The Record Newspaper 25 March 2009

CONTINENT of HOPE

THE R ECORD

Strong fathers and stable families ‘the best defence’

Archbishop Hickey has re-emphasised the fundamental link between the state of marriage, fatherhood, and burgeoning social problems.

Obvious but little practised? Fathers are of vital importance to raising children, says Archbishop Barry Hickey.

Stable families and committed fathers are society’s best defence against crime and violence, and a great many other ills as well, Archbishop Barry Hickey said last week.

“Tougher laws and more prison sentences might have their place, but if we want to understand why our society has become so violent we must look at the state of marriage and family,” he said.

“In 1993, when there was great concern Continued - Page 2

“Be indefatigable in your purpose and with undaunted spirit resist iniquity and try to conquer evil with good, having before your eyes the reward of those who combat for Christ.”

-Bishop Matthew Gibney 1874

Notre Dame student cameras catch Project Compassion’s work helping others build a new future

Get Benedict. Quick.

AMONG those backing Pope Benedict on AIDS and condoms is the head of Harvard University’s AIDS Prevention Research Centre. But will you see it reported in the media here in WA? At the root of recent controversies is a a fundamental media failure to report what is really happening or to comprehend what Pope Benedict actually stands for, and why - hence the concerted, and now open, campaign to bring him down. VISTA 4

Images tell in ways words can’t how - and why - people should give during this Lent for the greater needs of the human family around the world.

THE little fellow at the centre of this photograph, pictured at left, probably didn’t suspect he would be helping communicate the message in Australia of the need for global solidarity.

But the images taken by students from the University of Notre Dame’s Fremantle campus during an immersion trip jointly organised by the Australian Catholic Church’s aid and development agency Caritas, and the University of Notre Dame Australia, inspired their takers to do just that.

Together with seven other staff and students, University of Notre Dame second year medical student Elizabeth Connor travelled to India in November and December last year to see firsthand how Project Compassion helps local communities to build their future.

Project Compassion is the Church’s annual appeal throughout the season of Lent in Australia to raise funds for much-needed aid and development work, both within Australia and abroad.

One unexpected result from the trip was a photographic exhibition, currently showing at UNDA’s School of Arts and Sciences, which opened as The Record went to press at Notre Dame’s Fremantle campus on March 24.

Meanwhile, Ms Connor shared her impressions of the trip at the launch of Project Compassion in WA at Parliament House on March 11.

An edited version of Ms Connor’s talk together with some of the photos from the exhibition can be found on page 6

Missionary hardships - and joys

“Even after we had come to Macedonia, there was no rest for this body of ours. Far from it; we were beset by difficulties on all sides, there were quarrels all around us and misgivings within us. But God, who ebcourages all those who are distressed, encouraged us through the arrival of Titus; and not simply by his arrival only, but also by means of the encouragement you had given him, as he told us of your desire to see us, how sorry you were and how concerned for us, so that I was all the more joyful. Second Letter to the Corinthians, 7: 5-7.

Pope honours three South Australians

POPE Benedict XVI has recognised three South Australians for their exemplary service and commitment to the Catholic Church.

Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson today announced that the papal honour of Knight Commander Order of St Gregory the Great had been conferred on the former head of Catholic Education in South Australia, Mr Allan Dooley.

He also announced the conferring of the Knight of the Order of St Gregory the Great to obstetrician Graham Andersen and the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice on Sister Gemma Nicholas OP, a Dominican Sister of the Province of the Holy Cross.

Mr Dooley was director of Catholic

Education for 15 years before his retirement in January this year.

“Mr Dooley has been an outstanding leader in the Catholic community and indeed the broader community,” Archbishop Wilson said.

Dr Andersen has been an active member of the Cathedral Parish for over 40 years and is currently a lay minister in the parish.

He has been a champion of the prolife cause in South Australia, particularly at the height of the debate over legalising abortion in South Australia, and was instrumental in the development of the Birthline counselling service for women.

Sr Gemma Nicholas was professed as

a Dominican Sister in 1955 and for more than 50 years has used her skills as a seamstress to make albs and vestments for bishops and priests in South Australia and Australia, often at no cost to clergy.

“She has done this with great generosity and loving service,” Archbishop Wilson said.

“She has also provided great service to the Cathedral Parish of St Francis Xavier for more than 30 years, providing the flower arrangements, altar cloths and cloths for the sacred vessels.”

Archbishop Wilson said he was delighted the Holy Father had seen fit to grant these rare honours to three outstanding South Australians.

‘Fathers, stable families, best defence’

Continued from Page 1 about crime, Dr Alan Tapper, of Edith Cowan University, published the facts and figures to support his statement, ‘family breakdown in the form of divorce and separation is the main cause of the crime wave’.

“Dr Tapper’s conclusion has been endorsed by history and by countless other studies of the effect of family breakdown over the last 50 years.

“The effects of family breakdown are not limited to crime.

“Bryan Rodgers, reporting on Australian research findings in ‘Australian Psychologist’ in 1995, said: ‘Australian studies with adequate samples have shown parental divorce to be a risk factor for a wide range of social and psychological problems in adolescence and adulthood, including poor academic achievement, low self-esteem, psychological distress, delinquency and recidivism, substance use and abuse, sexual precocity, adult criminal offending, depression and suicidal behaviour.’

He added: ‘There is no scientific justification for disregarding the public health significance of marital dissolution in Australia, especially with respect to mental health.’

Archbishop Hickey said that the modern fashion for cohabitation instead of marriage did not help the adults or the children involved.

A longitudinal study of 512 Australian children, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology in 1997, concluded: ‘The relationship between cohabitation and delinquency is beyond contention: children of cohabiting couples are more likely to be found among offenders (and recidivists)

EDITOR Peter Rosengren cathrec@iinet.net.au

JOURNALISTS

than children of married couples.’

“The simple fact is that marriage is the best and safest place for adults and by far the best environment for raising children to be stable and competent adults who are able to contribute to society,” the Archbishop said.

“Parents have a unique relationship with one another and with their children. It is rightly said of married couples that the two become one. It is also true that while children have relationships with each parent, they have that relationship within their parents’ unity.

“That is why divorce is so damaging to the well-being of children and hence to the well-being of society.

“The second reason is that divorce too often results in

Anthony Barich abarich@therecord.com.au Mark Reidy reidyrec@iinet.net.au Robert Hiini cathrec@iinet.net.au

the absence of the father from the family. This seriously impairs the ability of many children to grow into their own social relationships and ultimately their own successful marriages.

“A father’s love for his wife, the mother of his children, is fundamental to his children growing up with the secure knowledge that they, too, are lovable.

“It is vital that the education of boys and young men should lead them to understand the importance of fidelity to their essential role in marriage and family.

“Both young men and young women should be warned that cohabitation seriously affects their ability to establish lasting marriages.

“It is time for all of us –individuals, families and social

institutions – to acknowledge the harm that has been done by our casual disregard for the importance of lifelong marriages.

“Instead of blame for what has occurred, there is a real need for all of us to accept responsibility for upholding the importance of marriage –by example, by teaching and by encouragement and support for those who are married or are planning marriage.

“People naturally enter marriage with a desire for permanence.

“Therefore, we all have a responsibility to current and future generations to counter the misleading material published in books, magazines, films and television.

“Marriage is the only way to establish stable families in a stable society.”

Archbishop Hickey re-emphasised last week the link between a child’s need for stable marriage to be able to grow in learning how to love others. Fathers who are committed to their families are also vital, he said, in discussing the impact of family background on crime and growing social problems in our society.

New chaplain for Perth Chinese Catholics

Perth’s Chinese Catholics were delighted to welcome their new chaplain, courtesy of a mainland Chinese diocese.

THE newly-arrived chaplain for the Chinese Catholic Community, Fr Wang Hai Bo, lived as a child in a village where most of the people are Catholics and always wanted to be a priest.

Fr Wang arrived from Jailin Diocese in the province of the same name north-east of Beijing on February 26 with a four-year visa to work in Australia.

He said that his grandmother on his father’s side led the family in prayer twice a day, with special emphasis on evening prayer.

His mother’s brother and his own elder brother went to the seminary and became priests, and as a boy he accompanied the local priest as an altar server.

“Becoming a priest seemed like good work to do,” he said.

One of his strongest childhood memories was preparing a long

stool on which he would pretend to say Mass. Many of his young friends used to ask him to bless their toys. In due course he went to

the seminary and was ordained in September 1999. He was particularly happy to be invited to WA because he wanted

Bunbury prepares for youth retreat

WYD-like event will be ‘huge’ for our Diocese, says Bishop Holohan.

