The Record Newspaper 24 March 2005

KEEP THEM QUIET: Prolife women need to be controlled Page 10

DEAR PADRE: Why silence (in our churches) is golden Page 7

Why we celebrate Easter

2000 years ago, a series of events took place over three days in an insignificant corner of the Roman Empire that changed the history of the world. They are also the reason you went to Church today...

Our bishops reflect on Easter - Pages 8 and 9

Don’t be a twice-a-year submarine Catholic: Derek Boylen - VISTA 2

INTIMACY: Couples are rediscovering God’s plan in their lives Vista 2

UWA

Fulfilling the plan of

■ By Bill Bellair

When North Queensland priest, Fr. Ed Stewart, spent time with the Holy Spirit of Freedom (HSOF) Community in Pemberton, he did not envisage that six years later he would be living with them as a committed member.

Ordained 11 years ago and having served in a number of parishes in the Townsville diocese, Fr Ed attended the National Council of Priests convention in Perth in 1998. At the conclusion of this he was able to spend some time with the Community in Pemberton as part of his holiday.

During that time Fr Ed said he was greatly impressed by those in the Community who were totally dependent on God for their needs. He also felt an affinity with their commitment to prayer and their concern for the “poorest of the poor”, particularly those living on the streets and/or caught up in addictions, mental illness and prostitution.

For the next 5 years Fr Ed received their quarterly newsletter and began to experience promptings from the Lord to become involved. Eventually he decided to make contact with Rev. Frank Feain, the founder of the HSOF Community and it was suggested that he come to WA for a period of time to experience the Community lifestyle.

After dialogue with his Bishop and finding a supply Priest, Fr Ed was able to spend three

Fr Ed Stewart

months with the Community from September 2003. Providentially, during that time he was able to supply for Fr Pat Rooney in the Manjimup/Pemberton parish.

On return to Townsville and after much

prayer, including time at the Catholic Charismatic Renewal retreat for Priests and Religious in Melbourne in January 2004, Fr Ed knew that God’s plan for him was to join the Community.

Despite the shortage of priests in the Townsville diocese, Bishop Michael Putney agreed to release Fr Ed when a replacement priest could be found.

This occurred last year and from September 2004 Bishop Putney granted permission for Fr Ed to be with the HSOF Community for the next two years. This arrangement will be renegotiated at the end of that time.

Fr. Ed is currently a member of the “Live-in” section of the Community, serving both Perth and Pemberton and is able to contribute to the prayer and Sacramental life. He also, at times, assists parish priests, Fr Pat Rooney in Pemberton and Fr Eugene McGrath in Belmont. When in Perth, he shares a house with up to five others - quite a change from living on his own in a large presbytery in Charters Towers.

He is actively involved in the HSOF “street work” and visitation to the poor in Perth. His concern for those he has met so far is obvious, “Life has dealt them a cruel hand”, he says, “And they don’t have the ability to play that hand”.

With at least another 18 months serving in Perth Fr. Ed prays that he is able to be an instrument to share God’s love with them, “So that they may be able to live their lives with dignity and peace and grow in selfesteem.”

Vinnies store needs assistance

St Vinnies North Perth Shop needs new volunteers.

St Vincent de Paul Society is inviting community members to volunteer at the North Perth Retail Centre.

Located on Bulwer Street, the North Perth retail centre allows people to

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purchase quality second-hand clothing and household items at affordable prices.

Volunteers work together in a supportive social environment and also have the opportunity to learn new skills.

The money raised through the sale of goods helps St Vinnies to assist families

and individuals in need. Full training is provided and various opportunities also exist at other St Vinnies.Retail Centres across the state.

New life in God’s Spirit seminar

As part of its mission, the Perth branch of the Holy Spirit of Freedom Community conducts a charismatic prayer meeting each Saturday. During the coming Easter season and leading up to Pentecost, the prayer meeting is presenting a “New Life in God’s Spirit” seminar. The seven-week seminar, which incorporates prayer and praise, talks, discussion and reflection on the Scriptures, provides the opportunity for a deepening relationship with the Holy Spirit. Participants will be invited to seek a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that they can more effectively know and accept the will of God in their lives.

Over the years many lives have been transformed as men and women participating in these seminars have established or deepened a personal relationship with God, through Jesus Christ. The seminar has been a means for many to become more open to receive God’s love, and to receive the wonderful gifts He has for all of us. God has promised new life, lived in the power of the Spirit.

Jesus has told us “I have come that you may have life – life in all its fullness” (John 10:10).

The Seminar commences on Saturday 16 April from 10.30am to 12.30pm and continues each Saturday until 28 May. The venue is St Anne’s parish hall, 11 Hehir St, Belmont. For further information phone Peter or Mark on 92281800.

Wait, Did I Just Say That Out Loud?

KING: Have you had any contact with the family today? This is a sad day all the way around, Michael. We know of your dispute.

M. SCHIAVO: I’ve had no contact with them.

KING: No contact at all?

Bronwen

Mark

For more information, or to find out more about St Vinnies volunteering call Ed McCarthy on 9475 5420. Read it

M. SCHIAVO: No.

KING: Do you understand how they feel?

M. SCHIAVO: Yes, I do. But this is not about them, it’s about Terri. And I’ve also said that in court. We didn’t know what Terri wanted, but this is what we want...

- CNN Transcript of Michael Schiavo on Larry King Live [US TV show, emphasis added]

Celebrate Romero’s memory

The Catholic Salvadorean community in Perth are inviting all to attend and participate in Mass to be celebrated in memory of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador.

The Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Barry Hickey at St Brigid’s Church in West Perth on Saturday April 9 at 6.30pm.

Archbishop Romero was assassinated by death

squads connected to the-then government of El Salvador on March 24, 1980.

A former colleague of Archbishop Romero’s who is now an Auxiliary Bishop of El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador, Bishop Gregorio Chavez, told Record staff last year that Pope John Paul II had confirmed in private talks that Archbishop Romero will be beatified.

Society retains faith at UWA

UWA Catholic Society wins status as best Guild Group Society for 2004

■ By Jamie O’Brien

The University of Western Australia’s Catholic Society is top of the class.

The Society has won the award as best club for 2004 of the UWA Guild as well as a commendation from the public council.

It aims to draw spirituality from ‘the wealth of Catholic heritage,’ develop networks with similar societies to encourage social interaction and to nurture the relationship of the Society between the Chaplaincy and Student Guild.

“The UWA Catholic Society (UCS) supports and seeks to advance the spiritual, intellectual, social and cultural development of its members,” said President Jacinta Hewett.

Miss Hewett went on to say the Society draws inspiration from the vision of Saint Irenaeus and the Society motto, Gloria Dei vivens homo, which translated from Latin means the glory of God is humankind fully alive.

Catholic Society Chaplin Fr Gerald Brennan said it is a pleasure to work with such an inspirational, generous energetic and reliable group of young people.

“In my 14 years as Catholic Chaplin at UWA, they have been one of the best committees,” he said.

The society can also boast about the diversity of its members, with students from the faculty of medicine, law, engineering and science among those who

have made an active commitment to the Society.

“A lot of people lose their faith and we have found that the Catholic Society is helping them to retain it,” Miss Hewett said.

“We believe it is easier to hang on to their identity as a Catholic if they are with other Catholics while studying.”

Miss Hewett recognised the change in values, particularly of University students, who she says are often too embarrassed to talk about religion, or their faith.

She went on to say this could be because of the many misunderstandings students have about the teachings of the Church and the fear of being ridiculed.

“There should not be any barriers between people just because we have a religion.”

“We want to try to help other students connect with God in a way they feel comfortable with.”

Miss Hewett explained that the award was won on the basis of the Society’s ability to contribute to campus life, promote the Guild and organise of events.

This was achieved through the organisation of a monthly Mass, weekly prayer meetings, a Peace Mass and the World Youth Day

Mass. The Society also meets on Tuesday nights, when members are able to discuss topics relevant to the Church and the wider community, such as Gay Marriage, abortion and federal elections.

The Society also aims to develop networks with similar clubs and in 2004, developed a stronger relationship with the Monty Python Appreciation Association.

Miss Hewett also mentioned the society has developed associations with youth groups around Western Australia and hopes to fully launch a website later this year. On a social scale, the Society organised a Pasta night at a member’s home and a screening of a Harry Potter movie, followed by a quiz night to raise funds.

Miss Hewett said this has been an important aspect for the UWA Catholic Society.

‘However, the Society has not only been a social organisation but also looks firstly at how we can provide a spiritual opportunity to our members and the wider university community,” she said.

Each one of the members however, believes the Society’s biggest achievement for 2004, has been the ability to secure the use of its clubroom.

Salvadoran artist Josue Villalta works on a portrait of slain Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero. Photo: CNS

Scientist re-opens debate on Shroud’s age

Scientist dates Turin’s mysterious imprint as between 1,300 and 3,000 years old

The Shroud of Turin, dismissed in the 1980s as a mediaeval fake, may be far older than previously thought.

The linen shroud, imprinted with the faint image of a bearded man, is believed by many to be the winding sheet in which Jesus was buried.

Dr Raymond Rogers, a fellow of the University of California, argued that the shroud is between 1,300 and 3,000 years old, offering fresh evidence that the shroud may be genuine.

The paper, published in the journal Thermochimica Acta, also highlighted possible flaws in radiocarbon testing conducted in 1988 that dated the linen shroud to the early 14th century. Those tests led to the then Cardinal of Turin, Anastasio Alberto Ballestrerol admitting that the garment was almost certainly a hoax.

It has suffered damage several times since the first known record of its existence in 1389 and has been rescued from fire on a least three occasions. A backing sheet, known as the Holland cloth, is believed to have been stitched to the shroud by Poor Clare nuns in 1532 when they patched holes in it caused by fire damage. The research paper argued that the carbon dating must have been carried out on a repaired patch.

Dr Rogers, a retired chemist from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, used microchemical tests to measure the levels of vanillin in several samples of the cloth including the region on which the radiocarbon dating was performed. “The radiocarbon sam-

ple has completely different chemical properties than the main part of the shroud,” wrote Dr Rogers in Thermochimica Acta

“We’re darned sure that part of the cloth was not original Shroud of Turin cloth,” said Dr Rogers. Threads from the main part of the shroud were pure linen whereas the carbon dated portion contained cotton fibres that had been dyed to match the older material, presumably as part of the Poor Clare nuns’ repairs.

