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PRIEST who SHAMED the MAFIA
Sicilian priest Don Puglisi died because his faith was hated. But in assassinating the priest who was their implacable foe, the Mafia may well have shot itself in the foot. Soon, Fr Puglisi may be an official saint. - Pages 12-13
Pope urges Catholics to rediscover treasures of Vatican II to stay
Faithful to the truth
Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to celebrate Mass outside the Cathedral of St Peter the Apostle in Frascati, Italy, on July 15.
CHRISTIANS don’t preach what the powerful want to hear or what will please a crowd; “their criteria is truth and justice”, even if it garners no applause, Pope Benedict XVI said during an outdoor Mass. The Pope celebrated Mass on July 15 outside the Cathedral of St
Peter the Apostle in Frascati, about five miles from his summer villa at Castel Gandolfo. Bishop Raffaello Martinelli of Frascati had worked with the Pope at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, specialising in catechesis. Pope Benedict told
the estimated 8,000 people gathered in the square outside the cathedral that the bishop’s “voice is very much present” in the text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Pope asked Catholics to reread the Catechism and, particularly, the documents of the Second
Vatican Council as the Church prepares to celebrate in October the 50th anniversary of the opening of the council. “The council documents contain an enormous wealth for the formation of new generations of Christians, for the formation of
Journalist put child before treatment By John Jalsevac ONE DAY early in 2010, newlyweds Ignacio Cabezas and Barbara Castro Garcia were sitting in a café eating breakfast. The couple both had smiles on their faces that, in the words of Ignacio, were “impossible to erase”. After 11 years of dating, the couple had gotten married several months before, and now they had just found out they were expecting their first child. “We were crazy about getting married and, once married, we wanted very much to be parents,” Ignacio remembers.
Little did they know that this pregnancy, which had already brought them so much joy, was also the beginning of a saga that would test their faith to the limit— and ultimately take the life of the young mother. Four months into the pregnancy, Barbara took a trip to the dentist complaining of a sore in her mouth. The dentist sent her on to a specialist, who diagnosed her with mouth cancer. The couple was presented with a conundrum: Barbara urgently needed life-saving treatment, but the treatment had the potential to
harm their unborn child. Bolstered by her Catholic faith, Barbara, who worked as a journalist in the communications office of the Catholic diocese of Cordoba, made the difficult decision to forgo all treatments except for a surgical procedure that left her in immense pain. But Ignacio says that throughout the ordeal, Barbara remained strong. “My wife said from the beginning that our daughter would be born the day that God wanted, not one day before,” he says. A statement on the diocese of Cordoba’s website remembers Barbara’s faith at this time.
“Anchored in the heart of Christ, the inexhaustible source of love, Barbara opted first for the life of her daughter,” the diocese says. “At all times she has maintained an unwavering faith, and has been the encouragement and hope for all who have surrounded her during this long and painful illness.” Their child, Barbarita, was born on November 1, 2010 – a healthy baby and the source of much conPlease turn to Page 9 Barbara Castro Garcia who, like Chiara Petrillo, chose the life of her child over urgent medical treatment.
PHOTO: TONY GENTILE, REUTERS, CNS
our consciousness. So read them, read the Catechism of the Catholic Church and rediscover the beauty of being Christian, of being Church, of living as part of the great ‘we’ that Jesus formed around him to evangelise the world,” the Pope said. World news - Pages 8-9
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Round-Up MARK REIDY
Jesus talks in restaurant IN RESPONSE to the Year of Grace declared by Australia’s bishops, the parish of St Thomas the Apostle in Claremont is extending an open invitation to a series of talks entitled, “Jesus: The Person, His Message, His Times”. The seminar will be delivered by Father Charles Waddell each Thursday from August 2 to September 6 at Gargano’s Restaurant, 1 Rockton Rd, Nedlands from 6.30pm to 7.30pm. Those interested are encouraged to arrive at 6pm to get to know other participants over nibbles and a glass of wine or soft drink. The cost of each session is $10, students are free.
HK pictures
Teaching in the Kimberley ATTRACTING experienced teachers to Kimberley Catholic schools has been the aim of the Kimberley Calling program since it was established in 1998. The program was implemented to help principals in the Kimberley recruit staff by building a pool of qualified teachers for the region through the coordination of advertisements and interviews. This year, eight teachers from WA Catholic schools have taken up positions in the Kimberley. In some cases, teachers have been able to take two years leave without pay
Challenge finals. Tess Douglas was one of ten students from around WA to be named finalists in the Challenge and was co-winner of the state award, alongside Presbyterian Ladies College’s Abbey Mardon. The Challenge required a longterm investigation over six months with a mentor scientist from a research facility. Tess worked alongside UWA Optical and Biomedical Engineering Laboratory scientist Kelsey Kennedy in her research to aid in the development of new breast cancer detection devices. Tess and Kelsey will present their research to an international panel of judges in Boston in conjunction with the world’s biggest biotechnical conference, BIO 2012. Tess said the BioGENEius challenge was a unique and exciting experience that had provided her with an insight into medical research.
Mentor Kelsey Kennedy, left, with Nobel Laureate Dr Robin Warner and Iona College’s Tess Douglas at the BioGENEius awards presentation. PHOTO: CEOWA
from their schools to enable them to take up a Kimberley vacancy. Kimberley Calling welcomes enquiries – for further information, contact the Catholic Education Office of WA via kimberley.calling@ceo.wa.edu.au or PO Box 198, Leederville, 6903.
Biogenius A YEAR 11 student from Iona Presentation College in Mosman Park travelled to the United States in June to represent WA in the International BioGENEius
WHEN students from St Luke’s College in Karratha visited Hong Kong for a digital photography trip they received much more than they expected. The main purpose of the visit was to extend students’ camera skills but they were also able to visit Christian churches and study the meaning behind some of the visual representations and design ideas. Students were also provided with the opportunity to extend friendship and Christian service when they visited senior citizens at an aged care facility. They spent a day taking photographs and entertaining the residents, including singing their own rendition of Jesus, Lover of My Soul. The seniors were able to reciprocate with songs of their own. The photos were later printed and framed and presented to the home as a token of thanks.
Celebrate Love weekend A WEEKEND designed to enrich the lives of married couples will be held on August 25-26 at Newman Sienna Centre in Doubleview. The seminar will be presented by Celebrate Love (CL), a group dedicated to rekindling the passion between husbands and wives by providing them with the tools to strengthen their relationship. CL leaders Stephen and Carmen Court were first introduced to the weekend on their 25th anniversary and have become increasingly involved since. The couple say that the seminar recharged, reinvigorated and refreshed their marriage and they now looked forward to spending time together like they did when they first met. For more details, see info@celebratelove.com.au or phone Carmen on 0419 945 277.
Light in dark A WEEKEND for those who have experienced loss through separation, divorce or death is being offered by The Beginning Experience, a peer grief resolution ministry. Entitled Renewing the light of hope, it is described as being for those who feel alone and unsure of life’s direction. The weekend focuses on selfencounter and listening to others who have had similar loss experiences and experienced a way forward. It is presented by trained facilitators who have experienced the program for themselves. The next will be Friday to Sunday, August 10-12. Further information: Josie, 9285 8661; Mauz, 0419 928 110, or visit: www.beginningexperienceperth.org.au.
READINGS OF THE WEEK
SAINT OF THE WEEK
Sunday 22nd - Green 16TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 1st Reading: Jer 23:1-6 Flock neglected Responsorial Ps 22 Psalm: The Lord, my Shepherd 2nd Reading: Eph 2:13-18 Barrier broken Reading: Mk 6:30-34 No time to eat
Responsorial Psalm: Gospel Reading:
Monday 23rd - Green ST BRIDGET, RELIGIOUS (O) 1st Reading: Mic 6:1-4, 6-8 Humility, justice, love Responsorial Ps 49:5-6, 8-9, 16-17, Psalm: 21, 23 Give us help Gospel Reading: Mt 12:38-42 Like to see a sign
Thursday 26th - White SS JOACHIM AND ANNE, PARENTS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (M) 1st Reading: Jer 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13 Living water Responsorial Ps 35:6-11 Psalms: Source of life Gospel Reading: Mt 13:10-17 Prophesy fulfilled Friday 27th - Green 1st Reading: Jer 3:14-17 The Lord’s throne Responsorial Jer 31:10-13 Psalm: From mourning to joy Gospel Reading: Mt 13:18-23 Parable of the sower
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Tuesday 24th - Green ST CHARBEL MAKHLUF, PRIEST (O) 1st Reading: Mic 7:14-15, 18-20 God’s flock Responsorial Ps 84:2-8 Psalm: Revive us, God Gospel Reading: Mt 12:46-50 Anxious relatives
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The patron saint of eucharistic devotion, Peter Julian began adult life, like his father, as a cutler. But he became a priest of the French Alpine Diocese of Grenoble in 1834. In 1839, he left diocesan service to become a Marist priest and eventually became provincial of his congregation at Lyons. But, after making a pilgrimage in 1851, he understood that Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, to whom he was utterly devoted, had no specific religious institute. Subsequently, he founded the Congregation of the Priests of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, an order of sisters, both devoted to perpetual adoration. He was canonized in 1962.
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Saturday 28th - Green 1st Reading: Jer 7:1-11 Listen to God’s word Responsorial Ps 83:3-6, 8, 11 Psalm: My king and my God! Gospel Reading: Mt 13:24-30 Let them both grow
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Perth city homeless: don’t just look the other way By Nicole Wilcox PEOPLE are often uncertain how to handle a request for money from someone begging on Perth’s streets but the Holy Spirit of Freedom Community’s Outreach worker Mark Reidy says “the signs are a sign” and these people are desperate for help. “When seeing beggars on the streets asking for money, don’t ignore them, look away and put them at the back of your mind. Acknowledge them and give them
a smile if that’s all you can offer.” Mr Reidy has worked at HSOF Community for 14 years and says, if you can, offer someone food or a night’s accommodation or sit down with them for a chat, rather than give them money. Director of welfare centre Shopfront WA, Brian Tierney says there is a certain reluctance in everyone to give money to people on the street and you have to be aware some people might have an addiction. Mr Tierney says Shopfront does not give money
US expert in vocations to visit Perth
than 9,000 visits with about 400 people walking through its doors each week. In the past six months, the centre has handed out 3,078 frozen meals and 892 food hampers, provided 189 hot showers and given out 251 blankets. Mr Tierney said the volunteers are the “heart and soul” of Shopfront, with more than 70 volunteers helping each month. If you see someone begging on the street, Mr Reidy advises not to give them money to but look at
them with an open heart. He says young women who wish to help, but are concerned for their safety, should go with a friend and offer to sit down and buy the person a meal if they ask for it. Mr Reidy says one of the most important things you can do to help is just listen to what they have to say. While most homeless people may receive government benefits, some cannot, including migrants from New Zealand who have to wait at least two years before becoming eligible.
Maylands Ukrainians welcome their Bishop
AN international expert in vocations ministry will present a series of lectures in Perth next month as part of National Vocations Week. Br Paul Bednarczyk CSC is the Executive Director of the National Religious Vocation Conference in the US and the editor of Horizons magazine, the journal of the NRVC. He will present Unpacking the Baptismal Call at the Newman Siena Centre in Doubleview on the second last day of Vocations Week, which runs August 5-12. The event has been organised by the Western Australian Vocations Network, a member organisation of Catholic Vocations Ministry Australia. Br Paul Bednarczyk CSC is a native of New Haven, Connecticut, and is a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Eastern Province of Brothers. He has served as the NRVC’s Executive Director since July 2002 and, in that capacity, has acted as a consultant to the US Bishops Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. He professed his own, first vows in 1979 and currently lives with the Vincentian Fathers and Brothers at DePaul University, from where he commutes to his office at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Br Bednarczyk’s lectures are open to any interested persons at a cost of $20. More information can be found at www.wavocations. com or by phoning Br Christopher on 0437 307 170.
The Ukrainian Catholic Church parish of St John the Baptist in Maylands welcomed their Bishop, Peter Stasiuk CSsR, from Melbourne to celebrate their parish’s Feast Day on July 8. Bishop Peter was welcomed at the doors of the church with traditional bread and salt before being asked to bless the parish. After Holy Liturgy, parishioners joined the Bishop for a celebratory lunch in the church hall. PHOTO: PETER VALEGA
Catholic Charismatic Renewal Perth, West Australia
An Evening of Praise & Fellowship with the theme
“CCR in the Year of Grace”
VENUE: Good Shepherd Church, Lockridge.
(cnr Altone Rd / Morley Dve).
DATE/TIME: Thursday, July 26
but instead provides support and friendship for those who need it such as emergency accommodation, food, a hot shower or someone to talk to. “If we listen to their story, we become more aware of their needs,” he said. New City of Perth by-laws introduced last week give rangers the power to fine beggars up to $100 for using a sign to ask for money. Mr Tierney says it does not make sense to fine people begging on the street. Since the beginning of this year, Shopfront has received more
th
at 7.30pm
Admission is free to all but a collection will be taken up. Mass will be celebrated during the evening. Tea & Coffee and a light supper will conclude the evening. Queries to Dan on 9398 4973.
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July 18, 2012
Woodland documentary a ‘course highlight’
Above left, Project Explore participant Lucy Cooke with a student from O’Connor Primary School.
A FILM AND photographic project which gave youth in the Goldfields region of Western Australia an opportunity to speak up about community and environment issues, and the personal challenges they face has been described as a “course highlight” by Notre Dame graduate, Lucy Cooke. Ms Cooke, 23, travelled with 130 young people to develop the Eastern-Goldfields Project titled: Project Explore as part of her Behavioural Science internship with not-for-profit organisation
Millennium Kids. Millennium Kids uses the ‘youth voice process’ to develop local, regional and international partnerships centred on identifying, exploring and addressing environmental issues. Combining her background in the film industry with her interest in creating social change for young people, Ms Cooke provided each person with digital and video cameras to record their feelings about the protection of the Great Western Woodlands - the largest remaining woodland in the world.
PHOTO: UNDA
The footage was merged into a 30 minute documentary voicing youth’s concerns for the environment. The film was screened at its launch in December and her photographs have since been made into a book and exhibition, telling the story of the woodlands through the eyes of the young people. “The faces of the young Goldfields people just lit up when they had the opportunity to share personal stories about their connection with their local natural environment,” Ms Cooke said.
Focolare followers gather to piece the gospel together “THE GOSPEL brings Love to Life” was the theme at the Focolare Community Afternoon held at the Little Sisters of the Poor, Glendalough, on July 1. The theme was inspired by the writings of Focolare founder, Chiara Lubich who, as a young Italian woman during the Second World War, found life in her faith through reading the Gospel each day with her companions. The Focolare movement she established has gone on to spread to an estimated 182 countries across the globe and is regarded as one of the more influential of the new ecclesial realities of the Catholic Church, often described as the new movements. The Focolare is well-known, among other works, for its emphasis on peace and unity, especially in cooperation with believers of other faiths such as Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism or with those who have no faith at all. This was reflected in the makeup of those attending the Glendalough day; these included young and old, newcomers and those who regularly attend Focolare gatherings, Catholics, Anglicans and non-religious believers,
Sudanese, Chinese, Lebanese and Australians. A DVD report for those attending focused on how Focolare is involved in a variety of areas around the world. These include Christians of different denominations in Europe joining together to raise their voice for the value of marriage, for a more just economy and for protecting nature. In the US, meanwhile, Christians and Muslims have celebrated 15 years of working together to promote unity. In Italy, a conference was held with people of no religious affiliation on common values such as solidarity and peace. Among Chiara Lubich’s insights were that to welcome the Words of the Gospel into one’s heart would mean enriching daily life with fruits such as joy, freedom, wisdom, comfort, union with God and unity among people of goodwill from all the different cultures and beliefs. One of the activities of the day saw attendees piecing together a jigsaw puzzle constructed from a phrase of the Gospel, in this case a verse from the Gospel of Matthew: “To those who have, more will be given and they will have an abundance.”
