The Record Newspaper 20 October 2010

SAINT OF THE WEEK

The Parish. The Nation. The World. Find it in The Record.

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Journalists

Peter Rosengren editor@therecord.com.au

Bridget Spinks baspinks@therecord.com.au

Mark Reidy mreidy@therecord.com.au

Anthony Barich abarich@therecord.com.au

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Oh, Father, I cannot tell you what a beautiful thing the will of God seems to me. For some years past, my Communions, my prayers, my intentions have all been for God’s will to be done. I can never pray for a particular intention, a particular person, or anything particular about our own Institute, but in God’s loved will, that is - whilst I desire with all my heart to pray for these, I cannot help at the same time desiring that He only use my prayers for the intention that His own will most desires at this time. Thus I feel a joy when things go well, for I see His will in this, and an equal joy when they seem to go wrong or against our natural desire, for there again I see His will, and

An excerpt from a letter by Mary MacKillop is now officially included in the Office of Readings for 8 August, her feast day. Her own words reveal a great deal about the increasing closeness to God Australia’s first official saint sought, and experienced, on a daily basis ...

am satisfied that He has accepted my prayers and those of many more for some other object at the time nearer to His adorable will.

To me, the will of God is a dear book which I am never tired of reading, which has always some new charm for me. Nothing is too little to be noticed there, but yet my littleness and nothingness has often dared to oppose it, and I am painfully conscious that in many ways I still in my tepidity offend against it without perceiving what I am doing. But such dear lessons as you gave me the other evening then come to my aid and encourage me, for the love of my sweet Jesus is too strong, too beautiful, and His merits too great, for me not to cling to Him.

- letter to Monsignor Kirby, Ascension, 1874

Snapshot of a Saint: St Mary MacKillop is pictured in an undated photo from the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, the order she co-founded. Blessed MacKillop became Australia’s first official saint last Sunday. The nun and her Order are known for their work in education and service to the poor. PHOTO:

SAINT OF THE WEEK

The Parish. The Nation. The World. Find it in The Record.

Editor

Journalists

Peter Rosengren editor@therecord.com.au

Bridget Spinks baspinks@therecord.com.au

Mark Reidy mreidy@therecord.com.au

Anthony Barich abarich@therecord.com.au

Advertising/Production

Mat De Sousa production@therecord.com.au

Oh, Father, I cannot tell you what a beautiful thing the will of God seems to me. For some years past, my Communions, my prayers, my intentions have all been for God’s will to be done. I can never pray for a particular intention, a particular person, or anything particular about our own Institute, but in God’s loved will, that is - whilst I desire with all my heart to pray for these, I cannot help at the same time desiring that He only use my prayers for the intention that His own will most desires at this time. Thus I feel a joy when things go well, for I see His will in this, and an equal joy when they seem to go wrong or against our natural desire, for there again I see His will, and

An excerpt from a letter by Mary MacKillop is now officially included in the Office of Readings for 8 August, her feast day. Her own words reveal a great deal about the increasing closeness to God Australia’s first official saint sought, and experienced, on a daily basis ...

am satisfied that He has accepted my prayers and those of many more for some other object at the time nearer to His adorable will.

To me, the will of God is a dear book which I am never tired of reading, which has always some new charm for me. Nothing is too little to be noticed there, but yet my littleness and nothingness has often dared to oppose it, and I am painfully conscious that in many ways I still in my tepidity offend against it without perceiving what I am doing. But such dear lessons as you gave me the other evening then come to my aid and encourage me, for the love of my sweet Jesus is too strong, too beautiful, and His merits too great, for me not to cling to Him.

- letter to Monsignor Kirby, Ascension, 1874

Snapshot of a Saint: St Mary MacKillop is pictured in an undated photo from the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, the order she co-founded. Blessed MacKillop became Australia’s first official saint last Sunday. The nun and her Order are known for their work in education and service to the poor. PHOTO:

What would Mary want today?

There are relatively few residents in Western Australia, or in any part of Australia, who can trace their ancestry to the earliest settlers and beyond.

The majority of Australian families have come to this land recently or came at a time when this nation was developing.

Like the MacKillop family, we can tell the stories of our families as they settled and integrated into this new country.

These stories have been handed down from the first generations to our own. They often have the common threads of the need to adjust, to be accepted, to be able to make a new life in a new and difficult land. We can only but admire the courage and self-sacrifice, the resilience and fortitude of our parents and forebears who were migrants and succeeded to carve out a new life in a foreign land. Those stories form the traditions of our families.

They and the other influences from our families are very strong and very important. The experiences we have shared with our families remain with us. They are formative in so many ways, so much so that our world view, our political leanings, our sense of

justice and our faith as adults have had their germ in those shared experiences.

To get to know Mary MacKillop we have to learn and understand her early life. Her early life and experiences within her family give us the insight into who she became and what she sought to achieve.

Mary MacKillop was the child of migrants. We know that she had a

slight Scottish lilt in her speech for she could speak the language of her ancestors, Scottish Gael.

Her parents were very close to the Church and their faith was effectively handed on to their children. Mary always retained a love for the Catholic Church despite the problems she had to confront.

The life of this first generation family was at times comfortable and

at other times precarious. Mary’s father, Alexander, was a generous man but no great manager of the family’s income and resources.

Alexander and his wife, Flora, valued education and they ensured that Mary had as good an education as possible. The family learnt the lessons of the Gospel too, especially to see the face of Christ in every person

Bishop Donald Sproxton presided at the 11am special Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral in Perth marking Mary MacKillop’s canonisation last Sunday. Here is his homily.

and to respond to the needs of the poorest and most disadvantaged for Christ’s sake. If we were to examine ourselves, reflecting on what are our values and the motivations for what we do with our lives, I believe we would find that most of our values and motivations were laid down when we were children.

Please turn to Pages 4&5

Historic occasion: An estimated 1,700 people packed St Mary’s Cathedral last Sunday, 17 October for a special Mass marking the canonisation of Mary MacKillop. The young woman had wanted, said Bishop Donald Sproxton during his homily, to be close to Christ more than anything else in her life. PHOTOS: FR ROBERT CROSS

Shining example of holinessStayoteCossacopness

Continued from Page 3 Mary wanted, above everything else, to be as close to Jesus Christ as possible.

She would write later in her life that it is a wonderful thing to want to become a saint. She meant that by being so close to Christ she might be able to become Christ to others.

This desire led her to the Religious life where she would consecrate her whole life to the service of Christ and the Church. Through her consecration, giving her life, energy and will to God, she chose the way of Religious Life to grow closer to Christ. Mary’s desire was that everyone she encountered might be able to feel Christ’s love and compassion in her spontaneous response to them of love and compassion.

Mary would always choose the option that meant the most disadvantaged one was assisted. Her experiences of hardship and the seeming impossible financial situations the family endured when she was a child provided her with a heart for the lonely, isolated and

most hopeless of cases. Her work in providing education, the key to defeating poverty, and shelter to the homeless and rejected were the responses of a heart trained and transformed by Christ.

Before writing down my thoughts and reflections on Mary MacKillop for today, the day we finally acknowledge her great sanctity – what God has been able to do within her – I prayed to Mary herself. From my heart, I said, “Mary, help me discover what it is you would want to say to the Australia of today. What will you be praying for as our own Australian patron?”

I have been led in my prayer to look not only into the story of the past but to look to the future.

Mary was motivated by her lifelong ambition to do the will of God. In practical terms, it meant that she wanted to make a difference in the Australia in which she lived. She did this by taking up challenges that were formidable, like giving people the chance to be lifted out of poverty’s destructive cycle.

The Australia of today requires

The lessons a Saint

the spirit of Mary MacKillop. The challenges have different forms but they are essentially the same. Our responses need to be as prophetic and practical as were Mary’s.

There is still homelessness, there are the arrivals of people to Australia who are leaving behind persecution and dehumanising treatment in their own homelands.

There is the presence in our midst of indigenous people searching for the key that will open the door to a new dignity and sense of worth. There is the work to be done to eradicate prejudice.

Mary’s life and faith are a gift to this nation. They teach us a way to become a more generous and compassionate nation.

Mary MacKillop is honoured by the Church because she heard the Word of God and she kept it. Certainly, she heard Jesus Christ in the Word of the Scriptures. But she became aware of Jesus speaking to her through her life.

We can certainly marvel at the things she achieved and launched for Australia. Mary realised that Christ was calling her to hand over

Celebration of Sanctity: Sisters and associates of the Josephite congregation attended the pre-canonisation Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. In 1973, her cause for beatification was opened and she became a “Servant of God”. In June 1992, she became a “Venerable”; in 1995, a “Blessed”.

PHOTO: FR ROBERT CROSS

United by love of Christ: St Mary of the Cross MacKillop founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in 1867. By the end of the year, ten others had joined the Order. Today, there are about 850 Josephite Sisters living and ministering around the world. PHOTO: FR ROBERT CROSS

Teal: A day of joy and recognition of the Josephite foundress and Order. Over 40 Perth Josephites (pictured above, below) attended the 11am Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral, all wearing a teal pashmina to identify their congregation. Perth clergy (below right) give a blessing during Mass. PHOTOS: FR ROBERT CROSS

can teach us

the key that alleviates poverty: education. In fact, this was the first response she made to Christ. She and the Sisters of St Joseph lived in poverty alongside the labourers and the lowest strata of society. She brought to them the educational opportunity to make a new life with the simple skills of reading, writing and managing their finances.

For the Australia of today, education remains the key to a new life, especially for the people living in the remote areas of our nation. Mary’s legacy is the commitment of Catholic education to use every resource at our disposal to enable the Aboriginal communities in remote areas of our State to have a school and an education for life.

Mary heard the voice of Christ the Word in the appalling conditions of women and children. These had been abused and were destitute. Some had been prisoners who had nowhere to go upon release.

The houses she set up and homes called ‘Providences’ provided, at first shelter, and, then, a spring-

board to enter society again. The Sisters of St Joseph, in concert with other Religious Sisters work today with homeless women in providing shelter and the helping hand they need to create a new life. They are engaged in a variety of ministries that means they live and work with the poor. It is there that today they meet Jesus Christ.

What does Mary want to say to us today? What is her prayer for us Australians?

Mary’s prayer for Australia would be: that we be renowned in all the world for our compassion; that we be a people who recognise and value deeply the dignity of person; that we are a people who seek truth and justice, and we stand alongside the weak; that we choose the highest ideals above self-aggrandisement and personal advantage, materialism and individualism; that we be a people who embrace the journey with the Spirit of God.

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, continue to pray for us.

Up Close: In 1867, the would be saint took first Vows as a Religious and the title ‘of the Cross’. After her 1871 excommunication, Mary was able to say ‘I felt nearer to God than I had ever felt before’ and wrote later to her mother, ‘My path, dearest Mamma, will yet be that of the Cross.’ (1872) PHOTO: FR ROBERT CROSS

Above: Josephite Sr Alma Cabassi with Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton on 17 October.

