The Record Newspaper 19 December 2007

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Flicks to see over the summer

Bee Movie

Delightful animated feature about a scrappy bee with big dreams (voiced by top-line comedian Jerry Seinfeld) who decides to sue the human race for stealing the honey manufactured by his hard-working bee brethren and brings the case to court, with the help of a sympathetic florist (Renee Zellweger). An often very funny script (by Seinfeld and others), terrific voice work from a cast including John Goodman, comedian Chris Rock, Oscar winner Kathy Bates and many more, and ultimately, a valuable ecological lesson, make this film - directed by Simon J Smith and Steve Hickner - great family fare.

Those familiar with Seinfeld’s sitcom of the 1990s will see much of his unique style of observational humour in this offering. The relationship between Seinfeld’s Barry character and Zellweger’s young woman borders on the odd, but it’s all fun and games in an animated feature that doestn’t take itself too seriously at all.

RATING:

Sweetly sentimental story about an unmarried New York waitress (an especially fine Tammy Blanchard) who loses her job after becoming pregnant, and her restaurant’s empathetic chef (Mexican soap favourite Eduardo Verastegui) - an ex-soccer star whose career ended after his car fatally struck a child - who gives the young woman emotional support, takes her to visit his loving family, and gently tries to persuade her to keep the baby. Director and co-writer Alejandro Monteverde’s impressive feature film debut is sometimes dramatically slack and implausible, but the sensitive performances, positive depiction of the chef’s warm Latino family and, most of all, its affirmative pro-life message - along with themes of self-forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption - should resonate with Catholic viewers. Partially subtitled. A couple of crass words, a child’s death, a drug reference, and the out-of-wedlock theme aside, the film is admirably free of objectionable elements.

RATING:

Rescue Dawn

Uplifting film salutes the valour of rank-and-file military personnel by chronicling the real-life ordeal of Germanborn US Navy pilot Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale, Batman Begins, American Psycho), who was shot down over Laos in 1966 and taken prisoner by soldiers allied with the North Vietnamese. Without hyperbole of any kind, German writer-director Werner Herzog presents a vivid, lyrical portrait of a courageous and compassionate man whose dream of becoming an aviator led him to America and then to the forbidding jungles of war-torn Southeast Asia. The movie portrays powerful but nongraphic scenes of violence and torture, some crude language and profanity, some lockerroom-style banter and scatological references appropriate to the context, but it all works to place the viewer in the jungle with the protagonists. Comedian Steve Zahn almost steals the show with a sombre and humane portrayal of Dengler’s sidekick, who reaches wit’s end with all the torture and mind-bending harshness of the Laotian jungles. We feel a genuine pang of compassion for Zahn’s character when he loses his marbles amidst all the horror, yet we see genuine Christian zeal when Bale’s Dengler never leaves his friend’s side, and supports him through it all. Bale is at his best playing men driven by a cause yet haunted by something mysterious we can only begin to imagine. Rescue Dawn is a taut, riveting fictionalisation of Herzog’s own extraordinary 1997 documentary “Little Dieter Needs To Fly”.

RATING: MA 15+ RUNNING TIME:

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Alighter-hearted Indiana Jones-type adventure has treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicholas Cage) seeking to discover the truth behind the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by uncovering a mystery within the 18 pages missing from assassin John Wilkes Booth’s diary. One of these pages, discovered also by Jeb Wilkinson (Ed Harris), has the names of the Lincoln assassination conspirators and Ben Gates’ great-great-grandfather Thomas is listed on it. Ben does not want Thomas to be remembered “as a conspirator in the assassination of the man who brought this nation together.” Agent Sadusky (Harvey Keitel) tells Ben that a secret President’s book has the info he needs, and even has all the nation’s secrets; from the truth behind the JFK conspiracy, the missing minutes from the Watergate tapes and Area 51. When Ben’s request to see the book is denied, he says he must kidnap the President. Each clue leads him closer “to a discovery that the world isn’t ready to believe.”

PG. RUNNING TIME: 124 MINUTES.

RATING:

PHOTO: CNS/DREAMWORKS/PARAMOUNT

PHOTO: CNS/IMAGE.NET

PHOTO: CNS/ROADSIDE

PHOTO: FILMEDGE.NET

St Mary’s Cathedral starts to take shape

Exciting times ahead for our Cathedral

■ By Anthony Barich

Plenty of excitement is in store for the restoration and consevation of St Mary’s Cathedral with a huge construction crane to arrive in February to speed up the process to bring it back up to schedule.

Mgr Thomas McDonald, the Dean of the Cathedral, says that the original wall of the Cavanagh section, built in 1930, was was so thick - up to 1.5m thick in factthat construction workers have had to literally chip away at it by hand rather than using potentially damaging explosives.

This, among other things, has slowed down the process, but the Monsignor says the crane will move things to a significant new phase in the historic building’s restoration and conservation. The external stone of the newer Cavanagh Cathedral has been cleaned and restored, and the older 1865 section, which was worked on after the newer section, has also been “restored to all its beauty”, Mgr McDonald told The Record.

The construction work for the conservation and completion of St Mary’s Cathedral in Perth is making solid progress, with key areas of the historic building taking shape. Since the demolition of the

Cathedral’s nave earlier this year to make way for a broader and larger congregation space that will hold up to 1200 people once completed by Easter 2009, work on replacing the roof, repairing gutters and repairing the external stonework of the Cavanagh section is almost complete. The old Bell tower and spire - which can be seen amidst scaffolding inside the cathedral complex - is currently being repaired and refurbished.

Meanwhile, the excavation for the basement of the new car park space, which will hold 99 cars, has also been completed.

There will be a lift from the basement carpark to the ground floor and also up to the choir loft

Work on the demolition of the western wall of the transept up to the triforium line is underway and should be completed early in the new year of 2008.

The latter involved the insertion of steel needles and temporary steel supports, just below the west facing clerestory windows (which will be preserved) to hold up the upper structure while the thick stone transept walls below were slowly broken down.

In the new year passers-by will see the erection of a tower crane to facilitate the “new construction” phase which will begin with the excavation to the basement level for the new parish centre, meeting rooms, choir practice rooms and the new crypt.

The cost of the Cathedral project is expected to be $25 million.

During the festive season The Record Office and Bookshop will be open from 10am to 3pm Monday, Thursday and Friday of the Christmas week and closed for Christmas and Boxing Day.

We wish all our readers a safe Christmas, surrounded by loved ones and the joy of Christ’s coming. See you again in 2008.

Australia’s Best Car Dealership

Carsguide customers have voted the John Hughes Group ‘Australia’s best car dealership’.

The Dealer of the Year reader’s choice competition was conducted by Carsguide, Australia’s biggest automotive online vehicle classified brand.

The survey asked car buyers to rate dealers according to their range, service, knowledge and price. Mr Hughes and his group, described by happy customers as a “breath of fresh air”, were clear winners.

Mr Hughes, who employs 485 people in Perth, said he was extremely proud of the win. “Particularly when told we were nominated by our customers. This is an Australian wide recognition of the passion of all of our employees in achieving this outstanding level of customer service.”

Our company philosophy. “We are a friendly and efficient company trading with integrity and determined to give our customers the very best of service.”

Two will become one: St Mary’s Cathedral as of last week - the altar will be further forward, under the arch seen in the centre of the structure on the left. PHOTOS: MARK REIDY

Taking shape: Workers protect the original arches of the Cavanagh (1930) end during the rebuilding phase.

Surrounded: This spire surrounded by scaffolding will eventually sit on a new tower.

Pope pushes six-year-old closer to sainthood

■ By John Thavis

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope Benedict

XVI has advanced the sainthood cause of a 6year-old Italian girl who wrote letters to Jesus in the final stages of her illness.

If she is eventually canonised, Antonietta Meo would become the youngest nonmartyr saint to be recognised under modern saintmaking procedures.

The girl, known by the nickname “Nennolina,” lived in Rome in the 1930s and

Papal Mass on ABC TV

The ABC has confirmed that it will televise the Pope’s Christmas Midnight Mass from St Peter’s Basilica in Rome this year. The Mass, which will feature the participation of children from around the world, will be broadcast in Australia on Christmas Day at 9am Western Australian time.

Mass-leavers a focus

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has given further consideration to the situation of Catholics who have ceased regular attendance at Mass. At a plenary meeting in Sydney, the bishops voted to accept the main recommendations of a recent study compiled under the leadership of Mr Bob Dixon. The recommendations included the building of stronger parish communities, greater listening to people at every level, better collaborative leadership between lay and ordained people and renewed work on faith formation.

had bone cancer. When she was 5, one of her legs had to be amputated, and she bore it cheerfully, saying she connected it with Jesus’ suffering.

As her disease worsened, she dictated poems or letters to God, Jesus and Mary. She died five months before her seventh birthday, and the letters were later cited as the record of a young mystic.

On December 17 the Pope approved a decree affirming the heroic virtues of the girl. If a miracle is attributed to her intercession,

Not a one-event show

Pope Benedict XVI will be present at more than one event during next year’s World Youth Day in Sydney, it has been confirmed. World Youth Day co-ordinator Bishop Anthony Fisher said the Vatican had now been briefed on Sydney’s extensive plans, and had approved them. The largest of the events involving the Pope will be the final Mass at Randwick Racecourse and the nearby Centennial Parklands. Bishop Fisher said 125,000 international visitors for World Youth Day is looking a realistic target.

Same-sex parenting fails children’s rights: ACL

The Australian Christian Lobby said there are times when it is important to discriminate on behalf of the weak and the vulnerable and to place their rights above the wishes of adults. The lobby made the comment as Christian voices were raised in opposition to

she could be beatified. Recognition of another miracle is needed for canonisation.

The same day, the Pope addressed the Vatican’s saint-making experts and encouraged them to keep finding new models of holiness to propose to contemporary society.

The Pope said saints today “help make the words of the Gospel and the mission of the Church more credible and attractive.”

“Contact with the saints opens the way to real spiritual resurrections, to lasting conversions and to the flowering of new saints,” he said.

plans by the Victorian Government to allow homosexual couples legal access to in vitro fertilisation and surrogacy birthing. The ACL said the move was a blow to the right of children to have every opportunity to have both a mother and a father.

Anglicans back abortion decriminalisation

In a step that highlights apparent differences between the Anglican communion and the Catholic Church, a major Anglican diocese has lent support to secular calls for the decriminalisation of abortion. A seven-woman committee appointed by Melbourne Anglican archbishop Philip Freier made a written submission to Victoria’s Law Reform Commission which is holding an inquiry into the possible decriminalisation of abortion in the state. The Anglicans said the way to reduce abortions is via contraception and sex education, and to support families.

The Pope spoke to more than 300 postulators, the people responsible for presenting and defending the evidence in sainthood causes.

The Pope noted that in January the Church will mark the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of

Clergy

■ By Sylvia Defendi

“Divinus Perfectionis Magister,” a document issued by Pope John Paul II to simplify church procedures for the declaration of sainthood.

Pope Benedict said the process was less complicated under the new rules, but still retained the “solidity of research” needed before someone is made a saint.

The Pope said it was important for the Church to “propose ever new models of holiness” because people are convinced by real witness. He said there was evidence of a growing interest in the saints, on a religious and cultural level.

Postulators, he said, have a delicate task that requires careful discernment and objectivity. They and everyone involved in sainthood causes are called to place themselves “exclusively at the service of the truth,” he said.

Since his election in 2005, Pope Benedict has canonised 14 people. During that time, papal delegates have presided over some 50 beatification ceremonies.

on the move

in January after 11 years of service within the Archdiocese.

More than 50 years after they last administered a Perth parish the Jesuits will take over care of Holy Rosary Parish in Nedlands in 2008.

The news came as part of Archbishop Barry Hickey’s recent ad clerum (Letter to the Clergy) outlining changes to clergy appointments for the new year.

“It has been many years since the Jesuit Order has administered a parish in Perth – the parish of Attadale, established in 1954,” Archbishop Hickey said.

The Society of Jesus will arrive to take over the Parish around Easter.

With studies to complete, Fr Corran Pike will be leaving St Paul’s parish in Mt Lawley in January.

Perth will also farewell its Episcopal Vicar for Migration, Fr Antonio Paganoni CS in January, who will continue to assist with Masses at Northbridge and within the Italian community.