Vanillin is produced by the thermal decomposition of lignin, a chemical compound found in plant material such as flax, from which linen is spun. Levels of vanillin fall over time, so it provides one way of dating the Shroud, though far less precisely than radiocarbon dating, which is accurate to just a few decades.

The tests revealed the presence of

vanillin in the radiocarbon sample and the Shroud’s backing material but not in the rest of the Shroud, suggesting that it may be far older.

“The fact that vanillin cannot be detected on Shroud fibres, Dead Sea scrolls linen and other very old linens indicates that the Shroud is quite old,” Mr Rogers wrote.

“A determination of the kinetics of vanillin loss suggests the shroud is between 1,300 and 3,000 years old.”

Michael Minor, vice-president of the American Shroud of Turin Association for Research, said: “This is the most significant news about the Shroud of Turin since the C-14 [radiocarbon] dating was announced in 1988.

“The C-14 dating isn’t being disputed. But [the new research] is saying that they dated the rewoven area.” In the 1988 study scientists from three universities in Arizona,

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Cambridge and Zurich independently concluded that the cloth dated from some time between 1260 and 1390, close to its first appearance in historical documents. This seemed to rule out the possibility that the Shroud was Christ’s burial cloth.

The new results may revitalise proponents of the Shroud’s authenticity and some now hope that the Vatican will give approval for samples of the Shroud to be re-tested. But according to Mr Minor “the Church is very hesitant, very reluctant for that to be done, because they’ve been given so many conflicting opinions”.

Pope John Paul II has referred to the Shroud’s mysterious fascination and has said that scientists should try to keep an open mind. But he has also stated that the Church cannot pronounce on its authenticity.

In 1978 the Vatican commissioned the Shroud of Turin Research

Project (STURP) to scientifically examine the cloth in detail. A team of 40 scientists from various fields, including Dr Morris and Dr Rogers, ran more than 120 hours of tests on the Shroud, ultimately concluding that no “combination of physical, chemical, biological, or medical circumstances explain the image adequately”.

In April 2004 Mechthild Flury-Lemberg, a textiles expert who worked on the Shroud’s restoration, claimed that the cloth was woven using a style similar to that seen on material recovered from Masada, a Jewish fortress in Israel destroyed in AD 74. Around the same time Giulio Fanti, a professor at Padua University, Italy, discovered a second image of a man’s face on the back of the Shroud, revealed during conservation work.

“Though the image is very faint, features such as nose, eyes, hair, beard and moustaches are clearly visible,” said Professor Fanti. He dismissed claims that the image on the back confirms that the Shroud is a fake, a consequence of paint soaking from the front to the back.

“This is not the case of the Shroud. On both sides, the face image is superficial, involving only the outermost linen fibres,” he said.

Both, however, have been criticised for letting prior belief in the Shroud’s authenticity cloud their scientific judgment. Similar criticism was levelled at several members of the STURP team, prompting the Vatican to allow the 1988 carbon dating tests.

The battle over the Shroud’s authenticity is likely to continue for some time, if not indefinitely. As one anonymous Catholic wrote on an internet message board: “For those who believe, no tests are necessary. For those who do not believe, no test is convincing.” - Catholic Herald

Cardinal Giovanni Saldarini blesses the Shroud of Turin before it is put on display in Turin’s cathedral. Photo: CNS

Researchers achieve stem cell breakthrough

“Professor Alan Mackay-Sim and his team at Griffith University have taken stem cell technology a giant leap forward with research published today in an international peer-reviewed journal,” said Senator Ron Boswell, Leader of the Nationals in the Senate.

Health Minister Tony Abbott was in Brisbane earlier this week to officially launch publication of Dr Mackay-Sim’s research in Developmental Dynamics.

“Professor Mackay-Sim has proven that olfactory stem cells are a simple source for generating a plentiful supply of adult stem cells which can then be turned into virtually any kind of body cell without the problems of rejection or tumours

associated with embryo cells.”

“This new adult stem cell technology now puts them way ahead of embryo stem cell research.”

“Science has spoken loud and clear and come out on the side of adult stem cells.”

Senator Boswell predicted that the Mackay-Sim research would revolutionise biotechnology programs in the stem cell field as investors realise that adult stem cells are the way of the future.

“Adult stem cells are already being used right now on human patients to treat diseases.”

“The Griffith research on adult cells means there will be no need to harvest millions of embryos, nor generate ‘therapeutic’ clones to

overcome the rejection problems.”

Senator Boswell congratulated Professor Mackay-Sim’s team “who have made this discovery for the whole world to see and learn. They have achieved this through years of hard work and minimal funding. They are the real heroes of medical science.”

“It is great to see them get the well deserved and overdue attention. I will be advocating strongly that the federal government gives them the support and assistance to advance their research to the next level.”

Professor Mackay-Sim was Queenslander of the Year 2003 for his services to science and research.

New painting welcomed

■ By Mark Reidy

It was a special day for staff and volunteers of the archdiocesan Pregnancy Assistance agency last week when artist Joe Fairley presented his new painting, “Welcome to my world”, to Belen Reddie, Helen Sawyer, Pat Lilleyman and Lyn Gelle.

Staff were delighted to receive the painting from Mr Fairley to hang in their premises in Lord Street, East Perth, on March 17.

Mr Fairley, of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Rockingham, emphasised the “awesome connection” between the Divine and the natural family which he wanted the painting to portray. He offered the gift to Pregnancy Assistance, as he believed it reflected their understanding of the preciousness of each and every life.

Staff from Pregnancy Assistance thank artist Joe Fairley for the dontation of his painting,”Welcome to my world”

Poverty still an issue after Tsunami

For Caritas life after the Tsunami goes on ...... so does the poverty

In recent months the Asian Earthquake and Tsunami and its devastating effects have been on our minds.

“People have been extremely generous in supporting our Asian Earthquake Appeal. The trouble is poverty in the world is a huge ongoing problem. We need to be able to look after the enormous numbers of people in other parts of the world whose lives are brutally shortened or diminished because of the effects of war, disease, famine and natural disasters”.

“The scale of deaths suffered during the tsunami occurs once

every two weeks in Africa; this is an unacceptable level of suffering. Some people feel helpless in the

face of these figures. However, we could halve world poverty by the year 2015 with a concerted effort

and focused commitment. By giving to Project Compassion we are starting to make that commitment,” said Mrs Fairhead, Perth Diocesan Director of Caritas.

Frank Hall, Principal of St Josesph’s School, Boulder and Caritas National Committee member recently visited Sri Lanka with Melville Fernandez (Asia Programs Coordinator for Caritas Australia) to show solidarity to those experiencing the devastation of the tsunami. He said that what stays with him is the plea that Australia not forget its long term Sri Lankan friends which has brought them hope over many years. One person said ‘Caritas gives food and items with dignity’.

Bob Geldof was recently quoted as saying: “Tony Blair has called Africa ‘a scar on the conscience

of the world’. But it is not just a scar. It is a living wound - one which causes one in six African children to die before their fifth birthday and millions more to go to bed hungry every night.”

“The opportunity to respond to the challenge of poverty, while remembering the tsunami victims, is here now for all of us. Every cent in every Project Compassion box and envelope helps to achieve this goal. Continued prayer, staying informed and supporting local efforts are also ways of insuring we remember all those suffering from poverty and disadvantage,” said Mrs Fairhead.

Caritas: Tel: 9223 1311

29 Victoria Sq, Perth WA 6000

Email: perth@caritas.org.au

Website: www.caritas.org.au

Tutors aim to help students do better

With the permission and blessings of His Grace Archbishop Hickey, Academic Success has commenced its educational ministry for school students experiencing difficulty with their school work.

Academic Success is a tutoring college staffed by experts in their respective fields, offering quality, personalised tuition in English, Mathematics, Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Accounting, Business Studies, and Religious Studies for students from pre-primary to doctoral level. Individual and group tuition, conducted in a supportive and caring manner are both available.

The directors of Academic Success, Rev. Prof. Peter Dimitrakos and Ms Anne Devenish, have many years’

teaching experience at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. They tutor students of all ages, especially TEE students, and prepare and assist students in their university studies.

“Academic Success has commenced its educational ministry for school students experiencing difficulty with their school work.”

Aware of the emotional and psychological needs of students who feel they are not succeeding as well as they would wish, they also provide support in the development of self-esteem in all students.

Prof.

Tel:

(GTCPGDipA (WACAE),

Frank Hall with Melville Fernandez in Sri Lanka in front of a Caritas funded dwelling under construction.

First fruits

Archbishop Barry Hickey presented Perth couple Owen and Terri Vyner with their Degrees from the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne last Thursday March 18.

■ By Mark Reidy

Owen Vyner, from Perth and Terri, from Montana in the USA, both 31, met in 1999 while they were students in Steubenville, Ohio and married in December, 2000. They had read about the John Paul II Institute (Washington DC campus) in a theology journal and were delighted to discover that a branch would be opening in Melbourne in 2001. As both had been theologically and philosophically shaped by the anthropology of Pope John Paul II, they were convinced that a true understanding of marriage and the family were integral, not only to the future of the Church, but also to society. They believed that renewal in the Church would find its roots in the family and therefore envisaged study at the Institute as a natural progression.

However, after several attempts to contact the Melbourne branch failed, Owen and Terri decided in August 2002 to commence a novena to discern what path they should take. On the last day of the prayer they met a woman whose sister studied at the John Paul II Institute in Melbourne. By October they had made contact with the Academic Dean, Dr

Tracey Rowland and by February 2003 they had moved to Melbourne. Once they commenced their courses, Owen, in a Masters of Theology (Marriage and Family) and Terri, in a Masters of Bioethics, were immediately inspired by the sacrifice and dedication of their fellow students.

Owen believes that the call to study

at the Institute is a vocation and this was why many young people had left home, state (four others from WA) and country (there were students from the US, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Taiwan, Singapore and New Zealand), sold everything and moved to Melbourne. He believes that it is these sacrifices that will bear

What is the John Paul II Institute?

Pope John Paul II’s interest in the theology and pastoral care of marriages and families stems back to his days as a young priest. As an academic he wrote extensively on these matters; as a bishop he continued to teach on them and as Pope he established the Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family.