Child’s Bible - ‘God Speaks to His Children’ The Catholic Church’s most successful Child’s Bible ever! Feed a Child with the Word of God
Worldwide, the Church is under attack Beautifully illustrated by Spanish nun, from atheistic regimes, militant Islam, Miren Sorne, this delightful Child’s bible is sects and basic ignorance of the Faith. available for a donation of $7.00. The international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is able to counter these attacks by supplying Child’s Bibles to children and families who simply cannot afford them, in countries where the Church is poor or persecuted. Since its launch in 1979, ACN has printed and distributed 50 million copies of God Speaks to His Children in 172 languages. It is the Catholic Church’s most successful Child’s bible ever!
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Rosary from the Holy Land
Simple in design and yet profound in its symbolic significance, the olivewood rosary, handmade in Bethlehem by Christian families struggling for survival, are also available for a donation of $7.00. All proceeds will go towards the work of Aid to the Church in Need for the poor and persecuted Church worldwide.
This inspiring book can also teach the Faith here in Australia: with your family, godchildren, or in your parish or school. The Child’s Bible is a perfect gift for children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces, especially to mark a First Holy Communion. The Bible complements the catechism and children’s rosary booklet also published by ACN and available via our website.
Participants in the Focolare Community afternoon on July 1 unscramble a Gospel phrase. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Maranatha Centre for adult faith forMation This term Maranatha is offering courses at Newman Siena Centre at 33 Williamstown Rd, DOUBLEVIEW or alternate venues as specified below. Maranatha offers courses for adults wishing to deepen their knowledge and understanding of their Catholic Faith and the living of it. Units for Term Three 2012 begin on Thursday 24th July. DAYTIME UNITS - 8 weeks cost $50.00 , 6 weeks Cost $40.00 Tuesdays 24th July – 14th August, and then Thursdays 23rd August & 30th August, 9.30am – 12.00noon (6 weeks) Catholic Moral Theology & Contemporary Issues with Fr Joseph Parkinson Alternate Venue: LJ Goody Bioethics Centre, 39 Jugan St, MOUNT HAWTHORN
BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED THROUGHOUT 48 Bible stories from the Old and New Testaments Available for a donation of $7.00 A lovely gift idea!
Tuesdays 31st July – 18th September, 1.00pm – 3.30pm (8 weeks) Engaging the Universe - Story 2 with Sr Shelley Barlow rndm Thursdays 26th July – 13th Sept, 9.30am -12.00noon (8 weeks) Sisters in Spirit Therese of Lisieux & Ruth Burrows with Dr Michelle Jones Record WA
Thursdays 2nd August - 6th Sept, 1.00pm – 3.30pm (6 weeks) Gospel & Letters of St John with Sr Shelley Barlow rndm Alternate Venue: Faith Centre, 450 Hay St, PERTH Fridays 27th July – 31st August, 9.30am – 11.00am (6 weeks) “Who Do You Say I Am?”: Exploring the Person, Message and Life of Jesus with Dr Michelle Jones Venue: Infant Jesus Parish, 47 Wellington Rd, MORLEY (For enquiries or to register Ph: 9276 8500)
EVENING UNIT - 8 weeks Cost $40.00 Thursdays 26th July – 13th Sept, 7.00pm – 9.00pm (8 weeks) The Spirituality of Health with Fr Steve Astill SJ Alternate Venue: Parish Hall, Immaculate Conception Parish, 154 Canning Highway, EAST FREMANTLE To Register or for more information, contact the Maranatha office Ph : (08) 9241 5221, Fax :(08) 9241 5225 Email: maranatha@ceo.wa.edu.au Or check our website: www.maranathacentre.org.au
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University makes time for Aboriginal Australia NOTRE DAME University in Fremantle is a busy place but it made sure it found the time in early July to pay attention to the importance of Aboriginal Australians and to focus on future paths to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. The university was participating in NAIDOC Week; NAIDOC is the acronym for ‘National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee’ and is now the title of week-long activities around the nation to celebrate Australia’s Indigenous culture.
The importance of Aboriginal Australia was underscored by Associate Professor Tannock who said one of the university’s key priorities was to further the cause of reconciliation. “From its establishment, [Notre Dame] has considered one of its main functions to be the recognition and celebration of Aboriginal identity within Australia,” Associate Professor Tannock said. “The injustices of our past must continue to be a source – not of shame – but of a renewed commitment by all Australians
to seek a future where the child born to Aboriginal parents might have the same opportunities to live the good life as that child
Past injustice can spur us on to redress by equality of opportunity. born to non-Aboriginal parents.” Among activities organised at the Fremantle campus were a ‘Welcome to Country’ delivered by a representative of the Wadjuk
people in Western Australia’s Nyoongar country, Matt McGuire. Mr McGuire said he was proud to represent his elders and called on Australians to work collaboratively to deliver greater social harmony between Indigenous and nonIndigenous people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands flags were presented to Associate Professor Tannock, and Student Association President Sophie Harrison and raised alongside the Australian flag on Mouat Street. Head of Indigenous Health
Curriculum at the Fremantle Campus’ School of Medicine, Associate Professor Clive Walley, said it was encouraging to see people from diverse backgrounds celebrating NAIDOC Week. “I am proud to be part of a university that is supportive and showing strong leadership in recognising the importance of Indigenous education and culture here on its Fremantle Campus.” The university plans to plant a Grass Tree in Malloy Courtyard as a symbol of its commitment to the Wadjuk people and their culture.
Father Gatt, bearing the good news to Indonesia By Fr Michael Gatt DURING the 1990s, in my former parish of Manning, I instructed, baptised, received into the Church and confirmed some 60 young people, mostly students at Curtin University or other educational colleges, from Indonesia or other parts of South East Asia. This special pastoral work introduced me to many new friends. It also created the need for a support group to help with the religious instruction as well as in godparenting. Among those involved in godparenting were the Darmagos, Handojos, Tandionos, Sunaryos, Hendartos, Sianniwatys, Siaputras etc. Through these new friendships, I was invited to visit Indonesia for the first time in 1997; I visited again in 1999. After that I kept up my pastoral visitations every two years. Over the years I have seen the contrasts between the rich, the poor and the poorest of the poor. There is no middle class in Indonesia. I made my sixth visit for a wedding reception at the Sheraton Hotel Grand Ballroom for Siemen and Sandy Ardina on July 11. Five hundred people were invited, but Catholics were in a minority. The wedding ceremony with a nuptial mass took place on May 16 in St Kieran’s Church, Osborne Park. It had been preceded by the Baptism and Confirmation of Siemen on May 9. At the reception, video footage of Siemen and Sandy’s courtship and Nuptial Mass was displayed
on a big television screen. That was evangelisation. Having to give a reception speech about Christian marriage in a Muslim country meant I was a bit nervy, but I was applauded. To say thank you, I bowed to all present and assured them that all the angels in heaven and earth were very happy for Siemen and Sandy. In reply, all their own beautifully dressed young angels jumped up onto the stage and danced and sang for joy.
Fr Michael Gatt of Osborne Park Parish addresses the wedding reception for Siemen and Sandy Ardina, an Indonesian couple he married in Australia earlier in May.
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July 18, 2012
Fremantle meets French Romanticism in concert By Nicole Wilcox PERTH musicians, Pipe Organ Plus will perform the upcoming concert, Terrae, on September 23 at the Basilica of St Patrick in Fremantle. The concert will focus on the music of France from the Renaissance to the end of the 20th century. It will be held at 2.30pm at the Basilica on the corner of Parry and Adelaide Streets in Fremantle. To wrap up the afternoon’s entertainment, organist Dominic Perissinotto will perform Louis Vierne’s Symphony No 6 on the organ.
The composition interprets aspects of Vierne’s life. Born nearly completely blind due to cataracts, Vierne rose to become one of France’s leading composers. By the end of his career the music he composed was regarded as among the very best of Romantic period. Organist Dominic Perissinotto is one of Australia most active organists. He has performed throughout Australia and Europe and was a one time organ scholar at Westminster Roman Catholic Cathedral in London. He has given recitals at
Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral, as well as having toured Italy and Belgium. The concert will run for two hours with refreshments served at interval. Tickets can be purchased online at www.trybooking.com or purchased at the door one hour prior to concert.
Seasoned per former Dominic Perissinotto, pictured at St Patrick’s Basilica in Fremantle, is preparing for a September 23 concert featuring Vierne’s Sixth Symphony.
Sisters say goodbye to Infant Jesus ON July 1 the parish of Infant Jesus at Morley gathered to say farewell to Sr Patricia Cooke and Sr Frances Clift as they prepare to close down the Perth Archdiocesan house of the Daughters of Charity and move to the Eastern States. As daily Mass attendees in the parish and as valued volunteers in a number of ministries, the Sisters have become well known and loved members of the Morley parish community. Many parishioners took the opportunity to extend their best wishes to Sr Patricia and Sr Frances, who were joined by Sr Jane Ablett, from their community in Port Hedland. Fr Sunny Abraham, parish priest, expressed his thanks to the Sisters for their contribution to parish life, before Sr Patricia’s friends from the 9.30am led the gathering in a blessing song. Sr Frances will travel to NSW to join her community while Sr Patricia will head to Melbourne where she will be welcomed by the community there. The Daughters of Charity have had a presence in Western Australia for over 50 years and will continue their work in the North West, through their Port Hedland community. The worldwide organisation was founded by St Vincent de Paul in 1633.
Parishioners of Infant Jesus at Morley farewell Sisters Cooke and Clift. The pair will move to the eastern states to live with their community.
PHOTO: SUPPLIED
St Luke’s keeps the friendship alive By Glynnis Grainger ST LUKE’S Parish in Woodvale has a thriving Friendship Group of over-60s who meet in the parish hall for activities and get together regularly for other events. Its president, Judy Anderson, told The Record the group has been going for 17 years and has 40 members who meet once a month. The membership fee is $5 and the monthly meeting is held at noon on a Monday, with the annual general meeting in September. Activities have included trips to New Norcia; Seabird, past the Moore River, for lunch; St Patrick’s Basilica, Fremantle; St Brigid’s Church, West Perth; Belmont races, and the casino, where the new bus picks them up and it costs $10 to play from 10am to 3pm, including a meal – not counting additional gambling. “No one wants to miss their cards, even on a Monday public holiday – they play the game called Frustration,” Mrs Anderson told The Record. “About 10 people have passed away. It used to be called the Seniors’ and Friendship Group.”
Mrs Anderson was Treasurer for 10 years and has been president of the group for 12 months. A Healing Mass with parish priest Fr Francisco Mascarenhas is held every second month, with a 9am Mass once a month, followed by morning tea. Sometimes 40 or 50 attend,
The parish’s over-60s group is more energetic than many other organisations. No-one wants to miss cards, even on public holidays. sometimes 60 people, she said, and eight to 10 men play carpet bowls – one lady left the group. Her husband, Garnet, was President for three years. The meeting and activities generally go from noon until 2.45pm, but with school holidays, the group has extra time. One of the younger members, Beth Galos is the Secretary and her
husband, Wally, the Vice President/ acting treasurer. Mrs Galos prepares a monthly newsletter for the group and announced that a Father’s Day luncheon would be held at the Kingsway Tavern on August 31 and that the group hoped to purchase new bowls with a grant from the Western Australian Lotteries Commission. She said it was suggested a game of bingo be played after the meeting each month, with points and a small prize, and no money. The meeting decided bingo would be trialled for three months. Members in hospital were remembered with a card and a posy of flowers and birthdays and anniversaries are mentioned at the meeting and in the newsletter. Raffles are drawn and winners announced. Fr Francisco said the Friendship Group was a novel concept and meetings were held unless it was a public holiday. “It is great how you keep in touch,” he told the meeting on Monday, July 9. Inaugural president Peter Brown told the meeting the church opened
Members of the St Luke’s Parish Friendship Group enjoying a cup of tea and catching up with fellow friendship members. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
in April 1995 and the Seniors’ Group, as it was then known, held its first meeting in September of that year. Mr Brown said: “Fr Laurence used to take out the St Luke’s Primary School bus (and) there
would be an esky full of cheese, biscuits and wine.” Mrs Anderson said that when she joined in 1999, “they were lucky to get 13 to a meeting”. “There have been wonderful outings and wonderful people.”
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Pelagius no match for Year of Grace By Robert Hiini THE Year of Grace is an opportunity to discover the centrality of God’s action in our lives in the face of the mistaken belief we can merit our own salvation, Bishop Julian Porteous told young adults at Sydney’s SCENE conference last Wednesday. Sydney’s Auxiliary Bishop and the Archdiocese’ Episcopal Vicar for Renewal and Evangelisation was speaking at the opening session of the five day evangelisation conference. “There is a tendency among Catholics to think ... that it is really our own efforts that will get us salvation,” Bishop Porteous said, contrasting that mistaken view with the words of St Paul in Ephesians, that
Bishop says he wanted Morris to be involved
we are saved by grace through faith. The bishop said it was imperative that the faithful “say yes” to God, but that in the final analysis, it was God’s grace that did the saving. “The reason why I am on the path of salvation is because God intervened in my life … In the end, it’s not what we do; in the end, it is the action of God … of his love and mercy, that enables us to be saved.” Bishop Porteous told the crowd that in the wake of the Year of Grace, he was continually being asked to define ‘grace’, something he admitted was a nebulous and difficult concept to define. The action and import of grace could be likened to that of breathing, the bishop said; continually at work but rarely the subject of conscious thought.
“How much do we in fact depend upon grace to grow and develop in Christian life as against saying “I’m the one who’s got to get there, I’m the one who’s got to achieve by vir-
I’m on the path of salvation because God intervened in my life ... It’s God’s love that enables us to be saved. tue of my own effort, and my own struggle … “Who I am, is not the result of what I have been able to manufacture or achieve or create; who I am, is what God had done in me … is
the fruit of God’s grace at work in my life,” Bishop Porteous said. “St Paul says you can’t even say “Jesus is Lord” without the action of the Holy Spirit, without the action of grace.” Good works should never be detached from faith, Bishop Porteous said, reiterating the words of Pope Benedict XVI in Deus Caritas Est, that “it is very important that the Church’s charitable activity maintains all of its splendour and does not become just another form of social assistance”. “There is always a danger that things can start out, motivated in a good way, but they can end up being, somehow, bureaucratic or somehow they become more of a human activity rather than something that is deeply inspired by
faith,” Bishop Porteous said. “In the end it is that special quality of our faith, of our relationship with God, that brings real value to what we may be doing.” Bishop Porteous began his talk by recounting the origins of the Year of Grace in the meetings of the bishops’ conference last year. The answer to present and future challenges, the bishops concluded, was a renewed focus on the person of Jesus Christ. “Really when we look at the challenges we face in the Church, when we look at all the issues that lie before us, in the end it’s not so much to focus on the ways we can go about changing things or the particular programs we should do but really the life of the Church, the future of the Church, really focuses upon Jesus.”