Fr Blasco Fonseca will replace Fr Paganoni as the Episcopal Vicar for Migration while continuing his role as parish priest of East Fremantle.

Elsewhere, two newly-ordained priests, Fr Ernesto Cerutti and Fr Manoel Lopes Borges have received their appointments.

Fr Cerruti will serve from January as assistant priest at Good Shepherd parish in Kelmscott while Fr Borges will serve at Star of the Sea parish in Cottesloe.

Fr Paul Forgarty will be leaving the parish of Floreat/Wembley in January and will be replaced by Fr Wayne Davis, who is currently serving in Nedlands.

Fr Doug Hoare of Bentley will be moving back to New Zealand

At St Charles Seminary in Guildford, Fr Brian Limbourn will step down as Dean of Studies, while Fr Nino Vinciguerra will be on sabbatical during 2008.

Meanwhile, long-serving St Charles Seminary secretary Audrey Sweeney, who has served as secretary to the Guildford Seminary for over 20 years will retire at the end of this year.

“Her contribution has been incalculable. We hope she keeps fond memories of the seminary and all the priests she has seen go through over the years,” Archbishop Hickey said in the letter sent out to priests in early December.

We have Generation X. There’s Generation Y. But what next? - Be ready the answer is coming and it will be the most exciting thing you have ever heard! It is radical. It is bold. It is revolutionary. It is visionary. It is electric. It is Holy Spirit inspired! Will you have the will and will you have the courage to be part of a bold new generation? ARISE will give birth to a new generation of courageous witnesses of Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit to establish Kingdom-living in a dark world of anti-Christ values.

SUBJECTS: Revealing a new generation - Look up, the fields are white, ready for the harvest - Prepare for the coming revival - Born again of the WordArise, the glory of The Lord is upon you - More than conquerors - A trumpet-call to a Joshua GenerationBehold, I make all things new - Coming back to the heart of worship - Inheriting the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory - Running for the Crown, receiving your glory. Is time running out, is light slowing down. ARISE will address that scientific probability - How will it affect you?

Benedict invites all to personally encounter Jesus

Familiarity may blind us, but Christianity is the first - and only - time God personally revealed himself in an actual human being. To the ancient world this fact alone was astonishing.

■ By John Thavis

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - It’s difficult to select a single summarising line in Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi (on Christian hope), but a fundamental point is found in its first few pages.

Christ’s sacrifice, the Pope said, overturned the pagan worldview of the early Christian era. In Christianity’s new vision, the universe was governed not by the laws of matter but by a personal God who revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ.

“And if we know this person and he knows us, then truly the inexorable power of material elements no longer has the last word; we are not slaves of the universe and of its laws, we are free,” he said.

Throughout its 76 pages, the Pope’s encyclical on hope is not just an exposition of philosophical and theological arguments, but an invitation for people to personally encounter Jesus Christ.

In Spe Salvi, the Pope argued that faith in Christ brings well-founded hope in eternal salvation, the “great hope” that can sustain people

through the trials of this world.

In presenting Jesus Christ as the source of love and hope for contemporary men and women, the Pope has tried to explain the Church’s beliefs in ways that are convincing without being imposing.

Certainly he has been a critic of contemporary culture in these pages, warning against the exaltation of science and technology, economic and individual selfishness, ideological excesses and mis-

conceptions about freedom. But his critique is based on reasoned analysis, reflecting the Pope’s conviction that Christianity, more than just an exercise in faith, does and must make sense to the modern mind.

The Pope also has shown sympathy for people who may doubt, or who are no longer attracted by the Church’s traditional arguments.

In Spe Salvi, for example, the Pope acknowledged that many people today may find the idea of

eternal salvation monotonous and “more like a curse than a gift.” He went on to say that “eternal life” is an inadequate term and suggested that people think of salvation more in terms of a supreme moment of satisfaction or joy.

Pope Benedict uses also the writings of individual Christians - ancient and contemporary - to illustrate his points.

He quoted early church fathers and contemporary saints, making

powerful arguments for hope that drew from centuries of Christian experience. Both the sermons of St Augustine and the diary of a 19thcentury Vietnamese martyr were at home in this text.

Some passages of the new encyclical have been honed in recent papal talks and writings. For example, the Pope’s assessment of Marxism, although ultimately negative, contained praise of Karl Marx’s “great analytical skill” in describing the social injustices of his time. Pope Benedict made a similar statement in his book, “Jesus of Nazareth,” published earlier this year.

Some of the encyclical’s most compelling language came in a reflection on the Last Judgment, which included these words about divine justice, “Evildoers, in the end, do not sit at table at the eternal banquet beside their victims without distinction, as though nothing had happened.”

That’s a theme the Pope explored during a trip to Germany in 2006, when he said the idea of judgment should call people to accountability.

“Don’t we want the outrageous injustice and suffering which we see in human history to be finally undone, so that in the end everyone will find happiness, and everything will be shown to have meaning?” he asked then.

On that occasion, as in the new encyclical, the Pope said only one thing can keep people from being afraid of the God of judgment: an encounter with Jesus Christ, God’s “human face.”

Catholics receive: Communion during morning Mass at Ham Long Church, also known as St. Anthony’s, in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Pope Benedict’s latest encyclical draws on the Vietnamese martyrs of the 19th Century to underline its message. PHOTO: CNS

Perth’s Days in the Dioceses

These are the key dates Perth Catholics, pilgrims and friends of WYD ‘08 should keep in mind for Days in the Diocese, the Perth program of preparation for WYD in Sydney.

July 8-12: Hosting International Pilgrims

Monday July 7: ‘Blessing of the fleet’ for Bus pilgrimages (or when most of the buses intend to depart).

Tuesday July 8: Arrival of international pilgrims; Parish day for hosting international pilgrims.

Wednesday July 9: Parish day for hosting international pilgrims.

Thursday July 10: Youth festival + cultural Day – Diocesan event (Venue TBC)

Friday July 11: ‘Frassati Friday’ Community Service Day Parish day for hosting international pilgrims.

Saturday July 12 (am): Closing Ceremony –Commissioning Mass with Archbishop to send pilgrims to Sydney. Possibly all WA bishops and pilgrims together. (Venue TBC); Lunchtime onwards – pilgrims fly out to Sydney.

Sunday-Monday, July 13-14: Fly out to Sydney

Need more information? The Perth WYD Office can be contacted on (08) 9422 7944

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Meet the team powering the WYD organisation in Perth

The Perth World Youth Day (WYD) Office has taken new staff on board to tackle the exciting but huge youth events looming in 2008.

To assist Perth’s WYD Coordinator Anita Parker, new staff Silvana Scarfe, Matthew Hodgson, Jeanette D’Castro and Miller Lokanata have joined the Perth WYD team. Preparations for the local events and involvement with WYD08 are now steaming ahead.

However, volunteers are still desperately needed to assist and coordinate the tasks at hand.

Around 3000 young people from Perth have registered with their local parish, school or religious group to travel to WYD in Sydney.

More are expected to sign up in the next 6 months leading up to WYD08. The groups will mainly be

In Brief

travelling by plane with a few buses making the week long trek across the Nullabor Plain to get to WYD.

The Perth Archdiocese is searching for beds to host around 1,000 international pilgrims who will be staying in Perth the week prior to WYD, called ‘Days in the Dioceses’.

The visiting countries registered for the Perth ‘Days in the Dioceses’ include Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Italy, Philippines, Ireland and many more. Archbishops, bishops, priests and young people will converge in Perth to get a taste of the Australian lifestyle.

A large-scale youth festival day, community service day and closing ceremony including a large concelebrated Mass for an expected 10,000 young people will be the highlights of the week from July

8-12, 2008. Prior to the July events, our local parishes and schools are running programs to prepare the pilgrims and some are also preparing for the arrival of the WYD Cross and Icon.

Large parishes and schools will play host to the 3.8m wooden cross that has travelled the world and visited the most spiritual, beautiful and also devastated regions in the world.

Go to www.jci-wyd2008.blogspot.com for the latest daily updates on its Australian journey.

2008 promises to be a very exciting year for the Church, especially if you are aged between 16-35. For more information see the Sydney WYD website wyd2008.org, the Perth WYD site wydperth.com or search facebook for World Youth Day Perth.

Operational plans for World Youth Day Sydney 2008 (WYD08) have received the thumbs-up from the Vatican body that oversees preparations.

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The plans cover 23 separate events during the WYD08 week from July 15-20 next year, including some events in the presence of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. The largest event will be the Final Mass for an estimated 500,000 people at Randwick Racecourse and nearby Centennial Parklands.

Coordinator of WYD08, Dominican Bishop Anthony Fisher OP, said members of the Pontifical

Council for the Laity (PCL) were briefed on 17,000 pages of plans. “The PCL were extremely positive and even made some helpful suggestions,” Bishop Fisher said from Rome. “We now have a final blueprint for staging the world’s biggest youth event in Sydney next year.” Bishop Fisher said that indications were that WYD08 will meet its target of 125,000 international visitors. “We are very pleased with the level of international interest shown to date. The largest source countries at this point are the United States, Italy and Germany.” Organised by the Catholic Church, but open to all, World Youth Day helps young people build bridges of friendship and hope between continents, peoples and cultures.

The crew: Perth’s WYD coordinator Anita Parker, at left, with her expanded team Miller Lokanata, Silvana Scarfe, Jeanette D’Castro, and Matthew Hodgson. But more volunteers are needed, says Anita. PHOTO

It’s big, it’s great, and heading your way

So what is World Youth Day?

World Youth Day 2008 (WYD08)

– to be hosted in Sydney from July 15-20 - is expected to attract half a million participants, including over 125,000 international visitors.

Pope Benedict XVI will make his first visit to Australia for WYD08, presiding over the Final Mass. Initiated by Pope John Paul II, the first WYD was held in Rome in 1986 on Palm Sunday.

It continues to be celebrated at a diocesan level on Palm Sunday each year. But every two to three years a massive international gathering celebrates in a different ‘host city’ – Buenos Aires, Czestochowa, Denver, Manila, Paris, Toronto and Cologne have all been hosts.

The international World Youth Days are marked by a weeklong series of events, attended by the Pope and hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world who have made a pilgrimage to be there with him.

They will have an opportunity to rediscover their Baptismal calling and the centrality of the sacraments of the Eucharist, Reconciliation and the richness of the Catholic faith.

The WYD08 theme, received from the Holy Father is: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.” [Acts 1:8]

The theme will be explored when the world’s young people gather in Sydney with a focus on being empowered to be witnesses of the Gospel in the modern world.

Program for the WYD08 week

WYD08 will encompass a week of festivities beginning with the Opening Mass of welcome on Tuesday July 15, celebrated by Cardinal George Pell. The rest of the week will follow the traditional WYD program including a series of catechesis (teaching) in language groups and a variety of creative

forums, seminars, concerts, speakers, opportunities for service and prayer known as the Youth Festival.

On Thursday July 17, the young people of the world will welcome the Holy Father and the Friday evening will see a Stations of the Cross re-enactment.

The week culminates on the Saturday in a pilgrim walk to the vigil site where hundreds of thousands of youth will pray with the Holy Father then sleep out under the stars to await his return the following morning for the Final Mass.

Days in the Dioceses

The dioceses of Australia and New Zealand have been invited to host groups of international visitors in the days preceding the WYD week.

The cultural exchange in the context of faith is called Days in the Dioceses. This will assist the youth of the world in their pastoral preparation en-route to Sydney as well as help renew the Church in the places they visit, while receiving local hospitality.

Feedback from previous hosts of Days in the Dioceses has been very positive - parishioners in host dioceses have often been very moved by the faith of the young pilgrims who stay with them and have used the program as a way of participating in the WYD experience.

The Journey of the WYD Cross and Icon of Our Lady

The Journey of the WYD Cross and Icon is an enormously important part of Australia’s pastoral preparation for the event.

In 1984 Pope John Paul II entrusted to the world’s youth a huge wooden cross, asking that it be ‘carried throughout the world as a sign of Christ’s love for humanity’. It is now known as the ‘WYD Cross’. On Palm Sunday in 2003, the Pope announced that the Icon of Our Lady, Salus Populi Romani, and a copy of a venerated icon in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome would accompany the WYD Cross on its pilgrimage.

The WYD Cross and Icon arrived in Australia on July 1, 2007, after some months journeying around South East Asia and Oceania.

