The Record Newspaper 22 June 2011

Schools, funding

Catholic Education defends Catholic education Page 6

Archbishop tells students: have the courage to be Catholic

Archbishop Barry Hickey told 200 young men studying at Aquinas College that even in the face of extreme pressure, they must always choose to do the moral thing

BY BRIDGET SPINKS

There are certain things you cannot do, Archbishop Barry Hickey told near 200 boarders at Aquinas College on 19 June when he celebrated a 7pm Sunday Mass for them.

“If you are in politics and faced with legislation that goes against your conscience, you must not vote for it. And you must live with the consequences,” he said.

“If you are a doctor and are under pressure to perform a procedure - like abortion - which goes against your conscience, you cannot do it. And you must live with the consequences.

“If you are in business and see that you can make a lot of money by dispossessing poor people, you must not do it. And live without the financial reward,” he said.

The reward for obeying a conscience that is formed by your Catholic faith is immense, he said.

“It is peace of mind, personal integrity and the satisfaction of knowing that someone may be moved by your witness to the truth,” he said.

The Archbishop was drawing on themes articulated in his Pentecost Pastoral Letter, which encouraged the laity to live their true mission in the Church, that of bearing the light of Christ in the world.

“You have been baptised and confirmed. You have a share in the mission of the Church, which is to bring good news to the world,” he said in his homily.

“You must take your faith with you wherever you go.”

Since Aquinas College is currently without a permanent chaplain, Acting Dean of Boarders at Aquinas College, Mark Weston, invited Archbishop Hickey to celebrate Mass to give the boys a chance to meet the Archbishop in person.

St John of God hospital chaplains, Fr Hugh Galloway and Fr Richard Rutkauskas and assistant parish priest at Our Lady of the Mission Whitford, Fr Dominic Savio CSsR, have also celebrated the 7pm Sunday Mass for the boarders this term.

A ne w community - and a A new - and a ne w approach - to helping new - to people trapped in darkness people trapped in darkness find freedom and self-worth find freedom and self-worth again ...

BY BRIDGET SPINKS

MUSICIAN Veronica Moylan (nee Carney) thanked God when she received the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to Music on the Queen’s Birthday 13 June.

“I thank God for His wonderful gift of music and my dear parents who gave me the love of music

which I have been able to share with so many over the years,” Mrs Moylan, 78, said.

Mrs Moylan received her music education at Victoria Square (now called Mercedes College) from Sister of Mercy, Sr Mary Philip. She went on to teach piano privately and at various colleges including Aquinas College and St

The road out of Hell

How do you help those who have been addicted to drugs most of their lives and have little - or no - experience of the love of a human family?

WHEN Record journalist Mark Reidy travelled to France in March he went not to take in the traditional tourist sites this remarkable country has to offer but to learn about a new approach to dealing with one of the most difficult to solve of all social problems: drug addiction.

Near the world-famous pilgrimage destination of Lourdes, renowned for its miraculous heal-

ings, he found healing of a different kind. Just outside Lourdes is one of 60 new Catholic Church communities that have been established around the globe in the last three deacades, each part of the Cenacolo (Cenacle) movement established by a Catholic Religious, Sister Elvira, in the early 1980s.

The Cenacolo is the last stop on the trainline of hope for men and women addicted to drugs and alco-

hol, the last chance for life before succumbing to death from their addictions. The Cenacolo communities have established remarkable records of successfully helping those who come to them escape from the bondage of drugs and alcohol, and their unique approach is one hundred per cent rooted in faith, friendship, re-learning usefulness and prayer.

Story, photos: pages 9-12

Order of Australia recipient filled with gratitude after a life of music and faith

Brigid’s Lesmurdie. “I started music when I was five,” she said; and as soon as she finished her music diploma, she started teaching at Mercedes College.

Mrs Moylan has also given much of her spare time to playing the organ and organising the choir for more than 65 years and still plays occasionally at Mater Christi par-

ish Yangebup. “From when I was 13 until I was 21, I was playing at St Joachim’s for every Sunday morning Mass, Sunday night devotions, Tuesday night novena and Holy Hour on Thursdays,” she said. When she married, she moved to Holy Family parish in Como and played for every Sunday morning Mass, Sunday night devotions and

Tuesday night novena for 16 years. When she moved to Lesmurdie, Mrs Moylan played the organ for another 16 years at Our Lady of Lourdes before moving “down the hill” to St Columba’s in South Perth where she was organist for another 16 years. She also founded the With a Song In My Heart Ladies Choir.

THE P ARISH THE N ATION THE W ORLD $2.00 THERECORD COM AU

Bishops must not dodge confrontation: Cardinal

BY KERRY MYERS

IF BISHOPS dodge confrontation, we should not be too surprised when others “go missing”, too, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, said.

He said Bishops needed to be courageous “because Christian truths do not always win majority approval”.

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“But every stand for truth, justice and charity, for life and for goodness will strengthen your brothers and sisters in faith, and often in the wider society and inspire them to stand firm and make sacrifices, too,” the Cardinal said in his homily at the Mass of Episcopal Ordination for Bishop Peter Comensoli.

Bishop Comensoli, from the Diocese of Wollongong, was ordained as Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney by Cardinal Pell at St Mary’s Cathedral on 8 June. Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide and Bishop Peter Ingham of Wollongong were principal co-consecrators.

Cardinal Edward Cassidy joined more than 20 Bishops, including the papal nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, in the Ordination Mass.

Bishop Comensoli, at 47, is the youngest Bishop in Australia.

A former chancellor of the Wollongong diocese, he studied the fundamentals of moral theology, and its philosophical and anthropological underpinnings, at the Academia Alfonsia in Rome.

He returned to Wollongong in December last year after completing a Masters of Letters in moral philosophy at St Andrew’s University in Scotland from 2006 to 2007, and undertook a PhD in theological ethics at Edinburgh University from 2007 to 2010.

He has since been serving in the parish of Helensburgh and teaching moral theology at the Catholic Institute of Sydney.

Cardinal Pell said of Bishop Comensoli that “through the wisdom of a succession of Bishops and through your own hard work you are unusually well qualified academically, as well as pastorally, to provide leadership in the struggle between good and evil, between the light of faith and the gathering darkness.

“Above all you are a teacher, as well as a servant, a leader and a sanctifier,” the Cardinal said.

“Your task will be to teach and explain that Jesus is the Son of God as well as Son of Mary, possessing a divine as well as a human nature, which enables Him to redeem us. No mere man could do this.

“Surveys show that even some priests, and certainly more people, Catholics, too,

are unsure about the bodily resurrection of Jesus and even of the Virgin birth, of Christ’s divine fatherhood. “This must mean that their faith in the divinity of Christ is under extreme pressure and this means that their faith in the redemption too is pressured.”

In welcoming the new Bishop, Cardinal Pell said he knew “you will answer these calls and rise to these challenges. The years ahead beckon and are rich with promise. May God continue to be with you and bless you for many decades, through the Spirit, in your new episcopal role as teacher, priest and shepherd.”

Bishop Comensoli was born in the Illawarra on 25 March, 1964, the fourth and last child of Mick and Margaret Comensoli.

He was baptised at St John Vianney Church, Fairy Meadow, the parish in which he would receive all the sacraments

of Christian Initiation, as well as priestly ordination.

He was educated by the Good Samaritan Sisters at his parish school and later by the Marist Fathers at St Paul’s College.

Throughout his youth he was interested in music, playing the violin and being involved in the Sydney Youth Orchestra. After school, he worked for four years in the baking sector while undertaking a parttime Commerce degree at Wollongong University.

He entered St Patrick’s Seminary Manly in 1986 at the age of 21.

His biography states that Bishop Comensoli is a “Wollongong Boy” through and through – except for his persistently defiant support of the Manly Sea Eagles.

He paid tribute to his family, saying he is “especially glad to belong to a family that has enabled him to be a proud Catholic Christian”.

Path to holiness lies in the ordinary

BY ANTHONY BARICH

THE holiness that God has prepared for us is not too far from us, Opus Dei priest Fr Joe Pich said at a 19 June Mass commemorating the feast day of the movement’s founder St Josemaria Escriva at Holy Spirit Church in City Beach.

Fr Pich, who visits regularly from Sydney to provide spiritual formation for laity, said one of the key teachings that St Josemaria, who Blessed Pope John Paul II canonised in 2002, promoted was the universal call to holiness in everyday life.

“We are often content plodding along in our lives, but we are called to be missionaries in our lives,” Fr Pich said.

The Gospel of the day – Luke 5:1-11 in which Jesus steps into Peter’s boat to preach to people standing on the shore in Gennesaret – was the saint’s favourite. He knew it by heart and it was the foundation of much of his teachings.

“Jesus stepped into Peter’s boat without even asking permission” as Peter had come back from fishing – which was his work, Fr Pich noted. This shows that Jesus is willing to help us be holy in the very midst of our daily work – be it in the professional world

or, just as importantly, in the home. “That’s where God is calling us,” he said. He said St Josemaria pre-empted what the Second Vatican Council preached –that holiness is not just for priests and Religious, but for everyone; and lay peo-

ple can offer even the most menial of tasks each day up to God for the sanctification of the world.

“The holiness God has prepared for us does not exist in a monastery somewhere –it is here and now, without ‘wishful thinking’ – like thinking ‘to be holy I need to be a priest or a monk’,” Fr Pich said.

“We need to ask St Josemaria to help us, because holiness is not easy, but at the same time it is not far from us; it is in our everyday lives.”

He related a story when St Josemaria was asked in Rome which chapel he liked most, and he answered, “the street”, because “that’s where we pray, where we live our lives, where we become holy,” Fr Pich said.

Even the day’s First Reading from Genesis 2:4 and 9.15 described how man was “made to work” – “The Lord God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it.”

Therefore, Catholics are called to give to the Lord their best.

“We sometimes wonder where Catholics are in society; we need to be the best we can in our professional lives and at home,” he said.

St Josemaria Escriva

Cardinal George Pell places the mitre (Bishop’s hat) on newly consecrated Bishop Peter Comensoli, who will be an Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney. PHOTO: KERRY MYERS

Embleton bell peals will remind, and summon, faithful to prayer

ARCHBISHOP Barry Hickey

blessed a historic church bell on 22 May that was later installed on top of Holy Trinity Church in Embleton.

The bell for the Holy Trinity Church was specifically manufactured by a renowned Polish bell manufacturer. It stands 70cm high weighing 220kg and is operated by an electro-magnetic mechanism.

A bell tower constructed to house the new bell was also installed with the bell on 27 May.

The sound of the bell can be heard every day at noon to remind the people to pray The Angelus and fifteen minutes before the weekend Masses.

It may also be used for special

in brief...

Renewal time

THE Catholic Charismatic Renewal international president will be the Guest Speaker at a two day Conference in Perth

occasions like processions, weddings and funerals.

The project has been made possible due parishioners’ generosity. However, the dedication and hard work of Fr Emil, a Polish Salvatorian, was of paramount importance in the instigation and success of this project and the Parishioners of Holy Trinity Church are grateful for his contribution

Over the past two and a half years

Fr Emil has been the Aboriginal Chaplain as well as parish priest.

During his short time as Parish Priest Fr Emil has built up the parish community. Parishioners told The Record that his “amazing gift to inspire and encourage parishioners to play an

later this month. Michelle Moran will present the Come Holy Spirit weekend with Archbishop Barry Hickey and Perth CCR chairman Dan Hewitt, who said that Michelle’s position as ICCRS president, together with her membership on the Pontifical Council for the Laity, makes her “ideally suited to teach, encour-

active role in the parish has resulted in many positive changes”, including improvement of the church facilities, but “most importantly the spiritual enrichment of parishioners.”

They also wished Fr Emil all of God’s blessings he might need in his life and priestly ministry as a fulltime chaplain of the Aboriginal Catholic ministry for the Archdiocese of Perth.

The use of bells in the Church dates back to the fifth century, when St Paulinus, the Bishop of Nola, introduced them as a means to summon monks to worship.

In the seventh century Pope Sabinianus approved the use of bells to call the faithful to Mass.

age and challenge our lay ministry in the Church, which we express through CCR”.

The Conference, at 67 Howe St, Osborne Park, will run from 9am – 4.30pm on 25 June and 10am – 5.30pm on 26 June. Mass will be celebrated on both days. For more info contact Dan Hewitt on 9398 4973 or at dhewitt@aapt.net.au.

Chemical engineer new Melkite head

BY ANTHONY BARICH

THE Vatican has approved the appointment of a chemical engineer as Bishop of the Greek-Melkite Eparchy of St Michael the Archangel of Sydney, effectively making him the head of Melkite Catholics in Australia and New Zealand.

Fr Robert Rabbat, 51, Rector of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Newton, USA, has been named bishop of St Michael’s of Sydney.

The Lebanese-born priest has a degree in chemical engineering and mathematics from Ohio State University and a Master’s in Communications from Purdue University, Indiana. He was ordained a priest in Beirut in 1994 and has served at parishes in Indiana and Illinois as well as editor of Sophia magazine.

The Apostolic Nunciature in Australia also announced on 14 June that the current Bishop of the Greek-Melkite Eparchy of St Michael the Archangel of Sydney since 1996 – Most Rev Issam

Darwish, 66 – has been appointed Greek-Melkite Archbishop of Zahleh and Furzol, Lebanon.

In other appointments elected by the Greek-Melkite Synod of Bishops, Lebanese-born Archbishop Cyrille Bustros, 72, was confirmed as the new Melkite Archbishop of Beirut and Jbeil, a position vacant for 13 months. Since 2004, he has headed the Eparchy of Newton, Massachusetts.

To make these appointments, the Congregation for Eastern Churches conducts a secret consultation and then appoints the candidate of their choice, according to the Melkite New Eparch of Newton website.

It is often the first choice, but does not have to be any of the three. For appointments within the Patriarchal territories, the Synod sends only one name and awaits Rome’s nihil obstat (“nothing hinders”).

If the Congregation of Eastern Churches objects to the appointment, the Synod chooses another name.

Fr Emil Ciecierega SDS with the fifth-century bell before it was installed on top of Embleton parish church.

PHOTO: COURTESY FR EMIL CIECIEREGA SDS

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Melkite Bishop Nicholas J Samra to head the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton, Massachusetts. The appointment was announced at the Vatican on 15 June. Bishop Samara will return to the eparchy where he had served as an Auxiliary Bishop until 2005. He is pictured at a prayer service in Washington in 2005.

PHOTO: CNS/PAUL HARING

Sisters a ‘gift’ to Our Lady of Grace

BY ANTHONY BARICH

The legacies of the Dominican Sisters who founded Our Lady of Grace Catholic Primary School in North Beach and its current operators, the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, were honoured at the opening of a $3 million upgrade on 18 June.

Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations Senator Christopher Evans officially opened a newly upgraded and extended multi-purpose hall (MPH) for school assemblies, sport, dance and performances which will be shared by the parents and the parish for parish and community activities like socials and Parents and Friends fundraising events.

The MPH includes a sound proof booth, a data projector and screen, a new improved canteen, an upstairs area to allow for more Year 6 classrooms, a music room, an interview room for the School

Counsellor and a meeting room for reading recovery and tutoring.

In addition, the school now has a dedicated Art room and have extended the Early Childhood area to make it more inviting, safer and protected from the weather.

The $3,183,551 BER grant for the upgrades was part of the Federal Government’s BER (Building the Education Revolution), which Senator Evans said had led to 10 years’ worth of construction being done across the country in the space of a year, with 9,000 schools benefiting from the $16 billion worth of investment.

Catholic Education WA deputy director Mary Retel said at the opening that for a school to have two Religious Sisters as OLG does in Srs Irene Kubacki and Joseph Mazur was an “extraordinary gift” for the school.