Below: Dignatories attend the special Mass in honour of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, including WA Premier Colin Barnett and University of Notre Dame Vice Chancellor, Professor Celia Hammond.

PHOTOS: FR ROBERT CROSS

Pilgrims flock to Vatican

As they do, they bring stories of remarkable experiences of help from the saints - and their prayers

BY CINDY WOODEN

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Each of the thousands of pilgrims who flocked to St Peter’s Square on 17 October had a special reason for being there.

Ricky Peterson, a 50 year old man from Kansas City, Kansas, credits the intercession of Australia’s first saint, Mother Mary MacKillop, with healing him of Parkinson’s disease 27 months ago.

Before travelling to Australia in 2008, he said he had read about Blessed MacKillop and prayed that she would be “a travel guide for the World Youth Day pilgrims” he and his wife brought to Sydney.

Visiting her grave in Sydney on 18 July 2008, “I prayed, ‘Lord, I’ve asked Mary to pray with me. I’d love nothing more than to leave this disease and the tremors buried in the soil with Mary, if it is your will.’”

“We had a 10 minute walk back to the train and it was on the train that I realised the tremor was gone,” he told Catholic News Service on 17 October in St Peter’s Square.

Peterson said his doctor now thinks the Parkinson’s diagnosis was wrong, “but I know I’ve been healed.”

Peterson has been in contact with the Sisters of St Joseph, the order founded by St MacKillop,

but an earlier healing of an Australian woman was the miracle used in St MacKillop’s canonisation cause.

Canadian St Andre Bessette, the Holy Cross brother also canonised on 17 October, had a reputation as a healer.

Diane Guillemette from Montreal said that when her mother was 16 years old “she had a problem with her ear and she went to Brother Andre and he healed her.”

Guillemette, a member of the Pilgrims of St Michael, a lay missionary movement, said that for her, “Br Andre is an example of patience, humility and love of work.”

Sylvia Nazon, a New Yorker now living in Paris, also came to Rome to celebrate St Bessette.

“He was so humble, a wonderful

servant of the Lord and even more devoted to St Joseph than I am,” she said. “I love St Joseph and I took him as a stepfather for my children when their father died.”

Nazon said she ran across Br Andre while searching the Internet for information about devotions to St Joseph. “We just got to know each other in April and I just decided to come to Rome for the canonisation.”

Those devoted to Br Andre gathered on 16 October in Rome’s Basilica of St Andrew for a prayer vigil and, among the pilgrims who packed the church to overflowing, was Pierre Homere Belizaire, a young man from Plaisance, Haiti. “I liked Br Andre for his simplicity,” he said, before finding a place to pray. Holy Cross Father David

Guffey, director of film, television and video for Family Theatre Productions, was with 150 members of the US Holy Cross Family Ministries’ pilgrimage. He now lives in Santa Monica, California, but was the director of Andre House, a soup kitchen in Phoenix, Arizona, from 1990-96.

Fr Guffey said St Bessette is a constant reminder “that the simplest act of welcome and hospitality means so much to people.”

In addition to prayer vigils around Rome on 16 October in honour of the six men and women who were about to be declared saints, the Vatican Museums and the Australian Embassy to the Holy See organised an evening of Aboriginal art, music and dance at the museums on 15 October.

The event included the opening of an exhibit, “Rituals of Life,” featuring objects used in Aboriginal cultural rites, as well as performances by dancers and musicians from New South Wales and the Torres Strait and a concert by William Barton, one of Australia’s best-known didgeridoo players.

The Australian government also parked a consulate camper van near St Peter’s Square to assist pilgrims during the days surrounding the canonisation.

Kevin Rudd, Australia’s foreign minister, visited the camper and met with Australian pilgrims on 16

Shining example of holinessStayoteCossacopness

October. He told them, “This is all about a singular woman’s life.”

“This is an unconstrained celebration of something that is purely good,” he said. “It’s not just a line. When you read about this woman’s life, you see she did more good than all of us together. She was a woman of guts, courage and determination.”

The Australian pilgrims who gathered by the camper consistently pointed to St MacKillop’s determination to minister to Catholics in Australia’s remote outback, even when some Bishops tried to impose a more traditional way of life on her community.

“She came to Rome to fight for a rule that was very unusual for her time,” said Josephite Sister Anne Derwin, the congregational leader. “Our aim is to be very ordinary women out among the people,” just as St MacKillop was, she said.

Peter Haynes, 26, is an Australian living in England who came to Rome for the canonisation. He said he studied St MacKillop in primary school and was impressed by the fact that “she started from nothing and made something out of it. And her legacy continues today. That’s something.” His mother, Helen Haynes, came from Australia for the event. She said she’s impressed at how “she stood up for what she believed in, even as a woman in front of Bishops.”

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the canonisation Mass for six new saints in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on 17 October. Among those canonised were St Mary MacKillop, Australia’s first saint, and Canadian St Andre Bessette. Meanwhile, relics of the six new saints are seen in front of the Holy Father at the conclusion of the canonisation Mass.

PHOTOS: CNS/PAUL HARING

Below: Robert Dann plays a didgeridoo, a traditional instrument of indigenous Australians, as he waits with other Australian pilgrims to attend the canonisation of Bl Mother Mary MacKillop.

Below left: A man waves a Canadian flag prior to the canonisation Mass for six new saints including Canadian Bl Andre Bessette, a Holy Cross brother who became known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal.”

Left: Australians wave national flags as they wait to enter St Peter’s Square to attend the canonisation of Bl Mother Mary MacKillop, who educated poor children in the Australian outback in the late 19th century.

PHOTOS: CNS/PAUL HARING

Above: Australian seminarian Daniel McCaughan waves his nation’s flag prior to the canonisation of six new saints, including Australia’s first, by Pope Benedict XVI in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on 17 October.

Right: Maronite Father Pierre El-Khoury waves Australian national flags as he also waits to attend the canonisation of Australia’s first saint.

... exemplified the effectiveness of prayer as an expression of faith

BY JOHN T HAVIS

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed six new saints, including an Australian nun and a Canadian brother, calling them “shining examples” of holiness and the power of prayer.

Thousands of pilgrims from Australia applauded and waved their national flags after the Pope pronounced the formula of canonisation on 17 October in St Peter’s Square for Blessed Mother Mary MacKillop, who educated poor children in the Australian outback in the late 19th century. She became the country’s first saint.

In his homily, Pope Benedict said St MacKillop, 1842-1909, was a model of “zeal, perseverance and prayer” as she dedicated herself to the education of the poor in the difficult territory of rural Australia, inspiring other women to join her in the country’s first community of religious women.

“She attended to the needs of each young person entrusted to her, without regard for station or wealth, providing both intellectual and spiritual formation,” he said. Her feast day is celebrated on 8 August.

Canadians cheered the canonisation of Blessed Andre Bessette, 1845-1937, a doorman known for his devotional practices and his healing touch. He became known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal.”

The Pope said St Bessette “showed boundless charity and did everything to soothe the despair of those who confided in him.”

Although he had little instruction, he “understood what was essential to the faith” and had an intense prayer life, the Pope said.

“For him, everything spoke of God and his presence,” the Pope said. Thanks to this simplicity, St Bessette led many people to God, he added. St Bessette “lived the beatitude of the pure of heart,” the Pope said. “May the example of Br Andre inspire Canadian Christian life!”

Relics of the six saints were brought to the altar during the two hour liturgy. Tapestry portraits of the newly canonised hung from the facade of St Peter’s Basilica behind the papal altar, and many pilgrims carried their own personal pictures of the saints.

The others canonised were: - St Camilla Battista Varano, 1458-1524, the illegitimate daughter of an Italian nobleman who had to overcome her father’s initial objections to enter the convent of the Poor Clares. Known for her mystical experiences during prayer, she died in an outbreak of the plague.

- St Stanislaw Soltys, 1433-1489, who devoted his life to caring for the poor in his native Krakow, Poland. Famed as a preacher and confessor, he was known as the “Apostle of the Eucharist” for his taking Communion to the sick and lonely.

- St Giulia Salzano, 1846-1929, taught catechism to schoolchildren near Naples, Italy, and later founded the Catechetical Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to continue her work, which offered religious education to children of all ages, to their mothers and to regular laborers.

- St Juana Cipitria Barriola, 1845-1912, was a champion of

Ballajura pilgrims delight in the moment

pilgrim Amanda Jane Adriansz, above, photographs the canonisation ceremony in a moment she will never forget. Ballajura pilgrims, below, are part of a sea of Aussie flags during the gathering in St Peter’s Square.

education for girls and young women in her native Spain. Known in some countries as Mother Candida Maria de Jesus, she founded the Daughters of Jesus with five other young women. She ran a special school on Sundays for girls who were employed as domestics, because Sunday was their only day off.

In his homily, the Pope said the new saints exemplified the effectiveness of prayer as an expression of faith.

“Sometimes we get tired of praying, we have the impression that prayer is not very useful in life, that it is not terribly effective. So we are tempted to dedicate ourselves to activity, to using all human means to achieve our aims, and without turning to God,” he said.

The canonisation brought some 8,000 Australian pilgrims to Rome, where Australian flags waved in abundance during the papal liturgy.

Peter Haynes, a 26 year old

Australian living in England, came to Rome for the Mass. He studied St MacKillop in primary school and was impressed by the fact that “she started from nothing and made something out of it. And her legacy continues today. That’s something.”

St MacKillop, the oldest of eight children of Scottish immigrants to Australia, began at the age of 24 to work with a priest to provide free education to the rural poor of the country. Three years later, there were 60 Sisters working in schools,

New saints ‘shining examples’: Pope

orphanages and women’s shelters. The nuns were also committed to following poor farm workers, miners and other laborers into remote areas of the country to educate their children.

Local church officials, however, disapproved of the Sisters living in tiny, isolated communities, sometimes only two to a hut, frequently cut off from the Sacraments in the remote Australian outback. She was even briefly excommunicated by the local Bishops, who disband-

Happy moments: Fr John Jegorow (right and below left), the parish priest of St Mary MacKillop Parish in Ballajura, enjoys the occasion with fellow parish pilgrims. The Perth priest led more than 40 people on pilgrimage from Ballajura to be present at the canonisation of their parish’s patron saint. Although not a Ballajura parishioner, The Record’s Anthony Barich joined the parish pilgrimage which, after Rome, will head on to Israel. Ballajura

PHOTOS: ANTHONY BARICH

ed her order, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. But within a few months, the Bishop lifted his censure and a Church commission cleared the Sisters of all wrongdoing.

In 1901, she suffered a stroke during a trip to New Zealand, and her health declined until her death in 1909.