The right SCENE to contemplate face of Christ
By Robert Hiini MONSIGNOR Robert McGuckin has been installed as the new Bishop of Toowoomba, more than a year after former Bishop William Morris was removed by the Holy See for disunity and doctrinal heterodoxy. A congregation of around 1,500 joined ordaining prelate, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Paramatta Bishop Anthony Fisher, Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto and Australia’s Ambassador-designate to The Holy See, John McCarthy QC. The newly installed Bishop McGuckin’s predecessor played a significant role in the ceremony. “I wanted Bishop Morris involved,” Bishop McGuckin told the Toowoomba Chronicle. “He’s a wonderful man. I particularly wanted him involved in the handing over of the crozier and walking me to the cathedra,” Bishop McGuckin told the paper. Bishop McGuckin is the sixth bishop to be appointed to the diocese. In the wake of Bishop Morris’ removal in May 2011, Pope Benedict appointed Auxiliary Bishop Brian Finnigan as Apostolic Administrator of the diocese. The Vatican asked Bishop William Morris to resign six times before he was finally removed, according to documents obtained by The Record at the time, in 2011. Vatican concerns related to the use of general absolution in the diocese, as well as Bishop Morris’ stated willingness to ordain women. In a 2006 pastoral letter, Bishop William Morris said he would be open to ordaining women and married men if the Church’s teaching changed. Pope John Paul II made an infallible declaration that holy orders could only be conferred on baptised males, in the 1994 Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. “In order that all doubt may be removed,” the late Pope wrote, “a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.” The validity of the late Pope’s teaching and of the notion of papal infallibility itself, are disputed by some theologians.
Bishop Julian Porteous leads SCENE conference-goers in Adoration of the Blessed Sacramanent outside St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney.
PHOTO: ONLINE
Former judge to head bishops’ inquiry By Robert Hiini FORMER Federal Court Judge, Antony Whitlam QC has been appointed to head an inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse amid suggestions senior priests failed to pass on knowledge of abuse to state authorities. Armidale Bishop Michael Kennedy and Parramatta Bishop Anthony Fisher OP made the joint announcement on Tuesday, as the alleged incidences of abuse occurred in both their dioceses. It follows Bishop Michael Kennedy’s July 4 commitment to investigate certain matters raised by the ABC’s Four Corners program Unholy Silence, which screened on July 2. “The recent reports (both on television and in local and state newspapers) regarding events which
occurred in the 1980s and 1990s concerning a person described as “Father F” have disturbed me deeply,” Bishop Kennedy said in a statement. “I share the community abhorrence of all child abuse and am keen that perpetrators are brought to justice, and that victims are able to receive justice and pastoral care,” the bishop said, encouraging victims to go to the police. Four Corners revealed that three senior diocesan priests at the time, Fr Brian Lucas, Fr Wayne Peters and Fr John Usher, held a meeting with Fr F on September 3, 1992. Sydney Cardinal George Pell, who was an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne at the time of the meeting, told the program a case note showed Fr F had not made any admissions during the meeting. The three investigating priests
thought Fr F lacked credibility and posed a danger, recommending he be stood down to Armidale’s thenBishop, Kevin Manning. A letter Fr Wayne Peters wrote, days after the meeting occurred, seemed to suggest a different version of events. Fr Peters’ letter said Fr F had admitted, during the course of the meeting, to sexually interfering with five boys aged around 10 and 11, between 1982 and 1984, while assistant priest at Moree. Fr Brian Lucas responded on July 5 to suggestions he and his fellow investigators had been negligent in not referring the information to police. Fr Lucas, the current General Secretary of the Australian Bishops Conference, said Fr F had acknowledged wrong-doing during the meeting but had not mentioned any victims by name.
“I did not consider at that time that reporting to the police would assist in any prosecution since we did not have any details of victims,” Fr Lucas said in a statement. “He was already known to the police and had been the subject of police investigation and had been charged.” In a July 17 statement, Cardinal Pell said he was pleased the inquiry had been announced and that the Archdiocese of Sydney, including Fr Brian Lucas and the-now Monsignor John Usher, would cooperate fully. “I will continue to encourage victims of sexual abuse to contact the police,” Cardinal Pell said. “Where victims are unable or too traumatised to do so or require assistance, the Church’s Professional Standards Office can help by contacting the police on their behalf.”
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Opus Dei sainthood advances THE LATE Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, the first prelate of Opus Dei who has been declared “venerable” by the Vatican, offered “an example of faithfulness” as a layman, priest and bishop, according to the postulator for his sainthood cause. “Many people all over the world were convinced that he was a saintly man and invoked his intercession with a view to obtaining favours from heaven,” said Mgr Flavio Capucci in an interview after the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes said in a June 28 decree signed by Pope Benedict XVI that Bishop del Portillo heroically lived Christian virtues and should be considered venerable. Before the Spanish-born bishop can be beatified, the Vatican must recognise that a miracle has occurred through his intercession. A possible miracle has been submitted to the Vatican for study by theological and medical experts. In general, the Church must confirm two miracles before sainthood is declared, the first for beatification and the second for canonisation. Mgr Capucci, who as postulator assists in the investigation of the potential saint’s life and virtues, as
Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, pictured as a young man in an undated handout photo. He first worked as an engineer in Spain and was later ordained a priest at age 30. PHOTO: OPUS DEI INFORMATION OFFICE
well as of any miracles attributed to his intercession, said the documentation comprised 2,530 pages in three volumes. In all, 133 witnesses were interviewed, including 19 cardinals and 12 bishops or archbishops, he said. Only 62 of
the witnesses belong to Opus Dei, an organisation of laity and priests dedicated to spreading the message that work and the circumstances of everyday life are occasions for growing closer to God, for serving others and for improving society. Interviews took place in Madrid and Pamplona, Spain; Fatima-Leiria in Portugal; Montreal; Washington; Warsaw, Poland; Quito, Ecuador; and Sydney, as well as in Rome, he said. To “more scrupulously guarantee neutrality in the whole process,” Mgr Capucci said, two parallel investigations of Bishop del Portillo’s life were carried out. One was by the Personal Prelature of Opus Dei and the other was by the Vicariate of Rome, whose tribunal members interviewed “the principal co-workers of Bishop del Portillo in the government of Opus Dei.” The postulator said Bishop del Portillo’s “reputation for holiness can truly be called a Church-wide phenomenon”, not limited to Opus Dei members. “We have received 12,000 signed accounts of favours received, attributed to his intercession, very often from countries in which Opus
Dei is not as yet established,” Mgr Capucci said. “The newsletter about his cause for canonisation has reached five million copies in print; 10 million prayer cards for private devotion have been distributed worldwide.” Born on March 11, 1914 in Madrid, Alvaro del Portillo earned a civil engineering degree and worked in several state water authorities while also studying philosophy, literature and history. He completed a doctorate on the early exploration of the California coast in 1944. He joined Opus Dei in 1935, seven years after its founding by St Josemaria Escriva, and received his formation directly from the founder. He was ordained a priest on June 25, 1944. After the death of St Josemaria in 1975, Father del Portillo was elected to succeed him as the head of Opus Dei. When Blessed John Paul II erected Opus Dei as a personal prelature in 1982, he appointed Fr del Portillo as its prelate. The Pope named him a bishop in 1990. Under his leadership, Opus Dei began work in 20 new countries. He died in Rome on March 23, 1994, and his cause for canonisation was opened 10 years later. - CNS
Listing may complicate Nativity routine
IN BRIEF
New Divine Word head Father Heinz Kuluke, a member of the Society of the Divine Word since 1981, was elected superior general of the missionary order. His election was announced on July 3. The Society of the Divine Word, founded in 1875, has more than 6,000 priests and brothers working in 71 countries, providing pastoral care, building schools and medical clinics, and developing social service programs that offer food, clothing and shelter to those in need. It is the world’s largest Catholic religious order of priests and brothers who focus on missionary work. German-born Fr Kuluke was ordained in 1986 after studies in engineering.
Vatican State
Holy See budget deficit The Holy See sustained its largest budget deficit of the past decade in 2011 as a result of global financial trends, the Vatican said on July 5. But Vatican City State, which includes the income-generating Vatican Museums and Vatican post office, ended 2011 with a surplus of 21.8 million euros ($27 million). The budget of the Holy See recorded a deficit of 14.9 million euros at the end of 2011. It was the largest budget deficit recorded in the past decade and reversed the 2010 surplus of 9.8 million euros. Total expenditures for the Holy See in 2011 were 263.7 million euros with 248.8 million euros in revenues. A brief summary of the Vatican’s financial report released to the press blamed the deficit on “the negative trend of global financial markets, which made it impossible to achieve the goals laid down in the budget.”
Slovak Republic
Archbishop removed Pope Benedict XVI removed a Slovakian archbishop from leading the Archdiocese of Trnava, the Vatican announced on July 2. Archbishop Robert Bezak, 52, had headed the Slovakian archdiocese since 2009. The Pope removed the archbishop because he had not followed through on a request to resign, a Vatican source said. An apostolic visitation had been carried out in the archdiocese earlier this year. The archbishop’s removal was linked to the findings of the visitation and was due to “the administrative handling” of the archdiocese, according to the Vatican source who asked not to be named. Born in 1960, Archbishop Bezak was ordained a Redemptorist priest in 1984. He replaced retired Archbishop Jan Sokol in 2009 who had led the archdiocese since 1989, following the non-violent overthrow of the country’s communist regime.
Vatican State
New CDF head A tourist takes a photo in the Church of the Nativity, the site revered as the birthplace of Jesus in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on June 28. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation declared the church an endangered World Heritage site to expedite funding for repairs. PHOTO: AMMAR AWAD, REUTERS
T H E D E SIG NAT IO N of Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity as a UNESCO World Heritage site complicates relations between the three churches that oversee the holy site as well as relations between the Israeli and Palestinian communities, said a Church official. Archbishop Antonio Franco, papal nuncio to Israel and the Palestinian territories, said the Catholic Church believes the church which marks the site of Christ’s birth is part of the Church’s “patrimony as holy places, not because they are on a [UN] list.” He told CNS the “sensitivity of the issue and all its repercussions” make it difficult to properly convey the Catholic Church’s position on the designation. “Unfortunately, (the decision) can’t be put in the abstract,” he said.
Archbishop Franco said because of the “concrete situations” between Israel and the Palestinian territories, the “political implications” of such a decision cannot be overlooked. The designation had been opposed by the custos of the Holy Land, Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa. He told the Italian bishops’ news agency SIR and the Franciscans last fall that he and other Christian leaders believed the initiative would make “it harder for us to run (the Church), because, under UNESCO rules, the board in charge of running a place for the UN agency is the government, not the owner of a site”. The Franciscans are the Catholic partner in maintaining the Status Quo, a 19th-century agreement that regulates jurisdiction of and access to key Christian sites – including
the Church of the Nativity – in the Holy Land for Catholic, Orthodox and other Christian communities. Now that the designation has been made, Fr Pizzaballa said that the Church must not be subject to any use “alien to its character”. “Our hope as Churches, and what has always been our position, is that these places are first and foremost considered holy places and holy places of worship,” he said in a June 30 statement. “Cultural issues, political, local or international, are not included in the management in life and in the dynamics of the holy places.” He added that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had assured him the Status Quo would be respected. “This assurance is very important,” the custos said. Archbishop Franco told CNS he
wanted to understand what role UNESCO would take in overseeing the revered site. “Now there is another entity which will take control in a sense,” he said. “This could complicate things although [UNESCO] has given their full assurance that they will not interfere. We will see.” The archbishop said the three churches sent a letter to UNESCO stating their position prior to the June 27 vote. “We want (the Church of the Nativity) to be a patrimony of humanity because of its religious identity, especially as a holy place as the birth of Jesus, not because it is a monument under the patronage of UNESCO,” the nuncio said. “We want to keep the holy places open to everyone at every time in every place without any limitations.” - CNS
Pope Benedict XVI has named Archbishop Gerhard Muller of Regensburg, Germany the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The 64-yearold expert in dogmatic theology and ecumenism, who has co-authored a work on liberation theology, replaced US Cardinal William Levada who retired. The appointment automatically elevates the former bishop of Regensburg, Germany, to the rank of archbishop, according to a Vatican statement on July 2. The archbishop’s academic research focuses on “ecumenism, modern age theology, the Christian understanding of revelation, theological hermeneutics and ecclesiology – the priesthood and the diaconate,” according to the website of the Diocese of Regensburg. In 2004, he coauthored a book titled On the Side of the Poor: The Theology of Liberation with Father Gustavo Gutierrez, who is considered the father of liberation theology. - CNS Full report - Page 15
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Chinese Bishop disappears CHINESE Father Joseph Yue Fusheng has been automatically excommunicated for allowing himself to be illicitly ordained a bishop despite repeated warnings from the Vatican. “The Holy See does not recognise him as bishop of the apostolic administration of Harbin, and he lacks the authority to govern the priests and Catholic community in the province of Heilongjiang,” the Vatican said on July 10. It also praised the licit ordination of the new auxiliary bishop of Shanghai, who reportedly was taken away by authorities after his July 7 ordination and whose whereabouts remain unknown. Auxiliary Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin of Shanghai has been restricted by the government after saying he would give up his role in
the government-approved Catholic Patriotic Association. In recent years, because of government requirements, priests, nuns and laypeople of Chinese dioceses have elected their new bishops and most of those elected have applied to the Holy See for approval. When such approval was given, it often was announced at the episcopal ordination. Fr Yue was ordained bishop of Harbin on July 6 without papal mandate following an acrimonious exchange of notifications between the Vatican and Beijing. Five Vatican-approved bishops took part in the rite, held at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province. Two other Vaticanapproved prelates invited to the ceremony did not attend, citing ill-
nesses, but sent messages of apology and congratulation. The Vatican said those bishops who took part in the ordination had “exposed themselves to sanctions laid down by the law of the Church” which entail automatic excommunication. Writing about Bishop Ma’s ceremony, the Vatican said papally approved ordination “is encouraging and is to be welcomed”. However, “the presence of a bishop who is not in communion with the Holy Father was inappropriate and shows a lack of consideration for a lawful episcopal ordination”, it added. Local Church sources who attended Bishop Ma’s ordination told the Asian church news agency UCA News that he was led away shortly after the ceremony by an unidentified group of people and
has since been prohibited from assuming the duties of his office. The bishop did not show up for his first Mass at St Ignatius Cathedral after telling the congregation at his ordination that he would step down from the local and national offices of the Catholic Patriotic Association to devote himself entirely to his ministry. Bishop Ma is the first government-approved bishop in recent years to announce publicly that he would give up his duties with the Catholic Patriotic Association. On July 11, two governmentsanctioned Catholic Church organisations announced an investigation into Bishop Ma’s ordination for violations of bodies’ regulations. Neither body is recognised as Catholic by the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 letter
to Catholics in China stated that the aim of the patriotic association in upholding the independence of the Church in China was incompatible with Catholic doctrine. A Church source in Shanghai said on July 11 that the bishops who participated in the ordination ceremony also have been included in the government investigation. Questions linger on the whereabouts of Bishop Ma, with some suggesting he has been arrested and others saying he has been restricted to the grounds of the Sheshan Seminary in Shanghai. A Shanghai priest said Bishop Ma was having a rough time. “It is painful, but is good for the conscience of the Church in China. His witness is an encouragement for our Catholics, so we can only pray for him,” the priest said. - CNS
Classes keep Jesus Christ’s native tongue alive ARAMAIC LANGUAGE classes begun four years ago at Jish Elementary School in Israel near the Lebanese border have changed the way youngsters experience the weekly liturgy. “Before, I used to wonder how I would get through the one-anda-half hours at church. Sometimes we would even laugh at the how the priest was praying,” recalled Carla Issa, 9, who has studied Aramaic at the school for two years. “But now I understand what I am saying. I love it.” Sunday Mass at St Maron Parish is partially recited in Aramaic. But Issa and friends also have found another use for the language: They sometimes use it when they pass notes to each other in class. Some 110 students are now studying the language at the primary school as a result of years of effort by village resident Shadi Khalloul, 37, chairman of the Aramaic Christian nongovernmental organisation in Israel. “This is our Maronite Aramaic heritage,” he said on a recent visit to the school. “We are hoping to revive (Aramaic) as a spoken language. Hopefully the pupils will use it among themselves to communicate with each other. It is our forefather’s language. It is the language of Jesus, we should not forget that, especially the Aramaic Galilee dialect.” Spoken Aramaic, the root language of all Semitic languages, is still preserved in parts of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon – and even by elderly Jews originating from a region of Kurdistan – but the spoken language has been virtually lost in Galilee, where about 10,000 Maronite Catholics use it solely for prayer. During their daily inter-
Israeli-Arab fourth-grade students Carla Issa and Haya Habieb attend the Aramaic language class at Jish Elementary School in Jish, Israel.