■ By Anthony Barich

THE Diocese of Bunbury is gearing up for a World Youth Day-style retreat on April 4-5 –the first of what will be a concerted effort to build the faith of young people in the far-flung diocese.

Bunbury Bishop Gerard Holohan told The Record that an interim youth council has been formed that he intends to evolve into the equivalent of a Diocesan Pastoral Council to advises= the diocese and the bishop on the direction of youth ministry.

The Diocesan Youth Council consists of six youth representatives, two each from the diocese’s

three deaneries of the Lower South West, South West and Great Southern, plus Bunbury Cathedral priest Fr Jess Navara, the diocesan Youth Ministry Coordinator Sue Barton and Bishop Holohan, who chaired the meeting.

The interim youth council has been set up to come up with proposals for a permanent diocesan youth council including terms of reference and membership. This will then be discussed by various consultant agencies including youth, and whatever finally emerges will be implemented.

Bishop Holohan said that supporting youth ministry in a diocese like Bunbury presents a special challenge as the parishes are so scattered.

The farthest parish, for example, Esperance, is 700km from Bunbury.

The April 4-5 retreat in Bunbury will be the the first of its kind following the WYD08

style in Sydney. It will be a combination of catechesis, reflection and adoration, focusing in various ways on the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus to “help open ourselves to the experience that Christ offers”, particularly in Holy Week and Easter, Bishop Holohan said.

It will also have a strong social element, including bootscooting in the evening. Young people from more distant parishes will be billeted overnight in Bunbury.

“In essence, in a diocese this size, the key is for parishes to run events more frequently themselves, either in regions (into which the diocese is divided) or on their own,” the bishop said.

The retreat is the result of two meetings of Bunbury youth who attended WYD08, who suggested a Palm Sunday weekend retreat, among other things, as potential initiatives.

“For us it’s a huge event,” the bishop said.

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to learn how to go about pastoral work in a multi-cultural community like Australia, experience which would help him in China.

He was proud that as a Chinese priest he could serve Chinese Catholics overseas.

Fr Wang was chosen by the Chinese Catholic Community after a lengthy selection process involving the Church in China and eventually the approval of Archbishop Hickey.

The chairman of the community, Mr William Suseno, said that the CCC invited applications from priests in various dioceses interested in the appointment.

There were eight, and each one had to have a letter from his bishop saying, among other things, that he would be free to take up the appointment.

A member of the CCC executive, Mr Peter Hoe, had gone to China at his own expense to initiate the evaluation process.

The former chaplain, Fr Dominic Su, SDS, also had contact with Fr Wang, and finally a former chairman of the community, Mr Augustin Li, went to see the Bishop

of Jailin, Bishop Tamasus Zhang Han Min.

Fr Wang had applied for the post in April 2008, obtained his visa in January 2009, and arrived in Perth on February 26.

For his first two weeks he concelebrated the Chinese Mass with Fr Chuang, SDS, who is studying in Perth, and was the main celebrant for the first time last Sunday.

The Chinese Community celebrates Mass at the Holy Family Church, Como, at 4pm every Sunday.

Mr Suseno is an Indonesianborn Chinese (his Chinese name is Xue Lai Gui). Between 2000 and 2003 when he was chairman of the Indonesian Catholic Community he made the arrangements for it to become an Association of Christ’s Faithful.

Subsequently, he was invited to do the same work for the Chinese Catholic Community.

As well as their social and other work for their own people, both communities regularly present candidates and catechumens for admission to the Church at Easter at the end of the RCIA program.

Jesus of Nazareth

Author: Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger)

Read by: Nicholas Bell 12hrs 10mins. 10-CD set.

Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI was recently published in audio book format by Bolinda audio. This work is as tender as it is erudite and brilliant. In this bold, momentous work, The Pope – in his first book written as Benedict XVI –seeks to salvage the person of Jesus from recent ‘popular’ depictions and to restore Jesus’ true identity as discovered in the Gospels.

Every week for seven weeks (beginning Wednesday 11th March 2009) The Record Newspaper will be placing one audio CD set token in the paper. To enter, simply cut out and collect all seven tokens, over the seven weeks. Place all seven tokens in an envelope with your name, address and contact telephone number on the back and mail your envelope to:

Jesus of Nazareth CD Competition

The Record PO Box 75 LEEDERVILLE WA 6902

Entries must be received by close of business on Friday, 8th May 2009. All entries received by this date containing all seven tokens (tokens must be originals cut out from the paper and not copies) will be placed in the Friday, 8th May 2009 draw.

The winners will be notified by telephone and announced in the paper. Happy token collecting!

Fr Wang Hai Bo recalled the influence of his grandmother in leading her family in prayer as a factor in his own vocation, during an interview with The Record last week. He comes from the Diocese of Jailin in mainland China. PHOTO: H RYAN

Youth called to dive deep into Lenten season

Personal struggles are a gift, Disciple of Jesus tells youth.

■ By Anita Parker Catholic Youth Ministry Director

OVER 100 Perth youth were challenged to enter into the Lenten season through the deeper meaning of prayer, fasting and almsgiving at Catholic Youth Ministry’s first Sunday Sesh weekends of 2009 at Notre Dame university on March 8 and St Thomas More College on March 15.

Speaking on ‘The Gift of our Struggles’, Disciples of Jesus leader Mario Borg shared some personal stories about how he worked through some of life’s struggles, relating to the young people gathered that God’s love is ever present throughout the struggles in our life.

The youth were challenged to enter into the Lenten season through the deeper meaning of prayer, fasting and almsgiving to develop a life which proclaims the Ash Wednesday challenge to ‘turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.’

There was an overwhelming turn out for volunteers on the night, with students from the universities leading as MCs, welcome teams, and they also prepared a comic drama based on the ‘Our Father’ prayer drawing in the struggles that young people have with prayer in their daily lives and how God continues to reach out to us in love throughout our struggles.

The evening ended with learning some fun Spanish phrases looking forward to the next international WYD 2011 in Spain.

The aim of the Sunday Sesh is to bring local Catholic speakers out to our parish centres and engage the local youth in leading a vibrant night for the whole south of the river or north of the river youth. The support is given by Catholic Youth Ministry in setting up and training local leaders to run the night. The host parish enjoys the experience of welcoming and engaging the youth on the night.

The next Sunday Sesh will be held on April 19 at Riverton Parish (for south of the river) and April 26 at Morley Parish (for north of the river). The night will include guest speaker Bishop Don Spoxton on the topic “Why Believe in God?”

The night will include: music, activities, prayer time and group discussions. Best of all it’s a free night and open to all to attend. More details visit cym.com.au or ‘Catholic Youth Ministry Perth’ on facebook.

Ukrainians offer praise

The Ukrainian Catholic Community’s Lenten celebrations had special cultural significance that led them into a deeper prayer experience.

■ By Anthony Barich

IN the Ukrainian Catholic tradition, Adoration of the Cross is celebrated on the third Sunday of the Great Lent and is carried out by the priest before Holy Liturgy. The cross is decorated with flowers for the ceremony. Flowers are symbolic of the resurrection, as Christ’s death will bring us new life, making us the “aroma of Christ to God”, a representative from the local Ukrainian Catholic Church said. Death and resurrection are always together. By death Jesus conquered death and gave us life. Flowers remind us that human life began in the garden; that Jesus suffered in the garden; Jesus was buried in the garden; and Mary sees the risen Lord in the garden.

Rev. 2:7 says that paradise will be in a new garden. Through sin we have cut ourselves away from the garden of life, and through death and resurrection Jesus is restoring the garden to us (Rev. 22:2). Before Holy Liturgy begins the priest carries the decorated Cross around the Altar and brings it out to the Tetrapod (table in the aisle of the church) and places it on the Tetrapod. He incenses the Tetrapod on all four sides and the choir sings the troparion “Save Your people, O Lord and bless Your inheritance: grant victory to Your Church over her enemies and protect Your people by Your cross”. Then sing the hymn “we bow before Your Cross, O Lord, and we glorify Your holy resurrection” is sung three times and after each time a great bow or prostration is made to the floor. The parishioners then come to kiss the Cross either as they go to communion or after Holy Liturgy. The hymn “we bow before Your Cross...” is also sung at the end of the Liturgy three times. The booklets you see on the Tetrapod (table) in the photo are names of family members who have passed away and these are prayed for during Great Lent.