Canadians in the square spoke warmly of St Bessette; some of the pilgrims even had personal connections to him.

Diane Guillemette of Montreal said that when her mother was 16 years

Festive occasion:

Nuns and other pilgrims, above left, wave as Pope Benedict XVI departs St Peter’s Square after celebrating the canonisation Mass for the six new saints.

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, above, centre, attends the canonisation Mass. To the right of him is Archbishop Barry Hickey of Perth.

Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives for the canonisation Mass. Australian pilgrims were noticeable with many displaying Australian flags or distinctive clothing associating them with St Mary MacKillop.

old “she had a problem with her ear and she went to Brother Andre and he healed her.” Guillemette called St Bessette “an example of patience, humility and love of work.”

One of 12 children, St Bessette suffered from a chronic stomach ailment that kept him out of school. His father and mother died when he was young. When he entered the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1870, his childhood parish priest, Father Andre Provencal, sent a letter to the novice master say-

ing, “I am sending a saint to your congregation.”

St Bessette served as the doorman of Notre Dame College, the community’s school in Montreal, for 40 years. His devotion to St Joseph and his reputation for healing attracted thousands of people, and he began to be known as a miracle worker.

When he died at the age of 91, a million people came to pay homage to him, and many remain dedicated to his memory today. His feast day is 6 January.

BY ANTHONY BARICH

In Rome for The Record

Australians visible on world stage in historic moment for the Church

AUSTRALIANS had a major role in the canonisation Mass of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Australia’s first saint, with Archbishop Barry Hickey concelebrating the Mass in St Peter’s Square. About 8,000 pilgrims, and thousands more without tickets from Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, East Timor and Peru, were at the Mass to witness the historic event.

Most had been seated in the front section of the Square in recognition by Vatican authorities of the significance of Mary MacKillop becoming Australia’s first saint. Pilgrims waved Australian flags and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag was also in pride of place.

Sisters of St Joseph were a visible presence in their teale scarves – some seated at the front and others scattered throughout the crowd which was estimated by the Vatican to be around 50,000 people.

In the lead-up to the Mass, Sr Judith Sippel rsj and Sr Katrina Brill rsj read some of Mary’s writings to the assembly and a choir made up of ACU students, some Sisters of St Joseph and other Australians sang verses from the hymn If I Could Tell the Love of God

The choir members then joined the rest of the Vatican choir for the Mass. With Pope Benedict’s arrival in the open Popemobile, the Mass of Canonisation, recognised as one of the most solemn and important celebrations of the Church, began. The key moment of the canonisation rite came when the Holy Father pronounced the official formula of canonisation.

In this he declared as Saints “the Blessed Stanislaw Soltys, Andre Bessette, Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola, Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Giulia Salzano, and Battista Da Varano”. In doing so, he inscribed their names in the Canon of the Saints and established throughout the Church that they be honoured devoutly among all the saints.

The reliquary, containing strands of Mary’s hair and encased in a carved wooden cross from Penola, was carried forward by Mary’s relative, Mr Ronald Campbell from Scotland, the recipient of Mary’s second miracle, Mrs Kathleen Evans, and Sr Neisha Allport rsj from St Joseph’s School, Penola.

A highlight for many pilgrims was the moment that Sr Maria Casey rsj, the Postulator for the Cause of Mary MacKillop, was presented to the Pope, knelt before him, and received an exchange of peace.

Later, Sr Maria said that during their exchange, Pope Benedict said he remembered fondly his visit to Australia for World Youth Day and his visit to Mary MacKillop’s tomb.

“He said it was a great day for Australia and he had a good look at my scarf,” she said.

“He sends his greeting to all of Australia on this very happy occasion and especially the Sisters.”

Sr Anne Derwin rsj, the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of St Joseph, read the first reading. Pope Benedict’s homily on the theme of praying without ceasing, taken from the Gospel reading of the day, reflected perfectly the life of St Mary MacKillop.

In relating the theme to the six new saints, the Holy Father spoke in the various native languages of each of them. In English, he spoke of Mary MacKillop’s commitment to educating the poor and her devotion to God.

“‘Remember who your teachers were – from these you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus’.

“For many years, countless young people throughout Australia have been blessed with teachers who were inspired by the courageous and saintly example of zeal, perseverance and prayer of Mother Mary MacKillop,” he said.

“She dedicated herself as a young woman to the education of the poor in the difficult and demanding terrain of rural Australia, inspiring other women to join her in the first women’s community of Religious Sisters of that country.

“She attended to the needs of each young person entrusted to her, without regard for station or wealth, providing both intellectual and spiritual formation. Despite many challenges, her prayers to St Joseph and her unflagging devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to whom she dedicated her new congregation, gave this holy woman the graces needed to remain faithful to God and to the Church.

“Through her intercession, may her followers today continue to serve God and the Church with faith and humility!” Following the homily, the Eucharist was celebrated, with eight concelebrants representing Mary MacKillop.

They were Cardinal George Pell (Sydney), Archbishop Philip Wilson (Adelaide), Archbishop Denis Hart (Melbourne), Archbishop John Bathersby (Brisbane), Archbishop Barry Hickey (Perth), Bishop Joseph Toal (Scotland), Bishop Denis Browne (New Zealand) and Fr Paul Gardiner SJ (former Postulator).

Altar servers included Angelo Spadavecchia, Paul Catchlove, Joseph Duke (Australia) and Antonio de Padua Martins Soares (East Timor).

A van and personnel with the Australian Embassy are seen on Via della Conciliazione in Rome with St Peter’s Basilica in the background on 15 October. The embassy staff were assisting some 8,000 Australian pilgrims attending the 17 October canonisation of Blessed Mary MacKillop.

PHOTO: CNS/PAUL HARING

PHOTOS: CNS/PAUL HARING

Saint Mary of the

MARY HELEN MacKILLOP (1842-1909), best known as Mother Mary of the Cross, was born on 15 January 1842 in Fitzroy, Melbourne, the eldest of eight children of Alexander McKillop and his wife Flora, née McDonald. Her parents had migrated from the Lochaber area in Inverness-shire and married soon after they reached Melbourne. After a prosperous start, the family became impoverished.

Mary was educated at private schools but chiefly by her father who had studied for the priesthood in Rome. To help her family, Mary became in turn a shopgirl, a governess and, at Portland, a teacher in the Catholic Denominational School and proprietress of a small boarding school for girls. As she grew to womanhood, Mary was probably influenced by an early friend of the family, Father PB Geoghegan, and began to yearn for a strictly penitential form of religious life. Concluding she would have to go to Europe to execute her plan, she placed herself under the direction of Father JE Tenison-Woods who, as parish priest of Penola in South Australia, sometimes visiting Melbourne and Portland, wanted to found a religious society, ‘The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart’; they were to live in poverty and dedicate themselves to educating poor children. With Mary its first member and Superior, the society was founded at Penola on 19 March 1866 with the approval of Bishop Sheil. By then she was spelling her surname MacKillop. The Sisterhood spread to Adelaide and other parts of South Australia, and increased rapidly in membership but ran into difficulties. Tenison-Woods had become director of Catholic schools and conflicted with some of the clergy over educational matters. One priest with influence over the Bishop declared publicly he would ruin the director through the Sisterhood. The result was that Mary was excommunicated by Bishop Sheil on 22 September 1871 for alleged insubordination; most of the schools were closed and the Sisterhood almost disbanded. The excommunication was removed on 21 February 1872 by order of the Bishop, nine days before he died.

In 1873, in Rome, Mary obtained papal approval of the Sisterhood but the Rule of Life laid down by Tenison-Woods and sanctioned by the Bishop on 17 December 1868 was discarded and another drawn up. Tenison-Woods blamed her for not doing enough to have his Rule accepted and this caused a permanent breach between them. She travelled widely in Europe, visiting schools and observing methods of teaching, and returned to Adelaide on 4 January 1875. In March, she was elected Superior-General of the Sisterhood. In journeys throughout Australasia, she established schools, convents and charitable institutions but came into conflict with those Bishops who preferred diocesan control of the Sisterhood rather than central control from Adelaide. In 1883, Bishop Reynolds, misunderstanding the extent of his jurisdiction over the Sisterhood, told her to leave his diocese. She then transferred the headquarters of the Sisterhood to Sydney. On 11 May 1901, she suffered a stroke at Rotorua, New Zealand. Although retaining her mental faculties, she was an invalid until she died in Sydney on 8 August 1909.

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Canonisation Timeline

1909

From the time of her death and in the years following, Mary MacKillop was treated as though she was a saint, with requests for relics, prayers and favours being made from all over Australia and beyond.

1925

Mother Laurence O’Brien began preliminary discussions with the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Cattaneo, about the introduction of her Cause for Canonisation Commission of Enquiry authorised by Archbishop Kelly.

1925

Beginning of Diocesan Phase - Diocesan postulator appointed to inquire into cause. Initial inquiry on Mary’s life and sanctity authorised by Archbishop Kelly. Mary was now titled Servant of God.

1952

A study of Mary’s life and writings resulted in the issue of the Nihil Obstat declaring that no reason existed why the Cause for Mary’s canonisation should not continue.

1954

Decree Super Scriptis was issued declaring Mary’s writings approved as being those of a person of holiness.

1959

Beginning of Roman Phase - Formal inquiry on Mary’s virtues. Process opened in Sydney to gain evidence from those still alive who knew Mary MacKillop. Continued in Adelaide and Brisbane. Report sent to Rome.

1970

Pope Paul VI visited the Mary MacKillop Chapel and prayed at the tomb.

1973

Announcement that Mary’s Cause for Beatification could be introduced.

1986

Pope John Paul II visited the Chapel and prayed at Mary’s tomb.

1989

Positio – the official record of Mary’s life was completed and sent to Rome.

1991

Positio considered by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

1992

Mary was given the title Venerable Mary MacKillop.

1993

Diocesan inquiry on a possible miracle required for Beatification. Report submitted to Rome and approved. Decree for Beatification was issued by Pope John Paul II.

1995

Mary MacKillop was beatified in Sydney by Pope John Paul II who visited the Chapel and prayed at Mary’s tomb.

1995

From 1995 to 2008, increasing evidence of devotion across Australia and the world and many favours attributed to the intercession of Mary MacKillop. Several dossiers of evidence were taken to Rome.

2008

Diocesan enquiry conducted into the miracle required for canonisation. Evidence taken to Rome where it was examined by panels of doctors. Sr Maria Casey appointed Postulator. Evidence examined by theologians. Pope Benedict visited the Chapel and prayed at Mary’s tomb.

2009

Final steps in the process of examination.

Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, visited the Chapel and prayed at Mary MacKillop’s tomb. On 19 December 2009, Pope Benedict XVI approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Mary MacKillop. This was the final step to fulfill the requirements for canonisation.

