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INSPIRING NUTS: YCS runs training day on how to start a group. Page 3
AMERICA ALONE: Mark Steyn’s haunting book draws battle lines. Page 14
INFLUENTIAL: Book to spark debate on role of religion in politics. Page 12
ROME (CNS) - Pope John Paul II consulted with top aides about possibly resigning in 2000 and set up a “specific procedure” for papal resignation, says a new book by the Pope’s former secretary.
The Pope eventually decided that it was God’s will that he stay in office, despite the illness that left him more and more debilitated, wrote Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, Poland, the late Pope’s closest aide.
In the book, “A Life With Karol,” Cardinal Dziwisz offers an inside glimpse at key moments of Pope John Paul’s life in Poland and his 26-year pontificate.
The book was being published in Polish and Italian in late January.
In his last will and testament, made public after his death, Pope John Paul strongly hinted that he had considered resignation as he prepared to turn 80 in the year 2000.
Cardinal Dziwisz said the Pope, in fact, decided at the time to consult on the question with his closest aides, including then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
The Pope concluded that he would remain in office, saying that God had called him to the papacy and that “God will call me back, in the form that he wishes,” Cardinal Dziwisz wrote. “At the same time, John Paul II also established a specific procedure for giving his resignation, in case he would not have been able to carry out his ministry as pope to the very end,” Cardinal Dziwisz said. “So, as one can see, he considered this possibility.”
The book recounts other behindthe-scenes moments, according to excerpts provided by the Italian publisher, Rizzoli:
On September 11, 2001, shortly after two planes crashed into the twin towers in New York, the phone rang in the Pope’s office in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.
“On the other end of the line was the frightened voice of Cardinal (Angelo) Sodano, the secretary of state. We turned the television on, and the Pope was able to see those dramatic images, the collapse of the towers with so many poor victims imprisoned inside.”
The Pope passed the rest of the day going back and forth between
Also this week...
Biblical sorrows repeated in modern world - VISTA 13
L’Arche seeks community builders - PAGE 4
Another warrior leaves us - PAGE 5
St Mary’s Cathedral organ off to NZ - PAGE 5
Missionaries of Charity Sisters’ big impact - PAGE 16
the television and the chapel to pray, he said.
“He was worried, strongly worried that it wouldn’t end there, and that the attack could set off an endless spiral of violence,” Cardinal Dziwisz wrote.
Recalling when the Pope was
shot in 1981, Cardinal Dziwisz said he was convinced his assailant, the Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca, was “sent by someone who thought the Pope was dangerous.” He said it seemed logical to conclude, at least as a hypothesis, that the Soviet KGB was involved
- an allegation made later by Agca when he described a supposed “Bulgarian connection” to the shooting. But Cardinal Dziwisz added: “In fact, there was no belief in the ‘Bulgarian connection,’ nor in the many other reconstructions in circulation.” Likewise, he said, he gave no credence to journalistic theories that the disappearance of a Vatican City teenager, Emmanuela Orlandi, was in any way connected to the papal shooting.
Toward the end of the book, Cardinal Dziwisz described the Pope’s final moments. “It was 9:37 p.m. We had noticed that the Holy
ZENIT - After Christmas in Malawi and a stop in Zambia, South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique, the World Youth Day cross and icon of Mary is in the last phase of an African pilgrimage.
The Youth Day symbols, donated by Pope John Paul II to youth, have traveled the African continent as a sign of reconciliation in often difficult situations. The African pilgrimage began in Senegal on April 12, and has continued country by country, confronting different situations in each place. For example, in September in Congo, travel was difficult due to damaged roads. With the cooperation of the armed forces, a helicopter flew the cross and icon to their destination.
In Burundi, the pilgrimage was an opportunity to reflect on peace and reconciliation. The Rwanda stop in November also reflected on reconciliation. As part of the festivities surrounding the cross, the young people there helped to build houses for genocide widows. Bishop Philippe Rukamba of Butare expressed hope, saying that the occasion could prove to be a hotbed of peace and a school of fellowship and love.
On February 15, the cross and icon will leave for Australia, where the 2008 World Youth Day will be held in Sydney from July 15-20.
Father had stopped breathing. But only in that precise moment did we see on the monitor that his great heart, after continuing to beat for a few moments, had stopped.” Someone, he said, blocked the hands of the clock to mark the hour of the Pope’s passing.
Those around the Pope’s bed began singing a “Te Deum” of thanksgiving, not a requiem. “We were crying. How could one not cry! They were tears of both sadness and joy. It was then that all the lights in the house were turned on. ... And then, I can’t remember. It was as if it had suddenly become dark. It was dark above me, and it was dark inside of me,” he said.
A troubling encounter on a train spurred academic Fr Luigi Giussani to start a movement which movitvates Catholics to share faith through friendships. Page 7
After Fr Tom Phelan went into a coma on January 13 he was admitted to Sir Charles Gairdner hospital. There was a 24-hour prayer vigil maintained at his bedside until he passed away peacefully on January 15 at 4.20pm the Vigil and Requim Masses held last weekend filled Holy Spirit Church, City Beach to overflowing.
His focus on prayer and the Sacraments has awakened in us a great love for the Church, and a strong desire to serve the Lord through allowing Jesus into the centre of our lives. Through his vision, the Parish Church and school were built and have flourished.
In 1988, when my wife and I were just beginning the Disciples of Jesus Community in Perth, Fr Phelan came to some meetings I had organised with a few men. During the meetings I invited each person to commit to praying for 20 minutes a day for some particular causes; they all agreed.
I later found out that he was already praying for three hours each day, and so he had extended his prayer to three hours and 20 minutes a day!
Some months later we held a weekend at St John of God Retreat Centre in Safety Bay. People had been considering whether to join the Community and this was the
culmination of some four months of discussion.
Masses he celebrated for the School and at the Anchor and Fire weekends conducted by the Disciples Youth Mission Team, and children streamed into the sacristy after 9.30am Sunday Mass to get their lolly from the happy priest.
Through his love for Our Lady and the Marian movement there has grown in the parish a deep devotion to Mary among young and old alike.
In November 1996 we attended, with Fr Tom, a Charismatic Conference in Rome. During the sessions we had the opportunity to meet Pope John Paul II.
Again, Fr Tom was at the back of the room. But the Pope headed his way, as the photo shows.
Last December, Fr Tom rang me and said he wanted to catch up. I wondered whether he was thinking of retirement from parish duties. We met and prayed and he said he sensed the Lord wanted him to visit every home in his parish. “Not just Catholic homes”, he said. “I think God wants me to call on every home.
Disciples of Jesus members have relocated to his parish so they could participate in the Sacraments with him.
Through his love for the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament there has grown a desire among many
On the Saturday evening, while the rest of us relaxed together, Fr Tom spent the night praying in the chapel, and the next day he shared that he had been praying for 30 years for Community and he felt confident God wanted him to join us. The 19 years since then have been an enormous blessing for us.
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parishioners to spend time each week in adoration. All night prayer vigils, many initiated by the youth, and novenas, are common.
Fr Tom’s vision was for perpetual adoration in the parish. The Divine Mercy chaplet is prayed after daily Mass. His love for children and youth is evidenced in the
It’s a big task and I don’t know how I will ever finish it.” He then handed me the handwritten letter he intended to leave if residents were not home.
I could imagine God’s delight in this priest.
Reg Firth is the leader of Disciples of Jesus Covenant Community in Perth, and a parishioner of Holy Spirit Parish for the last 19 years.
Hints for a Happy Marriage
Hold hands.
Holding hands has always been a simple physical expression between those who love each other. Recent research at the University of Virginia however has revealed that this simple expression of love may have other positive benefits in marriage. A neuroscientist using brain scans has found that women experiencing stress show immediate signs of relief when they hold their husbands hands.
Catholic Marriage Education Services with Derek Boylen Be crazy from time to time
A key characteristic of people in love is that they do crazy things. Being spontaneous can be a great energiser in marriage. Just go away for the weekend or spend a night in a hotel. Go out for a special dinner for no particular reason. Do something fun like ice-skating, bowling or dancing. Invite a whole lot of friends you haven’t seen for ages to dinner.
Catholic Missionthe Work of the Pontifical Mission Societies
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference is seeking applications for the above position. The National Director is responsible for leadership of a not-for-profit organisation which is the official mission aid agency for the Catholic Church in Australia. The applicant will be required to demonstrate skills which can direct and coordinate the activities of a National Office (Chatswood NSW) and multiple Diocesan Offices.
The position demands accountability at an international level and national reporting. A freedom to travel extensively is required. An understanding of the Church’s mission life and/or mission experience is essential.
Position Description is available from Bishop Joseph Grech, Secretary of the Bishops Commission for Mission and Faith Formation, phone (03) 5441 2544 or email chancery@sand.catholic.org.au
About Catholic Mission: www.catholicmission.org.au Applications close on 28 February 2007.
The Young Christian Students (YCS) Movement in Perth will be running a major training day this Saturday (January 27) for people interested in learning about YCS, the amazing things that can be achieved with it and most of all for those interested in helping students with their concerns and to find the link between faith and everyday life.
Based on the national YCS NUTS program (Never Underestimate the Students), the day is open to anyone interested in attending and will be held at the Catholic Pastoral Centre, 40A Mary St, Highgate from 10am to 5pm.
The YCS Movement in Perth has gone from strength to strength over the last year with many new groups starting as well as the Perth YCS hosting and planning many relevant and exciting formation, faith and leadership activities for the young people of Perth, even reaching out to areas such as Northam.
The creation of a drama group will ensure that students who would otherwise miss out on experiencing YCS can now be involved, by using their artistic talents to explore and comment on the issues faced by students today and the injustices faced by some people.
The YCS, a secondary school movement that helps young people explore the links between faith and life in fun, innovative and empowering ways, was founded by Belgian Cardinal Joseph Cardijn and started in Australia in 1942. It teaches young people to analyse their lives in light of the Gospel truths and arrive at actions that make their world better. It is amazing to see what students will do when given responsibility, and the support of people who aim to “Never Underestimate The Students” (NUTS). This year the YCS has held student leadership training days, an adult assistant training weekend, camps at various parishes, participated in the Cancer Council’s relay for life and was involved in holding transition into
WASHINGTON - For today’s Catholic schools to thrive, school officials must rethink traditional ways of operating and try innovative approaches, said a report highlighting the current challenges facing Catholic schools in the US.
The report also calls on the Catholic community at large to play a key role in restoring its schools.
The 32-page report, “Making God Known, Loved, and Served: The Future of Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in the United States,” was prepared by the University of Notre Dame Task Force on Catholic Education - a group of educators, administrators, diocesan representatives, philanthropists and investment specialists.
High School nights and sleepovers for the year sevens of Perth. One of the major accomplishments of the year, was the Healthy Happy Bodies Day Seminar aimed at promoting positive self-esteem and body image in high school students, held at Notre Dame University. It was a great success with 200 high school students present.
The students have, through the sleepovers and training days, attacked issues such as the pressures faced by teenagers to drink, take drugs, succeed in school and have sex. The topics chosen reflected concerns brought by members to their groups and therefore the topics are relevant and a great learning experience for all those who attend and help prepare and run the camps.
YCS is based in schools and parishes and in 2006 had nine school groups and six parish groups across Perth from Ocean Reef to Rockingham. YCS coordinator Vicky Burrows said: “YCS is invaluable for any school or Parish as it educates and encourages students to realise that Christ invites the students into a personal relationship with him. This relationship asks them to be involved with people in building a world based on truth, peace love and justice.”
YCS in 2007 is gearing up for a great year, and already YCS leaders from across Perth have had the chance to further develop their leadership skills and faith formation at the Diocesan Leadership Camp earlier this week at Eagles Nest. Some of the plans for 2007 include a St Patrick’s Day River Cruise in March in collaboration with CYM; a Healthy Happy Bodies Day/Student Well-Being Seminar in July at the University of Notre Dame; delegates from Perth representing the Pacific YCS at the International World Council and an event in October for the World Day for the elimination of Poverty. More information about any YCS activity or getting a group started at your school or Parish call the YCS office 0412529656 or email perth@aycs.org.au.
Melissa Ferreira is a Year 12 Student and chairperson of the Perth YCS
they work, as study after study demonstrates,” it said.
The report is the result of a year-long study, commissioned by the Indiana university’s president, Holy Cross Father John I Jenkins, and chaired by Holy Cross Fr Timothy Scully, director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives.
It does not just focus on the difficulties today’s schools face but instead states at the outset that “Catholic schools can and must be strong in our nation’s third century.”
Its authors also stipulate that “extraordinary chapters lie ahead” if the Catholic community at large is willing to pitch in and help.
To demonstrate how higher education can play a part in assisting Catholic elementary and secondary schools, the report highlights Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education program, founded in 1994, which annually supports about 200 teachers in more than 100 Catholic schools across the country.
The report was a response to the 2005 pastoral statement of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops titled “Renewing Our Commitment to Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools in the Third Millennium.”
The Notre Dame report, released in December, does not gloss over Catholic schools’ difficulties, pointing out in the second paragraph how enrollment has declined from more than five million students 40 years ago to half that number today even as the Catholic population has grown.
It also notes low salaries for teachers at Catholic schools along with rising costs and tuition, demographic shifts, the changing role of religion in the lives of American Catholics and increasing options for educational choices.
But “Catholic schools matter more now than ever, and
The program also includes leadership for Catholic school principals and is developing a consulting initiative to provide administrators and Catholic school advocates with help in marketing, strategic planning and investing.
Other examples of the university’s efforts to help the Catholic school system include the recently launched Magnificat School project, which provides principals, pastors, parents and school board members with professional support and development training to strengthen schools in danger of closing.
Notre Dame also has been convening regular National Parish School Leadership Team Workshops for pastors, principals and school board presidents to discuss Catholic identity, marketing, leadership, strategic planning and financial management.
The report notes the impact that declining numbers of priests
and religious have had on Catholic schools but points out that Catholics should not just bemoan “bygone eras,” and instead use “entrepreneurial energy” to come up with other means to train and develop new school leaders.
It also challenges Catholic schools to find ways to welcome Hispanic students, noting that only three per cent of Latino families send their children to Catholic schools even though the number of Hispanic Catholics is increasing.
“The Church and its schools must find ways to serve and be engaged by the growing Latino population,” the report states, acknowledging that several obstacles must be overcome, including the perception that Catholic schools are for the elite, financial concerns for families, and linguistic and language barriers for students.
The report labels the traditional parish school as both the “dominant model” and the “type of Catholic school most under duress, most vulnerable to demographic shifts and eventual closure.”
Conversely, it credits a variety of Catholic school initiatives for being part of a “new era of innovation,” such as school consortiums in dioceses where urban schools share resources; Cristo Rey schools, where inner-city students take part in work-study programs; and the tuition-free schools in the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, where the stewardship policy in the diocese eliminates tuition fees.
The authors of the report praised the successful initiatives that are already under way, saying they prove that when bishops, pastors and lay leaders collaborate “Catholic schools can flourish where they once struggled.”
“Our challenge is to raise awareness” of school initiatives that work, they said, while stressing the importance of “selecting and enhancing the best model for a particular school or diocesan context,” concluding that “one size does not fit all”. CNS
I’m John Hughes, WA’s most trusted car dealer
Do I guarantee that when people come to do business with me, they will be treated with courtesy, sincerity, professionalism and ef ciency?
I say “I want your business and I m prepared to pay for it” and “I stand behind every car I sell”. Is that really true?
Is it true that I have over 40 technicians who are dedicated to getting my used cars in rst class condition before sale?
Is it true that every year for the last 17 consecutive years
I ve been Australia s top selling Hyundai dealer?
Is it true that if somebody buys a used car from me, I will pay for a pre-purchase RAC or similar inspection?