She also noted that North Beach Fr Richard Smith, who blessed new crucifixes and hung them in

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the new buildings on the day, was obviously – and importantly - well immersed into the school community.

Fr Smith noted that OLG was in the best state it’s ever been in, in terms of facilities, adding that the staff have also contributed to its success.

Our Lady of Grace School, blessed and opened in 1954 by Archbishop Redmond Prendiville, was under the direction of the Dominican Sisters.

The school commenced with an enrolment of 46 children in Years 1 to 7 and currently has over 500 primary school-aged children.

In 1958, the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth - an international congregation of Religious women, founded in Rome in 1875 by Blessed Frances Siedliska - were invited to take over the school when the Dominican Sisters opened a new school in Doubleview.

The Sisters’ charism is to extend the Kingdom of God’s love by imitating Jesus, Mary and Joseph, whose lives were centred in the love of God and one another, and by witnessing to that love through dedicated service to the Church, especially in her ministry to the family.

The Sisters are engaged in various apostolates including education, child care, pastoral ministry and care for the aged. Currently the congregation participates in the mission of the Church in America, Europe, The Philippines and Australia.

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Mater Dei helps Africans

MATER Dei College Year 9 students will make over 100 dolls for young children in Africa to help them enjoy their childhood.

“At the College we wanted a practical exercise that would assist our students to become aware of other children in Africa who simply, in many cases, don’t have basic toys to play with and are materially deprived in many ways,” Mater Dei College’s director of Mission and Care Mercy Sr Kathy Kettle said.

“At the end of the day children are children and need to be children.”

This year, the Year 9 students’ missionary focus is on Indigenous Cultures. After a conversation with the College’s Aboriginal Liaison Officer, Cheryl Bradley, they investigated the Uthando Project.

The Project provides handmade dolls for the emotional wellbeing of the children of KwaZulu-Natal, where HIV-AIDS wreaks havoc on individuals, families and communities.

The main concern is to promote the power of play in accessing and expressing the hurts and joys of children through sensitive interaction with their parents, grandparents, carers, counsellors.

“The actual dolls have a number of benefits other than just the ‘fun’ element,” Sr Kettle said.

A number of dolls will also go to WA Indigenous peoples.

Mrs Bradley will help the College get dolls to Aboriginal Medical Services; Djooraminda (Catholic Social Services – children in care); and possibly the Warmun community in the Kimberley in the far north of WA.

Top row, l-r: Noah Ivulich and Oliver Kung; front row, l-r: Rachel Kuek , Mich

llat

a

Rik

with the dolls they made. PHOTO: COU R TESY S R K ATHY KETTLE

OLG North Beach steps up

Our Lady of Grace produces template for active children

A PROGRAMME pioneered by Our Lady of Grace Catholic Primary School in North Beach getting every student to enjoy fitness is being used by other WA Catholic schools and as a blueprint by the City to Surf and the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER).

Our Lady of Grace (OLG) parents Lynley Papineau and Antonette Fazzari conceived StepUp4Kids as preparation for the City to Surf event and soon galvanised almost every student in the school to participate in a 10-week get fit programme as a leadup to the City to Surf.

The programme saw students walk around the school oval every Friday lunchtime to achieve the distance of a half-marathon, just under 21km. Parents eventually joined the students and a number of teachers have taken up the challenge as well in an effort to encourage the students.

Last year students met role models such as baseballer Travis Murphy (Perth Heat), netballer Sarah Ebbott (West Coast Fever), West Coast Eagles footballers Ryan Neates and Ashley Hansen, former Test cricketer Justin Langer and Western Warriers star Ryan Campbell, boxer Danny Green, Socceroo Stan Lazaridis, Channel 7 sports journalist and former West Perth footballer Basil Zempilas and Channel 9 Newsreader Dixie Marshall, plus local fire fighters, police and grandparents who modelled fitness – who walked with them to help achieve their goal.

OLG parent organisers, role models and the Year 6 Sports Ministry team organised a ‘super coach’ for every class to encourage students to achieve their laps. The coaches stamped students’ cards as they completed each lap and kept cheering and encouraging their class to do ‘just one more lap’.

OLG sports teacher Tony Brown also tested the students’ fitness at the start and end of the programme.

The school canteen manager also published healthy recipes for the students to try as part of the overall drive to adopt a healthy and fit lifestyle. Students were surveyed halfway through the programme and responses were very positive.

“It is great to be able to talk and share time with friends and do exercise as well,” commented

one student. OLG Principal Chris Kenworthy said that it has been life changing in terms of fitness and healthy lifestyle for some of the students.

The programme culminated in the OLG team winning the City to Surf ‘Team’ category of the event in 2010 and the school received the prize of $25,000 in solar panels, an unexpected but most welcome addition to the school’s efforts to be environmentally responsible.

The City to Surf for Activ saw a sea of canary yellow t-shirts descend upon the event and StepUp4Kids cheered every one of the 236 parents and their children over the line.

The success of the StepUp4Kids has led to the City to Surf event organisers promoting it as a model to increase team membership in 2011. They have presented it to ACHPER who have decided to roll it out throughout WA as the

new ‘Go the Distance’ schools programme.

Neighbouring Catholic secondary school Sacred Heart College in Sorrentoalso adopted the Step Up programme to encourage the younger students on to their oval and to help students to see the benefit of an active life.

The Go the Distance programme also aims to increase and develop the health and fitness of school aged children. WA primary schools are encouraged to take up the programme, which also acts as a training platform for the 4km walk/run at the Chevron City to Surf for Activ. The 10-week interactive programme is also based on the StepUp4Kids Programme that OLG created in 2010.

For more information, including a training programme, certificate templates, roster and student distance card, please conult: http://www.citytosurf.activ.asn.au/3/3540/3470/ go_the_distance.pm

fitness

Our Lady of Grace parish priest Fr Richard Smith with school principal Chris Kenworthy, Srs Irene and Joseph and school students.

PHOTOS: CATHOLIC EDUCATION WA

Former Test cricketer Justin Langer with Matthew Brackenreg join for Our Lady of Grace Catholic Primary School’s Step Up programme. Below, former Channel 9 presenter Dixie Marshall with OLG students.

Defending Catholic school funding

Education debate needs to be balanced and fair

BY RON D ULLARD Catholic Education WA director

The Australian Government Review of Funding for Schooling, led by Mr David Gonski, is engaged in a review focussed on funding for all schools. There will be much debate about the role of governments and the priorities for funding over the coming months. Our children deserve a constructive and honest debate on future funding arrangements and as such fair, reliable and accurate information will be fundamental to the debate.

The recent article by Robert Fry (“Fairer education funding overdue”. The West Australian, 30 May) raised several concerns about perceived inequitable funding of government schools. Unfortunately the selective nature of the information in the article did little more than continue the divisive “public versus private” debate of old.

The following facts in terms of funding of schools, as demonstrated in the graph (pictured), are sourced from the recent Deloitte’s analysis of MySchool data for the government.

The data shows that nationally the average net recurrent income per student for government schools is $11,100 compared with $10,000 per student in a Catholic school and $13,700 per student in an independent school. These figures include school fees and other private income with the various sources of funding highlighted.

What is indisputable is that when all forms of government funding are considered (that is both federal and state – the red + green) nongovernment school students receive substantially less government funding per student than government school students. Any claims that they get more government funding are transparently wrong.

In Western Australia, the student averages demonstrate a similar picture, but with independent averages slightly lower ($12,756) and slightly higher averages for government ($13,585) and Catholic ($10,722) schools.

This reflects the higher cost of providing education across a geographically diverse state and illustrates the significant point that the Catholic system of schools parallels the government system as a provider with similar geographic and socio-economic diversity. In the case of eight Catholic schools in the Kimberley region there is no other provider. In many respects there is more commonality between the two systems than difference! But funding is only part of the story.

The standard of resources and

buildings in government schools is an important issue that is often cited as part of the funding debate. The concerns are legitimate, but in making comparisons it needs to be recognised that non-government schools fund their facilities predominantly through loans which require significant debt servicing out of the funds available. Government schools are not required to service such debt.

Catholic schools are servicing diverse communities and take their social responsibilities seriously.

While Catholic families are given priority there are places available for non-Catholic students. The enrolment of Health Care Card holders in WA Catholic schools reflects the proportions in the wider community. These and many other families have access to significant fee concessions. There are many refugee and indigenous students enrolled in Catholic schools free of charge.

According to the Index of Community and Socio Educational Advantage (ICSEA), only 3 of the 10 most educationally disadvantaged schools in WA are government schools. Conversely, 8 out of the 10 most educationally advantaged schools are government schools.

Similarly the implication that non-government schools do not have appropriate accountability arrangements is completely fallacious. Catholic and other non-government schools have the strictest financial accountability requirements through State and Australian Government agencies.

All schools are required to submit externally audited financial accounts to DEEWR. Individual government schools are not required to meet such demands.

Furthermore, the school registration and ongoing audit process through the Department of Education Services ensures that non-government schools meet all other requirements as stipulated under the Education Act.

Choice in education is important for all parents and is a vital part of Australian democracy. The Catholic sector in Australia is a large and genuinely national enterprise and has provided an accessible and affordable choice for the past 170 years.

There are 1,700 Catholic schools in Australia equating to one in five Australian school students being educated in a Catholic school. The most recent PISA data indicates that Australian Catholic schools achieve high quality outcomes whilst maintaining high standards of equity. Supporting this choice with appropriate funding is vital.

Factual information which enables parents to make such choices is also imperative and has been the thrust of this article. Equally important for our nation is identifying the real issues in schools and determining how the Review of Funding for Schooling can address them. So what is the real issue?

The real issue is about improving the educational and life outcomes of students and in so doing, recognising the way that schools can autonomously address the needs of their communities. Recent moves to create independent public schools, similar to a governance model used by Catholic schools, has the potential to empower local communities and lead to real educational change. All educators would agree that government schools need more funding but it would be a mistake to just

Aboriginal students improving

THERE is still much work to be done though WA Aboriginal students recently made some significant improvements in their school results, Education Minister Liz Constable said.

She said her latest trip to the Kimberley gave her ideas for assisting remote schools and their communities to educate their students.

Last week, the National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) report showed Aboriginal students across the country were still substantially behind other students.

However, Year 7 indigenous students living in very remote areas across WA achieved significant improvements in the means recorded from 2008 to 2010 in reading, grammar and punctuation. In addition, indigenous students in remote areas showed significant gains in reading and spelling between 2009 and 2010.

“These results are encouraging, but the State Government is determined to boost the results of indigenous students located across WA,” the Minister said. The Minister and Director of

Catholic Education WA, Ron Dullard, met with staff at three remote Kimberley schools in an effort to find solutions to issues being faced by educators in the area and to encourage collaboration between the State, Catholic and independent schools with local communities whose children attend these schools. Schools reported that retaining talented staff was a significant issue, as was creating stability within school communities, which would enhance student-teacher relationships. Attending school was also a hurdle for some students.

Just so Catholic Education is crystal clear ...

Minister Garrett and Prime Minister Gillard have indicated on all occasions that they have spoken about this issue that comparing public to private schools only serves to be divisive and unproductive and we should all work together to ensure the best possible educational outcomes for all Western Australian children.

● The type of funding being discussed in the public arena at present is part of the Gonski Review and relates only to net recurrent funding for operational costs for students.

give more funding to keep doing the same thing. Equally non-government schools require a proportionate share of increased funding.

The teachers in our schools are the nation’s greatest asset. Research consistently shows that the single most important factor in schools for improving student outcomes is the quality of the teacher. Any major increase in funding therefore should be aimed at getting the best possible teachers in front of our students whether they be government or non-government students.

Raising the status of teaching, establishing salaries that provide appropriate reward for effort, providing opportunities for growth and professional development, will all be significant elements of any reform process.

The National Catholic Education Commission has made a submission to the Review of Funding for Schooling calling for certainty in future funding arrangements. In so doing there is a call for increased funding to assist indigenous students, students with disability, schools in regional and remote areas, and new arrival and refugee students in order to achieve better educational outcomes. At the same time the maintenance of existing funding levels in real terms is essential if Catholic Education is to continue to provide a high quality and high equity education.

In a recent public statement Minister Garrett outlines his desire for a “mature debate on funding arrangements” and a move away from the “unproductive and divisive public versus private debate”. All should be working towards this goal and that of a better future for the students in our schools.

Government schools run at approximately $11,100 per student, Catholic schools run at $10,000 and Independent schools run at approximately $13,700.

● Catholic schools endeavour at all times to carry out our gospel values and ensure that we care for those who are most vulnerable and in need in terms of education in our society. In some cases, we have schools in remote locations, that are the only school for miles and hence the costs are more than say a metro school. This is acknowledged by both State and Federal government.

● The National Catholic Education Commission submission to the Australian government’s Review of Funding for Schooling (Gonski Review) is seeking to at least maintain existing funding levels in real terms.

This requires a commitment to indexation of grants in line with increased government school costs.

In addition to this we are seeking real increases in funding for students with disabilities, indigenous and refugee students and schools that are in country and remote locations. Our current funding stands at approximately 58 per cent of Average Government School Recurrent Costs (AGSRC) and with additional funding targeted at the equity groups mentioned above should hopefully rise to approximately.

Catholic Education WA director

Ron Dullard, Education Minister Liz Constable with students on their trip to the Kimberley.

PHOTO: CATHOLIC EDUCATION WA

Perth’s musical detective at Oxford

Andrew Cichy’s prestigious Clarendon Scholarship will enable the University of WA graduate to continue his Oxford studies into an era when the act of composing sacred music endangered lives

When Henry VIII’s troublesome marriages evoked ire in the Church of Rome and division within the monarch’s own realm, one of the casualties of the stormy era known as the Reformation was the long tradition of creating sacred music within the walls of monasteries and seminaries.

Across England, the deep division between assailants and defenders of the old order saw monasteries wrested from the Catholic church, and clergy facing imprisonment if they continued to celebrate the traditional Mass.

Those who harboured ‘underground’ priests could be imprisoned or see their property confiscated. Clergy refusing to relinquish the musical rituals associated with their faith fled to cities in Catholic Europe where they received sympathetic support for the seminaries they established.

“It was assumed that English Catholics virtually ceased to sing the sacred music that had been so much a part of worship because there were so many restrictions and some clergy actually went ‘underground’,” explains Perth man Andrew Cichy, who is researching the impact of the Reformation on sacred music for his doctoral studies at Oxford University.

“Little is known of the music being composed for liturgical practice because it simply was not acknowledged at the time. In an environment where everything had to be concealed, liturgical practice became functional, and yet we know that during this period some inspired music was produced by English composers.

“Researching an area like this involves detective work. You don’t always look in the obvious places for leads. You might trawl through the inventory of a great house, discover that it had a chapel and then find mention of a thurible – the swinging metal censer filled with incense that was used in ceremonies and liturgies. That might lead you down an interesting research path …

“We do know that the English clergy who fled to the Continent established seminaries in Spain, France and Belgium where priests were ordained. They set themselves up, often in considerable style, and built some exquisite chapels that I’ve been lucky enough to visit. In these chapels, priests were ordained and smuggled back into England. If discovered, they could be hanged, drawn and quartered.”

All this material is a far cry from the Commerce degree that brought Andrew Cichy to UWA from Perth’s Trinity College, where he was already known as a fine musician. However, today he is quick to acknowledge the practical benefits of his first degree.

“Commerce was a very useful first degree for me,” he says. “I’ve been discovering its true value ever

since. It taught me to be organised, to report clearly, to appreciate the importance of sound management, impartiality and the need for transparency. I think some of these things get lost in education.

“In my final year at UWA I auditioned for the School of Music and was accepted on piano and organ – and chose to go with the latter.

