…fooled by those who see you as just another consumer in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth.

We are called, in this way then, to a robust re-statement of value.

To battle the dictatorship of the mind that threatens man’s happiness, we must seek after truth, beauty, and goodness, and we must have the courage to leave those terms free of quotation marks.

Only in this way, the Holy Father teaches, will we make the right decisions, and exercise sound judgement; ever more closely approximating the beauty that is man’s true nature, a mirror of the superlative goodness of God.

John Heard is a Melbourne writer. emaildreadnought@gmail.com

t was a privilege to be asked some weeks ago to provide an article based on my reflections about Humanae Vitae by our esteemed editor. Unfortunately, virtually the same day as the editor’s phone call came, so did the flu.

With five children going down like dominoes and then generously handing on their germs to me, we have just had five weeks of life in the raw.

And there, of course, in my first reflective moments, having finally got the children back to school and in between coughs and splutters of my own, is the crux of the matter.

This is what Humanae Vitae means to me personally - missing being part of that lovely recent edition of The Record celebrating life and the 40th anniversary of the issuing of this significant and prophetic encyclical.

Choosing to embrace and live out the teachings so explicity reenunciated in that document, it means living the reality of true family life and embracing its ups and downs, including not having time to knock together 1500 words about the joys of marriage and family life because you are living through one of the downs.

It is Humanae Vitae that has taught me vividly that the Catholicism is not a philosophy, it is a way of life – these are not just words on a page, they are a way of living out actively God’s word in every aspect of our life.

Human life in its messy diversity, its inconvenience, its burdens, sorrows, pains and sufferings, is yet our glory.

God Himself became one of us

with Catherine Parish

to show us this, that every breath we take is of eternal significance, from our first to our last.

It is embracing the difficulties and surmounting the obstacles, accepting the sacrifices required to be faithful and obedient to God’s teaching, that shows we love.

God Himself became a man to show us that we don’t always understand God’s design for us, but we have to have the faith and the humility to let Him work his designs in and through us without always knowing why, or what the end will be.

Not that we have to be little browbeaten automatons.

On the contrary, we are asked by Him to bring every ounce of our free will, our intelligence, our understanding, our love – to bring everything we have, in short - to co-operating fully, and without placing human limit, with Him in the act of creating and nurturing human life.

It is a challenge thrown out to us, to say yes when you want to say no, requiring all your courage and then some, sometimes.

And we can feel vindicated now, after 40 years, with the knowledge of what a prophetic document Humanae Vitae proved to be.

Having children might have its burdens and tragedies, but so in such greater degree does avoid-

ing having them. Pope Paul VI, with the uncanny prescience of so many Papal documents, was right on the money with his predictions of what would happen if we ignored God’s law written on every human heart.

It makes very interesting reading in the light of our current social ills.

The Pope succinctly and precisely predicts the human fallout from the separation of sex from love inherent in the use of artificial contraception.

He pinpoints so much of the social breakdown we are now struggling to deal with - rampant divorce, promiscuity, lowered moral standards, sexual objectification and exploitation of the vulnerable (especially women), forced limitation of families by some governments.

Broken families, broken lives, broken hearts.

And this vigorous, unpredictable, uproarious, mad phenomenon called family life is not all burdens and suffering.

Making a cup of coffee to help me think out this one, I rejoiced to be able to say (after the scream of disgust) “Why is there a Boobah’s head stuck in my coffee cup?”

And not only because it meant my children were finally back to their frisky old selves again.

Without our espousal as a married couple of the teachings in Humanae Vitae that question would never have been asked, for the perpetrator of that particular act would probably not be here.

What joys we would have missed.

-timp61@bigpond.com

Drifting away from fulfilment

Irecall seeing a cartoon several years ago depicting a young boy earnestly peering into the hospital crib of his baby brother who had only just been delivered. “Quick, tell me, before you forget,” he said desperately, “What does God look like!”

I say I say

By Mark Reidy

It is an image that came to mind when I recently came across a copy of The Practice of the Presence of God, a compilation of the letters and conversations of Brother Lawrence, a lay 17th Century French Carmelite. This unassuming and uneducated man endeavoured to make every moment of his life an opportunity to become more intimate with his Creator.