By the 1990’s his vision had spread to incorporate full branches of the Institute in the Vatican City State, USA, Spain, Mexico, Benin, Brazil, India, Ireland, and Austria.

However the Holy Father noted on a number of occasions that the last region of the world without a campus of the Institute was South East Asia and Oceania.

Following feasibility studies and a visit by the then President of the Institute, Bishop Angelo Scola in 1999, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference announced that a branch of the Pontifical Institute for studies on Marriage and Family would be established in Melbourne. The Institute was opened in July 2001 under the auspices of the Melbourne Archdiocese.

The Institute aims to provide a complete theological education in marriage, family studies and bioethics. Courses are offered in philosophy, theological method, biblical studies, systematic theology, moral theology, applied ethics, family law and politics, canon law, psychology, sociology and pastoral care.

fruit for the Church as it produces dedicated people who are trained to think critically and with the mind of the Church.

He is confident that graduates will be provided with Pope John Paul II’s vision of the human person, as one who is created with dignity and who is called to communion with God and others. He hopes that this knowledge will enable them, “to understand, critique and hopefully convert the culture.”

Dr Rowland told The Record that as well as their high academic achievements; the Vyners have been invaluable in the pastoral care of the younger students, particularly those from overseas.

They would both like to continue their studies, Owen in the area of Sacramental Theology and Terri in women’s fertility. They hope to eventually find themselves working in the field of marriage, family, education, fertility and post-abortion healing.

Both Owen and Terri agree that the last two years have been invaluable for them, both as individuals and as a married couple. They encourage others to consider the possibility of studying at the Melbourne Institute. They believe that those who are willing to accept the challenge and give of themselves generously will be at the forefront of the new evangelisation. The Vyners have been inspired, not only by what they have learnt, but also by those they have met. Their experience has given them a great excitement about the future of the Church in Australia. “And at the core of our hope”, says Owen, “is the John Paul II Institute.”

- Mark Reidy

The Victorian minister for Education and Training recently accredited the Institute as higher education provider. Since its inception it has enjoyed a collaborative arrangement with the University of Notre Dame in Perth. Graduates around the world have commonly assumed positions as leaders in church and community service organizations, faculty members of seminaries and theological colleges as well as marriage educators, counsellors, chaplains, teachers of sex education and ethicists. Some people have incorporated their new theological understanding into their already chosen vocations, whether that is as a parent, priest, lawyer, health worker, businessperson etc. Others have chosen to undertake individual courses, diplomas or degrees as a part of their personal development.

Next week: Andrea Dyson, also a graduate of the JPII Institute in Melbourne, writes on the role of beauty in the New Evangelisation.

Archbishop Barry Hickey with Perth couple Owen and Mary Vyner, who graduated from the John Paul II Institute for studies on Marriage and Family in Melbourne last week, with Monsignor Peter Elliot of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, who is also Director of the Institute.

Photo: courtesy Archbishop Hickey

There are two times in each year when our parishes are full, Christmas and Easter.

The regular, weekly, Mass participants are supplemented by the affectionately called ‘C&E’ Catholics, those Catholics who attend mass at Christmas and Easter. If you are a ‘C&E’ Catholic then read on. I would like to invite you to become a regular, weekly Catholic.

The Easter season has pride of place in the life of the Church as the most important liturgical event; it has done for about 2000 years now. It is the time when we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. Easter has also always been the special time when we welcome new members into the Body of Christ, through the sacrament of baptism. It has also traditionally been a time when those who have

fallen away from the Church are welcomed back. We welcome you back and we would like to see you more often! Easter does not end with Easter Sunday rather it just begins. I would like to invite you to stay. Below are some of the reasons why I’m a weekly joe and some suggestions for how you might get more out of Church if you give-it-a-go more often.

As the Easter story attests, being a Christian in the world can very often be a tough experience. It can be lessened though through the support of a caring community. Humans rely on the support and care of others. This is no different with our spiritual lives. Each day the world bombards us with a myriad of messages but Mass once a week can help us to focus on what is really important. It also gives us the chance to spend time each week with others who share similar values and a vision for how the world could be.

Not only do we need the help of a supportive community but your parish community needs you too. God blesses each of us with a unique set of gifts and talents. When we participate in the life of our local parish we enrich it with our own contribution. The weekly Mass and parish life should be an experience of participation rather than just attendance. When the gifts are brought up (the bread and wine) it is also a time when we offer our work, our gifts and ourselves.

The weekly mass and our life in the Church should support our lives outside the Church. Very often I hear people say that the Mass isn’t meaningful to me. Try starting small. Instead of trying to make sense of the whole Mass, try looking for just one thing to take away from each Mass. You might find it in Father’s homily or in one of the scripture readings. You may even discover it at the most unlikely moment. If you don’t understand something about

the Ma If th Christm someth the opp wants t celebra this in to refle offer it I thin would when tr Jesus. H you cam to you look fo with G of peop

Rekindling the

Insufficient time together is one of the major contributors to relationship breakdown.

■ By Mark Reidy

Modern relationships are plagued by busyness and couples are neglecting one another then often the lit time they have together is spent arguing. Usually the disagreements are mundane but they are usually t symptom of a deeper problem.

When emotional needs for intimacy, affection, com munication and companionship are not being m people feel neglected, lonely, and resentful. His dir clothes left on the floor are a symbol of his lack of ca her “Not tonight, dear” tiredness becomes an expre sion of her indifference.

This is just one of many issues addressed by t “Celebrate Love” Seminar which is to be held in Belmo on the weekend of April the 9th and 10th. This will the second seminar offered in Perth after the success visit of course designers, Byron and Francine Pirola October last year.

This year three Perth couples will be assisting t Pirolas as they address the many dimensions of t

Left to right: Luke and Vanessa Van Beek, Brad and Mary Prentice, Marty and Rache Dunn

■ By Derek Boylen

ss, then ask your parish priest.

e reason that you are here at Easter and mas is because you really think there may be ing in this Jesus who died for us, then take portunity to spend more time with him. He o spend it with you. On Holy Thursday we ted the Last Supper. In it Jesus asks us to “do memory of me.” I find that it is a great time

ct on the week past and the week ahead and up to the Lord. It is time out with God.

nk the best suggestion that I can give though be to steal Nathanael’s response to Philip r ying to come convince him to come and see He simply said “come and see.” If the last time me to Mass was Christmas then my invitation is simply to come and see. Take your time, r something positive, enjoy spending an hour od each week and get to know a community ple who would love to see you more often.

e time of Love

marital union. Luke and Vanessa Van Beek, Brad and Mary Prentice and Marty and Rachel Dunn have completed an intensive training course in Sydney in February and will team together to present to participants aspects of marriage, including masculine and feminine uniqueness, communication, the formation of specific attitudes, sexual intimacy, reconciliation and healing.

The course is suitable for couples of all ages and although presented in a Catholic context, people of all faiths are most welcome.

One of the goals of the seminar is for couples to rekindle their passion by exploring the spiritual, emotional and physical dimensions of their relationship. Drawing on the insights of Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body “ and the personal experiences of the Presenters, participating couples will be introduced to the sacred nature of marital intimacy and will explore practical and achievable ways of growing closer together.

For further enquiries or bookings contact Brad and Mary Prentice on (08) 9401 0596.

Byron and Francine Pirola will also be presenting a talk on Thursday April 7th at 8pm in Subiaco. The topic is “Smart Loving – Effective strategies for busy couples.” Further details of this will be announced in next week’s Record.

Crime spurs call to Christ

■ By Mark Pattison

Some people who consider joining the Catholic Church move at the pace that best suits them. For Barbara Hall, creator and executive producer of “Joan of Arcadia,” however, it was crime that helped speed up the process.

“I had this life-threatening experience. I was a victim of a violent crime,” Hall told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where she was wrapping up the last episode of the second season of “Joan of Arcadia.”

Raised a Methodist, “I was ‘nothing’ for a long time. I was an intellectual in college,” Hall recalled, “And then when I came to California, I started researching all kinds of metaphysical stuff, and all the world religions.”

Before the crime incident, which she did not elaborate on, Hall said she was already considering Catholicism, but the crime “accelerated my search. I found a church nearby and I went to a Mass, and that did it for me.”

Hall has been a Catholic for about four years. She told CNS she had been developing the idea for “Joan of Arcadia” even before she joined the church. She said she “actually got started about three years before.”

While many would be surprised to hear that it was crime that spurred Hall’s decision to join the Catholic Church, “I think people would be aghast if they found out that ‘Joan’ might not be back next season,” she noted.

The series, which deals with Joan of Arc-like visions of God - but with a present-day teenage girl - is completing its second season in the US and has run one season on local television in Australia, but it may not return. Programming decisions, made by the networks on the basis

of nightly ratings, could mean that a series like “Joan of Arcadia” could find itself on the outs after only two seasons, Hall said

Still, “I don’t fidget. If I had any fidgeting, it would have been in the middle of the season when I tried to get the (ratings) numbers up,” she added. “I have a Catholic attitude about it. I’ve done my job. There’s nothing I can do anymore. I’ve done my best.”

Last year when she was honored by Catholics in Media Associates, an American organisation, for the show, Hall said she felt compelled to create it to “initiate a conversation with the rest of the country or the world to begin a dialogue about the possibility of God. This is a show also for the alienated, the disenfranchised, the hopeful but doubting public.”

“Joan of Arcadia” heaps much attention on Amber Tamblyn, who plays the title character; she is the daughter of Hollywood actor Russ Tamblyn. But the actor who portrays Joan’s brother, Kevin, is Jason Ritter, son of John Ritter, who died in 2003 following rehearsals for an episode of his own series, “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.”

“It was very difficult” on the “Joan of Arcadia” set in the wake of the elder Ritter’s death, Hall said. “Ironically, it happened as we were doing our show about death. ... It was very unsettling for us.

“But I think he found it was helpful, in a weird way. It was a tough time in an otherwise weird situation, to lose his father before John got a chance to see the show.”

When she’s not producing “Joan of Arcadia,” Hall has an alternative-country band, the Enablers, for which she plays guitar and sings. A couple of Enablers’ songs have served as background music for “Joan” episodes, and the band is preparing its third album release this year.

the family is the future

Scoffers? Pick a side

■ With Derek Boylen

There are two types of children in the world. My sister belonged to the scoffers. Easter eggs are believed to have a shelf life approximate to that of a prawn in the sun. Within a span of about 48 hours every last crumb of chocolate has been consumed.