2010

On 19 February 2010, Pope Benedict XVI announced that Mary MacKillop would become Australia’s first saint and her canonisation would take place in Rome on Sunday, 17 October 2010.

Shining example

Spiritual buzz in streets of Freo

The holy soul of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop and a festival in her honour brought 4,000 to Fremantle on 17 October

BY BRIDGET SPINKS

Alife-size cardboard cutout of the saintly heroine stood in the courtyard invitingly.

The likeness of Mother Mary MacKillop, made by the Catholic Youth Ministry crew, drew so much attention that it attracted a queue.

Small children and parents, friars and seminarians, Religious Sisters and young adults had their ‘moment with Mary’ and put their hand on the Josephite foundress’ shoulder.

The sun glinted off people’s sunglasses but the joy of the occasion lit up their faces as they greeted each other between buying a sausage sizzle, paying Jesus a visit in the chapel or buzzing about the future St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

Praise and worship wafted around the grounds, as Starry Eyed Vagabonds and Flame Ministry rocked the main stage and the folks ambled around and enjoyed the festivity.

Some small children had pencil and paper ready to write down what they learnt about the life of Mother Mary MacKillop.

By following a five-banner timeline trail set up in Mouat St and Bateman courtyard, they could identify the defining moments, influences and challenges in her life and, as they learnt, get a stamp in their ‘passport’ at each stop.

The even littler ones sat in the shade and coloured in pictures of the saint.

In the mid-afternoon, a crowd of faithful lined Mouat St to provide a festive welcome to 20 Sisters of St Joseph and 120 associates led by two Scottish bagpipers who had been ferried down the Swan River on a celebratory canonisation cruise.

Carmel Charlton played a tribute to Mary MacKillop, Calling my Name, with James Webb on didgeridoo after which the University of Notre Dame Vice Chancellor Celia Hammond opened the festival.

Bishop Don Sproxton blessed the gathered crowd and Josephite Sr Leonie Mayne said that although Mary would never have dreamed of having a festival in her honour, she would have been “delighted” by the festival in Fremantle. Then hundreds filed into several halls on campus to watch the live broadcast of the canonisation direct from Rome.

Spontaneous applause erupted in the Drill Hall from the 800 spectators when they saw the unfurled image of Mother Mary of the Cross hanging from the eaves of St Peter’s Basilica, just moments before her canonisation. It happened again when they heard her name said during the proceedings.

An even louder cheer broke out when they saw Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey on screen standing next to Sydney Cardinal George Pell at the Mass.

Not everyone stayed to watch all of it, but as Mass continued on screen in Rome, the sun started setting in the west back home.

The Youth Impact band cranked up the volume for a final set of praise and worship music to close out the festival.

Over 4,000 people went to Fremantle on 17 October to celebrate Australia’s first saint at the Mary MacKillop Festival in Mouat Street at the University of Notre Dame.

If

Above: Sisters of St Joseph and friends are cheered along and welcomed to the Mary MacKillop Festival in Fremantle on 17 October prior to the live streamed telecast of the historic event in Rome.

PHOTO: BRIDGET SPINKS

MORE COVERAGE P. 20

Little ones discover legacy, below right: (L-R) Lucy Power and Meaghan Emery, both six, completed the Mary MacKillop journey. At each stop they collected a sticker which ultimately related a quote from the saint, “Never see a need without trying to remedy it”. In her work of educating children, St Mary of the Cross showed in practical ways that children were important members of society.

PHOTO: BRIDGET SPINKS

This page, pictures in three rows:

Top row, right: Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton blessed the gathered faithful at the Mary MacKillop Festival on 17 October. PHOTO: COURTESY UNDA

Top row, far right: Hundreds watch the live stream telecast of the canonisation in the Drill Hall. This is the first time the Vatican has live streamed an official event.

Middle row, right: It was nice to know a normal person could do so much, especially for children, was the sentiment among this group of ladies (L-R): Alexandra Andrade, Zeza Gomes, Michayla Crack, Mananne Goncalves, Anna Goncalves.

Middle row, far right: These Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, based at North Beach, said they pray to St Mary of the Cross too, (L-R): Sr Irene, Sr Joseph and Sr Jean.

Bottom row, right: (L-R) Kelly Clark and siblings, Elizabeth and Andrew Smith enjoy the Mary MacKillop festivities at Notre Dame including face painting.

Bottom row, far right: Vice Chancellor of the University of Notre Dame, Prof Celia Hammond, has a ‘moment with Mary’ and her sons (L-R) Josh, 6, Tommy, 5, and Sam, 8.. PHOTOS: BRIDGET SPINKS

Facing page pictures in three rows:

Top row, far left: Future saints of Australia pose with St Mary MacKillop.

Top row, left: (L-R) Little ones, Roux, 7 and Anika, 4, colour in St Mary of the Cross.

Middle row, far left: Doubleview parishioner Carmel Charlton strums Calling My Name, a song dedicated to St Mary of the Cross, written by Sr Emilie Cattalini rsj and arranged musically by Carmel.

Middle row, left: Sr Bernadette of the Cross mg, stands amidst a crowd of Catholics keen to see the canonisation of Bl Mother Mary MacKillop.

Bottom row, far left: A timeline of St Mary of the Cross’ key moments were placed around the campus to educate everyone, especially the little ones, on the life of the Australian saint.

Bottom row, left: It’s fun for all the Watt family when they have their ‘moment with Mary’ (L-R): Bonnie, 16, Penelope, 7, Tom, 11, Jack, 21 and Anna, 13. PHOTOS: BRIDGET SPINKS

SShining example of holinessStayoteCossacopness

BY ANTHONY BARICH

Aussie happiness on show as they

Cardinal Pell reminds Australians that the name chosen by our first official Saint is rich with meaning for the spiritual journey

t Mary of the Cross MacKillop’s canonisation name is a warning not to play down the personal consequences of original sin and an inspiration to fight the pervasive spiritual anguish, Cardinal George Pell told a thanksgiving Mass for 5,000 Australians at St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome on 18 October.

“Today, we find strange the name she chose for her religious profession, ‘Mary of the Cross’, which explains our preference for the title St Mary MacKillop,” Cardinal Pell said in his homily at a Mass celebrated by 26 Bishops, including Bishops Gerard Holohan of Bunbury and Justin Bianchini of Geraldton, and 222 priests, including several from Perth.

“We like to think of ourselves as positive and affirming and one temptation today in our materially comfortable lives is to downplay the evil and spiritual anguish around us, to soft pedal the costs of redemption and ignore the flaws in our own hearts, the personal consequences of original sin.

“We are not born bad and depraved, but we are born selfish and imperfect. Nineteenth century Catholicism understood all this better than we do.”

This message of Cardinal Pell’s was said within a wider context of his comments in the week leading up to and on the day of the canonisation in Rome, when the prelate tied the event to the critical role of the Church in public life and the validity of the Christian way of life in modern-day Australia.

He said at the Thanksgiving

Mass that St Mary worked to give poor Catholic families the capacity to exploit the opportunities provided by Major General Lachlan Macquarie who, after arriving in NSW in 1810, laid the foundation stone of St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney in 1821, though for most of the colony’s first 30 years the public celebration of Mass was forbidden.

Even on becoming governor, Macquarie was obliged to swear on oath that he did not believe in the Catholic dogma of transubstantiation. It was only in 1829 when Irish statesman Daniel O’Connell achieved Catholic emancipation through the British parliament after a long campaign of peaceful mass protests.

Cardinal Pell said many of the convicts were Irish Catholics who were flogged if they did not attend the Protestant service on Sunday

and had no freedom to practise their religion. “Their numbers and sometimes their demeanour made officialdom uneasy,” he said.

This comment continues a recurring point the prelate also stressed in the press conference at Vatican Radio in Rome immediately after the 17 October canonisation ceremony up the road in St Peter’s Square: the importance of Christianity in public life.

At Vatican Radio, he praised former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s public recognition of the importance of Christianity in modern Australian society, especially around World Youth Day Sydney 2008. Mr Rudd was one of four in a bipartisan Australian delegation representing the Australian government including Coalition Deputy Julie Bishop, Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce and

Labor’s Ursula Stephens.

The quartet’s presence is recognition of “our (the Catholic Church’s) part in the community”, Cardinal Pell said.

He added that, just as the Murray-Darling System upon which much of the south-west depends, can dry and flood, so too has Christianity been “one of the great rivers that has nourished Australian life almost from the beginning”.

“From the first convicts and soldiers there was an evangelical Anglican Protestant who had a pretty hard time of it as Australia wasn’t a particularly religious country for a long time – much less religious than it is now,” he said.

“It was women like Mary MacKillop and the great reforms of State education that started our national history moving.”

Thanksgiving: Cardinal George Pell of Sydney concelebrates Mass in thanksgiving for the canonisation of Mary MacKillop in the Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome. PHOTOS: ANTHONY BARICH

SShining example of holinessStayoteCossacopness

BY ANTHONY BARICH

Aussie happiness on show as they

Cardinal Pell reminds Australians that the name chosen by our first official Saint is rich with meaning for the spiritual journey

t Mary of the Cross MacKillop’s canonisation name is a warning not to play down the personal consequences of original sin and an inspiration to fight the pervasive spiritual anguish, Cardinal George Pell told a thanksgiving Mass for 5,000 Australians at St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome on 18 October.

“Today, we find strange the name she chose for her religious profession, ‘Mary of the Cross’, which explains our preference for the title St Mary MacKillop,” Cardinal Pell said in his homily at a Mass celebrated by 26 Bishops, including Bishops Gerard Holohan of Bunbury and Justin Bianchini of Geraldton, and 222 priests, including several from Perth.

“We like to think of ourselves as positive and affirming and one temptation today in our materially comfortable lives is to downplay the evil and spiritual anguish around us, to soft pedal the costs of redemption and ignore the flaws in our own hearts, the personal consequences of original sin.

“We are not born bad and depraved, but we are born selfish and imperfect. Nineteenth century Catholicism understood all this better than we do.”

This message of Cardinal Pell’s was said within a wider context of his comments in the week leading up to and on the day of the canonisation in Rome, when the prelate tied the event to the critical role of the Church in public life and the validity of the Christian way of life in modern-day Australia.

He said at the Thanksgiving

Mass that St Mary worked to give poor Catholic families the capacity to exploit the opportunities provided by Major General Lachlan Macquarie who, after arriving in NSW in 1810, laid the foundation stone of St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney in 1821, though for most of the colony’s first 30 years the public celebration of Mass was forbidden.

Even on becoming governor, Macquarie was obliged to swear on oath that he did not believe in the Catholic dogma of transubstantiation. It was only in 1829 when Irish statesman Daniel O’Connell achieved Catholic emancipation through the British parliament after a long campaign of peaceful mass protests.