I have a warehouse selling cars under $10,000. Is it true that I offer a full money back guarantee within one week?
International community
L’Arche, which means Ark in French, is seeking people who would be willing to build a community in Perth, which holistically supports the well being of those with intellectual disabilities.
Far from the institutional confines of many service providers, L’Arche is fueled by a reciprocal passion for those with intellectual disabilities as well as those who assist.
Initiated over 40 years ago by formidable French duo Jean Vanier and Dominican priest Fr Thomas Phillipe, L’Arche began with an invitation to find home and eventually to discover family, to three intellectually disabled men.
Mr Vanier, who has seen the growth of the community expand across the globe to over 120 communities in 30 countries, sought to offer those who had been marginalised, as a result of their disability, a family in which they felt belonging, love and most importantly respect.
Mr Vanier said his experience of living with the disabled for more than 40 years has taught him that they “are not only precious from a human point of view but they also have a special nearness to God”.
Since its humble beginnings in France, L’Arche communities have also spread to Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Hobart, since arriving in Australia over 30 years ago.
While an active and ever growing philosophy across eastern Australia, initiator of L’Arche in Perth, Chris King, believes it is a very appropriate time to found a Perth community centred around the often-unnoticed gifts of those with intellectual disabilities.
Just as Mr Vanier established over 40 years ago, one of the key goals of a L’Arche community is to build a community, which can support the accommodation of those with an intellectual disability.
“Unlike most group homes, people with and without intellectual disability choose to live together in L’Arche,” mentioned community leader of L’Arche in Sydney, Donna Rhall.
Mother to an intellectually disabled child, Mrs King said she affiliated with a parent’s desire to find appropriate accommodation for their adult child, but stressed the real need for a community who can support people holistically before the possibility of accommodation arises.
To date, those interested in forming a community have been meeting on a monthly basis to grow in their understanding of the L’Arche philosophy.
Mrs King said.
“L’Arche communities understand the value of those with disabilities – not only their basic value as a human being, but also their ability to draw out the best in those who open their hearts to them,”
The Director of Catholic Education in Western Australia invites applications for the above full-time position based in Broome. Applicants must be fully supportive of and committed to the ethos and objectives of Catholic education.
All relevant information and documentation can be accessed on the Catholic Education Office website www.ceo.wa.edu.au under employment.
Enquiries regarding the position should be directed to Sandra Brogden, Regional Officer, on (08) 9191 3600 or email broome@ceo.wa.edu.au
All applications, on the official form, should reach The Director, Catholic Education Office of Western Australia, PO Box 198, Leederville WA 6903 no later than 9 February 2007.
Maranatha Institute for Adult Faith Education
Archdiocese of Perth
Catholic Education Centre 50 Ruislip Street Leederville
TERM 1 COURSES
Commencement Date 6th February 2007
Timetable
Tuesday
9.30am-12pm An Introduction to Theology with Sandra Dillon
1pm – 3pm Introduction to the Bible with Sr Philomena Burrell
Thursday
9.30am -12pm Celebrating Christian Ritual with Fr Peter Joseph Stiglich
Friday
9.30am-12pm Julian of Norwich with Stephanie Woods
All courses run for 8 weeks Cost $50 For Enrolments & further Information
Office Hours Tues, Thurs, Friday 9am -3pm Phone 9212 9311 Fax 9212 9382
Email maranatha@ceo.wa.edu.au
Course Handbook available on request
L’Arche is not just about caring for those who are in need.
As Mrs King commented: “A L’Arche community surpasses charitable service in that it becomes an avenue through which both those who are disabled and those who are not benefit and grow.”
At the core of the L’Arche dream is a mutual support for those who have intellectual disabilities, those who have shared their lives with an intellectually disabled person and those who care for them.
In doing so, the community flexibly offers a variety of roles and opportunities to those who are committed to those with intellectual disabilities or simply interested.
These involve, but are not limited to, live-in carers, support groups, social groups and spiritual assistants.
“As a Catholic Jean Vanier was very much aware of the spiritual needs of those with intellectual disabilities as well as those who supported them,” Mrs King said, adding that L’Arche is essentially ecumenical and respects varied religious beliefs.
Beginning in February, 2006 these meetings culminated with a reflection day on November 11, 2006, which was attended by Anglican Archbishop Roger Herft and founder of L’Arche in Sydney, Fr Peter Toohey. “The reflection day essentially served to discuss what it was that brought us together, and where we would like to go next,” Mrs King said.
As for the founding group’s vision for 2007, they hope to greatly involve those with intellectual disabilities in the up-coming Sydney World Youth Day in 2008; where WYD organizers have asked founder Jean Vanier to give several catecheses in English, and a seminar in French on social services.
In the words of Mr Vanier, “people enter community to be happy.
“They stay when they find happiness comes in making others happy.”
For more information about L’Arche in Australia go to www.larche.org.au or contact Chris King in Perth via chrisking@iinet.net.au or: 9383 4313.
Two Indian priests brought a message of healing through the Word of God and the power of forgiveness to Whitford parish on January 7.
Fr Mathew Naickomparambail and Fr John Kanichery from the Vincentian Congregation in Kerala, India arrived in Australia on January 4.
Since becoming a priest in 1976, Fr Naickomparambail and his colleagues in India have drawn more than 200,000 people to their weekly healing retreats.
During their three-day stay in Perth, the Indian priests conducted three Healing Masses at Our Lady of the Missions Church in Whitford and St Denis’ Church in Joondanna.
Fr Naickomparambail said their message was heavily based on the popular scripture verse “come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28).
Over 300 people gathered at Whitford parish on January 7, for an evening Mass followed by preaching and testimonies.
Perth organiser Paulose Doss
recounted Fr Kanichery’s message of forgiveness through the experience of a brother and sister who were feuding.
“Unable to forgive his sister, the brother’s tension manifested itself in physical paralysis, which he sought to relieve through medical intervention,” Mr Doss said.
When this failed the brother approached Fr Kanichery at a healing retreat and explained his dilemma.
It was only when the brother was able to forgive that the tension in his mind and body was lifted and the paralysis disappeared, recounts Mr Doss.
While Fr Naickomparambail said he had never claimed the ability to heal anyone, eight people from Whitford parish experienced a capacity to cast their burdens and forgive that night.
“It is always the will of God, who is gathering people to experience the same healing power of his love that I experienced at the age of 20,” Fr Naickomparambail said.
Parish priest at Whitford, Fr Joseph Tran said he experienced a very different spirituality that may have frightened some at first, but which was centred on the Holy Spirit’s ability to work in all.
“I have always felt part of a large and unified family within the Catholic Church.
“If there is ever an opportunity to help people on their journey of faith I am most happy to do so, and feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to welcome Frs Kanichery and Naickomparambail,” Fr Tran said.
Fr Naickomparambail, who visited Australia eight years ago, said people were filled with the joy of the spirit and allowed the spirit to work within them.
“When we preach about the love of God, there is an anointing of the Holy Spirit that changes a person’s life. One of the blessings people often receive is the ability to forgive others,” he said.
While booked to preach across the world, Fr Naickomparambail said if it was God’s will to return to Australia they would be ready and willing.
Mr Doss said that there may be possibilities of healing retreats later in the year, but that dates have not been finalized.
Both priests will be preaching in Melbourne and Canberra before returning to India on January 29.
For further information contact Mr Doss on 0403 699 280.
Fr John Baptist Lyons, parish priest of Willagee, died in his sleep at his presbytery on Tuesday morning at the age of 78. Parishioners missed him when he did not appear for his daily 6.30am Mass, and could not rouse him by phone or banging on doors or windows. A phone call to Archbishop Barry Hickey brought the advice to call the police and break a window. A police officer clambered through the broken window, turned off the alarm, and informed parishioners that Fr Lyons was dead in his bed.
Shortly afterwards, Archbishop Hickey, who had been about to set out for Augusta with his sister, arrived and, because of the uncertainty of the time of death, anointed Fr Lyons and led the parishioners in prayers for the deceased.
John Lyons was born at Highgate Hill on September 23, 1928, and was educated at CBC Highgate and St Patrick’s Seminary in Manly, NSW. He was ordained on July 25, 1953 and returned to Perth on December 9 ready to take up his first appointment as curate at Kalgoorlie on December 30. Other appointments as assistant priest followed at Maylands in March 1957, Nedlands, January 1962, and Shenton Park, February 1963.
He became parish priest of Norseman on November 1, 1964 and of Bruce Rock on September 28 1969 before his final appointment to Our Lady Queen of Peace at Willagee on March 14, 1971.
Tributes to him at his Golden Jubilee celebrations on July 27, 2003 highlighted his devotion to his parishioners and his heavy round of home visitation, a style of person-to-person contact he sustained to the end.
Parishioners expressed enormous gratitude for the compassionate and patient care with which he ministered to the sick, the dying and, in particular, those
with long term illnesses. He was known throughout the diocese for his ability to teach the faith with clarity and conviction, whether teaching adults or children preparing for First Communion or Confirmation. His educative skills were highly valued in the Legion of Mary which he served for more than 30 years within and beyond the parish.
He had great devotion to the Rosary and used the Year of the Rosary (2003) to put renewed vigour into his promotion of that great prayer. He arranged for a large and striking advertisment to appear in The West Australian on May 24 that year, the feast of Our Lady
The discovery last weekend of a Missouri boy kidnapped four years ago has increased rather than solved the mystery of his captivity. Shawn Hornbeck had ample opportunity to escape, but never did so. He lived alone with his captor in a small, suburban block of flats where neighbours often heard banging, shouting and arguing, but no-one’s suspicions were sufficiently aroused to contact the police. He seems to have posted clues about himself on the internet, but nobody picked them up.
Experts have suggested that Shawn, who disappeared when he was 11, suffered from Stockholm syndrome, a condition in which hostages fall under the spell of their captors. He used the surname of his captor, Michael Devlin, who insisted the boy call him “Dad”, and told neighbours that Devlin was his father. When asked where his mother was, he became emo-
of
His strong support for pro-life causes included holding a weekly Holy Hour in his parish in reparation for abortion and other offences against life.
Asked how he knew that he wanted to be a priest, Fr Lyons replied that he had always wanted to be a priest. He lived his calling with courage, conviction and constancy. The Requiem Mass for Fr Lyons will be at the Willagee church on Tuesday at 9.30am and the burial at Karrakatta at 11.30am. Vigil prayers and Rosary will start at 6.30pm on Monday with Mass at 7pm.
The first thought one gets when entering the driveway of the Archbishop’s Respect Life Office (RLO) in Morley is: ‘don’t drive over the kerb; watch out for the garden!’
Since 2003, the grounds of the RLO have been maintained by two generous people, Helen Wilson and her friend Keeble French.
“People always comment about first impressions and to have such
an inviting frontage certainly brings a message of welcome and warmth to a controversial ministry,” said RLO executive officer Clare Pike.
Helen and Keeble have spent countless hours planting, watering, weeding, fertilising, washing and sweeping the grounds – front and back.
In December 2006, all their hard work and generosity was rewarded by the City of
Bayswater in its Annual Garden Awards.
Entered under the category of ‘Best Commercial Garden’, the hidden work of Helen and Keeble received third prize, with the $100 prize money donated to the office.
“The dedication and generosity of such people ensures the continuing work of the office in helping to build a culture of life,” Miss Pike said.
tional and said she had died in a car crash. He knew of efforts going on to find him, but they never motivated him to make a run for his parents and home. Home raises other questions. Shawn’s mum Pam is married to Craig Akers, and his real dad, Mr Hornbeck, has not yet appeared in this saga. Broken families are common - so common that Michael Devlin could pass among neighbours for a solo dad - yet they are not more acceptable to children for all that. Photos of Shawn reunited with his mother and stepfather can be seen here. Devlin himself was adopted and one of six children - a quiet child in an otherwise outgoing family. He got a job at a pizza parlour while he was in high school and has worked there ever since, adding a night job at a funeral parlour. Weighing 300 pounds, he had a toe amputated in 2002 as a result of diabetes. AP/GUARDIAN UNLIMITED, JANUARY
The Record Catholic Newspaper in West Perth is seeking an Administration Manager for 3 days per week. (MonWed).
The Office Manager is an integral part of a team which publishes the weekly Catholic newspaper. This position is primarily to provide administrative support for all staff under the general supervision of the Editor. The major role is to be a capable and confident receptionist, handling phone calls, following up on queries, processing invoices and banking. Strong interpersonal skills are imperative along with excellent time management and the ability to prioritise.
You must be experienced in a variety of administration duties. Your primary responsibilities include:
•Mail inwards/outwards
•Reception duties
•Preparation & distribution of weekly newspaper (via couriers & post)
•Payroll
•Banking
•Petty cash
•Filing
•Panorama & Classifieds bookings.
•Entering & tracking subscriptions in MYOB.
•Liason with clients & suppliers & customers
•Liason with Printers & couriers on a regular basis regarding deadlines, numbers to be printed & publishing dates.
•Maintaining client database on MYOB
•General office support as required
•Running errands
•Organising business functions and appointments as directed
•Ability to assist the accounts department as required
To be considered you will have had at least 2 years in a similar role and must have excellent interpersonal, oral and written skills and be a team player. Attention to detail and numerical accuracy is essential. Competency in Microsoft Office is also required, as is ability to use MYOB (AccountEdge – MAC) and email. Applicants must be fully supportive of the objectives and ethos of the Catholic Church.
Please forward your application and CV to: The Editor The Record and Discovery Newspaper PO BOX 75 Leederville WA 6902
Or email: cathrec@iinet.net.au
Closing date for applications is Monday 29 Jan 07.
As the Charismatic movement grows in strength across Australia, Anthony Barich witnessed the power of last week’s 17th Flame Congress.
In the history of mankind, it has often been those who have required a radical turnaround in lifestyle or attitude who have become the most passionate preachers of the Catholic faith.
St Augustine fathered an illegitimate son with a mistress, but his influence on Christianity is thought by many to be second only to that of St Paul, and both Catholic and protestant theologians see him as one of the founders of Western theology.
St Margaret of Cortona, “the second Magdalene”, eloped with a young nobleman from Montepulciano, bore him a son and lived as his mistress for nine years.
When he was murdered by brigands and his body dumped in a shallow grave, she saw this as a sign from God, became a Franciscan tertiary who preached against vice to anyone who would listen while tending to the sick and poor while living on alms.
Now she’s the patron saint of reformed prostitutes, single laywomen and the mentally ill, among a host of others.
Eddie Russell is neither of these. Neither is David Harp.
Both, they will be the first to admit, are flawed individuals – “wretched in our humanity”, as many lectures at their Flame Congress last week repeatedly pointed out.
But both have been redeemed through Christ, as their stories show. David plumbed the depths of human despair.
His testimony has been pub-
lished in The Record, but in case you missed it, here’s a brief summary:
He was a drug addict in a physical gay relationship, who then contracted the HIV virus.
He had lost his job, his money, his lover and his friends.
He was seriously contemplating suicide when, in the depths of his self-inflicted pain, he felt Jesus present in the room with him and somehow just knew everything would be ok.
Today he lives, according to the latest medical screenings, with no detectable HIV in his system.
No wonder he lives his life in daily thanks to God for just being alive.
Though a successful graphic artist and PR man, Eddie was a drifter, spiritually speaking, involved in Eastern Mysticism, Theosophy and even dabbled in the occult.
He, too, experienced a “profound conversion by the direct intervention of God”.
Both men have traveled the world preaching the Gospel – undiluted, without apology, inclusiveness or syncretism.
Eddie has copped his fair share of flack, especially when the ministry is founded on a claim that God personally spoke to two blokes on their way to Fremantle’s St Patrick’s Basilica for Midnight Mass, Christmas Eve 1989, and told them a prophecy to “Set my people on fire”.