I belonged to the hoarders group. Thinking that chocolate will probably be in limited supply following Easter, I would pace my chocolate consumption. Over the months my Easter eggs would go through a stunning metamorphosis. Hidden away in their alfoil cocoon they would slowly transform from brown dairy milk chocolate into dusty white chocolate. Then the following Easter my sister would weep while I took down my twelve month old stale Easter eggs and replace them with a fresh batch.

Sadly, for many children the meaning of Easter is directly proportional to the number of Easter eggs consumed. A couple of weeks ago I was walking through a bookshop and a children’s book caught my eye: The Easter Story. Thinking it might be great for helping our small sons to understand what Easter is all about I picked it up. As I turned the pages I starting wondering “what has happened to Jesus.” It was a lovely story about the Easter bunny.

Karen and I have decided that we don’t want our three boys scoffing Easter eggs for 48 hours

i say, i say

as the main way that they celebrate Easter each year. Nor do we want to spend the next twelve months telling them to throw away the mouldy eggs they still have sitting in their cupboard twelve months later. We are not opposed to Easter eggs but they only need a couple from us. They will get more than enough from uncles, aunts and grandparents.

Instead, we would like to start helping our boys to appreciate the deeper meaning of Easter. Why is this the most important liturgical season of the Church and why do we celebrate it?

Karen and I decided last year that instead of Easter eggs we would like to give our children something at Easter which will help then to develop and grow in their faith. Since they are so little we have given them books that have simple bible stories written for children. We read them at home and they can take them to Mass with them to look at. As they get older we will give them other faith-focused things that are age appropriate.

If this is something you might like to do but already have older children I don’t recommend an immediate radical change next year. Your children might feel a

little ripped off. But you might like to add something to the eggs you usually give. Something that will make them think more deeply about their faith and life; a book of kids’ reflections or prayers for students/children, a journal that they can write in. There are some great journals around which have small scriptural quotes or reflections in them. Other ideas might include a small statue, candle, rosary beads and there are heaps of great posters with thoughtful quotes in the Christian bookshops.

If you are an uncle, aunt or grandparent you might consider doing the same. It does not have to be something big or expensive. You might be pleasantly surprised by the reaction. Amid a sea of Easter eggs many older children and young people will appreciate that you took the time to think of them. Instead of giving them thirty seconds of gastronomic pleasure or a gift that will sit on their bookshelf till it becomes too brittle and tasteless to eat you gave them a gift of faith and life. That is what Easter is all about. Hopefully our children will grow to appreciate that Easter is more that just a time when we go to Church more frequently. It is about God giving us the gift of life through his Son.

diversity matters

human mobility and the stand of the Church)

Immigrants as risks

■ With Tony Paganoni, CS

The idea of immigrants as risks is a familiar notion in the developed industrial world. It is argued that immigrants present a threat to society. They are nuisances bringing crime, disease and a host of problems with them. By implication, immigrants are responsible for their own misfortunes All discussions on immigration get driven into the stifling bunker of national interest and national security.

As I suspect, the notion of ‘national interest” goes back to the founding of nations, and the formation of national identities and the myths and traditions that help to define and sustain these national ways of being. Most modern industrial societies have invoked the dualism of civilisation and barbarism, development and underdevelopment, North and South. Hence migrations are compared to invasions, threatening the security and wellbeing of an advanced society. The creative and rational North (or in the case of Australia, South) is set over against the conventional, poor and hopeless “Third” World. We often model and defend our identity, and the loyalty it imposes, through our opposition to someone or something else, whether a person or a country, held to be the embodiment of a different, inferior idea. One of the most efficient methods is to create a common enemy. The irony of it all is that while the industrialised countries were cutting themselves off by such barriers, most of the great talents responsible for high achievements in the economic sphere had either crossed the Atlantic fleeing famine and persecution in Europe, or braved the Pacific or Indian Oceans in their own heroic odyssey. A case of massive loss of memory!

The concept of immigrant as risk gets enmeshed in the struggle to shape and preserve our personal

and national identity. To imagine immigrants as a threat to the integrity of a nation puts them in the middle of seismic movements which can become very convulsive. It attributes to them great power that they do not in fact possess. Even if they are mostly unseen and unheard of, their existence is seen as questioning, and sometimes defying many of the precepts of the nation-state and the ideals it stands for.

Among the issues it raises are: What is ‘Australian’? Who has a right or qualifies for citizenship? Who has and should have access to the country’s resources, both material and symbolic?

Faced with these and similar challenges of the alien outsider, thought to be destabilising, the state and coalitions it represents mobilise to defend existing laws and norms and to create new ones intended to uphold the national ideal, the very foundation of the social order. The greater the sense of danger, the greater the force summoned to barricade the nation from any threat, whether from inside or out.

In the end, the struggle between these two views – of the immigrant at risk and the immigrant as risk – harks back to the primeval conflict between the impulses to solidarity and life, or to dismemberment and death. Without falling into the temptation of the quick fix, it is clear that our best option is to defend the life impulse, even if this seems deceptive and utopian at times.

But we ought not overlook that the ‘system’ always wins and vaunts its success to the point where we cannot imagine anything else. But the Kingdom of God is the tiny mustard seed bursting with resurrection life, and the new is not yet discernible – but in a deeper sense is already here!

Deliver us, Lord, from the madness of conspiracy theorists

■ With Guy Crouchback

The da Vinci Code may have done a little unintended good if it has alerted us to a new and dangerous phenomenon. That is, the multiplication of books purporting to expose various conspiracies and mysteries. According to Amazon. com these books sell very well indeed.

They are, for the most part, utter rubbish, and harmful and dangerous rubbish at that. Perhaps I am looking at the past through rosecoloured spectacles, but it seemed to me there used to be less of them,

and they used to occupy a much more marginal place. There was Mr Adamski with his flying saucers, and fantasy that made no bones about being fantasy. Was this because people previously were better able to recognise scientific nonsense, bad history, the confusion of cause and effect, and bad logic than they are today?

The flight to England of Nazi politician Rudolf Hess during World War II is an example. It has been suggested in more than one recent book that Hess was not a lone madman, but was carrying an official, carefully-worked-out proposal from Hitler to make peace with Britain, thus giving Hitler a free hand to attack Russia, and that Britain seriously considered it. That is, that a proposal of this magnitude would be communicated by a middle-aged politician who stole and aircraft, risking being shot down by both sides, flew to Scotland, turned the aircraft upside-down and parachuted out of it, risking death every step of the way, and then asked to

see the Duke of Hamilton, under the impression that British foreign policy was made by Dukes. Hardly. A proposal of such magnitude would be communicated by one ambassador to another in a neutral country. Hess was wildly brave but bonkers. Air-raids on Britain did not stop because there was a de-facto armistice while Britain considered the proposal, but because the German Air Force was being transferred to the East.

Of course this is mild compared to some of them: according to some George Bush Senior and Junior and the British Royal Family are space-aliens and drug-traffickers who hold secret rites under the Great Pyramid. This was communicated to me by the chief vocational guidance advisor at a major high school.

Then, of course, there are the arguments that because pyramids are found in both Egypt and Central America they must have been built by the lost civilization of Atlantis, despite the fact they were

built thousands of years apart. And Atlantis itself? Apparently it slipped down the globe at a rate of knots similiar to that of a speedboat and became Antarctica - the Atlanteans, despite having a super-civilization, didn’t happen to notice and get off.

The re-hashings of Gnosticism of which The Da Vinci Code is a prime example are at the centre of the boom in conspiracy theories. This is hardly surprising, as Gnosticism is predicated upon some sort of “Secret Knowledge”, unlike the Christian Church, whose great “Mysteries,” like Mass, are celebrated in public, in, as Evelyn Waugh put it, a “flood of light” and do not contain or purport to contain “secrets.”

Some of these conpiracy theories and mysteries are slickly written by able writers. They plainly appeal to certain spiritual appetites deprived of proper spiritual nourishment. Some of them possibly contain among the rubbish some grains of truth, for there are mysteries in the world, though they should be

investigated with the proper tools and methods of science. But by and large they are pernicious nonsense, and it would do no harm for the Church to consider some serious strategies to counteract them.

Meet

Easter Basket.

Photo: CNS

Silence (in Church) can be golden

dear padre

Question: Some parish priests want silence in their churches before Mass. Others encourage socialising with others. This is confusing! Which is correct?

When I was teaching high school, I had a photoposter of a sunrise in the classroom. It depicted that moment when the dark shadows of night are being put to flight by the first rays of daylight. Superimposed over the photo were these words: “God speaks when we are still enough to listen.”

From earliest times, silence has been an important – even essential – component of our communication with God. The Book of Job gives us this beautiful description:

“Someone stood there – I could not see his face, but the form remained before me. Silence – and then I heard a Voice . . .” (Job 4:16)

The prophet Habakkuk says this: “The Lord is in His holy Temple: let the whole earth be silent before Him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)

Another prophet, Zechariah, is better known for his summons: “Sing, rejoice, daughter of Zion, for I am coming to dwell in your midst –it is the Lord Who speaks.” (Zechariah 2:10) But just a few verses later he gives this admonition: “Let all man-

kind be silent before the Lord, for He is awaking and is coming from His holy dwelling.” (2:13)

So what are we supposed to do at Mass – sing and rejoice, or keep silent? We’re supposed to do both. However, it seems that the rejoicing usually wins over silence, hands down. I was recently in a church hearing confessions before Mass. For a full hour the din went on – musicians rehearsing, people talking, ministers loudly giving instructions to one another in the body of the church – to the point where I was unable to hear myself think, much less those coming to confession.

When I was growing up, I was taught to enter the church quietly and leave my other concerns outside: I was entering the Lord’s house.

I genuflected to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and then knelt down to prepare for Mass. That preparation included a few prayers I had learned: the Morning Offering, the Acts of Faith, Hope and Love, and the Act of Contrition. I also mentioned to God those people and intentions I wanted to include in my offering of the Mass. Then I sat down and prepared my missal (if I hadn’t done so at home), so that I could follow the Mass.