Cardinal Pell said many of the convicts were Irish Catholics who were flogged if they did not attend the Protestant service on Sunday

and had no freedom to practise their religion. “Their numbers and sometimes their demeanour made officialdom uneasy,” he said.

This comment continues a recurring point the prelate also stressed in the press conference at Vatican Radio in Rome immediately after the 17 October canonisation ceremony up the road in St Peter’s Square: the importance of Christianity in public life.

At Vatican Radio, he praised former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s public recognition of the importance of Christianity in modern Australian society, especially around World Youth Day Sydney 2008. Mr Rudd was one of four in a bipartisan Australian delegation representing the Australian government including Coalition Deputy Julie Bishop, Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce and

Labor’s Ursula Stephens.

The quartet’s presence is recognition of “our (the Catholic Church’s) part in the community”, Cardinal Pell said.

He added that, just as the Murray-Darling System upon which much of the south-west depends, can dry and flood, so too has Christianity been “one of the great rivers that has nourished Australian life almost from the beginning”.

“From the first convicts and soldiers there was an evangelical Anglican Protestant who had a pretty hard time of it as Australia wasn’t a particularly religious country for a long time – much less religious than it is now,” he said.

“It was women like Mary MacKillop and the great reforms of State education that started our national history moving.”

Thanksgiving: Cardinal George Pell of Sydney concelebrates Mass in thanksgiving for the canonisation of Mary MacKillop in the Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome. PHOTOS: ANTHONY BARICH

Aussies everywhere in Rome: Perth seminarians Michael Cornell and Christian Irdi, opposite page at top, process into the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls for the Thanksgiving Mass on 18 October for the canonisation of St Mary of the Cross. Both reside at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

Perth seminarian Brennan Sia, opposite page, holds a candlestick as newly ordained Perth man Deacon Mark Payton proclaims the Gospel during the Thanksgiving Mass. Both are also resident at the North American College. City Beach parish Priest Fr Don Kettle bows before the altar while participating in the Thanksgiving Mass. He was one of 222 priests who concelebrated the Mass, and one of several from Perth, including Fr Michael Moore SM, Rector of the Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary in Morley.

An Aboriginal dancer, above at left, performs during the offertory procession of the Mass.

Permanent Deacon Boniface Perdjert from Darwin, 74, at left, after serving at the Thanksgiving Mass. He is pictured with Philip Wilson from Daly River in the Northern Territory, Agnes Armstrong from Kununurra where the Josephites have a mission, and Brother Jack Boelen MSC. Deacon Boniface works at a Missionaries of the Sacred Heart mission at Port Keats.

Seminarians, including Perth’s Brennan Sia, carry lit candlesticks during the ceremony (top).

Geraldton Bishop Justin Bianchini geets West Australian pilgrims at St Paul Outside the Walls after the 18 October thanksgiving Mass for the canonisation of St Mary of the Cross.

thank God for Mary in Rome

through life, both as individuals and as a nation. We can only find God through the Cross.

The Cardinal noted that Rudd led the government when the first full-time Australian Ambassador to the Holy See – former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer – was appointed.

He said Rudd’s critical contribution to public life was that “he wasn’t frightened to publicly acknowledge the contribution that Christianity has made and continues to make to Australian life”.

“That’s not universal in Australian political life; and I know at WYD that many Bishops and Cardinals from overseas remarked to me on the generous acknowledgement that the then-Prime Minster made and expressed their appreciation.”

St Mary’s canonisation is also a tribute to Catholic education, the prelate said, as the Church now educates 20 per cent of Australians,

and added that an increasing percentage of non-Catholic parents have wanted to send their children to Catholic schools over the past 20 years, which overwhelmingly are “doing a good job … producing good adults, good Christians, good Australians”.

Mr Rudd told the Vatican Radio press conference that hearing the lives of the six Blesseds canonised “gives you a sense of smallness”.

Reflecting on Cardinal Pell’s comments, Mr Rudd said that “Australians, whatever their views of religion, it’s important to acknowledge one simple fact – the central role that the Church has played positively in the history of our nation”.

There would have been no churches, hospitals and no care for the poor in the 19th century following European settlement had it

not been for the Catholic Church, he said, and “so many institutions which in the 20th century regard themselves as State institutions came out of these Church institutions,” he said.

He added that all charitable works in the 19th century were exclusively the function of the Church.

“So when people are critical of the Church in the modern age –and in a democracy they can say what they want in whatever view that they have – but in the spirit of an open mind and the spirit of a fair sense of history, and an appropriate sense of our future, let us all acknowledge the central place of the Church and the churches in our national life.”

Cardinal Pell said the next day at the thanksgiving Mass that while education was not the only contri-

bution St Mary made, it may be her greatest. After opening her first school in Penola, South Australia in 1866, Mary was confronted with students who did not want to go to school and parents who were “not too disturbed by this”.

Quoting St Mary to help explain her life’s work, he said that the Sisters as St Joseph’s true children were to “seek first the poorest, most neglected parts of God’s vineyard”.

The Cardinal also said he hopes and prays that St Mary’s arguably most famous exhortation - that the Sisters were “never (to) see an evil without trying to discover how they remedy it” - sinks into the subconscious of all young Australians.

The prelate also said that MacKillop’s life and spirituality proved the power of Christ over whatever life throws at those who

Event ‘a powerful experience’

THE canonisation of St Mary of the Cross will renew the work of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart that she founded across Australia, said Bishop Justin Bianchini of Geraldton.

“I really believe it will, and through them the whole country. She founded the Order, she’s really Australian and she travelled the world. There’s a great interest, and I believe that just knowing about her life will be inspiring to renew our faith and commitment to serve the Gospel.”

Bishop Bianchini - whose sister Dorina died 12 years ago and was a Josephite – said their work since arriving in his diocese as catechists about 30 years ago has been critical to the pastoral and spiritual care of people in the region, especially Aborigines on the margins of mainstream society.

There are now three Josephites working in the diocese.

“They’re doing pastoral work, they’re among the people, they help catechise people for the sacraments and help coordinate the small groups when the priest is not there in the parish and help the rural areas; we’ll also get a third one doing pastoral work in Karratha,” Bishop Bianchini told The Record after concelebrating the thanksgiving Mass before about 5,000 people at the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome on 18 October with 25 other Bishops who were mainly Australian.

He said the extraordinary willingness of the Josephites to assist him in rural ministry in his diocese proves that the spirit of their foundress, St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, is still very strong and permeates all that they do.

“Mary MacKillop was for the outback, and when I asked for another one this year they considered it a top-level priority – even the mother general (Sister Anne Derwin RSJ) said ‘well, the Bishop has asked us, so this is where we should be’. That is typical of her (MacKillop’s) spirit of reaching out to serve people who have nowhere to go.”

The Bishop said that concelebrating the Eucharist at the canonisation Mass was an “overwhelming experience.”

“To see all these people from around the world with these other saints does wonders for the Church. It’s a mighty experience right here in Rome, being united together, the great power and universality of the Church came through very strongly,” he said.

ANTHONY BARICH

believe in Him and seek to live according to His will.

“Unlike some of Australia’s best known humanitarians such as Fred Hollows or Weary Dunlop, Mary’s life was centred on God,” Cardinal Pell said.

“She realised that she was one of those ‘chosen of God, the holy people whom he loves’ and she wrote, ‘I want with all my heart to be what God wants me to be’, to do only God’s will and never to stand in God’s way.

“Whatever she did, she did in the name of the Lord Jesus and she set her heart first of all on God’s kingdom and His saving justice.

“It was this faith which motivated her service and motivated the many women who joined her. ‘Faith’, she explained ‘is the first essential if we are to cope’ with life’s difficulties.

PHOTOS: ANTHONY BARICH

Record contributor Anna Krohn asks whether we really understand Mary MacKillop ...

Over the past months, the Australian media has unwittingly aired what is a deep and complex conversation about the character of Australian women. There seem to be at least three broad and conflicting “cultures” evident in the mix – each with its own ideals, landmarks and leading lights.

The first idea of “womanhood” is associated with an admittedly glamorised and toned down version of secular ideological “feminism”. This is the feminism celebrated by the political factions associated with the old Women’s Electoral Lobby and today’s Emily’s List. It is avowedly ambitious, bluntly anti-religious (though probably open to the eclectically “spiritual”) and magnetised by the taking and holding onto of bureaucratic and political power. While many of the interests of this group involve a commendable concern for the education and just employment of women and girls, there is also the acceptance that the pragmatics of female progress depends upon gender homogenisation, the sacrifice of unborn lives and the rejection of traditional notions of spousal complementarity.

The second portrayal of Australian womanhood is in some ways a reaction to the first. It very consciously lays down its political concerns and yawns at the dogged seriousness of ideological “feminism”. This post-feminist ideal aims to appropriate the powderpuffs of nostalgic femininity along with the athletic and free morals of the “mythical” Aussie bloke.

Life, the Universe and Everything

Anna Krohn

Models of this type of Australian female are, well, model material. They exchange the social revolution of the feminist agenda for retail therapy.

While they may be as intelligent and dedicated as their male colleagues, they wobble along on ankle-breaking heels as they swear and toss back the booze like waterside workers. They aim for an easy going alliance with men in the workplace, but dream and dress after male desire and approval.

They are stoical about their failed and abusive relationships and take the abortions, STDs and hang-overs as the necessary evils on the pilgrimage to happiness. What they cannot imagine is that the sexy, “sun-kissed”, bikini wearing, good time girls are not a goal but the vapid fantasies of male consumerism and lust.

The third type or even stereotype of Australian women has a long and revered heritage. It is exemplified in Henry Lawson’s story of The Drover’s Wife (remember the State School Reader?) It usually involves the bush, the battler and the eminently practical. The exemplars of these women are rich in character and courage. They are the women who inhabit Dorothy MacKellar’s landscape but far

from being mythical, they are as real as our favorite aunt, Country Women’s Association president or school teacher.

Perhaps the most “stupendous” star of this beloved type of womanhood is the great La Stupenda herself: Dame Joan Sutherland. It certainly feels like a member of family has gone with her recent death. Dame Joan exemplified all that was great about the traditional Australian heroine. She was marvellously but humbly talented. She was dedicated and generous. She complemented her male mentor (husband Richard Bonynge) with love and ease. She broke the glass ceiling of our cultural cringe without losing what one famous conductor called her “awful Australian accent.” She wore her genius lightly and with humour, was self-effacing and magnanimous.

There are ways in which St Mary of the Cross also captures this third type of woman too. Many reporters and public figures have evoked her as a model of the heartwarming “Aussie battler” with an ample share of grit and commonsense and no-nonsense egalitarianism. While none of this is simply wrong, we cannot simply tame Mary by regarding her as a comfortable, though virtuous, Australian souvenir.