actions, they speak Arabic. In all, there are between half a million and 1 million people worldwide who still use Aramaic as their vernacular language, while another 15 million use it as a holy language. In Jish some older residents like Issa’s grandfather, who helped her with her homework when she started studying, have retained their traditional language, but most Maronites of the village only hear Aramaic on Sundays. Aramaic is taught regularly as part of religion classes by Father Bishara Suleiman, but it was not until the priest offered a threemonth course for adults in 2006 that Khalloul, who had recently returned to Jish after graduating
from University, became hooked on the language. A small group of adult students continued studying on their own following the conclusion of the course and began connecting with other Aramaic communities in Sweden and the Netherlands. Khalloul initiated his own afterschool classes, then started to negotiate with the Israeli Ministry of Education to include Aramaic as part of the formal curriculum. The ministry now provides funds for the classes as part of any enrichment program already in place. For now, it is the only such project in Israel. A parallel art class is offered during the same period, but almost 90 per cent of the Christian chil-
dren choose to attend the Aramaic classes, said school principal Reem Khatieb-Zuabi, a Muslim woman. She said classes have proven to be a matter of pride for the school, and even some Muslim students are taking the class. “It is a language which is about to disappear,” she noted. “A culture is something precious, history is very precious to me, and we can’t erase history and build a new culture. You have to understand where you come from.” St Paul’s parents are traditionally believed to have lived in Jish, which is near the Lebanese border. Sixty per cent of its 2,800 residents are Maronite Catholic. Sweden has the strongest tradi-
PHOTO: DEBBIE HILL, CNS
tion of spoken Aramaic, and Jish school has been using textbooks and other learning material from that community. Khalloul, who speaks to his 2-year-old son solely in Aramaic and relishes seeing the boy respond, dreams of hearing Aramaic in the streets of Jish. But he is also realistic and admits that perhaps the only place where the language can truly be revived to that extent is in the Maronite area in Lebanon. Still, he said, the Maronite children of the village will have this language for themselves. He noted that, by request of the children, in May the first Communion ceremony at the church was conducted completely in Aramaic. - CNS
Mother chose life for unborn child over treatment Continued from Page 1 -solation to the couple. But within days the pains of Barbara’s cancer flared, and the couple went to Madrid to see a surgeon. The news wasn’t good. The surgeon told Barbara there was little hope, and that he was amazed she had survived so long. Thus began the grueling rounds of chemotherapy and other treatments that left her without a tongue and part of her jaw, rendering her
incapable of speaking or eating. She had to be fed through a tube. Ultimately the cancer would get the upper hand, and earlier this month Barbara died, after having sacrificed everything for her child. The Spanish publication La Gaceta reports that it spoke to Ignacio the day after Barbara’s death, and that he seemed “serene.” He told the paper he feels “a strength of faith that I had never felt before.”
“I feel invincible…God is holding on to me and he doesn’t want to let me go.” In part of a letter from Ignacio to his wife, quoted by La Gaceta, Ignacio wrote: “I sensed we were going to suffer a lot, that it would be very hard and probably very long, but I also assured you that, no matter how hard it was, afterwards I would make sure you were the happiest person in the world, that all the
effort was worth it, that we would enjoy our daughter and that we would have to prepare ourselves for an uncertain and horrible period.” The statement on the Cordoba diocese’s website concludes: “The Good Father, Lord of Charity, who embraced [Barbara] tenderly in her lifetime, today opened the doors of Paradise. “The angels have come to her and the Blessed Virgin gave her the crown of victory, because she,
better than anyone, knows what it takes to give her life for love.” For his part, Ignacio says he simply wants to “honour her as she deserves.” The story of Barbara’s heroism closely parallels that of Chiara Petrillo Corbella, an Italian woman who died just last month, also after foregoing cancer treatment to save the life of her unborn baby. - lifesitenews.com
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Symphony of the Church: we've got a great future
CALL of the
GOOD
SHEPHERD
Archbishop Costelloe spoke to Bradley Barbuto at Domus Australia about what it felt like meeting the Pope in St Peter's and what it means for Perth.
Fresh back from Rome where he was joined by two groups of Perth pilgrims, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB reflected in St Mary's Cathedral on the significance of receiving his pallium from Pope Benedict XVI.
A
S MANY of you know, I have just returned from Rome where, together with forty-three other newly appointed metropolitan archbishops, I received the pallium from the Holy Father. The pallium, which I am wearing today around my neck, is a very simple garment, but it is full of significance. As you can see, it is rather like a woollen scarf which has a number of crosses embroidered on it. It is woven from wool which comes from lambs blessed by the Pope earlier in the year on the feast day of Saint Agnes. Once the pallia have been made, they are placed on the tomb of Saint Peter on June 28, the eve of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and they rest there overnight until the Pope places them on the shoulders of the new archbishops at a special Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica the following morning. As the Holy Father placed the pallium on my shoulders, and I was able to assure him of the affection and the loyalty and the prayers of the
As the Holy Father said "the Church is not a community of the perfect, but of sinners." Catholic people of our archdiocese and of Western Australia, I found myself reflecting on the mystery of God’s call in my own life and of the presence of his grace at work in me. After all, it is his grace, and nothing else, that enables any of us to respond to him with fidelity and with love – even if our fidelity is sometimes betrayed by our infidelity and our love is sometimes betrayed by our indifference. The pallium is given many different meanings but one which makes a lot of sense, I think, is the idea that it symbolises the sheep which the Good Shepherd carries on his shoulders. We all know the parable of the lost sheep. Jesus tells us that the Good Shepherd will leave the ninety-nine sheep and go in search of the one that is lost. And when he finds it, he places it on his shoulders and carries it home to the fold. In the context of Jesus’ own time and place, this can seem a very foolish thing to do. Once the shepherd goes off in search of the lost sheep,
Wearing the pallium presented to him by Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Costelloe processes out of St Peter's Basilica on June 29.
who is left to look after the ninetynine? What is to stop them wandering off in all directions and getting lost themselves? The shepherd runs the risk of finding the one lost sheep but losing all the others in the process. From a commonsense point of view, and from an economic point of view, it would be much better for the shepherd to stay with the ninetynine and resign himself to the unfortunate loss of the one sheep. But this, of course, is a parable and Jesus has a very important point to make. When it comes to the relationship between God and his people, between God and us, such things as commonsense and economic prudence simply have no place. The only factor to be taken into account is love. Just as the shepherd will go to any lengths to find the lost sheep, even when it seems foolish to do so, so the Lord will never give up on us, even when our lives are more marked by infidelity than by fidelity, by indifference than by love. As the Holy Father said to us in his homily in Saint Peter’s just over a week ago, “the Church is not a community of the perfect, but a community of sinners, obliged to recognise their need for God’s love, their need to be purified through the cross of Jesus Christ”. It is because of God’s love for us that he never gives up on us, even when we give up on him. The Holy Father’s reminder that we are not a community of the perfect but a community of sinners is a very important one because it points us in a new direction as we reflect on our own lives as individual Christians, as members of Christian communities, and as members of the worldwide Church. We see within us and around us the presence of sinfulness, frailty and weakness. We also, of course, see the presence of great courage, holiness and generosity. But, as Saint Paul reminds us in today’s second reading, it is in the midst of our failure, our weakness and yes, even our sinfulness, that the Lord says to us, as he said to Paul himself, “my grace is enough for you, my power is at its best in weakness”. This was the case for all the great men and women of our faith. It was when Saint Peter was being led to his death and was at his most vulnerable that he was also at his strongest. It was when Mary MacKillop was most misunderstood and attacked that she was most open to God’s presence in her life. It was when Mary, the mother of the Lord, stood help-
PHOTO: BRADLEY BARBUTO
Australian man Bradley Barbuto flies the flag for Perth while in Rome on with fellow pilgrims from WA.
B y B radle y B arbu to Sarah Motherwell Catholic school principals, above, from WA were among the contingent in Rome for the occasion. Mgr Keating, below, entertains pilgrims. PHOTOS: BRADLEY BARBUTO
At a reception at Domus Australia, Arcbishop Costelloe was presented with a pectoral cross. Also present was Archbishop Barry Hickey. PHOTOS: BRADLEY BARBUTO
Pilgrims led by Bishop Donald Sproxton and Mgr Michael Keating, above, pose for a group photograph after concelebrated Mass in St Peter's Basilica. Bishop Sproxton and fellow pilgrims queue for the pallium ceremony early in the morning in St Peter's Square, below. Highlights of the pilgrimage to Italy included Mass celebrated at Assisi. PHOTOS: BRADLEY BARBUTO
less at the foot of the cross that she was able to accept the call to be the mother of the Church. It is the same for us. It is when we are most aware of our limitations, overwhelmed by
the challenges we face, or overcome by our failures, that we are most open to the gift of God’s healing and strengthening and empowering grace. “My grace is enough for you,”
says the Lord to each one of us this morning, “for my power is at its best in weakness”. The pallium I am wearing today has three pins inserted into it.
Originally they were meant for a practical purpose – to keep the pallium in place. Today, they symbolise the three nails by which Jesus was pinned to the cross. He was at his
weakest and most helpless – and yet, in him and through him, God’s saving and healing grace was and is offered to us all. Those nails – these pins – remind me and all of us that it is only when we are ready to give ourselves as a gift to God and to each other in love, even at the inevitable cost of suffering, that new life will erupt into our world. This is the mystery of death and resurrection and it is the very heart of our faith. Every time you see me wearing the pallium, may it be a reminder to you that all of us are called to be Good Shepherds to each other, bearing each other’s burdens with courage and love, even when it brings us suffering. And please pray for me, that each time I put on the pallium I might be strengthened in my desire to be the shepherd of God’s Church that he is calling me to be.
A
and
rchbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB said he is hopeful for the future after witnessing the enormous support he has received from the people of Perth. Speaking at a dinner at Domus Australia, the Australian residence in Rome, after receiving the pallium from Pope Benedict, Archbishop Costello said the enthusiasm and joy he saw in the people of Perth who had travelled to Rome for the ceremony was fantastic. "When I went to meet the Pope, I told him where I was from and said I brought the affection and the loyalty of the Church in Perth." Archbishop Costello told The Record his experience in Rome was very powerful and moving and a great experience of the communion of the Church. "In a sense we are so far away in Australia [but] we are also at the very heart of the Church here in Rome. It was beautiful." He also reflected on the Pope's comments on communion and his description of the Church as a symphony. "That is a wonderful image for the Church because we don't all have to be the same but we have to be united and work together to produce this beautiful melody for the Lord. "I think we've got a great future if we try to do that." The Archbishop received his pallium alongside the Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge.
"Today was a very special occasion for Archbishop Mark and myself, but only because it was a special occasion for the Church in Perth and the Church in Brisbane." "It's really about the Church and what it means for us in Brisbane and Perth to belong to the universal Church." In 1992, Archbishop Barry Hickey received his pallium at the same time as then Brisbane Archbishop, John Bathersby. Archbishop Costello said 20 years later there is still a link between Brisbane and Perth
He said he was thrilled to see seminarians from both Rome and Perth joining him for the event. that he hopes he can build upon. He said he was thrilled to see seminarians from both Rome and Perth joining him for the event and hoped it would deepen their own sense of vocation and what it means to belong to the Church. Archbishop Costello thanked Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, the Rector of Domus Australia, Fr Anthony Denton, and the manager, Gabriel Griffa, for welcoming the pilgrims and making the occasion special. He also expressed his gratitude to Archbishop Barry Hickey and Monsignor Michael Keating for helping bring pilgrims from Perth to Rome to be a part of the event.
12
VISTA
therecord.com.au
July 18, 2012
THE PRIEST WHO SHAMED THE
Mafia
They set out to kill a troublesome priest. Instead, they made a martyr and may well have set their victim, Sicilian priest Don Pino Puglisi, on the path to official sainthood, as Edward Pentin reports.