After receiving Holy Communion, I was likewise taught to kneel down and bow my head, avoiding all distractions, while I spoke to Jesus in my heart. In thanksgiving for the gift of the Eucharist, I prayed the Anima Christi (Soul of Christ), the Prayer before the Crucifix, and the Self-Offering of St Ignatius Loyola.

Finally, before leaving after Mass, I (and nearly everyone else) again knelt and prayed: O Sacrament Most Holy (three times), a consecration to Our Lady (My Queen, My Mother), and the acclamation “May Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament be praised, adored and loved . . .”

I still try to maintain this practice, and I’m glad it was taught to me. I learned how to pray the Mass – not only in the responses we made and the hymns we sang, but also in our listening to readings, homily and prayers . . . and in silence. I’m afraid that today’s people are trained in all aspects of participation except silence.

The 2001 General Instruction on the Roman Missal says this: Sacred silence, as part of the celebration,

should be observed at the designated times . . . at the introduction to act of penitence, after the invitation to pray, at the conclusion of a reading or the homily. Then, after Communion, they praise and pray to God in their hearts.

Even before the celebration itself, it is laudable for silence to be observed in the church, in the sacristy, and in adjacent areas, so that all may dispose themselves to carry out the sacred action in a devout and fitting manner. (no. 45)

I know that some will object, saying that the Mass is community worship. True, but does silence have no place in that community? At what point before Mass is there room for silence, for those who wish to pray quietly? Are we losing an important part of our communication with God by constantly succumbing to the urge to fill every available moment with some kind of sound: if not reciting, reading or singing, then chatting?

I would recommend that parishes adopt some kind of compromise: a mandated period of silence before Mass, allowing for any brief announcements and music practice with the congregation that is necessary. (Musicians should rehearse on their own in some other location, however – the church is not an appropriate place for tinkering with guitars and keyboards right before Mass.)

Then, after Mass, let there be some socialising as people leave – but let them keep walking, and not loiter in the church as they talk. Let the ‘talkers’ move to the porch or, better yet, outdoors.

Likewise, let those who choose to remain in church after Mass be patient enough to let the others leave before beginning their quiet prayers.

Send your questions to:

‘Dear Padre’

PO Box 75

Leederville WA 6902

College introduces people to a Christ they don’t know

■ By Jamie O’Brien

The Acts II College of Mission and evangelisation opened last month with more than 20 students.

The College is part of a mission by the Disciples of Jesus Covenant Community. With a combination of fulltime and part time students, the College is in the process of finalising accreditation and registration to enable a certificate to be issued on the completion of student’s studies.

The Disciples of Jesus opened a similar college in Sydney in 1997.

Disciples of Jesus Leader for Western Australia, Reg Firth said that it is hoped accreditation will be recognised as a Certificate IV in Christian Ministry.

“We are trying to provide something that is comparable with other bible colleges of other denominations,” Mr Firth said.

Mr Firth mentioned that until now, there have been a number of people from the Catholic Church attending Bible colleges of other denominations in the Perth diocese.

“We want to be able to comfort-

ably invite people, seeing as they have studied the scriptures in other denominational beliefs, to now come and study ours,” Mr Firth said.

He said he finds it particularly encouraging inviting people who are experiencing a disillusion with the Church.

“How do we win these back?” Mr Firth asked.

“Introduce them to the Christ they don’t know through a develop-

ment of personal faith. Once this happens then we are able to open them up to the Catholic Church.”

However Mr Firth was also strong to mention this doesn’t happen overnight.

“They need to fall in love with Christ and his Church.”

“However, often a conversion can take a number of months or years.”

Principal Jane Borg said that the College differs from Notre Dame University because the courses at

the college are designed to assist the students with applying the scriptures with everyday life.

The college is open to people who have recently finished secondary school and are looking for a break from University or TAFE studies or employment.

“Christian formation is not about qualification,” Mrs Borg said.

“Acts II College of Mission and Evangelisation is not just an academic college,

“However we are organising that part of it so we can compete with other colleges,”

It is a course on life skills, on learning how to apply the scriptures to their lives.”

According to Mr Firth, classes are not at University level at this stage but hopes this can be achieved in the future.

Classes look at breaking open the catechism of the Church, encyclicals and teachings such as John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

Teachers at the college include Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton, Catholic Youth Ministry Director Fr Don Kettle, Vocations Discernment coordinator Fr Timothy Deeter, as well as Paul Kelly, from Aquinas College and guest lecturer Dr Jennifer Skerritt.

The college also holds free public lectures on a Tuesday afternoon at 4pm and so far more than 30 people have been attending.

An official opening ceremony is yet to be held.

For more information contact the Principal, Jane Borg on 08 9202 6859.

■ With Fr Timothy Deeter

Students at prayer. Silence in Church observed by all can offer others a chance to better commune with God and indicates a basic courtesy. Talking can easily be engaged in outside the Church, especially in Perth’s beautiful climate. Photo: CNS

What the teacher sees: students of all ages look forward to discovering Scripture through the new College.

Let us offer Good News to the world

The message of Easter is as relevant today as it ever was. It is God’s answer to the questions about suffering and death that have always been part of human existence since the Fall of our first parents.

■ Bishop Gerard Holohan - Bunbury

CSuffering and death are still major questions in the human mind and always will be because they demand an explanation.

Without some meaning to suffering and to death the human race runs the unthinkable risk of futility and emptiness. If death is the end then the world is pointless and the eternal longings of the human heart are a mockery.

Easter reminds us that God sent his own Son into our world to offer us a priceless gift, eternal life. Jesus spoke of it often, called people to

live a life of integrity and love in the presence of God, opened the way to eternal life through his suffering and death.

In doing so he overcame the consequence of sin and obtained for us the precious and priceless gift of eternal life. Because of Easter, we can now find a meaning.to suffering and can look death in the face, knowing that it holds no terrors for those who believe in Christ and believe that his death and resurrection was a victory over sin and death.

Seek the ‘encounter’ in the ordinary things

hristians today know that Christ is Risen, first and foremost because they can experience and draw upon his divine power for their lives. Easter, therefore, is not primarily a celebration of a historical event, like Australia Day. Though certainly an historical event, Christians celebrate Christ’s resurrection at Easter because, through their experiences of him, increasingly, like St Paul, they grow to:

… know him and the power of his resurrection.

A major concern for us as a Diocese, however, is the decline in religious practice among Catholics over recent decades. This suggests that many Catholics may ‘know about’ Christ – but they neither ‘know him personally, nor the power of his resurrection’. To change this situation, we need as a Church to get much better at sharing with others our Christian experiences. This is one of the challenges of new evangelisation.

Encounter points for Christian and personal experiences

The renewal of theology over the past decades has been a wonderful gift of God. However, the decline in religious practice over the same period suggests that we may have forgotten the basics required for sharing and nurturing faith. The reforms of catechesis, led by Pope John Paul II, remind us that:

■ sharing and nurturing the foundational experiences of Christian faith is the most basic requirement for handing on faith to others. If we fail to hand on these experiences, we fail to hand on faith itself;

■ the purpose of Christian beliefs is two-fold. They help us enter into these foundational experiences of Christian faith ourselves, and they help us to hand on these experiences to others.

Faith is a gift of God. In God’s plan, faith sparks into life whenever an experience of God and the personal experience of the hearer actually encounter each other. These encounter points can only happen at the deepest level within the hearer, so they take time.

Yet without these encounters, a person can ‘know about’ Christ

and ‘know about’ the experiences of God he makes possible, but they cannot actually ‘know’ Christ or the power of his resurrection.

Though knowing ‘about’ is a critical element of Christian faith, it is not sufficient on its own. ‘Knowing’ is absolutely essential.

What are Christian and personal experiences?

Experiences of God referred to in this context are those found in the Word of God, Scripture and Tradition.

They underlie the beliefs and practices found in the Creed, the Sacraments, the Commandments as Jesus taught them, and the Lord’s Prayer. These beliefs and practices ‘allow us to touch’ the experiences (or ‘realities’) they express.

‘Personal experiences’ in this context refer particularly to the yearnings and questionings of the human heart. They surface in all kinds of ways.

Deep personal yearnings, such as those for lasting love, inner freedom or goodness, and questions, such as those about personal meaning, life after death and the meaning of suffering, are particularly important. Ultimately they reflect the yearning in each person for Christian salvation.

To hand on Easter faith, we need to work out and help others to see possible encounter points between the Easter experiences of the Risen Christ, and their own personal experiences. But to do this, we must be able first to see these encounter points in our own lives.

The Easter experiences

Easter celebrates the sufferings, death and resurrection of Christ, what we call the Paschal Mystery. This mystery opens us to two basic kinds of experiences of the divine.

Freedom from sinfulness

First, by his sufferings and death, Christ frees us from the sinfulness that is at the root of all human weaknesses and failings in our lives. Experiences of this include being freed gradually from selfishness, resentments, temptations, desires for what conflicts with the Commandments, vices and negative attitudes. Selfishness weakens, and love grows stronger; resentments weaken, and forgiveness becomes easier – and so on.

These experiences of the divine spark and deepen faith whenever we relate them to our personal experiences. We may yearn for freedom from some selfishness that hampers our marriage or some other relationship. Or we may yearn for freedom from some temptation, or some bad habit, such as lying, a quick temper or gossiping.

It is for each of us to reflect to see possible personal encounter points in our lives. To the extent that we cannot see these points in our own lives, we will find it hard to help others find these points in their lives. And we will find it hard to hand on Christian faith.

Empowered to become more Christ-like

Second, by his resurrection, Christ opens for us the way to a new life – life in Christ. We can become more like the Christ who commanded:

“Love one another as I have loved you.”

These experiences can encounter our personal experiences only when we realise that, as baptised people, we need to do more than overcome weaknesses and failings. We need to become more like Christ, to live the ideals he preached, to lead lives worthy of our Christian callings, to lead lives ‘worthy of the Gospel of Christ’.

Possible encounter points between experiences of Christ’s resurrection power, and our personal experiences, become more obvious when we ask ourselves: ‘Where in my life am I not behaving as Jesus would?’ In all our lives there are plenty of gaps between how the Jesus of the Gospels behaved, and how we behave.