The Cross and Icon will travel to all dioceses in Australia as a means of promoting dialogue with youth and of enabling evangelisation, catechesis and prayer to create a sense of anticipation around WYD.

Each diocese will have the opportunity to create and manage events and programs for the visit of the WYD Cross and Icon.

For more information contact Anita Parker at the Perth World Youth Day Office, on: 9422 7944.

10 THINGS you

1

Open your home to host some pilgrims.

Your obligations would be to provide a breakfast meal, a bed, shower/bathroom facilities and transport to and from your parish in the early morning/late evening. Sign up and register through your parish who will forward the information to the Perth WYD office.

You don’t have to be a young person or someone travelling to WYD, EVERYONE can offer to host a young pilgrim.

Every host home will undergo a simple check system to ensure they have suitable facilities and are a safe home for pilgrims. Due to this reason, not all offers of host homes may be used.

2

Create a hosting team in your parish to arrange daytime/ evening events on Parish hosting days. These teams should attend the Perth WYD office training sessions for ‘Days in the Diocese.’

3

Get involved with assisting the Youth Festival or the Closing ceremony Mass. Many volunteers are needed to assist with the planning and running of these events. Contact the Perth WYD Office if you have experience or skills in these areas.

4

Invite your overseas friends, family or parish groups to visit Perth for ‘Days in the Dioceses’ on their way through to the Sydney WYD. Many overseas groups are already registering on the Perth WYD website bringing Archbishops, Bishops, Priests and hundreds of young people in their groups.

5

Raise some money to sponsor overseas pilgrims to travel to Australia for WYD. Contact the Perth WYD Office if you can help support a pilgrim.

6

Performers can register their interest to perform at the Youth Festival. Contact the Perth WYD Office to register your interest.

7

Business Sponsorships can assist with the running costs of the various events. Contact the Perth WYD Office for more information.

8

Assist in planning or running a community service activity for the young pilgrims to undertake on the ‘Frassati Friday’.

9

Arrange a day or evening event for your whole parish community to meet with the young people they are hosting.

10

Contact the Perth WYD Office to be allocated an overseas pilgrim group or notify the office if you have already made private arrangements with an overseas group.

Perth WYD Coordinator Anita Parker says: “Days in the Dioceses has been such a fruitful exchange of Catholics from around the world being so open to welcome young pilgrims travelling to WYD. I have built many friendships and experienced the true meaning of Church hospitality and unconditional love from many families who hosted me and my pilgrim friends in past WYD’s. These friendships still exist.”

Tidings of comfort and joy

Turn off your iPod. Put it in the drawer until Christmas. It’s time, says WEBSTER YOUNG, for us to gather round a piano to belt out some great Christmas carols.

European nations and English-speaking peoples everywhere are fortunate in the wonderful quality of Christmas songs that make up the Advent musical repertoire.

Popular custom celebrating Advent and Christmas can vary widely between countries, and those customs do not belong to any one Christian denomination as much as they belong to the Christian national culture. Moreover, the origins of many Christmas traditions do not necessarily come from the Church or its direct influence – even though the whole point of Christmas originates with the gospel.

It is surprising to discover the great differences between nations in the celebration of Christmas. Boxing Day is completely unknown in the United States, for example; a real Yule log has never been seen in many countries; and Danish customs surrounding the Christmas tree are not done in other countries. Gift-giving centring mostly on the children was not known in America until well into the 20th century, and the sending of Christmas cards was also a late arrival.

Yet for all the differences that may be found in the celebration of Christmas, most nations and cultures have special music associated with the Advent season. Perhaps this is due to the character of music as a universal language and its particular ability to carry the emotions of the season: joy and hope.

Certain cultures may have an outstanding tradition of Christmas music, such as Spain (and all countries in the New World that were Spanish American), where there are whole volumes of folk music associated with the religious feasts of the Church. Yet for all the richness of the musical heritage that many cultures may possess, the English, French and Germans have some of the really great Christmas songs. These are not just good folk songs, but some of the best melodies of all time, having a memorable quality, with a fine and graceful structure that even the most knowledgeable in music have to admit is worthy of the canon of greatest melodies.

This repertoire of great Christmas melody has come about in part because in England, France and Germany some of the classical composers were involved in either the writing or the arranging of Christmas carols. George Frederick Handel, one of the great melodists of all time, wrote “Joy to the World”, which is now a hymn central to the Christmas repertoire. Felix Mendelssohn composed the music for “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, another of the great melodies that rivals anything in classical music.

Many other Christmas songs are familiar to us in a form given them by great composers. Ralph Vaughan Williams, another English melodist, gave us the harmonisations of several wonderful carols, including “O Little Town of Bethlehem”; the English composer Gustav Holst wrote “In the Bleak Midwinter”; and it is Johannes Brahm’s harmony we hear in “Lo, How a rose e’er Blooming”. We are likely to hear Bach in “Sleepers Awake”, and England’s own Sir Arthur Sullivan arranged “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, a truly great piece of music.

Continued - next page

With gusto: A choir group from Cuo Bac Church in Hanoi, Vietnam, holds a regular

practice on November 30. The group, made up of Catholics in their

in the Hanoi area.

With the acknowledged masters of Western classical composition (several of them English) creating so much for the Christmas canon of music, the repertoire of English carols – original or translated – cannot be anything but outstanding.

This is not to mention the body of Christmas carols originating from the folk tradition. Old English hymns are among the greatest, the foremost being “The First Noel” and “What Child is This?” (an arrangement of “Greensleeves”).

One of the great old French carols is “Angels We Have Heard on High”. In fact, there is a large hidden body of old English and French Christmas carols which contains hundreds of beautiful and little-known songs filling volumes in libraries. There is also, in English culture, the amateur practice of singing rounds. A round is a melody in which the group begins the melody and another group enters at a specified later point with the same melody, thus creating more than one part in counterpoint.

Everyone is familiar with “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” as a round; some of the great Christmas songs are also rounds, “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Halls” being prime examples. Rounds are not only an ingenious form of musical composition; they also foster an amateur practice in singing that is

“Christians can still singin simple joy and hope - at Christmastime”

healthy for musical culture. Books including popular rounds are obtainable from the London publisher Novello.

As if all of this is not enough, there are also major works of literature, like Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and monuments of classical music associated with the season.

Handel’s Messiah is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, laden with great melodies always heard at Christmas time; and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, always performed in December, is at the top of the list of classic ballets.

Thus it is that English, French and German Christmas musical heritage is richer than any in the world.

But as music played or sung live in the home has been waning, and as musical amateurism has undergone a great change in quality – leaving behind traditional music and the reading of music – the occasions for Christmas season singing have declined.

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have just outlined. The second is that singing is a natural expression of the joy and hope that is at the heart of the season.

Christmas is the change from darkness to light, the northern winter solstice, the inexorable progress out of darkness, the birth and presence in the world of hope in Christ, and the New Year – all in one.

I therefore do not suggest singing Christmas songs everywhere out of sheer sentimentality for the old traditions of the season. Perhaps I am a curmudgeon, but I am wary of a Christmas dripping with sentimental emotion and laden with gaudy effects. Give me simple English cheer.

God rest ye, merry gentlemen

Let nothing you dismay,

Remember Christ our Saviour

Was born on Christmas day,

To save us all from Satan’s power,

When we were gone astray.

Oh tidings of comfort and joy!

Another reason for preserving carol singing is that it is a wonderful amateur musical practice. As one present-day piano salesman said: “The piano used to be the entertainment centre of the home”.

It is easy to imagine from his statement people happily gathering around the piano singing; yet the musical practice he describes is largely gone.

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The tradition of Christmas carolling that was once a more common practice has also, lamentably, diminished. Today, amateur choirs form less than ever to sing carols in the street, at parties or in the home.

It is this decline that I wish to address here. If one asks why people interested in music might take care to revive the singing of Christmas music outside of church, I can suggest several reasons. One is, first of all, a healthy pride in the musical treasures I

Still, those interested might try to exercise some musical skill, try some part-singing, improvise a little harmony, try sing a round, and have fun in the process. Perhaps carolling does not have to take the precise form today that it took in the past. Group singing in the street might be replaced by other occasions for singing. In fact, Christians might remember that a good carol can be sung even to oneself alone, for an uplifting moment, at the right time.

Modern culture continues to lose singing in the family and in social situations. But even though few amateurs are singing without a karaoke machine, English-speaking Christians can still sing – in simple joy and hope – at Christmas time. After all, we have the best Christmas songs in the world. - Catholic Herald

In the last edition of discovery for 2007 readers were invited to submit a design for the Christmas front cover of The Record. The response from the young was overwhelming, making it a very difficult job to choose a winner. But we loved both the way they thought about the first Christmas and the effort they put into depicting it so here are some of the contributions that were submitted.

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM ARCHBISHOP HICKEY

More Christm

Christians around the world are looking forward to celebrating the feast of Christmas. They do so because they believe that the birth of this child at Bethlehem two thousand years ago marked the beginning of a New Age. With Him a light came into the world which would never be extinguished. This light would penetrate the darkness of a world of violence and futility and bring it hope, meaning and

joy. This Christmas let us spend some time reflecting on the person of Jesus, who he was, what he did and why millions love him and want to follow Him.

When Jesus was born - no - when he was formed in the womb of his mother Mary, the divine and the human came together in an entirely new and unrepeatable way. United in the person of Jesus were his divine nature and his human nature, beautifully expressed in the biblical name “Emmanuel”, or

God-with-us. This is not the only reason that drew people to him.

During his life on earth he gave people hope, he turned their lives around, rescued them from the brutal forces that were crushing them and gave them new life.

He led them to see that God, his Father, the Living God, was already working in their lives, lifting their burdens and drawing them away from the burden of sin to a life of love. The final gift of Jesus, priceless above all else, was

Brandon Tran

Chantal Whitsed

Claudia Salas

Holly Morgan

Andrew Doyle

Asha Price

Bridget Besch

Candice GreyChristina Paini

Claire Chong

Courtney Bebbington

Darby McGrathIsabella Mondello

Georgia O’Shea

Logan Bristow

Imogen O’Hara

Katrina

Deanna M

mases than you can count

the gift of eternal life, won by his own death and resurrection.

At Christmas let us remember with gratitude the coming of Jesus among us and his healing presence in our lives. His presence and his action within us effect mighty changes.

He gives us the power to rise above the daily problems that weigh us down and he restores our hope in the future.

He helps us forgive those who have harmed us and restores our inner peace. Christmas is

a time when family hurts can be healed. It is a time for the restoration of love, peace and joy.

There are huge problems today that face young people. They have to live in the destructive and toxic culture of drugs and a sexual wilderness of impermanent relationships without love.

They face health risks of depression,

hopelessness and even suicide as relationships break down and inner loneliness increases.

This is a challenge, not just for our legislators, but for all of us who need to care for one another.

The coming of Christ at Christmas gives us hope that we can face and overcome these damaging influences and restore meaning, worth and loving relationships in today’s world.

Let us acknowledge the presence of the

God among

is present today.

In our celebrations we should not forget the deep religious origins of Christmas because it is precisely the action of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, that gives the world renewed hope and purpose.

Jayden BoysJessica Hewlett

Justin Van Neiuburg

Katelyn Mehanikov Giovannino Bartucciotti

Teagan Ballantyne

Lockie Burmas

Madeleine Cook

Marcus McQueenMikayla RaschillaRhiannon ThomasRobbie Collins

Ryan Trutwein Tenecia Cox

Victoria Lindsay Smith

D’Monte Maddison Puls

Monastra

Living

us, the gift of Jesus. He is risen. He

Most Rev Barry Hickey Archbishop of Perth

Opinion

Can science explain the complex, contradictory

Body Language

By Christopher West

A commentary on the Intersection of Faith, Sex and Culture

Christopher West begins a fortnightly column this week

Time magazine recently printed an article by Jeffery Kluger called “What Makes

Us Moral” (see December 3 issue).

The tagline reads: “Morality and empathy are writ deep in our genes. Alas, so are savagery and bloodlust. Science is now learning what makes us both noble and terrible – and perhaps what can make us better.”

Kluger had several very interesting things to say, and I commend this secular magazine for venturing into a discussion about morality.

The whole approach of the article, however, betrays two interrelated diseases plaguing the modern view of man and the universe: materialism and positivism.

Both views ultimately leave us with a terribly impoverished view

of ourselves and the universe. Let me explain.