We usually reserve such prophetic visions for Mary, Joseph, or any other prominent saints in the Church – but not everyday people in our modern age.
But Catholic Archbishops do not proclaim organisations as Associations of Christ’s Faithful lightly – and that’s what Perth’s Archbishop Barry Hickey did in January 1996.
So now it’s Eddie Russell FMI, and David Harp FMI (Flame Ministries International).
Given the dramatic nature of these two men’s conversions, it seems appropriate that last week’s 17th Flame Congress theme be called “Our God is an awesome
The vision of Flame Ministries International is to fulfil the prophecy recieved on Christmas Eve 1989
Fill the world with a fire burning bright
And let them know that I am Lord.
Give to them a great desire for my light
And let them know they can be whole.
Turn your eyes upon the message in My Word
And let the words become your life.
Give to them an everlasting firelight
And make them all my steadfast sons.
Know that I will walk within you in the world
Know that I am filling you.
Let them know they can be leaders in the night.
Give them all new hope in me.
Tell the world that I am coming in my might.
Show them how I want to move.
Give to them my message written for all men
And make them all, the blind to see.
I am coming in waves of power.
I am coming in storms,
Filling the world with my glory
Before I take my Church home.
Get yourselves ready for battle
Guard yourselves all around.
Put on all of my armour.
Trained by my own right hand.
Set my people on fire.
Show them how they can be.
Give them all new hope for the future.
Show them how life is in me.
God!” The Archbishop spoke at last week’s Congress, held at John XXIII College, about “Jesus the new Moses”.
Speaking on Saturday evening after two days of lectures and prayer sessions in the Charismatic way, the Archbishop summed up all that had been said so far, connecting the Old Testament with the New.
In doing so, he gave a personal testimony of his recent trip to Mt Sinai, where Moses received the 10 Commandments from God, and about how he could conjure a real picture of what went on as he stood at the foot of the mountain.
All of this reinforced to him how awesome God is.
As he said, the New Testament, especially Matthew’s account, is written with the assumption of the reader’s knowledge of the Old Testament – indeed, many of the first converts to Christianity were Jews.
The Messiah fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies.
Previously, David Harp, along with Scott Kaldahl, who is on the National Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal USA, spoke of how one must have adequate knowledge of the Word to spread it, and to seek first the kingdom of God.
David quoted 1 Peter 1:10: “The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation; they inquired what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory.”
This tells us, among other things, that we must search for greater knowledge and understanding of the Word ourselves, so that we can spread it.
This was one of many quotes used, directly from both the Old and New Testament, which gave the Congress teachings authenticity, not one person’s interpretation of them.
This formed the starting point of evangelisation, and was followed on by step-by-step guides given by Scott, David, Eddie and Derek Williams, Flame’s full-
time evangelist based in East Anglia, England, on what it takes to spread God’s word.
Scott spoke about being hungry for the Word of God by not eating “spiritual junk by buying books about how to get to know Jesus better, when your Bible will suffice; by creating space in your life and stop doing things which prevent you from spending time with God in silent prayer; to ask God to give you that hunger; to let God be your food, to be fed with the Holy Spirit, and to remember that it’s not about you, it’s about God”.
As is the case in many examples in the Bible, like the blind man wanting Jesus to cure him, Scott urged Congress participants to be persistent with God in asking for his grace.
Using Old Testament references, Derek spoke about the “three veils” to pass through to reach “the throne room” which symbolises a spiritual place of prayer to prepare oneself to evangelise. It is where we go to be empowered to inspire people to “get real with God”, who then “gets real with everything”, as Eddie later said.
Speaking on Ezekiel 47: 1-12, Eddie said we cannot just dwell in the sanctuary where the anointing is a trickle, we must go out and tell the nations where it becomes a river of life.
It is not something we keep to ourselves. “Christianity is not a personal religion,” Eddie says. “It’s a proclamation to the world.”
Derek said on Sunday that we are a work of art – as Ephesians says, “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Therefore, once we realise the Word is Good News, we can start selling it.
He slammed the idea that “being a good person is enough”, because nobody is good but God.
Furthermore, quoting Deuteronomy, he said “the Word helps you live and take possession of the land (for Jesus)”.
By this he meant that we all are in line for the eternal inheritance, and we are claiming the land for Jesus by giving people the opportunity to claim what is rightfully theirs – the kingdom of God – but they must believe in it and want to do what it takes. Derek and Scott both stressed that while it’s good to have role models like saints, we must not try to do what they are doing, as it may not be God’s plan for our own lives.We adopt their attitudes into our own situation. Once we find God’s plan for us, we are ready and indeed content to take the punches – and there will be plenty.
Eddie, David, Scott and Derek
Fr Luigi Giussani started Communion and Liberation, a movement that spreads by word of mouth. Anthony Barich spoke to CL’s local founder, John Kinder, about what drives it.
It was the summer of 1954.
Luigi Giussani was a young academic priest lecturing at the seminary at Venegono, just north of Milan, Italy.
He was on a train ride in the region when he had a startling but deeply troubling conversation with a handful of young people.
Though they were all Catholic – baptised, received first Holy Communion and Confirmation, none of them knew anything about Catholicism or Christianity.
Worse, they didn’t care.
With apologies to the many local youth who attend and believe in the Church, to a large degree this sounds like Australia, circa 2007.
Horrified, Fr Giussani wanted to do something about it.
He asked the rector of his seminary if he could take leave to teach religious education in a local high school.
This was a significant step back-
wards in his career. Academics at seminaries were well respected, and Fr Giussani was one of some repute – he specialised in the study of Eastern theology, especially the Slavophiles, American Protestant theology and a deeper understanding of the rational basis for adherence to faith and the Church.
But he was determined. Something had to be done about this rampant apathy of young Catholics towards their own Church.
On his first day teaching at Berchet classical high school in Milan where its students, who came from wealthy middle-class families, were intelligent and politically aware, one of them spoke up before Fr Giussani had said but a few words.
The student said something along the lines of: “Stop. You are here trying to reason with us about faith, but that’s impossible, as faith and reason are like two parallel
lines, and two parallel lines never meet.”
Undeterred, Fr Giussani came straight back with: “What do you mean, exactly, by ‘faith’ and ‘reason’?” And the whole class fell silent. Fr Giussani then realised these students were using ideas and slogans they had heard from their secular society, but did not know what they meant.
And this was well before the Second Vatican Council.
He taught at this school for 10 years while also writing articles for journals drawing attention both inside and outside the Church to the problem and importance of education.
These writings have since been published in a series of books by Commmunion and Liberation, the movement he started focusing on education in the faith.
Today Communion and Liberation exists in 80 countries,
including Australia. There are two groups in Perth – one consists of about 10 families in the ClaremontSubiaco area which meets weekly at parishioners’ houses; another is but two students who study together at the University of Western Australia.
It also publishes a monthly magazine, Traces, in many languages including English.
The movement spreads literally through word of mouth. There is no such thing as ‘joining’ the movement or ‘becoming a member’. It is simply an opportunity to talk to like-minded peers about how faith and reason apply to our everyday lives, through the guidance of Fr Giussani’s writings on theology and philosophy.
It is not an order, nor an Association of Christ’s Faithful. Fr Giussani, who died in 2004, refers to the meetings as a ‘School of Community’, because community is what it is all about.
It is the method which Christ used to reveal Himself – through encounters and friendships.
These meetings never detail ‘expansion’ initiatives for the movement, like “shall we take the movement to Africa”. In fact, any attempt to do so is dismissed, and instead they simply focus on individual faith in the participants’ lives.
The paradox is, the more Communion and Liberation (CL) people pay attention to their own faith development, the more the movement spreads all over the world.
By working on personal faith, people find the motivation to talk to friends who cross their path in life about their faith.
CL spreads in the remarkable cosmic, Godly force that is providence.
Its arrival in Western Australia is a case in point.
John Kinder, based at Claremont’s St Thomas the Apostle parish, spread the movement to Perth.
But he was extremely sceptical about the movement at first.
After studying Italian in Wellington, New Zealand where he grew up, he traveled to Perugia in 1977 to learn the language and culture some more. He loved it.
When he decided he’d had enough of studying, he got a job up north in Milan teaching English.
His first weekend there, aged 21, he walked into Mass at the local church – the church of the Miraculous Medal – when he was greeted by a young man about his age handing out flyers about the
local parish youth group holding a one-day retreat marking the start of Advent.
As everyone in that parish knew everyone, the man immediately remarked, “You’re not from around here, are you?”
When John said he was from New Zealand, the young man barely knew where it was, but seemed friendly enough.
John went on the retreat, led by the local priest and CL member, Fr Erminio Antonello, and stayed with them because of the strong friendship and connection he had with the people there, not so much because of the religious aspect.
John was very suspicious of any religious movement like a ‘sect’, and did not want any involvement with CL, but wanted to remain friends, which he did.
He met his wife, Sylvia, in Milan also, and soon introduced her to these friends, and she, too, was sceptical, but they could not deny the strong bond they felt with these young people.
They married in 1980 at that very same church, with all those CL friends present who also organised the Mass, and while they were still cagey about the movement, they soon realised there was something exceptional about the encounter with these people.
“The Apostles were attracted by Jesus’ presence in the same way on a human level – they figured out there was something exceptional about him,” John told The Record this week, while on a break from his lecturing duties as an associate professor in Italian Studies at UWA.
“It took me a long time to understand CL, but take the friendship out and you have nothing. It is all based on human encounters and friendships.
“It was how Jesus did things –when he spoke to the woman at the well, he just asked her for a drink of water, and she spread the word about him from that point.
“That’s how providence works – all we can see is random bits and pieces of life, but if we see it from God’s side, it all makes sense.”
In Fr Giussani’s texts, he gives us a way into the Gospel. CL meetings are about why, not what we are doing in the world.
As Fr Giussani used to say, everything you do must have meaning.
After all, we all must live life to the full, as Jesus wanted us to.
For more information on CL or for a copy of ‘Traces’, John Kinder can be contacted on 0864882192 or email john.kinder@uwa.edu.au.
Editorial
Australia Day is a time to express deep gratitude for the immense gifts of life that have been given to us in this Great South Land of the Holy Spirit. Whether our families have been here for generations or we are recent arrivals, we have been given opportunities in life that few nations have experienced. When our Constitution proclaimed itself as “humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God” it spoke truth about what had happened up to that point, and about our need for the future.
Despite our tendency to brag about it, Australia is not naturally one of the richest or one of the most beautiful of earth’s continents. Indeed, it would probably run last in any such competitions, but despite this we have been given more than we have needed and more than we will need for a long time. Sadly, we have caused considerable damage to many of our natural assets, most notably the Murray-Darling basin and significant portions of our agricultural lands in all States. Our farmers were (and are) skilful and inventive in making a significant contribution to feeding the world, but we have been better at forcing production than we have been patient in learning the best ways to conserve water and soil in our environment. Those who have learned have not often been listened to.
A document released in 2003 indicated that the Catholic Church’s response to the growing interest in the “New Age” movement was one of dialogue rather than condemnation. The study, entitled, “Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life: A Christian Reflection on the New Age” was the joint project of four Vatican Offices.
It promoted its work as an invitation for Catholics to understand the various aspects of the movement and sought to provide information for them to genuinely engage with those who are influenced by their teachings.
those who are genuinely searching for spiritual truth. It specifically urges Catholics to “root themselves ever more firmly in the fundamentals of their faith” so that they may be more effective in discerning specific doctrines operating outside the Church.
The document concludes that it is difficult to categorise what is considered New Age and has therefore refrained from individually addressing specific movements.
Alternatively it provides guidelines designed to assist Catholics in recognising the foundations of their own faith and to subsequently aid them in identifying belief systems that run counter to these.
imperfection and finiteness.
• For Christians, Jesus Christ is the only source of salvation whereas in New Age thinking He is considered to be one of many avatars, or wise men, that have existed throughout history.
• Christians believe that salvation is a gift from God, while New Age considers it a do-it-yourself exercise in which practitioners can rise toward divinity by their own efforts.
• For Christians, salvation is dependent on a direct personal relationship with God and a participation in the passion, death and resurrection of Christ and not on any learned technique.
PO Box 75, Leederville, WA 6902
Tel: (08) 9227 7080, Fax: (08) 9227 7087 cathrec@iinet.net.au
Our biggest gift has been the gift of freedom for the human person, a gift given to us on a greater scale than anyone in authority actually intended. There were many who wanted to transpose to Australia the wretched class system that still bedevils England and was a curse 200 years ago, but circumstances defeated them. In a wide brown land with few people, the class system could not work and the community simply had to rely on the initiative and ability of individuals. Some individuals and families were more successful and more persistent than others, but everyone was valued and everyone had an opportunity. Freedom is the best environment for human beings, and Australians quickly proved themselves good at building families and communities. Even as many rural communities now decline, it can still be seen how much effort went into building them. They were good, but not perfect. Australians were not good at finding a place in this new world for Aborigines or for people of other races and colours; and we persisted in religious bitterness far too long, although even at its worst this affected individuals and families more than it was allowed to divide communities.
Nevertheless, self reliance, enterprise and mutual respect and support developed to high levels, and when Australians went off to the world’s great wars their courage, fighting ability, and regard for one another and disregard for notions of class endeared them to many. It is not for nothing that schools in northern France still have plaques on the classroom walls saying (in French) “Never forget the Australians”.
In the 60 years since the end of the Second World War, life has continued to be blessed for Australia and Australians, at least on the surface. Economically we are richer, and socially we have become better at absorbing large numbers of people from almost all parts of the world. But there are many danger signs.
Life and freedom are what brought us the goodness of Australia, but for the last 40 years we have turned against life and we have chosen false freedoms.
Only last week, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare revealed that women in general, and teenagers in particular, are harming themselves at record rates. This comes on top of Australian teenagers having among the highest rates in the developed world for teenage pregnancies, abortions and sexually transmitted disease; on top of Australia failing to reproduce itself for more than 30 years; and on top of Australians deliberately killing by abortion one baby for every three that are allowed to be born.
The underlying cause for this collective disease among young women is the contraceptive mentality that was swallowed faster than the pill when it was introduced in the 1960s. It was and still is sold to women as the great freedom, but in fact it is the explicit and implicit declaration that women are acceptable only when they have drugged out of themselves an intrinsic part of who they are. It is an utterly sexist belief that we will all be happier if only women will stop being women and become economically and sexually utilitarian.
It is time for governments – particularly in their health and education roles – to begin to tell the truth about this matter. There were many promises made when the pill was introduced: marriages would be happier and families stronger; there would be fewer pregnancies outside marriage; and there would be virtually no need for abortion.
One does not have to have a fixed opinion about contraception to be able to recognise that all of these promises have proved utterly false. The results have been precisely the opposite of what was promised.
True happiness in human sexuality can only be achieved in true freedom, and true freedom comes only when men and women learn to live with respect for the fullness of who they are.
No one expects government laws about these matters, but it is time for governments to stop confusing our young people with endless lies about their nature, their identity and their real freedom.
The 88-page discourse acknowledges that while New Age is a spirituality that is broad and undefined, there are positive aspects weaved throughout its framework. It does however warn that there are aspects of some of these movements that cannot be reconciled with Christian doctrine.
The report acknowledges that there is disillusionment with established religious institutions and that this has combined with an increased hunger for spiritual understanding and a climate of relativism to ensure that the ground for self-directed spirituality is fertile.
The Vatican’s publication reflects the Church’s concern that there is a broader range of alternative philosophies and movements available now than ever before and some of these have the potential to mislead
This analysis, in chapter four, includes the following observations:
• A Christian understanding is that, “God is in Himself personal, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who created the universe in order to communicate His own Divine Life to the men He freely created, in order to adopt them as His sons in His only-begotten Son”. A New Age god is an impersonal energy.