Christ expressed heroic love, and called for it in sayings such as ‘turn the other cheek’, ‘forgive seventy times seven’. Whenever people suggest that a teaching of Christ is simply an ideal that cannot be lived really because ‘people are

only human’, they reveal that they have yet to experience the power of Christ’s resurrection. They are not seeking the encounter between this divine experience and their own personal experience.

Becoming ‘new persons’

Genuine encounters between experiences of God through the Word, and personal experiences, gradually lead to human personality change. For example, a person’s personality changes if they grow more loving or forgiving, and less selfish or resentful.

Through the power of his resurrection, each of us can grow in what St Paul described as the ‘new creation’ or the ‘new person’ our baptisms make possible. We can find ourselves increasingly empowered in our daily lives to love others like Jesus; to forgive, to do good, to keep the Commandments like him; to grow in Christ-like virtue. We can find strengthening in our illnesses and consolation in our sufferings. We are changed as people.

The many ways the Paschal Mystery can empower our daily lives are celebrated in the sacraments. Each sacrament celebrates some of these ways. Freedom from sinfulness and growing into new ‘Christ-like’ creations are the two aspects of experiences of the Paschal Mystery. Unless we each know these experiences personally, the Paschal Mystery will be reduced for us to a meaningless or ‘mysterious’ phase.

Encounters with experiences through the Eucharist

The greatest celebration of the Paschal Mystery is the Eucharist. We need to recognise this in the Year of the Eucharist.

Liturgy of the Word

Through the Liturgy of the Word, we can experience Christ guiding our daily lives – how to live like Christ, to find answers to questions, to rise above weaknesses and failings. We need to identify possible encounter points for these experiences and our personal experiences before we can help others renew their faith in this part of the Eucharistic celebration.

The Eucharistic sacrifice

Through the Eucharistic sacrifice, Christ seeks to share with us the power of his resurrection. We accept this to the extent that we offer our lives with him to God the Father. This includes offering

The world needs such good news. To forget God and to ignore Jesus is to court despair and emptiness.

Our world, racked with wars, hunger and violence, needs the consoling words of a Saviour who said “I am the Resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me will not die but have eternal life”. (Jn 11:25)

Let this Easter be a time of thanksgiving to Jesus Christ our Saviour for his loving gift of eternal life, and for offering our own Good News of hope and happiness to our unbelieving but desperate world.

in each Eucharist our work, our married and family lives, our daily prayers, our projects, our anxieties and our physical and psychological sufferings. Possible encounter points between Christ’s power and our personal experiences include wherever we need to become ‘more Christ-like’ in these areas of our lives. This is the power that keeps developing us as ‘new creations’ and ‘new persons’ in Christ. Then there are the specific experiences Christ offers all who receive him in Holy Communion, which we cannot go into here.

Of course, we need to prepare ourselves before celebrations of the Mass if our hearts are to be open to these experiences. This includes praying for help where we see in our lives the need for Christ’s guidance and empowerment.

Have we lost the art of Eucharist catechesis?

It is ironic that theological and liturgical libraries have been written about the Eucharist over recent decades – yet less and less people are participating in the Mass. The basic experiences Christ offers in the Eucharist, and the preparation needed to enter into them, seem to have become lost in the explosion of ideas ‘about’ the Eucharist.

We seem to have lost the art of promoting the ‘encounter’ between these experiences and the personal experiences of those who have given up religious practice.

People’s faith in the Eucharist will be restored only if we share with them our experiences of the Eucharist – and of how we ourselves seek the encounter between these experiences and our personal experiences.

Let us hand on our Easter faith

Let us all, as new evangelisers, seek opportunities this Easter to share our Easter faith with other parishioners, family members, friends and others who have given up their religious practice. In homilies, conversations over cups of tea, family discussions and when answering children’s questions, let us aim always to help others discover ‘encounter points’ between the Easter experiences of God and their personal experiences.

Without this basic catechesis, the current decline in religious practice will continue. Let this Easter inspire us to renew our efforts to fulfil our mission today as new evangelisers of the Gospel!

Bishop Gerard Holohan

■ Archbishop Barry James Hickey

Archbishop Hickey

■ Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton

IThe Cross is a key - it opens a door to a new way of living

once read a funny little story about the ceremonies of Good Friday. It occurred in those ancient times following the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine and the famous discovery by his mother, Helena, of the cross in Jerusalem.

Because of Helena’s efforts to locate the sites of the crucifixion and the burial of Jesus, the bishop of Jerusalem and the faithful were able to assemble at Calvary for the Good Friday liturgy. This early

liturgy consisted of a recitation of the passion and death of Jesus and the veneration of the remnant of

the true Cross. For the veneration, the bishop would sit, holding what at that time was a sizable piece of the cross. The faithful would come forward to make a reverence and to kiss the wood.

On one Good Friday, however, one very devout pilgrim advanced to kiss the Cross, but then proceeded to bite out a piece of the cross to take home.

From then on, two burly deacons stood on either side of the bishop and the Cross to ensure that no one took a similar liberty ever again.

The special solemnity of Good Friday is one of those remarkable moments of Holy Week. There is a tangible atmosphere of quiet subdued reflection on the great love of God who would not spare His son death for humanity. The vene-

ration of the Cross gives each of us the opportunity to contemplate this mystery and to focus on the place of the Cross in our own personal lives. The Cross has meaning. It reveals itself in our lives, not as a punishment, but as the means by which we can grow in faith and in our humanity.

I am continually impressed by the stories I hear of people who deliberately take up the Cross in their own lives. They show to me the maturity of their faith, as they pray for the one who has deeply hurt them.

The sin that has been committed against them, as hurtful and devastating as it might be, is the cross that they have embraced.

Rather than seek revenge or some human form of justice, they

have listened and reflected on both the actions of the other person and the new awareness of themselves as they live through the experience.

The Cross has brought to some of these people a deeper understanding of themselves and others, and especially what it takes to act with mercy.

The Cross has the shape of a key. It opens the door to new vitality. Calvary opens the way to the power and the glory of new life and strength.

I pray for each family that the mystery of the Cross will become the key to unlock the mystery of our lives.

May the sharing in the Easter Eucharist enable each person to follow Christ with a power that is beyond our making.

Even in disaster I see the power of Jesus’s resurrection

■ Bishop Justin Bianchini - Geraldton

Iwonder what has been happening to you since last Easter. Apart from the good things, has there been grief, sadness, illness, or hardship of any kind?

On the world scene and close to us there has been the tragedy of the Boxing Day tsunami. This among other tragedies brings home the fragility of our planet and of human life.

People as you know have asked “where is God in this?” Or even “is there a God?”

Easter, I believe, is closely connected to this sad disaster. It is the memorial of Jesus’ death and resurrection – or rather of Jesus’

passing from death to life. It gives us a faith perspective and a very real perspective on this and all events that happen.

In the vulnerability, suffering, death, grief and hardships of hundreds of thousands of people, Jesus

our suffering Lord is present. God’s Son became totally vulnerable in taking on our human nature. He showed this vulnerability most of all in his Passion and Death.

It was here too that he took on our hardships and sorrows. Jesus identified with every person affected by the tsunami.

Very quickly, there was a generous response by people around our State, Country and World. This is still continuing. It is an outpouring of real love and compassion through material, financial and personal help.

I see here the power of Jesus’s resurrection. From this shocking natural disaster has come life and goodness. It is the life and goodness of Jesus in each person that brings forth such things. It gives such hope to those who remain in these devastated areas. We have read about and seen on television some of the ways people are being helped with

their immediate needs. Buildings are being put up. Hospitals, medical centres and schools are starting to operate again.

Caritas outlined in its last newsletter the relief that they have offered in all the affected countries as well as what their future focus will be. Catholic Mission also has been involved in Sri Lanka and issued a news bulletin. It was interesting to read how a priest in one area had only 20 Catholic families to tend to before the disaster struck. Now the parish compound with buildings stacked with rations has become a centre for relief for the whole area.

It was good to see as well how seminarians from the national seminary in Kandy immediately left their seminary to support relief efforts in parishes.

There are many things that will never be the same. Lives cannot be restored. People are living still

with shock and grief. Some land and buildings are impossible to repair. People in some places by the coast where the waters still recede a great distance, are still living in fear. Where is the resurrection at work here? While there are many signs of our risen Lord at work already, the resurrection is really long term. Jesus died and rose so that all may have life.

Some 300,000 people have lost their lives. Many more are still broken or getting their lives together. To all of these and to us, when we die, Jesus offers unending life and the resurrection of our bodies. Because of Easter, no matter how we depart this life, Jesus offers all the same gift.

Yes, Easter throws just so much light on our lives and on our death – whoever we are, wherever we are and on whatever happens to us. My good wishes to all for a faithfilled and happy Easter.

This event is what makes sense of life, tragedies and all

Around about this time last year I went to see Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ. It is a film of graphic violence and stark beauty. The immensity of terror and suffering captured during the scenes of the scourging at the pillar and the crucifixion are still vivid in my mind. A year later I am not able to read an account of the Passion of Christ without these images becoming immediately present to me. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It is simply a fact.

I remember at the time almost gasping at the horror of the violence and hoping the film would

not stop with the death of Jesus. None of it - the blood, the suffering, and the ignominy - would have made any sense unless goodness had triumphed. Nothing could lift me out of my depression and a feel-

ing of hopelessness unless Christ’s resurrection was the final scene in the story. Fortunately Gibson concluded his epic with a beautifully portrayed resurrection motif that is powerful and memorable. It too is still fresh in my mind.

The movie’s aptly constructed picture of light coming from a tomb and a living Jesus sitting near the discarded burial cloths bathed by that warming light was uplifting. It was not only artistic splendour but it was a hope-filled realisation that painted an image of God’s undying love for us.

Death was conquered. For me it highlighted the core of our faith that Christ, through his death and resurrection, has “brought us out of darkness into his own wonderful light.”

In so many ways our lives are lived out in the shadow of violence. The war in Iraq with its overwhelm-

ing bloodshed and the senseless suicide bombings throughout the region continue to press down upon us. In our own country, the crime on our streets, the domestic terror in our homes and the carnage on our roads are instances of undeniable violence. These dreadful happenings are frightening burdens, destructive of human confidence and solidarity. They fracture the peace we long for. Has the Cross of Christ and His glorious resurrection anything to say about such brutal events? I believe they do – for those who can see with eyes of faith.