O
n July 3, just days after the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI would beatify the Sicilian anti-Mafia priest Don Pino Puglisi, it became clear not everyone was happy with the decision. Police discovered a bomb in the form of a gas cylinder outside the entrance of a centre in Palermo founded by the late priest. “It’s a gesture that makes us realise we must continue along this path, that we still have to learn all the messages and teaching of Blessed Puglisi,” said the centre’s president, Maurizio Artale. Giuseppe “Pino” Puglisi was a Roman Catholic priest who chose to serve in San Gaetano parish in Palermo’s poor neighbourhood of Brancaccio – his birthplace, also known to be a Mafia stronghold. Don Pino had been parish priest there for three years when, on September 15, 1993 – his 56th birthday – he was gunned down outside his home. The day had been fairly routine: he had celebrated two weddings,
went to a couple of meetings, met parents of soon-to-be baptised infants, and then attended a small birthday party thrown by his friends. But on returning home at 8.20pm, a gunman shot the priest in the head soon after he got out of his car. Don Pino was taken unconscious to a local hospital but surgeons were unable to revive him. Local Mafia bosses, brothers Filippo and Giuseppe Graviano, were later found guilty of ordering the murder and received life sentences in 1998. One of the hired killers reportedly told the police that Don Pino had said, “I was expecting you”, on seeing the gunmen approaching. The murder of Don Pino took place at a time when the Sicilian Mafia was facing challenges from all sides. It had gained considerable influence under the corrupt Christian Democratic governments from the 1950s until the early 1990s when it bribed politicians, judges and officials. But its influence was beginning to wane, and organised crime was becoming targeted by the “Maxi-Trials” – anti-Mafia proceed-
ings led by magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. Both magistrates paid dearly for their heroic work: Falcone, his wife and three bodyguards were killed in a massive bomb attack in May 1992. Paolo Borsellino replaced him, but he and five bodyguards were killed in a car bomb just two months later. Their murders came as the Mafia
While these killings incensed the people, it was the murder of a Catholic priest that crossed the line. were setting off bombs throughout Italy and especially in Sicily. But while these killings incensed the population, it was the murder of a Catholic priest that crossed the line and caused the greatest outcry. A group of Sicilian priests pleaded for Pope John Paul II to attend Don Pino’s funeral, but although that was not possible (he had a previ-
ous engagement to attend to in Tuscany), he made a visit to Sicily the following year. During that trip, the Pontiff praised Don Pino as a “courageous exponent of the Gospel”, said his death was not in vain, and warned that silence and passivity about the Mafia was tantamount to complicity. Born to a working class family in Brancaccio on September 15, 1937, Don Pino’s father was a shoemaker, his mother a dressmaker. He began training for the priesthood at the age of 16 and, following ordination in 1960, served in various parishes, including one struck by a bloody vendetta. He then spent much of his time teaching religious education in schools, became vice-rector of a seminary, and served in other run-down parishes in Palermo. He returned to Brancaccio to be parish priest of San Gaetano in 1990, despite being offered less rough Palermo parishes. Once there, he routinely and fearlessly spoke out against the Mafia who controlled the area, and opened a shelter for underprivileged children. He tried to change
his parishioners’ mentality which, like much of Sicily even today, is conditioned by fear, passivity and omerta, an imposed silence. He was particularly forthright in his preaching, calling on his flock to give leads to authorities about the Mafia’s activities. He refused money from them for traditional feast day celebrations, and would not allow Mafia “men of honour” to march at the head of religious processions. But his efforts focused on justice, solidarity and rehabilitation, and were primarily directed at the young, whom he saw as the key to eventually freeing the region from the grip of organised crime. He took disadvantaged children off the streets and discouraged them from dropping out of school and becoming embroiled in a life of theft, drug dealing and selling contraband cigarettes. He implored them to take responsibility for their own lives, and founded the centre in Palermo. “Get rid of that which leads you down the wrong path,” he would tell them, while his favourite rhetorical question was: “And what if somebody did something?” - meaning,
VISTA
therecord.com.au July 18, 2012
13
A Rosary prayer by many other names Dear Father, I like the litany to Our Lady that is often said after the Rosary but I am intrigued by where the Church got it. Who wrote it and for how long have we had it?
T
Left: Pope Benedict XVI celebrates an outdoor Mass in Palermo, Sicily in 2010 (CNS). Above: A photo of Don Pino during Mass. Below Left: Don Pino donning his friendly and familiar smile. Below Right: A map of San Gaetano parish in Brancaccio, Palermo where Don Puglisi had served for three years. GRAPHIC: M DE SOUSA
SAN GAETANO PARISH IN BRANCACCIO, PALERMO
PALERMO
SICILY
perhaps, “You don’t have to follow suit.” In his inevitable exchanges with the Mafia, he refused to award a construction contract to a firm they proposed to save the crumbling roof of the parish’s 18th century church. His parishioners likewise put up resistance, and were similarly targeted, receiving death threats or vandalism to their houses. Writing in Commonweal in 2002, Lawrence S Cunningham described Don Pino’s basic intuition of the Mafia’s ideology as “radically pagan and profoundly anti-Christian” and that his struggle “was a kind of exorcism in the name of the Gospel.” He even wrote a parody of the Mafia, devising a special Our Father for them. It reads: O godfather to me and my family, You are a man of honour and worth. Your name must be respected. Everyone must obey you. Everyone must do what you say for this is the law of those who do not wish to die. You give us bread, work; who wrongs you, pays. Do not pardon; it is an infamy. Those who speak are spies. I put my trust
in you, godfather. Free me from the police and the law. Indeed, Don Pino was well known for his sense of humour and at times even made light of the lack of support from the Church hierarchy. He was ordained by Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini from Palermo who was said to regard communism as a greater threat than the Mafia and
“We must criticise the Church like a mother, never a mother-in-law, when we feel it does not respond ...” once even questioned the latter’s very existence. According to the National Catholic Reporter, when asked by a journalist, “What is the Mafia?” the cardinal flippantly replied: “So far as I know, it could be a brand of detergent.” Don Pino saw it as necessary to challenge such attitudes but to do it sensitively. “We can, we must
criticise the Church when we feel it doesn’t respond to our expectations because it’s absolutely right to seek to improve it,” he said, jokingly adding: “But we should always criticise it like a mother, never a mother-inlaw!” The cause for Don Pino’s beatification and canonisation opened in 1999. As someone the Pope decreed had been killed in odium fidei (out of hatred of the faith), he will be declared a martyr and no miracle is required on account of his intercession. During the homily of his last Mass, said for children about to receive Holy Communion for the first time, he used words which summed up his untiring efforts to defend human dignity in the face of violence – a stand that would lead him to facing that same violence, and paying the ultimate price. “We have said: we want to create a different world,” he remarked. “Let us strive then to create a climate of honesty, of righteousness, of justice, which means the fulfilment of what pleases God.” - The Catholic Herald
he litany you describe is known as the Litany of Loreto, because it was used at the shrine of Loreto in Italy at least since the year 1531. It was officially approved in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V but its origin goes back to long before then. Some writers trace it back to the transporting of the Holy House from the Holy Land to Loreto in 1294, while others suggest an origin as far back as Pope Sergius I (687) or St Gregory the Great at the end of the 6th century. The earliest known printed copy is that of Dillingen in Germany, dating from 1558. It bears the title Order of the Litany of Our Lady as said every Saturday at Loreto and it is the same text we have today with a few slight variations. It contains the invocation “Help of Christians” which does not appear in some other early copies of the litany. The Litany of Loreto clearly owes its inspiration to other earlier litanies of Our Lady. For example, there is a Marian litany in a 12th century codex in the Mainz Library in Germany with the title Litany of Our Lady, Mother of God, the Virgin Mary: a truly good prayer, to be recited daily in any tribulation. Although it appears that Marian litanies were originally intended for private devotion, they soon came to be used in public processions, often asking God for mercy in times of tribulation such as plagues, epidemics, droughts, etc. The Mainz litany begins, as does the Litany of Loreto, with “Lord, have mercy” followed by invocations of the Blessed Trinity such as “God, the Father of heaven, who chose Mary ever Virgin, have mercy on us”. It also contains, like the Litany of Loreto, prayers to Our Lady in her relationship with the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors and virgins, and has such invocations as “refuge of sinners” and “health of the sick”. Another early litany of Our Lady, dating from the late 13th or early 14th century, appears in a codex in the Library of St Mark in Venice. It has 75 invocations, all beginning with “Holy Mary”, many of which are also in the Litany of Loreto with some variations. Among them are “Mother inviolate”, “Queen of Heaven”, “Mistress of the Angels”, “Star of Heaven”, “Gate of Paradise”, “Mother of true Counsel”, “Unfailing Rose” and “Immaculate Virgin”. It, too, speaks of Mary in her
Q&A FR JOHN FLADER
relation with the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and martyrs. While numerous other Marian litanies prior to that of Loreto are known, mention should be made of one found in a manuscript of prayers, copied in 1524 by Fra Giovanni da Falerona. It has 57 praises of Mary, many from earlier litanies and others new. The first ones address Mary as “Mother”, then come some expressing her love for mankind, then the titles given to her in the Creeds, then those beginning with the title “Queen” which are identical to those in the Litany of Loreto. Thus, the Litany of Loreto is clearly based on these earlier litanies going back at least 400 years. The Litany of Loreto begins
Marian litanies were private devotion, but soon came to be used in public processions, often asking God for mercy in times of tribulation. with “Lord, have mercy”, “Christ, have mercy”, and then asks the three divine Persons and the Blessed Trinity to have mercy on us. These prayers are followed by three invocations highlighting Mary’s holiness, 12 addressing her as Mother, six addressing her as Virgin, 13 calling her by various symbolic titles taken mostly from the Old Testament, four extolling her as our advocate in works of mercy, and finally 13 invoking her as Queen. These are followed by three petitions to the Lamb of God. Over the years, new titles of Our Lady have been added by the Popes: “Queen of the most Holy Rosary” in 1675, “Queen conceived without original sin” in 1883, “Mother of good counsel” in 1903, “Queen of peace” in 1917, “Queen assumed into heaven” in 1950, “Mother of the Church” by Pope John Paul II in 1980 and “Queen of the family” by the same Pope in 1995. While we can’t say who wrote this litany or its predecessors, it expresses deep Marian piety and filial trust in the Mother of God, and it should be said after the Rosary whenever possible.
FUN FAITH WITH
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TOLD Across 1. Jesus took pity on them because they were like ____ without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length. 4. For there were so many coming and ____ that there was no time for them even to eat. 5. But people saw them going, and many recognised them; and from every town they all
WORD LIST
CROWD
REACHED
SHEEP LONELY
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PLACE
hurried to the place on foot and ____ it before them. 7. The apostles rejoined Jesus and ____ him all they had done and taught. Down 2. So they went off in the boat
GOING
to a lonely ____ where they could be by themselves. 3. And Jesus said to them, ‘Come away to some ____ place all by yourselves and rest for a while’ 6. So as Jesus stepped ashore he saw a large ____.
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therecord.com.au July 18, 2012
15
The Pope’s latest
WATCHDOG Pope Benedict chose a fellow German, Gerhard Muller, with a prodigious output of theological writing to head one of the Church’s most sensitive and important roles as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, writes Carol Glatz.
E
ARLIER this month, Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Gerhard Muller of Regensburg, Germany the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The 64-year-old expert in dogmatic theology and ecumenism, who has co-authored a work on liberation theology, replaced US Cardinal William Levada, who retired at 76. As head of the doctrinal congregation, the Archbishop also assumes the roles of president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the International Theological Commission. The appointment automatically elevates the former bishop to the rank of archbishop, according to a Vatican statement on July 2. The Archbishop’s academic research focuses on “ecumenism, modern age theology, the Christian understanding of revelation, theological hermeneutics and ecclesiology - the priesthood and the diaconate”, according to the website of the Diocese of Regensburg. He has authored more than 400 works with the most wellknown being the 900-page Catholic Dogmatics: For the Study and Practice of Theology. In 2004, he co-authored a book titled On the Side of the Poor: The Theology of Liberation with Dominican Father Gustavo Gutierrez, who is considered the father of liberation theology. Though the doctrinal congregation, led by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, asked Fr Gutierrez to write and rewrite articles clarifying some of his theological and pastoral points during the 1990s, the doctrinal congregation expressed approval in 2004 of his latest work on ecclesial communion which was published by a pontifical university. Archbishop Muller has been a member of the doctrinal congregation since 2007 and was a member of the International Theological Commission from 1998 to 2003 both bodies Pope Benedict led until 2005 when he was elected Pontiff. The Archbishop also is a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He was named in June as a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He also is a member of the doctrinal congregation’s Committee for the Preparation of the Year of Faith, which helped draw up a note of pastoral recommendations for the year, which begins in October. He has close ties to Pope Benedict and, in 2008, helped establish the Pope Benedict XVI Institute which is publishing a complete collection of works by Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope personally commissioned the Archbishop to lead the publication of his collected
PREFECTS OF THE CDF
2005 - 2012
WILLIAM LEVADA
Prefects of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are regarded as among the top theologians of the Church. In recent decades they have included Cardinal William Levada, the first US prelate to head the CDF, and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, seen below at right as a young theological expert at Vatican II. PHOTOS: CNS
2012...
1981 - 2005
GERHARD MULLER
works, according to the Diocese of Regensburg. He is also a contributing academician of the Pontifical Academy of St Thomas Aquinas. In his new capacity at the doctrinal office, the Archbishop will follow the Vatican-mandated reform of the US Leadership Conference of Women Religious. He will also oversee talks with traditional-
JOSEPH RATZINGER
unauthorised ordinations violate canon law and create a “dangerous situation” for the Church. There have been incidents of abuse involving the diocese, including the cathedral’s famous boys’ choir and school. Two priests accused of abuse in the 1950s have been jailed and the Archbishop has said any claims of sexual abuse would be treated with “the maxi-
and promised “every imaginable assistance”. During a 2010 conference in Rome marking the Year for Priests, he told reporters it was “stupidity” to believe that celibacy causes clerical sexual abuse, and that any priest who sexually abuses a child has placed himself outside the priesthood, even before the Church acts formally to dismiss him.
He has authored more than 400 works, with the most wellknown being the 900-page Catholic Dogmatics: for the study and practice of theology. ist Catholics and the handling of accusations of sexual abuse of minors by priests - two issues he has dealt with extensively as bishop of Regensburg. The traditionalist Society of St Pius X has a seminary in Zaitzkofen in the Diocese of Regensburg, and the Archbishop has criticised the society’s illicit ordinations of priests and deacons there as “a sin against Church unity”. He has said the
mum transparency”. However, he faced criticism for his reinstatement in 2004 of a priest previously convicted of child molestation. The priest, whose therapist had declared him no longer dangerous, was arrested in 2007 on additional abuse charges. Upon news of the arrest, Muller expressed his “deepest regret and sympathy towards those children who have been mentally scarred”
Concerning the Church’s teaching against women’s ordination, he explained in a speech in 2002 that the Catholic Church does not profess that “men are superior to women” but emphasised that Christ chose only men as his apostles. On the level of symbolism, with Christ as the bridegroom of the Church, the maleness of the priest is essential, he said. “Being priests, just like being a
father or a mother, is not a social profession, position or role. “Being a priest implies a personal relationship and the representation of a person through another,” he said. Born in Mainz, Germany on December 31, 1947, the Archbishop became a priest in 1978 and served in his native diocese as a chaplain and high school religion teacher. With degrees in philosophy and theology, he was a professor of dogmatic theology in Munich from 1986 to 2002. He was named Bishop of Regensburg in 2002 and then Cardinal Ratzinger attended his episcopal ordination. Bishop Muller chose as the motto for his episcopate Dominus Iesus (Jesus is Lord) which comes from St Paul’s letter to the Romans and is the title of the 2000 document on salvation through Christ alone, issued by the doctrinal congregation under then Cardinal Ratzinger. - CNS
16
OPINION
EDITORIAL
The issues at stake in US standoff Here is an (edited) editorial titled “Why we are suing the government” from the June 3 issue of Our Sunday Visitor, a national Catholic newsweekly based in the US. It was written by the newspaper’s editorial board.