“Winning a School of Music scholarship was one of the highest moments of my life because I’d been nervous about whether I was up to performance standard. That scholarship offered me four years of study, doing what I loved to do: a major in performance, a minor in musicology. I felt very fortunate.”

“(Since Vatican II) there is so much that has slipped through the cracks – and that is too good to lose.”

 ANDREW CICHY

Andrew began playing the piano at seven and the organ when he became a student at Trinity College and UWA graduate Annette Goerke, one of Australia’s leading organists, became his teacher. The organ at Trinity had been built by UWA lecturer Lynn Kirkham (School of Mechanical Engineering) and clearly it was a source of inspiration for the young musician.

“The Trinity College organ is a stunning instrument – probably one of the finest in the country. Built in the Dutch classical style, you can play anything on it from Bach to contemporary compositions,” he says.

“Robert Schumann said that no instrument took swifter revenge on sloppy composition or playing. He said a well-built organ tells no lies: even a slight slip of the hand or foot will be magnified several times.

“However, the organ’s many difficulties are outweighed by the sheer beauty of the instrument and its

repertoire. “People always think of an organ’s huge sounds, but every bit as important are the warm, quiet tones and subtle sounds.”

Studying at UWA, Andrew was able to add another significant organ, Winthrop Hall’s McGillivray Pipe Organ, to his performance experience. At the time, he was researching the life of one of the State’s most celebrated composers. Albert Lynch trained for the priesthood and, at a Benedictine Abbey in France, encountered the revival of the plainsong chants used in the liturgies of the Catholic Church.

On his return to Western Australia, Lynch formed an allmale choir at St Mary’s Cathedral and, in the 1960s, began writing church music. His brilliance earned him a commission to write a Mass for Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral during the Papal visit in 1970.

“I catalogued Lynch’s work and sources and it was a wonderful way of exploring his work and a contribution that, I think, was in danger of being forgotten,” says the graduate.

“After the Second Vatican Council’s directive changing the liturgy from Latin to English, Lynch provided the new music. It was a culture shock singing in English because the Catholic Church had thousands of years of solid repertoire from wonderful composers, so Lynch’s contribution in these early years was significant.

“He also introduced Gregorian chant into Catholic schools in WA in one of this State’s first large-scale music education programmes.

“A whole generation of Catholic students was taught to sing and chant, so it would eventually filter through and the entire congregation would be singing at Mass – and that did happen.

“It’s amazing to recall that there was an annual Gregorian Chant Festival in which more than a thousand school students participated. It was something special and, I think, very important. Sadly, it

doesn’t happen any more.”

Andrew has already completed a Masters of Studies at Oxford on a dramatic period in church music. The flowering of creativity during the Renaissance was under threat. By the mid 16th century the Calvinists spearheaded the Protestant attack while the Jesuits were “the shield and sword of Catholic defence”.

With the monasteries falling into the hands of elite noble families, it became a treasonable offence for a Roman Catholic priest ordained abroad to be hidden in a great house or to conduct underground services. In Ireland, just as ‘hedge” schools would later offer education to Irish Catholic children, so there were surreptitious ‘hedge Masses’ – hastily gathered and dispersed –during this period of repression and turmoil.

“My dissertation is confined to the research of sources with the aim of developing a guide to help other researchers pursue the leads I have been able to uncover,” explains Andrew.

“My aim is to open a new area of scholarship. While historians explored this period from the political perspective, because those in hiding were so good at concealing things, we haven’t yet appreciated the extent of English church music produced at this time. We do know that the period ending 1700 produced some inspired music that combined the best of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.”

The Clarendon Scholarship enables Andrew to undertake a DPhil that is a continuation of his Masters study. He will be further exploring the sources he has identified to examine different influences on English music of the time.

“I don’t want to compartmentalise my research because I believe some music scholarship suffers from that. I want to weave together musical styles, cultural influences and history,” says the UWA graduate.

Dr Owen Rees, Reader in Music

at Queens College at Oxford, an expert on 16th century Iberian sacred choral music, will supervise his doctoral studies.

While he explores the music of long-gone periods in history, Andrew is also honing his performance skills, taking lessons with virtuoso concert organist Nigel Allcoat; going to master classes with British concert organist Dame Gillian Weir, doing classes in conducting with Paul Spicer, conductor of the Birmingham Bach Choir – and he’s getting to know amazing new organs such as the first Aubertin French organ in Oxford.

“I feel I have a great community of organisations with which to share ideas and I’m loving it,” says the graduate who is now very much at home in Oxford’s Merton College.

“I see myself as both a performer and a scholar and I can absolutely see myself teaching in future. I would love to design new courses that introduce people to the areas I am researching and to repertoire not as well known as it should be. There is so much that has slipped through the cracks – and that is too good to lose. I’ve been so fortunate in having wonderful mentors over the years and I’d like to be able to help others in this way in future.”

Above, the organ at a church in Merton College. Right, Perth man Andrew Cichy.

It’s WA. We don’t like innovation.

It would be an extremely interesting thing at the present moment to get to talk to the current Swedish Chancellor of Justice, Anna Skarhead. Ms Skarhead has a number of duties which chiefly relate to ensuring compliance of the Swedish Government with its legal and constitutional responsibilities, but one aspect of her work noticed on the world stage in January this year came as she released the results of the official review of the first decade of Sweden’s implementation of new laws aimed at reducing prostitution. In WA this should have been interesting news because seven months prior to the release of the Swedish review, WAs Attorney General Christian Porter wrote off the Swedish policy as a failure at a public forum held in Belmont.

No-one should pretend that the Swedish approach, innovative in the kinds of ways it seems the Swedes regularly excel at, is the final answer to the problem of how public authorities are to handle prostitution. Nevertheless, it seems clear that the Swedish model, which rests on a combined approach of recognising women and girls as primary victims permanently exploited, decriminalising women and girls working as prostitutes, criminalising the purchase of sex (overwhelmingly by men) and offering methodical exit strategies towards new lives represents real progress in dealing with an issue that has traditionally been bound by narrow thinking about its solution: complete bans or legalisation. To some the former is seen as inadequate and, eventually, hopeless. The latter appears, to those who have not studied the problem, to offer some degree of control despite the moral and philosophical problems of legalising slavery.

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But since Chancellor Skarhead’s release of the report of the Swedish Government Working Party it nevertheless seems clear that Sweden now has serious numbers to back up its claims of real and significant progress over ten years in this area. That is progress no other countries or governments who have attempted control by legalisation can demonstrate.

The main progress in the Swedish situation was summarised by the 2010 report as:

● Between 1998-2008, street prostitution in Sweden fell by half; indoor prostitution has not increased

● Surveys indicated increased public support for a ban and a dropping number of men who admit purchasing sex

● The Report proposed more stringent criminal penalties as well as the establishment of a national centre to gather intelligence and counter prostitution and human trafficking for sexual purposes, a major problem in European countries and not unknown in Australia.

In short, these are achievements the Attorney General wrote off as not having worked. It would be illuminating to know if Mr Porter sent a delegation to Sweden to study the positives and negatives of the response adopted by that country, but it seems doubtful now that there was any serious intention to do so. Mr Porter’s approach, which even he sounds decreasingly confident of, is beginning to look like mere policy rehash in the light of not only Swden but new approaches emerging elsewhere.

Take Nashville, known worldwide as the home of Country Music. Less well known is the Magdalene Foundation, established in 1997 by Becca Stevens, an Anglican minister. Magdalene is a two-year private residential rehabilitation centre for women with criminal histories of prostitution and drug addiction. According to a fascinating report by the US radio network NPR, the Magdalene Foundation has, since beginning, seen more than 150 women graduate and has raised about US$12 million in private funding.

The Magdalene model employs an approach of providing accomodation, counseling and retraining, based on a 12-step model. Women and girls remain out of prostitution for two years of the programme and NPR journalist Jacki Lyden reported that Reverend Stevens’ initiative is becoming a national model for others trying to help women trapped by prostitution. Presumably referring to the extensive presence of sexual abuse in the lives of prostitution’s victims, Reverend Stevens asserts that women and girls don’t get into prostitution alone and they won’t get out alone. “I have never met a woman coming off the streets of Nashville who chose prostitution as their preferred career at the age of 6, 7, 8 and 9,” Stevens told Ms Lyden during a fascinating programme which can be heard online (go to www.npr.org and search for ‘magdalene’) Programmes take place in one of Magdalene’s six group homes, where the women live unsupervised. The women also manufacture bath and body oils and candles at a workshop called Thistle Farms — products that Rev. Stevens says promote healing. The thistle flower, Ms Lyden reported, is the women’s emblem.

“Like rough weed, like we are when we were out there on the streets,” says Penny, who’s in the programme. “We just survived through the cold and drought, just like the thistle does. It don’t need no water. It comes up out of the concrete and transforms there into a beautiful flower.”

Magdalene also helps run “john schools,” programmes aimed at educating male clients, those arrested for hiring prostitutes, about various aspects of prostitution. Only first-time offenders may enrol. Each participating convicted first-time offender pays $300 and by participating is able to have his record expunged if the conviction is for a first-time offense. All proceeds go to Magdalene, and in 2010 the programme contributed $100,000.

The disturbing flaw in the Porter approach has always been no analysis of the nature of prostitution and the relationships that are its essence, mere policy by bureaucracy. The essence of the Swedish and Nashville approaches is that they begin by treating those caught up in prostitution - women and clients - as human beings.

Magdalene is something we could have tried - might have, before Mr Porter was let loose on the subject of prostitution law reform. If we had, it is possible that the thistle might have been able to finally flower.

Marriage a public good, not private agreement

LONDON (CNS) - The spiritual leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has praised traditional marriage as a “public good.”

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster said it was “vitally important” for the “whole of society” to support marriage at a time when more British couples than ever were choosing to live together outside of marriage and to have children out of wedlock.

He said the British had acknowledged the importance of marriage by rejoicing over the 29 April marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in London’s Westminster Abbey.

The “mighty public cheer” that rang out after the couple exchanged vows showed an “instinctive and profound public understanding of the nature and consequences of marriage itself,” said Archbishop Nichols, who was a guest at the royal wedding.

“Marriage, as a permanent, exclusive commitment between this man and this woman was welcomed, applauded,” the Archbishop said in a homily at a Mass for married couples in Westminster Cathedral.

“There was rejoicing in what the newlyweds had just done,” he said. “Marriage, then, is a public good.

“Marriage is not simply something done in church by a few. Marriage is not a private arrange-

CNS

ment,” he said.

“Rather marriage expresses our deepest longings and expectations for ourselves, for our children and for our society,” he continued.

“Marriage is of our nature. It is not created by the Church, but blessed by her. Christian marriage is a sacrament,” he added. “In celebrating marriage, in defending marriage, the Church seeks to promote that which is good for us human beings, for our human nature and for our society.”

The Archbishop’s words were directed primarily at a personally invited congregation of 543 married couples from his diocese who had a combined total of 18,048 years of marriage.

But by releasing a transcript to the media on 10 June it was clear that Archbishop Nichols intended his message to be heard by a national and not exclusively

Catholic audience. His comments came just months after official figures revealed that the marriage rate in the United Kingdom was at its lowest since 1895, with just 21.3 men marrying per 1,000 unmarried adult men and 19.9 women marrying per 1,000 unmarried women.

About 57 percent of children in the United Kingdom are now born to parents who are not married, said figures revealed in February from the Office for National Statistics.

In his homily Archbishop Nichols explained that marriage was nevertheless the key to a successful family life and the happiness and security of children because it was the most successful framework “for the relationship of love of a man and a woman to become faithful, fruitful and permanent.”

He said that in contrast cohabiting relationships were inherently unstable because they were effectively negotiable.

Such arrangements were largely dependent on the fulfilment of high expectations for their success and not rooted in the mutual “acceptance of the other for who they are,” he said.

“When relationships are provisional, with an understanding that each can walk away, there is a sense in which each of the partners is always on probation,” Archbishop Nichols said.

“They are never fully accepted.”

Banal liturgies ‘kept Anglicans away’

BY ANTHONY BARICH

THE Anglican patrimony of the new ordinariates due in Australia next year will likely enhance the liturgical culture of the postconciliar Catholic Church, leading Australian theologian Tracey Rowland said.

In November 2009, Pope Benedict announced his decision to erect personal ordinariates (nongeographical dioceses) for former Anglicans who wanted to enter into full communion with Rome while preserving liturgical and other elements of their Anglican heritage, including a certain amount of governing by consensus.

Dr Rowland, the author of Ratzinger’s Faith: the Theology of Pope Benedict XVI and Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed, said many commentators have observed an affinity between the AngloCatholic approaches to liturgy and the Pope’s own liturgical theology.

“In particular, (Pope Benedict) is very concerned about what he has variously described as ‘parish tea party’ liturgy, ‘pastoral pragmatism’, ‘emotional primitivism’, ‘Sacro-pop’ and ‘utility music’,” Dr Rowland told an Anglican Ordinariate Festival in Melbourne on 11 June.

Dr Rowland, a former Anglican, said that, in her personal experience, the barriers to full communion with the Catholic Church are primarily cultural rather than doctrinal.

“They have been reluctant to seek full membership of the Catholic Church because of a not unreasonable belief that they would have to abandon whole elements of their Anglican cultural heritage,”

Dr Rowland said. “It is precisely this problem Pope Benedict hopes the creation of an ordinariate will overcome.

“Many of my Anglican friends have long held that, for them, the major barrier to their return to full communion with the Catholic Church is precisely the banality of parish liturgies.”

The Festival was held at the Basilica of Our Lady of Victories in Camberwell, a domed stone church combining Romanesque and Renaissance styles built in 1914 by Fr Robinson, a former Anglican.

Melbourne Auxiliary Bishop Peter Elliott, the Vatican’s delegate for the Anglican ordinariate in Australia, described the Basilica as “one of Australia’s finest parish churches”.

Dr Rowland noted that in his book The Feast of Faith , Pope Benedict (then, Cardinal Joseph Rat zinger) wrote that “next to the saints, the art which the Church has produced is the only real ‘apologia’ for her history”.

“The Church is to transform, improve, ‘humanise’ the world –but how can she do that if at the same time she turns her back on beauty, which is so closely allied to love? For together, beauty and love form the true consolation in this world, bringing it as near as possible to the world of the resurrection,” Cardinal Ratzinger said.

“The Church must maintain high standards, she must be a place where beauty can be at home; she must lead the struggle for that ‘spiritualisation’ without which the world becomes ‘the first circle of hell’.”

Dr Rowland endorsed the

judgment of Digby Anderson, an Anglican priest in the UK, that Anglo-Catholics could bring with them better translations of the Mass and the moral sensibility associated with the idea of a gentleman, including “the cult of self-deprecation and traditional manners”.

She explained the ‘idea of being a gentleman’ using a quote from Blessed John Henry Newman, who started the Oxford Movement in 1833 seeking to restore Catholic identity in the Anglican Church: “He [the gentleman] makes light of favours while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort … From a long-sighted prudence, he observes the maxim of the ancient sage, that we should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend.”

It has been observed in numerous blogs and even a few academic journals that both Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury are world-class Augustinian scholars, and on many fronts there are points of convergence and unity between them, she said.

“Nonetheless, when it comes to matters like the meaning and purpose of human sexuality and the theological significance of gender differences, Rowan Williams and Benedict XVI are on different planets,” Dr Rowland said.

“Being ‘C of E’ or just plain ‘C’ is now something more significant than a juridical difference over the appointment of Bishops. There are now differences affecting the very foundations of sacramental theology.”

Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

FROM HELL TO HOPE

In March, Record journalist MARK REIDY visited a remarkable but littleknown success story: the Cenacolo Community, a drug rehabilitation centre based just outside the historic shrine town of Lourdes, France

There are miracles happening in Lourdes everyday - but the world will never hear of them. Those who were once blind can now see and those who were once dead have been given new life - but the Church will never investigate them. These miracles are not the kind that occur only a few kilometres away at the internationally-known Grotto where Mary appeared to the young Bernadette Subirous in 1858, and, unlike those which regularly occur at the shrine, they are not scientifically or medically inexplicable - yet miracles of a kind they are. And, one strongly suspects, the supernatural grace behind them is the same. This haven of the miraculous is

the Cenacolo Community, home to almost 50 young men, all at different stages of healing from traumatic lifestyles usually bound up in drug and alcohol addiction. Nestled within the confines of the famous Pyrenees mountains, this picturesque, five-hectare sanctuary seems a world apart from the busyness and activity of the pilgrim town nearby.

It is a place of restoration that offers a second chance at life to those who have become trapped in a shadow of death; it provides them with opportunities to see them-

selves and the world in a new light.

The men, aged on average from 18 to their late forties, are mostly from France and Italy, but also from other European countries, the US and the Philippines and have been drawn to the Cenacolo by a common desire to escape lives of spiritual and emotional darkness.

After a twenty-minute walk from the Basilica in Lourdes, along the winding roads of the suburbs, it comes as a surprise to be greeted by the lush-green farming property of Cenacolo, which sits spectacularly on a hill overlooking the town.

An atmosphere of serenity gradually embraces the visitor as you stride up the steep driveway, giving you a sense of leaving behind, and rising above, the world outside. The sense of peace is reflected in the genuine welcome you receive from those who reside there, beginning with the warmth of Franco, the man responsible for the overall management of this refuge of hope.

But despite the peace that I, as a visitor, experience, Franco is under no illusions as to the difficulties and struggles that confront those who arrive here seeking rehabilitation.

Having himself experienced the journey from addiction to freedom within the Cenacolo Community, Franco is well aware of the challenges involved in shedding the shackles of self-destruction.

“When I first arrived at the Community in Italy as a 38 year old, I was carrying the baggage of a 20 year addiction. I thought the place was some sort of cult. There was a lot of praying, it was isolated from the outside world - and everyone was smiling,” he says with a grin. Franco admits that if he had had somewhere else to go, he would have, but deep down he knew that this was his last chance at life.

“...I thought the place was some sort of cult. There was a lot of praying, it was isolated from the outside world - and everyone was smiling...”

 FRANCO, COMMUNITY MEMBER

It is one of the many beauties of the Community that those who watch over the newcomers have completed the journey themselves. They have received their own healing and have chosen to stay on to help those who follow. Their experience provides them not only with empathy, but also with the wisdom and toughness required to deal with those coming from a lifestyle driven by selfishness and deception.

Behind the smiling eyes and peaceful nature, it is easy to forget that Franco knows intimately the self-absorbed past from which Please turn to Page 12

Drugs and alcohol have brought many to the brink of death but through a community founded by an Italian nun many are finding hope and new life.

The Cenacolo Community in Lourdes, France, right, celebrating life on the road to recovery.

A 30-year pattern

Beginning in 1983, 60 houses of the Cenacolo have been established around the world.

BY MARK REIDY

For many years Sister Elvira Petrozzi, an Italian Religious, had been praying and waiting for the opportunity to fulfil the call in her heart - to lead broken and lost young people, especially those caught up in drug addiction, from lives of darkness into the light of Christ.

However when she was offered a derelict farmhouse in the northern Italian town of Saluzzo in 1983, even she did not dream that over the next 28 years God would open the doors to a further 60 houses around the world.

The most extraordinary aspect of the growth of the Cenacolo Community is that it has come without any financial assistance for its work from governments or agencies, relying totally on the providence of God.

“We arrived with the fervour of

strain and the beauty of love”, Sr Elvira states on the Community’s website. “And love proved to be stronger than the fear, failure and hardships”. Sr Elvira and her co-founder, Sr Aurelia, stepped forward in faith and immediately began welcoming those who arrived on their doorstep.

“People came to us”, she shares, “Saying, ‘I am tired … I am dying … I want life’. They came to us with all their pain”. Sr Elvira’s response was an even deeper surrender to God, “You are the Father”, she cried out. “I will go wherever you want, do whatever you want – reveal Your will to me at any moment”. It is a prayer that both founded and sustains the work of Cenacolo.

However, while Sr Elvira may not have expected the rapid expansion of her ministry when she first saw the rundown premises in Saluzzo, she never doubted that God would always provide. So it came as no surprise that when the lost, lonely and addicted began to arrive, so too did the food and the work tools. It is a pattern that has continued for almost three decades.

New houses had to be opened across Italy to cater for the growing number of those seeking help. Men who had exhausted all other avenues of support knocked desperately at the only door that remained open. It was their last bastion of hope and many enteredalbeit, at times, reluctantly - knowing that death was the only likely alternative.

Sr Elvira made it clear from the beginning that the journey was going to be one of extremes. Most were coming from a past of drug and alcohol addiction, violence, crime and sexual immorality and were entering into a communal environment, in which the needs of others needed to be considered. But, she reassured them, through the grace of God and the love and support of the community, their destination would bring them

new life. While the intricacies of daily community life have evolved through a process of trial and error, the three pillars of prayer, work and friendship have remained central.

Those who enter live a simple, family-oriented lifestyle, but such is the depth of healing most residents require, that Sr Elvira soon realised that a minimum of three years of fulltime involvement was necessary. She also recognised that each day needed to be structured into a predictable and ordered routine to combat the undisciplined and selfindulgent lifestyles from which most of them had come.

Each Community is established to ensure that there is enough land and resources to allow a large degree of agricultural independence. This provides members with the opportunity to not only build their self-worth through manual labour, but also to contribute to the day-to-day and long-term survival of the Community.

“People came to us”, she shares, “Saying, ‘I am tired … I am dying … I want life’. They came to us with all their pain”

It also ensures that they do not have to be distracted or burdened by bills, rent or the search for paid employment and allows them to focus on their own journey of inner healing. The Community prays for anything that it cannot generate for itself and its prayers, she insists, have always been answered.

After participants have completed their three-year recovery, many desire to give back to the Community and choose to offer themselves to already established communities or become pioneers for new ones.

In 1998 the Community was officially recognised as an Association of the Faithful and the first house to be opened in Spain later this year will become the 61st Cenacolo community established around the world. Most are based throughout Europe, but there are a number in the US and South America. Communities for women have also been established, as have mission houses in Brazil, Mexico and Peru which aim to offer new life to children who once lived on the streets.

There are now Priests, Brothers and Sisters who form a Consecrated branch of the Community, some of whom received their spiritual call during their own times of healing. Missionary families who choose to offer their lives to the Community full-time have also become an integral branch of the expanding network of support.

The emblem that has been adopted by the Cenacolo Community is the silhouetted image of a young boy and girl walking into a circle of light.

The picture is a graphic developed from an actual photo taken at the end of World War II by allied troops who were freeing prisoners of war from the horrific confines of Nazi concentration camps. The image is a symbol of new life - of hope reborn. It represents the beginning of the journey from darkness to light.

Those who arrive at the doorstep of the Community have one trait in common – they are searching for a place to belong so that they can be set free from their addictions and/or other personal struggles. Cenacolo has become not merely a place of residence, but a way of life, a journey and a family.

It is a sanctuary that offers those without hope a second chancewhere those who are living in darkness can find a new life in Christ.

Cenacolo foundress, Sr Elvira Petrozzi

Haven on the Hill: The Cenacolo Community house situated only a few kilometres away from the Grotto at Lourdes where Our

Clockwise from left: the powerful Cenacolo emblem symbolising the journey from darkness to light; The source of all graces is the chapel of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in the Cenacolo house; One of the small sharing groups of community members meet regularly for group sharing and support; the entire community on their daily Rosary walk around the 5ha property, symbolic of their journey to freedom founded on prayer, which strengthens the bond of brotherhood formed here.

How one Cenacolo

community helped open lives to light, hope and healing

Three men who have found new beginnings in the Cenacolo Community shared their stories with The Record

BY MARK REIDY Tom 28, USA

“Selfishness is central to addiction”, Sr Elvira would reveal to those entering the Cenacolo community houses. It was a truth that became clearer with time as Tom gradually discovered his true identity over the next four years. “No one is born an addict”, he explains, “We become one by continually putting on masks to hide who we really are – that is, children of God.”

Tom says that he was generous as a child and would often give away what he had, however as he entered his adolescent and early adult years he became entrenched in a world of drugs and he lost his God-given identity. “My true self became buried beneath the masks of addiction”, he shares. “I would change according to the group I was with at the time - whether it was family, friends, work associates or strangers”.

Tom’s addiction evolved into a life of lies that almost destroyed him and his family. Although having no faith background, his parents heard of the Cenacolo Community house in Florida, and in their desperation, gave Tom an ultimatum – enter this programme or live on the streets.

“No-one is born an addict. We become one by continually putting on masks to hide who we really are ...” - Tom

Tom’s journey of self-discovery is in its fifth year and he now lives in the Lourdes Community serving newcomers with his knowledge and experience. He says that the process of recognising the extent of his self-absorption was a gradual one and began when others in the Community challenged him.

“For your first month in Community only your Guardian Angel (a fellow community member who would stay by his side 24 hours a day) is allowed to correct you”, he explains. “This is difficult enough, however after this time others in the community are then permitted to confront you about your attitudes and behaviour”.

Tom says that although this is always done in love, it is a challenging and humbling experience. “When you have a number of people telling you the same thing, you begin to recognise the areas in your life that you need to address.”

Tom says that his time within the Community has been one of constant growth. He believes the simple life adopted by the Community, in which all excesses, materialism and external distractions are removed and replaced with prayer, friendship and hard work, ensures that one’s recovery and growth are constant.

“There is never a chance to get too comfortable”, he says. “In my four years within the Community I have lived in four houses in three different countries”. The purpose of this itinerant existence is to ensure

that residents continue to challenge themselves as they dismantle the facades that they have erected within themselves. If they are seen as becoming too comfortable they will be transferred to an alternative community house – usually in another country.

Tom, now a Catholic, is full of

By the time he was 17 he was using cocaine on a daily basis, dealing in drugs and stealing from his mother.

It is difficult to connect this past with the well-adjusted and socially gifted man who today lives a life of prayer, work and a desire to assist others in their own journey of recovery.

hope and enthusiasm for the future and is passionate about assisting others in discovering their true identities. “God is the reason why I was able to rediscover the generous and loving child that I once was, and I want to be able to help others do the same”.

Luca 39, Italy.

When Luca began smoking marijuana at the age of 14 he was able to become, for the first time in his life, the centre of attention amongst his peers.

images and thoughts of drug use. I approached a priest and explained the problem and he simply told me that I needed to become ‘like a tomato in the sun’. From that point on I would just sit there and allow myself to be drenched by Jesus’s love. It was only then that I was able to receive Him in my heart”.

Luca left the Cenacolo Community house in February 2010 and now lives in Lourdes. He works for a local hotel as a tour guide as well as assisting sick pilgrims. He also spends time assisting with the Community.

Today, Luca is a man full of joy, laughter and a zest for life, who especially identifies with Jesus’ first public proclamation: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me … He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…” He has been set free into a new life and he is determined to make the most of his second chance.

Gerhard 50, France

When Gerhard entered the doors of the Cenacolo Community at the age of 44, he wore the masks that come with 25 years of drug and alcohol abuse. “I did not know who I was”, he says, “I felt trapped in a life of darkness and I thought I would never be free”. He said that, like most who find themselves in the Community, he did not love himself and it was reflected in the way he lived. “It is only when you discover God that you can begin to change”, he reflects.

Gerhard was so depressed when he began his Community journey in 2005, that he would hide in the Chapel, just for the opportunity to be on his own. He was suffering from alcohol withdrawal at the time and also carried the heaviness of being separated from his son.

But it is Luca’s own journey from the brink of death to new life that inspires him to continue reaching out. By the time he reached 35, after almost two decades of self-abuse, lies and immorality, Luca knew that he was on a path of self-destruction.

Fearful of overdosing as his usage increased, Luca begged his mother to help him. It was her frantic search through newspapers, the Internet and friends that led to Cenacolo and rescued him from what he believes was a certain death.

It was a difficult journey, Luca acknowledges. “It was hard coming from an existence of total selfishness to the regimented lifestyle of Community living”, he recalls. “I couldn’t eat what or when I wanted, couldn’t sleep when I wanted. I felt very frustrated and fearful and would have left if I’d had an alternative, but my mother said to me. ‘If you leave Community you cannot come home.’”

The first week was the most harrowing as Luca withdrew from his daily addiction. He spent the first week sweating, shaking and sleeping little, but with the unwavering support of his Guardian Angel, who never left his side, he was able to take the first step to his new life.

It was a journey that also reignited his faith, although not without a battle. “When I first tried to pray before the Blessed Sacrament I was overwhelmed with sexual

For the first 12 days he sat in the chapel during prayer time, smothered by a blanket of darkness. On the 13th day, his son’s birthday, he broke down and began to sob. What happened next was to change his life forever.

“I felt as though my heart was opened - like a zipper. I then felt what I can only describe as the presence of a father and motherlike I was being hugged by loving parents”, he recalls. “I would never be the same again”. Gerhard shakes his head slowly, still moved by his experience. “It was a moment that was both beautiful and terrible”, he recalls. “Because one side of my heart was filled with darkness and heaviness and the other side was pure love. He immediately recognised the battle within him, but he knew that the love was far more powerful.

“After that I felt like a small flower and I knew that I needed to be watered and nurtured”, he recalls. “I would go to the chapel whenever I could, because I knew that if I didn’t continue to come to the source of this love, that my life would become like before”.

Gerhard now lives in the town of Lourdes and works as a painter. He exudes a presence of peace and gentleness that is in stark contrast to the life of addiction and torment that once imprisoned him. And he is in no doubt as to the source of his transformation. “I am only a little man”, he acknowledges humbly, “But I have been given a great treasure”. It is a treasure that he knows he must share with the world.

Former community member, Luca, above, now living in Lourdes enjoying his newfound life; Gerhard, below, once trapped in a cycle of a 25-year drug addiction has found new life in Christ and a career in painting.

Lady appeared to St Bernadette Soubirous.

Giving back

NEW LIFE

Continued from Page 9 prospective residents arrive, but you are soon reminded of it as you watch him conduct introductory interviews.

Franco’s gentleness does not detract from the harsh realities he presents to those desperate to begin a new life. He emphasises that it will be a life of discipline and order that will be in stark contrast to the chaotic and uncontrolled lifestyles they have been used to until now. As well as abstinence from drugs and alcohol, there are no prescribed medications or cigarettes allowed, and no contact with family for at least three months. No television or newspapers are permitted on the premises.

Every day is a strict routine that begins with a 6am wake-up call for prayer in the chapel before breakfast. This is followed by manual work around the property that can include milking the cows (which begins at 4am), chopping wood, building (there are ongoing extensions as the community continues to grow), gardening, maintenance, agricultural production, baking, laundry, domestic and kitchen duties, woodwork and craft production.

Residents own minimal possessions, eat every meal in a communal dining area and sleep in dormitory style (five or six bunk beds

crowded into each bedroom). They are expected to always be punctual, maintain healthy levels of personal and communal hygiene, shave every second day, join in physical activity such a soccer or jogging and participate in small group and, at times, communal sharing. Foundational to the existence of Cenacolo is a daily prayer routine which includes Mass (depending on priest availability), Rosary, Stations of the Cross and Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. The daily

life of being a member of Cenacolo is the complete antithesis of the tumultuous lives that have been led up to this point.