• For Christians, the spiritual life is a relationship with God, which gradually, through his grace becomes deeper, and in the process also sheds light on our relationship with other people, and with the universe.
• Spirituality in New Age terms refers to the inner experience of harmony and unity with the whole of reality and the attempt to reach perfection by overcoming feelings of
• In Christianity, sin is an offence against God and only God can reconcile us to Himself.
This has been done through the sacrifice of Jesus. In New Age there is no real concept of sin, but rather imperfect knowledge in need of ‘enlightenment’, which can be reached through particular psycho - physical techniques.
• In New Age God is not a separate entity, but can be interchanged with “cosmic energy, vibration, light, loveeven the Supreme Self” as they claim to all refer to the same perceived reality, the primal source present in every being. New Age recognises no spiritual authority higher than personal inner experience. God is reduced so as to further the advancement of the individual. To view the complete document, go to www. vatican.va/romancuria/pontificalcouncils and type “new age” into search engine.
A posthumous book of letters by Australia’s most famous lay Catholic activist is set to reignite debate about the role of religion in politics in Australia.
The book, Your Most Obedient Servant, reveals personal letters written by the late B.A. Santamaria, mentor to the Democratic Labor Party and leader of ‘the Movement.’
The letters cover a halfcentury of Australian history from the end of World War II to 1996. The final letter is to West Australian Catholic Brian Peachey. Secular media coverage of the book this week drew attention to the unashamed attitude held by Movement activists towards their goal of influencing Australian public life.
For example, in a letter to Archbishop Daniel Mannix in December 1952, Santamaria said that Catholics had played an important part in ridding Australian trade unions of Communism. “Those Catholics who have played their part in
this organisation have been privileged to share in a work which Almighty God has crowned with a great degree of success,” Santamaria wrote.
In an earlier letter to Catholic Action member Paul McGuire, Santamaria referred to a range of public institutions including “employers’ organisations, rural bodies and New State movements” as “the weapons of social transformation in this country.”
With control of these organisations, he said, “you can really change the environment. Without them, you can’t do anything.” Santamaria also told Archbishop Mannix it was traditional in the Australian Labor movement that Catholics should play a prominent part.
“However in the past through no fault of their own very many of these Catholics have not realised the social and moral implications of their faith in the field of public affairs,” he wrote.
“The new generation now rising to political prominence as a result of their work in the social studies movement have a far clearer realisation of these obli-
gations and accordingly, despite human limitations, can achieve far more in terms of the national welfare.”
The role played by Catholics in the Australian Labor Movement - many of them strongly influenced by Santamaria’s writings - continues to provoke bitter controversy today. The 1950s Split in the Australian Labor Party - in which large numbers of Catholic members were expelled from the party, particularly in Santamaria’s home state of Victoria - was, to a large degree, the result of increasing influence exerted in politics by dedicated lay Catholics during the post-World War II period.
The editor of Your Most Obedient Servant, academic Patrick Morgan, says that Santamaria was “the most reviled figure in Australian politics in the wake of the Split, but was idolised by his supporters.”
The final letter in the volume, to Mr Peachey, dated December 20, 1996, deals with the question of whether Catholics should attempt to build a new political party for Australia.
Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, the Pontifical Household Preacher, delivered an address to the Pope and the roman curia on the spiritual and moral implications of the beatitude of those who mourn. In a fresh look at the paradox of pleasure and pain, he examines the reasons for weeping revealed in Scripture and relates them to modern life. The following is an edited version.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). In the Gospel of Luke, where the beatitudes, four in number, form a direct discourse and are reinforced with woes, the same beatitude is pronounced thus: “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh... Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep” (Luke 6:21, 25).
This beatitude permits us to see the revolution that the Gospel wrought in regard to the problem of pleasure and pain. Common to both religious and profane thought is the realization that pleasure and pain are inseparable in this life; they follow upon each other with the same regularity as the cresting and falling of waves in the sea.
Man tries desperately to detach these Siamese twins, to isolate pleasure from pain. But in vain. The same disordered pleasure turns back on him and transforms itself in suffering, either suddenly and tragically, or a little at a time, insofar as it is by nature ephemeral and generates exhaustion and nausea.
It is a lesson that comes to us from the daily news and which man has expressed in a thousand ways in his art and literature. “A strange bitterness,” wrote the pagan poet Lucretius, “emerges from the heart of every pleasure and disturbs us already in the midst of our delight.”
The Bible has an answer. From the very beginning man has made a choice, rendered
possible by his freedom, to orient his capacity for joy - which was bestowed on him so that he would aspire to the enjoyment of the infinite good, who is God - exclusively toward visible things.
In the wake of the pleasure that is chosen against God’s law and symbolized by Adam and Eve who taste the forbidden fruit, God permitted that pain and death should come, more as a remedy than as a punishment. God wanted to prevent man, who would be moved by his instinct and an unbridled egoism, from destroying everything, including his neighbour. Thus, we see that suffering adheres to pleasure as its shadow.
Christ finally broke this bond. He, “in exchange for the joy that was placed before him submitted to the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). In other words, Christ did the contrary of what Adam did and what every man does. Rising from the dead he inaugurated a new type of pleasure: that which does not precede pain, as its cause, but that which follows on it as its fruit.
All of this is wondrously proclaimed by our beatitude which opposes the sequence weepinglaughter to the sequence laughter-weeping. This is not a simple temporal inversion. The difference, is that in the order proposed by Jesus, it is pleasure, and not suffering, that has the last word, that counts more, a last word that endures for eternity.
Let us try to understand just who exactly are those who mourn and weep whom Christ proclaims blessed. It is not only those who are afflicted in a purely objective or sociological sense, people who Jesus would proclaim blessed simply because they are suffering and weeping. The subjective element, the reason for the weeping, is decisive. And what is this reason? The surest way to discover which weeping and which affliction are those which Christ proclaims blessed is to see why one weeps in the Bible and why Jesus wept. In this way we discover that there is a weeping of repentance like that of Peter after the betrayal. There is also a “weeping with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), that is, of compassion for the sor-
“Where is your God?” “They have taken away my Lord!”
No less painful for the Christian believer today is the systematic rejection of Christ in the name of an objective historical research which, in certain forms, degenerates into the most subjective thing one can imagine: “photographs of the authors and of their ideals,” as the Holy Father notes in the introductory pages to his new book on Jesus.
We are watching a race to see who succeeds in presenting a Christ who best measures up to the man of today, stripping him of every transcendental aspect. In answer to the question of the angels, “Woman why do you weep?” Mary Magdalene, on Easter morning, says, “They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where to find him” (John 20:13). This is a reason for weeping that we can make our own.
The temptation to clothe Christ in the garb of our own epoch or ideology has always existed. But in the past the causes were arguably serious and of a wide scope: Christ the idealist, the romantic, the liberal, the socialist, the revolutionary... Our time, obsessed as it is with sex, cannot but think of
rows of others, as Jesus wept with the widow of Nain and with the sisters of Lazarus. There is likewise the weeping of the exiled who long for their homeland, as the Israelites wept along the rivers of Babylon. There are many others besides... I would like to focus on two reasons for weeping in the Bible and for which Jesus wept, which seem to me particularly appropriate to meditate on in the time in which we live. In Psalm 41 we read: “Tears are my bread day and night, as they daily say to me, ‘Where is your God?’ ... While my bones are broken, my enemies who trouble me have reproached me; they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’” This sadness of the believer, caused by the presumptuous denial of God that surrounds him,
“Tears are my bread day and night, as they daily say to me, ‘Where is your God?’ - Psalm 41
has never had more reason to exist than it does today. After the period of relative silence that followed the end of Marxist atheism, we are witnessing the return to life of a militant and aggressive atheism of a scientific and scientistic kind. The
him as troubled by certain problems of desire. “Once again Jesus has been modernized, or better, postmodernised.”
It is good to know the origin of these recent currents which make Jesus of Nazareth a testing ground for the postmodern ideals of ethical relativism and absolute individualism (called deconstructionism) that are, directly or indirectly, inspiring novels, films and events and also influence historical investigations of Jesus. We can trace it to a movement that emerged in the United States in the final decades of the last century and that had its most active form in the “Jesus Seminar”. This movement defined itself as “neo-liberal” on account of its return to the Jesus of the liberal theology of the eighteenth century, without any connection to Judaism or to Christianity and the Church; a Jesus who is a propagator of moral ideas, no longer of a universal scope, as in classical liberalism (the paternity of God, the infinite value of the human soul), but of a narrow wisdom, of a sociological rather than a theological nature. The aim of these scholars
titles of some recent books speak eloquently of this: “The Atheist Manifesto,” “The God Delusion,” “The End of Faith,” “Creation without God,” “An Ethics without God.” In one of these we read the following declaration: “Human societies have developed various means for acquiring knowledge which are generally shared, and through which something can be accepted. Those who affirm the existence of a being that cannot be known through those instruments must take upon themselves the burden of proof. For this reason it seems legitimate to hold that, until the contrary is proved, God does not exist.”
With the same arguments we could demonstrate that does love exist it cannot be ascertained by the instruments of science. The fact
is that the proof for God’s existence is found in life and not in the books and laboratories of biology. First of all, it is in the life of Christ, and in the lives of the saints and of countless witnesses of faith. It is also found in the much derided signs and miracles that Jesus himself gave as a demonstration of his truth and that God continues to give, but which atheists reject, without trying to investigate them. The reason for the sadness of the believer, as for the psalmist, is the impotence that he feels when faced with the challenge of those who say “Where is your God?” With his mysterious silence God calls the believer to share his weakness and defeat, allowing victory only under this condition: “The weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
These three books are among many currently being published to try to create the belief that god does not exist and that Christianity is folly. Although they seldom agree with one another, the authors are emboldened by their shared vanity, whilst believers suffer from the attacks on the one they love.
“The priests weep, the ministers of the Lord”
There is another weeping in the Bible that we must reflect on. The prophets speak of it. Ezekiel recounts the vision he had one day. The powerful voice of God cries out to a mysterious person “dressed in linen with an inkwell in his hand”: “Go through the whole city, through all of Jerusalem, and mark a tau on the forehead of all those who sigh and weep because of all the abominations that are committed there” (Ezekiel 9:4).
This vision has had a strong impact on revelation and on the Church. That sign, the tau, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, because of its cross-like form, became in the Book of Revelation the “seal of the living God” signed on the forehead of all those who are saved (Revelation 7:2 ff).
The Church has “wept and sighed” in recent times for the abominations committed in her womb by some of her own ministers and shepherds. She has paid a high price for this. She has sought to repair the damage. Strict rules have been laid down so that these abuses do not happen again.
The moment has come, after the emergency, to do that which is the most important: to weep before God, to do penance, as God himself has been abused; to do penance for the offence against the body of Christ and the scandalizing of the “least of his brothers,” more than for the damage and dishonour that has been brought upon us.
This is the condition for bringing
good from this evil and for bringing about a reconciliation of the people with God and with his priests. “Blow the trumpet in Zion, proclaim a fast, call a solemn assembly.… Between the porch and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say: ‘Spare, O Lord, your people, and make not your heritage a reproach with the nations ruling over them’” (Joel 2:15-17).
These words of the prophet Joel call out to us. Could we not perhaps do the same today: call a day of fasting and penance, at least at the local and national level, where the problem has been the worst, to publicly express repentance before God and solidarity with the victims, bring about the reconciliation of souls, and take up again the path of the Church, renewed in heart and in memory? The words spoken by the Holy Father to the episcopate of a Catholic country in a recent ad limina visit give me the courage to say this. The Holy Father said that “the wounds caused by similar acts are profound, and the work to restore confidence and trust once these have been broken is urgent … In this way the Church will be strengthened and will be always more capable of bearing witness to the redemptive power of the Cross of Christ.” But we must not leave this topic without a word of hope for the unfortunate brothers who have been the cause of the evil. In regard to a case of incest in the community of Corinth the Apostle declared: “Let this person be delivered up
to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that in the day of the Lord his spirit may obtain salvation” (1 Corinthians 5:5). (Today we would say: Let him be subjected to human justice so that his soul might obtain salvation.) The salvation of the sinner, not his punishment, was what concerned the Apostle.
One day when I was preaching to the clergy of a diocese that suffered much because of these things, I was struck by a thought. These brothers of ours have been stripped of everything, ministry, honour, freedom, and only God knows with what effective moral responsibility in individual cases; they have become the last, the rejected.... If in this situation, touched by grace, they do penance for the evil caused, they unite their weeping to that of the Church, then the blessedness of those who mourn and weep could become their blessedness. They could be close to Christ who is the friend of the last, more than others, me included, rich with their own respectability and perhaps led, like the Pharisees, to judge those who make mistakes. There is something, however, that these brothers must absolutely avoid doing but which some, unfortunately, are attempting to do: profiting from the clamor to take advantage even of their own guilt, giving interviews, writing memoirs, in an attempt to put the guilt on their superiors and the ecclesial community. This would reveal a truly dangerous hardness of heart.
Forgive: Dioceses have provided programs and workshops for victims of clergy sex abuse. Bishop Allen H Vigneron of Oakland, California, speaks with a parishioner while others embraceat St Mary’s Church. PHOTO: CNS
is no longer simply to correct but to destroy, as they say, “that mistake called Christianity.” Jesus is liberated not only from the dogmas of the Church, but also from the Scriptures and the Gospels. What sources remain to
speak of him at this point which are not pure fantasy? The apocrypha, naturally, and, in the first place, the Gospel of Thomas, dated by them around 30 to 60 A.D., before all the canonical Gospels and before Paul. Another source
would be the sociological analysis of the conditions of life in Galilee at the time of Christ. What image of Jesus was extracted? I will cite some of the definitions that have been given, not all, naturally, shared by all:
“an eccentric Galilean”; a “wise and subversive drifter”; the “master of an aphoristic wisdom”; “a Judean peasant soaked in the philosophy of cynicism.”
The mystery of how this innocuous individual ended up on the cross and became “the man who changed the world” remains to be explained.
The truly sad thing is not that these things have been written (you need to invent something new if you want to continue to write books) but rather that, once published, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of these books are sold.
It seems to me that the incapacity of historico-philological research to link the Jesus of reality with the Jesus of the Gospel and ecclesiastical sources has to do with the fact that it ignores the dynamic of spiritual or supernatural phenomena. It would be like trying to hear a sound with your eyes or see colours with your ears.
The study and the experience of mystical phenomena (these too are real!) shows how a later development, in the life of a person or a movement started by him, can be contained in an event, sometimes
a brief instant (when we are dealing with an encounter with the divine), the hidden potentialities of which are only revealed afterward in its fruits. Sociologists get close to this truth with the concept of a “nascent state.”
The child or adult man looks different from when he was an embryo at the beginning; and yet we know that in the embryo everything was contained. In the same way the kingdom is at the beginning “the smallest of seeds,” but is destined to grow and become a great tree (Matthew 13:32).
There are many, even among believing scholars, who take for granted that the real Jesus was, and understood himself to be, much less than that which is written about him in the Gospels, that this or that title is not to be attributed to him.
The truth is that he is much more, than that which is written about him! Who the Son is, is known only to the Father and, in small part, it is known to those to whom the Father chooses to reveal him, in general not the gifted and the wise, unless they turn and become like children.
Paul spoke of experiencing “a
great pain and continual suffering” in his heart for his fellow Jews who had rejected Jesus (Romans 9:1 ff); how can we not feel the same pain for his rejection by many of our contemporaries in the countries of ancient Christian faith? For a similar reason - for not having recognized a friend and saviour in him - Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Fortunately, it seems that a chapter in the studies of Jesus is finally closing and the page is being turned.