I related the two only by the extremes of human existence that they portray - the opposing notions of a life spent moving away from God and one spent drawing closer to Him.

The cartoon implies that once our spirit becomes embodied, our perception of God dims throughout our lifetime, whereas the message of this simple Brother, who spent his last 50 years behind Priory walls as a kitchen hand and sandal repairer, suggests that

we can draw closer to God in every circumstance, whether it be in joy or suffering.

Can they both be right? I believe they can and are. We are living in a culture where more and more people can identify with the cartoon, where they can no longer recognise God within the context of their own lives.

They are frantically searching for a deeper meaning, but with the plethora of opportunity that society offers, God has become lost in the mayhem.

The pursuit of self-gratification that is being blatantly promoted reduces Him to just another option on the smorgasbord table.

This focus on self steers one away from the truth and simplicity that was embraced by Brother Lawrence who first recognised God’s great love and abundance while gazing at a barren tree during the depths of winter. He was infused with the understanding of God’s unfailing grace and providence. Just as life still abided in this tree, so too did God continually abide in him, no matter the circumstance.

From that point on he endeavoured to engage in perpetual conversation with God.

Such personal intimacy allowed every detail of his life to become a moment of extraordinary value.

Whether he was on his knees in worship, being criticised by others or simply cooking a cake, he was able to offer them in love to his Heavenly Father.

Despite the multitude of choices that this world has to offer, in essence, there are only two. Every single moment in our lives, no matter how mundane or trivial, provides us with an opportunity to either draw closer or drift further from God. Brother Lawrence chose to weave every aspect of his life into this relationship. It was a choice that ensured that his image of God did not fade over his lifetime but became clearer with each moment. Initially it was not an easy task, he had admitted, and had taken years of disciplining his mind, actively recalling it whenever it wandered. “This proved to be an exercise frequently painful,” he once said, “Yet I persisted through all difficulties.”

Eventually he understood that everything he received was from God and therefore everything he gave was a gift in return. It was a relationship of mutual love that transcended any emotional or physical reality. God was not a part of his life. God was his life.

It is a path that each of us has the option to walk, but it is one that we must consciously choose.

If we opt to follow our natural propensity to self-gratify or allow ourselves to become lost in the business of life and its false promises, then our relationship with God will inevitably wither.

If we choose, however, to abide in Him, then He has made a promise to us that He too, will abide in us.

kids bitz

colouring activities

St Anthony (Padua)

There is perhaps no more loved and admired saint in the Catholic Church than Saint Anthony of Padua, a Doctor of the Church. Though his work was in Italy, he was born in Portugal. He first joined the Augustinian Order and then left it and joined the Franciscan Order in 1221, when he was 26 years old. The reason he became a Franciscan was because of the death of the five Franciscan protomartyrs - St Bernard, St Peter, St Otho, St Accursius, and St Adjutus -- who shed their blood for the Catholic Faith in the year 1220, in Morocco, in North Africa, and whose headless and mutilated bodies had been brought to St Anthony’s monastery on their way back for burial. St Anthony became a Franciscan in the hope of shedding his own blood and becoming a martyr. He lived only ten years after joining the Franciscan Order.

zuppa di sant’ antonio (soup for st anthony’s day)

Ingredients:

4 eggs

3 Tbsp flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder oil for deep frying

8 cups chicken broth

1 cup chopped spinach

Parmesan cheese

Method:

Whip eggs, flour, salt and baking powder into a very thin dough. With a teaspoon slowly drop little balls of batter into the hot oil. When the drops are goldern brown, drain on absorbent paper.

Boil chicken broth, add dough balls and chopped spinach and let them cook for five minutes.

Serve soup with grated parmesan cheese.

Serves 8-10 persons

A feast of spiritual and culinary delights! Over 170 recipes from 21 countries. Richly illustrated with colour photos of saints and dishes including inspiring short biographies of 73 saints. Available by order from The Record Bookshop (08) 9227 7080

kids pics

Haylee

available from the re Cord b ookshop $7.95

jokes

A child came home from Sunday School and told his mother that he had learned a new song about a cross-eyed bear named Gladly. It took his mother a while before she realised that the hymn was really “Gladly The Cross I’d Bear,”

One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?” The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug.