However, Franco emphasises, difficult as this regimented lifestyle may be, one of the greatest challenges - as well as the greatest graces - is the constant presence of individuals described as Guardian Angels. These are individuals who have already been living in the Community for an extended periodand are assigned to newcomers. They will stay by the side of a new arrival 24 hours a day for up to three months. They work, eat, socialise and pray with them. Like a boot camp seargant, Guardian Angels teach and challenge new arrivals in their attitudes, demeanour and behaviour. They will wait outside the bathroom while they toilet and wash and they will know where they are at all times. This is a great hardship at first, Franco acknowledges, because people usually come from a background where they have not been accountable to anyone, often for most of their lives. To have suddenly someone by their side at all times is physically and emotionally challenging. “When I first began”, recalls Franco, “I hated my Guardian Angel. I wanted to kill him and we would nearly come to blows. But today I consider him one of my best friends”. It is a life that is

based on the three pillars of prayer, work and friendship. Many of the residents have tried other rehabilitation centres, other approaches, before they found themselves at Cenacolo.But the shorter-term secular programs, although helping addcits to chemically withdraw from their substance abuse, do not deal with the deeper spiritual and emotional issues that are often at the root of their addictions.

Through experience, those managing the Community have learned that most of those who arrive at their doorstep need at least three years to be released from the chains of their past lives. Not only do old habits, self-perceptions and ways of thinking have to be stripped away, but the pains and hurts in which these behaviours and lifestyles were rooted have to be healed. Not all last the distance, but the many who do have radically transformed their lives.

This success stems from the understanding that unconditional friendship, a disciplined work regime and a healthy diet can lead to spiritual, emotional, mental and physical healing, but it will only endure if it is built on a foundation of consistent and fervent prayer. It is only then that people are able to recognise their true identity in Christ. The journey to this new life can, at times, be painful. Once

participants allow themselves to be embraced and supported by the Community, layers of their previous life are exposed, each aspect of their false self is confronted and challenged. Cenacolo is not a place where one can run away from the truth or live anonymously.

But through the processes of “tough love” a deep camaraderie is borne. Residents, who already share the experience of a traumatic past, are drawn together by the intimacy and confrontation that evolves from this intense form of communal living. It is a place where one can make the life-giving journey from focusing constantly on self to focusing on the needs of others, a fundamental change in orientation, discovering along the way their own true identity as well.

When asked about the importance of prayer in this process, Franco answers without hesitation. New arrivals are often hesitant to partake in any form of prayer, he says, but will usually join in with early morning Adoration once they realise that extra manual work is the alternative.

“Their initial motivation may be one of laziness”, he smiles, “But no one can sit before the Lord for half an hour every day for a few months and not be changed”. And there are many lives that can now testify to that.

New lives: Cenacolo founder Sister Elvira, top, with community members in northern Italy. There are now 60 such communities around the world. Members of a community, top right, enjoy the camaraderie of the mess hall. The movement organises an Annual Festival of Life which brings together its global members. These gatherings include performances such as dance, above right, as well as prayer and fellowship. Two members, above, take a break while working in the fields in Tuscany, above, as physical work is a mainstay of life in the Cenacolo community. Sr Elvira, above left, accompanies Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, OP at a Cenacolo gathering. IMAGES: PUBLIC SOURCES

Ray of hope for Catholics in China

BY CAROL GLATZ Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said it hoped the postponement of an illicit episcopal ordination in the diocese of Hankou would mark the end to all ordinations without papal approval in China.

The Vatican confirmed the planned illicit ordination of Father Joseph Shen Guoan was postponed indefinitely; he was to have been ordained Bishop of Hankou, or Wuhan, on 9 June.

Passionist Fr Ciro Benedettini, vice director of the Vatican press office, told CNS on 10 June that the Vatican hopes “this kind of ordination without the permission of the Pope doesn’t ever happen again.”

There was no new date set for the ordination or explanation for the postponement.

The postponement came after the Hong Kong-born secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples urged priests and Bishops in China to show “some backbone” and resist government pressure to disobey the Pope.

In an interview with the Rome-based AsiaNews on 3 June, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai said he had been aware of the planned illicit ordination in Hankou and that he knew the faithful there had been urging the government and

the Chinese Patriotic Association not to go through with the ordination. He said he would want to tell Fr Shen: “I trust you to act the right way. The only thing to do is to refuse.”

Archbishop Hon said even

though the government still puts pressure on priests and Bishops to follow government orders concerning illicit ordinations, he said the consequences of not obeying are not as harsh as in the past.

“Today, for instance, there is no risk of forced labor, prison or death,” he said.

Clergy may still be punished, however, he said. For example, he said, they may lose public funding for their diocese, face difficulties in performing pastoral tasks, be isolated from other clergy or the faithful, be forbidden to travel abroad or within China, or they may be forced into a “re-education” programme.

“In any case, the punishment that might be meted out is no reason not to resist. Submission is a public act that causes scandal, sending the wrong message to the faithful,” he said.

He added that those who have succumbed to government pressure and acted against papal mandate should “make public amends” to show the faithful their actions were wrong.

Standing up to the government and not agreeing to participate in

Ocean Reef adds adoration chapel

BY BRIDGET SPINKS

SAINT Simon Peter parish in Ocean Reef celebrated its 25th anniversary with Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey offering Mass and blessing a new chapel for Eucharistic adoration and two new stained glass windows on 19 June.

Regional superior of Salvatorians in Australia, Fr Karol Kulczycki and Salvatorian parish priest Fr Dariusz Krysztalowicz concelebrated Mass on the feast of Trinity Sunday.

The Salvatorian community of priests were entrusted with the parish in 2001 and members Fr Bronislaw Pietrusewicz SDS, Fr Ryszard Sadowski SDS, Fr Roman Wroblewski SDS and Fr Zygmunt Smigowski SDS attended at Mass as did former parish priest Fr Richard Rutkauskas and former assistant parish priest Fr Phong Nguyen.

Archbishop Hickey described the occasion during his homily as a 25th anniversary of “God’s providence, His love for the community and your response to that”.

“We live in a society that takes people away from the Church; we need to draw them into a parish so they never want to leave,” he said.

In reference to St Paul’s greeting to the Corinthians, which is said at the beginning of each Mass - “May the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” - the Archbishop remarked on the unity or “fellowship of the Holy Spirit” that the parish enjoys with its three affiliated schools.

Prendiville Catholic College, the first school connected to the parish, was built in 1985 and opened in February 1986; St Simon Peter Catholic Primary School was established in 1988 with Mercy Sr Breda O’Reilly the first principal and Fr Simon Carson as first parish priest. Currambine Catholic Primary School, also connected to the parish, was established in 1995 with Sue Groves as the first principal.

The Archbishop added that he has come to realise that the most important element of the diocese is the parish and that the lifeblood of the parish is “so important”.

Prayer such as the Rosary and

Jesus to be adored in northern suburbs

an illicit ordination also sends a powerful message to the government, the Archbishop said.

“If you show some weakness or a propensity toward compromise, the government will take advantage of you,” the Archbishop said. On the other hand, “the government could do nothing” when people stood firm and refused to be ordained by excommunicated Bishops, he said.

He said Blessed Pope John Paul II and his words “Be not afraid” are an inspiration to Chinese Catholicsclergy and laity. Those Bishops and priests who are fearful of government retribution or pressure for not following orders should get support from others or else “they should simply ask to be released from their pastoral duties and have the courage to suspend their ministry.”

Archbishop Hon said the government’s strategy in setting up a Church that is independent of the Vatican and the Pope is a way to maintain government control over religion and yet create the impression that having Catholic priests and Bishops administering the sacraments means there is religious freedom in the country.

UNDA challenges stereotypes

A FORMER University of Notre Dame Australia student has challenged the stereotype that poor people are lazy, immoral and welfare dependent in a recently published journal by the Australian Psychological Society.

prayer to the saints were also essential, he said, because without it, “we’re just a secular organisation”.

“Prayer life is necessary for our spiritual formation but it is also necessary to go back into the world,” he said, reinforcing the mission of the laity, which he addressed in his recent Pentecost Pastoral Letter.

“The parish provides that formation. You are little apostles of Jesus by the way you treat others, by the way you act, by the way you talk in conversations,” he told the 400 parishioners who filled St Simon Peter’s Ocean Reef for 10am Mass.

After Mass, the parish reminisced the last 25 years spent building a firm foundation for the future of the parish as they watched a slide show presenting historical parish moments including various celebrations of First Holy Communions and Confirmations for the school children; Fr Bronislaw and Fr Dariusz’s 40th birthdays; karaoke nights and theatrical productions the parish has hosted over the years.

The parish also hosted a dinner dance on 18 June as part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations for close 250 parishioners in Prendiville Catholic College gym and took orders for commemorative bottles of Port at its celebratory morning tea after Mass.

The two new stained glass windows blessed by Archbishop Hickey were of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

THE new chapel for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at St Simon Peter parish Church in Ocean Reef was formed by removing the outside wall of what used to be the altar servers’ and acolytes’ room and adding another room with access from the sheltered area on the western side of the church.

Eucharistic Adoration will occur at the chapel from 9am to 9pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Rosters for these times have been in effect for several months, using the crying room in church. An adoration period from 5pm to 7pm, which has been available for many years in the church, will continue on Thursdays.

The new chapel has been equipped with kneelers and seats, which were brought to Perth some years ago from a convent in Geraldton.

Ocean Reef Parish Council Chairman John Hollywood said it was hoped that the chapel would attract more committed adorers, leading eventually to longer periods of adoration.

People from neighbouring parishes were welcome to join the rosters.

To sign up for a Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration at St Simon Peter’s Ocean Reef, call 9300 4885.

The findings follow a 2009 academic research conference, organised by 24 UNDA students to explore the issue of poverty in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. Former student Ashleigh Owen said the stigma associated with people living in poverty or on social benefits caused them psychological hardship and collective exclusion from the community.

She found that the GFC forced a reconceptualisation of poverty as more people sought welfare after losing their jobs and experiencing cost of living increases.

“Australia is a welfare state and it should be yearning for every person to have equal rights and there seems to be a stigma that if you are living in poverty, it is your choice to be there,” Ms Owen said.

“The conference was about raising awareness of the issues surrounding poverty. How are we meant to change the situation if we don’t know these problems exist and why they are problematic?”

Ms Owen’s article was one of four papers written by UNDA Fremantle students that were published in the April 2011 edition of The Australian Community Psychologist.

UNDA Honours’ student Whitney Darlaston-Jones investigated “community currencies” as a way of empowering underprivileged people by enhancing their merit, self-worth and pride in society.

Community currencies seek to establish trading networks calculated by either virtual points or the hours spent performing tasks.

“The easiest way to think about it is that it resembles Monopoly money – it has value only within that community’s currency,” Ms Darlaston-Jones said.

Archbishop Barry Hickey, above, invites the future of St Simon Peter parish to help cut the Silver Jubilee cake; right, Archbishop Hickey blesses the new chapel for Eucharistic Adoration.

PHOTOS: BRIDGET SPINKS

A Catholic woman prays during Christmas Eve Mass at a church in Changzhi, Shanxi province, China in December last year.

PHOTO: CNS/REUTERS

Pope’s views on women not so predictable

What the Pope has to say about women and HIV/AIDS

BY JANE ADOLPHE Analysis

NEW YORK (Zenit.org) -

Author Nancy Goldstein misses the point in her criticism of the Pope in her discussion of the debate occurring at the United Nations over the drafting of the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS.

In an 8 June article entitled Why Won’t the Pope Let Women Protect Themselves From HIV?, published in The Guardian, she criticises Pope Benedict XVI (otherwise known as the Holy See in international law) for having an all-male delegation, but in fact, the delegation contained three women, two of whom were law professors.

She also implies that the Pope is anti-woman, when in fact he strongly promotes respect for the inherent dignity of women and girls in fundamental documents, as well as in his catechesis, speeches, messages, homilies, conferences and other activities.

Moreover, one of the Vatican’s dicasteries, the Pontifical Council for the Laity, has a section devoted to the Study of the Dignity and Vocation of Women, where it implements teachings with particular attention to the equal dignity of man and woman.

The Pope maintains that there are “deep fundamental anthropological truths of man and woman, the equality of their dignity and the unity of both, the well rooted and profound diversity between the masculine and the feminine and their vocation to reciprocity and complementarity, to collaboration and to communion” (Benedict XVI’s address to the conference Woman and Man, the Humanum in its Entirety, 2008; cf Pope John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem, 1988, No 6).

In this way, the Pope avoids an indistinct uniformity between women and men, which constitutes a dull and impoverishing equality and counters an understanding of the relationship between women and men that pits one against the

other in an endless struggle for power. He underlines that women bear the brunt of the negative consequences associated with a denial of the complementarity of man and woman, which often dovetails into a disordered view of masculinity, and autonomy.

He acknowledges the “disheartening” results flowing from the simple fact of being a female, and the reduced likelihood of: being born, surviving childhood, avoiding violence, receiving adequate nutrition, obtaining an education, accessing basic health care as well as evading HIV and AIDS (cf Pope John Paul II, Address to Members of the Holy See Delegation to the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing , 1995; See also Address of Pope Benedict XVI to the Participants of the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Bishops’ Conferences, Brazil, 2007).

The Pope promotes a valuesbased response to HIV and AIDs, which focuses on risk-elimination through: abstinence before marriage and mutual fidelity in marriage, avoiding risk-taking behaviours, and promoting universal access to drugs that prevent the spread of HIV from mother-tochild.

In regard to prevention, Benedict XVI does not try to convince women that irresponsible sexual behaviour or risky and dangerous encounters form part of an acceptable lifestyle.

Rather, he encourages every human person to live in conformity with norms of the natural moral order, an approach that respects fully the inherent dignity of the human person by nature endowed with reason and conscience having rights and responsibilities to self, others and the community. By the

way, this position is fully in conformity with international human rights law (eg cf et al Universal Declaration of Human Rights, preamble para 1, arts. 1, 29).

In brief, the Holy Father first and foremost supports character formation and education toward proper behaviour, as the key to avoiding the disease. The starting point is that the women and men can and should change irresponsible behaviour. The contrary position would accept such behavior, at all costs, and then emphasise simply risk reduction (eg condom use or clean needles), as if persons were somehow incapable of breaking free from engaging in self-destructive behaviour.

Jane Adolphe is an associate professor of law at Ave Maria School of Law, Naples, Florida. She was a member of the Holy See’s delegation to the 10 June meeting at the United Nations on HIV/AIDS

World slowly warms to Catholic approaches

Thirty years after AIDS discovery, appreciation seems to be growing for Catholic perpsectives

ROME, Italy (CNA/EWTN News) - The Vatican’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva says that 30 years after the discovery of AIDS, international relief agencies and faith-based groups are beginning to show an openness to the Catholic solution for the illness.

“We are at the beginning of a convergence in the sense that functionaries of international institutions and organisations and people from faith-based groups are talking across the lines and coming to respect each other a bit more,” Archbishop Silvano Tomasi told CNA.

Archbishop Tomasi’s comments come three decades after the first medical paper recognising the illness was published in the US.

Based on a study of homosexual men in California and New York, the new ailment was initially labelled GRID, or Gay-related

by HIV/AIDS, with over 25 million killed.

The most significant point of departure between the Catholic Church and many other bodies involved in the fight against AIDS is over the use of condoms as a preventative measure.

“It has been proven and even documented now that the really effective way is to change your behaviour.

“And so, this has been our insistence,” Archbishop Tomasi said, stressing the Catholic Church’s emphasis on behavioural change over condom distribution.

His comments also come in the week that a new report suggests millions of people are dying from AIDS because Western governments are refusing to accept that condoms are ineffective in curbing the spread of the disease.