In a work entitled “Los albores del cristianismo” (Christianity in the Making), destined to be a watershed as his previous studies have been, James Dunn, one of the best living scholars of the New Testament, after a careful analysis of the results of the last three centuries of research, comes to the conclusion that there was no rift between the Jesus who preached and the Jesus who was preached, between the Jesus of history and of faith.
This faith was not born after Easter but in the first encounters with the disciples, who became disciples precisely because they believed in him, even though at the beginning it was a fragile faith, and they were naive about its implications. The contrast between the Christ of faith and the Jesus of history is the result of a “flight from history,” before it is a “flight from faith,” due to the projecting onto Jesus of the interests and ideals of the moment.
Yes, Jesus is freed from the garb of ecclesiastical dogma, but only to be put into the clothing of a fashion that changes from season to season. The immense effort expended on research into the person of Christ has nevertheless not been in vain since it is precisely thanks to it that now, with all the alternative solutions explored, we are able to critically reach this conclusion.
Guy Crouchback
The British International Express had a headline recently: “Jobless up 92,000 as Poles Flood In.”
The story that followed began: “Unemployment [in Britain] has soared to its highest level for six years with the flood of workers from eastern Europe taking much of the blame.”
This has many ramifications. The “flood” of low-paid workers brings down wages, but also brings down inflation.
At a time when the housing market seems out of control, lower wages for builders should mean cheaper houses.
This deflationary effect translates through the whole economy and tends to keep prices down.
The number of people who benefit is much greater than the number of people who suffer, as is the total quantity of benefit, though this benefit is spread and diffuse and the suffering is concentrated and may be acute.
The Polish workers themselves benefit. They earn less than British workers demand, but more than they would in Poland, and many remit money back to families there.
open its doors to unlimited numbers of East Europeans refer to “free trade in people.”
People should, as much as possible, have freedom to follow opportunities and live where they want.
Further, there is not a single “lump of labour” to be divided like a cake.
That is a dangerous fallacy.
The more people there are, the more work there tends to be.
Against this, those put out of work by the newcomers are, at least in some cases and for a time, going to go on the dole and be a charge on the community, apart from the misery which job-loss means to them and their families.
There are also non-economic arguments: the whole question of immigration to Britain is tied up with perceived threats to its National Identity and Sovereignty, and fraught with other matters, including the fact that Britain is a relatively small island with seriously congested cities and a limited and diminishing amount of space for housing and unspoilt countryside.
There have been far more Polish workers entering Britain than any other Eastern European group - nearly 230,000 Poles just since 2004 (Britain now has a population of about 1.6 million Moslems).
It is safe to say that the Poles,
Even some who are homeless and sleeping rough in the streets say they prefer life in Britain.
by and large, are well educated, skilled and with an ethic of hard work.
Britain has had waves of Poles come to it since 1939, and in general the Poles in Britain, as in Australia, have been a great asset to their host country, showing the best of “migrant vigour.”
The London Telegraph published a photograph recently of a Catholic Church in London with a huge congregation of Polish Catholics spilling out and kneeling in prayer on the footpath - an unusual sight in Britain, to say the least.
Some who argue Britain should
Let us conclude with a look at a different kind of tears. It is possible to weep because of pain but it is also possible to weep because we are moved and to weep for joy.
The most beautiful tears are those that fill our eyes when, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, “we taste and see how good the Lord is” (Psalm 34:9).
When we are in this state of grace we marvel that the world and we ourselves do not fall on our knees and, being moved and in a stupor, continually weep.
Tears of this kind must have fallen from Augustine’s eyes when in the “Confessions” he wrote: “How you loved us, good Father, to have not spared your only Son but to have given him up for all of us. How much you loved us!”
Pascal shed such tears on the night that he had the revelation of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who disclosed himself through the Gospel.
Pascal wrote on a piece of paper (found sown into his jacket after his death): “Joy, joy, tears of joy!” I
Both major parties now seem committed to buying popularity by bricking over more of the green south-east of England for housing - a despoilation of some of the most beautiful country in the world, and, in my opinion, a crime against the heritage of the human spirit and against future generations. There is also an argument that skilled people from poor countries have a moral duty to stay in their own countries where they are most needed and build up their own economies and social infrastructures.
There seems no simple answer.
think that the tears with which the woman who was a sinner bathed the feet of Jesus were not only tears of repentance but also tears of gratitude and joy.
If in heaven it is possible to weep, then paradise is full of such weeping. In Istanbul, the ancient Constantinople, where the Holy Father travelled recently, St Simeon the New Theologian lived, the saint of tears.
He is the most luminous example in the history of Christian spirituality of tears of repentance that transform themselves into tears of wonder and silence. “I wept,” he says in one of his works, “and I was in an indescribable joy.”
Paraphrasing the beatitude of those who mourn, he says: “Blessed are they who always weep bitterly over their sins, for the light will catch hold of them and will transform their bitter tears into sweet.”
May God allow us to enjoy, at least once in our lives, these tears of emotion and joy.
A veteran journalist asks why the professional standards of the New York Times are falling.
It would be easy to take a shot at the New York Times and not even risk the chance it would be called “cheap”. In fact, the Times editors have let so much shoddy journalism slip through in recent years that even professional journalists are beginning to feel that it has betrayed its noble heritage of accuracy and authority.
Though it is known as “the newspaper of record,” the more recent Times begs the question of what record they are trying to set. Since at least 2003, it has been one of serial deceptions, intelligence leaks and political attacks. Its editors have answered for very few of these. They, like most major media elites, are not given to introspection. Unless forced.
In May 2003, the glare of public scrutiny focused on Times reporter Jayson Blair when he was caught lying and exaggerating in reports that went back years. Editors admitted the scandal on their website. “After an extensive internal investigation,” Times editors revealed, one of its reporters “committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud... The widespread fabrication and plagiarism represent a profound betrayal of trust and a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper.”
Other journalists rebuked the Times for its culture of arrogance. Two top editors resigned. But nothing really changed in the rarefied air at the Times. The following year, the Times’ ombudsman, Public Editor Daniel Okrent, wrestled in his column with questions over coverage of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction leading up to the war. He pointed out several “flimsy” and “flawed” articles as examples of “institutional failure”. The other editors distanced themselves from the piece.
Their intransigence has only stiffened and the Times set itself up as the “antagonist of record”
on the war in Iraq and President George Bush. The Times resorted to breaching national security to wage its own battle. On different occasions in late 2001, different reporters tipped off charities allegedly tied to terrorists that the FBI would soon be raiding their facilities and/or freezing their bank accounts.
In December 2005 the Times ran a story exposing the National Security Agency’s electronic surveillance program and told terrorists and terror suspects they were being watched and heard. Former CIA director Peter Goss told the Senate Intelligence Committee the exposé dealt “very severe damage” to the mission. California Rep. Jane Harman, the House Intelligence Committee’s ranking Democrat, said the exposure of that program “damaged critical intelligence capabilities”.
The Times was unchastened. In June 2005 the paper blew the cover off the SWIFT terrorist finance tracking program. It had been a legal, joint effort by the CIA and Treasury Department to monitor terrorist money transfers around the globe. SWIFT had been effective in locating the mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombing in Thailand, and tracking payments to al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan.
This went beyond anti-war agitation to government interference. Some charged the Times with treasonous disclosure.
Senate Intelligence Committee
Chairman Pat Roberts called on National Intelligence Director John Negroponte to conduct an investigation into the Times’ leak of these national security programs. But the Times editors responded with arrogance.
And hypocrisy, it turns out.
Within two weeks of 9/11, the Times had demanded that the Bush administration “disable the financial networks” and insisted the government impose “stricter regulations... and greater cooperation with foreign banking authorities.” That’s what the government did, and what the Times rebuked the government for doing.
The paper has been at war with
the Bush administration all along, prosecuting it from the bully pulpit of its pages, from front to editorial. America is already seriously suspect by its allies for the serial intelligence leaks in the mainstream media, mostly the New York Times. How much confidence does the Western world have in working with the US when vital anti-terrorist programs are blown on the front page of the Times repeatedly?
In the intellectually astute First Things magazine, its editor, Fr Richard John Neuhaus, recently denounced their intractable behaviour, most pointedly in response to the President’s address to the nation last week on his plan for Iraq.
“The New York Times editorial the next day held no surprises” Neuhaus remarked. He cited this particular excerpt “President Bush told Americans last night that failure in Iraq would be a disaster. The disaster is Mr. Bush’s war, and he has already failed... Without a real plan to bring [the war] to a close, there is no point in talking about jobs programs and military offensives. There is nothing ahead but even greater disaster in Iraq.”
Neuhaus discredited them: “The editors do not say that they fear the policy will fail. With an air of supreme confidence they predict, as they have been predicting all along, that the US will fail in Iraq. The editors have a steep stake
in the vindication of their predictions. The editors want the US to fail. This is vile.”
So why do we believe the Times and other media? We say in opinion polls that the public puts reporters low on the trust meter. But, ironically, they control public opinion. They set up the question – usually tendentious – and manipulate the data. We know that. But it works anyway.
Walter Lippman - journalist, political scientist and adviser to presidents - produced one of the best studies in media manipulation ever written. Public Opinion is a brilliant analysis of how the words and pictures used in the news cue us to think certain things, and then tell us how to think about those things. “The only feeling that anyone can have about an event he does not experience is the feeling aroused by his mental image of that event,” Lippman explains.
And “whatever we believe to be a true picture, we treat as if it were the environment itself.”
In other words, perception becomes reality. Media transform cultures by repeating messages often and with such authority that they’re accepted as truth. The New York Times Magazine offered a glaring example recently in its cover story on abortion in El Salvador. It featured photographs and claims about a woman serving a 30-year jail term for having an abortion. It turned out the baby had been born alive and that the woman was found guilty of “aggravated homicide” for strangling the child.
The website LifeSiteNews exposed the Times’ irresponsible reporting.
The story grew even worse when it turned out to be an article by a freelance which had been used in fundraising by an abortion advocacy group.
All of which made it past the editors of the New York Times.
The current Public Editor at the Times came clean. In his opinion column “Truth, Justice, Abortion and the Times Magazine” (12/31/06), Byron Calame wrestled with what had gone wrong. “Exceptional care must be taken in the reporting process on sensi-
tive articles such as this one to avoid the slightest perception of bias,” he wrote. He concluded that “Accuracy and fairness were not pursued with the vigour Times readers have a right to expect.”
One week later, the Times published an editor’s note correcting the abortion story - although corrections never catch up to the original errors. “The Times should have obtained the text of the ruling of the three-judge panel before the article was published, but did not vigorously pursue the document until details of the ruling were brought to the attention of editors...”
In other words, until they were forced.
New York Times veteran reporter John McCandish Phillips gives a particularly poignant talk to budding writers he calls “Media Ethics According to Deuteronomy”. He recounts tales of the noble profession. “More than a few times I scooped other reporters in covering events, but there were occasions when my stories lacked fascinating content that showed up in other papers, usually in the highly competitive tabloids,” Phillips recalls.
“These were lacking in my stories on account of their failure to have occurred. You cannot top a liar.”
He tells the aspiring journalists that he is asked most about “reportorial ethics.” But what he tells them is surprising. “God gave us the core ethic in the words ‘You shall not bear false witness.’ Some reporters lamentably do just that, with facts, with quotations, with subtle or grievous shifts in emphasis...You will not lie. You will not distort. You will not make things up... If you get into investigative reporting, never let your suspicions run one-eighth of an inch ahead of your facts... Newspapers and news networks should function as the liver of the body politic, not the spleen.
“God help you. Bear in mind that He will later be your judge.”
- Sheila Liaugminas reported for Time magazine for more than 20 years. She blogs at InforumBlog.com. This story appeared online at www.mecatornet.com
Vatican says Chinese church growing; Pope to write Chinese Catholics
■ By Cindy WoodenAt the end of a two-day meeting to discuss the status of the Catholic community in mainland China and the problems it faces, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI would write a letter to the country’s Catholics.
Despite continuing instances of persecution and pressure, the number of Catholics in China is growing and the vast majority of bishops and priests have recognized the authority of the Pope, said the statement issued at the end of the meeting chaired by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state.
“In the light of the troubled history of the church in China and the main events of the past few years, there was an examination of the most serious and urgent church problems, which need adequate solutions related to the basic principles of the divine constitution of the church and of religious liberty,” the statement said.
The Vatican did not say when Pope Benedict’s letter to the Catholics of China would be written or released.
After decades of harsh persecution of Catholics who maintained their ties to the Vatican and stringent efforts by the government to exclude Vatican influence over all areas of church life in the country, the communist government appeared to be relaxing its stance.
In 2005 several bishops were ordained who were approved both by the government-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Vatican. However, in 2006 the patriotic
association moved forward with the ordinations of three bishops without Vatican consent.
The January 20 Vatican statement said Pope Benedict called the meeting to deepen the Vatican’s knowledge of the situation of the Catholic Church in China, inviting bishops from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan and “those who, for the Holy See, follow the Chinese question most closely.”
While the Vatican did not name the participants, it was widely reported that they included Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong, retired Cardinal Paul Shan Kuo-hsi of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and Bishop Jose Lai Hungseng of Macau.
In addition to officials from the Vatican Secretariat of State, news reports said Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation
Pope asks Romanian diplomat to help save threatened cathedral
■ By Cindy WoodenPope Benedict XVI asked Romania’s new ambassador to the Vatican for his help in stopping construction of a skyscraper next to Bucharest’s St. Joseph Cathedral.
Welcoming Marius Gabriel Lazurca to the Vatican on January 20, the Pope said smooth relations between the government and church communities present in the country would contribute to “social peace.”
“In this regard, I can only express my concern over the matter of the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Bucharest,” the Pope told the
ambassador. In a December 4 statement, the Vatican said the physical stability of the cathedral, built in the late 1800s, is threatened by work on the 18-storey office building just 30 feet away from the northeast wall of the church.
The Pope asked the ambassador’s assistance in preserving the building and the values it represents for the Catholic community and for all Romanians.
He also expressed his appreciation for the progress made by the government in dealing with the “delicate question” of the restitution of church property confiscated by Romania’s former communist government and put to other uses.
Justice requires that the process continue, he said, especially so that the Christian communities that suffered so much under communism, especially the Eastern-
rite Catholic communities, would be able to take their rightful place in Romanian society.
Pope Benedict also used his speech as an occasion to congratulate Romania on its Jan. 1 entry into the European Union “after long years of effort.”
He expressed his hope that EU membership would allow all Romanians “to enjoy the basic freedoms and to benefit from economic and social progress.”
The Pope’s remarks came at a time when human rights groups were expressing concern over Romania’s new norms for the registration of religious communities. Under the new law, signed on December 27 by President Traian Basescu, religious groups seeking legal status will need to have congregations representing at least 0.1 percent of Romania’s population, or about 23,000 members.
for the Evangelization of Peoples, and US Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, also attended. The Vatican described the discussions as “broad and detailed” and marked by frankness on the part of the participants.
During the meeting, it said, participants recognised the “shining witness offered by bishops, priests and faithful who, without giving in
to compromise, maintained their fidelity to the see of Peter, sometimes at the price of great suffering.”
At the same time, the participants noted “with particular joy” that “today almost all of the bishops and priests are in communion with the supreme pontiff,” whether they are working in the underground church or with the patriotic association.
Despite restrictions, the statement said, the Catholic Church in China has shown a surprising numerical growth and its members are “called to be witnesses of Christ, to look forward with hope” and to offer Gospel-based values to the rapidly changing Chinese society.
The Vatican also said it hoped to continue a “respectful and constructive dialogue with government authorities to overcome the misunderstandings of the past” and to normalise relations to ensure “the peaceful and fruitful life of faith in the church and to work together for the good of the Chinese people and for peace in the world.”