“I can’t dear,” she said. “I have to sleep in Daddy’s room.” A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: “The big sissy.”

A S h ORT hi STORY OF M edicine: “Doctor, I have an ear ache.”

2000 BC - “Here, eat this root.”

1000 BC - “That root is heathen, say this prayer.”

1850 AD - “That prayer is superstition, drink this potion.”

1940 AD - “That potion is snake oil, swallow this pill.”

1985 AD - “That pill is ineffective, take this antibiotic.”

2000 AD - “That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root!”

Wh Y do we have a leap year (as in

this year) and why is it in February?

The issue of leap year and the weirdness of February is always worth looking at because, coming so infrequently, who can remember the explanation for it from the last time?

The earth revolves around the sun every 365.24 days, not an even 365. That produces an extra day’s worth of hours every four years. We could distribute them as a bonus to everyone--a one-day time-out every fourth year in which the clock is stopped and we stay in bed all day. But we don’t. Instead we add an extra day onto February.

Why February? It was originally the last month on the Roman calendar and a logical place to stick the extra day. But Julius Caesar changed the first month to January, stranding February and its little peculiarity in the second spot.

hOW did the telephones get married ?

In a double ring ceremony !

Wh Y did the child study in the aeroplane ?

He wanted a higher education !

Wh Y was the broom late ? It over swept !

dO you know the time ?

No, we haven’t met yet !

Wh AT runs but never walks ? Water !

hOW do you make milk shake ? Give it a good scare !

Wh ATS red and flies and wobbles at the same time ?

A jelly copter !

Te Ache R: You aren’t paying attention to me. Are you having trouble hearing ?

Pupil: No, teacher I’m having trouble listening !

Joseph

Olivia

Yohann

The MOST unique c AT h O lic c OO k BOO k eve R ! happy Birthday! Elijah Edmonds, our birthday boy, will be turning 4 on september 23rd, 2008.

Panorama

A roundup of events in the Archdiocese

Panorama entries must be in by 12pm Monday.

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

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

Sunday September 21

SCHOOL AND PARISH FETE

9am to 2pm at St Jerome’s School, Corner Troode Street and Rockingham Road, Munster; lots of stalls, rides, hot food, refreshments and much more. The auction begins at 1pm. Come along and enjoy a fun day! Enq: Helena 0410 466 074.

Sunday September 21

TRIDUUM TO ST PIO

7pm at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Lockridge, important biography of St Pio read by Father Hong. Who is St Pio by Jean Noel, Message works Eternity by Nick De Luca, His work and loyalty to God by Julia Nicolias. Editor Introduction. Rosary. 8pm Mass and 8.45pm Blessed Sacrament.

Monday September 22

TRIDUUM TO ST PIO

7pm at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Lockridge. The three loves of St Pio read by Father Hong, How the Forgiones raised a saint by Jean Noel, Love at the foot of the cross by Julia Nicolias, How he could embrace sufferings by Nuccia De Luca, His wounds spoke of Gods love. 8pm Mass, 8.45pm Blessed Sacrament.

Tuesday September 23

TRIDDUM TO ST PIO

7pm at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Lockridge, The house for the relief of Suffering read by Nick de Luca, The stigmata’s. 7.30pm Rosary followed by Mass Procession. Refreshments in Father Dan Foley Centre. Please bring a plate.

Tuesday September 23

CREATING A LOVING AND RESILIENT FAMILY

7.30pm St Benedict’s Parish, Corner Canning Highway and Ardross Street, Ardross; Presented by Murray Graham (M.Ed.). Resilience is the ability to bounce back when tough things happen, the spirituality complementing the psychology. For parents and grandparents. Tea and coffee provided, followed by discussions. All welcome. Enq; Maree 9315 1207.