Perth youth who entered more deeply into the Lenten season at Catholic Youth Ministry’s first Sunday Sesh weekends at St Thomas More College on March 15. PHOTOS: ANITA PARKER

Respect Life Office’s Bronia Karniewicz gets into the spirit of the Catholic Youth Ministry’s Sunday Sesh held over two weekends.

Speaker Mario Borg addresses Catholic Youth Ministry’s Sunday Sesh, calling youth to prayer, fasting and almsgiving as part of their Lenten sacrifice.

Youth discuss Mario Borg’s talk in a group environment at Catholic Youth Ministry’s Sunday Sesh.

Fr Wolodymyr Kalinecki incenses the cross on the third Sunday in Lent at the Ukrainian Church of St John the Baptist in Maylands with altar servers Daniel Lozyk and Peter Valega.

PHOTO: LUBA VALEGA

Missionary’s life all about heart

Former student tells old school staff, students and families of life working with poorest of the poor.

A PERTH student who went on to become a priest with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity returned to his old school on March 6 and spoke about his life in one of the best known Catholic Religious orders in the world.

Fr Stephen McGuckin MC, who graduated with the school’s class of 1983, was invited back to La Salle College in Viveash for the inaugural community gathering of the Principal’s Prayer Breakfast.

There, he spoke to about 50 staff, students and family members about his own vocation and the daily routine of serving the poorest of the poor.

“The missionaries will be this morning walking the streets of Calcutta with a bucket of water, shaver and some food,” he said.

“They walk until they find those less fortunate to give them a wash, provide them with clothes, if needed, a shave and then give them what is available to eat”.

He told those present that hearts are touched not by what is done, but by how it is done.

“It is not how much we provide and what we can provide, it is the way in which it is given,” he said.

While he now travels India giving talks to young men discerning whether they have a vocation to the priesthood, Fr Stephen previously worked in Calcutta for Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity Sisters and currently continues to serve the poorest of the poor beside the Sisters.

Fr Stephen only visits Perth, where his family resides, every five

years and the College was fortunate to have him attend and give a blessing to the community.

As a student at La Salle he carried in his heart a suspicion that God was calling him to become a priest. At the same time, he

discovered an increasing love of Mother Teresa and her missionary work.

After an electrical apprenticeship with his father’s family business, Stephen was given opportunities to work in the north and

centre of Australia as an electrician. He was an enthusiastic footballer and an active member of the Catholic Youth Ministry.

After meeting John Daly, now Fr John, at a Day of Enquiry to the Priesthood at St Charles Seminary in Guildford, they both agreed to travel together to work as volunteers for a year in Calcutta for Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity. There, he fulfilled his dream of meeting and working with the now Blessed Sister.

With his suspicion getting stronger, he returned to Calcutta and later backpacked through Europe, tracing his Norwegian and Swedish family heritage. In Rome he stayed with the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, experiencing their life for a while and it was there that he turned his suspicion into a decision.

After one more visit home, he left Perth with a small box of possessions to begin his priestly studies in Tijuana, Mexico, at the Missionaries of Charity Seminary.

He studied, worked and was ordained to the Diaconate at the MC Fathers’ mission in Guatemala.

Returning to Rome, he was ordained priest in the Church of St Gregory the Great in 2003.

The Missionaries of Charity Fathers, Sisters and Brothers, take four vows: poverty, obedience, chastity and wholehearted and free service to the poorest of the poor.

Following the charism of Mother Teresa, the priests and sisters possess only two sets of clothing and live as the poor do in all the countries wherever they live.

Fr Steve is now in Calcutta serving with the MC Sisters as part of the Sacramental branch of that family. Missionaries of Charity sisters work in the Archdiocese of Perth, including Kalgoorlie.

Song to aid Victorian appeal

A PERTH musician has written and recorded a song on compact disc to raise money for the St Vincent de Paul Society’s Victorian bushfire appeal.

All proceeds from Carmel Charlton’s ‘Strong for you’ will go to the Society’s appeal to help rebuild the lives of Victorians affected by the devastating February bushfires. Carmel, a parishioner of Holy Rosary Parish in Doubleview, is an accomplished singer and songwriter who has performed at the well-known Tamworth Country Music Festival and at folk music festivals as far afield as Tasmania. She said many people had supported her in her effort to raise money for the appeal, especially Tony Italiano at Pet Rock Studios in Perth.

“There has been a positive reaction from everyone who has heard the song,” she said The cost of the CD is $8.It can be heard online at www. myspace.com/carmelcharlton. Cheques can be made out to St Vincent de Paul Society Victorian Disaster Appeal and sent to Carmel at 26 Bentwood Avenue, Woodlands 6018 WA.

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Fr Stephen McGuckin with students. Below: Fr Stephen with past teachers L to R John Gill, Danny Battistessa, Peter Elloy, Fr Stephen, Michael Pepper, Wayne Bull (current Principal) and Rino Randazzo. PHOTOS:SUPPLIED

PROJECT COMPASSION

Faith in action proves there is hope

The following is an edited version of Elizabeth Connor’s talk at the launch of Project Compassion at Parliament House in Perth on March 11.

My name is Elizabeth Connor, and I am here tonight to share with you some of my experiences from my time spent in India as part of the 2008 University of Notre Dame-Caritas Immersion Trip. It was, to say the least, eyeopening and left me filled with hope, showing what can be achieved when the right kind of encouragement, support and vision are put in place.

Project Compassion’s theme this year is ‘An Environment to grow in’, and the work we witnessed promotes and facilitates the establishment of just that; an environment in which the confidence, identity and independence of individuals and communities can grow and thrive in long-lasting, sustainable ways.

My experiences on the Immersion reinforced the value of interactive, hands-on, grass roots assistance, and the need to instill in people the belief that they have the power to shape their own lives in positive and productive ways. Importantly, this concept of establishing a fertile and enriching environment in which to facilitate confidence and capacity can be translated into almost any situation.

The trip took place in late November and early December of last year, for two weeks; a group of seven students and one staff member from the university of Notre Dame in Fremantle and two Caritas staff members travelled to India to experience first hand some of the work being supported by Caritas in Indian communities, largely in the area of sustainable development.

Issues of natural disaster management and agricultural sustainability were key focuses, and we explored a number of initiatives such as check dams, gully plugs and wells, together with the implementation of strategies to plan for and manage natural disasters such as major flooding and monsoonal rainfall.

While project logistics were interesting, some of the most poignant experiences came from identifying the underlying elements of human connection, solidarity and empowerment which were part of the projects we saw.

Time and time again these ideas were reinforced as central elements, making the work we saw successful and often unique.

Those we met explained that often long periods were first spent interacting with communities, identifying what was most important to the local community and where work was most needed.

This invariably involved breaking down barriers of religion, caste and sex, to ensure a cohesive and harmonious work environment. In the process, communities were able to combat longstanding prejudices and social stigmas which enabled them to unite in ways which had not been attempted before. This allowed for more far-reaching work to be achieved, and meant that everyone benefited.

All the programs we saw were centred on the idea that communities can, and should, be empowered to help themselves. The familiar metaphor “Give a man a fish and you have fed him today. Teach a man to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime,” comes to mind.

From the outset it was evident that the projects being implemented in the places we visited were designed to last long after they had been established.

They not only involved commitment and dedication from the participating communities, they also required that those communities learn and utilize lasting skills.

It was also evident that the projects had brought a new sense of pride and ownership to those involved in them.

Without fail, the communities we visited were eager to demonstrate their work, to explain the evolution of the projects within their towns and villages and to discuss the process of implementation. In many towns we were truly impressed by the magnitude and speed of implementation that had been accomplished.

The empowerment, pride and belief in their abilities generated by such projects was inspiring. Personally, this sense of purpose and achievement was one of the most poignant elements of the trip.

The photographic exhibition can be visited at UNDA’s School of Arts and Sciences. Elizabeth Connor is a second year Medicine student at UNDA.

In collaboration with other agencies, Caritas India has helped to implement Community Based Disaster Preparation in several communities to deal with devastating floods. The women of these communities showed ownership of the Program. With their children looking on, consciously or not, these women are mentoring the next generation. This village, Pathuria, on the outskirts of Chapra in West Bengal was no exception.

Above: A boy from a private Catholic School in Ranchi, is taking a break from cricket with his classmates before school starts. Below: Children from the remote village of Omrah.