Anthony Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the patriotic association, told the British news agency Reuters on January 22 that he was encouraged by the Vatican’s statement.
“I am more optimistic than before,” especially since, he said, the acknowledgment of the growth of the Catholic community is a tacit acknowledgment that religious freedom exists in China.
The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong quoted Cardinal Zen as saying the Vatican has not changed its judgment that full religious freedom did not exist in China. The Catholic Church’s position always has been that religious freedom includes freedom for Catholics to be in full communion with the Pope and for the Vatican to name bishops for the church.
Rome’s mayor backs off plans to rename train station after late Pope
■ By John ThavisThe Vatican newspaper criticized Rome’s mayor for backing off plans to rename the city’s main train station after Pope John Paul II. In late December, Mayor Walter Veltroni joined Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the papal vicar of Rome, for the unveiling of two stone markers dedicating Termini Station to Pope John Paul.
But after complaints from leftist political parties and a threatened sit-in, Veltroni issued a clarification, saying the station would not change its name. The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, cried foul. In an article on January 21, it quoted Veltroni’s words the
day after the Pope’s death in April 2005. The mayor had proposed to “name Termini Station for John Paul II,” it said, as a gesture recognising the late pontiff as a world traveller.
The Vatican newspaper said Veltroni was now, in effect, “denaming” the station. The markers inside the station refer to “Termini Station - John Paul II.” But city officials now say the intention was not to rename the facility. Veltroni first announced the move as a gesture of respect that would “crown the relationship of love between the city and John Paul II.” But political parties on the left called it an imperious decision and derided the mayor - himself a former communist - for naming the station after a Pope. After Veltroni announced Termini Station would remain Termini Station, the Italian political federation Rose in the Fist applauded the decision.
British cardinal seeks exemption for adoptions by same-sex couples
■ By Simon CaldwellThe head of the English and Welsh bishops’ conference told British Prime Minister Tony Blair that seven Catholic adoption agencies would close if the government forced them to place children with same-sex couples.
In a January 22 letter, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster, England, appealed to Blair to grant the agencies an exemption from proposed gay rights laws called the Sexual Orientation Regulations.
“This is an appeal for fair play,” the cardinal said.
He said that without the exemption the Catholic agencies, which are partly funded by the government, would be forced to end a service that each year places more than 200 problem children with new families.
Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said that closing the agencies was a “wholly avoidable” outcome. He said the bishops believed it would be “unreasonable, unnecessary and unjust discrimination against Catholics” if the government insisted that they must act “against the
US archbishop says Catholics need solid preaching, not “feel-good” fluff
Catholics need solid preaching about Jesus, the cross and the church, and not “feel-good” spiritual advice that demands no sacrifice, said U.S. Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of Milwaukee.
Preaching well means challenging people’s complacency and, like Christ, occasionally “shaking things up,” Archbishop Dolan said in Rome in January 14. That cannot happen if preachers soft-
the world in brief
teaching of the church and their own consciences by being obliged in law to provide such a service.”
“It would be an unnecessary tragedy if legislation forced the closure of these adoption services, thereby significantly reducing the potential resources of adop-
tive families for the approximately 4,000 children currently waiting for adoption placements,” the cardinal said in the letter, which was also sent to each member of the British Cabinet.
Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said the agencies have had an “out-
standing record of finding stable and loving homes for some of the most disadvantaged children in society - including children who have been abused, physically, sexually and emotionally; children with disability and limited life expectancy; and large sibling groups who
need a family where they can grow up together.”
He said that Catholic agencies would be happy to refer homosexual couples to other adoption agencies that might be able to help them.
“There is nothing to lose, and children waiting for an adoptive family have much to gain, by our continuing successful collaboration,” he said.
The cardinal’s intervention is the most recent and most charged in a series of efforts by the bishops’ conference to safeguard the future of the agencies.
The regulations, due to be enacted in England, Scotland and Wales in April, are aimed at outlawing discrimination against gays in the provision of facilities, goods and services.
They were introduced into Northern Ireland, using direct-rule powers from London, on January 1. The Northern Ireland rules say people found guilty of discrimination will be fined between $1,000 and $2,000 for a first offense. Subsequent serious offenses could draw penalties of up to $50,000.
A spokeswoman for the government’s Department for Communities and Local Government said on January 21 that it was “premature” to speculate on the content of the British regulations.
CNS
pedal the cross, he said. “Maybe the greatest threat to the church is not heresy, not dissent, not secularism, not even moral relativism, but this sanitised, feel-good, boutique, therapeutic spirituality that makes no demands, calls for no sacrifice, asks for no conversion, entails no battle against sin, but only soothes and affirms,” he said.
“Our preaching can then become cotton candyish: a lot of fluff, air and sugar, but no substance,” he said. Archbishop Dolan made the remarks at the Pontifical North American College, where he lectured on “Preaching: An Ecclesial Vocation.” While noting that
Calling silence and ignorance the “twin allies of atrocities,” Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington urged participants in a Mass preceding the March for Life on January 22 to “repudiate all forms of violence” and pray for an end to abortion. “If the spiral of violence and death that haunts our streets, schools, families and communities is to be broken, we need a new vision,” he said. “We must realize and proclaim that there is something wrong with our society if all we can offer a woman caught up in the drama of an unexpected pregnancy is abortion.” The archbishop was chief celebrant and delivered the homily at an early morn-
preaching the Gospel is a mandate shared by all Christians, he focused on the preaching of ordained ministers.
The archbishop said priests should first of all understand preaching as an ecclesial, not a personal, vocation. That doesn’t mean a preacher doesn’t bring his own personality to a sermon, but “the substance must be Christ,” he said.
“I am afraid that too often today the ‘accident’ of our own person, our own agenda, trumps the substance of the person of Christ and the message of his church,” he said. Priests should also remember that when they are preaching it is
ing Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The 7:30 a.m. Mass closed an all-night vigilsponsored by the basilica, the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities and The Catholic University of America - that also included a rosary for life, night prayer, Holy Hours, morning prayer and the opportunity for confession.
Pope Benedict XVI said ecumenism should find increasing expression at the parish level through prayer and works of charity. The Pope made the remarks at his Sunday blessing on January 21 during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. On Jan. 25 he was scheduled to join other Christian
imperative that they “speak lovingly, tenderly of the church,” he said.
“For some preachers it seems obligatory to criticise the church in their homilies. They claim she is hopelessly outmoded, patriarchal, oppressive, insensitive, corrupt, unenlightened - all of which really translates: unwilling to do what they want,” he said.
Archbishop Dolan said that does not mean turning a blind eye to the flaws and imperfections in the Church. But the attempt to be a prophetic critic of the Church in the pulpit is misguided, he said.
“We are in the pulpit not to
leaders to close out the week with a prayer service in Rome. Addressing pilgrims from his apartment window, the Pope said ecumenism must be understood as a “profound dialogue, listening to each other and speaking with each other, getting to know one another better.” He said, “This is a task everyone can carry out, especially when it comes to ‘spiritual ecumenism.’” He said, “I hope the yearning for unity, translated into prayer and fraternal cooperation to alleviate human suffering, can spread even more at the level of parishes, church movements and religious institutes.”
A Mexican bishop has cautioned against the reference to Jesus in the presiden-
speak against the Church but to speak about her, for her, with her, from her,” he said.
That’s sometimes a tough assignment, he said, because many priests today hear from their own faithful: “I believe in God. I just don’t need the Church.”
“The folks have trouble with the Church. They want the king without the kingdom, Christ without his church, and for us Catholics it’s a package deal,” the archbishop said. Ordained ministers, he said, are unequivocally “men of the Church” as preachers, and their duty is to “teach what she does, not preach what we like.”
tial oaths of office that were taken by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. “We have to be critical when people invoke God to justify terrorism, wars, the exploitation of the poor, inhumanity, totalitarianism and unheard of repression,” said Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel of San Cristobal de las Casas in a commentary published by the Mexican bishops’ conference on January 17. Real deeds have to be separated from lip service when controversial measures are implemented in the name of Christ,” the bishop said. Chavez was sworn in on January 10 for his third term as president of Venezuela. During the ceremony, he promised the country socialism and said, “I swear by Christ -- the greatest socialist in history.” Ortega was sworn in the same day for his second term as president
CNS
A visiting charity officer in Iraq reveals the daily struggles of Christians in the country
■ By John PontifexThe desperate struggle of Iraq’s Christian community to rebuild their lives is revealed by a charity project officer who braved a visit to the country.
Despite a bomb falling barely 200 metres away, youngsters and their parents braved the streets to attend a catechetical class at Kirkuk Cathedral, in the north of the country.
Delighted to be free of the dangers of Baghdad, seminarians relocated to Ainkawa, a suburb of Arbil in northern Iraq, are living in a cramped pre-fabricated building.
Risking the roads fraught with dangers, lecturers including a Redemptorist priest are driving across the country to provide courses at Babel Theological and Philosophical College, which has also been moved to Ainkawa from Baghdad’s bloody Al Dora district.
Iraqi priests, who cannot be named for security reasons, described their trauma while in captivity after being kidnapped during a spate of violence last year.
And in the capital, where thousands of Christians live behind closed doors because of the fighting and extremism, the faithful overcame their fears and packed out churches for Christmas Mass.
This portrait of a Christian community grappling with disaster comes in an account by MarieAnge Siebrecht, who travelled across northern Iraq as Head of the Africa-Asia Department organising projects supported by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
She said the situation had drastically worsened since her previous visit to Iraq in May 2003.
She said: “Just after Saddam went, there were so many signs of hope. Now there are few if any signs of hope – people feel they can only turn to God for help.
“God will not let down the people of Iraq – the cradle of Christianity. We should not let them die.”
Ms Siebrecht was barely 200 metres away when a bomb exploded outside a supermarket in Kirkuk, where she was staying with Mgr Louis Sako, the city’s Chaldean-rite Catholic archbishop.
With up to half of Iraq’s 1.2 million Christians having fled the country since 2003, Aid to the Church in Need is sending essential aid – not just for those now in Syria, Jordan and Turkey but the many who are refugees in their own country. The Kurdish Government is providing key support for droves of Christians who have fled the
south – especially Baghdad. Babel College has already received aid for running costs and ACN is planning to provide help for priests, especially those in desperate need in Baghdad.
Christians arriving in the north urgently need Bibles and other catechetical material in Arabic and Aramaic because they cannot speak the local Kurdish language.
Ms Siebrecht stressed how the Church was losing ground to main-
Join Pope Benedict XVI in prayer January
General intention: Peace - That in our violent time, Bishops may continue to show the way of peace and understanding among peoples.
Mission intention: Church in Africa - That the Church in Africa may be a witness of the Good News of Christ and be committed to the promotion of reconciliation and peace.
ly US Christian groups, which had evangelised very effectively since their arrival in Iraq soon after Saddam’s downfall.
The ACN project chief said the poverty she witnessed in the north was “very saddening”. She described people living in temporary accommodation and lacking proper heating in sub-zero temperatures.
She said: “How long is this chaotic situation going to last? I saw
The Brazilians are coming! The Brazilians are coming! As Catholics worldwide get to grips with the challenges of 21st century evangelisation, Catholics from Brazil are spreading the Word in a whole new way. Through football. Or as many in Australia still call it, soccer.
“If we could draw from all the Brazilians studying at Pontifical universities, we could put together a magnificent team,” said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s secretary of state, who is now proposing an official Vatican football league. The Vatican idea is to create a football competition, a Vatican League Championship called the Clericus Cup, drawn from the national seminary colleges in Rome and other Vatican institutions.
Brazil, which fields the world’s number one national soccer team, has created a footballing culture of which fans from all around the planet stand in awe.
Combined with the religious passion of many Brazilians, this culture has the potential to become a useful new weapon in the armoury of worldwide evangelisation.
An Australian example is Fred, the Brazilian first division player recruited by Melbourne Victory soccer team 12 months ago to play in the Australian A-League competition. Expected to play an important role on the A-League finals series between now and February 18, Fred is a goal-scoring striker with silky crowd-pleasing skills
And publicly, he makes no secret of his passion for prayer and Bible reading. A pre-finals profile of the Melbourne star on SBS television highlighted this. Fred was shown in the living-room of his home, reading the Bible with his wife, Deborah - who, the network reported on its The World Game show, ensures Fred does not miss his daily dose of scripture study. Prayer and church are also a big part of his life. Through a Portuguese-language interpreter, Fred said on the show: “Well I believe in God. Since I was a child I always went to church.
people who were really in a bad situation. There were queues and queues of people looking for jobs, and living on the little bits of money they brought with them. Who knows what will happen when that money runs out?”
Aid to the Church in Need is running a Middle East appeal. Please send donations marked for the Middle East to: ACN, PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 Ph: 02 9679-1929 or visit www.aidtochurch.org
“My mother always showed us that path. Before every match I ask God to bless us so we can have a good match, and nobody will get injured. I think that is what I ask for, protection. And sometimes, I ask for a goal!”
While Christian sportsmen are known in all major sports today, it is rare to hear a footballer in Australia enthusing about their faith in the open way Fred does. This may mean that Australian Christian sport stars are more shy of speaking about faith than are their counterparts overseas. Or it may just mean that there is something special about those boys from Brazil.
Winning the Nobel Prize gives scientists a new lease of life, researchers at the University of Warwick in central England have found. Scientists who have won the prize for work in chemistry and physics live two years longer than colleagues who were only nominated.
“Status seems to work a kind of health-giving magic,” said Professor Andrew Oswald, adding that “we just don’t know” how. Oswald and government economist Matthew Rablen compared the lifespan of 524 scientists who had been nominated for the prize between 1901 and 1950, including 135 who had won it. The average lifespan in the group was 76 years but winners lived on average 1.4 years longer than nominees. The gap widened another two-thirds of a year when winners and losers fron the same country were compared.
JANUARY
driven to write about the way students’ bodies and souls are sacrificed to the sexual ideology reigning in colleges.
■ By Jennifer Roback MorseIt is a continuing mystery how advanced Western societies can, with a straight face, declare that trans fats should be banned (as in New York City) but at the same time, ignore the health risks associated with non-monogamous sexual activity.
Finally, someone with authority dares to speak out. Her name is Dr Miriam Grossman but she called herself Dr Anonymous when she wrote Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in her Profession Endangers Every Student. As a psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she has treated thousands of college students over the past ten years. If you have a loved one in college, you owe it to them to read Unprotected to find out what is really going on.
Adults think they are teaching the young to be non-judgmental, but this translates into the young having no basis for making judgements about what is good for them. Although there is plenty of evidence that sex without commitment is emotionally and physically harmful, this evidence is carefully concealed from the young. So even while they are told to make their own decisions, the adults around them systematically understate the harms of non-marital sex. The author is especially effective because she dramatises general
‘Burqini’
points with the stories of particular individual students who typify a problem.
She tells of Brian, a gay student who came to her because he wanted medication to help him stop smoking. During the course of the session it transpired that he and his boyfriend often pick up other men. “It’s hard to be monogamous,” he explained. Neither Brian nor his boyfriend use condoms for protection. Neither has ever been tested for HIV.
The author reviews her responsibilities toward patients suspected of having tuberculosis. The law expects the doctor to test students at-risk of TB. If the skin test is positive, she is required to give him a chest X-ray.
If the combination of skin test and chest X-ray point to TB, the doctor is required to report him to the Department of Health within a day. Yet for students at-risk for HIV, she can only recommend testing and discourage unsafe activities.
A man from Mars would conclude that we are more concerned about the health of TB patients than of HIV patients.
A student named Heather is referred for unexplained depression. After discarding numerous possible explanations, including academic pressure, poor health, death of a pet, the doctor asks Heather whether she has had any changes in her relationships.