Thursday September 25

MOTHERS PRAYERS’ MASS

10am at Our Lady Queen of Apostles Catholic Church, 53 Tudor Avenue, Riverton; this is a wonderful and necessary opportunity for God to hear and act upon the hearts and minds of mothers and grandmothers joining together to pray for their children as one here on earth. Fathers and grandfathers welcome. Bring plate, tea and coffee provided. Enq: Veronica 9447 0671.

Friday September 26

M ED j UGOR j E E VENING OF P RAYER

7pm to 9pm at St Gerard’s Parish, Changton Way, Mirrabooka; a prayer with Our Lady Queen of Peace, will commence with Adoration, Rosary, and Benediction ending with Holy Mass. All welcome. Free DVD on Medjugorje. Enq: Eileen 9402 2480.

Saturday September 27

VIDEO /DVD NIGHT

After the 6.30pm Vigil Mass, at St Joseph’s Church, 20 Hamilton Street, Bassendean. DVD on St Margaret Mary Alacoque and The Sacred Heart. Come learn more about the Catholic faith, the saints and conversion stories, etc. Enq: 9379 2691.

Tuesday September 30

DAY OF REFLECTION

10.30am Rosary Cenacle at Chapel of Villa Terenzio, Cabrini Road, Marangaroo, followed by Holy Mass and talks. Concluding 2pm. Celebrant and speaker Fr Sharbell, Franciscans of the Immaculate. BYO lunch to share, tea and coffee provided. Enq: 9341 8082.

Monday September 29

DIVINE MERCY PILGRIMAGE TO GINGIN-

CHITTERING FEAST OF THE ARCHANGELS

11.30am lunch BYO at Gingin; 12.30pm Holy Rosary and Way of the Cross - with Pilgrim Cross. 1.30pm depart to the Divine Mercy Shrine for 2pm Holy Mass, followed by Divine Mercy Devotions and Benediction. 3.30pm Tea.

4.30pm return. Divine Mercy Prayer Groups welcome. Transport: Francis 9459 3873 or 0404 893 877. Enq: Sheila 9575 4023 or Fr Paul 9571 1839.

Tuesday September 30 to Thursday October 2

POST WYD TEENAGE CONFERENCE

10am-10pm at St Norbert College, Queens Park; all the fun you can pack into 3 days. Be entertained, inspired, motivated and moved with huge games, live bands, daily workshops, dynamic youth speakers and heaps more. Visit www.activ8.org.au, http://www.activ8.org.au or 08 9445 3700.

Wednesday October 1

THE OLD AQUINIANS ASSOCIATION

Members are invited to the Annual General Meeting to be held at Aquinas College, Mary Elliot Rice Room at 6.30pm. Enq: Bob 9284 1660.

Friday October 3

THE ALLIANCE, TRIUMPH AND REIGN OF THE UNITED SACRED HEART OF j ESUS AND I MMACULATE HEART OF MARY

5.15pm at St Bernadette’s Church, Glendalough; Confessions, 5.45pm Mass, followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, hourly Rosaries, hymns and reflections etc throughout the night. Vigil concludes with midnight Mass in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Enq: Fr Doug Harris 9444 6131 or Dorothy 9342 5845.

Friday October 3

HOLY HOUR FOR VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

7pm at the Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, 2 Rawlins Street, Glendalough, Holy Mass, celebrant Fr Saminedi, 7.30pm Holy Hour Adoration with Fr Don Kettle. All welcome. Refreshments provided. Enq: Des 6278 1540.

Saturday October 4

DAY WITH MARY

9am to 5pm at Sacred Heart Church, Corner Ovens Road and Discovery Drive, Thornlie. 9am a Video on Fatima. Day of prayer and instruction based upon the Fatima message. Reconciliation, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons on Eucharist and Our Lady, Rosaries, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Stations of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enq: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.

Sunday October 5

DIVINE MERCY

1.30pm at St Joachim’s Church, Shepparton Road and Harper Street, Victoria Park, an afternoon with Jesus and Mary, Holy Rosary and Reconciliation. Sermon on Saint Faustina, by Fr Nicholas Pereira, followed by Divine Mercy prayers and Benediction. Refreshments, followed by video/DVD, on The Power of the Holy Rosary, Part 4 by Fr John Corapi. Enq: John 9457 7771 or Linda 9275 6608.