Materialism is the idea that everything can be explained by material processes. There is no such thing as the spiritual realm. Rather than being an integral union of body and soul, the materialist sees the human being as merely a physical body like all the other animals of the planet.

Both empathy and savagery are merely the result of our genes, as Kluger says. Love, rather than being something spiritual, is just an electrical firing of brain waves.

The fact that scientists can link brain waves with various emotions does not mean that things like love

In the face of wisdom...

@home

By Catherine Parish

Christmas is presented as a happy, wonderful family festival and often it can be celebrated with unclouded joy. But the sorrows of life relentlessly find their way into this season as much as any other, and dim the brightness for many.

Which might be a strange way to start a Christmas article I suppose; but friends have lost dearly loved relatives recently after much suffering, and one cannot help but feel for them in the loneliness of their grief.

It is such a stark reminder that “in the midst of life we are in death”; the three Wise Men brought the costly burial ointment myrrh as one of their gifts to the new born Jesus as a harbinger of what was to come.

Yet the very sorrow of death also emphasises the sheer audacity of Christianity that is an aspect of our faith that perhaps I love the most. It is Christianity that confronts us daily with our mortality,

yet is audacious enough to offer us eternal life; it is Christianity that has at its centre an earth-shattering death that yet is our salvation.

It is Christianity that in the midst of a culture of death consistently upholds the value, beauty and dignity of each individual life no matter how tiny, poor, frail or impaired, and seeks to care lovingly for all people until God should decide the time of their ‘going hence’.

It is Christianity that faces up to the power of kings by having as its God and king a God who willingly became a child born in a stable without the trappings of wealth, temporal power or social position.

It is Christianity that looks upon the ineffable suffering in the world and yet still offers hope not only in teaching acceptance but in actively trying to relieve suffering. It is Christianity that not only speaks of joy in the midst of suffering but offers many examples of this inexplicable phenomenon.

It is Christianity that in a world suffused with hate and unforgiveness holds up love and forgiveness as possible in even the worst cir-

cumstances – witness those agonised words from the Cross “Father forgive them, they know not what they do”.

It is Christianity that faces up to the power of kings by having as its God and king a God who willingly became a child born in a stable without the trappings of wealth, temporal power or social position. It is only Christianity that flies in the face of worldly wisdom and yet is not a religion of rebellion. Christianity offers another path to walk through the world, and it has always been a straight and narrow one, and often stony.

It is not one without a yoke and a burden; but one where the yoke is made easy and the burden light. The Christian path is not one without a valley of darkness, but one where we need not fear the darkness because the Lord is with us.

Christianity offers no escape in this life from the inevitable vicissitudes of our often beautiful but still sadly fallen and damaged world; but it does offer a sure way to negotiate our path through without becoming lost or overpowered by the consequences of that fallenness.

Christmas is the season that reminds us of what should be our two greatest sources of strength on our journey – our faith and our families. Thank God for them both!

and anger are merely brain waves. If one has an integral view of the body and the soul, one would expect spiritual realities to have physical manifestations.

When the materialist says, “See those brain waves? There’s nothing spiritual going on here,” an educated Catholic might say, “See those brain waves? That demonstrates the inherent link of the body and the soul.”

As I once wrote in a previous column, so often behind the modern push to equate human beings with animals lies the subtle or not-sosubtle agenda of moral relativism, the rejection of a moral order to

which all are accountable. And so often behind the agenda of moral relativism lies the desire to indulge libido without any restraint – that is, the desire to behave like animals when it comes to sex.

“It’s because of our inner life that we long for truth and goodness and are pained by evil and injustice.”

The strange thing about Kluger’s article is that he acknowledges some kind of moral order, that good and bad exist (although any applica-

Look to this tree and see the generations leading to Jesus

By Fr John Flader

I am a new Catholic and am unfamiliar with some customs I have seen lived in various parish churches. One of them is a Christmas tree with names on the branches. Can you tell me the background and meaning of this tree?

The tree to which you refer is sometimes called the “Jesse Tree”. It takes its name from a passage in the prophecy of Isaiah in the Old Testament: “A shoot will spring

forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots.” (Is 11:1)

What does this have to do with Christmas? The Jesse Trees reminds us of the long family tree of Jesus, beginning with Jesse, the father of King David. The shoot or branch that Isaiah speaks of springing from Jesse is initially David and, ultimately, the one who would be given “the throne of his ancestor David”, Jesus. (cf Lk 1:32)

The branches of the tree are customarily adorned with the names of ancestors of Christ, with Jesus and Mary at the top.

Both Matthew and Luke list some of the people in the family tree of Jesus. Matthew goes back to Abraham and passes through Jesse and David, concluding with Jesus. (cf Mt 1:16) Luke begins with Jesus and goes back through David and

Jesse all the way to Adam. (cf Lk 3:23-38)The use of the Jesse Tree as a lead up to Christmas thus reminds us of the many generations who waited expectantly for the Messiah, who would be a descendant of King David.

In a way, the tree is a reminder of the whole Old Testament. When God’s people failed to live up to the successive covenants he had made with them, especially at the time of Moses, they inevitably suffered.

In particular, the destruction of the temple and of the city of Jerusalem, and the taking of the people into

captivity in Babylon in the sixth century BC were a strong reminder that the people had been unfaithful. The prophets tried to call the people back to fidelity but in vain. In spite of their infidelity, God promised to send a new leader to shepherd his people. Through the prophet Micah he said: “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” (Mic 5:2) And, as Isaiah prophesied, this leader would spring from the stump of Jesse (cf Is 11:1). He would sit on the throne of his ancestor David. (cf Lk 1:32) Throughout that long period, some 1000 years from David to Jesus, the people waited and prayed for that new leader, the anointed one or Messiah, who

would be like their ancestor David and who would lead them like a true shepherd.

Finally, after many hundreds of years, God fulfilled his promise, and a new king, Jesus, was born in Bethlehem. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, would prophesy of Jesus:

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty saviour for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old…” (Lk 1:68-70)

The Jesse Tree recalls this story of long and patient waiting, always filled with hope, and of God’s fidelity to his promises. It is a powerful symbol of what Christmas is all about.

Opinion

thing we know as morality?

tion to sex is copiously absent from his discussion), but he’s looking to explain it materialistically.

As such, his search is doomed from the start. Morality is rooted in the spiritual dimension of the human being. Ultimately, it can only be explained philosophically and theologically. But if one is a true materialist, those sources of knowledge are dismissed out of hand. The positive sciences are the only way to know anything. Hence, if one is a materialist, he will also be a positivist.

Positivism (or scientism) is the idea that the positive sciences are able – or, at least, will eventually

be able – to explain everything.

“Where do [moral] intuitions come from?” Kluger asks. “And why are we so inconsistent about following where they lead us?” Kluger admits, “Scientists can’t yet answer those questions . . .” That little word “yet” betrays the modern world’s unbounded faith in Almighty Science.

Science, without a doubt, can tell us and has told us a great deal about the human being in as far as he is a body. Thank God for all the wonderful benefits that come from that knowledge. But there is something more to each human being – an inner life, something spiritual

– that isn’t contained in the concept “individual member of the species homo sapiens.”

That “something more” is a realm that science, by its very nature, cannot explain.

It’s because of our inner life that we experience wonder, recognise beauty, yearn for love, search for meaning, desire knowledge, and seek understanding.

It’s because of our inner life that we long for truth and goodness and are pained by evil and injustice. In other words, if Kluger really wants to know “what makes us moral” he’s going to have to have faith in more than just science.

How I Pray LIKE A BISHOP

with Debbie Warrier

Mass is the greatest prayer, more so than personal prayer. Through it we join Christ’s own prayer for the salvation of the world. We pray for the whole Church with Christ.

I try to attend Mass daily but it’s not always possible when I’m travelling. I have no parish so I celebrate Mass at other parishes, Mercedes College or with Religious groups. Sometimes I say Mass more than once a day.

It is part of my duties as a priest and a bishop to say Mass and the Divine Office.

I say the Divine Office daily. It consists of psalms, readings and prayer. There are morning and evening prayers for the Divine Office. In part I pray for the Dioceses’ needs and the special difficulties that can arise in a bishop’s life.

I always carry Rosary beads in

my pocket. I say the Rosary when I have a spare moment like when I am on a plane, going for a walk or sitting quietly in a chapel. I find the Rosary a means of quiet meditation and it can put me in a prayerful mood.

During my years in the Seminary I was encouraged to pray with others and in silent meditation. Daily prayer can be a part of one’s busy life in the parish. I learnt that from my first parish priest, Monsignor Edmund Sullivan. He was a true man of prayer and would always visit the Blessed Sacrament despite a busy schedule.

“If it wasn’t for my faith I would be at a loss to find the meaning of life. Faith makes me conscious of God’s presence. It makes sense of life, death and suffering.”

It brings God very close to me. It is so easy to turn one’s mind and heart to God any time of the day.

An easy and fruitful way to pray is to read the Scripture slowly. This is called “Lectio Divina” or divine reading. Read slowly until it relaxes the brain and soul. God speaks to us through the Scriptures. We need to listen to His voice.

I praise and thank God for the

Look around at the signs He is with us

Mark Reidy i say i say

By

In the 1980’s the American Civil Liberties Union initiated legal proceedings that would prohibit local government bodies from displaying nativity scenes and other religious symbols on public property.

tion and materialism that is smothering the birth of Christ, but rather, we strive more fervently, to recognise His message of love within it.

We should be encouraged by the swelling Church attendance on Christmas Day, of the promotion of family togetherness, the increased generosity and kindness to one another and the escalation in donations to charities. These are all signs that God is amongst us.

We need to take comfort from Church history and understand that the love of God will always dwell amongst us.

gifts I receive each day usually from other people. I ask God for wisdom to carry out my vocation. I pray for the Diocese, priests, deacons and seminarians. I pray for the lay people who ask for prayers and many do. I have retained the habit of kneeling by my bedside when I say morning and evening prayers.

I feel something is wrong if I don’t do that. It’s ingrained in me.

Other people praying at Mass are a great inspiration to me. Members of the congregation get caught up in the atmosphere and it encourages them to pray.

The witnessing of prayer can lead to conversions. Often the best examples are one’s friends and neighbours.

Most parish priests draw as much from the faith of people as from their spiritual reading and private prayers.

Catholics love praying and it is essential to our faith. I urge them to be constantly praying and to talk to God about their daily lives so that God can be their support in decision making.

I encourage each of them to find time every day to read a passage of the Scripture and talk to God about how it relates to their lives. Families should make sure of a short time of prayer daily.

Archbishop Barry Hickey as told to Deb Warrier

The Supreme Court, however, ruled against them and stated that nativity scenes were acceptable as long as they were combined with other symbols such as Santa Claus. This, in effect, defined Christmas as both a religious and a secular celebration and legalised an uneasy relatoinship between the two.

It is a union that has many Christians up in arms, as they believe that an increasingly unbelieving population is hijacking the true meaning of the season. And they are right.

In fact it was in the fourth century that the Church, battling against the influences of the Roman festivals of the time, established December 25 as the birth of Jesus.

This does not mean that we succumb to the commercialisation and materialism that is smothering the birth of Christ, but rather, we strive more fervently, to recognise His message of love within it .

But so too are the judges who decided on the compromise. Their decision is, in actual fact, symbolic of a world that has been culturally and spiritually blended like no other time in history.

Perhaps it is time for us, as Christians, to start embracing a glass half full attitude rather than being overwhelmed by a society that, in increasing numbers, is failing to recognise the moment that God chose to share in our humanity. Perhaps it is a good time to start training ourselves in seeing the presence of God in the world, rather than His absence.

Because, if God is love, as St John tells us, then every act, word or thought that is motivated by selfgiving is a manifestation of His presence. Whether people acknowledge this fact or not does not change the reality of it. This does not mean that we succumb to the commercialisa-

Most theologians agree that this would not have been the actual date, as shepherds would not have been out in the fields at night, nor a census held in the harsh winter conditions that occurred at this time. They also agree that the Church probably chose this day to coincide with, or perhaps oppose, the feast of the birth of Sol the sun god, believing that it would have facilitated an acceptance of the Christian faith by pagans.

So the co-existence of diverse cultural and spiritual influences is not a new phenomenon for Christianity, in fact, it has more often been the norm. We must hold firm to the knowledge that the light of Christ will never be extinguished, and this understanding will allow us to recognise why our society continues to enthusiastically embrace this festive season.