Heather thinks it over, “Well, I can think of one thing: since Thanksgiving, I’ve had a ‘friend with benefits.’ And actually I’m kind of confused about that... I want to spend more time with him, and do stuff like go shopping or see a movie.
That would make it a friendship for me. But he says no, because if we do those things, then in his opinion we’d have a relationship
– and that’s more than he wants. And I’m confused because it seems like I don’t get the ‘friend’ part, but he still gets the ‘benefits’.”
The author recounts the evidence that sexually active teenage girls are about three times more likely to be depressed and to have attempted suicide than girls who were not sexually active. She also recounts the evidence that women’s physiology creates this vulnerability.
Women secrete a hormone called oxytocin during sexual activity, and while nursing a baby. Oxytocin promotes bonding, trust and relaxation. Mother Nature evidently is trying to get us to connect with our babies, and with our sex partners, who after all, might become the father to our children.
Oxytocin recently made an appearance in American politics. George Bush’s appointment to the Office of Population Affairs actually believes in abstinence. The Life-Style Left discovered that Dr Eric Keroack had once given a lecture in which he informed people about the bonding power of oxytocin. They went apoplectic, rather than confront the evidence on its own terms.
This refusal to face inconvenient facts cries out for explanation. One of the author’s patients asked her, “Why, Doctor, do they tell you how to protect your body from herpes and pregnancy, but they don’t tell you what it does to your heart?”
I have my own theory about this, which is completely complementary with the author’s experience. Far from being sexually neutral, tolerant and non-judgmental, the Life-Style Left subscribes to a covert ideology.
I call it Condomism. Its chief tenets are that sex is a private recreational activity with no moral or social significance. Unlimited
Young Muslim women in Australia are donning “burqinis” to take up surf life saving. The burqini, popular in the Middle East, is a two-piece lycra body suit that covers the head (but not the face) - a compromise between a bikini and burqa. It is not too body-hugging to embarrass, but is tight enough to allow the wearer to swim freely. It will soon be manufactured in the iconic red and yellow of Australia’s surf life saving movement, now in its 100th year.
Women were admitted to mem-
sexual activity is an entitlement. There are no harms associated with sex that cannot be controlled by condoms or other forms of contraception.
And if anyone complains about anything that can’t be controlled by condoms, well, those complaints are not worth taking seriously. Getting attached to inappropriate sex partners?
Never happens.
Women’s depression associated with uncommitted sex? Must be bad data.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder associated with abortion? A mere
blip in the data, even though the author’s back-of-the-envelope calculations show that if a mere one per cent of post-abortive women develop PTSD symptoms, that amounts to 420,000 traumatised women.
That’s a lot of women to dismiss.
Unprotected is a bold and important book. Buy it. Read it. Pass it around. You may just save someone you love a lot of heartache. Jennifer Roback Morse, PhD, is a Senior Research Fellow in Economics at the Acton Institute, and the author of Smart Sex: Finding Life-long Love in a Hook-up World.
Australia could one day have a Catholic king or queen if Irish Anglican primate, Bishop Alan Harper, who says it’s time to “move on” from a 1701 law forbidding a Catholic British monarch, has his way.
The BBC reports that Bishop Harper in an interview with the Irish Times says that the ban on Catholics becoming the British monarch should be abolished.
The Act of Settlement of 1701 bans Catholics, or those married to Catholics, from ascending the British throne.
Bishop Harper, who was born in Tamworth in Staffordshire, is to succeed Dr Robin Eames who retired in December.
The new primate-elect said the Act “belongs to its time and we should move on”, but that its repeal could have implications for the Church of England.
As well as being the head of state,
the British monarch is governor of the Church of England. Bishop Harper told the Irish Times that the disestablishment of the Church of England - separating church and state - was something it would “not only get over, but would be the better for it”.
Previously, Westminster Cardinal Cormac MurphyO’Connor has said under the terms of the Act, Prince William “can marry by law a Hindu, a Buddhist, anyone, but not a Roman Catholic” and still be king.
The relevant part of the Act states: “That all and every person and persons, who shall or may take or inherit the said Crown, by virtue of the limitation of this present act, and is, are or shall be reconciled to, or shall hold communion with, the See or Church of Rome, or shall profess the popish religion, or shall marry a papist, shall be subject to such incapacities.”
Archdiocese of Perth
bership in 1980. The burqini move follows race riots between ethnic Lebanese Australians and white Australian youths at Cronulla Beach in the lead-up to Christmas 2005. ~ Sydney Morning Herald, January 16
Meanwhile the highest court in the southern German state of Bavaria has decided that a state law banning Muslim women from wearing headscarves while teaching is not unconstitutional.
The state defended its ban on the ground that the headscarf clashed with gender equality, which is
guaranteed by the Constitution.
Unlike in France, German students are allowed to wear the hijab.
WELLE, JANUARY“Children, Parents Drive Each Other to Early Grave” reads the Washington Post headline announcing a study of 22,000 couples that measured the “fitness cost” of “human reproduction”. Kids age their parents - especially women - and shorten their lives, according to the study published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (US).
The more kids the worse it gets, with a mother of 12 having five times the risk of dying
prematurely as a mother of three.
Later born children in large families had less chance than their older siblings of surviving into adulthood and having children of their own.
But don’t worry too much. The people in the study all married more than a century ago. They were Latter-Day Saints living in Utah. The group’s genealogical database provided a way to measure the cost of having children in “a wide spectrum of society”,
Applications are now invited for the position of PROJECT OFFICER for the Committee.
The main role of the Committee is to encourage and promote the vocation and spirituality of marriage and the family; to encourage and promote respect and love for human life from conception to death; to work with the bishops and leaders of the Archdiocese on the challenges and issues of family and of life; and to help develop networks and dialogue with diocesan leaders in family and life ministries, family oriented movements, pro-life organisations and other agencies.
The successful applicant will be able to demonstrate:
• Full support of the objectives and ethos of the Catholic Church
• Excellent interpersonal written and verbal communication skills
albeit before modern hygiene and medicine greatly reduced maternal and childhood mortality.
The researchers, who have an evolutionary perspective on fecundity, find a use for menopause: it is a way of protecting a mother’s life and helping ensure she will live long enough to raise her last child to reproductive age. They theorise that the physical and psychological stress of childrearing undermines this.
WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY
• Confidence and competence in using a wide range of computer software and internet research
• Ability to produce newsletters, flyers, brochures
• Understanding of Church and local community resources
• Flexibility in working hours
Salary is consistent with SACS Award on a casual basis of up to 20 hours per month with additional hours.
A full Job Description, Selection Criteria, and Application details are available by contacting: Natalie Tarkka, Administrator, L J Goody Bioethics Centre, 39 Jugan Street, Glendalough, 6016. Tel: 9242 4066 or Email: 1jgbciinet.net.au
Closing date for Applications: Monday 5th Febuary, 2007
2005 US Price $27.95
■ Reviewed by
Hal ColebatchMark Steyn analyses shrinking populations and surmises that Western political culture is too mired in cultural relativism to know what’s at stake
Another book by the wittiest as well as probably the most prolific commentator of quality in the world today is an Event.
Mark Steyn’s brilliant tour de force, America Alone, deserves its position at the top of the best-seller lists.
But the book is an edgy combination of witty style and disturbing subject matter.
Steyn fires off his pyrotechnics like the literary wizard he is, but the sylistic brilliance and jokes are in the service of a profoundly serious message: European civilisation is dying.
“Whether we like what replaces it,” he writes, “depends on whether America can summon the will to change at least part of the emerging world. If not, then it’s also the end of the American moment, and the dawn of the new Dark Ages (if darkness can dawn): a planet on which much of the map is reprimitivised.”
Not just “much of the map,” perhaps. Steyn has been haunted by demographics since 9/11.
“In 1970” he writes, “the developed nations had twice as big a share of the global population as the Muslim world: 30 per cent to 15%. By 2000 they were at parity.
“Each had about 20 per cent.” In terms of world history, that’s a mighty quick change.
The birthrates of all European countries - except for their rapidly
growning immigrant populations - are now well below the minimum replacement level of 2.1 births per couple. Despite the Catholic Church’s traditional hostility to birth control, Catholic countries like Spain and Italy have a fertility rate near the bottom of the list - 1.15 and 1.23 respectively.
The idea of large jolly Mediterranean families, as shown in the film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is an outdated myth.
Greece has a fertility rate hovering below 1.3 births per couple: “Hollywood should be making ‘My Big Fat Uptight Protestant Wedding,’ in which some sad Greek only child marries into a big heart-warming New Zealand family where the spouse actually has a sibling.”
Once-mighty Russia is withering away with a birth-rate of 1.14. There will shortly be 18 million fewer Russians than there were in 1992. Further, of course, the native European populations are rapidly ageing.
Spain and Germany have 14 per cent of their population under 18, Saudi Arabia has 39 per cent.
Japan is also beginning to empty, and its faltering economy shows it.
By contrast, the birth rate in Pakistan in 5.08 per couple and in Saudi Arabia 4.53.
In both countries conversion from Islam to Christianity is punishable by death, as is homosexuality and, for females, adultery.
This is the culture which Steyn fears is being exported to Europe and which threatens to displace Europe’s historic civilisation.
Further, the question obtrudes itself: how can the shrinking work forces of Europe support their ageing pensioner populations? “Across the developed world, we’re at the beginning of the end of the socialdemocratic state.” The US is the only major Western nation whose fertility rate is above replacement level.
“September 11, 2001,” Steyn writes, “was not ‘the day everything changed,’ but the day that revealed how much had already changed.”
The rapidly-growing Muslim populations in Western Europe are increasingly a voting bloc able to dictate to governments.
Sharia Law is beginning to make its appearance in a number of Western countries, including Canada, and demands that it be introduced in Britain are becoming increasingly strident.
So far, this has not meant the re-introduction of punitive amputation and death by stoning in European jurisdictions, though these have been re-introduced recently either officially or semiofficially in some formerly moderate Muslim Countries.
However, once the fundamentalist Muslim demographic and vote becomes big enough, as Steyn sees it, there is no particular reason why Sharia penal law should not be introduced in Europe along with other Muslim institutions.
Already Dutch and English women in parts of Amsterdam and London have begun going about veiled for fear of the consequences if they do not.
Against this, Steyn sees a feeble and appeasing Western political culture, with the nations of Europe “too mired in cultural relativism to know what’s at stake.” The words from Tennyson’s Morte d’Arthur linger in the mind: “The last dim weird battle of the West.”
Steyn argues that the European welfare cultures cannot match the single-minded passions of the Ayatollahs, and indeed much of what passion many of their influential cultural figures have is directed against America, whose military protection during the Cold War enabled them to create those lavish welfare states.
He quotes the hatred of America spewed out by leading literary figures like Margaret Drabble and echoed by the likes of Harold Pinter, adding: “A suicide bomber may be a weak weapon, but not against a suicide culture.”
“The fanatical Muslims despise America because it’s all lap-dancing and gay porn; the secular Europeans despise America because
it’s all born-again Christians hung up on abortion; the anti-Semites despise America because it’s controlled by Jews.
Too Jewish, too Christian, too godless, America is George Orwell’s Room 101: whatever your bugbear you will find it therein; whatever you’re against, America’s the prime example of it.”
Steyn sees America, with a few allies including Australia, as the only hope for the survival of Western and Christian civilisation, and America itself as riddled with faint-heartedness: “We have been shirking too long, and that’s unworthy of a great civilisation.
“To see off the New Dark Ages will be tough and demanding.
“The alternative will be worse.”
Steyn’s prescriptions for actual policies can be criticised as vague, but he could reply that this is a wake-up call, not a White Paper, and realistic policies will follow a realistic appraisal of the situation.
Is Steyn too pessimistic? Possibly.
A few selectively targetted tax incentives by governments might turn Europe’s population decline around surprisingly quickly, if there is the political will to implement them. Steyn himself points out how wrong prophets of doom like Paul Ehrlich have been. But in the meantime this book is a profoundly important and compelling read.
Wednesday January 31
Do you like singing and music? Would you like to experience the joy and friendship of being in a choir? Join us. We commence practice for 2007 on 31st January and every Wednesday night from 7.30pm to 9.30pm at 36 Windsor St, East Perth. We welcome all interested people. Enquiries to Chris 9276 2736 and Angela 9275 2066.
Thursday February 1
TAIZE MEDITATION
Our Lady of Grace, 3 Kitchener St, North Perth. 1st Thursday in the month. For those seeking a deep peace “A peace the world cannot give”.
Friday February 2
CATHOLIC FAITH RENEWAL PRAISE AND WORSHIP
7:30pm, St John and Paul’s Church, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Praise and Worship evening followed by Fr Greg Donovan - “Why on earth get married?” and Mass. Light refreshments after Mass. All welcome. We look forward to seeing you there. Enq: Rita 9272 1765, Rose 0403 300 720.
Friday - Saturday February 2-3
ALLIANCE AND TRIUMPH OF THE TWO HEARTS
All night Eucharistic vigil in reparation to the two
hearts. Holy Mass 9pm Friday at St Bernadette’s Church, 49 Jugan St, Glendalough. Followed by all night adoration with Rosaries, hymns and silent prayers. All are welcome. Concluding with Parish Saturday Mass at 7.30am with Reconciliation available at 7am. Enq: Fr Doug Harris 9444 6131 or Dorothy 9342 5845.
Saturday February 3 DAY WITH MARY
Holy Spirit Church, Cnr Keaney Place & Bent St, City Beach 9am – 5pm. A video on Fatima will be shown at 9am. A day of prayer and instruction based upon the messages of Fatima. Includes Sacrament of Penance, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons, Rosaries, procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Stations of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enq. 9250 8286
Sunday February 4
PROFESSIONAL PAINTING EXHIBITION
To raise funds for the renovations to St Mary’s Cathedral the exhibition will be held in the St Kieran’s Hall, corner of Cape and Tyler Streets, Tuart Hill from 10.00am to 4.00pm. You can buy paintings on the spot or otherwise. Enquiries Margaret
94431853 or 0432834743.Sunday February 4
DIVINE MERCY
An afternoon with Jesus and Mary will be held at
St Joachim’s Church, on the corner of Shepperton Road and Harper Street in Victoria Park, at 1.30pm.
Program: Holy Rosary and Reconciliation, Sermon with Fr Dominic Mary FFI on St John De Britto, followed by Divine Mercy prayers and Benediction. Enq: John 9457 7771 or Linda 9275 6608.
Tuesday February 6
M.M.P CENACLE
Please join us at St Annes Church, Hehir St, Belmont as we commence our weekly Cenacles for 2007. Followed by refreshments in Parish hall. All welcome. (10.30am Rosary, 11am Holy Mass).
Tuesday February 6 to Sunday May 6
SET MY PEOPLE ON FIRE SEMINAR
7:30pm on Tuesday Feb 6 to Sunday May 6 for 15
weekly sessions. St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, cnr College Rd & Melville St, Claremont. Three weekends included. Contact (08) 9382 3668, fmi@flameministries.org. Full program: www.flameministries.org/smpof. “The SMPOF seminars are an excellent source of Biblical teaching.” Archbishop BJ Hickey.
Wednesday February 7
CARITAS AUSTRALIA
Parish Representatives Commissioning &
Information Seminar: Morning 9.30am – 11.30am OR Evening 6.30pm – 8.30pm; Catholic Pastoral Centre, 40A Mary St Highgate (Parking off Harold St) Follow signs to Seminar Room, No charge, Light refreshments provided, RSVP Essential. Contact 94227925.