Above: This lonely icon looks out from a Hindu Temple over the city of Ranchi. As you ascend the 500 or more steps that take you to this pinnacle your legs burn, just as the architect intended. The ‘pain’ of the journey is designed to intensify the visitor’s religious experience.

Above: Participation of everyone for the survival of everyone. Below: School kids wander down a colourful and typically busy street in Ranchi.

Caritas helps desert youth

Caritas connects Indigenous Australians to their community.

IN one of Australia’s most isolated desert communities in the East Kimberley the Palyalatju Maparnpa Health Committee Youth Project (PMHC), supported by Caritas Australia is helping young Indigenous Australians reconnect with their local community.

The day-to-day realities of living in such a remote area and few job or study opportunities mean young people face real challenges. Alwyn “Bluey” Kalion, 18, found himself involved in the juvenile justice system but with the support of PMHC Bluey came out of detention in 2007 with a positive attitude and reasons to change his lifestyle.

During his detention, Bluey was supported by workers from PMHC in numerous ways. “I would ring them all the time for a talk,” Bluey said. “They helped me realise I wanted to come home, and keep out of trouble. They came and visited me, picked me up and brought me back home. They helped me when I got back to find work. They were friends to me”.

Since coming home, Bluey has worked part time and volunteered with the Youth Project, which focuses on youth employment training, crisis support, self esteem building and cultural and spiritual activities. The project aims to increase young people’s resilience, reduce their involvement in the justice system and to educate the community about issues affecting Indigenous youth.

The PMHC, an Aboriginal controlled cultural health service where Indigenous and non-Indigenous people work together, runs the Youth Project in three East Kimberly communities. The organisation employs young people and encourages young volunteers in the Kutjungka region to be involved in planning and implementing the services that affect them.

Bluey has worked part-time and volunteered to help to coordinate youth discos, community family nights and photography and film projects organised through the project. He has also contributed ideas to the community youth council and has attended hunting and bush trips with other young people and elders. Since the project began there has been a drop in crime, self harm and suicide in the region’s youth.

“The project supports our young people and encourages them to learn new things. They work strongly with our culture and talk to families about how to support young people”, said senior community member, Tossie Baadjo.

“They have made relationships between young people and adults stronger. We need to support our young people. It’s important to make sure they know when they do something good”.

The PMHC Youth Project is the first of its kind in the Kutjungka region and relies on young people to give up their free time to volunteer,

“I’m part of good things now in my community,” Bluey says. I work, play footy and basketball and keep out of trouble”.

Bluey sometimes plays guitar and sings with local bands at the basketball court and writes his own music. He has also been experimenting with painting his family’s dreamtime stories. He hopes to “get a good job and keep out of trouble. And go hunting”.

In supporting Project Compassion, Caritas Australia’s annual fundraiser, you are helping to build a global partnership for development which gives people real ways in which they can help themselves out of poverty and reconnect with their communities.

Catechesis

■

By Anthony Barich

THE second soccer tournament run at Thornlie’s Sacred Heart Church parish grounds on March 21 aimed at catechising young people proved a resounding success.

Newly ordained priest Fr Pavol Herda, conscious of the need for catechising youth to ready them for the secular world, told The Record after the tournament that saw over 100 youth participate: “Young people are catechised, with religious instruction right through primary and secondary school, and yet we cannot say that they are among the most evangelised.

“The biggest challenge for us the church and our community is precisely that of the evangelisation of young people and their insertion as true and committed members of a believing and worshipping community.”

Soccer is just a means to approach the youth personally, he said, and bring faith through social events which one of these events is a soccer tournament where “we try to build up community of young people who

will know each other personally and then enable them sharing faith the same way”. The tournament included seven adult teams - two of them from Whitford including parish priest Fr Joseph Tran - and five children’s teams, one from Whitford.

“A good, competitive day was had by all and the children particularly enjoyed it,” Fr Pavol said of the event, where games were umpired by locals including Russell Ring.

All games were halted for the Junior final where the Diamond Backs beat FR Legondary 3-2. The winners of the Senior Final proved that age is no barrier, as they were the oldest team in the competition, aptly named “The Masters” and led by captain. Patrick Francis.

Monsignor Tim Corcoran, Thornlie parish priest, visited throughout the day, having an interest in both parish teams and

was able to draw various raffles at the end of the day.

“The aim is to encourage youth to the Church and Parish youth activities through sport, and any money raised on the day will be used for those activities,” Fr Pavol said.

Alwyn “Bluey” Kalion, 18, is one of the indigenous youth in remote Western Australia who Caritas has helped to help himself and his community.

Left, Fr Pavol Herda watches over the tournament he organised to evangelise youth. Right, players go at it during the soccer tournament. The day started with a Mass.

PHOTO: ANITA PARKER

The Diamond Backs, who beat FC Legondary 3-2 in the tournament final, revel in their success at Sacred Heart parish church grounds.

PHOTO: FR PAVOL HERDA

Patriarch appeals for support

■ By Anthony Barich

THE head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has appealed to its faithful to help buy an apartment for him and his staff to stay in while the $20 million Voskresenska (Resurrection) Cathedral is being completed in Kyiv.

Ukrainian Catholics around the world have been marshalled over the past five years to help build the Church of the Resurrection since Cardinal Lubomyr Husar moved from Lviv, in Western Ukraine, to the much more expensive Kyiv, the country’s capital.

The Cathedral, to be the seat of the UGCC, was due to be completed by September 2010, but could be delayed with the onset of the global financial crisis.

An apartment in Kyiv costs up to $143,000, and Cardinal Husar says this would be a cheaper option than paying $50,000 a year for each of the 10 people who work in the Patriarchical administration.

Melbourne-based Bishop Peter Stasiuk, the head of the Australian Eparch, said that the Church and its members around the world have some obligation

to help out the Mother Church in need.

“It certainly sounds like a very good idea to invest in Kyiv, with an eye on future returns, while at the same time immediately offering help for the survival of the Church,” Bishop Stasiuk told The Record last week “He appealed to “all people of good will” in the Ukrainian community in Australia to think about Patriarch Husar’s call for help and do whatever can be done to help the Church.

For information in how to help the Partiarch, email eparchy@catholicukes.org.au or call 03 9320 2560.

Parish mission to help young families

■ By Anthony Barich

AMERICAN Father of Mercy Tony Stephens will run parish missions in several parishes in April and May to invigorate the faithful and support young families.

Fr Stephens, 33, is from an order founded in 1808 to re-evangelise France after the Catholic faith had been persecuted during the French Revolution and is now an exclusively American community based in South Union, Kentucky, whose primary apostolate is to “re-evangelise and revitalise the faith of those who hear”.

During his mission, which will include five days each in Holy Spirit parish City Beach (April 25-30), St Bernadette’s Glendalough (May 2-7), Our Lady of the Visitation Bullsbrook (May 9-14), St Joseph’s Bassendean (May 15-22) and Good Shepherd in Kiara (May 23-28), Fr Stephens will “challenge the parish community to make a stronger, deeper personal commitment to Christ and His Church”, according to a statement from the order.

At City Beach, every parent at the adjacent Holy Spirit Primary School and all on the parish database will receive a letter of invitation. Archbishop Barry Hickey will open the Parish Mission with a 6pm Vigil Mass at Holy Spirit Church on April 25.

Fr Stephens’ key topics of interest are the importance of

Parish men honour the ladies

At Girrawheen, it’s the men celebrating Women’s Day.

THE men of Girrawheen parish formed a guard of honour for the parish’s women, presented them with flowers, served them supper - and did all the tidying up in the parish hall afterwards - on March 8.

No, they had not taken leave of their senses.

In fact, the gestures were some of the small ways which the parish’s men picked to try to make the women feel special for International Women’s Day.

Our Lady of Mercy parish marked International Women's Day by celebrating a special Mass for the women of the Parish.

The occasion honoured women for their place in the family, parish and society. Fathers Tony Vallis and Rainier Fernandez concelebrated the liturgy; Fr Vaillis spoke on the importance of women who, even in the time of Jesus, played a vital role in ministry and supporting the community.

Their presence in these areas is still needed and their importance needs to be recognised, he told those present.

The supper put on by the parish’s men was held afterwards.

the Church in our lives, the Holy Eucharist, the mercy of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints and the power of prayer.

City Beach parish priest Fr Don Kettle, who organised the tour, said he hopes Fr Stephens’ parish mission will enkindle the faith in Catholics just as similar parish missions held at Pius X parish did for him as a youth.