Social activists have sensed the “something greater” of St Mary but, in so doing, attempt to mould Mary after their own aspirations: either as radical feminist or humanitarian. They might imagine that she wore the traditional trappings of religious life and “the

faith of her time” (as one person dismissed it) with tolerance but no real depth.

Some accounts of her life even vet out her own accounts of her dedication to the Cross of Christ or her love of the office of priesthood or her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus because they are simply too embarrassing.

Mary was neither an appealing mascot of Australiana nor a protosecular humanist. She was something much more consoling and shocking, something more than a local heroine and more universal than the humanist ideal: she was a saint.

As Parramatta’s retired Bishop Kevin Manning notes, St Mary is an exemplar for everyone, especially Christians, not “because she is a great horsewoman, or a rebel against the Bishops, but because of her holiness of life …”

Her letters and her life give us many illustrations not only of heroism but of the type of love that is a sign of the beatitudes, the foundation of holiness. Despite being shambolically (and invalidly) excommunicated by the weakminded and ill Bishop Shiels, she remembers feeling an overwhelming love for the Church and for his office.

When Mother Mary realised the imprudence of Fr Julian TenisonWoods’ idealism when he rejected her friendship and even her correspondence, she acted not only with determination but with overwhelming mercy and forgiveness. When her vision for education afforded her Sisters defamatory

The genius of Australian femininity and holiness

and abusive rejection in the streets of Adelaide, she not only suffered but joined her suffering to the Cross of Christ.

She was far from being the self-confident and defiant secular feminist. Writes Fr Paul Gardiner, there were times when she had to step out in faith to trust God’s providence: “Mary was clearly not bounding along confidently as the competent woman of affairs. Rather, she was hesitant and lonely, and it was only the conviction that God required it of her that gave her the courage to keep going in the most unpromising situations.”

Like all saints, it is what God achieves that interests her, not her own checklist of qualities and achievements.

This is her true genius and the light that she throws on our search for womanhood and Australian character today. It is what appears paradoxical that is what she offers us.

The great GK Chesterton made the same point in his biography of St Thomas Aquinas about the character of saints:

“[The Saint] will generally be found restoring the world to sanity by exaggerating whatever the world neglects, which is by no means always the same element in every age.

“Yet each generation seeks its saint by instinct; and he (or she) is not what the people want, but rather what the people need … “Therefore, it is the paradox of history that each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it most.”

Australians stand with their national flag as they wait to enter St Peter’s Square to attend the canonisation of Blessed Mother Mary MacKillop at the Vatican on 17 October.

PHOTO: CNS/PAUL HARING

Pope Benedict XVI greets Sister Maria Casey, a Sister of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart and postulator for the sainthood cause of St Mary MacKillop, during the canonisation Mass for the six new saints.

PHOTO: CNS/PAUL HARING

An Australian Aboriginal pilgrim wearing traditional markings looks on as Pope Benedict XVI leads the Mass for the canonisation

CNS/TONY GENTILE, REUTERS

The problem with having a vernacular Saint

The

Agreat tide of joyous anticipation surged into the Piazza di San Pietro last night, reaching its peak with the invocation of all the saints before sounding the thunderous three-fold “Amen!” and “Alleluia!” At that moment, the six beate or blessed were “lifted to the altar” as intercessors for the whole Church. Although all Australian eyes were on but one of these saints-in-waiting, the powerful effect of the Rite of Canonisation is to dissolve linguistic, temporal and spatial barriers, to bring those gathered in Rome into the company of the faithful of all times and in every place.

As the very young and very Protestant Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote after his first experience of the Mass in St Peter’s Square in 1924, it is perhaps uniquely here that one can see displayed “the universality of the Church in a marvellously effective manner: white, black, yellow, all ... united under the Church.”

But while it might seem well nigh impossible to remain parochial, much less patriotic, in the face of such celebration, that hasn’t stopped a great many Australians from trying. Indeed, amid all the talk of Mary MacKillop as a “saint for all Australians,” it has been hard to shake the feeling that this exuberance has borne along with it something else entirely, a foreign element, a contaminant.

Mixed in with the genuine Christian devotion is a form of national immodesty which first claims Mary MacKillop as somehow quintessentially Australian, as embodying “the very best of our values and the best of the Australian spirit” (as Julia Gillard put it), and only then loans her to the Catholic Church for exhibition. It is as if what is most saintly about Mary is precisely what is most Australian.

The danger here is not simply that Mary’s heroic virtue is reduced to a national cliche - that her commitment to free Catholic education becomes mere egalitarianism (or worse still, to quote the Prime Minister again, faith in “the transformative power of a good education”); that her fundamental dedication to the work of the Gospel, even in the face of hostility from Bishops, becomes banal antiauthoritarianism; that her Christshaped devotion to “the friendless of all ages” becomes the Aussie fair go.

But rather, and more perfidiously, the danger is that Mary MacKillop’s canonisation will be popularly construed as a kind of divine sanction of the Australian way of life. For this would effectively neutralise her status as saint - one who is, in the words of

Pope John Paul II, “outstanding in the splendour of charity and other evangelical virtues” - and turn her into a cultural commodity, a national icon much like Ned Kelly or Donald Bradman.

And this, I would argue, is the problem with having what Tom Dusevic has described in The Weekend Australian as a “vernacular saint for a people who deify the battler, are democratic in temper, tilt against authority and are hopelessly traditional despite being a modern nation.” Such a saint lends herself all too easily to being coopted into the service of an illusory self-regard, a kind of collective lie that we tell ourselves in order to paper over the deep moral contradictions in our national life.

It would seem that we have forgotten that Mary was beatified by John Paul II in 1995, the same year that the Pope issued his great encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, or “The Gospel of Life.” As an expression of the convictions of John Paul’s pontificate, Mary stands as a witness against what John Paul famously described as “the culture of death” - much like last month’s beatification of John Henry Newman expresses the determination of Benedict XVI to re-engage with secularism through love (caritas), reason (ratio) and truth (veritas).

While Evangelium Vitae has most often been associated with John Paul’s strident opposition to abortion and euthanasia, it is important to remember that the Pope’s description of the “culture of death” is much more subtle, and far-reaching. At the heart of this culture, John Paul insisted, is a

refusal to love - in the sense of giving up one’s self in the interests of another - and hence an incapacity for genuine solidarity.

Consequently, in Western culture, we have come to value an emaciated form of human dignity whereby we guarantee ourselves basic decency, civility and security - which, as Slavoj Zizek has recently put it, translates into “the central human right ... not to be harassed, which is the right to be kept at a safe distance from others.”

In the interests of self-protection from annoyance, such a “culture of death” then finds it perfectly intelligible to disregard its obligations to those who are most vulnerable: to the unborn (who can be aborted), to those at the end of

life (who can be consigned to aged care facilities), to those seeking asylum (who can be incarcerated).

But it was precisely the selfsacrificial devotion of Mary MacKillop to the needs of “the friendless of all ages” that stood, for John Paul II, as an embodiment of “the Gospel of life” in Australia, and hence as a powerful protest to our baser tendencies.

It would then seem utterly perverse simply to hand Mary over to the grasp of Australian culture, to allow her to take a place among the rest of our inoffensive national luminaries, who invariably reflect back to us only what we wish to see in ourselves. It would seem that the Catholic Church in Australia is so pleased to be receiving the good

press surrounding Mary’s canonisation that it is prepared to relinquish its claim on her example.

This, I’d argue, is a serious mistake. Rather surprisingly, none saw this more clearly than Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the 1930s, he bemoaned the fact that Protestantism, in order to secure its place of protection and unmolested privilege, sold its wares to German society and demanded nothing by way of repentance or virtue.

“We gave away preaching and Sacraments cheaply,” lamented Bonhoeffer, “we performed Baptisms and Confirmations; we absolved an entire people, unquestioned and unconditionally ... What happened to the insights of the ancient Church, which in the baptismal teaching watched so carefully over the boundary between the Church and the world? What happened to Luther’s warnings against proclamations of the Gospel which make people secure in their godless lives? When was the world ever Christianised more dreadfully and wickedly than here?”

Simply to allow St Mary of the Cross to be our “vernacular saint,” to be but an expression of the Australian spirit, would effectively be to baptise our national way of life, or, as Bonhoeffer would have put it, to make us feel better about our godless lives.

As both Bonhoeffer and Mary MacKillop understood, such transactions between Church and culture are all too common. To take but one example, the Catholic Church - like so many Churches in Australia - has been desperate to retain a certain privilege within Australian society, particularly in the form of tax concessions and funding for schools. And yet Mary identified the dangers in such an arrangement with staggering clarity. Explaining why she refused to accept funding from the Queensland State Government for a Josephite school in Brisbane, she wrote on 27 March 1870, “It is impossible for us to become in any way connected with Government and be true to the spirit as well as the letter of our Rule.”

I would suggest that one of the vital tasks of the Catholic Church in Australia is to resist the temptation to bask in the glow of Mary MacKillop’s canonisation - much less embrace it as welcome diversion from the struggle with its institutional demons - and instead retrieve St Mary of the Cross as an example of penitence, humility, and above all, the fierce independence of the “Gospel of life.”

- with permission. This article first appeared on ABC Online. Scott Stephens is the Editor of the ABC’s Religion portal.

Australian pilgrims hold a banner showing new Australian St Mary MacKillop in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on 17 October. A young Aussie pilgrim holds Mary’s image.

PHOTO: CNS/PAUL HARING

FRIDAY, 22 OCTOBER

Pioneers of Total Abstinence Association to The Sacred Heart of Jesus

7pm at Bioethics Centre, 39 Jugan St, Glendalough. A demonstration of Irish dancing as well as a soloist and an accompanist will be in attendance to perform a variety of dance and music. Bring a plate to share, coffee and tea provided. No alcohol. Admission $5. Enq: Fr Douglas 9444 6131 or John 9457 7771.

SATURDAY, 23 OCTOBER

Greenwood World Youth Day Group –Car Boot Sale

9am-1pm at All Saints Catholic Church, 7 Liwara Pl, Greenwood. Money raised goes towards the World Youth Day trip, Spain 2011. Fill your car boot with things to sell, keep or donate the money you make. Sellers $10 per car and buyers gold coin donation. Sausage sizzle. Thank you for your support.

Mammoth Garage Sale

11am-3pm at St Annes Church, 11 Hehir St, Belmont. Huge variety – books, kitchenware, manchester, stationery, artwork, music, toys, games, clothing, accessories and garden. Helpers needed on the day. Cash donations welcomed. Donations of gifts for raffle prizes (4) will also be graciously accepted. Refreshments available. Enq: 9244 4088.