Every Thursday February 8 to March 8
INTERCESSORY PRAYER SEMINAR
Cathedral Praise Meeting 450 Hay Street, Perth 7.45 pm. Why should I pray this way? These seminars teach how to operate in the anointing, pray “in” the power of Holy Spirit and deal responsibly with spiritual forces. Free. Flame Ministries International (08) 9382 3668. www.flameministries.org/awesomeprogram
Friday February 9
LAKE MONGER TORCHLIGHT ROSARY PROCESSION Will commence at 7.30pm. The procession will leave from the area closest to the Dodds Street Carpark. All are invited to attend and participate, by either walking around the Lake or sitting as a group, in the saying of the Rosary in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes. Please bring torches, drink bottles and insect repellent. Enquiries ph: Judy Woodward 9446 6837
Sunday February 11
ST COLUMBA’S BAYSWATER 50TH ANNIVERSARY
The 50th Anniversary of the opening of the current church will be celebrated with a thanksgiving Mass at 11am, followed by a light luncheon in the Parish hall. An invitation is extended to past parishioners to attend this celebration, please contact Carolyn Kelly on 9271 1988.
Sunday February 11
ST CATHERINE’S CHURCH GINGIN FEAST OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES
Starts noon. Holy Rosary, Exposition, Hymns, Benediction and Blessing of the Sick. 1.30 Marian Procession. 2.30 Holy Mass at the Grotto. 3.30 Afternoon tea provided. Coaches leave St Joachim’s, Maddington & Morley parishes. Bookings: Francis Williams 9459 3873 or Mb 0404 893 877. Transport cost $16/pp return. Tea & Coffee provided. Contact Sheila 9575 4023 or Fr Paul 9571 1839.
Tuesday February 13
CARITAS AUSTRALIA
Get ready for Project Compassion 2007 Lenten Speakers Workshop, 6.45pm – 8.30pm. Catholic Pastoral Centre, 40A Mary St Highgate (Parking off Harold St) Follow signs to Seminar Room, No charge, Light refreshments provided, RSVP Essential 94227925.
Sunday February 18
CARITAS AUSTRALIA
Get ready for Project Compassion 2007. Official Launch of Project Compassion: 11am Mass, St Joachim’s Pro-Cathedral Victoria Park, Celebrant: Archbishop Hickey, Parishes to conduct local launch.
Sunday February 18
BENEDICTINE OBLATES OF NEW NORCIA
Our chapter will meet 2pm at St Joseph’s Convent, York St, South Perth. This is our first meeting this year and we would like everyone to attend as we want to make plans for our 50th anniversary (Sept 2008). Vespers and afternoon tea will conclude the meeting. Please contact Secretary: Adrienne Byrne 9388 3026. Visitors and enquirers welcome.
Every Sunday
BULLSBROOK SHRINE
Mass with Rosary and Benediction at 2pm at the Shrine of Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. Reconciliation in Italian and English before Mass. Pilgrimage last Sunday of the month. Anointing of the sick during Mass - second Sunday of the month. Side entrance of Church and Shrine open 9am to 5pm for private prayer. Enq SACRI 9447 3292.
Every Friday
BIBLE STUDY AND NOVENA TO OUR FATHER
Every Friday 7.30pm at St Joachim’s in Vic Park. Bible study on Genesis followed by Novena to God, Our Father, both conducted by Fr Douglas Rowe. Enquiries to Yit 9310 1392, 0401 674 302.
HELP AVAILABLE
“Are you suffering from mental illness or know someone that is. Depression, anxiety/panic attacks etc? Could you do with some help in understanding your/their illness? Do you know how to get help when you need it? For more information contact Emmanuel Centre 93288113 or email emmanuel2@iinet.net
IS YOUR SON OR DAUGHTER UNDECIDED AFTER SCHOOL?
If your child has finished school unsure of what they really want to do, offer them a productive year discovering God’s purpose for their life while learning practical life skills. They will develop leadership skills, communication and public speaking skills, and learn more about the Catholic faith and deepen their own faith in God. Contact Jane Borg (Acts 2 College) on 9202 6859 or 0401 692 690.
DIVINE MERCY
Every Saturday afternoon at St Francis Xavier’s Church, 25 Windsor Street, East Perth from 2.30pm. Holy Hour will be held with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet and prayers plus Reconciliation and Benediction. Concludes with Veneration of a first class relic of Saint Faustina Kowalska. Enquiries: John 9457 7771 or Linda 9275 6608.
TUESDAY NIGHT PRAYER MEETINGS
St Mary’s Cathedral Parish Centre, 450 Hay Street, Perth, 7pm. Come join us! Overcome the burdens in life making prayer your lifeline with Jesus. Personal healing in prayer, Rosary, meditation, Scripture, praise in song, friendship, refreshments. Be united with Our Lord and Our Lady in prayer with others. Appreciate the heritage of the Faith.
First Sunday of the Month
DEVOTIONS IN HONOUR OF THE DIVINE MERCY
The Santa Clara Parish Community welcomes anyone from surrounding parishes and beyond to the Santa Clara Church, corner of Coolgardie and Pollock Sts, Bentley on the 1st Sunday of each month. The afternoon commences with the 3 o’clock prayer, followed by the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Reflection and concludes with Benediction.
BLESSED SACRAMENT ADORATION
Holy Family Church, Alcock Street, Maddington. Friday 8.30am Holy Mass followed by Blessed Sacrament Adoration till 12 noon. Every first Friday of the month, anointing of the sick during Mass. Enq. 9398 6350.
Wednesdays
SIGN LANGUAGE COURSE
Australian Sign Language (Auslan) Classes are offered free of charge at Emmanuel Centre on Wednesdays at 1pm. If this does not suit you, other arrangements can be made. Please contact Fr Paul or Barbara at Emmanuel Centre, 25 Windsor St Perth 9328 8113.
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT PART TIME
HIV/AIDS Pastoral Care (known as The Living Centre) is seeking an experienced Administrative Assistant. Experience required: MYOB accounting software. Computing and Clerical skills, Reception duties, Salary packaging items and contributions, bank reconcilation etc. Appplicants must support the Christian Ethos of The Living Centre. Closing date for applications is 30th January 2007. Those applicants who are successful for an interview will be contacted by 2nd Febuary 2007. Interviews being held on 8th February 2007. For an application package please phone Norah on 9470 4931 or 0407 424 007.
QUEEN OF APOSTLES SCHOOL
If anyone has information on Queen of Apostles School, Riverton, used to go there or knows anyone who did please do one of the following to tell the extension group – Call 9354 1360 and ask to speak to Veronique or email your information to veronequeregnard@gmail.com.au or janellekoh@yahoo.com.au or you can put your information into the box in the office at Queen of Apostles School. Thanking you in anticipation.
ST COLUMBA’S BAYSWATER
Information is sought from past and present parishioners of St Columba’s Catholic Church (Roberts St Bayswater) for inclusion in a written history (1905 – 2007) of the parish. Photographs of Parish Priests, parishioners and events depicting the original and current Church greatly appreciated. Contact: Carolyn Kelly, St Columba’s History, PO Box 47 Bayswater 6053 WA. Telephone: 9271 1988.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
Is alcohol costing you more than just money? Alcoholics Anonymous can help. Ring 9325 3566.
ATTENTION COUPLES
Have you or your spouse been diagnosed with a mental illness? Depression? Anxiety/ Panic Attacks? etc. Could you do with some help in understanding your/their illness? Do you know how to get help when you need it? We can help you to help each other through the Unconditional Love Program. For more information contact Amanda Olsen: 0407 192 641, or email: mandyfolsen@bigpond.com.au.
AL ANON FAMILY GROUPS
If a loved one’s drinking is worrying you – please call Al Anon Family Groups for confidential information meetings etc... Phone Number 9325 7528 – 24 hrs.
LINDA’S HOUSE OF HOPE APPEAL
To enable us to continue to provide and offer support for girls wishing to leave the sex trade we need your help. We have achieved already new offfices which are now complete at the rear of the shelter and are fully functional. Donations are also required to complete the internal layout of the shelter itself. Please send donations to Linda’s House of Hope PO Box Z5640, Perth, St George’s Tce 6831. Ph: 0439 401 009. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.
Monthly Monday Evening
SCRIPTURAL PRAYER PROGRAM
The Council for Australian Catholic Women (CACW) is offering a Scriptural Prayer Program developed in the Jesuit tradition. This form of prayer can lead to more reflective living, greater spiritual depth and promotes lay spiritual leadership in the Church. Led by Kathleen Brennan (IBVM). Commences 29th Jan, 7.30pm, 49a Vincent St, Highgate. Enquiries: 9345 2555. All Welcome.
■ DENMARK Holiday House 3bdr x 2 bath, sleeps up to 8. BOOK NOW. Ph: Maria 0412 083 377.
■ FAMILY/GROUP ACCOMMODATION
Fully furnished luxury beach houses, Perth metro. Visit www.guadaluplehill.com Call 0400 292 100
■ ROOM TO RENT
Mature Christian lady offers board to working person of integrity. References required. Ph/fax 9279 5145.
ACCOMMODATION NEEDED
■ ACCOMMODATION WANTED
Active male pens. N/S. S/D. No pets. Full refs. Police clearance. Needs two bedroom unit/house at reasonable rental. Ring Gerard on 9495 1072.
■ BRICK REPOINTING Phone Nigel 9242 2952
■ PERROTT PAINTING PTY LTD
For all your residential, commercial painting requirements. Phone Tom Perrott 9444 1200
■ PICASSO PAINTING Top service. Phone 0419 915 836, fax 9345 0505
■ ALL AREAS Mike Murphy 0416 226 434
RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS
■ CATHOLICS CORNER
Retailer of Catholic products specialising in gifts, cards and apparel for baptism, communion and confirmation. Ph: 9456 1777. Shop 12, 64-66 Bannister Road, Canning Vale. Open Mon-Sat.
■ REPAIR YOUR LITURGICAL BOOKS REPAIRS to all sorts of books and leather bindings; reliable, reasonable rates. Ph. (08) 9293 3092.
■ PILGRIMAGE
Dear Pilgrim, You are invited to come on a 15 Days Spiritual Pilgrimage. Medjugorje: 6 Days. Rome: 4 Days (audience with Pope). Garabandal: 4 Days. Spiritual Directors: Fr Paul Fox & Fr Aruiraj. Depart Perth: Wed 16 May 2007. Cost: $4958.00 P/P (twin share). Call Helen Cockrell Tel: (08) 9453 3218/0431 689 128. Sky air services – 9TA1220. Thank you for responding to my call.
■ CLINICAL PASTORAL EDUCATION
Applications are now invited for a Full-Time (400 hrs) program of formal training in Pastoral Care, to be held at St John of God Hospital Subiaco / Murdoch. The following Full Time Unit will be offered on 16 July 2007 - Sept 21 2007. Applications close on Friday 20 April 2007. Interviews commence on Tuesday 24 April 2007
■ CLINICAL PASTORAL EDUCATION
Applications are invited for a Part-Time (400 hrs) program of formal training in Pastoral Care, to be held at SJG Hospital Subiaco / Murdoch. The following Part-Time Unit will be offered on Monday 3 Dec 2007 to Fri 25 April 2008. Applications close Friday 21 Sept 2007. Interviews will commence on Wednesday 3 October 2007. Inquiries and Request application details: Elizabeth Murphy 9382 6040 CPE Department, Laureen Carter 9382 6200 Pastoral Services
Classifieds must be submitted by fax, email or post no later than 12pm Tuesday. For more information contact 9227 7778.
Australia Day Celebrations, City of South Perth - Bishop Sproxton Australia Day Citizenship and Awards Ceremony 2007, Perth - Fr Brian O’Loughlin VG
FEBRUARY
1 AGLOW Presidents’ Summit - Archbishop Hickey
2 Mass, Induction of Special Ministers, Presentation of Yr 12 Badges at Trinity
Entries must be in by 5pm Monday. Contributions may be faxed to 9227 7087, emailed to administration@therecord.com.au or mailed to PO box 75, Leederville, WA 6902. Submissions over 55 words will be edited.
Inclusion is limited to 4 weeks. Events charging over $10 constitute a classified event, and will be charged accordingly. The Record reserves the right to decline or modify any advertisment.
The Missionaries of Charity Sisters have made a telling difference in many areas of parish life since their arrival in Kalgoorlie/ Boulder in September 2005. Their apostolate so far includes an active prayer life amongst the faithful with opportunity for daily Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in their chapel, a weekly Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, weekly visits to the Goldfields Regional Prison, meals provided twice a week for Aboriginals either in the city, or the two Aboriginal Settlements around Kalgoorlie-Boulder, and weekly after-school Catechesis for children preparing for their First Communion and Confirmation.
The Sisters have also made trips outside Kalgoorlie/Boulder to visit the poor of the Goldfields.
There were three trips to Menzies, which included two to provide food for the poor, and one to teach Catechism to the children at the Menzies State School.
Another trip organised by the Sisters and some parishioners a few days prior to the Christmas of 2005 trip took them some 200 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie along the railway line to the Coonaanna Aboriginal Settlement.
Here the Sisters, Santa Claus and some parishioners warmly greeted a group of more than 100 adults and children with food, drinks and presents.
The Sisters are very much loved on the Goldfields by people of all walks of life even though they did experience some resistance in the beginning.
Within a month of their arrival they were surprised twice by break-ins and frequent verbal abuse.
Nothing, however, deterred the four women from continuing their work. They are certainly doing a wonderful missionary work for the Church of Jesus Christ by the example of their life and actions.
Many times they have travelled to Coolgardie, Kambalda and Norseman to be amongst the faithful of the Parish and help them in the Sunday liturgy or otherwise.
They are always found hard at work and are seen at all locations in the Parish.
The blue-rimmed-sari-clad Sisters have become very familiar faces in the Goldfields.
For Srs Mary Teceline (Superior), Mary Perpetua Socorro, Mary Zelie Martin and Mary Damielene Christmas 2006 was busy and joyful.
Working with the poorest of the poor
“ Within a month of their arrival they were surprised twice by break-ins and frequent verbal abuse. Nothing, however, deterred the four Sisters from continuing their work. They are certainly doing wonderful work for the Church.”
and helping them in their material and spiritual needs has been the Missionaries of Charity Sisters’ main mission in the Goldfields.
The largest and busiest day of celebration came on December 16 when an open invitation was extended to all parents and children of the city to gather at 9am at the Boulder Railway Park for carols, followed by a nativity play by children, games, a picnic barbecue lunch, and a visit from Santa Claus with a large container of presents for all.
Many members of the parish and St Vincent de Paul Society provided tables,
sound system, barbecues and their time cooking the food and helping the Sisters entertain the hundreds of people who attended. The food and presents were donated by many of the city’s businesses, such as the supermarkets, butchers, bakers and toyshops. Everyone enjoyed the day which finished at about 2pm.
On December 8 the Sisters joined a coach-load of parishioners and drove to Menzies to celebrate a “Carols by Candle Light” and barbeque with about 30 of the town’s locals.
Amongst those who came with the Sisters were Fr Nelson Po, 30 parishioners
and the Church Choir of St Mary’s and All Hallows Catholic Community. They were joined by about 10 family members of other Christian denominations.
Once in Menzies, Fr Nelson first celebrated Mass in the Menzies Town Hall at 5pm for about 30 of the faithful who included seven parishioners from the towns of Menzies and Kookynie.
After Mass, the “Carols by Candle Light” was held in the Beer Garden of the Menzies Hotel.
Many enjoyable songs were sung, and the Sisters arranged a meaningful Nativity Play, which was performed by the adults and children.
A visit by Santa on the Menzies Fire Truck carrying many gifts was the highlight for the children.
This was followed by a delightful barbeque. After the enjoyable evening, the coach left Menzies about 8.30 pm for the one and a half hour’s journey back to Kalgoorlie.
After successes in 2005 and 2006, and support by the Menzies Shire, “Carols by Candle Light” may become an annual event for the town.
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