Fr Kettle hopes it will fill a need for young families who are searching for a deeper spirituality. “Many young parents go to Mass every week but may not have had any formation since they left school,” Fr Kettle said. “That leads to a search for a deeper spirituality, and they need to be challenged.”

A parish mission involves the visiting priest speaking at every Mass and preaching during a special Holy Hour at 7.30pm each night during adoration, during which confession is also available.

“It was a great celebration and we ensured that the women of our Parish were made to feel 'special' to all concerned,” Fr Vaillis said afterwards.

Redemptorist challenged and encouraged

Priest crowned life and last illness with cheerfulness, humour in suffering.

Fr Gerard Neagle CSsR 1941 – 2009

JUST weeks short of the fortieth anniversary of his ordination, Perth Redemptorist priest Fr Gerard Neagle C.Ss.R passed away on February 27 in St John of God Hospital, Subiaco, at the age of 67.

Fr Neagle, who throughout his life as a priest worked in Singapore, Malaysia and China, was born in Adelaide in 1941.

His parents were farmers in the border area between Victoria and South Australia.

He attended Rostrevor College, in Adelaide, run by the Christian Brothers and did his formation as a Redemptorist at Galong and Ballarat.

After his ordination in March 1969, he worked for some years giving missions in Australia.

Then he moved to Singapore and worked there and in Malaysia for six years. He returned to Australia in 1977 and continued to give missions until he moved to

China in 1989. There, he worked for ten years and among other things taught English and studied Mandarin.

Ill health forced him to return to Australia and he joined the Perth community in 1999.

All who knew Gerard knew that he was a people’s person. He was not only an excellent mixer but was great at encouraging and challenging people to live their life to the full.

He was also a very good preacher who spoke to people from the

heart and in very simple, down-toearth language.

Perhaps his greatest work was his mission of suffering. He developed a painful cancer of the spine and throughout his time of illness was ever surprisingly bright.

In September 2008 he wrote to a gathering of Redemptorists in Galong NSW what seemed like a farewell letter.

After outlining his deteriorating health situation he wrote: “I know miracles happen and I think the best one I experience is the peace I have about my situation. I'm not asking for anything more than that, well maybe a little less discomfort from the chemotherapy!”

His reference to a miracle is linked to the prayer campaign to Blessed Mary McKillop for a miracle that he recover.

Several times in his last days he said that the miracle had happened and the miracle was his peaceful acceptance of his coming death.

Thus ended the wonderful life of this simple, gifted, fun loving, people’s person.

He will be much missed by his colleagues, his family and his many friends throughout Australia and Asia.

Men of the Girrawheen Parish stand ready to acknowledge the unique role and gifts of the women of the parish

Fr Gerard Neagle

Let it not be said that Girrawheen men are unromantic. Presenting flowers to the parish’s women and serving supper were just some of the ways they marked International Women’s Day in early March. PHOTOS: GIRRAWHEEN PARISH

Patriarch Lubomyr Husar

Fr Tony Stephens

VISTA THE RECORD

Continent of Hope

While the world’s media were busy trying to crucify Pope Benedict for his comments on AIDS, they missed the beautiful, truthful and good things he said to millions of Africans. There, he challenged attitudes and cultural trends.

■ By John Thavis

Pope Benedict XVI’s inflight statement opposing condom distribution in AIDS prevention drew sharp criticism and was seen by many as a distraction from his main message in Africa.

But a closer look reveals that very little of what the Pope had to say during his March 17-23 African journey was easy or accommodating. On issues ranging from abortion to corruption, from women’s rights to economic development, he preached the Gospel in a way that took issue with common practices and prevailing attitudes.

His conviction, expressed on his first day in Cameroon, is that Christianity is the answer - the only real answer - to the chronic problems plaguing Africa. His fear is that Africa, caught up in economic and cultural globalisation, will follow the secularised West and lose touch with its own best values.

Condom campaigns are, to Pope Benedict, a small but very real

part of this threat. But his concern extends to virtually every area of social, economic and political life.

“At a time when so many people have no qualms about trying to impose the tyranny of materialism, with scant concern for the most deprived, you must be very careful,” he told Africans in Cameroon.

“Take care of your souls,” he said. “Do not let yourselves be

that redirects every aspect of life.

“The Gospel teaches us that reconciliation, true reconciliation, can only be the fruit of conversion, a change of heart, a new way of thinking. It teaches us that only the power of God’s love can change our hearts,” he said at an outdoor Mass in Angola.

The Pope kept reminding listeners that, in his view, inside and

captivated by selfish illusions and false ideals.”

News accounts usually leave out the words that inevitably followed these papal warnings, but for the Pope they were the most important part of his message in Africa:

“Only Christ is the way of life.”

“The Lord Jesus is the one mediator and redeemer.” “Christ is the measure of true humanism.”

The transformation the pontiff asked of Africans was, as he described it, one that must begin with a radical conversion to Christ

outside Africa the Christian message lived to the full is profoundly countercultural.

That was eminently clear when he addressed young people in an Angolan soccer stadium, telling them that their power to shape the future was directly dependent on their “constant dialogue with the Lord.”

“The dominant societal culture is not helping you live by Jesus’ words or to practice the self-giving to which he calls you,” he said. In fact, he said, today’s “individual-

istic and hedonistic” values prevent young people from reaching maturity.

At his Mass the next day, the Pope continued in the same vein, saying that “living by the truth” was not easy in the face of the “hardened attitudes” of selfishness that dominate much of contemporary social relations.

Abortion was very much on the Pope’s mind in Africa. His first speech on the continent reminded Africans of their traditional values and said the church was the institution best able to preserve and purify them - unlike agencies that want to impose “cultural models that ignore the rights of the unborn.”

In a speech to foreign diplomats, he laid down a direct challenge to international organisations that, in his words, were undermining society’s foundations by promoting abortion as a form of reproductive health care. The working document for next October’s Synod of Bishops, delivered by the Pope to African bishops, said globalisation “infringes on Africa’s rights” and tends “to be the vehicle for the domination of a single, cultural model and a culture of death.”

The Pope hit hard on African wars and ethnic conflicts and repeatedly held out Christianity as the answer. If Africans grasp that the Church is “God’s family,” he said in Cameroon, there is no room for ethnocentrism or factionalism. In effect, he presented the Church as the only institution capable of bringing Africans together in a way that goes beyond political or economic expediency.

Although the Pope had two oneliners about corruption, typically portrayed in the West as the quintessential “African” problem, he did not engage in finger-pointing - even in Cameroon, which is usually at the top of the corruption

charts of human rights organisations. Indeed, he called Cameroon a “land of hope” for Africa.

The reason is that he knows local African church leaders are already on the front lines in denouncing political corruption. In Cameroon, for example, a year ago Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi of Douala took the unprecedented step of publicly opposing President Paul Biya’s constitutional meddling that allowed the president to serve yet another sevenyear term - a position the cardinal reiterated during the Pope’s visit.

Significantly, the Pope treated corruption not as a problem to be eliminated in return for foreign aid, but as a practice incompatible with the demands of the Gospel. He added, however, that Africa deserves a similar change in attitude from the developed world - not “more programs and protocols” but “conversion of hearts to sincere solidarity.”

His visit to the sick in Cameroon illustrated that the Church must invest its resources in love and care for the needy, but with a special focus: Human suffering can only make sense in light of Christ’s crucifixion and his “final victory” over death, he said.

Even the Pope’s defense of women’s rights in Africa was very much a “Benedict” approach, based not on human rights declarations but on the biblical account of creation. Here, too, his point that men and women have “complementary” roles will no doubt find critics.

The Pope’s method in Africa was not to lay down the law but to lay down a challenge, asking people to examine their own lives and their relationships in the light of the Gospel. He believes that Christianity is a perfect fit for Africa but that, in view of cultural trends, it won’t necessarily be an easy fit.

A crucifix is held up as Pope Benedict XVI meets with young people at Coqueiros Stadium in Luanda, Angola, on March 21. Angola was the second and last stop on the Pope’s pastoral visit to Africa. Celebrations in Angola marked the 500th anniversar y of Christian evangelisation in the country.

PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/ALESSANDRO BIANCHI, REUTERS

Faithful rejoice as the sun bursts through dark clouds moments after Pope Benedict XVI arrived to lead an evening prayer liturgy at the Basilica of Mary Queen of the Apostles in Yaounde, Cameroon, on March 18.

PHOTO: CNS/FINBARR O’REILLY, REUTERS

Millions turn out t turn out t

Pope reminds leaders to put family, children first

Pope appeals for African families, condemns promotion of abortion.