The report, entitled The Catholic Church and the Global AIDS Crisis,” is the work of the American public health expert Matthew Hanley.

Call for holistic AIDS outlook

ROME (Zenit.org) - With the 30th anniversary of the discovery of AIDS being marked last month, a Rome conference on the disease concluded with several appeals. Among them: more solidarity from rich countries, responsible use of sexuality, and greater closeness to AIDS victims stigmatised by society.

The conference was timely, as it was 5 June, 1981 - 30 years ago - that Los Angeles first reported an unusual form of pneumonia that turned out to be AIDS. Since then, 25 million people have died from the disease and another 34 million are infected, but now the number of people killed by AIDS is going down.

The Church, meanwhile, continues to be a global leader in the battle against AIDS. Its 117,000 health organisations range from meager centres in jungles to ultramodern polyclinics in large cities.

Stefano Vella, research director for the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, also advocated a holistic perspective.

“The future lies in the integration of treatments,” he said. “It is necessary to think of health in global terms. At the base must be the will to combat the inequality of the treatments.”

Immune Deficiency. Since then, the UN estimates that 65 million people worldwide have been infected

“We are always told that condoms are the best known ‘technical’ means for preventing HIV transmission, but we are never told that condom promotion has failed to reverse those most severe African

epidemics; behavioural modification, on the other hand, has brought them down,” says Hanley. Hanley estimates that six million infections would have been averted in subSaharan Africa over the past decade if the Catholic approach of fidelity and abstinence had been promoted instead of widespread condom use.

“That this is not common knowledge should give us pause. Public health leaders may increasingly recognise this reality – but remain, by and large, reluctant to emphasize behavioural approaches to AIDS control over technical solutions.”

Hanley’s report also claims that in east Africa, Uganda saw a 10 percent drop in the number of people with AIDS between 1991 and 2001 after investing in abstinence programmes.

The rates of infection only began to climb again when foreign donor agencies insisted on the increased use of condoms in the fight against AIDS.

Last month the Vatican held a two-day conference on how best to tackle the AIDS epidemic. It was aimed at finding common ground on the issue and included contributions from those who disagree with the Catholic Church.

Michel Sidibe, executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/ AIDS (UNAIDS), stated that there are “10 million people waiting for treatment, and their lives hang on a thread.” He added that it “isn’t the moment for self-complacency.” The director spoke of an “improvement in social practices and the role of values and of the family,” saying that youth are responsible for this change, as they “negotiate their sexuality in a responsible way.” Regarding the use of condoms in AIDS prevention, Sidibe told conference participants that he welcomed Benedict XVI’s comments in his recent book-length interview, Light of the World. The Pope had said that the use of a condom by a male prostitute to prevent his partner’s infection could be a first step toward moral responsibility.

“This is very important,” he said. “This has helped me to understand his position better and has opened up a new space for dialogue.”

Although a clarification by the Vatican stated that Church teaching on condoms hasn’t been changed, many who promote the use of condoms continue to view the Pontiff’s comments as favourable. The Pope’s Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone recalled Blessed John Paul II’s wish for the 1999 conference on The Catholic Church and the Challenge of HIV/AIDS, where he encouraged “everybody to work together, beginning with the resources of their own skills and responsibilities, in taking care of those who suffer from this disease, employing the resources of science to alleviate their suffering.”

People wave near a poster of Pope Benedict XVI and Cameroon’s President Paul Biya in Yaounde, Cameroon on 17 March 2009. Making his first papal visit to Africa, the Pope said the Catholic Church can help bring answers to the continent’s chronic problems, includ ing poverty, AIDS and tribalism.

PHOTO: CNS/ALESSANDRO BIANCHI, REUTERS

A Catholic holds a banner which reads “Don’t touch my Pope” in front of Fourviere Basilica in Lyon, France in March 2009. He was responding to demonstrators protesting Pope Benedict XVI’s recent comments on condoms and AIDS. PHOTO: CNS

Faith-based groups ahead of the game in AIDS

Panelists say faithbased groups lead the way in addressing AIDS crisis

BY BETH GRIFFIN Catholic News Service

NEW YORK - Despite challenging cutbacks in funding, faith-based organisations remain at the international forefront of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and patient advocacy, according to speakers at a 8 June panel discussion at Holy Family Church in New York.

The work of faith-based organisations underpins the human dignity of people who live with HIV and AIDS and of their families, they said.

Faith-Based Action to Achieve Universal Access was sponsored by the Catholic Medical Mission Board, Caritas Internationalis and the Catholic HIV/AIDS Network. It was held in conjunction with the UN General Assembly’s high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS 8-10 June.

Dr Paul De Lay, deputy executive director of UNAIDS, the joint UN programme on HIV/AIDS, said the world body had a goal of universal access to comprehensive prevention programs, treatment, care and support for the millions of people affected by the virus. He said 6.6 million people were taking antiretroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS at the end of 2010 and nine million more still needed the treatment.

“Universal access is not about what happens,” he said, “but who it happens to. How do we reach the people who don’t have information, knowledge and access, the people who are deliberately excluded?”

De Lay said faith-based organisations excel at prevention and treatment efforts but have been underutilised by the international community.

Becky Johnson, a consultant with Catholic HIV/AIDS Network, said funding cuts for successful global programs threatened to rescind commitments made by UN member states. Faith-based organisations need long-term funding commitments to sustain their level of success.

Johnson said faith-based organizations already provide “up to 70 per cent of health services in some African countries, especially in rural areas,” and Catholic Church

organisations are involved in comprehensive HIV response in 114 countries. Budget cuts impacted organizations Johnson surveyed, she said, by limiting medicine, food and follow-up to clients already in treatment and preventing new patients from joining programmes.

Johnson said there is a “65 percent treatment gap,” with millions of infected people not receiving care and support.

Mgr Robert J Vitillo, Caritas Internationalis special adviser on HIV/AIDS, said 800 children die each day from AIDS-related illnesses, and there are many obstacles to universal access for women and children.

He cited late or no diagnosis of HIV-infected children and poor access to the anti-retroviral treatment drugs.

“Despite World Health Organisation recommendations to test all infants with unknown HIV exposure and to start treatment for all HIV-infected infants under 12 months of age, access is still a grave problem in many parts of the world,” Mgr Vitillo said.

“AIDS changes life, but life is there when one has the benefit of treatment”

 MALAWI WOMAN LIVING WITH AIDS

He said children with HIV often have multiple infections, including tuberculosis, and require many pills, but the medicines are not always available in pediatric doses, are difficult to swallow and sometimes have side effects.

Mgr Vitillo said, “HIV testing and treatment is vital, but we can no longer maintain a ‘silo’ approach. We need integrated management of HIV, TB and other opportunistic infections. ... We also need to assure adequate nutrition and eliminate stigma and discrimination.”

He said many Churches were involved in tuberculosis treatment long before HIV was identified and more than 26 per cent of HIV services around the world are sponsored by the Catholic Church.

Jane Galvao is the HIV/AIDS technical officer for UNITAID, an international organisation dedicated to developing innovative funding for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. She said UNITAID uses a tax on airline tickets in six countries and contributions from other countries and private foun-

Abstinence, fidelity work but need more promotion: nuncio

dations to leverage lower prices on AIDS drugs and develop fixeddose combination drugs and childfriendly medicines.

Dominican Sr Alison Munro, director of the AIDS office for the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said her country has the dubious distinction of having the largest number of people in the world infected by HIV/AIDS and also the largest anti-retroviral treatment programme. Sr Munro said while South Africa has made huge strides, “universal access, from my perspective, remains a myth. It is not a reality.”

She said it is hampered by cost, the provision and procurement of drugs, and societal, religious and cultural beliefs that prevent treatment.

“Two-thirds of the patients in treatment in South Africa are female. Men don’t necessarily access programmes at the same places as women. There is a stigma to treatment, a fear of being tested and knowing the results. There is a lack of confidentiality in small communities,” Sr Munro said.

The dire conditions in which many people live in developing countries contribute to the problem, she said, as do insufficient health personnel in the public sector to meet the treatment demands.

Sr Munro said the relationship between the government and the Catholic Church in South Africa has improved over time.

She also said the Church, in living out its Catholic social teaching, reaches out to people on the margins of society. In South Africa, that includes nontraditional families, such as polygamous groups, child-headed households and oneparent families.

Pacem Munyenymbe, a woman from Malawi, described living with AIDS. She said she bore witness that AIDS changes life, but “life is there when one has the benefit of treatment.”

Munyenymbe said universal access is a hope and a reality, which has the potential for controlling infection, reducing the number of people with HIV and restoring dignity to women.

Finola Finnan, chair of the Catholic HIV/AIDS Network, said faith-based organisations should focus on human dignity and advocate for comprehensive support for people with HIV/AIDS, including psychosocial services, nutrition and promotion of gender equality.

BY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

UNITED NATIONSAbstinence and fidelity-based programmes remain the only universally effective, safe and affordable means of halting the spread of AIDS, the Vatican’s ambassador to the United Nations told a meeting to review progress and chart the future course of the global response to the disease.

Archbishop Francis Chullikatt also said in remarks delivered on 10 June that access to antiretroviral drugs is vital in treating the disease and for reducing the risks for spreading it, but should not be seen as a means to “diminish the consequences of dangerous and irresponsible behaviour.”

The nuncio’s remarks were delivered by Jane Adolphe, associate professor of law at Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida, and a member of the Vatican delegation to the UN meeting reviewing efforts under the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS.

The Archbishop said the world’s approach to the AIDS epidemic must involve “a valuebased response which recognises the need to promote the inherent dignity of the human person, thus, responsible sexual behaviour and recognition of responsibility to oneself and one’s own community.”

While access to anti-retroviral drugs has proved beneficial in treating AIDS and limiting the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus that causes the disease, the Archbishop said only about a third of the 15 mil-

PHOTO: CNS/NANCY WIECHEC

lion people with the disease in low- and middle-income countries can obtain the medication.

Archbishop Chullikatt also pointed to reports that showed funding to combat AIDS fell in 2010 for the first time in the 30 years since the disease was identified.

“We are reminded that political declaration and good will need to be matched by concrete actions on the ground and at the international level,” he said.

He urged the world to ensure that the 10 million people who lack access to life-saving drugs receive the safe and affordable treatment, care and support they need.

“The approximately $7 billion US dollars which would be needed to provide this treatment is a substantial sum but pales in comparison to the money and resources spent by countries in the pursuit of war and other destructive activities such as the global enterprise that surrounds arms and drug trading,” he said.

The Archbishop also called upon pharmaceutical companies to reassess their policies regarding intellectual property rights to ensure that such legal protections lead to greater research efforts “rather than becoming yet another barrier” to accessing drugs and medical equipment.

“While greater funding and access to necessary drugs is a requirement for addressing the lack of access to treatment, care and support, so too must greater considerations be given to ensuring that these resources are used in a manner which is effective and responsible,” Archbishop Chullikatt said.

Washington Auxiliary Bishop Martin D Holley blesses a sleeping child at Our Lady of Apostles Hospital in Akwanga, Nigeria in September last year. The Bishop was visiting Ghana and Nigeria with a delegation representing the US Bishops’ Subcommittee on the Church in Africa. The Akwanga hospital, supported by the Diocese of Lafia and Catholic Relief Services, serves the rural community of farmers. Nearly 1,500 people receive antiretroviral therapy for the treatment of HIV and AIDS through the hospital.

PHOTO: CNS/NANCY WIECHEC

Medical lab technicians watch for a result on a small HIV test strip in the laboratory of Our Lady of Apostles Hospital in Akwanga, Nigeria. The hospital, run by the Diocese of Lafia, offers treatment for HIV and AIDS and provides basic health services to the rural community of agrarian farmers.

REVIEWS/PERSPECTIVES

ALP heavyweight’s acerbic rant is a mixed bag that lets TV off the hook

Sideshow: Dumbing down democracy

By Lindsay Tanner

REVIEWED BY JOHN BARICH

THIS is an interesting book dealing with an issue vital for democracy. A malfunctioning media does not help the citizen vote wisely and the politicians act in the national interest.

Tanner does pick up on some key aspects of the problem.

However, the three major shortcomings are:

1: He does not seem to have heard of ‘Get Up’ which had a vital role in the 2010 election by building up the Green vote which prevented Tony Abbott from winning seats in Victoria. It may have contributed to the Greens winning Melbourne - previously held by Tanner for the ALP.

2: He lets off the hook the key political media grouping in Australia by omitting to analyse it in depth.

The Canberra Parliamentary Press Gallery has enormous influences on political reporting and it operates as a pack led by one or two personalities. I witnessed it in action in the 1986 Budget lock-up when Treasurer Keating practically dictated the next day’s pro-Government headlines.

3: Repeated quotes from Al Gore - a convicted falsifier of facts - and lack of incisive analyses of TV bias. Sydney Morning Herald journalist Paul Sheehan in his “Electronic whorehouse” gives ample documentation of how TV, especially the ABC, distort, censor and propagan-

dise. The media has been known as the Fourth Estate but the juvenile stunts of politicians it chooses to highlight does not help it fulfil this role.

Giving prominence to Prime Minister Julia Gillard and US President Barack Obama playing hand-ball in the Oval Office is hardly conducive to responsible behaviour.

Tanner’s emphasis on the print media lets TV off the look.

It is this medium which encourages playacting while leaving little data for subsequent analysis. He seems to accept this but does not offer solutions.

He correctly draws attention to the fact that journalists no longer report the facts but seek to interpret every bit of news.

The media can brutalise, “cheapen, distort and sometime falsify” the message.

He is very sceptical of polls. “Media outlets employ a number of standard devices to create plausible stories from minimal substances. One favourite device is the dubious opinion poll.” Tanner accepts that “Party Conferences have also turned into highly staged media events” but does not go on to demand that they return to the days of being the conveyor belt of policy making.

He could have done something about when he, Rudd, Gillard and Swan ran the country.

His treatment of the work of pressure groups is minimal.

Without producing any evidence he focuses on the National Civic Council and ignores the effect of business groups, unions, Emily’s List, drugs being legalised, pro-life activists and homosexual lobbies.

Tanner correctly draws attention

to story selection by the media. An interesting case is: The West Australian, between February 2010 and February 2011 published seven articles in favour of same-sex marriage.

One article in favour of marriage as provided for in the Marriage Act was not published as an article but reduced to a letter to the editor, and placed on page 76 with two key paragraphs deleted.

Tanner lists a series of politicians who seek out appearances on high rating programmes but does not mention the long running Rudd/ Hockey duet on Sunrise

The most revealing statement in the book is his belief that people, including politicians “seek to do things they expect will be rewarded and to avoid doing things they know will be published.”

This is crude and leaves no room for idealism based on principle or even enlightened self interest.

All in all the book is worth reading as a primer for further research into the effect of a mal- functioning media on civil society.

The impact of Hollywood on young people needs to be analysed as does freely available pornography.

The over-sexualisation of young people impacts adversely on family formation and stability.

Most Australians believe in God while most journalists do not.

This distorts their capacity to report as documented in Blind Spot - when journalists don’t get Religion (Oxford University Press), edited by Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert and Roberta Green Ahmarson.

John Barich is president of the WA branch of the National Civic Council

Parish. Nation. World. Record.

I say I say A self-absorbed world can’t be drenched with God’s tears

By Mark Reidy

On 9 February 1958, small town US Preacher David Wilkerson was watching late night television when the Holy Spirit prompted him to pray. He switched off the television and turned his heart to God, and did so for the next 16 nights.