T
he Catholic Church in the United States is in the midst of a historic conflict that it did not initiate, that it cannot avoid, and that – if lost – may have serious implications for the ability of all churches to define themselves and to live their faith in the public square. There have been a growing number of assaults on religious liberty at both the federal and the state level, but none may be more severe nor have a broader impact than regulations issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services forcing Catholic organisations to provide and facilitate abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives and sterilisation for their employees. It did so by identifying these as “preventive services” under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and then narrowly defining what would constitute a religious employer who could seek an exemption. According to the government, a religious employer could only qualify for an exemption if: 1. The inculcation of religious values is the purpose of the organisation. 2. The organisation primarily employs persons who share the religious tenets of the organisation. 3. The organisation primarily serves persons who share the religious tenets of the organisation. 4. The organisation is a certain type of non-profit organisation. In a host of Catholic apostolates, from health care and charity to higher education and publishing, not all of these criteria are likely to be met, yet all of these apostolates are most surely doing the work of the Gospel – employing non-Catholics as well as Catholics, serving non-Catholics as well as Catholics, practising works of mercy even if no religious tract is exchanged or evangelising message uttered. These criteria mean that the government now determines whether Catholic organisations are sufficiently religious, using criteria that are not consistent with the Catholic faith. Although the president had promised – in his 2009 speech at Notre Dame and elsewhere – that he would respect freedom of religious conscience in the health care debate, these regulations are an enormous violation of religious liberty, forcing Catholic organisations to fund medical procedures and drugs that the Church teaches are morally wrong. A so-called accommodation announced last February would ostensibly make the insurance companies used by religious organisations provide “contraceptive care free of charge”. It is unclear to what extent this accommodation in fact changes the regulations. Furthermore, even assuming that the insurance companies do provide such services “free of charge”, this accommodation does nothing to relieve the burden of all those Catholic organisations that are self-insured. At this point, sincere and good-faith efforts by the US bishops to resolve this issue with the White House have PO Box 3075 failed. Legislative efforts to Adelaide Terrace grant relief have failed as well. PERTH WA 6832 Non-profit companies as well as medical systems, charitable office@therecord.com.au organisations, universities and Tel: (08) 9220 5900 more – have no recourse but Fax: (08) 9325 4580 to take their case to the courts before the die is cast and we lose all opportunity to appeal. For this reason, on May 21, 2012, Our Sunday Visitor joined with 42 other Catholic dioceses and organisations in suing the federal government to nullify the HHS preventive care mandate and declare it unconstitutional. It seems to us hardly a coincidence that this suit is taking place in our centennial year. Founded 100 years ago by then-Father John Noll, Our Sunday Visitor from its beginning sought to inform Catholics about the issues of the day, form them in the faith, and defend that faith from attack. We know that many Americans – and even many Catholics – are confused about this debate. Politicians and elements of the news media have sought to make it a war against women or contraception, and they have portrayed the Church as seeking to impose its values on others or as being covertly political. We also acknowledge that many Catholics do not understand the reasons for the Church’s moral opposition to contraception, sterilisation and abortion-inducing drugs. This lack of understanding points to a significant catechetical need the Church should address internally. We reiterate, however, that this is not about the legality of such practices in society, nor is it about how many Catholics understand the church’s position. It is about the Church’s right to practise what it preaches. In opposing the HHS regulations, the Church is also defending the religious liberty of all believers. Even those who may not be inclined to agree with the Church’s position on issues like contraception and sterilisation recognise that once this precedent has been set, once the guarantee of religious liberty has been breached, other governments and other elected officials will find it much easier to impose their standards and their priorities on our Church or others. Today, Our Sunday Visitor stands proudly with our fellow Catholic apostolates and bishops in resisting this challenge. We ask all our readers to stand with us – in charity, praying first and foremost for conversions of heart; in civility, arguing the facts of this case without recourse to bitter partisanship or political rhetoric; and in solidarity, knowing whatever sacrifices we bear and challenges we endure, we are only doing what is our responsibility as citizens practising our faith in the public square.
THE RECORD
therecord.com.au
July 18, 2012
Effective aid, development IN HIS ARTICLE ‘What Price Foreign Aid?’, Guy Crouchback paints a negative view of foreign aid. As the Catholic agency for international aid and development, we bear great responsibility. We do not avoid scrutiny; we welcome it. And with that scrutiny comes inevitable criticism. Some we accept and some we reject. Certainly, to say contemporary aid and development does not work is simply wrong. Like all commercial sectors, the aid and development sector grows and evolves with time, experience and need. The idea that aid agencies take a bandaid approach to humanitarian relief and long-term development, by flying in and flying out, leaving the world’s poorest to their own devices, is, at best, outdated. Moreover, to claim that “aid agencies have a vested interest in not ending poverty” not only undermines the deep-seated values and principles that drive aid agencies to act for justice, but insults the donors and supporters in the Australian community who give over their hard-earned dollars on a daily basis. The very foundation of what the aid and development sector does is to assist communities to become self-sufficient and live in dignity. From the outset, the plan is to become redundant. We do not want to be necessary. At Caritas Australia, we are driven by the principles of Catholic
Social Teaching, including: The Dignity of the Human Person, The Common Good, Subsidiarity, Solidarity, the Preferential Option for the Poor and Participation. The majority of our work is long-term global development. We are embedded on every continent teaching men, women and children how to catch fish, not how to eat fish. We seek out the poorest of the poor. Then we educate and support people to learn and have livelihoods, run businesses, tend healthy crops, raise livestock, go to school, construct homes, read, write, avoid violence, build peace and become independent. It is the communities which drive their own development; we simply accompany and support them. Everything we do requires building partnerships and ensuring they are empowered and capable of sustaining initiatives and projects. In real terms, this may mean finding a local builder and financing construction of a well for clean water. It may mean providing farmers with fast growing seeds for crops a village can eat and to take to market. That money can be used to buy clothes or pay for children to get to and from school. It may be assisting community leaders to build a long-term relationship with a local militia group so they can feel safer when they go to sleep at night. To suggest we don’t want to do ourselves out of a job is absurd. Effective aid and development practice is not a disincentive to local development, it is a catalyst. Ray Lowe BUNBURY, WA
The GFC circuit breaker FRANCIS Rocca’s article on liturgy wars in The Record (July 4) clearly contained an agenda. 1. He speaks of the vast majority of Catholics having accepted the Mass in its current form, as though this were a matter of some kind of vote, each parish deciding what it wants in the matter of liturgy. This is not Catholic teaching but often justified as the ‘spirit of Vatican II’. 2. He says it is not true that the new Mass has turned the Mass into a common meal at the expense of being a sacrifice. But that is exactly what you will be told when you talk to parishioners at the ground level. Again ‘the spirit of the Council.’ 3. The priest facing the altar or the people is a matter of flexibility, as is receiving communion standing and on the hand? One way or the other it is a serious matter. 4. The liturgy is a work in progress? Only in the very long term, and that does not mean constant or radical innovation. The impression conveyed is that ‘conservatives’ and ‘progressives’ are simply two sides of an ongoing debate. Yet this idea is quite in opposition to Catholic teaching. But what else can we expect when we have produced a whole generation of Catholics who do not know the Catechism. Peter Gilet BELMONT, WA
Letters: editor@therecord.com.au
Aussie aid: ensuring fewer children see the light of day Our country’s ‘family planning’ foreign aid is not only absurd but offensive.
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OPENED the newspaper this week to read that Australia will be doubling an aspect of its foreign aid to $50 million to assist the poor women of the world – a wonderful idea. Perhaps it will go towards vital medication for women in Sub-Saharan Africa; perhaps food and vitamins to women in South Asia; or perhaps it will pay for education and training in more effective farming methods? No. The money will all go towards ‘family planning’. And not just our $50 million, add to that half a billion dollars from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with a total amount from worldwide governments and the private sector of $2.6 billion. This amount was committed during the recently held family planning summit in London. So that is $2.6 billion for condoms, contraceptive pills and IUDs (small devices placed in the uterus which release a chemical to prevent pregnancy). Add to this an army of frontline health workers to go into far flung places and educate women about how to best stop having children. This is family planning that has as its aim the destruction of the family. The money will go to sustain the current contraceptive use by 260 million women in 69 of the world’s poorest nations. It will further ‘help’ another 222 million women who want to use contraception but do not have access to it. I wonder who spoke to these women? It is no secret that much foreign aid has for years been dependent on women signing up to family planning programs. If you have five hungry children and your next ration pack is dependent on having a device inserted in your uterus, it may not leave a great deal of choice. As we all know, a mother will sac-
Foolish Wisdom BERNARD TOUTOUNJI
rifice everything for her children, and in this case her very dignity as a woman. Too often, truckloads of contraceptives make it across war-torn and famine-ridden borders instead of truckloads of food, water and medicines. A number of reports from the family planning summit speak about the challenges faced in implementing family planning programs including in places where contraception is seen as unacceptable because of culture or religion. Does
We now go into developing nations, treat women and girls like cattle, injecting them with drugs ... this mean that a practically atheistic West will charge on into nations with all its money and superiority and, one family at a time, cut down the pillars of culture and faith that make these people who they are? The Western world has so enthusiastically embraced contraception that many nations in Europe are no longer even replacing their own population. The immigration we so heavily rely on in Australia is coming from the very nations whose populations we want to destroy. At the heart of all this is a loss of seeing fertility as a good. The very essence of a woman is that she can bear new life. Some women may
never be able to conceive through no fault of their own but that is very different to taking the greatest aspect of femininity and killing it with a cocktail of chemicals. Ironically, in the 21st century, we are very conscious of what we eat, yet millions upon millions of women continuously ingest harmful chemicals to stop what is a perfectly natural process. Contraception is the only ‘medication’ given to someone who is completely healthy to stop them being completely healthy. Instead of educating women (and men) about how their bodies work we create chemicals to override them. Just last month another two lawsuits were filed against one of the largest manufacturers of the IUD. The incident involved the IUD device migrating from the location where it was implanted so that the women were forced to undergo a hysterectomy and now suffer ongoing pain and permanent injury. The notion of ‘family planning’ that is promoted by wealthy companies such as Marie Stopes International and Planned Parenthood (the largest providers of abortion in the world) has infected completely the governments of the secular western world. The mentality has also spread to most international aid organisations that purport to be pro-child. (Think carefully next time you get bowled up in a shopping centre and asked to sponsor children in Africa.) Having sacrificed our own women and daughters to the god of sterility, we now seek to go into the bodies of women and girls in developing nations, and treating them like nothing better than cattle, inject them with drugs that ‘we know’ will be for their own good. The situation is an international disgrace.
OPINION
therecord.com.au July 18, 2012
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Rapture contingency planning misses the point Near or distant, we are all headed for our own rapture. What will matter is how we used each moment before it arrives.
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F WE are to believe the calculations of a calendar discovered in the ruins of an ancient Mayan civilisation, by the time this edition goes to print we have only 157 sleeps until the end of the world. It is a date that has been milked by Hollywood opportunists and inspired similar mania to the Y2K fever that erupted prior to New Year’s Eve, 1999. The calendar discovered by archaeologists, written over 1,300 years ago, mysteriously concludes on December 21, 2012, spawning a wave of doomsday predictions. When my ten year old son, Joseph, arrived home recently asking about the impending catastrophe, I provided my own theory to allay his fear. I suggested that perhaps immediately after the creator of the ancient calendar had finished carving “21/12/12”, his wife had finally had enough of this time consuming activity and yelled, “Rama, if you don’t stop working on that stupid calendar and get outside to do some gardening, that jungle is going to take over this house!”
I Say, I Say MARK REIDY
My son didn’t appear to be overly impressed with my theory. But I explained that no human knew the answers to the world’s future. Jesus has told us: “But as for that day or hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son; no one but the Father” (Mk 13:32). Predictions of the end time probably began with the beginning of time, as humans attempted to interpret and control the environment around them. Yet, despite Jesus’ insistence that we would never know when the “master of the house” would arrive or when “sky and earth would pass away”, the focus on future occurrences continues to grow within some Christian circles. An increasing number of evangelical churches have embraced the concept of “the rapture”, a phe-
nomenon they believe stems from an interpretation of I Thessalonians (4:16-17) in which St Paul writes of Jesus descending from heaven and “believers” on earth physically rising to meet him in the clouds and be with him forever. The remaining population will be left to battle it out on a God-forsaken planet. It is understandable that in a world progressively removing God from every facet of its existence, there will be a growing number of
I do not want my children to be absorbed by fear of the present or escape to the future. genuine Christians who find comfort in the thought that they will soon be removed from the mayhem; however, I don’t believe it is where God wants us to be channelling our attention. Focusing on events such as “the rapture”, “Armageddon”, “the second coming” or, in fact, any future
event that is beyond our control, tends to tap into our instincts of fear and self-preservation, taking our focus from the present and causing us to turn our intentions inward. I do not want my children to live each day being self-absorbed by a fear of the present or a desire to escape into the future. I would rather they heeded the words of Jesus, “Do not worry about tomorrow …”, so that they can focus their hearts and minds on recognising God’s love in their lives today and to understand how they can share it with those around them. I want them to always be conscious of his warning to “Stay awake” so that they will not allow the unnecessary distractions of this world to rob them from fulfilling God’s plan in their lives. In the past two, weeks my life has been punctuated by three deaths. Firstly, I received the funeral book from a friend in Melbourne whose 80 year old father had died. It was entitled “A celebration of life”. My friend informed me that it had
been a joyous occasion. Two weeks later, I attended the cremation of a woman a few years older than myself. Here, there was pain and confusion. In between, I attended the funeral of a baby, born to a 16 year old, who had only survived on this earth for 24 hours. There was grief and devastation. In worldly terms, they represented a life fulfilled, a life incomplete and a life that never really began. What these funerals told me was that, just as we should never invest our time and energy speculating on the future of the world, nor should we do so with our own lives. We have no idea as to the time we have here on earth, so we need to receive each and every day as a gift from God. I may die today or I may continue to live for many more years – either way I will inevitably come face to face with God. And when I see him for who he really is, my guess is that my greatest concern won’t be “Did I get the date right?” but rather an indescribable regret for how little I had loved Him.
When marriage is not quite normality
For one woman, living with her own same sex attraction and choosing to marry has been rocky – but ultimately rewarding.