■ All stories by John

Thavis

LUANDA, Angola - Addressing Angolan political leaders and an international group of diplomats, Pope Benedict XVI appealed on behalf of African families struggling from the effects of poverty, disease and war.

The Pope said women and girls in particular experience “crushing” discrimination and sexual exploitation. At the same time, he criticized agencies that, under the pretext of improving health care, try to promote abortion.

“How bitter the irony of those who promote abortion as a form of ‘maternal’ health care! How disconcerting the claim that the termination of life is a matter of reproductive health!” he said.

The Pope made the remarks on March 20 at the presidential palace in Luanda, the Angolan capital, where President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos welcomed him at an official ceremony. After private talks with the president, the Pope entered a room filled with foreign diplomats stationed in Angola, bishops and other dignitaries.

The Pope delivered his speech standing on a small stage decorated with Angolan and Vatican flags. After praising Angolan efforts to rebuild after a civil war, he turned to wider African questions and said the strains on African families include poverty, unemployment, disease and displacement.

“Particularly disturbing is the crushing yoke of discrimination that women and girls so often endure, not to mention the unspeakable practice of sexual violence and exploitation which causes such humiliation and trauma,” he said.

In raising the abortion issue, the Pope was returning to a subject the Vatican has pressed many times in international forums. The Vatican’s concern is that international agencies are pushing abortion as a human right.

In effect, the Pope said, these are poli-

Pontiff places the status of woman front and centre

Pope pleads for women’s equality in Africa, praises ‘silent heroines’.

cies promoted by “those who, claiming to improve the ‘social edifice,’ threaten its very foundations.”

The Pope pledged that, through its charitable agencies, the Church will “continue to do all it can to help families, including those suffering the harrowing effects of HIV/AIDS - and to uphold the human dignity of women and men.”

The Pope addressed broader issues in Africa as well. He said that for Africa to become the “continent of hope,” good people will have to work to transform it and free their people from greed, violence and unrest.

This passage should lead to the principles of every modern democracy: respect for human rights, transparent government, an independent judiciary, a free press, a civil service of integrity, and properly functioning schools and hospitals.

The most pressing element to the transformation was a determination to “excise corruption once and for all,” he said. People of Africa are calling out not for more programs, but for “a deep-seated, lasting conversion of hearts to sincere solidarity.”

“Their plea to those serving in politics, public service, international agencies and multinational companies is simply this: Stand alongside us in a profoundly human way; accompany us, and our families and our communities,” he said.

The Pope reminded richer nations not to forget their aid commitments to Africa, including the Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000, which foresaw the commitment of 0.7 per cent of the gross national product for development assistance. That goal should not become one of the casualties of the current global financial crisis, he said.

The Pope returned to the theme of the family at his encounter the same evening in the apostolic nunciature with the 25 bishops of Angola and Sao Tome and Principe, asking them to defend the institution of marriage and the sanctity of life.

Many marriages today lack inner stability, he said, and “there is the widespread tendency in society and culture to call into question the unique nature and specific mission of the family based on marriage.” - CNS

LUANDA, Angola - Pope Benedict XVI strongly defended women’s rights and praised the many “silent heroines” of Africa who are holding families and society together.

African women in particular are working under adverse conditions that are often caused by the “behaviour and attitudes of men,” the Pope said in Angola on March 22.

“History records almost exclusively the accomplishments of men, when in fact much of it is due to the determined, unrelenting and charitable action of women,” he said.

“Think of all the places afflicted by great poverty or devastated by war, and of all the tragic situations resulting from migrations, forced or otherwise. It is almost always women who manage to preserve human dignity, to defend the family and to protect cultural and religious values,” he said.

The Pope’s remarks touched on a huge issue in Africa that has increasingly drawn church attention. He spoke to members of Catholic movements working for women’s promotion in St Anthony Church in Luanda, where a mostly female audience greeted him with lively African singing.

Church and human rights agencies say women in many parts of Africa are still treated as property, lack legal rights, suffer intimidation and beatings by their husbands, and are subject to sexual violence and human trafficking.

The Pope appealed for everyone to pay greater attention to these situations, and especially to “ways in which the behavior and attitudes of men, who at times show a lack of sensitivity and responsibility, may be to blame.”

“This forms no part of God’s plan,” he declared.

The Pope said there is a natural “captivating charm that radiates from woman” because of the grace God has given her. Man is enlightened by this quality, he said.

“We must therefore recognise, affirm and defend the equal dignity of man and woman: they are both persons, utterly unique among all the living beings found in the world,” he said.

The Pope said men and women are called to work together for the common good through the complementary aspects of masculinity and femininity. He said such differences are important and good, especially in our increasingly mechanised culture.

“Who today can fail to recognise the need

to make more room for the ‘reasons of the heart’? In a world like ours, dominated by technology, we feel the need for this feminine complementarity, so that the human race can live in the world without completely losing its humanity,” he said.

While no one should doubt that women deserve the right to be active in all areas of public life - a right that should be guaranteed through legislation - that doesn’t detract from women’s unique responsibility in families, the Pope said. In fact, he said, the presence of a mother within the family is so important for family stability that it should be recognised and supported in every way. For the same reason, he said, “society must hold husbands and fathers accountable for their responsibilities toward their families.”

The Pope said that among the unsung heroines of Angola were two church figures. The first, Teresa Gomes, was a mother of seven who defended the local church’s right to operate during the turbulent days of the country’s independence movement in 1975 and 1976, he said. Gomes became the leader of local Catholics who “refused to bend under pressure,” he said. She died in 2004.

During the period following Angolan independence from Portugal, the Church lost half its foreign missionaries when they fled the country, and it was persecuted throughout the ensuing civil war.

The second example was Maria Bonino, an Italian pediatrician who volunteered in several Catholic missions in Angola and became head of a children’s ward in a provincial hospital. During an epidemic of Marburg hemorrhagic fever in 2005, she succumbed to the deadly disease.

Bonino’s mother, who was in Angola to mark the fourth anniversary of her daughter’s death, attended the papal encounter in Luanda.

The Pope sat on a red throne, wiping his brow in the heat, as he listened to two women describe their work to help women break free from domestic violence, illiteracy and other forms of injustice.

Many in attendance belonged to the group PROMAICA, which stands for Promotion of Angolan Women in the Catholic Church. Founded in 1990, it fights discrimination and advances women’s rights by offering micro-credits and teaching skills in cooking, sewing, agriculture and office work.

The Pope drew a cheer when he unveiled a gift to the church: a

4-foot-tall wooden crucifix that had been donated to Pope John Paul II during Holy Year 2000.

Pope Benedict XVI greets women and children in Luanda, Angola, on March 21. Angola was the second and last stop on his weeklong pastoral visit to Africa. PHOTO: CNS/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO VIA REUTERS

Crowds line the street during the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde on March 17. Making his first papal visit to Africa, the Pope said the Catholic Church can help bring answers to the continent’s chronic problems, including poverty, AIDS and tribalism.

PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/FINBARR O’REILLY, REUTERS

to greet Successor of Peter to greet Successor of Peter

Encounter God first, Pope tells Africa’s youth

Pope asks Angolan youths to shape the future according to the Gospel.

LUANDA, Angola - Meeting with nearly 30,000 Angolan young people, Pope Benedict XVI urged them to be wary of today’s dominant social culture and to shape the world according to the values of the Gospel.

The encounter in a Luanda soccer stadium on March 21 was marred by a stampede that killed two young women and injured 89 others, hours before the Pope arrived. The Pope was informed of the tragedy later that evening and he expressed his condolences at a Mass the next day.

Participants at the rally did not learn until afterward of the deaths, and the festive encounter went on as scheduled. It had a little bit of everything: native dance and song, testimonials from young Catholics, conga ensembles and, above all, tons of enthusiasm among the participants.

The focus of the Pope’s talk was a simple lesson on how to live the good life.

“My young friends, you hold within yourselves the power to shape the future,” he said. But it won’t happen without an encounter with God, he said.

“The dominant social culture is not helping you to live by Jesus’ word or to practise the self-giving to which he calls you in accordance with the Father’s plan,” he said. Instead, he said, they need to build their lives around the renewal that begins with a personal encounter with Christ. That’s especially important when it comes time to make decisions that involve a lifelong commitment, like marriage, that can seem to represent a loss of freedom, he said.

“These are the doubts you feel, and today’s individualistic and hedonistic culture aggravates them,” he said. But he urged them to find inspiration in their faith.