On the 16th evening his eyes were drawn to a magazine article and he began to weep as he viewed the ink sketching of seven members of the Dragon Gang who were on trial for the murder of a 15 year old boy. He heard a voice whisper in his spirit, “Go and help these boys”. Although he had never been to New York before, his heart had become so anguished for these lost and broken youth, that he drove there the next day and soon found himself deeply immersed in the sinister and violent underbelly

of New York gangland culture. Wilkerson’s impulsive, perilous step of faith planted the seed for Teen Challenge, a programme that is today releasing tens of thousands of young people across the world from the webs of addiction and other life-controlling issues.

Wilkerson had responded to a call that God placed in his heart and years later he would put words to this yearning in an impassioned and moving sermon. I believe that his speech identifies one of the key elements that is afflicting the Church today.

“Whatever happened to anguish in the house of God?” he grieves.

We do not carry within us, either as individuals or as a Church, a heart that is pained by the sin and sadness in the world, he says. We have become so self–absorbed and desensitised to what is happening around us that we do not allow God to drench us with His tears. True passion can only be born when we allow God to baptise us with His anguish, Wilkerson cries out.

I recognise the truth of his words in my own life. I find myself hiding under a lukewarm umbrella of “concern”, where I am worried by

what is happening in the world, but I am not deeply and painfully anguished by it. I wonder how many others there are like me? We are “concerned” that abortion, sexual disease, violence, drug use, unwanted children, family breakdown, wars and poverty are spiritually and physically decimating our world, but we feign helplessness so we can keep ourselves at arms length from the true pain that God wants to arouse in us.

Concern is not anguish, Wilkerson tells us - it is merely a safe substitute because it does not require a commitment of the heart. It is usually a temporary, albeit genuine, burst of emotion that flares within us, but we too easily allow it to be suffocated by other priorities in our lives. Wilkerson holds up Old Testament characters such as Nehemiah as examples of how God wants us to respond to the pain and suffering in the world. Nehemiah broke down and wept and fasted and mourned and prayed to God night and day. He opened his heart to God’s love and with that he opened himself up to God’s agony.

But this vulnerability is a concept that is so foreign to most of

us. We live in a society that strives to alleviate any form of personal suffering or anxiety - where success is measured by comforts and conveniences. Wilkerson laments that we are all too willing to spend time watching television, using the internet or indulging our own interests, but there are very few who are willing to sacrifice their time in prayer to seek the heart of their Heavenly Father.

We are prepared to give ourselves partially to God, through weekly church attendance and perhaps some extra prayers on weekdays, or even the giving of our money or time for a good cause, but they are not, ultimately, what God has asked of us. What He has asked is for us to love Him with all our heart, all our soul and all our might – anything that follows should be a fruit of this love.

So if our surrender to God is not complete, we need to ask ourselves why. Is it because we are contented with where we are and what we have and are not willing to risk losing the security and comforts that we have created for ourselves? Or perhaps we are fearful of what God will ask of us if we are truly open to

hearing His cry? But if we entertain either of these beliefs - that God simply wants us to be personally happy and content with our life on earth or that He will burden us with pain and suffering - then our perception of our Heavenly Father have been sadly distorted.

For the anguish that God desires us to share is not intended to crush us, but rather to give us new life and with it, true joy - for it is only when we completely surrender ourselves to God that we will be able to receive the fullness of His love.

It is why Jesus compared His impending death to the anguish of a woman in labour. You will be sorrowful, He told His apostles, but the new life that is born from this pain, will “turn your sorrow into joy” (John 16:20).

Sadly Wilkerson passed away last month, but he has left us with a key that may open the door for both individual and church renewal. Revival, and true joy will come, he said, but only when we allow God to break our hearts.

To hear the speech go to www.youtube.com“David Wilkerson – A Call to Anguish”

The stigma of clergy: more than just a collar

Eternal city ... and beyond

A Perth boy’s journey to the priesthood

By Mark Baumgarten

One of the things about being a seminarian in Rome that has taken a fair bit of getting used to is the regular wearing of clerical attire (ie the black shirt with priestly collar).

While there are varying norms regarding the dress code for seminarians in Australia, most American and Italian seminaries require their more senior students—ie those who have received Candidacy, which is sort of our equivalent of getting engaged—to wear clerics to classes as well as during other official capacities.

As such, most days see me either walking or taking the bus through the heart of Rome dressed in readily identifiable Church attire.

It’s not the wearing of a uniform that I find strange—I did that enough at various jobs in the past— but more the fact that anyone can identify me as a Church representative on sight.

I had some practice at being a semi-public religious figure upon entering the seminary back in Perth, though this was largely with people whom I already knew to some degree.

Now complete strangers on the street have a chance to size me up and make a variety of assumptions about my life and beliefs.

I should note that in my younger days I spent several years away from the Church, during which time I absorbed much of the standard secular critique of religion in gen-

eral and Catholicism in particular.

As I was gradually being drawn back, I chose not to wear my slowly-burgeoning faith on my sleeve, both because it was still a work in progress (as I suppose it always will be), and - to be honest - because I was still somewhat embarrassed by it.

Obviously I’m no longer embarrassed by the faith (though the Church’s human weakness remains ever humbling), but I do remember what it was like to look critically upon it.  I guess you could say that I sometimes feel my own past judgements rebounding back on me now.

The reactions we receive here in Rome vary.  Many tourists confuse

us with priests, and if there is a large group of seminarians in clerics - particularly if we are passing by St Peter’s Square or some other distinctly Catholic landmark - tourists will invariably pull out their cameras for a photo.

Visitors also presume that we all speak English for some reason, which sees us being asked for directions around the city on a daily basis.

Most locals are able to distinguish seminarians from priests (the backpack normally gives us away), though shop assistants generally refer to us as “Padre” just in case.  Some Romans will take the occasional pot-shot, whereas oth-

St Juliana and the feast of Corpus Christi

Q&A

By Fr John Flader

Q: In your book Question Time you mention briefly that Juliana of Cornillon had something to do with the feast of Corpus Christi. Do we know anything more about her and her role in the feast?

As you say, when I wrote about Juliana in my book Question Time (Connor Court 2008, n. 150), I mentioned that she had had a vision in which Jesus lamented the lack of a feast dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament.

But there is much more, and the story of her life and her role in the institution of the feast is fascinating. St Juliana of Liège, also known as St Juliana of Mt Cornillon, was born near Liège in Belgium in 1193. From her early childhood she had great devotion to the Blessed Eucharist.

At the age of five, she and her sister Agnes were orphaned and entrusted to the care of the Augustinian nuns of the convent of Mont Cornillon, just outside Liège.

There they worked for many years in the leprosarium run by the nuns.

When she was thirteen Juliana entered the Augustinians and went on to become the Superior of the convent.

At age 16 she had a vision of the Church under the full moon with a dark spot on it. She was given to understand that the spot signified the absence of a special feast in honour of the Blessed Sacrament.

In a later vision Our Lord explained that he desired a separate feast in honour of the Eucharist, since at that time the only celebration was on Holy Thursday, when the Church considered more his sufferings.

He told her that He wanted the feast for three reasons: to confirm people’s faith in the Real Presence, to strengthen them in virtue by their love and adoration for the Eucharist, and to make reparation for the lack of respect shown to the Blessed Sacrament.

Jesus entrusted Juliana with the mission of promoting the new feast. Naturally, she felt frightened at the thought and kept the whole matter secret for many years, wanting to ensure that this was truly the will of God and not just her own imagination.

The vision was repeated over the next twenty years and finally in 1230, when Juliana was elected Mother Superior, she confided the secret to her confessor, Canon John of Lausanne. He was Canon of St

Martin’s basilica and had a great love for the Eucharist himself. He explained the idea to numerous theologians and bishops, many of whom received it warmly.

Among them was Jacques Pantaleon, the Archdeacon of Liège, who later became Bishop of Verdun, then Patriarch of Jerusalem and finally in 1261 Pope, taking the name of Urban IV.

It was the Dominican Bishop of Liège, Robert Thourotte, who, after some hesitation, accepted the proposal of St Juliana and in 1246 instituted the feast of the Blessed Sacrament in his diocese. It was to be celebrated on the Thursday after the feast of the Blessed Trinity.

Other Bishops later did the same in their own dioceses.

When St Juliana died in 1258, the feast was not yet extended throughout the world, but a good friend of hers, St Eve, a nun at St Martin’s, took it upon herself to carry on where St Juliana left off.

She persuaded the new Bishop of Liège to write to the Holy Father, Pope Urban IV, asking him to extend the feast to the whole Church.

A few more years passed until the great Eucharistic miracle of Bolsena took place in 1263 (cf. Question Time, n. 150). The miracle was reported to Pope Urban who was residing in nearby Orvieto, and the following year he instituted the feast of Corpus Christi for the whole Church.

ability that comes from visibly representing something beyond yourself – if I am rude in public, that reflects poorly on the Church, and in extreme cases could even lead someone to question their faith.

Of course, I have bad days from time to time just like anyone else, when I would much rather blend into the scenery then stand out.

If someone decides to take a shot at the Church via me on such days the effect is compounded.On the other side, the collar can also prompt gestures of respect (such as salutes from the Swiss Guard) and acts of generosity from complete strangers that could easily go to one’s head if you are not careful.

Indeed, such perils of being a public figure - combined with remnants of clericalism in the collective memory - provide some context for the occasionally heated intraChurch debates about priests’ and sisters’ dress codes in decades past.

ers seem genuinely delighted to see young people answering the call.  On the whole, however, there are sufficient numbers of religiouslydressed figures roaming around the city that most locals remain unfazed by it all.

As for me, the fact of being an identifiable “Church-person” out in public has an interesting effect on one’s psyche.  Obviously you want to give a good representation of the Church, and thus basic courtesy is non-negotiable: opening doors, offering your seat, kindness to beggars, etc.

You’d like to think that you would do all that anyway, but there is an undeniable increase in account-

I suspect that the key to handling it well is to distinguish between the person and the office.  When I remember that the reactions I receive - both the vitriol and the love - are largely about the Church of which I am but a small part, I am less inclined to feel overly inflated or deflated.

The immense respect that some people offer speaks to the dignity of the priestly office (and not me), while the cruel hatred that some people offer likely speaks to their personal baggage with the Church (and not me).

It’s all good practice of course, for at the end of the day I’m convinced that there is an important ministry of witness to be offered by being a public symbol of the faith, particularly back home in Australia where religious garb is seen far less than on the streets of Rome.

As St Paul proclaimed to Timothy: “Never be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord.” (2 Tim 1:8).

In his address on St Juliana on 17 November 2010, Pope Benedict spoke of the importance of Eucharistic devotion: “Joyfully I wish to affirm that there is a ‘Eucharistic springtime’ in the Church today. How many people remain in silence before the Tabernacle sustaining a dialogue

of love with Jesus! It is consoling to know that many groups of young people have rediscovered the beauty of prayer and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. I pray that this ‘Eucharistic springtime’ may become increasingly widespread in parishes, and especially in Belgium, homeland of St Juliana”.

Seminarians stroll through the streets of Rome.

PHOTO: MARK BAUMGARTEN

12th century Belgian St Juliana entrusted by Jesus to promote the feast of the Blessed Sacrament, now known as Corpus Christi

WEDNESDAY, 22 JUNE TO THURSDAY 30 JUNE

Novena to Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary

12.10pm Mass followed by Novena at St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Sq, Perth. Enq: Beatrice 9409 6473.

FRIDAY, 24 JUNE

Medjugorje Evening Prayer – 30th Anniversary

7-9pm at All Saint’s Chapel, 77 St George’s Tce (Allendale Sq), Perth. Adoration, Rosary, Benediction and Holy Mass. Distribution: free DVDs of Donald Calloway’s inspiring story of his life of drugs, alcohol, crime and imprisonment to his conversion and later priesthood; also DVD of Ivan’s visit to St Mary’s Cathedral. Enq.Eileen 9402 2480 or 0407 471 256, medjugorje@y7mail.com.

SATURDAY, 25 JUNE

Our Lady Queen of Peace celebration

10am at St Paul’s Church, 104 Rookwood St, Mt Lawley. Rosary followed by Mass at 10.30am and lunch at 11.30am. Please bring a plate. Enq: Fr Tim 9271 5253.

SATURDAY, 25 AND SUNDAY, 26 JUNE

Charismatic Renewal Conference

9am-4.30pm at the Disciples of Jesus venue, 67 Howe St, Osborne Park. 10am-5.30pm Sunday. “Come Holy Spirit”. Speakers: International President, Mrs Michelle Moran, Archbishop Hickey, CCR Chairman, Mr Dan Hewitt. Mass both days. Cost: collections. BYO lunch, Bible, notepad. Enq: Dan 9398 4973 or dhewitt@aapt.net.au.

SUNDAY, 26 JUNE

Corpus Christi Procession

10.15am at St Joseph’s Church, 19 Hamilton St, Bassendean. 9am Mass. We bring Jesus Christ in The Holy Eucharist through some of the streets in Bassendean. Followed by Benediction. Refreshments afterwards. Bring a plate to share. Enq: Parish Office 9379 2691.

TUESDAY, 28 JUNE

The Body and Blood of Christ Seminar

7-8pm at St Benedict’s School Hall, Alness St, Applecross. ‘Christ nourishes us for this life and eternal life’. Presenter: Norma Woodcock. There will be a collection to cover costs. Enq: Norma 94871772 or visit www.normawoodcock.com.

WEDNESDAY, 29 JUNE

‘Enriching Family Life’ Seminar

7.30-9pm at Gonzaga Barry Lecture Theatre, John XXIII College. Presenter: Murray Graham (M. Ed) Includes: Rules versus relationships; Dealing with anger and hurt; Sibling Rivalry education; care foundation and boundaries; communication improvement; overcoming study procrastination; discipline that ‘works’. Cost: Donation for Inigo Centre. Enq and registration: Murray 9383 0444 or graham.murray@johnxxiii.edu.au.

THURSDAY, 30 JUNE

“Laughter Workshop”

7-9pm at Infant Jesus Catholic Parish Centre, 47 Wellington St, Morley. Laughter is the best medication for good health. By Morley Mental Health Support and Wellness Group. Enq: Angela 9276 8500 or Barbara 9328 8113.

FRIDAY, 1 JULY

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 11am at St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Sq, Perth. Holy Hour and Benediction. 12.10pm Mass and consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary followed by Rosary and Litanies. Main celebrant: Archbishop Hickey. Enq: Beatrice 9409 6473.

Pro-Life Witness

9.30am at St Brigid’s Church, 69b Morrison Rd, Midland. Begins with Mass followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at nearby abortion clinic, led by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. Join us to pray for an end to abortion and the conversion of hearts. Enq: Helen 9402 0349.

SATURDAY, 2 JULY

Day with Mary

9am-5pm at St Brigid Church, cnr Fitzgerald and Aberdeen Sts, Northbridge. Day of prayer and instruction based on the Fatima message. 9am Video; 10.10am Holy Mass; Reconciliation, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons on Eucharist and Our Lady, Rosaries and Stations of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enq: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.

Vigil for Life

8.30-10.30am at St Augustine’s Church, Gladstone St, Rivervale. Begins with Mass followed by Rosary procession and vigil at abortion clinic, led by Fr Paul Carey. Weekly prayer vigils: Monday, Thursday and Saturday, for the conversion of hearts and an end to abortion. Enq. Helen 9402 0349.

SUNDAY, 3 JULY

Divine Mercy

1.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, 25 Windsor St, Perth. Main celebrant: Fr Hugh Thomas. “Our Lady of Perpetual Help” homily. Exposition of Blessed Sacrament, Holy Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy followed by Benediction and Veneration of First Class Relic of St Faustina Kowalska. Reconciliation available. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: John 9457 7771.