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ne of the most controversial teachings of Catholicism is its teaching on homosexuality. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered”. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. (2357) For most of us, this teaching is challenging, especially if someone we love is gay or lesbian. But what if you are the Catholic struggling with these desires? Is it possible to be faithful to the Church’s teachings and still be happy? Yes, it is. I am a 37-year-old Catholic woman who has been happily married for nearly 15 years. We have five children whom I homeschool. I also struggle daily with same-sex attraction. Most gays and lesbians will tell you they “knew” they were homosexual from a young age. I didn’t. I had the usual crushes on boys growing up and, like most heterosexual women, envisoned myself getting married and having children with a great man. Then I met Nora. Nora lived in my freshman dorm and we had several classes together, so we began spending a lot of time together. My boyfriend encouraged the friendship because it gave me a buddy when he was working. Nora and I had many of the same interests and were quickly “BFFs.” One day a few months later, however, a startling thought crossed my mind: “I’m in love with Nora.” It frightened me badly to have that thought. I cried for hours, trying to figure a way out of the conundrum of being in love with a woman. It was all there, just as it had been with men: the emotional and, yes, even the physical attraction. I avoided Nora, but she insisted on knowing what was wrong. I finally told her how I felt, almost hoping she’d recoil in horror. Instead, she confessed she felt the same about me. And no, neither
of us had ever been attracted to a woman before. I know some of you may be thinking, “What do you mean, you just ‘woke up’ one day and fell in love with a woman? Can that really happen??” Not really. There were many factors in both our pasts that made us vulnerable to same-sex attraction. Nora had been repeatedly molested by a male cousin as a child. I was abandoned by my birth mother and grew up being physically abused by my mentallyill adoptive mother. For Nora, I was safe. For me, Nora offered the nurturing bond with a female I’d never had. Neither of us had had any guidance about sexuality other than “don’t get pregnant.” Nor did we have any faith in God, which made it easier to ignore our consciences when tempted to become involved. That summer, we began what turned out to be a three-year affair. Nora and I chose to be roommates for my remaining two years of college. Bizarrely enough, we periodically dated men while together. In the days before same-sex “marriage” and Cat Cora’s embryo exchanges, neither of us could imagine giving up our dream of a “real” family. I realise now that despite our attraction to one another, God’s call to
union through marriage was still written on our hearts. We cared deeply for one another, but we still wanted the fairy tale wedding, the marriage, the children, the white picket fence. And in our mind, none of that was possible as a lesbian couple. Perhaps that’s why we went to great pains to hide our relationship from friends and family. Though we couldn’t imagine life without one another, we couldn’t imagine a future together, either. We both felt an enormous sense of shame about our behavior, though most of our friends were liberal and would never have judged us. Half our friends were even gay or lesbian themselves. Yet we instinctively protected our images as heterosexual women. A few months before graduation, I met a young man whose brilliant mind and sense of humour ended my relationship with Nora. Though I didn’t marry him, he nonetheless offered me the sense of normalcy I’d craved since becoming involved with a woman. Nora didn’t take it well and decided to come out as a lesbian to her family. She exposed our secret to anyone who would listen. Her family, which had warmly welcomed me into their home for three years, completely shunned
me. In their eyes, I had corrupted their daughter and was a sexual deviant. I never dated another woman after Nora, mostly because I never met another to whom I felt such a strong emotional attraction. The sexual attraction to women, however, never went away. I discovered that while I was still attracted to individual men, I was primarily attracted to women as a whole, both sexually and emotionally. Two years later, I met my husband, a man I felt all those things for and more. I went into marriage happy I’d finally achieved a “normal” life. Yet even then, same-sex attraction insidiously inserted itself. When I travelled out of town for work, I struggled not to go to lesbian bars. But I had promised fidelity and I had to honour that. I somehow knew if I cheated on my husband, I would be truly lost as a person. I thank God every day for helping me fight down those temptations. Then we became Catholic. If our vows were sacred before, now they were sacramental. And while I was obedient to the Church, I did not fully understand its teachings on sexuality until I studied the “theology of the body” by John Paul II. Finally, I understood my body’s purpose and why marriage was so sacred. I understood why I’d never been satisfied with Nora and why I’d yearned to unite myself to a man and have a family. But understanding my sexuality did not make the temptations go away. I could not just turn off the habit of being sexually aroused by
It helps, too, that what I have with my husband trumps anything I could have in a lesbian relationship. women. For a while, I convinced myself that as long as I wasn’t actually engaging in homosexual acts, I wasn’t sinning (ie fantasy is okay). The more I understood authentic chastity, however, the flimsier this excuse became. Am I “pure of heart” when indulging in sinful
fantasies during the most intimate act of my marriage? How is imagining another person during that time respectful to my beloved? I knew that real chastity required something more than simply following the letter of the law; it required a conversion of heart. I am happy to say the battle today is easier than in the early years of marriage. I remain faithful to God and my husband because I work hard to avoid near occasions of sin. For instance, I avoid deeply emotional friendships with women that eclipse the one with my husband. I don’t watch gay- and lesbianthemed movies. I also have trained my imagination to avoid impure fantasies. It can be tempting to fall into old thought patterns, especially if I’m tired. But if necessary, I’ll shut down physically and emotionally to avoid offending God. No fleeting sensual pleasure is worth offending Jesus, who suffered so much to save me. It helps, too, to know that what I have with my husband trumps anything I could have had in a homosexual relationship. The most amazing quality of our union is God’s gift of cooperating with him in creating a unique person who possesses an immortal soul. It’s a transcendent, awesome spiritual privilege I would have missed as a lesbian. Naturally, I have profound compassion for those who struggle as I do. But I don’t believe we must indulge same-sex attraction if we experience it. I’m really no different than a straight man who struggles not to objectify women. Or a straight woman who is tempted to fornicate. We’re all broken people, which is why we all need Christ. I’m not capable of re-ordering my broken sexuality, but as I’ve witnessed in the past decade, it can be reordered with grace and trust in Jesus. It just takes time and a desire to be healed. Sanctification, after all, is a lifelong process. I take comfort in the fact that slowly but surely, God is healing the wounds in my soul from the sexual sins that marred it. Does God love his children who struggle with same-sex attraction? Yes, of course. But he loves us too much to leave us that way. - www.catholicsistas.com
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PANORAMA
NEXT WEEK TUESDAY, JULY 24 ‘The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs’ Seminar 7-8pm at St Benedict’s School Hall, Alness St Applecross. Presented by Norma Woodcock. View a weekly short video broadcast at www.thefaith. org.au. Cost: collection. Accreditation recognition by the CEO. Enq: 9487 1772 or www.normawoodcock.com. WEDNESDAY, JULY 25 Growing in Faith Together - Session 7.30-9.30pm at St Thomas More Parish, 100 Dean Rd, Bateman. Question and answer session with Fr Sean. Coffee/tea and biscuits available. Enq: Ivan 0433 224 541 or catholicfaithrenewal@gmail. com. THURSDAY, JULY 26 Charismatic Renewal CCR Together 7.30pm at Good Shepherd Church, Altone St, Lockridge. All invited to CCR Perth’s prayer night. Evening includes prayer and praise, and teaching,“CCR in the Year of Grace”, followed by Prayer Team Ministry. Light supper will conclude the evening. Enq: Dan 9398 4973 or dhewitt@ aapt.net.au. Feast of St Anne, Mother of Our Lady - Masses 12.10pm and 6.30pm at St Anne’s Parish, 11 Heir St, Belmont. Begins with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction. Followed by Mass. Enq: Fr Michael 9444 9604. FRIDAY, JULY 27 “Holy Hour Adoration” Holy Trinity Community 7pm at St Benedict Parish, 115 Ardross St, Ardross. Enq: Adri 0412 948 688.
5658 or 0408 801 215 or angelmich@bigpond. com. FRIDAY, AUGUST 10 TO SUNDAY, AUGUST 12 Renewing the Light of Hope - Separated, Divorced, Widowed 7.30pm at Epiphany Retreat Centre, Rossmoyne. Beginning Experience is running a weekend program designed to assist and support people in learning to close the door gently on a relationship that has ended, in order to get on with living. Registration: Josie 9285 8661 or Mauz 0419 928 110. www.beginningexperienceperth.org.au. SATURDAY, AUGUST 11 Friends of L’Arche Retreat 10am at Infant Jesus Parish Hall, Wellington St, Morley. Learn more about the worldwide family of L’Arche and explore how we can live the essence of L’Arche locally at retreat by Archbishop Roger Herft. No charge, please bring a plate to share for lunch. Nora 9440 1046 or 0408 865 899, Evelyn 9370 2541 or 0432 451 171, or tierneyfamily@ gotalk.net.au. Natural Family Planning Week – by Billings Life WA 1pm at Newman Siena Centre (Bishop Clune Lecture Theatre), 33 Williamstown Rd, Doubleview. Begins with tea and coffee greeting; 1.30pm: “Responsible Honesty”, a presentation with time to reflect and share. 3.30pm Mass by Bishop Sproxton. Followed by wine and cheese. RSVP: August 3. Enq: Mandie 9399 3140 or 0407 577 435 or nfpwa@westnet.com.au. St Padre Pio Prayer Day 8.30am at St Joseph Parish, Hamilton St, Bassendean. Begins with Padre Pio DVD; 10am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Divine Mercy, Silent Adoration and Benediction. 11am holy Mass. Confessions available, 12pm lunch: bring a plate. Enq: Des 6278 1540. SUNDAY, AUGUST 19
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July 18, 2012
For all interested in studying the Rule of St Benedict and its relevance to the everyday life of today for laypeople: Vespers and afternoon tea afterwards. Enq: Secretary 9457 5758. EVERY FOURTH SUNDAY Holy Hour for Vocations to the Priesthood, Religious Life 2-3pm at Infant Jesus Parish, Wellington St, Morley. The hour includes exposition of the blessed Eucharist, silent prayer, scripture and prayers of intercession. Come and pray that those discerning vocations can hear clearly God’s call. EVERY SECOND AND FOURTH MONDAY A Ministry to the Un-Churched 12.30-1.30pm at St John’s Pro-Cathedral, Victoria Ave, Perth (opposite church offices). With charismatic praise, and prayer teams available. Help us ‘reach out to the pagans’ or soak in the praise. Enq: Dan 9398 4973. EVERY LAST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH Filipino Mass 3pm at Notre Dame Church, cnr Daley and Wright Sts, Cloverdale. Please bring a plate to share for socialisation after Mass. Enq: Fr Nelson Po 0410 843 412, Elsa 0404 038 483. EVERY MONDAY Evening Adoration and Mass 7pm at St Thomas Parish, Claremont, cnr Melville St and College Rd. Eucharistic Adoration, Reconciliation, evening prayer and Benediction, followed by Mass and night prayer at 8pm. Enq: Kim on 9384 0598 or email to claremont@perthcatholic. org.au.
LAST MONDAY OF THE MONTH
Medjugorje Evening of Prayer 7-9.30pm at St Bernadette, 49 Jugan St, Glendalough. Begins with Eucharistic Adoration, holy Rosary, Benediction and Holy Mass. Free DVDs on Fr Donald Calloway’s conversion testimony. Enq: Eileen 9402 2480 or 0407 471 256 or medjugorje@y7mail.com.
Meditative Prayer in the Style of Taize 7-8pm at Sisters of St Joseph Chapel, 16 York St, South Perth. Theme: Celebrating St Mary MacKillop’s feast day. Includes prayer, song and silence in a candlelight chapel – symbol of Christ the Light of the world. Please bring a torch and a friend. Enq: Sr Maree 0414 683 926.
Be Still in His Presence – Ecumenical Christian Program 7.30-8.45pm at St Swithun Anglican Church, 195 Lesmurdie St, Lesmurdie (hall behind church). Begins with songs of praise and worship, silent time, lectio divina, small group sharing and a cuppa at the end. Enq: Lynne 9293 3848 or 043 5252 941.
SATURDAY, JULY 28
FRIDAY TO SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14-16
EVERY TUESDAY
Religion Sign Language Workshop 9am-12pm at 25 Windsor St, Perth. Share and create signs for different religions, theological, terminology and glossary of religious words. Cost: free. Morning tea and lunch provided. RSVP by July 25. Enq: Admin 9328 9571.
‘Contemplating The Face Of Christ In The Franciscan Tradition’ Retreat Retreat live in/live out at the Redemptorist Retreat House, 190 Vincent St, North Perth. Leader: Fr John Cooper from Sydney. Enq: Anthony 0449 864 287 or anthony.porrins@gmail.com and Angela 9275 5658 or 0408 801 215 or angelmich@bigpond.com.
Novena to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal 6pm at Pater Noster Church, Marmion and Evershed Sts, Myaree. Mass at 5.30pm followed by Benediction. Enq: John 0408 952 194.
UPCOMING SUNDAY, JULY 29 Love Ministry Healing 6pm at St Denis Parish, 60 Osborne St, Joondanna. Mass followed by healing. Love ministry healing, Catholic Charismatic Renewal team includes clergy. All welcome, come and be prayed over, healed from the past or present issues or stand in for a loved one who may be ill or facing problems at this time. Enq: Gilbert 0431 570 322 or Fr David Watt 9376 1734.
REGULAR EVENTS EVERY SUNDAY Gate of Heaven Catholic Radio Join the Franciscans of the Immaculate from 7.309pm on Radio Fremantle 107.9FM for Catholic radio broadcast of EWTN and our own live shows. Enq: radio@ausmaria.com.
St Aloysius Parish - 50th Anniversary Mass by Archbishop 6.30pm at St Aloysius Parish, cnr Keightley Rd West and Henry St, Shenton Park. Begins with Mass. Mass celebrant: Archbishop Costelloe, followed by a light supper in the parish centre. Enq: Lyn 6380 1151 or fitzgerr@bigpond.net.au.
Pilgrim Mass - Shrine of the Virgin of the Revelation 2pm at Shrine, 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. Commencing with Rosary followed by Benediction. Reconciliation available before every celebration. Anointing of the sick administered during Mass every second Sunday of the month. Pilgrimage in honour of the Virgin of the Revelation last Sunday of the month. Side entrance to church and shrine open daily between 9am-5pm. Enq Sacri 9447 3292.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4
EVERY FIRST SUNDAY
Divine Mercy Pilgrimage – with Br Stanley Villavicencio 11.30am BYO lunch, Divine Mercy Church site, cnr Muchea East Rd and Santa Gertrudas Dr, Lower Chittering. 12.30pm Exposition, Rosary and Benediction, 1pm Holy Mass. 2pm Br Stanley’s talk, 3pm Chaplet of Divine Mercy and Veneration Service. Tea provided. Transport booking: Francis 9459 3873 / 0404 893 877 or Laurie 0448 833 472.
St Mary’s Cathedral Youth Group – Fellowship with Pizza 5pm at St Mary’s Cathedral, 17 Victoria Sq, Perth. Begins with youth Mass followed by fellowship downstairs in parish centre. Bring a plate to share. Enq: Bradley on youthfromsmc@gmail.com.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 2
Day with Mary 9am-5pm at St Emilie de Vialar Parish, 151 Amherst Rd, Canning Vale. Day of prayer and instruction based on the Fatima message. 9am video; 10.10am holy Mass; Reconciliation, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic Adoration, sermons on Eucharist and on Our Lady, Rosaries and Stations of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enq: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286. SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 Divine Mercy 1.30pm at St Francis Xavier Parish, 25 Windsor St, Perth. The priest for the afternoon will be Fr Peter Meo. Includes Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Homily: Our Lady of Assumption. Followed by holy Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy and First Class Relics of St Faustina. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: John 9457 7771. FRIDAY, AUGUST 10 The Transitus of St Clare – 800th Anniversary 6.30pm at the Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. The Secular Franciscan Order will celebrate The Transitus of St Clare on the 800th Anniversary of her entering into religious life. Please bring a plate to share. Enq: Angela 9275
Singles Prayer and Social Group 7pm at All Saints Chapel, Allendale Sq, 77 St George’s Tce, Perth. Begins with Holy Hour (Eucharistic Adoration, Rosary and teaching) followed by dinner at local restaurant. Meet new people, pray and socialise with other single men and women. Enq: Veronica 0403 841 202. Divine Mercy 1.30pm at St Francis Xavier Parish, 25 Windsor St, East Perth. Homily: The Body and Blood of Jesus. Main celebrant: Fr Johnson Malayil. With Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Reconciliation, holy Rosary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy and Divine Mercy prayers, followed by Benediction and Veneration of First Class Relic of St Faustina Kowalska. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: John 9457 7771. EVERY SECOND SUNDAY Healing Hour 7-8pm at St Lawrence Parish, Balcatta. Join us for songs of praise and worship, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and prayers for the sick. Enq: Fr Irek Czech SDS or parish office Tue-Thu, 9am2.30pm 9344 7066. EVERY THIRD SUNDAY Oblates of St Benedict – Meeting 2pm at St Joseph’s Convent, York St, South Perth.