“Life is worthwhile only if you take courage and are ready for adventure, if you trust in the Lord who will never abandon you,” he said.

The Pope also greeted a group of young people who were left orphaned or disabled by Angola’s 27-year civil war, and said he could imagine the conflict’s devastating effects on all the country’s young people.

“I think of the countless tears that have been shed for the loss of your relatives and friends. It is not hard to imagine the dark clouds that still veil the horizon of your fondest hopes and dreams,” he said.

The Pope spoke from beneath a large yellow tent in Coqueiros Stadium, under a hot late afternoon sun. He looked uncomfortable in the heat, and several youths who had spent hours awaiting his arrival suffered

Benedict sets out agenda with his fellow bishops

heat exhaustion and had to be taken away by stretcher.

The 81-year-old pontiff watched costumed dancers kick up a storm as a conga group pounded out the rhythm, their long yellow wigs shaking to the beat. Then a group of barefoot young women performed a hip-thrusting dance on the grass in front of the papal platform.

In the stands, youths held up pieces of colored cardboard in synchronised patterns, spelling out “God is love” and depicting the Pope’s own smiling face.

Several young Angolans spoke about their own spiritual paths and experiences, including detours into drugs and alcohol use, discouragement and loneliness. One of them told how he was welcomed into the Church after a life of stealing and addiction, and later became a priest.

One young woman, Elsa Montenegro, said that even those active in the church don’t have an easy time putting the faith into action. The challenges, she said, are many and can seem overwhelming: unemployment, corruption, drug use, prostitution, AIDS, abortion and dishonesty.

“Holy Father, we are asking you to enlighten us, help us, advise us, orient us,” she said.

After delivering his talk, the Pope greeted many of the performers individually. A final, haunting song was sung directly in front of the Pope by a young man in a wheelchair. The Pope embraced him warmly after the performance.

The young people presented the Pope with several gifts, including a carved ebony statue of a gazelle and a wood-and-gourd balafon, the xylophonelike instrument popular throughout Africa.

The encounter was broadcast live throughout Angola, and organizers considered it one of the most important events of the papal visit. About half of Angola’s population is under age 15, and church leaders said many are deeply worried about their future.

The stampede occurred when authorities opened the gates of the stadium about four hours before the Pope’s arrival. The two women, both 20 years old, died after being taken to a hospital, and news of the tragedy was made public late in the evening.

At an outdoor Mass the next day, the Pope prayed for the victims, their families and the injured. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, visited relatives one of the victims at a Luanda hospital on March 22, expressing the Pope’s sympathies. The woman, named Celine, was a catechist at a Luanda parish who had held her last lesson the morning of her death. At the time, the other victim had not been identified.

In Cameroon, Pope asks bishops to lead new evangelisation efforts.

YAOUNDE, Cameroon - Pope Benedict XVI, on his first full day in Africa, encouraged Cameroon’s bishops to be strong preachers of the Gospel and vigilant shepherds on matters of priestly formation and behavior, liturgical dignity and Christian marriage.

Emphasising the Church’s missionary task, the Pope said bishops must first of all be religious educators and men of prayer in order to lead the way of evangelisation. He met with Cameroon’s 31 bishops on March 18 in the Church of Christ the King in the Tsinga quarter of Yaounde, the capital of the country on Africa’s west coast.

Earlier in the day, the Pope paid a formal visit to President Paul Biya at the Unity Palace for private talks and a gift-giving session. The Pope presented the president with a mosaic from a Vatican workshop depicting St Paul, who is being celebrated in a special year marking the 2000th anniversary of his birth.

The meeting with bishops was a simple affair. After adoration of the Eucharist and a few songs from the church’s choir, the Pope delivered his talk in French and English. He focused on the bishops’ responsibility to guide the country’s priests and make sure there is “serious discernment” in choosing candidates for the priesthood. Cameroon has enjoyed a boom in vocations and currently has 1360 seminarians.

The Pope said the bishops should have personal and profound knowledge of priesthood candidates, overseeing formation programs that guarantee they are “mature and balanced men” when ordained.

He urged the bishops to be “especially vigilant regarding the faithfulness of priests and consecrated persons to the commitments made at their ordination or entry into religious life.”

“The authenticity of their witness requires that there be no dichotomy between what they teach and the way they live each day,” he said. The Pope was not specific, but in the past Vatican officials have expressed concern that the commitment to priestly celibacy be better understood and respected among African clergy.

Pope Benedict said the bishops should vigorously defend the family values of their traditional society against the impact of modernisation and secularisation. He asked them to promote better understanding of marriage as a stable union between a man and a woman; polygamy remains a common practice in parts of Cameroon.

The Pope praised the “festive and joyful” liturgies in Cameroon, which reflect the happiness of those participating. But he told the bishops it was essential that “the joy expressed in this way does not obstruct, but rather facilitates dialogue and communion with God” through the structure of the Catholic liturgy. The dignity of liturgical celebrations must be preserved, especially when large crowds of faithful are attending, he said.

The spread of sects and the growing influence of superstitious forms of religion require a new attention to the formation of Catholic children and young adults, the Pope said.

He said the bishops should make sure lay Catholics are guided by the Church’s social teaching in their daily lives and bring the faith to bear in social, economic and political spheres. Through its social doctrine, the Church tries to “awaken hope in the hearts of those left by the wayside,” and the bishop himself must be “the defender of the rights of the poor,” he said.

The Pope also asked the bishops to demonstrate to Catholics that the Church is truly “God’s family” in which no one is excluded for ethnic or factional reasons.

The Pope arrived in Cameroon on March 17 and was welcomed by tens of thousands of well-wishers who lined the streets of Yaounde and danced, waved and shouted as the papal motorcade passed by.

Biya, who has been in power since 1982, greeted the Pope at the airport, and the next morning hosted him at the presidential palace, a modern architectural landmark in the capital. Biya, a Catholic, presented the Pope with a wooden map of Africa on which the papal portrait was painted. No details of their private talks were made public immediately after the encounter.

Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi of Douala, Cameroon’s senior churchman, said one possible topic of the discussions was the string of unsolved killings of church personnel in Cameroon since the 1980s; the latest occurred in December.

Cardinal Tumi, in an interview with a Cameroon radio station on March 17, said the Church has asked the government for details about the most recent killing, but to date has not received a response. On December 24, Father Francois Xavier Mekong was found apparently beaten to death at his residence in southern Cameroon.

Church leaders have voiced disagreement with Biya and his Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, especially when Biya changed the constitution last year to allow him to run for another seven-year term in 2011.

Young people receive a blessing from Pope Benedict XVI during his evening prayer liturgy at the Basilica of Mary Queen of the Apostles in Yaounde, Cameroon, on March 18. PHOTO: CNS/ALESSANDRO BIANCHI, REUTERS

Children holds signs welcoming Pope Benedict XVI in Yaounde, Cameroon, on March 17.

PHOTO: CNS /ALESSANDRO BIANCHI, REUTERS

The Pope is right on condoms: Harvard AIDS prevention expert

Here’s what you won’t - and don’t - see in the media, who have made it clear they are out to bring down Benedict XVI for his refusal to accept their own moral relativism.

■ By John-Henry Westen

March 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews. com) - Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Centre for Population and Development Studies, has said that the evidence confirms that the Pope is correct in his assessment that condom distribution exacerbates the problem of AIDS.

“The Pope is correct,” Green told National Review Online, “or put it a better way, the best evidence we have supports the Pope’s comments.”

“There is,” Green added, “a consistent association shown by our best studies, including the US-funded ‘Demographic Health Surveys,’ between greater availability and use of condoms and higher (not lower) HIVinfection rates. This may be due in part to a phenomenon known as risk compensation, meaning that when one uses a risk-reduction ‘technology’ such as condoms, one often loses the benefit (reduction in risk) by ‘compensating’ or taking greater chances than one would take without the risk-reduction technology.”

The Harvard AIDS Project’s webpage on Green lists his book “Rethinking AIDS Prevention:

Learning from Successes in Developing Countries”. It is stated that Green reveals, “The largely medical solutions funded by major donors have had little impact in Africa, the continent hardest hit by AIDS.

“Instead, relatively simple, low-cost behavioral change programs-stressing increased monogamy and delayed sexual activity for young people-have made the greatest headway in fighting or preventing the disease’s spread.”

The full text of Pope Benedict XVI’s exchange with the reporter, which has set off a firestorm around the world in the media, has been released by the Vatican press office.