SUNDAY, 24 OCTOBER

Focolare Movement – Invitation to a Family Day 10am at Little Sisters of the Poor, Glendalough. Mass followed by a programme focusing on themes of God as Love and Christian Loving in the Family from 11am to 4pm. Separate programme for children and teenagers. Open to everyone, the day is a time for gathering and spiritual renewal. Bring a shared plate for lunch. Enq: 9349 4052 or visit www.focolare.org.

MONDAY, 25 OCTOBER

CYM World Youth Day 2011 Pilgrimage Meeting

7.30pm at Perth Catholic Pastoral Centre, 40A Mary St, Highgate. Catholic Youth Ministry is organising the official Archdiocese of Perth pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Madrid next year. If you have already been saving or still unsure and want to know more, come along to our information night. Go to www.cym.com.au and fill out expression of interest form. Enq: 9422 7912.

MONDAY, 25 OCTOBER TO WEDNESDAY, 27 OCTOBER

Feast of St Jude

9am at St Jude’s Parish, 20 Prendiville Way, Langford. Celebrations for our Parish Patron will start with Mass and Novena prayer. On the Feast Day proper we will have Mass at 9am with St Jude’s School children in attendance, and a Healing Mass at 7pm. All are invited. Enq: 9458 1946.

THURSDAY, 28 OCTOBER

Morley Mental Health and Wellness Support Group Meeting

7pm at Infant Jesus Church Hall at 47 Wellington Rd, Morley. Rula Cummins and Fr Kevin Cummins, Chaplain of Graylands Hospital, will share what is happening in Catholic Mental Health Ministry. Come and be awakened to a ministry which touches hundreds of people each year. Enq: Darren 9276 8500 or Barbara 9328 8113.

FRIDAY, 29 OCTOBER

Medjugorje – Evening of Prayer

7-9pm at Good Shepherd Parish, corner 215 Morley Dr and Altone Rd, Kiara. Evening includes Adoration, Rosary, and Benediction concluding with Holy Mass. Celebrant Fr T Bogoni. Free DVD on Donald Calloway’s life of sexual promiscuity, drugs and crime through to his conversion and priesthood available on evening. All warmly welcomed. Enq: Eileen 9402 2480, 0407 471 256 or medjugorje@y7mail.com.

Healing Mass for Cancer Sufferers

7pm at Pater Noster Church, Myaree. Sacrament of

Reconciliation followed by Healing Mass in honour of St Peregrine, patron of cancer sufferers and helper of all in need. Celebration will include Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. A light supper will be served after.

SATURDAY, 30 OCTOBER

Novena

5.30pm at Holy Trinity Church, Embleton. Devotions in honour of Our Lady of Good Health, Vailankanni followed by Vigil Mass. Enq: Church Office 9271 5528 or George 9272 1379.

SUNDAY, 31 OCTOBER

Variety Concert and Cake Stall

2pm at Little Sisters Community Hall, 2 Rawlins St, Glendalough. Fundraising concert to assist the homeless and the aged will be held in the presence of His Grace Archbishop Barry Hickey. Featuring The Julian Singers, Local Seniors and Young Talents, Instrumentalists. Tickets $10. Sing along to old favourites. Enq: Mary 9443 3963 or Angela 9275 2066.

FRIDAY, 5 NOVEMBER

Healing and Anointing Mass

7pm at OLMC Parish, 82 Collick St, Hilton. Praise and worship, anointing of the sick, special blessing and praying over. All welcome. Enq: Parish Office 9314 7733.

Pro-Life Witness

9.30am at St Brigid’s, Midland. Commencing with Mass followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at nearby abortion clinic, led by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. All welcome to come and pray for the conversion of hearts. Enq: Helen 9402 0349.

Catholic Faith Renewal Evening

7.30pm at St John and Paul’s Parish, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Songs of Praise, sharing by Fr Erasmus on A personal relationship with Jesus, followed by Mass. Light refreshments afterwards. All welcome to attend and bring family and friends. Enq: Kathy 9295 0913, Ann 0412 166 164 or catholicfaithrenewal@gmail.com.

FRIDAY, 5 NOVEMBER  THURSDAY, 11 NOVEMBER

Creation Spirituality Retreat St John of God Retreat Centre, Shoalwater. For the weekend or week. Enq: Sr Shelley Barlow and registration 0428 772 784.

SATURDAY, 6 NOVEMBER

Love Ministries - Charismatic Healing and Mass 6pm at All Saints, 7 Liwara Pl, Greenwood. Get prayed over and healed from past and present issues or stand in for a loved one who may be ill or facing problems at this time. All welcome. Enq: Fr Giosue 9349 2315 or Gilbert 0431 570 322.

Witness for Life

8.30am at St Augustine’s, Gladstone Rd, Rivervale. Commencing with Mass celebrated by Fr Paul Carey, followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at nearby abortion clinic. All welcome to come and pray for the conversion of hearts. Enq: Helen 9402 0349.

SUNDAY, 7 NOVEMBER

Schoenstatt Spring Fair

9.30am-2pm at 9 Talus Dr, Armadale. A family affair with entertainment for the children, international food, a variety of stalls, prizes, silent auctions and lots more. Bring all the family and help support the Schoenstatt Sisters, and visit our beautiful shrine where you can leave all your requests and petitions. Enq: 9455 3140.

Divine Mercy

1.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, 25 Windsor St, Perth. An afternoon with Jesus and Mary. Fr Sharbel will give Homily on All Saints and Holy Souls. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: John 9457 7772.

TUESDAY, 9 NOVEMBER

Council of Christians and Jews WA Inc –Commemoration of Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)

4pm at Perth Synagogue, Freedman Rd, Menora. Guest speaker Fr Stephen Astill SJ, Senior Lecturer, Notre Dame University. Light refreshments served. All welcome. RSVP by Friday, 5 November. Enq: 9271 0539 or ccjwa@aol. com.

SATURDAY, 13 NOVEMBER

St Padre Pio Day of Prayer

8.30am at Little Sisters of the Poor, 2 Rawlins St, Glendalough. DVD followed by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Divine Mercy, Silent Adoration and Benediction at 10am. 11am Mass, St Padre Pio Liturgy, Confessions available. Bring a plate for shared lunch. Tea and coffee supplied. Enq: Des 6278 1540.

FRIDAY, 19 NOVEMBER TO SUNDAY, 21 NOVEMBER

A Reflective Weekend - Strike the Balance 7pm at St John of God Retreat Centre, 47 Gloucester Cr, Shoalwater. An opportunity to uncover the richness of your life over the past year through practical methods such as the Labyrinth, Lectio Divina and other forms of Meditation. Enq: Sr Ann 0409 602 927 or Sr Kathy 0418 926 590.

SATURDAY, 20 NOVEMBER

The Annual Holy Mass at the Grotto

10.30am at Richard and Judy Priestley’s Farm. Directions – take Great Eastern Hwy to El Caballo Blanco, turn south into Wariin Rd, turn east into Chinganning Rd, travel 2.2km; the farm gate is on the right. Bring a chair and a hat. BBQ meat will be provided at no cost for lunch. All welcome. Enq: 0428 502 749.

EVERY SUNDAY

Pilgrim Mass - Shrine of the Virgin of the Revelation 2pm at Shrine, 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. Commencing with Rosary followed by Benediction. Reconciliation is available before every celebration. Anointing of the Sick administered during Mass every second Sunday of the month. Pilgrimage in honour of the Virgin of the Revelation, last Sunday of the month. Side entrance to the church and shrine open daily between 9am-5pm. Enq Sacri 9447 3292.

EVERY SUNDAY AND MONDAY

Extraordinary Form of Latin Holy Mass 11am Sunday and 7.30pm Monday except 3rd Monday of the month, at St Joseph’s Parish, 20 Hamilton St, Bassendean.

THIRD SUNDAY OF THE MONTH

Oblates of St Benedict

2pm at St Joseph’s Convent, York St, South Perth. Oblates are affiliated with the Benedictine Abbey of New Norcia. All welcome to study the rule of St Benedict and its relevance to the everyday life of today for lay people. Vespers and tea later. Enq: Secretary 9457 5758.

EVERY FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE MONTH

Holy Hour for Vocations to the Priesthood, Religious Life

2-3pm at Infant Jesus Parish, Wellington St, Morley. The hour includes Exposition of the Blessed Eucharist, silent prayer, Scripture and prayers of intercession. Come and pray that those discerning vocations to the priesthood or Religious life hear clearly God’s loving call to them.

LAST MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH

Christian Spirituality Presentation

7.30-9.15pm at the Church hall behind St Swithan’s Anglican Church, 195 Lesmurdie Rd, Lesmurdie. Stephanie Woods presents The Desert Period of Christianity, 260 to 600AD. From this time period came the understanding of the monastic lifestyle and contemplative prayer. No cost. Enq Lynne 9293 3848.

EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT

Novena and Benediction to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

6pm at the Pater Noster Church, Marmion and Evershed Sts, Myaree. Mass at 5.30pm. Enq: John 0408 952 194.

EVERY WEDNESDAY

Holy Spirit of Freedom Community

7.30pm at The Church of Christ, 111 Stirling St, Perth. We are delighted to welcome everyone to attend our

Holy Spirit of Freedom Praise Meeting. Enq 9475 0155 or hsofperth@gmail.com.

SECOND WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH

Chaplets of the Divine Mercy

7.30pm at St Thomas More Catholic Church, Dean Rd, Bateman. A beautiful and prayerful sung devotion. Accompanied by Exposition and followed by Benediction. All are welcome. Enq: George 9310 9493 home or 9325 2010 work.

EVERY THURSDAY

Cathedral Praise Meeting

7.45pm at 450 Hay St, Perth. A journey of Intercessory Prayer, Revelation and Healing by Kaye Rollings, FMI. Please bring a Bible. Enq: 9382 3668 or 0439 981 515.

Catholic Questions and Answers

7-7.30pm at St Joseph’s Parish Centre, 20 Hamilton St, Bassendean. Catechesis learned easily with questions and answers. The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Adult learning and deepening of the Catholic Faith, with Fr John Corapi DVD series, 7.30-9pm.

Divine Mercy

11am at St John and Paul Church, Pine Tree Gully Rd, Willetton. Pray the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and for the consecrated life especially here in John Paul parish, conclude with veneration of the First Class Relic of Saint Faustina. Please do come and join us in prayer. Enq: John 9457 7771.

EVERY FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH

Taize - Invitation to Prayer in Our Community

7.30-8.30pm at Our Lady Of Grace Church, 3 Kitchener St, North Beach. Taize Prayer is a meditation in which we pray beautiful chants together and spend time in prayerful silence. Christ is present in each of us and we pray as one. Enq: Joan 9448 4457 or Parish 9448 4888.

EVERY FIRST FRIDAY

Holy Hour for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life

7pm at Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, 2 Rawlins St, Glendalough. Mass, followed by Adoration with Fr Doug Harris. All welcome. Refreshments provided.