Tuesday October 7 SEVENTH ANNUAL NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF THE MIRACLES

5.30pm at St Luke’s Parish, 2 Parkside Ramble, Woodvale, Novena continues for nine consecutive Tuesdays. Private petitions welcome. Novena booklets provided. Enq: 9409 2908.

Friday October 10 to Sunday October 12

POST WYD YOUNG ADULT CONFERENCE

7pm at Chisholm Catholic College, Bedford; the time has come to activ8! Learn more about how to activ8 youth ministry in your local community. Dynamic speakers covering topics such as, searching for answers, social justice, leadership development, youth resources, prayer experiences and more. Visit www.activ8.org.au, http:// www.activ8.org.au or 08 9422 7944.

Sunday October 12

ME j ELLAN 50TH ANNIVERSARY AND FAREWELL MASS

2pm at Redemptorist Monastery, North Perth. Followed by afternoon tea, Retreat House. One plate per car. All Majellans are welcome. Enq: Kath 9446 6514 or Leeola 9307 5990.

Sunday October 12

ALLEGRI CHAMBER ORCHESTRA ALL ITALIAN MUSIC PROGRAM

3pm at St Thomas Church, Claremont, Soloist will be noted organist Mario Duella, to give the premiere performance in WA of Respighi’s Suite for Organ and Strings, also Albinoni’s Adagio for Organ and Strings. Corelli, Rossini and Puccini works make up rest of program. Tickets available through BOCS or at the door. Enq: 9383 3747 or gail.owen15@bigpond.com

Wednesday October 15

TOUCH OF HEAVEN - ALAN AMES HEALING MASS

7pm at St Gerard Majella, Mirrabooka. Enq; Loreta 9444 4409.

Saturday October 25

CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE REUNION CELEBRATION

The Corpus Christi College class of 1988 invites students in the second stream of 1984 to 1988 to the 20th Anniversary Reunion Celebration at Tradewinds Hotel, Fremantle, commencing 6pm. Enq: Justine Rosevear -Tavani 9314 1454 or Vickie Loveridge by email: alan4vickie@bigpond.com

Sunday November 2

FUNDRAISING CONCERT FOR THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR

2pm at Little Sisters Community Hall, Rawlins Street, Glendalough, in the presence of Bishop Don Sproxton, come and enjoy your favourite sounds of music, afternoon tea and door prizes. Tickets are $10. All proceeds to the Little Sisters. Door sales, bookings welcome. Enq: Mary 9443 3963 or Angela 9275 2066.

April 13 - 27, 2009

THE ORDER OF ST PETER AND PAUL AND ST PIO PRAYER GROUP PILGRIMAGE TO MALTA AND ITALY

Honour the year of St Paul and resumation of St Pio. Itinerary is Perth, Malta, Messina, Palermo, Siracusa, Agrigento, San Giovanni, Rotondo, Lanciano, Assisi, Loreto, Padova, Milano and Perth. Spiritual Director- Fr Joseph Tran, Co-ordinator Nick De Luca. Enq: famdeluca@ optusnet.com.au or 9378 2684.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Jesuit Volunteers Australia calls for part time volunteers to respond to the needs of people in the community who live in marginalised circumstances. At the heart of this program is a reflective process, based on Gospel values, which underpins the work of the volunteers. Enq: Kevin 9316 3469 or kwringe@iinet.net.au, www.jss.org.au

j OSEPHITE-MARY MACKILLOP CALENDARS 2009

Special Edition Centenary year of Blessed Mary MacKillop’s death. The calendars will be available in October and if you would like to purchase a copy please ring Sr Maree 9334 0933.

Every Sunday

LATIN MASS KELMSCOTT

The Latin Mass according to the 1962 missal will be offered every Sunday at 2pm at the Good Shepherd Parish, 40-42 Streich Avenue, Kelmscott, with Rosary preceding. All welcome.