Novena to God the Father 7.30pm at St Joachim’s parish hall, Victoria Park. Novena followed by reflection and discussions on forthcoming Sunday Gospel. Enq: Jan 9284 1662. EVERY FIRST TUESDAY Short MMP Cenacle for Priests 2pm at Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. Enq: Fr Watt 9376 1734. EVERY WEDNESDAY Holy Spirit of Freedom Community 7.30pm at The Church of Christ, 111 Stirling St, Perth. We are delighted to welcome everyone to attend our Holy Spirit of Freedom praise meeting. Enq: 0423 907 869 or hsofperth@gmail.com. Bible Study at Cathedral 6.15pm at St Mary’s Cathedral, 17 Victoria Sq, Perth. Deepen your faith through reading and reflecting on holy Scripture by Fr Jean-Noel. Meeting room beneath Cathedral. Enq: Marie 9223 1372. Holy Hour - Catholic Youth Ministry CYM is back in 2012. Mass at 5.30pm and Holy Hour (Adoration) at 6.30pm at the Catholic Pastoral Centre, 40A Mary St, Highgate. Enq: www.cym.com or 9422 7912.
St Mary’s Cathedral Praise Meeting 7.45pm every Thursday at the Legion of Mary’s Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. Includes praise, song and healing ministry. Enq: Kay 9382 3668 or fmi@flameministries.org. Group Fifty - Charismatic Renewal Group 7.30pm at the Redemptorist Monastery, 150 Vincent St, North Perth. Includes prayer, praise and Mass. Enq: Elaine 9440 3661. EVERY FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH Prayer in Style of Taizé 7.30-8.30pm at Our Lady of Grace Parish, 3 Kitchener St, North Beach. Includes prayer, song and silence in candlelight – symbol of Christ the light of the world. Taizé info: www.taize.fr. Enq: secretary 9448 4888 or 9448 4457. EVERY FIRST FRIDAY Healing Mass 7pm at St Peter’s Parish, Inglewood. Praise and worship, Exposition and Eucharistic Adoration, Benediction and anointing of the sick followed by holy Mass and fellowship. Celebrants Fr Dat and invited priests. 6.45pm Reconciliation. Enq: Mary Ann 0409 672 304, Prescilla 0433 457 352 and Catherine 0433 923 083. Holy Hour for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life 7pm - Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, 2 Rawlins St, Glendalough. Mass followed by Adoration with Fr Doug Harris. All welcome. Refreshments provided. Healing and Anointing Mass 8.45am Pater Noster Church, Evershed St, Myaree. Begins with Reconciliation followed by 9am Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, anointing of the sick and prayers to St Peregrine. Enq: Joy 9337 7189. Catholic Faith Renewal Evening
Communion of Reparation All Night Vigils 7pm-1.30am at Corpus Christi Church, Lochee St, Mosman Park or St Gerard Majella Church, cnr Ravenswood Dr/Majella Rd, Westminster (Mirrabooka). The Vigils consist of two Masses, Adoration, Benediction, prayers and Confession in reparation for the outrages committed against the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357 or Fr Giosue 9349 2315or John/Joy 9344 2609.
7.30pm at Ss John and Paul Parish, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton – Songs of Praise and Prayer, sharing by a priest followed by thanksgiving Mass and light refreshments after Mass. Enq: Kathy 9295 0913 or Ann 0412 166 164 or catholicfaithrenewal@gmail.com.
Pro-Life Witness Holy Mass at St Brigid’s Midland at 9.30am, followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at nearby abortion clinic, and led by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. Please join us to pray for an end to abortion and the conversion of hearts. Enq Helen 9402 0349. EVERY SECOND FRIDAY OF THE MONTH Discover the Spirituality of St Francis of Assisi 12pm at St Brigid’s Catholic Parish Centre. The Secular Franciscans of Midland Fraternity meet for lunch followed by 1-3pm meeting. Enq: Antoinette 9297 2314. EVERY FIRST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH Healing Mass 12.35pm at St Thomas Parish, cnr Melville St and College Rd, Claremont. Spiritual leader Fr Waddell. Enq: Kim 9384 0598, claremont@perthcatholic.org. au. EVERY LAST SATURDAY
Adonai Ladies Prayer Group 10am in the upper room of St Joseph’s Parish, 3 Salvado Rd, Subiaco. Come and join us for charismatic prayer and praise. Enq: Win 9387 2802 or Noreen 9298 9938.
Novena Devotions – Our Lady Vailankanni of Good Health 5pm at Holy Trinity Parish, 8 Burnett St, Embleton. Followed by Mass at 6pm. Enq: George 9272 1379.
EVERY FIRST WEDNESDAY
Voice of the Voiceless Healing Mass 12pm at St Brigid’s Parish, 211 Aberdeen St, Northbridge. Bring a plate to share after Mass. Enq: Frank 9296 7591 or 0408 183 325.
Holy Hour Prayer for Priests 7.30-8.30pm at Holy Spirit Parish, 2 Keaney Pl, City Beach. All welcome. Enq: Linda 9341 3079. Novena to St Mary of the Cross MacKillop 7-7.45pm at Blessed Mary MacKillop Parish, cnr Cassowary Dr and Pelican Pde, Ballajura. Begins with Mass, novena prayers and benediction. Followed by healing prayers and anointing of the sick. Enq: Madi 9249 9093 or Gerry 0417 187 240. EVERY SECOND WEDNESDAY Chaplets of Divine Mercy 7.30pm at St Thomas More Parish, Dean Rd, Bateman. A powerful, prayerful, sung devotion accompanied by exposition and followed by Benediction. Enq: George 9310 9493 or 6242 0702 (w). EVERY THURSDAY Divine Mercy 11am at Ss John and Paul Church, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Pray the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy and for the consecrated life, especially here in John Paul Parish. Concludes with veneration of the first class relic of St Faustina. Enq: John 9457 7771.
EVERY FOURTH SATURDAY OF THE MONTH
GENERAL Free Divine Mercy Image for Parishes High quality oil painting and glossy print – Divine Mercy Promotions. Images are of very high quality. For any parish willing to accept and place inside the church. Oil paintings - 160 x 90cm and glossy print - 100 x 60cm. Enq: Irene 9417 3267 (w). Sacred Heart Pioneers Is there anyone out there who would like to know more about the Sacred Heart pioneers? If so, please contact Spiritual Director Fr Doug Harris 9444 6131 or John 9457 7771. St Philomena’s Chapel 3/24 Juna Drive, Malaga. Mass of the day: Mon 6.45am. Vigil Masses: Mon-Fri 4.45pm. Enq: Fr David 9376 1734. Mary MacKillop Merchandise Available for sale from Mary MacKillop Centre. Enq: Sr Maree 041 4683 926 or 08 9334 0933.
Financially Disadvantaged People Requiring Low Care Aged Care Placement The Little Sisters of the Poor community set in beautiful gardens in suburb of Glendalough. “Making the elderly happy, that is everything!” St Jeanne Jugan (foundress). Registration and enq: Sr Marie 9443 3155. Resource Centre for Personal Development The Holistic Health Seminar “The Instinct to Heal’’, every Tuesday 3-4.30pm; and RCPD2 “Internalise Principles of Successful Relationships and Use Emotional Intelligence and Communication Skills” every Tuesday 4.30-6.30pm, 197 High St, Fremantle - Tuesdays 3-4.30pm. Enq: Eva 0409 405 585. Bookings are essential. Is your son or daughter unsure of what to do this year? Suggest a Certificate IV course to discern God’s purpose for their life. They will also learn more about the Catholic faith and develop skills in communication and leadership. Acts 2 College of Mission & Evangelisation (National Code 51452). Enq: Jane 9202 6859. AA Alcoholics Anonymous Is alcohol costing you more than just money? Enq: AA 3253 5666. Saints and Sacred Relics Apostolate Invite SSRA, Perth invites interested parties, parish priests, leaders of religious communities, lay associations, to organise relic visitations to their own parishes, communities, etc. We have available authenticated relics, mostly first-class, of Catholic saints and blesseds including Sts Mary Mackillop, Padre Pio, Anthony of Padua, Therese of Lisieux, Maximilian Kolbe and Simon Stock and Blessed Pope John Paul II. Free of charge and all welcome. Enq: Giovanny 0478 201 092 or ssra-perth@catholic.org. Enrolments, Year 7, 2014 La Salle College is now accepting enrolments for Year 7, 2014. For a prospectus and enrolment form please contact college reception on 9274 6266 or email lasalle@lasalle.wa.edu.au. Pellegrini Books Wanted An order of Sisters in Italy is looking for the following: The Living Pyx of Jesus, Fervourings From Galilee’s Hills, Fervourings From the LoveBroken Heart of Christ, Fervourings From the Lips of the Master, Listening to the Indwelling Presence, Sheltering the Divine Outcast, Daily Inspection and Cleansing of the Living Temple of God, and Staunch Friends of Jesus, the Lover of Youth. If you are able to help, please contact Justine on 0419 964 624 or justine@waterempire.com. Secondhand Electric Organ Good working condition. Angela Vigolo would like to give it away to a good home; maybe a parish would like it? Enq: Angela 9276 9317. Acts 2 College, Perth’s Catholic Bible College, is now pleased to be able to offer tax deductibility for donations to the College. If you are looking for an opportunity to help grow the faith of young people and to evangelise the next generation of apostles, please contact Jane Borg, Principal at Acts 2 College on 0401 692690 or principal@ acts2come.wa.edu.au. Divine Mercy Church Pews Would you like to assist, at the same time becoming part of the history of the new Divine Mercy Church in Lower Chittering, by donating a beautifully handcrafted jarrah pew currently under construction, costing only $1,000 each. A beautiful brass plaque with your inscription will be placed at the end of the pew. Please make cheques payable to Divine Mercy Church Building fund and send with inscription to: PO Box 8, Bullsbrook WA 6084. Enq: Fr Paul 0427 085 093. A Testimony on Divine Mercy Powerful testimony of Brother Stanley Villavincencio. After being pronounced ‘clinically dead’ in 1993, Stanley has been travelling the world sharing his amazing spiritual encounters with Jesus. Sessions last for 2 hrs. Tuesday, July 31 10.30am – Mass followed by talk. St Paul’s, Rookwood St, Mt Lawley. 7.30pm – talk. St Bernadette’s, Jugan St, Glendalough. Wednesday, August 1 10.30am - talk. All Saints Chapel, 77 St George’s Tce, Perth. 7.30pm – talk. St Joseph’s, 19 Hamilton St, Bassendean. Thursday, August 2 9am – Mass followed by talk. St Lawrence, Albert St, Balcatta. 7.30pm – talk. Our Lady of Mercy, 5 Patrick St, Girrawheen. Friday, August 3 9am Mass followed by talk. St Jerome’s, Troode St, Spearwood. 7.30pm - talk. Gosnells Catholic Church,175 Corfield St, Gosnells. Saturday, August 4 11.30am Divine Mercy Pilgrimage. BYO lunch Maryville, Chittering. Contact: Francis 9459 3873 / 0404 893 877 Enq: Paulyne: 9364 4228. FRIDAY, AUGUST 31 AND SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 Theatrical play Women on the Fringe 7.30pm at Prendiville Performing Arts Centre by St Simon Peter Players. Written by Gerald Searle of St Anthony’s Parish about women marginalised because of gender, race, nationality, culture, religion and moral standing who were transformed when they encountered Jesus. 2pm matinee. Tickets after all Masses at parishes in Ocean Reef, Whitfords, Wanneroo, Clarkson, and the Cathedral. Enq: Gerald 9404 7292.
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ACHES, PAIN, STRESS Indian mature male masseur. Reflex Relax Massage $30 per hour. Jai 0438 520 993.
RICH HARVEST YOUR CHRISTIAN SHOP Looking for Bibles, CDs, books, cards, gifts, statues, Baptism/Communion apparel, religious vestments, etc. Visit us at 39 Hulme Ct (off McCoy St), Myaree. Ph 9329 9889 (after 10.30am Mon to Sat). We are here to serve. KINLAR VESTMENTS www.kinlarvestments.com.au Quality handmade and decorated vestments: albs, stoles, chasubles, altar linen, banners. Ph Vickii on 9402 1318, 0409 114 093 or kinlar. vestments@gmail.com.
BOOK BINDING RESTORATION BOOKBINDING and Conservation, General Book Repairs, Bibles, Breviaries, sad, old and leather bindings renewed. Tel: 0401 941 577.
HAIRDRESSER RURI STUDIO FOR HAIR – Vincent and Miki welcome you to their newly opened, international, award-winning salon. Shop 2, 401 Oxford St, Leederville. 9444 3113. ruristudioforhair@hotmail. com
FURNITURE REMOVAL ALL AREAS. Competitive rates. Mike Murphy Ph 0416 226 434.
SETTLEMENTS ARE YOU BUYING OR SELLING real estate or a business? Why not ask Excel Settlements for a quote for your settlement. We offer reasonable fees, excellent service and no hidden costs. Ring Excel on 9481 4499 for a quote. Check our web site on www.excelsettlements.com.au.
TRADE SERVICES BRENDAN HANDYMAN SERVICES Home, building maintenance, repairs and renovations. NOR. Ph 0427 539 588. PROPERTY MAINTENANCE Your handyperson. No job too small. SOR. Jim 0413 309 821.
TO LET ROOM TO LET with two other Catholic young men. Townhouse on the water Scarborough (has everything) $130pw. Mike 0410 689 325.
ACCOMMODATION HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION Esperance holiday accommodation, three bedroom house, fully furnished. Phone 08 9076 5083.
MEMENTO CANDLES BAPTISM, WEDDING AND ABSENCE Candles that are personalised with your name that are beautifully decorated. Please call Anna: 0402 961 901 or email: anna77luca@hotmail.com to order a candle.
BRICK RE-POINTING Ph Nigel 9242 2952. PICASSO PAINTING Top service. Ph 0419 915 836, 9345 0557 or fax 9345 0505. PERROTT PAINTING Pty Ltd For all your residential, commercial painting requirements. Ph Tom Perrott 9444 1200. WRR LAWN MOWING AND WEED SPRAYING Garden clean ups and rubbish removal. Get rid of bindii, jojo and other unsightly weeds. Based in Tuart Hill. Enq: 9443 9243 or 0402 326 637.
God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that can be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.” -Reinhold Niebuhr (American theologian, 1892-1971)
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