Our role as believing Christians, therefore, is to be living witnesses of Christ’s self-sacrifice, every day of our lives. By fulfilling this, the world will be able to see that the love, kindness and generosity that is generated at this time of year, was not intended to be just for Christmas.

This week: Archbishop Barry Hickey.

Christmas Messages

Greetings from the successors of the Apostles

A glorious letter full of hope, and a gift of Faith

The Advent season is rapidly moving us onto the great celebration of the Mystery of Christmas. My thoughts are again turned to my family and the people of the Archdiocese.

So let me begin by greeting all the people of the Archdiocese and offering a prayer for a renewal of the Spirit of Hope in each of our hearts.

Recently, the Archbishop invited the clergy to come together for a time of prayer and fellowship.

Although we gathered at Holy Family Parish, Como, on a very busy day in Advent, I believe the priests and deacons went away refreshed after that morning together.

The principal focus of the morning was a presentation on the new encyclical of Pope Benedict, Spe Salvi, on Christian Hope and then an hour of prayer during the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The clergy expressed the desire for this experience to be repeated each Lent and Advent season.

I reflected on the Gospel which was proclaimed that morning, the Prologue of St John’s Gospel. This is the Gospel that will be proclaimed on Christmas morning. John the Evangelist, gives us what would have been the last chapter of a presentation of the Gospel in the very first chapter.

The Word who is God and who existed before the creation, in time becomes man taking flesh from Mary, and is known as Jesus of Nazareth.

This forms the very heart of what we are celebrating at Christmas. It gives us the reason for Christian hopefulness, for the long awaited arrival of the Saviour in the original promise of God to humanity fulfilled. With the birth of Jesus, no other mediator or prophet would be required. Jesus is the definitive response of God to humanity.

In terms of the Bible, of Revelation, that original break of humanity with God in the sin of Adam’s disobedience, is healed. But there is even more. With the advent of Jesus Christ, humanity finally comes to know its part in God’s plan for creation. All of humanity is being called to become part of the life, the eternal life of God, in the Trinity.

Christian hopefulness is based on this insight which the person of faith receives as the great gift from God. Our hope which receives its germ from Christian faith is expressed in the mission to love.

I pray that having received Pope Benedict’s glorious letter on Hope as a gift this Christmas, we may be renewed and invigorated by its message and deep insight into God’s love expressed in the Birth of Jesus and his Paschal offering.

Peace can be found within

The Christmas greeting is ‘peace on earth’. Yet, every Christmas I am struck by how common is the opposite - lack of peace - in people’s lives.

The media are full of stories of war and violence at all levels. We hear of domestic violence, home invasions, street assaults - to cite three examples.

Then there are those who do violence to themselves, especially through drugs and alcohol.

Where can we find peace?

The human heart yearns for peace and happiness. The path to peace is within - never outside ourselves.

Many today seem to have the idea that peace can come from external things. Some seek wealth, imagining that this will bring happiness.

Others seek social popularity, or at least acceptance. But the reality is

Christ behind us, beside us and around us

Recently I visited the Stella Maris Centre in Fremantle WA and with the help of the Chaplain, Deacon Patrick Moore, updated myself on the work of the Apostleship of the Sea there.

While we were chatting we both focused on a large picture that hangs in the Centre of a seafarer at the steering wheel of a sailing ship with Jesus behind and around him with his hands also on the wheel. There was a storm at sea and waters lashed over the ship.

Patrick said: “The Seafarers really like that picture.” I can see how they would resonate with it. It portrays the dangers of the sea and at the same time the strong and comforting presence of Christ with them.

This Faith (and our Faith in any time of danger or difficulty) is well founded because of Christmas – the Incarnation.

The Incarnation, God’s son taking flesh, means many things. It means that the Son of God took a human nature. God’s Son became a human being. This in itself is so extraordinary that for many people it is unbelievable.

Incarnation also means that God the Son in a new way became part of human nature – every human being. Jesus Christ is truly a brother to each of us. He identifies with everyone.

Furthermore when the Creator became a creature for us in the person of Jesus it meant that God’s Son became part of our world in a new way.

While nothing had its being but through Him, in the Incarnation

that people of wealth and popularity so often are not happy - yet the poor and the unheard of are.

Others again make decisions according to ‘what I can get out of it’ or ‘what makes me feel happy’. This leads to the kind of self centeredness that never leaves longterm happiness or peace.

Then there are those who imagine they can find some peace at least by introducing foreign substances into their bodies - drugs and alcohol.

Our media recently have been filled with stories of famous and popular individuals who have not discovered peace through these ways.

Christmas peace a gift of Christ We celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, at Christmas. While he came to bring peace, in John’s Gospel we read Jesus saying during his Last Supper with the apostles [John 14:27]: ...my own peace I give, a peace which the world cannot give...

Most of us would find it hard to speak of peace, knowing that, in

God’s Son entered into a new relationship with the whole of creation.

In fact what does all this simply mean? It means that Jesus Christ is intimately connected to us and to all of creation.

Jesus is deeply within each one of us as well as around us every moment of every day.

What a wonderful truth and belief!

Someone who had a strong Faith in Jesus Christ both within and around him was St Patrick. We still have the beautiful prayer that he prayed of St Patrick’s Breast-plate...

“Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me.”

This is true for everyone in the “good and bad” times of life. It applies also to those who serve them in the Apostleship of the Sea as well as to every human being in the vicissitudes of life.

This Christmas let us ask Jesus for a deeper Faith in his Incarnate presence within me and all around me.

We ask Jesus in other words to build on the faith that he has already planted there.

I wish a very happy Christmas to all readers and families and people of good will.

My prayer for you is that the Faith we have in this wonderful reality, or rather in this wonderful person of Jesus, will give us in all situations of our life the courage and calm that it gave St Patrick. Bishop Justin Bianchini Geraldton

just hours, we were to be arrested and crucified.

Yet Jesus shows us by example that true peace is deeper than emotions, thoughts and feelings. It is deep within.

He came to give us ‘my own peace’. He does this by sharing with us his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, through Baptism.

He taught us how to pray, to worship and to live to develop the inner peace which the Spirit spreads through our hearts.

Real peace is found within - not from anything or anyone outside us. Jesus taught us how to live our lives to experience his peace. It requires prayer, worship and living as he taught.

This is where many of his listeners turned away from him, as people have done ever since. Many today lack real inner peace because they do not wish to do these things. They want his peace, but on their terms. They do not want to change their lives. Jesus taught how we

need to pray and to worship to find peace. Experience teaches us that no human relationship lasts if one of those involved just does what they like - irrespective of the wishes of the other person. And no relationship with Jesus can develop if we do only what we want - not what he wants.

Let us think this Christmas. So, as we celebrate this Christmas, let us ask ourselves whether we have the deep inner peace and happiness Christ came to give us. All of us need more.

Let us think about why Jesus came, and his teachings about how to find real peace. Let this Christmas be a time for each of us to renew our personal relationship with Jesus by praying, worshipping and trying to live each day as he taught.

May each of us experience a peace-filled Christmas in 2007.

Bishop Gerard Holohan Bunbury

Bishop Donald Sproxton Auxiliary Bishop of Perth

Reviews Travel the world by sitting in your chair

■ By Hal Colebatch

I did not find or read much good fiction in recent months, but quite a lot of good non-fiction has come my way. Here is a Christmas list of some of my most recommended books read fairly recently (Some, however, not for the first time – not all were published this year). Most are available or can be ordered from the Record bookshop.

How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, by Thomas E. Woods (Regnery), and The Victory of Reason, by Rodney Stark (Random House).

These two books, by highly-distinguished scholars, go together, and should be regarded as essential reading for any Christian prepared to defend his or her faith. With a wealth of factual detail they rebut the claim that the Church has somehow been the enemy of reason, science and human progress, and show, how, on the contrary it has been the great builder of Western civilisation and the creator, enabler, and guardian of human progress and opportunity. They tell, along with much else, of how the great church scholars of the post-Roman period rescued the best of classical philosophy, and how the monks not only preserved learning but ushered in the beginnings of scientific and technological civilisation, freeing Mankind, at least in Europe, from short, stultified lives of back-breaking toil and the ceaseless threat of famine, as well as Christianity’s work in building international law, the concept of universal human rights and modern economics. Fascinating and with great learning presented in an easily-readable style, these are two books that will change the way that you think about the world. Available from the Record bookshop.

Rebuilding the Matrix by Denis Alexander (Lion).

An examination of science and faith in the 21st Century and the history of the relationship between the two. Learned and intellectually strenuous, but well worth the effort and filled with valuable and often surprising insights and quotations. Another book destroying the notion that science and Christianity are enemies, though the relationship between them has sometimes been complex. The book emphasises how many of the greatest figures in science have been Christian believers.

God and Caesar, by Cardinal George Pell, edited by M. A. Casey (Connor Court)

Astimulating collection of essays on religious and secular topics by Australia’s Cardinal, written in a graceful and lucid style and casting a bright, clear light on many sometimes difficult and troubling subjects, including democracy, evolution and human rights. As distinguished scholar Professor Claudio Veliz has said of this book, Cardinal Pell, “thoughtfully conscious of the importance of custom and tradition,” believes Catholicism “has nothing to fear from history or from politics.” Connor Court is a brave new Australian publisher on the right side, which deserves every support. Available from the Record bookshop.

A Book of Feasts and Seasons, by Joanna Bogle (Gracewing)

Tells - with appropriate recipes! – of the lost traditions surrounding major Catholic feasts and festivals. It has gone through several printings since its first appearance in 1984, and has

become a well-loved source-book throughout the world. In this edition, in a new, larger format with new illustrations, the author has added a wealth of new celebrations, stories, activities and recipes. It should be an essential part of the family library for every occasion of the Christian year, and provides an often badly-neglected education into Christian history and customs. Available from the Record bookshop.

America Alone, by Mark Steyn (Regnery).

Adevastating documentation and critique of Europe’s apparent cultural and demographic death-wish. Steyn is one of the wisest as well as one of the wittiest and most prolific cultural commentators in the world today. John O’Sullivan has said of this book: “Mark Steyn is the funniest writer now living. But don’t be distracted by the brilliance of his jokes. They are the neon lights advertising a profound and sad insight ...” Michelle Malkin has said of it: “You can’t afford to look away.”

Unbroken Spirit, by Brian Peachey (Hesperian Press).

Written by a well-known contributor to the Record, this is another inspiring true story but a very different one: it tells of a convict transported to Western Australia in the 19th Century who made good against all the odds in the wilderness. It is a graphic story of William Boxhal’s degrading imprisonment with hard labour on the rotting hulk, the Defence, on the Thames, his transportation to the Swan River Colony and his work with Bishop Salvado at New Norcia. His unbroken spirit enabled him to rise above his degrading incarceration, marry, raise a large family and become a successful farmer. A splendidlywritten and fascinating piece of West Australian history.

Poet’s Pub, by Eric Linklater (Penguin).

If you can find it in the secondhand shops, a relaxing, funny, sunny, light-hearted story, written and set in the 1920s, of an English pub, “The Downy Pelican,” kept by the poet Saturday Keith, and the diverse guests it attracts. There are one or two rather sharp barbs at modern literature concealed in it. The third Penguin book ever published and an old favourite that I have returned to again and again.

Londonistan, by Melanie Phillips (Gibson Square)

Tells how Britain, apparently paralysed by political correctness, has allowed Islamicist terrorism to flourish and grow with the protection of the law, and the growing pressure to introduce Sharia Law. Like America Alone, an alarming but important book.

The Dangerous Book for Boys, by Hal Iggulden and Gonn Iggulden (HarperCollins).

Asurprise but deserved success. This book – there is a companion volume for girls - introduces boys to the old-fashioned adventures and skills which are in danger of being forgotten, as well as to the wonders of the world, how to do things, and stirring events from history. There are British and Australian editions, both worth getting.

The Geometry of Love: Space, Time and Meaning in an Ordinary Church, by Margaret Visser (Penguin).

This book should have had a more informative title. It is a fascinating guide to the architecture and meaning of the iconography of an ordinary church.

The Spectator’s critic called it: “Quite the best guide on how to visit a Christian church I have ever seen.” The critic in the Literary Review has said of this book: “Thanks to Visser’s efforts, next time I am in a church I will look about me with new and wiser eyes.”