The Easter event is not about passive acceptance. It is about purpose, direction and a promise of eternal life. It makes sense of all of life’s disappointments and transforms the haunting tragedies of unbridled outrage. The hope of Easter is that we are raised up and renewed in

the gift of Christ. As St Paul tells us: “…and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.” (Col:3:4)

The prayer of the Christian community is that our faith in Christ may be strong and our love for God may be unwavering.

May the risen Lord

Breathe on our minds and open our eyes

That we may know him in the breaking of bread, And follow him in his risen life.

I take this opportunity to wish you and your family God’s choicest blessings this Easter and always.

Bishop Justin Bianchini

■ Bishop Christopher Saunders - Broome

Bishop Christopher Saunders

Bishop Donald Sproxton

Features Keep them quiet, and unseen

Selena Ewing looks at why the proabortion lobby wants to make pro-life women invisible.

When it comes to abortion, women are on the move. They are writing, talking, agitating for change. Women who have had abortions, women who are mothers and women who are not, working women, academics, studentsmany different kinds of women think society can and should offer more than abortion.

They are pro-life women, challenging the status quo. And they’re not having aloof discussions about other women. It’s about us women.

Yet pro-abortion commentators continue to push the lie that only men want an abortion debate, and that women uniformly support abortion. Why? Why do they want prolife women to be invisible?

Perhaps they can’t believe that women might question abortion. Perhaps they think these women are simply puppets. Perhaps it’s ignorance.

But most likely, it’s because the lie suits the pro-abortion agenda. The strategy is a form of emotional blackmail. It suggests that to stand in solidarity with other women, we must support abortion as a private decision, as a woman’s choice. To help women, we must abandon them to their desperate “free choices”. To fit women into society, we must surgically restructure their bodies.

The paradox is that while “churchmen” and male politicians are ordered to stay out of women’s lives, the aim is in fact to secure a state-funded surgical intervention.

Here’s another lie: pro-lifers think women have abortions frivolously, while pro-abortion women know that the decision is an agonising one. This slur is repeatedly published in opinion columns - and often in the same breath the pro-choice writer will claim that this agonising decision has no long-term effect. It’s as incredible as it is untrue. A prolife woman knows the pain and grief of the decision and the years afterwards, sometimes because she’s been there herself, or because she’s worked with grieving women, or simply because it’s intuitively true.

And more emotional blackmail - that women need safe, legal abortion or they’ll die at the hands of backyard butchers. It’s the ultimate pro-abortion conversation-stopper,

albeit based on a misunderstanding of medical history. The conversation stops here, yet this is where conversation should begin.

Why is it assumed that women will, en masse, break the law and submit to risky procedures when pregnant? The answer: if they do it’s because they’re desperate, trapped. The most powerful pro-choice argument - the backyard abortion - belies the phoney rhetoric of “choice”.

The pro-choice answer to this desperation is abortion on demand, relieving the woman of her children. The pro-life answer is structural change, refusing to choose between women and children. Pro-life women tend to set up pregnancy support centres. Pro-abortion women tend to set up abortion clinics.

Yet we hear that it’s only men who don’t like abortion - men want to control women, send them back to the kitchen.

A divisive and harmful strategy of traditional feminism has been to pit women against men as though enemies. The same old tactic is being played out now. The effect is to stifle the alternative woman’s voice.

So here’s the truth. Most women don’t hate men, and most women don’t like abortion. Some women may feel compelled to support abortion because it appears that women need it. If things were different, women would rather not have it at all. Idealistic? Perhaps.

But that’s why we need to have a public discussion about more than just having abortions. We need to discuss what drives women to abortion, then we need to find solutions.

There is a new generation, young women who have watched many friends and sisters endure the torment of abortion. They are aware of the pressures of motherhood and the demands of the corporate world. They know abortion is a quick, cheap response to a desperate woman - but that its effects can be devastating.

These women want a debate and they want change. They don’t want abortion - they want a world that accepts them and their bodies. They are part of a grassroots movement that has coalesced into Women’s Forum Australia - an independent women’s think tank that undertakes research, education and advocacy in a wide range of social, cultural, economic and health issues affecting women, including abortion. The membership is growing daily.

Here’s a novel idea. Those who call themselves pro-choice should be true to their name. Make it realistic for every woman to

“Could a mother forget her baby, or a woman the child within her womb? Yet even if these forget, I will never forget my own.” God’s infinitely tender yet passionate words to his people centuries ago come forcibly to mind when thinking about abortion. Significantly, the one point of consensus that came out of the most recent airing of the

abortion issue was that abortion is a traumatic and emotionally painful experience, The tragedy is that women do not forget their babies, though they might have aborted them. Otherwise how explain the existence of the Abortion Grief Counselling Service, answering a crying need among women who have had abortions, and who would otherwise be left to suffer in silence?

But there is another, more sinister result of freely available, legal abortion that we need to confront now, before it too becomes entrenched. Acceptance of abortion engenders an attitude of equivocation towards human life not only before birth, but at any time, and it spells a great danger for the old, the sick and disabled. If we do not strongly and vocally defend human life from its very first moment of conception, we are on the slippery slope that very quickly leads to seeing all peo-

choose to give birth if she so desires. Improve support for pregnant women and new mothers. Don’t assume that an unintended pregnancy is the end of the world. Don’t be satisfied with a community that is so often hostile to women with children. Don’t let women have abortions they don’t want. Abortion is back in the news because it isn’t going away. As long as so many women

ple who require extra care of one sort or another as inconveniences that can be disposed of quickly and cleanly by simple injection or by denying care now regarded as non-extraordinary, such as assisted feeding.

The Catholic Church is the only Christian denomination that still teaches unequivocally that from the moment of conception to natural death, a human person exists, and that therefore abortion and euthanasia can never be justified, as they actively destroy innocent human lives.

Do we as Catholics also believe this, or are we prepared to turn a blind eye? What is our own attitude towards life? Do we use contraception to avoid having children, and go out to work instead, thus sending a message to the children we do have that their potential siblings were too much of a nuisance, or threatened our standard of living?

feel that abortion is their only choice, we have to talk about it. It’s a fantastic opportunity to call for some real change for women, not to censor them. Censorship must stop so that a fruitful pro-woman debate can take place.

Selena Ewing is a research officer at the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute and a member of Women’s Forum Australia. This article first appeared in The Age, on 16 February 2005.

“The Catholic Church is the only Christian denomination that still teaches unequivocally that from the moment of conception to natural death, a human person exists”

If we knew we were expecting a Down Syndrome baby, or a baby with a cleft palate, or spina bifida, or any one of a number of other antenatally diagnosable conditions, what would be our decision? Do we respect the old, the disabled and the sick, or do we really see their existence as pointless, and think they would be better off dead, because they are a burden on society? These are hard questions, to which there is only one answer for a committed Catholic. A radical change in attitude is required and parents, once

again it starts with you. Silence is not good enough, because everywhere they turn, our children are faced with selfish anti-life messages, We have to try to counteract this by both living out and speaking the truth, that every person is of unique value because they are made in God’s image and likeness, and we don’t ever see the full picture of God’s eternal plan for each person. We are not at liberty to interfere with that by causing premature death no matter how well motivated we may be.

And remember, one day your children may have the power to decide if you live or die, when you are old and useless and inconvenient.

Will they respect your right to live until your natural death, as you taught them to, or will they dispose of you as you taught them to? What they learn as children they carry with them always.

Pro-life women tend to set up pregnancy support centres. Pro-abortion women tend to set up abortion clinics, says South Australian writer Selena Ewing.

Photo: courtesy S. Ewing.

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OFFICIAL DIARY

Humor

A new pastor moved into town and went out one Saturday to visit his parishioners. All went well until he came to one house. It was obvious that someone was home, but no one came to the door even after he had knocked several times.

Finally, he took out his card, wrote on the back “Revelation 3:20” and stuck it in the door. The next day, as he was counting the offering he found hiscard in the collection plate. Below his message was notation “Genesis 3:10”.

Revelation 3:20 reads: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.”

Genesis 3:10 reads: “And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked.”

PANORAMA a roundup of events in the archdiocese

Friday March 25

GOOD FRIDAY CEREMONIES

Catholic Agricultural College, Bindoon11am

Stations of the Cross, 2.30pm Solemn ceremony. The Lord’s Passion. Confessions from 10.30am & after Stations of the Cross. All are welcome!

Those who require transport please contact Francis Williams ph: 9459 3873 mob 0404 893 877. For more details contact Fr Paul 9571-1839 or Christine 9576-1040

Friday March 25

STATIONS OF THE CROSS PEACE BE STILL

From 11am we will be walking 13 km up the hill from Bullsbrook to Chittering Road.

Saturday March 26

EASTER VIGIL MASS

Feel like doing something different for Easter this year? The UWA Catholic Society are hosting an Easter Vigil Mass from 7:30pm for 1 hour at UWA Tropical Grove, for 1 hour. See www.ucs.org.au for more details

Sunday March 27

ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK 1  2 PM ON ACCESS

31 The Path of the Messiah, a Holy Land Pilgrimage, commemorating the Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Our Lord conducted by Raymond Arroyo and Jeff Cavins. The Rosary Christian Tutorial Association wishes all viewers a very Happy, Holy Easter. Postal address: PO Box 1270, Booragoon 6954. Enq 9330-1170.

Tuesday March 29

MARIAN MOVEMENT OF PRIESTS

DAY OF REFLECTION - EASTER TUESDAY

At St Bernadette’s Church, Jugan St, Glendalough. 10.30am-2pm. Commences with Rosary followed by Holy Mass and talks. (Confessions available). Celebrant and Speaker: Fr Don Kettle. Bring lunch to share.

Friday 1 April

ALLIANCE AND TRIUMPH OF THE TWO HEARTS

All night vigil of devotions and reparation to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary at St. Bernadette’s Church, Jugan Street, Glendalough. Commences 9pm with Holy Mass. Hourly rosary, hymns and devotions to the two Hearts. Concludes with Parish Mass at 7.30am followed by Rosary and Benediction. Enq 93425845

Friday April 1-4

CATHOLIC FAITH RENEWAL RETREAT

Fr Vincent Lee will be in Perth to conduct a Sin and Repentance Retreat at Advent Park, 345 Kalamunda Rd Maida Vale. Fr Lee iis well known for his evangelicle mission. Come and experience the power of the Holy Spirit. Cost Includes meals and accommodation. Enq 9272 1765, Gertrude 9455 6576, Rose 0403

720

Sunday April 3

DIVINE MERCY

The feast of Devine Mercy will be celebrated at St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Square the programme for the afternoon is as follows, 2.30pm Reconciliation, Holy Rosary and Holy Mass with Monsignor Thomas McDonald, 3.30pm Benediction followed by Veneration of St Faustina Kowalska’s first Class Relic.