FIRST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH

Communion of Reparation All Night Vigil

7pm-1am at Corpus Christi Church, Lochee St, Mosman Park. Vigil consists of Mass, Rosary, Confession and Adoration. Celebrant Fr T Bogoni. All warmly welcomed. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357.

Catholic Faith Renewal Evening

7.30pm at St John and Paul’s Parish, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Songs of Praise, sharing by a Priest followed by Thanksgiving Mass and light refreshments after Mass. All welcome to attend and bring your family and friends. Enq: Kathy 9295 0913, Ann: 0412 166 164 or catholicfaithrenewal@gmail.com.

The Alliance, Triumph and Reign of the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

9pm at St Bernadette’s Church, Glendalough. Commences with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament followed by Reflections, Rosary and alternating with healing sessions. Vigil concludes with the Holy Mass at midnight. Come, be healed and be part of the Lord’s Mighty Work. Enq: Fr Doug 9444 6131 or Dorothy 9342 5845.

Healing Mass

7pm at St Peter’s Parish, Wood St, Inglewood. Reconciliation, praise and worship, exposition of Blessed Sacrament, Benediction, anointing of the sick, and special blessing. Celebrants Fr Sam and other clergy. All welcome. Enq: Priscilla 0433 457 352, Catherine 0433 923 083 or Mary-Ann 0409 672 304.

ACROSS

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ACCOMMODATION

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

ESPERANCE 3 bedroom house f/furnished Ph 09 9076 5083.

BOOK BINDING

BOOK REPAIR SERVICE

New book binding, general book repairs, rebinding, new ribbons; old leather bindings restored. Tydewi Bindery 9377 0005.

TRADE SERVICES

BRENDON HANDYMAN

SERVICES Home, building maintenance, repairs and renovations. NOR. Ph 0427 539 588.

BRICK RE-POINTING

Ph Nigel 9242 2952.

PERROTT PAINTING Pty Ltd

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

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

LAWN MOWING

WRR LAWN MOWING & WEED

SPRAYING Garden clean ups and rubbish removal. Get rid of bindii, jojo and other unsightly weeds. Based in Tuart Hill. Enq 9443 9243 or 0402 326 637.

CLASSIFIEDS

Deadline: 11am Monday

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 Rd, Canning Vale. Open Mon-Sat.

OTTIMO Convenient city location for books, CDs/DVDs, cards, candles, statues, Bibles, medals and much more. Shop 108, Trinity Arcade (Terrace level), 671 Hay St, Perth. Ph 9322 4520. Mon-Fri 9am-6pm.

RICH HARVEST YOUR CHRISTIAN SHOP Looking for Bibles, CDs, books, cards, gifts, statues, Baptism/Communion apparel, religious vestments, etc? Visit us at 39 Hulme Ct (off McCoy St), Myaree, Ph 9329 9889 (after 10.30am Mon to Sat). We are here to serve.

KINLAR VESTMENTS Quality hand-made and decorated vestments: Albs, Stoles, Chasubles, altar linen, banners etc. 12 Favenc Way, Padbury. By appointment only. Ph Vicki 9402 1318 or 0409 114 093.

SETTLEMENTS

ARE YOU BUYING OR SELLING real estate or a business? Why not ask Excel Settlements for a quote for your settlement. We offer reasonable fees, excellent service and no hidden costs. Ring Excel on 9481 4499 for a quote. Check our web site on www.excelsettlements.com.

Have no fear. The classifieds are here

Walk With Him

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FURNITURE REMOVAL

ALL AREAS. Competitive Rates. Mike Murphy Ph 0416 226 434.

FOR SALE

BOOK SALE NEDLANDS (WITH COFFEE) Big selection of art, crime, fiction, reference, Religion and children’s books. 30 and 31st October, Holy Rosary Parish Centre, corner Tyrell and Elizabeth Sts, Nedlands. 9am to 3pm. georgeschaefer@hotmail. com.

ART FOR THE CATHEDRAL www.margaretfane.com.au.

EMPLOYMENT

CARETAKERS WANTED For small property 110km north of Perth. A 2br ff cottage provided with gas + electricity included. Maintain existing fruit, veg, chooks for own use. Also ride-onmowing, watering etc. Ring 0419 949 185 or email jack.gardner@ jwga.com.au.

DAYBREAK HEALING

Each session offers computerised health scan.

ACUPUNCTURE Aroma-oil Cupping Massage.

CLINIC: Guildford / Morley Ph: 0438-979036.

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5:21-33 Church’s living parts

Gr Ps 127:1-5 A fruitful vine

Lk 13:18-21 Like a mustard seed

27 W Eph 6:1-9 Children’s duty

Gr Ps 144:10-14 The Lord supports all

Lk 13:22-30 Last who will be first

28 Th SS SIMON AND JUDE, APOSTLES (Feast)

Red Eph 2:19-22 God’s household

Ps 18:2-5 No speech, no word

Lk 6:12-19 Apostles chosen

29 F Phil 1:1-11 I pray with joy

Gr Ps 110:1-6 I will thank the Lord

Lk 14:1-6 They watched him

30 S Phil 1:18-26 Christ is proclaimed

Gr Ps 42:2-3.5 Thirsting for God

Lk 14:1.7-11 Move up higher

Not what, but how Saint Mary did it that we admire

The following is the official opening of the St Mary MacKillop Festival at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle last Sunday, 17 October by Vice Chancellor, Prof Celia Hammond

“It is my privilege, honour and delight to welcome you all here to our celebration of the canonisation of Mother Mary MacKillop, who, as Amy [Rosario] said, in less than three hours will become St Mary of the Cross.

“As a Catholic University in Australia, we are indebted to the pioneering work of this Australian woman: Mother Mary MacKillop, who, alongside many other religious orders, established the foundation of Catholic education in

IAustralia. The foundation that these early pioneers of the Catholic Church in Australia laid is the Catholic Education system which today educates 20 percent of all school age children.

“Today we celebrate Mother Mary MacKillop not simply for what she did, but for how she did it. We celebrate and marvel at the example she set: her tenacity, her courage, her wisdom, her strength - but above all, we celebrate and take joy in the witness she gave to God. Mother Mary did not give up in the face of adversity: she persevered. She did not bear grudges against those who set obstacles in her path: she forgave and loved. She did not become full of self pity for all the tragedy and sadness she faced in her life: she took strength and continued to live, to love and to laugh.

“And it was her love of God, and her devotion to her calling that saw her do this. An ordinary woman made extraordinary by her love and faith in God.

“Let us all learn and take inspiration from this very special and blessed woman.

“It is my absolute pleasure to declare this Festival open.

ntention is all the thing when you’re shopping for Christmas gifts. But the problem is finding something for that special person you know they’ll immediately appreciate. It can take a lot of time... Here at The Record, because we’re basically lazy (we’re journalists, after all) our suggestion is that you let the person you’re shopping for do the choosing. Why not try a Record

Bookshop Gift Voucher?

Simply drop in to the Bookshop at 21 Victoria Square , opposite St Mary’s Cathedral, and purchase a Gift Voucher from $5 upwards. Attractively presented on marbled special print paper a Record Bookshop Gift Voucher can be redeemed against any of the hundreds of books, CDs, DVDs and St Mary’s Cathedral Jarrah products on sale in the Bookshop.

Inquiries: Bibiana on (08) 9220 5900, or bookshop@therecord.com.au

AT A GLANCE

A roundup of events in the Archdiocese

St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth Concert for the month of Holy Souls at Cathedral

St. Mary’s Cathedral Inaugural Concert Series 2010 culminates with the Cathedral Choir joint concert presentation with Collegium Symphonic Chorus. Titled ‘Celestial Song’, the programme includes the presentation of Maurice Durufle’s stunningly beautiful ‘Requiem’ as a prayerful introduction to the month of the Holy Souls. The programme includes organ solos by Alain and Messiaen played by the cathedral’s director of music, Jacinta Jakovcevic and works for harp and chorus. Tickets ($45 and $35 concession) available at BOCS ticketing 9484 1133.

When: 2pm on 31 October at St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Square, Perth

Edmund Rice Institute for Social Justice

Utopia’s Shadow: Just Societies, New Possibilities, Old Pathologies

The Edmund Rice Institute for Social Justice, Fremantle will host a one-day seminar intensive to grapple with the limited success of efforts to build social justice in the world. The presenters include Australia’s leading sociologist, Melbourne La Trobe University

Prof Peter Beilharz, and ERISJ director David Freeman. Prof Beilharz has written or edited 23 books and is one of the world’s foremost authorities on dysfunction within socialist traditions. For more information or to register, visit www.erisj.org.au, ring 9432 2400 or email admin@erisj. org.au

When: 10am to 5pm on 30 October at ERISJ, 24 High St Fremantle.

St Bernadette’s, Glendalough

Pioneers for total abstinence association to the Sacred Heart of Jesus A social evening including an Irish dancing performance and others. Bring a plate, tea/coffee provided. Admission is $5. Enq: John 9457 7771

When: 7-11pm on 22 October at Bioethics Centre, 39 Jugan St Glendalough.

The Great Adventure: A Quick Journey Through The Bible

An 8-week Jeff Cavins DVD series will be shown as preparation for Advent starting 30 October and ending the week before Christmas. This journey will help prepare hearts for Christmas. All welcome. It’s free. Register in the church foyer or contact Jeff and Jenny at kenosis@iinet.net.au

When: 4 - 5.30pm starting on 30 October at Bioethics Centre, 39 Jugan St Glendalough (except 13 November, when start time is 5pm).

Shining example of holinessStyp MaryoftheCrossMacKillopness

Our Lady of the Mission, Whitford

Wine, Poetry and Song

The Whitford Poets and the Ocean Reef African Choir will present a joint performance for local and African charities. It promises to be a great night. Tickets are $10. All wine and poem donations to Betty Rea at the back of the church.

When: 6 November in the Parish Hall at Our Lady of the Mission parish, Whitford

Disciples of Jesus

Living as a man pleasing to God

The Disciples of Jesus are sponsoring a weekend of reflection, prayer and brotherhood for men of any age. Cost $100 per person. Booking essential. Enq: Richard Egan 0416 148 008.

When: 5-7 November at Serpentine Camping Centre 22 Transit Rd Jarrahdale

Adoration at Ocean Reef

New daily Adoration Hours

St Simon Peter Catholic Church is now hosting adoration. Enq: 9300 4885.

When: Monday: 9am-9pm; Tuesday: 9am-7pm with Mass beginning at 7pm; Wednesday 9am-9pm; Thursday 5-7pm; Friday 9am-7pm with Mass beginning at 7pm at St Simon Peter’s, 20 Prendiville Ave, Ocean Reef.

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