SATURDAY, 9 JULY

Padre Pio day of Prayer

8.30am at Good Shepherd Church, Cnr Morley Dr and Alton Rd, Lockridge. Begins with Padre Pio DVD (Parish centre), 10am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Divine Mercy, Silent Adoration and Benediction. 11am Mass, St Padre Pio liturgy and Confession. 12pm lunch, Bring a plate to share. Enq: Des 6278 1540.

Divine Mercy Healing Mass

2.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, Windsor St, East Perth. Main Celebrant: Fr Marcellinus Meilak, OFM. Begins with Mass followed by Divine Mercy prayers and Veneration of First Class Relic of St Faustina and prayers for an end to abortion. Reconciliation in English, Maltese and Italian. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: John 9457 7771.

SUNDAY, 10 JULY

Secular Franciscan Order WA - Day of Reflection

10am at the Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. All welcome. Come and join our members in our discussions of how to live the Gospel life in the spirit of our seraphic father, St Francis of Assisi. Enq: Angela on 9275 5658.

PILGRIMAGE TO PRAGUE, POLAND AND AUSTRIA

St Jude’s Parish, Langford is organising a 13-day pilgrimage departing 1 October. It will include visits to the Shrines of Divine Mercy, Infant Jesus, the Black Madonna, St Faustina, the birthplace of Pope John Paul II and the Museum at Auschwitz. Total cost per person $5,800. Spiritual Director, Fr Terry Raj. Enq: Co-ordinator John Murphy 9457 7771, Matt 6460 6877, mattpicc1@ gmail.com.

WEDNESDAY, 5 TO THURSDAY, 20 OCTOBER

Pilgrimage to Rome, San Giovanni Rotondo and Medjugorje

Includes 3 nights in Rome, 2 nights in San Giovanni Rotondo (Padre Pio); visit to Monte Gargano and Lanciano (Eucharistic Miracle); 7 nights in Medjugorje (Alleged daily appearance of Our Lady). Spiritual Leader: Fr Ronan Murphy. Cost: $3,990, includes Emirates flight, bed, breakfast and evening meals, transfers, guide, taxes and tipping. Enq: Eileen 9402 2480 or 0407 471 256 or medjugorje@y7mail.com.

FRIDAY, 11 TO TUESDAY, 22 NOVEMBER

Pilgrim Tour To The Holy Land

Jordan, Israel and Egypt. Spiritual Director: Fr Sebastian Kalapurackal VC from St Aloysius Church, Shenton Park. Enq: Francis – Coordinator, 9459 3873 or 0404 893 877 or Skype ID: perthfamily.

EVERY SUNDAY

Gate of Heaven Catholic Radio

Join the Franciscans of the Immaculate from 7.30-9pm on Radio Fremantle 107.9FM for Catholic radio broadcast of EWTN and our own live shows. Enq: radio@ausmaria.com.

Pilgrim Mass - Shrine of the Virgin of the Revelation

2pm at Shrine, 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. Commencing with Rosary followed by Benediction. Reconciliation 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 FIRST SUNDAY

Divine Mercy Chaplet and Healing Prayer

3pm at Santa Clara Church, 72 Palmerston St, Bentley. Includes Adoration and individual prayer for healing. Spiritual leader: Fr Francisco. All welcome. Enq: Fr Francisco 9458 2944.

EVERY SECOND SUNDAY

Healing Hour for the Sick

6pm at St Lawrence Parish, 392 Albert St, Balcatta. Begins with Mass, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and prayers. Enq: Fr Irek 9344 7066 or ww.stlawrence. org.au.

EVERY 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.

EVERY MONDAY

Evening Adoration and Mass

7pm at St Thomas Parish, Claremont, cnr Melville St and College Rd. Begins with Adoration, Reconciliation, Evening Prayer and Benediction. Followed by Mass and Night Prayer at 8pm. Enq: Kim 9384 0598, claremont@ perthcatholic.org.au.

EVERY TUESDAY

Bible Teaching with a difference

7.30pm at St Joachim’s parish hall, Shepparton Rd, Victoria Park. Exciting revelations with meaningful applications that will change your life. Novena to God the Father, followed by refreshments. Bring Bible, a notebook and a friend. Enq: Jan 9284 1662.

Novena to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

6pm at the Pater Noster Church, Marmion and Evershed Sts, Myaree. Mass at 5.30pm followed by Benediction. 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: 0423 907 869 or hsofperth@gmail.com.

Holy Hour at Catholic Youth Ministry

6pm at 40A Mary St, Highgate, Catholic Pastoral Centre. 5.30pm Mass followed by $5 fellowship supper. Enq: Stefania 9422 7912 or www.cym.com.au.

EVERY FIRST WEDNESDAY

Holy Hour prayer for Priests

7.30-8.30pm at Holy Spirit Parish, 2 Keaney Pl, City Beach. All welcome. Enq: Linda 9341 3079

SECOND WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH

Chaplets of the Divine Mercy

7.30pm at St Thomas More Catholic Parish, Dean Rd, Bateman. A beautiful, prayerful, sung devotion accompanied by Exposition and followed by Benediction. The next devotion is to be held on Wednesday 13 July. Enq: George 9310 9493 or 9325 2010 (w).

EVERY THURSDAY

Divine Mercy

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

St Mary’s Cathedral Praise Meeting

Due to renovations at 450 Hay St Perth, CPM now meets at 7.45pm every Thursday at the Legion of Mary’s Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor Street, East Perth. Includes Praise song and healing ministry. Enq: Kay 9382 3668 or fmi@flameministries.org.

Fr Corapi’s Catechism of the Catholic Church

7.30pm at St Joseph Church, 20 Hamilton St, Bassendean - parish library. Enq: Catherine 9329 2691.

FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH

Taize Prayer and Meditation

7.30-8.30pm at Our Lady of Grace Parish, 3 Kitchener St. North Beach. Prayer, song and silence in candle light –symbol of Christ light of the world. Next service: Thursday 7 July. Taize info: www.taize.fr. Enq: Beth 9448 4457 or 9448 4888.

EVERY SECOND THURSDAY

St Denis Discussion Group

7.30pm at parishioners’ homes to discuss any aspect of our faith followed by supper and fellowship. Enq: George 9349 2187 or Anna 9242 2788, (w) 9249 2788.

FIRST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH

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.

Catholic Faith Renewal Evening

7.30pm at Sts 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.

Communion of Reparation All Night Vigils

7pm-1.30am at Corpus Christi Church, Lochee St, Mosman Park. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357 and at St Gerard Majella Church, Ravenswood Dr and Majella Rd, Mirrabooka. Enq: Fr Giosue 9349 2315, John or Joy 9344 2609. The Vigils consist of two Masses, Adoration, Benediction, Prayers and Confession in reparation for the outrages committed against the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary. All welcome.

Healing Mass

7pm at St Peter’s Parish, Wood Street, Inglewood. Reconciliation, praise and worship, Eucharistic Adoration, Benediction, Anointing of the Sick, special blessings and fellowship after the Mass. Celebrants, Fr Dat (parish priest) and specially invited priests. All welcome. Enq: Priscilla 0433 457 352, Catherine 0433 923 083 and Mary-Ann 0409 672 304.

Healing and Anointing Mass

8.45am Pater Noster Church, Evershed St, Myaree. Begins with Reconciliation followed by 9am Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Anointing of the Sick and Prayers to St Peregrine. Enq: Joy 9337 7189.

EVERY FIRST SATURDAY

Healing Mass

12.35pm at St Thomas Parish, cnr Melville St and College Rd, Claremont. Spiritual leader: Fr Waddell. Enq: Kim 9384 0598, claremont@perthcatholic.org.au.

LOST & FOUND

‘Pyx and Cross’ on the roadside between Kojonup and Williams. Enq: Holy Family Parish - Albany 08 9841 1129.

ACROSS

1 Ancestress of Jesus

3 Representation of 13th station of the cross

7 Catholic movie star Lemmon

9 Heroic St. Bernard animal

10 Nathan told David that taking Bathsheba was like stealing this (2 Sm 12:3)

11 Catholic cartoonist of “Family Circus”

12 He was in the belly of a whale

13 An epistle

14 The Upper ___

17 Holy ___

20 Make void a sacrament

23 ___ wide the doors to Christ

24 Angelus call

25 ___ of thorns

28 “___ to you, scribes and pharisees…” (Mt 23:13)

29 Jesuitsʼ motto (abbr.)

31 Crib for Baby Jesus

33 Catholic artist Picasso

35

37

39

40

3

4

7

Walk With Him

26 S THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (Solemnity)

Wh Deut 8:2-3, 14-16 Fed with Manna

Ps 147:12-15, 19-20 Finest Wheat

1 Cor 10:16-17 A single body

Jn 6:51-58 The living Bread

27 M St Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop, Doctor of the Church (O)

Gr Gen 18:16-33 I will not destroy it

Ps 102:1-4, 8-11 Bless God’s Name

Mt 8:18-22 I will follow You

28 Tu St Irenaeus, Bishop, martyr (M)

Red Gen 19:15-29 The Lord pities Lot

Ps 25:2-3, 9-12 Path of perfection

Mt 8:23-27 A violent storm

21

28

32

36

29 W SS PETER AND PAUL, APOSTLES (Solemnity)

Red Vigil Mass

Acts 3:1-10 All astonished

Ps 18:2-5 Work of God’s Hands

Gal 1:11-20 Specially chosen

Jn 21:15-19 Follow me

Mass during the day

Acts 12:1-11 Peter in prison

Ps 33:2-9 Glorify the Lord!

2 Tim 4:6-8, 17-18 I was rescued

Mt 16:13-19 You are Peter

30 Th The First Martyrs of the Church of Rome (O)

Gr Gen 22:1-19 A burnt offering

Ps 114:1-6, 8-9 cry for my appeal

Mt 9:1-8 Crowd praised God

1 F THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS (Solemnity)

Wh Deut 7:6-11 Consecrated people

Ps 102:1-4, 6-8, 10 Compassion and love

1 Jn 4:7-16 God will live in us

Mt 11:25-30 Come to me

2 S The Immaculate Heart of Mary (M)

Wh Isa 61:9-11 I exult for joy

1 Sam 2:1, 4-8 My heart exults

Lk 2:41-51 in Her Heart

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.

OPPORTUNITIES

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Work from Home - P/T or F/T, 02 8230 0290 or visit www.dreamlife1.com.

PERSONAL

SINGLE 34 YRS OLD BLONDE

LADY looking for a man for a long term relationship. I am down-to-earth, happy, spontaneous, energetic, financially secure. Please text or call Diana 0402 932 505.

FOR SALE

FOR SALE CHEAP; VARIOUS CATHOLIC/PROTESTANT BOOKS New/2nd Hand/DVDs/ CDs 94404358

BUSINESS FOR SALE

DONGARA PIZZA BAR

PH: 08 9927 1389 after 3.30pm or MOB: 0400 579 117

ACCOMMODATION

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

ESPERANCE 3 bedroom house f/furnished Ph 08 9076 5083.

BOOK BINDING

NEW BOOK BINDING, General Book Repairs; Rebinding; New Ribbons; Old Leather Bindings Restored.Tydewi Bindery 0422 968 572.

Deadline: 11am Monday

SETTLEMENTS

ARE YOU BUYING OR SELLING

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

TRADE SERVICES

BRENDAN HANDYMAN

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

PROPERTY MAINTENANCE.

Your handyperson. No job too small. SOR. Jim 0413 309 821.

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.

FURNITURE REMOVAL

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

EDUCATION SERVICES

ENGLISH TUTOR Using whole word, word in context and phonics programme. Teacher with Master’s degree 7 years experience. Police cleared. PH: Tom 0449 979 637

THANKSGIVING

ST JUDE SAINT OF THE IMPOSSIBLE & HOPELESS, thank you for prayers answered – BPMEMORIAM

HENNEKER BRYAN AUSTIN, dearlyloved husband of Norma for 57 years. Father of Bryan, Lee and Ellen and father-in-law of Chris and Garry Blair. Much loved Pop of Sigourney, Bert, Jack, B.J, Elle and Ryan Blair. Bryan passed away, peaceful through death to Eternal life in Esperance, on 30 May 2011. His Requiem Mass was held in St Mary’s Church, Kalgoorlie on the 4 June and he was interred in Catholic Section of Kalgoorlie Cemetery. A gentle man who reached out to all with much love.

R.I.P.

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.

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 Vickii on 9402 1318, 0409 114 093 or kinlar.vestments@gmail.com.

OTTIMO

Convenient location for Bibles, books, cards CD/DVDs, candles, medals, statues and gifts at Shop 41, Station St Market, Subiaco. Fri-Sun, 9-5pm.

Stories you must read from Rwandan Survivor Immaculée

Left to Tell

Immaculée Ilibagiza

RRP $29.95

Immaculée Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, but in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculée’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans. Incredibly, Immaculée survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them. It was during those endless hours of unspeakable terror that Immaculée discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having discovered the meaning of truly unconditional love—a love so strong she was able seek out and forgive her family’s killers. The triumphant story of this remarkable young woman’s journey through the darkness of genocide will inspire anyone whose life has been touched by fear, suffering, and loss.

Our Lady of Kibeho

Immaculée Ilibagiza

RRP $25.00

Thirteen years before the bloody 1994 genocide that swept across Rwanda and left more than a million people dead, the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ appeared to eight young people in the remote village of Kibeho. Through these visionaries, Mary and Jesus warned of the looming holocaust, which they assured could be averted if Rwandans opened their hearts to God and embraced His love. Mary also sent messages to government and church leaders to instruct them how to end the ethnic hatred simmering in their country. After the genocide, and two decades of rigorous investigation, Our Lady of Kibeho became the first and only Vatican-approved Marian site in all of Africa. Immaculée Ilibagiza made many pilgrimages to Kibeho both before and after the holocaust, personally witnessed true miracles, and spoke with a number of the visionaries themselves. What she’s discovered will deeply touch your heart.

Rwandan Peace Baskets

These Rwanda Peace baskets are part of the Path to Peace project that - after the genocide in 1994employs thousands of weavers and impacts tens of thousands of lives from the income generated by the project. Focused on trade, not aid, the Rwanda Path to Peace project puts the power of opportunity into the hands of the women of Rwanda, providing not only income but the chance to take an active role in the shaping of their future.

Seven Sorrows Rosary

RRP $31.00

Seven Sorrows Rosary with Peace Basket

RRP $38.00

Pray the Seven Sorrows Rosary with Immaculée Ilibagiza

RRP $24.00

A Visit from Heaven

The Last Apparition to Alphonsine

Immaculée Ilibagiza

RRP $23.00

Approved by the Catholic Church, like Lourdes and Fatima, Our Lady of Kibeho is seen by the Church as a Marian apparition site in which the messages are deemed worthy of closer reflection. The fruits of Our Lady’s apparitions have overflowed from within the boundaries of Rwanda and into the entire world. These heavenly encounters were extraordinary blessings in which a conversation of mutual love took place between the most tender, loving Mother to her child. By reading this book, you will feel like Our Lady is speaking directly to you as her messages are intended for each one of us, but more than anything, you will feel closer to Our Lady and you will never be the same!

Led by Faith

Immaculée Ilibagiza

RRP $29.95

In Led By Faith, Immaculée takes us with her as her remarkable journey continues. Through her simple and eloquent voice, we experience her hardships and heartache as she struggles to survive and to find meaning and purpose in the aftermath of the holocaust. It is the story of a naïve and vulnerable young woman, orphaned and alone, navigating through a bleak and dangerously hostile world with only an abiding faith in God to guide and protect her. Fearing again for her safety as Rwanda’s war-crime trials begin, Immaculée flees to America to begin a new chapter of her life as a refugee and immigrant—a stranger in a strange land. With the same courage and faith in God that led her through the darkness of genocide, Immaculée discovers a new life that she can finally look back at all that has happened to her and truly understand why God spared her ... so she would tell her story to the world.