Every Sunday until November 30

THEOLOGY OF THE BODY - UNDERSTAND YOUR SEXUALITY, REALI S E YOUR DIGNITY AND DISCOVER YOURSELF

4pm at 67 Howe Street Osborne Park, commencing September 28. Free seminar. Presenters Disciples of

Jesus Catholic Covenant Community and Youth Ministry leaders. Find out what it means to be man or woman. Why we are called to live a life of purity and chastity. A must for 16-25 years group. Enq: Shannon 9444 1467 or 0429 421 149.

Every 4th Sunday of the Month

HOLY HOUR PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

2-3pm at Infant Jesus Church, Wellington Road, Morley, commencing 28 September, the hour includes exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Let us implore God to rain an abundance of new life into our Church, open our hearts and those of the young people of the world to hear His Word for us now, today. Prayer works! All welcome! Enq: 9276 8500.

Every Sunday

PILGRIM MASS

2pm at Shrine of Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Road, Bullsbrook; with Rosary and Benediction. Reconciliation is available in Italian and English. Anointing of the sick; second Sunday during Mass. Pilgrimage in honour of the Virgin; last Sunday of month. Side entrance and shrine open daily between 9am and 5pm. Enq: 9447 3292.

Third Sunday of the Month

MEDITATIVE PRAYER IN THE SPIRIT OF TAIZEINTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE

7pm-8pm at Sisters of St Joseph Chapel, 16 York Street, South Perth; come and join in praying together for peace throughout the world. You will be invited to light a candle as a symbol of peace. Bring your friends and a small torch. Everyone welcome. Enq: Sister Maree Riddler 0414 683 926.

Every Thursday until October 2

B E B APTIZED BY F IRE: T HE H OLY S PIRIT AND H IS A NOINTING

7.45pm, 450 Hay Street, Perth. CATHEDRAL PRAISE MEETING. A Free Seminar on the Power of the Holy Spirit. Oil. Water. Light. Cloud. Seal. Hand. Finger. Dove. Fire, and a mighty rushing Ruah! Presented by Flame Ministries International - Ph: 9382 36689.

Every Tuesday

NOVENA TO GOD THE FATHER

7.30pm St Joachim’s Parish Hall, Shepparton Road, Victoria Park; incorporating a Bible teaching, a Perpetual Novena to God the Father and Hymns. Light refreshments will follow. Bring a Bible and a friend. Enq: Jan 9323 8089.

Every Monday

ADORATION, RECONCILIATION AND MASS

7pm at St Thomas, corner Melville and College Roads, Claremont; Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament with Evening Prayer and Benediction, spend 40 minutes quietly before our Lord for the health, faith and safety of yourself and your loved ones; Reconciliation 7.30pm, Mass and Night Prayer 8pm. Come to all or part of this evening of prayer.

Every 1st Tuesday of the Month

H EALING M ASS

7.30pm at St Joachim’s Parish Hall, Shepparton Road, Victoria Park. Incorporating hymns, spiritual reflection and Novena to God the Father. Enq: Jan 9323 8089.

Every Sunday

MUSICIANS AND SINGERS

6pm at the Redemptorist Monastery Church, Vincent Street, North Perth; the Shalomites have been providing the music and singing for over thirty years. We are looking for new members particularly musicians. All interested singers and musicians are welcome. Enq: Stephen or Sheelagh 9339 0619.

P AN o RAMAS co NT .

Every 1st Sunday of Month

DIVINE MERCY

Commencing with the 3 o’clock Prayer at Santa Clara Parish, Bentley, followed by the Chaplet, reflection and Benediction. All friends and neighbouring parishes invited. Tea and coffee provided. Enq: Muriel 9458 2944.

Every Thursday

J O u RNEY Th RO ugh T h E B IB l E

7.30pm, Acts 2 College of Mission and Evangelisation, Osborne Park using The Bible Timeline; The Great Adventure can be studied towards accredited course or for interest. Resources provided. See http://www. acts2come.wa.edu.au/ or Jane 0401 692 690.

First Friday and First Saturday

COMM u NION OF R EPa R aTION - a ll N I gh T V I g I l Corpus Christi Church, Mosman Park, 47 Lochee Road. Starting with Mass at 7pm on Friday with Father Bogoni and concluding with Mass at midnight. Confessions, Rosaries, Prayers and silent Adoration every hour. Please join us for reparation to The Two Hearts according to the message of Our Lady of Fatima. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357.