Enq John 9457 7771, Linda 9275 6608

Monday April 4

CATHOLIC FAITH RENEWAL

Praise and Worship evening followed by Holy Mass at Holy Family Church Como. The main Celebrant is Fr Vincent Lee. All welcome

Monday April 4

COUNTRY DAY OF REFLECTION

St Anne’s Church, 2549 Great Northern Hwy, Bindoon, Feast of the Annunciation, 9.30 am - 3pm. Holy Mass 2pm. Guest Preacher Fr Hugh Thomas CssR. Enq 9571-1839 or Jean 9576-0006.

Wednesday April 6

MOTHER’S PRAYERS MASS

For all mothers and Grandmothers coming together to pray for their children, from 9.30am at St Kieran’s Parish, Corner Cape and Waterloo Streets Tuart Hill. Enq Veronica Peake 9447 0671

Friday April 8 to 10

PILGIMAGE TO GOD’S FARM

Don’t miss this glorious opportunity to experience the real truths and riches of the Risen Christ and His Blessed Mother with Fr Noel Tobin, retreat director. Daily mass, Reconciliation and Encourageing talks are included in the retreat at God’s Farm, 40km south of Busselton from Friday 7pm to Sunday 2pm. Luxurious bus reserved for every comfort to book please contact Yvonne 9343 1119 or Betty Peaker 9755 6212

Saturday April 9

DAY WITH MARY

Holy Family, 375 Alcock St, Maddingfton. 9am-5pm. Commences with video on Fatima. Includes day of prayer, Sacrament of Penance, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons by Most Rev B J Hickey, Rosaries, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Stations of the Cross. BYO. Enq Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate-9250 8286.

Saturday April 9

DAY OF RETREAT

The Holy Spirit of Freedom Community is having a day retreat, 10am-5pm, St Anne’s Pariah Hall, 11 Hehir St, Belmont. Times for praise and worship, sharing, talks, and Sacrament of Reconciliation. Concludes with Charismatic Mass. Please bring and share lunch. Enq Mark/Peter 9228 1800

Saturday April 16

NEW LIFE IN GOD’S SPIRIT SEMINAR

For spiritual refreshment and growth in living a life empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit of Freedom Community is presenting a 7 week seminar commencing 16 April, 10.30am12.30pm at St Anne’s Parish Hall, 11 Hehir St, Belmont and continuing each Saturday till 28 May. Enq Mark/ Peter 9228 1800.

Saturday & Sunday April 16 &17

DREAMS AND SYMBOLS WORKSHOP

With Sr. Pat Quinn Director Portiuncular Centre, Toowoomba, Queensland. Enq: Pauline(08)95283647

Sunday May 1

THE BOVE FARM MAY ROSARY RALLY  25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

25th Anniversary Celebration in Honour of Our Lady to be held at the Queen of the Holy Rosary Grotto, Bove’s Farm, Roy Road, Jindong. Hymn singing commences at 12.30pm. Holy concelebrated Mass led by Bishop Gerard Holohan commences 1pm, followed by Rosary Procession and Benediction. Afternoon tea provided. All welcome bus bookings from Perth to Bove Farm can be made with Francis Williams ph 9459 3873.

Sunday May 22

YOUNG ADULT EXPO 2005

Focus Come and See What does Jesus ask us to do with our lives. How do we see the ministry of the Church relevant to our lives today. 5-8pm at the Floreat Parish Centre, 47 Peebles Rd, Floreat Behind St Cecelia;s Church. The evening will be led by Fr Michael Leek OSB, a Benedictine priest doing fantastic work with young people in Perth. The evening will include some input, but more importantly an opportunity for shared reflection. Dinner is provided, so organise a group of friends to come and join us. All Welcome. RSVP to Margaret 94019916 or email margk@iinet.net.au

CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY

Term 1 – 31st January to 8th April for, Family & Friends Support Groups of Substance Abusers on Wednesday’s 7pm – 9pm, Substance Abusers Support Groups on Tuesday’s 5.30pm – 7.30pm & Friday’s All day Group for Substance Abusers 9.30am – 2pm including Healing Mass, Friday’s 12.30pm, Women’s Wellness Group: Tuesday’s 12.30pm. Daily Rosary: 12.30-1pm. Exercise program on Monday’s and Wednesday’s from 10am to 11am

DIVINE MERCY HOLY HOURS

The Divine Mercy Apostolate invites you all to come and join us by rolling out the red carpet for Jesus in the following churches, St Mary’s Cathedral each first Sunday of the month from 1.30pm-3.15pm with a different priest each month . St Frances Xavier Church, Windsor St East Perth each Saturday

HOLY WEEK TRIDUUM IN THE TRADITIONAL LATIN RITE

St John’s Pro-Cathedral, Victoria Ave, Perth.Maundy

Thursday 6.30pm

Latin Mass followed by Adoration. Good Friday

1.30pm Stations Of The Cross 3pm Fast and Abstinence. Holy Saturday Vigil 10pm. Easter Sunday 7.30am, 9.15am and 11.15am Latin Mass. Enq Fr Michael Rowe 9444-9604.

ANCIENT CEREMONIES OF TENEBRAE IN HOLY WEEK

Sung at the close of day, in order to signify the setting of the Sun of Justice and the darkness of those people who knew not our Lord and condemned Him to the gibbet of the Cross. Candles are extinguished gradually as the office is a funeral service commemorating the death of Jesus Christ, as indicated by the sung Lamentations of Jeremias the Prophet. Sung Tenebrae responsories were written by Tomas Luis de Victoria (d.1611).Wednesday 23 March at 8.30pm, Maundy Thursday 24 March at 9pm, at St Francis Xavier Church, East Perth. Good Friday 25 March at 6pm at Immaculate Conception Chapel, Mercy Convent, Mercedes College, Victoria Square, Perth. Enq Fr Michael Rowe 9444-9604

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF OUR LADY OF HELP OF CHRISTIANS CHURCH

Mukinbudin Catholic Church invite all past parishioners and religious to attend. Names, photographs and memorabilia are needed as soon as possible for a short history. Please inform if attending. Marle McInnes 9048 4011. Box 34 Mukinbudin 6479

Dear valued reader please be advised that the deadline for Panorama items has been brought forward to 4:30pm on Monday’s. If you would like to discuss this change or would like to be included for the Archdiosen Panorama please feel free to contact me.

Kind regards

Eugene Suares Office Manager

The Record Catholic Newspaper PO Box 75

Leederville WA 6902

The Last Word Scarlet Woman?

Meet the real Mary Magdalene

■ By Carl Olson

St. Mary Magdalene is a hot topic because of the success of Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code Drawing from speculations based on gnostic ‘gospels’ written long after the canonical Gospels, the novel claims Mary Magdalene was a ‘goddess,’ was married to Jesus and was intended by him to be the Church’s leader. There is, however, no factual basis for such speculation.

Who, then, was she?

The four Gospels contain a dozen references to Mary from Magdala, a town on the Sea of Galilee’s western shore. She is described as a woman who had suffered from demonic possession and from whom Jesus had expelled seven demons (Mk 16:9; Lk 8:2). She is prominently mentioned as one of the women who accompanied Jesus in his ministry (Lk 8:2) and as a witness of the crucifixion (Mt 27:56; Jn 19:25), of Jesus’ burial (Mt 27:61; Mk 15:47) and of the empty tomb (Mt 28:1-10; Mk 16:1-8; Lk 24:10).

She was given a prominent role as the first witness to the resurrected Christ (Mk 16:9; Jn 20:1-18), a remarkable fact since women’s testimony was valued little in firstcentury Jewish society.

In Western tradition, Mary eventually became identified with the sinful woman of Luke’s Gospel (7:37-50) as well as with Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus (Lk 10:38-42 and Jn 11).

However, in the Eastern tradition those three women were identified separately, with feast days March 21 (the unnamed sinner), March 18 (Mary of Bethany) and July 22 (Mary Magdalene).

The combining of the three women in the Western tradition was due to Pope St Gregory the Great (c. 540-604). In 591 he preached a homily in Rome, saying, “She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected, according to Mark.”

Why this identification?

First, Luke’s passage about the ‘sinful woman’ (Lk 7:37-50) immediately precedes the description of

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“Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out” in Luke 8:2. Pope Gregory apparently harmonised the two descriptions, perhaps because the woman who anointed Jesus (Lk 7:37-50) is described as a “sinner,” and Mary had been possessed by seven demons - an indication to some that she was that sinner.

In addition, by the sixth century the biblical city of Magdala had acquired a reputation of depravity and godlessness.

John 11:1-2 identifies the woman who anointed Christ and dried his feet with her hair as Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus. Pope Gregory may have assumed that the two accounts of a woman anointing the Lord referred to the same event and same woman.

Also important was Pope Gregory’s focus on the biblical text’s moral implications. He believed that the seven demons that once possessed Mary, though literal demons, also represented the seven deadly sins. At the time of Pope Gregory’s homily, Rome was experiencing famine and war, and he took the opportunity to encourage Christians to repent of their sins.

Pope Gregory’s creation of a single Mary out of three women is probably not supported by the text. Most Scripture scholars agree that the three women are separate persons.

His facts may not have been accurate, but Pope Gregory intended to praise, not malign, Mary Magdalene. Praise for the woman from Magdala was common in the early church and medieval era.

Described by some church fathers as the “apostle to the apostles,” Mary of Magdala was a brave disciple of Jesus who stood at his cross. She was also a witness to the resurrected Christ. The Church recognises her as a model of faithfulness, devotion and loyalty to her Lord.

Olson is editor of IgnatiusInsight.com and coauthor with Sandra Miesel of The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in ‘The Da Vinci Code”; Ignatius, 2004.

The risen Christ appears to Mary Magdalen in an illustration from a 13th-century manuscript. Artwork Source: CNS