The President, The Pope and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World, by John O’Sullivan (Regnery).

The inspiring and uplifting story of how President Reagan, Pope John Paul II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, with inspired brilliance, integrity and courage, peacefully and ethically defeated the evil empire of Soviet communism. This book reminds us of many things in danger of being forgotten, not least how narrowly all three escaped assassination. He also names and details the activities of British and American figures fully deserving of the title of Quisling. For Catholics, the details of Pope John Paul II’s resolution and mastery of statecraft in bringing down a pitiless and tyrannical foe of humanity (not always supported by important parts of the Church) may be of particular interest. Author John O’Sullivan CBE, a highly placed political insider, and former editor in chief of National Review, apart from covering the purely political aspects of those momentous days, asks whether or not Divine intelligence, guidance and inspiration were at work. He concludes: “We have very different problems today, but every reason to hope. After all, to adapt Lady Thatcher’s resonant last line of her eulogy for President Reagan:, we have an advantage they never had: We have their example.”

Nelson Remembered, by David Shannon (Broadside Maritime Publications)

Another fascinating local publication. David Shannon, ex-Royal Navy, and leading light of the local Nelson Society, is WA’s top expert on Nelson, and has published a fascinating account of how Nelson was remembered around the English-speaking world, including WA, on the first centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1905. A labour of love packed with detail and illustrations. Nelson Remembered is Available from Broadside Martime Publications, PO Box 7040, Karawara, WA 6152 or www.broadsidemaritime.com.

Most of these books are available through The Record Bookshop.

Contact Natalie on Mondays Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10am & 5pm 9227 7080

ANSWERS THAT ANSWERS THAT ARE F ULL OF HOPE ARE FULL OF HOPE

Apologist SCOTT HAHN says that when we share our faith we should seek to lift others up, not shut them up

Gentleness and reverence come naturally and supernaturally to those who know they are living in the kingdom. We are always in the presence of the holy, and we see in all others the image of our immortal King.

We should always be ready with an answer. But this is what should set Catholic apologists apart: we answer to lift people up, not shut them up. If we genuinely listen to people who disagree with us, and if we learn to present the content of the Catholic faith to them in a positive way, we are far more likely to persuade them. Sometimes, in the midst of an argument, we can get so caught up in the mechanics of argumentation that we miss many opportunities to witness to grace.

The great 19th-Century theologian Matthias Scheeben said that something like that happened in the centuries after the Protestant Reformation. Both Catholics and Protestants, he said, got so caught up in their debates that they produced misshapen theologies and misleading witness, because, instead of focusing on the essentials of faith, they dwelt on the points in dispute. Scheeben noted that the Council of Trent (echoing St Paul in Romans 8:14-17) had provided a serious and considerate answer to Protestant questions on justification, but Catholics ignored it. They were so busy formulating a response in the legal terms that the reformers were using that they missed the transcendent beauty of Trent’s doctrine.

Trent defined justification as “a transference from the state in which man is born a son of the first Adam, to the state of grace and adoption of the sons of God”. If Catholics had used the language of Trent, Scheeben said, the notion of justification would have escaped the shallow and muddled treatment that has so often disfigured it. Many inverted the proper procedure.

Instead of starting with an adequate idea of God’s adoptive sonship and then determining the concept of justice contained in this idea, they preferred to regard divine sonship as a relationship to God arising from human justice, which they looked upon as a right disposition connected with freedom from sin, and an inclination towards morally good conduct.

Thereby they did away with the possibility of fixing upon anything supernatural in this justice, and could conceive of the divine sonship itself only in an extremely vague, if not altogether rationalist, fashion. But if we follow the Council of Trent, and if with the council we focus our attention on the fact that, at bottom, jusification as, the doctrine by which the Church stands or falls’ and ‘the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine, which comprehends the ruler and judge

over all other Christian doctrines’. Luther argued his case from Pauline texts, emphasising ‘that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law’ (Romans 3:28). So emphatic was Luther about the worthlessness of human works that he inserted

the word “alone” after “faith” when he translated Paul’s text, claiming that salvation is by “faith alone”. Yet the phrase “faith alone” actually appears in only one place in Scripture, and that is in the Letter of James, which explicitly denies

what would later become Luther’s keystone of doctrine: “you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24) Luther dealt with the problem by proposing to remove James from his New Testament; later theologians argued that Paul and James meant different things when they used the verb “justified”. The semantic differences between James and Paul are debatable at best. The semantic

differences between Protestant and Catholic dogmatists, however, are a fact of history.And Catholics could have avoided much of it if they had simply followed Trent in placing their own accent on the idea of divine filiation: the astonishing fact that Christians are, by grace, adopted sons of God. As St John of Damascus

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Picture: Mary and Joseph kneel at the crib of the infant Christ in this icon from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The December 25 Christmas feast commemorates the birth of Christ. PHOTO: CNS/DEBBIE HILL.

put it in the eighth century: in baptism we become by grace what God is by nature.

Trent’s approach also would have enabled us to speak of justification in the “covenantal” terms favoured by John Calvin and his division of the Reformation. For Luther and Calvin, as for St Augustine and the council of Trent, you have to experience divine regeneration before you can exercise the faith that justifies. Regeneration precedes justification. Generation is how we come into the natural family as children. Regeneration, through baptism, is how we come to God’s family.

It is only in recent decades that Catholic theologians and ecumenists have earnestly begun to employ the methods proposed by Trent. And the results have been remarkable. On the institutional level, we have seen the world’s Lutherans sign a joint declaration on justification. On the personal level a great many Lutherans, both clergy and laity, and even some very prominent theologians, have recently come into full communion with the Catholic Church (notably Richard John Neuhaus, Reinhard Hutter, Bruce Marshall, Mickey Mattox, Leonard Klein and Jennifer Mehl Ferrara).

The lesson from history should be clear to us. So much depends upon our deep, personal appropriation of the faith in positive biblical terms and in the Church’s own terms. We must make the biblical and Catholic doctrine our own, through study and prayer. (The first conversion we must seek always is our own.) And then we must strive to present our faith in a positive way, rather that in a simply reactionary way.

Sometimes we may answer with a single verse, because that’s what our friends are looking for; but the true Catholic answer is the entire Bible. Sometimes we may answer in a single breath; but we must also answer with our entire lives. For we are servants, like Christ. We are witnesses, like His holy Apostles. Only if we are saints and servants and witnesses will we be true apologists and, more than that, true evangelists.

Evangelisation is not the work of arguments alone. People need to see the reality of the kingdom when they see the Church and see her members, and even the most clearly formulated doctrine cannot force anyone to see what our own sins have obscured. The Catechism echoes St Thomas Aquinas when its says: “We do not believe in formulas, but in those realities they express, which faith allows us to touch. The believer’s act of faith does not terminate in the propositions, but in the realities which they express” (CCC, n 170). Our apostolic goal, then, is to manifest the kingdom. Giving a more convincing reason doesn’t make the truth of the kingdom more real, just more accessible.

We have many reasons to believe. We have plausible, good and beautiful reasons to believe. And many of our friends, neighbours and colleagues are desperate to find a reason to believe. Our words and our lives should give them ample reasons.

As Fr Scheebenh noted, though, all our reasons come down to one: we are God’s children now. Divine filiation, our family relationship

with God, is a key that unlocks so many of the mysteries and enigmas of Scripture and opens the door to a more positive and effective apologetics. Once we see ourselves as God’s children, the other mysteries fall into place. Baptism? It is our birth into the family. The Mass? It is our family meal, our holy sacrifice at the altar of our true home. The saint? They are our siblings. The blessed Virgin? She is our Mother. The Pope? As God’s vicar, he is our holy father. The kingdom? It is ours because it belongs to the Son of God. The Church? It is our home, because it is the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of heaven belongs to children like us!

People sometimes ask me what is the best way to prepare for the task of apologetics. Well, we should all be doing certain things: praying, reading the Scriptures, seeking wisdom from reliable teachers, and seeking the grace of the Holy Spirit, to name just a few. But we can also take a “shortcut”, because there’s one practice that encompasses all those others.

If I had to name only one preparation for the work of apologetics, it would be this: full, conscious and active participation in the Holy Mass. Go as often as you can. Of couse, we must go on Sundays and holy days. But go on weekdays, too if you can do it in a way that doesn’t threaten your employment or burden your family.

“Evangelisation is not the work of arguments alone. People need to see the reality of the kingdom when they see the Church and see her members...”

The Mass is where we grow familiar with the contours of reality. It’s where the natural world of wheat, wine, and water meets the supernatural, and where they coexist in one kingdom, with the angels crying out “Holy, holy, holy!” before the consecrated elements. It’s in the Mass that we are set apart, along with those elements of nature, to be consecrated, to be holy, to be divinised.

The Mass is where the Bible dwells in its natural and supernatural habitat. The Mass is where the whole Bible hangs together, and it’s the only place where the whole Bible is proclaimed consistently and fully. For the Mass is the culmination of the Bible’s prophecy. The Bible is about the Mass, and the Bible suffuses the Mass. When we go to Mass often we absorb the Bible as if through every pore of our body. We take it in with the grace to understand it.

I’ll tell you about my early experience of this. I was a new Catholic, and I was flush with the pride of discovery. I’d just presented a paper to a doctoral seminar on the Gospel of Matthew, and I thought my work was important and original. I also believed it was true. Even the gruelling, two-and-a-half-hour session of questioning by my professor and fellow students had left me - and my thesis – unscathed.

SCOTT HAHN Biography

Bthen, a few minutes later, the priest proclaimed the Gospel and it was Matthew 16, the story of Jesus giving the keys to Peter.

orn in 1957 in Pennsylvania, Scott Hahn was a Presbyterian minister and theologian of 10 years’ standing who believed the Catholic Church was “evil” and the Pope the anti-Christ.

But it was his disillusionment with the Protestant churches over birth control that led Hahn on a path that would see him received into the Church in 1986. He admits he felt much resistance to the idea along the way, but found himself falling in love with the Eucharist while sitting at the back of Mass. His wife Kimberly, co-author of the memoir Rome Sweet Home, was initially aghast, but converted four years later.

Since then the Hahn’s have established the Coming Home Network, a group that allows potential converts to ask questions about the Faith, and also the St Paul Centre for Biblical Theology, which helps Catholics to increase their awareness of the history of salvation through scripture.

He is the author of 14 bestselling books on Catholicism, including Ordinary Work, Extraordinary Grace, his account of joining Opus Dei, and his latest, Reasons to Believe

What was the subject? I argued that Matthew’s account of Jesus giving Peter the “keys to the kingdom” cites the obscure oracle of Isaiah about the transfer of “the key of the House of David”. What Jesus conferred upon Peter – namely, authority over His Church – corresponded to what Isaiah’s king had conferred upon Eliakim in making him prime minister of the Davidic kingdom. In both cases there was an office with both primacy and succession. When one person vacated the office, another took his place, and the successor held authority identical to that of his predecessor. Earlier scholars, both Protestant and Catholic, had noticed the Isaiah citation. And you don’t have to be a scholar to notice that Matthew is filled with quotations, citations, allusions and echoes from the Old Testament.

I felt I had a fresh insight, however, in seeing how the citation helps us understand Matthew’s meaning and Jesus’s intention. As I saw it, the passage depicted Jesus as the new Davidic king and the Church as the restored kingdom of David. It was this conclusion and others like it that eventually led me to become a Catholic. I thanked God for the grace. But I also congratulated myself for conducting such an impressive work of scholarship. My classmates and professor may have been impressed, but not half as impressed as I was.

Yet it was only a short time later that I encountered those same two biblical passages again in a setting I was hardly expecting. It happened at Mass on the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time. The first reading was taken from Isaiah 22, the same obscure oracle I’d studied in such detail for my paper. It is such an odd passage that I didn’t expect to hear it included in the liturgy. But

What were the odds of those two Scriptures being read at the same Mass? I asked myself. I felt as if I’d won some kind of lectionary lottery.

Only later did I discover that the readings we hear at Mass aren’t chosen by holy happenstance. My innovative interpretation of Matthew 16 was one that Catholics had been hearing in the liturgy for years and not only scholars, but labourers, merchants and the poorest of the poor. It’s more than 20 years now since I became a Catholic, and I’ve had this experience again and again at Mass.

Sunday after Sunday the Church gives us a pattern of biblical interpretation, showing us how the promises of the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New Testament. And the Church presents the Scriptures this way because the New Testament writers did. And the New Testament writers learned it from Jesus.