First Friday of Each Month

CFC PR aYER a SSEMB lY

7.30pm at St Joachim Parish Hall, Shepperton Road, Victoria Park. The Couples For Christ and its Family Ministries welcome all members who now reside or are visiting Perth to join the community in its monthly general prayer assembly. Enq: Tony and Dolly Haber 9440 4540.

C a RETa KER CO u P l E NEEDED

For Catholic Church, Bindoon. Accommodation provided. Suit active pensioners. For details telephone 9571 1839 or 9576 0006.

a l-aN ON Fa MI lY gRO u PS

If a loved one’s drinking is worrying you – please call Al-Anon Family Groups, for confidential information, meetings etc. Call 9325 7528, 24 hours.

BOOK DON aTIONS Wa NTED

We urgently need donations of Altar Vessels, Catholic books, Bibles, Divine Office, Missals, Lectionaries, Sacramentaries etc. Telephone: (08) 9293 3092.

BUILDING TRADES

n BRICK RE-poINTING

Phone Nigel 9242 2952.

n pERRoTT pAINTING pT y LTD

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

n BRICKLAyING

20 years exp. Quality work. Ph 9405 7333 or 0409 296 598.

n pICASSo pAINTING

Top service. Phone 0419 915 836, fax 9345 0505.

RELIGIoUS pRoDUCTS

n oRDER oF SERVICE BooKLETS

For weddings, anniversaries, funerals, any occasion. Custom made personalised booklets. Quick turnaround time. Any quantity. Call Maurise, on 040 435 3831.

n GIFTS oF LoVE

Individually made to order, candles of your choice for baptisms, weddings, and other special occasions. Custom made rosary beads or choose from our exclusive range. Hand made leather bible and missal covers, religious statues, icons and other exclusive gifts of love. “The greatest of them is love” 1 Corinthians 13:13 Please e-mail giftsoflove@amnet.net.au Call Rose 0437 400 247 after 4pm

n CAThoLICS CoRNER

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

- Archbishop Hickey

22 City of Perth 2029 Vision Launch - Archbishop Hickey

22 & 23 Catholic Education Leadership Conference - Bishop Sproxton

23 Opening of Catechists’ Conference - Archbishop Hickey

26 Mercy Day Mass at Mercedes College - Archbishop Hickey

27 Candidacy for St Charles, Lynwood - Bishop Sproxton

28 Catenian Mass, St Joseph’s Subiaco - Archbishop Hickey

50th Anniversary Mass for Benedictine Oblates of New Norcia - Archbishop Hickey Feast of St Michael Mass and Procession, Highgate - Bishop Sproxton

mISSIoN mATTERS

Reflections on this Sunday’s Gospel; matthew 20:16

“…the last will be first, and the first, last…”

Our missionaries throughout the developing world work specifically to ensure that God’s love touches those that are ‘the last’; the ones that tend to miss out, those that are marginalised because of their ethnic background, or disability or disease, those from broken or no families, the very young and the very old… Are we not all called to do the same here in our own communities?

Call the Mission Office on 9422 7933 should you want to explore this idea further.

n RICh hARVEST – yoUR ChRISTIAN Shop

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

n ALL SAINTS hANDCRAFTED RoSARIES AND ChApLETS

View our current range of original Rosaries, chaplets and bracelets for all occasions. Custom orders in the beads and colour of your choice are welcome. Contact Elisa on 0421 020 462 or email allsaintscreations@iinet.net.au

n KINLAR VESTmENTS

‘Modern meets tradition.’ Quality hand-made & decorated. Vestments, altar cloths, banners. Vickii Smith Veness. 9402 8356 or 0409 114 093.

n oTTImo

Shop 108 TRINITY ARCADE (Terrace Level) Hay St, Perth Ph 9322 4520. Convenient city location for a good selection of Christian products/ gifts. We also have handbags, fashion accessories. Opening hours Monday-Friday 9am-6pm.