The Evangelists understood the Old Testament as salvation history, the patient unfolding of God’s gracious and merciful plan to fashion the human race into a convenant family, the family of God that worships and dwells in His kingdom. Surely it was that promise of divine sonship that captivated me and held me, all those years ago, when I first went searching after reasons to believe, when I first sought the deeper meaning of the Church’s baptism.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God… Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3,5).

I learned from my first teachers that baptism is a christening. It is an anointing. It confers a kingship that Christ has seen fit to share with a beggar like me. More than that, it is a kingship that He wants us all to share with everyone we meet, especially those who are most hostile. Always with gentleness and reverence. And full of hope.

TThe lesson of the crib

he Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem has a very low doorway so that in order to enter you have to bow down in a manner of forced reverence. When I first experienced this humbling entre into the celebrated birth place of Jesus Christ the Saviour, I remember thinking how fitting it was that we approached the crib scene in such a way. Our body language was that of supplication and respect, bent over as we were. At home, far from the precinct of Bethlehem, the crib scenes on display in our churches fill me with a similar sense of admiration. Some cribs are simple and uncomplicated, while others have the details of a well produced movie set. It doesn’t matter really what they look like. What cries out for our acknowledgement and prayerful recollection is the inspiration for the crib scene – the Gospel infancy narratives that announced to humankind, ‘Unto us is born a Saviour. He is Christ the Lord’.

The suffering and sacrifice of Mary and Joseph is evident in their squalid surroundings. The child is born in a stable meant for animals – a shed that speaks of poverty without any deprivation of love. They bear the injustice of their surroundings with dignity and resolve, powerless but strangely grateful for the bare shelter made available for them.

The presence of the angels is the divine touch assuring us that this human birth that appears like any other is yet at the same time like no other. This birth of a boy-child will forever change the history of the human race. God, through this birth, has entered into human life binding with his creatures in a covenant of love.

The wise men present gifts in gratitude and veneration, not for each other we note, but for the Son of God. They came as strangers driven by curiosity and a quest, searching for the sacred. They are grateful for having witnessed a moment of epic proportions that heralded a new relationship between God and humankind, sealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ some thirty-three years later. It would be a sad loss for us if the lessons of the simple crib scene in our churches passed us by unnoticed. Last year I saw a mother and father together with their three children pointing out the details of the crib at a Church. The presence of angels, wise men and the Holy Family were spoken about in a manner that would please any competent catechist.

- Extract from Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain and Defend the Catholic Faith by Scott Hahn is published by Darton, Longman and Todd. Available by order through The Record Bookshop (08) 9227 7080 or via email at: bookshop@therecord.com.au.

The Christmas story is a beautiful one filled with hope, new life and bright promise. It truly is a family story with a familiar faith dimension so striking that to pray about the message will bring us to our knees in wonder and awe of God’s love for us. Let us pray that we may reverence God and each other, being always grateful for life as God’s gift to us. May the peace of Christmas and God’s choicest blessings be with you and your family.

Bishop Christopher Saunders

Broome

PANORAMA a roundup of events in the archdiocese

Panoramas

Panorama entries must be in by 5pm Monday. Contributions may be faxed to 9227 7087, emailed to administration@therecord.com.au or mailed to PO box 75, Leederville, WA 6902.

Submissions over 55 words will be edited. Inclusion is limited to 4 weeks. Events charging over $10 constitute a classified event, and will be charged accordingly. The Record reserves the right to decline or modify any advertisment. Please do not re-submit Panoramas once they are in print.

Friday December 14

WYD PRAYER VIGIL

Join us for a night of prayer and adoration hosted by the young people of Perth. In the spirit of the Advent season we pray for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, and in preparation for 2008: the coming of the WYD Cross and Icon and WYD08. Come to Good Shepherd Parish, 215 Morley Drive East KIARA, 8pm-6am. Come along for an hour or two, or why not stay for the entire night. Enq: wydperth@highgate-perthcatholic.org.au or 9422 7944 (www.wydperth.com).

Saturday December 15

CHRISTMAS ULTREYA  MASS AND FIESTA

Community Mass at 6pm to be held at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, Kitchener Street (near Hamersley), North Beach. Please bring a plate (finger food) to share. Please join us for this joyous and happy celebration. Family and friends welcome. Live entertainment: Cursillista Musician Keith Carton and jazz quartet.

Saturday December 15

GOLDEN JUBILEE CELEBRATION MASS  BRENTWOOD

Starting at 9.30am at Regina Coeli Catholic Church Brentwood. To mark the Golden Jubilee of our church, dedicated on 15th December 1957, past and present parishioners are invited to participate in Mass to be concelebrated by Bishop Don Sproxton and Priests, who have served our community over the past fifty years. Refreshments will be shared following Mass. RSVP (for catering purposes) to Marie Hill 9364 6042 or email reghill@optusnet. com.au

Sunday December 16

SILVER JUBILEE OF PRIESTLY ORDINATION: FR VINCENT GLYNN

The parish of Floreat/Wembley invite you to join with Fr Vincent Glynn as he celebrates his 25th anniversary of Ordination to the Priesthood. A special invite to all past parishioners and friends of Fr Vincent. An Anniversary Mass of Thanksgiving will be held at 9.30am at St Cecilia’s Church, Grantham St, Floreat. It will be followed by a morning tea. RSVP florcath@iinet.net.au by Dec 5th.

Thursday December 20

ST PEREGRINE HEALING MASS

Starting at 7pm at SS John & Paul Church, Pinetree Gully Road, (off South Street), Willetton. A Healing Mass in honour of St Peregrine, patron of Cancer sufferers and helper of all in need. The celebration will include Veneration of the Relic, and Anointing of the Sick. Enq: Noreen Monaghan 9498 7727.

Monday December 24

CHRISTMAS LATIN MASS IN THE CITY OF PERTH

Program: 7.30pm First Vespers of Christmas; 8pm Holy Mass of Christmas; 11pm Rosary and Carols, 12am Midnight Mass. Midnight Mass and Carols at Cathedral Parish Centre Hall, 450 Hay Street, Perth. All other Masses in St John’s Pro-Cathedral, Victoria Avenue, Perth.

Tuesday December 25

CHRISTMAS LATIN MASS IN THE CITY OF PERTH

Program: 7.30am Dawn Mass, 9.15am Day Mass, 11.15am Day Mass. Venue at St John’s Pro-Cathedral, Victoria Avenue, Perth. All welcome. Enq: Mr Micheal Rowe 9444 9604.

Saturday December 29

NOVENA DEVOTIONS

Novena Devotions to Our Lady of Good Health, Vailankanni will be held at the Holy Trinity Church, Embleton at 5pm, followed by the Vigil Mass at 6pm. Enq: Monsignor P McCrann 9272 5528 or George Jacob 9272 1379.

First Friday January 4

ALLIANCE AND TRIUMPH OF THE TWO HEARTS

Holy Mass and Eucharistic Vigil at St Bernadette’s Church Glendalough. Confessions at 5.15pm. Parish Mass at 5.45pm (Celebrant: Fr Doug Harris) followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, hourly Rosaries, hymns and reflections etc. Vigil concludes with midnight Mass in honour of the BVM (Celebrant: Fr Doug Harris). Enq: Fr Doug Harris 9444 6131 or Dorothy 9342 5845.

Saturday January 5 DAY WITH MARY

St Mary Star of the Sea Church, Cnr Stirling Highway & McNeil Street, Cottesloe. 9am to 5pm.

A video on Fatima will be shown at 9am. A day of prayer and instruction based on the messages of Fatima. Includes Sacrament of Penance, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons, Rosaries, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Stations of the Cross. Please BYO lunch. Enq: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.

Sunday January 6

DIVINE MERCY

An afternoon with Jesus and Mary will be held at St Joachim’s Church, on the corner of Shepperton Road and Harper Street in Victoria Park. Starting at 1.30pm. Program: Holy Rosary and Reconciliation, Sermon: by Fr Dominic Mary, FFI on “The Three Wise Men” followed by Divine Mercy prayers and Benediction. Afterwards refreshments in the parish hall, followed by a video/DVD with Fr John Corapi – ‘Questions & Answers’. Enq: John 9457 7771 or Linda 9275 6608.

Sunday to Saturday January 6 to 12

THE SUMMER SCHOOL OF EVANGELISATION 2008

Is a unique week long Retreat and formation experience that will set hearts on fire. Open to everyone over 16yo and is the ideal preparation for World Youth Day. Night rallies open to the public. 67 Howe St, Osborne Park. See http://sse2008.disciplesofjesus.org/ <http://sse2008.disciplesofjesus.org/ for brochure/registration or Enq: 0401 692 690.

PERPETUAL ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

Is in its fifth year at Christ the King Church, Lefroy Road, Beaconsfield. 24 hours per day, except at Mass times. All are invited to spend an hour with Jesus truly present. Entrance is from the porch, near the altar on the Lefroy Road side of the church. Enq: Joe 9319 1169.

First Sunday of Every Month

HEALING FIRE BURNING LOVE MINISTRY

Celebrates the Sunday Mass at St Bernadette’s Church, Cnr Jugan and Leeder Streets, Glendalough commencing with praise and worship at 6.30pm and Mass at 7pm. We have healing prayers after the Mass so please invite all those in need of the healing love and power of Jesus. Enq: Jenni Young 9445 1028 or 0404 389 679.

Every First Friday of the Month Mass 7.30pm honouring St Pio of Pietrlcina with his Novena to the Sacred Heart and Prayer of Union. St Joseph’s Parish, 20 Hamilton Street, Bassendean. Join in every First Friday.

Third Sunday of the Month

OBLATES OF ST BENEDICT MEET

Venue: St Josephs Convent, York Street, South Perth at 2pm. An annual Retreat is held at New Norcia, Trinity Sunday Weekend. Oblates are affiliated with Benedictine Abbey New Norcia. We celebrate our 50th Anniversary September 2008. A golden celebration. All welcome. Vespers and afternoon tea conclude monthly meeting. Enq: Secretary 9388 3026.

Every Tuesday WEEKLY PRAYER  MARY’S COMPANION WAYFARERS OF JESUS THE WAY

Starting at 7pm at St Mary’s Cathedral Parish Centre, 450 Hay Street, Perth. Appreciate the heritage of the Faith united with others asking Jesus and Mary to overcome burdens in life. Receive healing in prayer through the Rosary, Scripture, meditation and praise in song. Followed by friendship and refreshments. Prayer is powerful. Come join us!

First Friday and first Saturday of each month

COMMUNION OF REPARATION  ALL NIGHT VIGIL

Corpus Christi Church, Mosman Park 7pm-1am, 46 Lochee Rd, Mosman Park. Mass, Rosary, Prayers, Confessions and silent adoration. Contact: Catalina 0439 931 151.

First Sunday of each month

DEVOTIONS IN HONOUR OF THE DIVINE MERCY

The Santa Clara Parish community welcomes anyone from surrounding parishes and beyond to Santa Clara Church, cnr of Coolgardie and Pollack Sts,

Bentley. The afternoon commences with the 3 o’clock prayers, followed by the Divine Mercy Chaplet, reflection and concludes with Benediction.

Every Saturday PERPETUAL HELP DEVOTIONS

4.30pm. The half hour perpetual novena devotions to the Mother of Perpetual Help continue each Saturday at the Redemptorist Monastery Church, 190 Vincent St, in North Perth. Reconciliation available before and after the devotions. All welcome.

Every Sunday

BULLSBROOK SHRINE

Sunday pilgrim Mass is celebrated with Holy Rosary and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament 2pm at the Shrine of the Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Road, Bullsbrook. Reconciliation is available in Italian and English before every celebration. Enq: 9447 3292.

BOOK DONATIONS WANTED

We are seeking donations of Catholic books, Bibles, Missals and Divine Office books any age, any condition. Tel: 9293 3092.

Every First Friday HOLY HOUR FOR VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD AND THE RELIGIOUS LIFE

At Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, 2 Rawlins Street, Glendalough. 7pm Mass with celebrant Fr Albert Saminedi. 7.30pm Holy Hour Adoration with Fr Don Kettle. Refreshments to follow in the hall. All welcome.

Second Friday of each Month GENERAL PRAYER ASSEMBLY

The Couples for Christ and its Family Ministries welcome all members who now reside or are visiting Perth to join the community in our monthly general prayer assembly 7.30pm, St Joachim Parish Hall, Shepperton Road, Victoria Park. Enquiries: Tony and Dolly Haber (08) 9440 4540.

Every Fourth Sunday SECULAR FRANCISCAN ORDER

The Perth Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order assembles every fourth Sunday at 2.30pm in the Chapel of RSL Care, 51 Alexander Dr, Menora. Enquiries John 9385 5649.

Every Fourth Sunday WATCH AND PRAY

A Holy Hour is held at Infant Jesus Parish, Morley from 2-3pm with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The hour consists of some prayers and Scripture but mostly the hour is silent prayer for Vocations. All are welcome. Please encourage others to come and pray. Prayer - it works! Enq: 9276 8500. CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Ignatian Volunteers Australia calls for part-time volunteers to respond to the needs of people in the community who live in marginalised circumstances. At the heart of this program is a reflective process based on Gospel values, which supports the volunteers in their work. To learn more: www.volunteers.jesuit.org.au Contact Kevin Wringe, Perth Coordinator (08) 9316 3469 kwringe@iinet.net.au .

Every First and Third Monday of the Month ST TERESIAN PRAYER GROUP

The St Teresian Prayer Group meets every 1st and 3rd Monday of the Month, 7pm at Infant Jesus, Morley. Enq: Darren Miranda 9276 6358 after 1pm.

Every Third Saturday of the Month

PRAYER FOR LIFE

Father Jim Shelton leads prayers from 10am to 11am at Abortion Clinic in Rivervale. All welcome. Enq 9279 1549 or 9403 2444.

Every Wednesday

HOLY HOUR, BENEDICTION

Holy Hour 4pm to 5pm. Held at St Thomas, 2 College Road, Claremont. Followed by Evening Prayer and Benediction. Personal prayer before the Blessed Sacrament is Adoration of Jesus’ gift of Himself, of His love for you, for you loved ones and for our world. Come and Thank Him.

Every Tuesday

THE GOSPEL OF ST MATTHEW

Exciting revelations into the Gospel of St Matthew

are being offered in a free of charge Bible course being conducted by Fr Douglas Leslie Rowe S.F.P. at St Joachim’s Parish Hall, Shepperton Rd, Victoria Park. Participants will be introduced into an insightful exploration of this fascinating Gospel. The course will be held every Tuesday at 7.30pm. Light refreshments will follow. Please bring a friend.

N.O.W NIGHT OF WORSHIP

On the initiative of Fr Charles Waddell PP and the assistance of Flame Ministries International, a new and exciting service called “N.O.W” (Night of Worship) has begun at 7.15pm followed by Mass at 8pm every Sunday at St Thomas the Apostle Church corner of College Road & Melville Street, Claremont. “NOW” is aimed at attracting people back into the Church and to the Mass as well as attracting regular Mass goers both youth and families. Come and join us each Sunday for a new experience of dynamic and joyful worship.

Every Sunday LATIN MASS

The Latin Mass according to the 1962 missal is offered every Sunday at Our Lady of Fatima, 10 Foss St, Palmyra at noon. All welcome.

PERPETUAL EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

A Christmas Invitation

Spend some time with Jesus on His birthday (and any other day!). St Anne’s Church, 11 Hehir St Belmont is open for Eucharistic Adoration 24 hours every day. Enq: Sandra Robinson 9277 2872.

KALGOORLIE BOULDER PARISH

CHRISTMAS MASS TIMES 2007

St Mary’s, Kalgoorlie, Monday 24 December, Family Vigil Mass, 7pm; St Mary’s, Coolgardie, Monday 24 December, Vigil Mass, 6pm; All Hallows, Boulder, Monday 24 December, Midnight Mass, 11.30pm with Xmas carols; St Mary’s, Kalgoorlie, Tuesday 25 December, Christmas Day Mass, 8am; St John Vianney, Kambalda, Tuesday 25 December, Christmas Day Mass 9am; All Hallows, Boulder, Tuesday 25 December, Christmas Day Mass, 10am; St Joseph, Norseman, Tuesday 25 December, Christmas Day Mass, 12.30pm; St Mary’s, Kalgoorlie, Wednesday 26 December, Mass – Public Holiday 9.30am.

KALGOORLIE BOULDER PARISH

NEW YEAR MASS TIMES 2008

St Mary’s Kalgoorlie, Tuesday 1 January 2008, New Year’s Mass, 9.30am; St Mary’s Kalgoorlie Wednesday – Friday, Weekday Mass, 6.45am.

First Friday of the Month

WITNESS FOR LIFE

Pro-Life Mass at St Brigid’s, Midland, 9.30am followed by Rosary, Procession and Prayer Vigil at Abortion Clinic, led by Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. Enq: Helene 9403 2444.

First Saturday of the Month

WITNESS FOR LIFE

Pro-Life Mass at St Anne’s, Belmont, 8.30am, followed by Rosary and Procession and Prayer Vigil at Abortion Clinic, led by Fr Paul Carey SSC. Enq:

ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK

Every Sunday, 1 - 2 pm on Access 31

Sunday December 23:

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST : musical cantata / composer Andrew Miller with Raymond Arroyo [The World Over].

The Rosary Christian Tutorial Association wishes all our viewers every happiness this Holy Christmas Season.

The Rosary Christian Tutorial Association, P.O. Box 1270, Booragoon 6954. Enq: 9330-2467

■ FAMILY/GROUP ACCOMMODATION www.beachhouseperth.com Call 0400 292 100

■ TO LET Mandurah furnished holiday apartment in resort complex, 3 brm, 2 bath. Phn 9381 3495 or email: valma7@bigpond.com

BLINDS

■ BLINDS SPECIALIST Call AARON for FREE quotes 0402 979 889.

BOOK REPAIRS

■ REPAIR YOUR LITURGICAL BOOKS Leather restorations; 2ndhand Catholic books @ Tydewi Bindery: phn 9293 3092.

BUILDING TRADES

■ BRICK REPOINTING Phone Nigel 9242 2952.

■ PERROTT PAINTING PTY LTD

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

■ PICASSO PAINTING Top service. Phone 0419 915 836, fax 9345 0505.

BUSINESS OFFER

■ BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY Work from your own “Home Office” in Health and nutrition industry. PT or FT. Live and online Training provided. Visit www.dreamlife1.com

Classifieds

FURNITURE REMOVAL

■ ALL AREAS Mike Murphy 0416 226 434.

GIFTS

Advent calendars, Nativity sets cards, candles, religious items for baptism, reconciliation, holy communion, confirmation. Exclusive range of gifts, handbags, fashion accessories and many more. Opening hours: 8am - 5.30pm Monday-Thursday; 8am-7pm Friday, 10am-3pm Saturday; 12pm-4pm Sunday. We offer personal shopper services too. OTTIMO, Shop 102 and Shop 107-108, Trinity Arcade, Terrace Level, Hay Street, Perth. Phone: 9322 4520.

HEALTH

■ ACHES, PAINS, STRESS???

Indian mature male masseur offers Reflex Relax Massage at $30 for 60mins. Phone Jai 0438 520 993.

■ DEMENTIA REMISSION

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

■ HEALTH AND WELLNESS

A New Sample Pack of wellness, weightloss, and energy products. Natural – free delivery & Followup Call 02 9807 5337

IMMIGRATION

■ MIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA

Guidance and visa processing for Skilled, Family or Study Visas . Call Michael Ring or Ajay Trehan

Registered Migration Agent (MARN # 0212024)Phone: 02 8230 0290 email: michael.ring@bigpond. com

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS

■ CATHOLICS CORNER

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

■ RICH HARVEST  YOUR CHRISTIAN SHOP

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

■ KINLAR VESTMENTS “modern meets tradition”

Quality hand-made & decorated vestments, altar cloths, banners

Contact: Vickii Smith Veness 9402 8356 or 0409 114 093

WANTED

■ TRAVEL COMPANION.

Lady 50-60’s interested in holiday to Italy to travel approx. Sept/Oct 2008. Ph 9276 5054.

WEDDING MUSIC

■ CLASSICAL MUSIC FOR YOUR WEDDING CEREMONY

Performed by the ‘Simply Classical Quartet’ 9444 1630 Demonstration CD available.

THANKSGIVING

Thank you for prayers answered

2008 Youth Calendar

As Australia gears up for World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, agencies in the Archdiocese of Perth are doing their bit to form our youth spiritually, mentally and personally. In this the Christmas edition of The Record, we present here a raft of avenues that young people can take to prepare themselves and each other for the biggest event to have reached our shores, courtesy of the late Pope John Paul II: WYD08.

January 6-12 Disciples of Jesus Covenant Community Summer School of Evangelisation

January 16 World Youth Day Coordinators’ Meeting

January 17-19 Youth Impact Impacters Summer Sleepout

January 17-20 Flame Ministries International Congress - Arise: A Trumpet Call for a Joshua Generation

January 19-21 YCS Summer Camp

January 21-22 YCS Transition Into High School Camp

January 22-24 YCS Summer Camp

February 1-3 DJs Fire Weekend (1835s)

February 7 DJs Finding New Life in the Spirit Seminar 1 start

February 18 UNDA Opening Mass

February 23 WYD Sand Sculpture

Competition

February 25 DJs Acts2College of Mission

and Evangelisation Semester 1 start

March 5 UNDA Commencement

March 21 UNDA Stations of the Cross with Neocatechumenal Way

March 28 WYD All Schools Liturgy

April 3 WYD Coordinators’ Meeting

April 6 WYD Countdown - 100 Days To Go

April 14-16 Youth Impact Impacters Country Campout

April 18-20 DJs Anchor Weekend (Year 8-12 students)

April 19 YCS River Cruise

May 21 UNDA hosts WYD Cross & Icon

May 21-26 WYD Cross & Icon visits

Perth

June 4-9 WYD Cross & Icon visits Perth

July 8-12 WYD Perth Days in the Dioceses extravaganza

July 9-13 UNDA’s WYD Pilgrimage/ Oblate Youth to Melbourne

July 15-20 WORLD YOUTH DAY, Sydney.

July 28 DJs “Acts2College” New Enrolments and Semester Two start

July 29 YCS Health Happy Bodies Day

August 1-3 DJs Fire Weekend (for 1835s)

August 7 DJs Finding New Life in the Spirit starts

August 15-17 WYD Post-event reunion

September 30-Oct 2 Youth Impact Impacters Catholic Youth Conference

October 3-5 DJs Anchor Weekend (Year 8-12 students)

October 10-12 WYD Post-event conference

November 21-23 DJs Anchor Weekend (Year 8-12 students)

December 13-14 YCS Year 12 Retreat

*Each Friday 7pm Disciples of Jesus 24:7 Youth Ministry (Year 8-12 students).

*Each Tuesday UNDA holds Christian Meditation with John Auer in Holy Spirit Chapel. Log onto nd.edu.au/ministry/ Fremantle/index.shtml.

*Daily Mass @ UNDA Holy Spirit Chapel, 12.35; Sunday Mass @6pm. Disciples of Jesus events: Contact Reg Firth 9202 6859, perth@disciplesofjesus. org. Flame Ministries International events: Contact 08 9382 3668, Arise@flameministries.org

UNDA events: Contact Tom Gannon 9433 0629, tgannon@nd.edu.au. World Youth Day lead-up events in Perth: Contact Anita Parker 9422 7944, wydperth@highgate-perthcatholic.org.au. YCS events: Contact Perth coordinator Vicki Burrows 9422 7911, perthycs@gmail. com.

Youth Impact events: Contact Ronan McGinnis ronanm@youthimpact.com.au.

PREMISES REQUIRED

We are looking for premises either North or South of Perth where we can hold daytime clinics for our clients. We require premises for a period of three to four hours during one day of the week; where we can see the clients privately and also have a waiting room. A Doctors

Wishing

you

Peace and Happiness at Christmas and throughout the coming year

Catholic Development Fund Chairman, Committee Members, Management and Staff in our Perth and Geraldton Offices.

CDF provides loans and investment accounts to parishes, schools, religious orders, aged care and health care facilities etc., together with investment opportunities to the laity.

Catholic Development Fund

Perth Office: 61 Fitzgerald Street, Northbridge, WA 6003

Telephone: (08) 9427 0333

Geraldton Office: 7 Maitland Street, Geraldton, WA 6530

Telephone: (08) 9921 3221