ThANKSGIVING

For a successful open heart surgery for my husband.

BooK REpAIRS

n REpAIR yoUR LITURGICAL

BooKS

General repairs to books, old bibles & missals. 2ndhand Catholic books avail. Tydewi Bindery 9293 3092.

hoLIDAy ACComoDATIoN

n mANDURAh

fully furnished, air conditioned two bedroom flat. 100m to Doddis Beach ring 08 9385 9732 or 0403 194 601.

n mANDURAh

Townhouse in Resort Complex. Fully furnished. Sleeps 6. Phone 0419 959 193 or email valma7@bigpond.com

EmpLoymENT

n CARETAKER/hANDymAN

For Catholic Church, Bindoon. Free Accom provided. Suit pensioner. For details telephone 9571 1839 or 9576 0006.

SETTLEmENTS

EFFECTIVE LEGAL, family owned law firm focusing on property settlements and wills. If you are buying, selling or investing in property, protect your family and your investment, contact us on (08) 9218 9177. hEALTh

n DEmENTIA REmISSIoN

Do you, or your loved one, suffer Dementia. Get into Dementia Remission like me! http://www. wgrey.com.au/dm/index.htm or (02) 9971 8093.

n oRGANIST

St Joseph’s, Subiaco is seeking an organist to play for Masses and other occasions. Lessons given if required. Please contact Michael Peters, Director of Music, on 041

the R ecoRd

prayin G to G ether as husband and wife

By Mike and Katy Morris

If you are married and both following Jesus then you have the privilege of sharing your spiritual journey together. This means supporting each other as you negotiate the ups and downs of life.

When undertaken honestly and openly, a life of shared prayer can bring phenomenal strength to a marriage, to a church, to a community.

$24.95 + postage

the role of the christian fa M ily in the M odern world

Familiaris Consortio apostolic exhortation of John paul ii

This broad-ranging document on the family is a guide for families and those who minister to them. It includes sections on the importance of the family, dangers faced by families, educational rights and responsibilities, pastoral care, morality and theology.

$13.95+postage

this is the M ass Special Souvenir Edition World Youth Day 08 forward by George cardinal pell

This Is The Mass is a new book which explains with lucid text and beautiful photographic images the Eucharist. It takes the reader step by step through the sacred liturgy from the introductory rites to the dismissal and recessional.

Bookshop

The 160 page book is published by The Catholic Weekly and has been more than 12 months in preparation and production. It features the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Pell, as the celebrant, with photography and design by the award winning Bob Armstrong.

$44.95 + postage

Mulieris

d i G nitate M:

On the Dignity and Vocation of Women

By John paul ii

This stunning apostolic letter is the elaboration on what John Paul II called ‘the feminine genius’. Taking from Scripture, the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the example of women throughout history, John Paul II goes beyond the stereotypes to the heart of what being a ‘woman made in the image and likeness of God’ means and thus the special mission this calls women to.

$2.50+postage

the catholic fa M ily hand B oo K

Time-tested techniques to help you stengthen your marriage and raise good kids

By lawrence G.

lovasik

This guide gives faithful Catholics all the essential ingredients of a stable and loving Catholic marriage and family - ingredients that are in danger of being lost in our turbulent age. Using Scripture and Church teachings in an easy to follow step-by-step format, Fr Lovasak helps you understand the role of Catholic parents and the blessings of having children.

h u M ane Vitae

Encyclical letter paul Vi Humanae Vitae (Latin “Of Human Life”) is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and promulgated on July 25, 1968. Subtitled “On the Regulation of Birth”, it re-affirms the traditional teaching of the Roman Catholic Church regarding abortion, contraception, and other issues pertaining to human life.

$3.50+postage

$24.95+postage

lord, hear our prayer Praying the general intercessions

By Gerard Moore

By explaining the history, theology and practice of the General Intercessions, also known as the Prayer of the faithdul, Gerard Moore enables readers to participate ever more fullly in this profound act of worship.

$14.95 + postage

Thursday or Friday 9am - 2.30pm on (08) 9227 7080 or via bookshop@therecord.com.au. 587 Newcastle St, West Perth.