The Pope was asked, “Holy Father among the many evils that affect Africa there is also the particular problem of the spread of AIDS. The position of the Catholic Church for fighting this evil is frequently considered unrealistic and ineffective?”

Benedict XVI replied:

“I would say the opposite. I think that the reality that is most effective, the most present and the strongest in the fight against AIDS, is precisely that of the Catholic Church, with its programs and its diversity.

“I think of the Sant’Egidio Community, which does so much visibly and invisibly in the fight against AIDS ... and of all the sisters at the service of the sick.

“I would say that one cannot overcome this problem of AIDS only with money - which is important, but if there is no soul, no people who know how to use it, (money) doesn’t help.

“One cannot overcome the problem with the distribution of

The media has put Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church in its sights over AIDS and condoms. But who does the science actually back?

■ By Deirdre Fleming

“Blind faith trumping common sense,”

“Vatican insiders declare the Pope a disaster,” “Outrageous,” “Irresponsible” …If anything is embarrassing, it is the sensationalism of such statements in the Western media when giving the party line of anti-Catholic sentiment. The trouble is that when one looks at the science of AIDS research today, one finds a completely different story from the one being promoted by the popular media.

Whose expert opinion?

The problem for the layman is that certain organisations which sound authoritative make claims which are regarded as “expert opinions.”

For example, the International Aids Society has denounced Pope Benedict XVI’s comments as “contrary to scientific evidence and global consensus” and has suggested that his comments might even exacerbate HIV infection in Africa.

condoms. On the contrary, they increase the problem. The solution can only be a double one: first, a humanisation of sexuality, that is, a spiritual human renewal that brings with it a new way of behaving with one another; second, a true friendship even and especially with those who suffer, and a willingness to make personal sacrifices and to be with the suffering. And these are factors that help and that result in real and visible progress.

“Therefore I would say this is our double strength - to renew the human being from the inside, to give him spiritual human strength for proper behavior regarding one’s own body and toward the other person, and the capacity to suffer with the suffering. ... I think this is the proper response and the Church is doing this, and so it offers a great and important contribution. I thank all those who are doing this.”

effect, anywhere. One may not like this fact, but it is true.”

Condoms, though seemingly an effective technological fix, have had their greatest influence in AIDS prevention when targeted towards such areas as the sex industry in Thailand.

But even then, the UNAIDS best practice reports fail to mention that there was a 60 per cent decline in visits to brothels during Thailand’s condom campaign and that this undoubtedly contributed to the decline in HIV.8

Why are condoms so ineffective?

The trouble with condoms is that they have the effect of giving users a false sense of security which results in disinhibition, that is, users indulge in greater risk taking which eventually negates any protective effects of the condom.

According to Potts et al., “When most transmission occurs within more regular and, typically, concurrent partnerships, consistent condom use is exceedingly difficult to maintain.”

In the same vein, the president of the World Health Assembly, Leslie Ramsammy, has claimed, “The statement by the Pope is inconsistent with science, it’s inconsistent with our experiences and it is not in sync with what Catholics have experienced and believe4,” while Kevin Osborne of the International Planned Parenthood Federation says, “All the evidence is that preaching sexual abstinence and fidelity will not solve the problems … The Pope’s message will alienate everybody. It is scary. It spreads stigma and creates a fertile breeding ground for the spread of HIV.”

On the other hand, authorities in the field who disagree with these sorts of statements get scant media attention. Here I am not talking about renegade scientists, but professionals in HIV/AIDS research who provide technical reports to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/ AIDS (UNAIDS).

Take, for example, Edward Green, director of Harvard University’s Aids Prevention Research Project (APRP): in an interview with CNA, Green stated with reference to Africa (see also, story at left), “Theoretically, condoms ought to work, and theoretically, some condom use ought to be better than no condom use, but that’s theoretically … We just cannot find an association between more condom use and lower HIV infection rates.

This view is echoed by Helen Epstein, specialist in public health in developing countries and consultant to Human Rights Watch. In a 2008 letter to UNAIDS she bemoans the disconnect between on-the-ground research about condoms and UN reports: “I seem to recall UNAIDS documents attributing the decline in HIV infections in US gay men to the rise of ‘the condom culture’. In fact, modeling studies by Martina Morris and behavioural surveys carried out across the US show that partner reduction was dramatic during the 1980s, when HIV decline among gays was the steepest. The “condom culture” emerged only later. I can provide many references on this, on request.” She goes on to say, “Condom use alone may have protected many individuals, but has not – in the absence of partner reduction – shown a strong epidemiological

James Shelton of the Bureau for Global Health, USAID, in Washington DC puts it this way: “Many people dislike using them (especially in regular relationships), protection is imperfect, use is often irregular, and condoms seem to foster disinhibition, in which people engage in risky sex either with condoms or with the intention of using condoms.”

“Condom use with prostitutes and in one-night stands is increasingly the norm all over the world, but they are rarely used in longer-term, less businesslike affairs,” observes Helen Epstein.

Know your epidemic

It is becoming increasingly clear to AIDS researchers that some of the assumptions that underlie HIV prevention strategies are unsupported by the evidence.

Some of the confusion is created by a failure to differentiate adequately between different types of epidemics. Outside of Africa (in Europe, the Americas, Middle East, Asia and Australasia) HIV tends to occur among high risk groups: Men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, sex workers and their partners. These are known as concentrated epidemics. Africa, particularly Southern and Eastern Africa, on the other hand, is an example of a generalised epidemic, with infection predominantly heterosexual and generalised among the population.

Then there are epidemics such as those in the Caribbean, Pacific region, the horn of Africa and West Africa which may include characteristics of both concentrated and generalised epidemics.

According to James Shelton ten myths impede the success of AIDS prevention in Africa (see box). These misconceptions include beliefs such as that poverty and conflict increase vulnerability to HIV and that transmission occurs through sex workers and promiscuous men or adolescents; whereas current research seems to indicate that most transmission occurs because of the prevalence of multiple and simultaneous or concurrent partnerships among adults in African society.

Helen Epstein describes it this way in her article, The Fidelity Fix: “This ‘concurrency’ links sexually active people up in a giant network, not only to one another but also to the partners of their partners’ partners – and to the partners of those partners, and so on – via a web of sexual relationships that can extend across huge regions. If one member contracts HIV, then everyone else in the web may, too.” Helen

Editor’s note: the full interview with Green can be found on the web at therecord.com.au.

The face of hatred shows as a protester, centre, struggles with spectators after holding up a sign in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris during a 2006 ceremony to rename the esplanade after the late Pope John Paul II. About 200 people protested against renaming the street. Some carried banners reading “Square of the AIDS dead” as well as crucifixes decorated with condoms.

PHOTO: CNS/CHARLES PLATIAU, REUTERS.

Even though many of the the world’s leading experts back Benedict on AIDS and condoms, the media just don’t care.

GET BENEDICT

is now quite obvious. Trouble is, it’s insane.

patient receives treatment at the Holy Cross AIDS Hospice near Emoyeni in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province in this

The hospice was founded by Sister Priscilla Dlamini in a province that has one of the highest concentrations of AIDS patients in South Africa. What is hardly ever mentioned is that the Catholic Church provides approximately 25 per cent of the care of the world’s HIV/AIDS patients.

Epstein and Daniel Halperin of Harvard’s Centre for Population and Development Studies explain it this way: “In Africa, many longer term relationships that do not involve prostitution nevertheless tend to have a powerful ‘transactional’ element. People with more disposable income might thus be able to maintain multiple, concurrent relationships. Although very few are ‘rich’ by Western standards, they are nevertheless at the leading edge of the massive social and economic transition occurring in Africa today, from an agrarian past to a semi-industrialised present, characterised by rapid urbanisation, high unemployment, and lack of social security. As with all such transitions, this creates upheavals in basic norms, customs and values, which might facilitate the spread of HIV.”

In an opinion piece for The Lancet, James Shelton states, “Our priority must be on the key driver of generalised epidemics - concurrent partnerships… But partner limitation (fidelity) has also been neglected because of the culture wars between advocates of condoms and advocates of abstinence, because it smacks of moralising, because mass behavioural change is alien to most medical professionals, and because of the competing priorities of HIV programs.

David Wilson of World Bank and Daniel Halperin of the Harvard School of Public Health agree.

“For too long, the global HIVprevention community has pursued generalised responses in concentrated epidemics, concentrated approaches in generalised epidemics, or hedged their bets and done a bit of everything,” they said in The Lancet in August 2008.

“For example, after three decades, the global community is only beginning to accept that there is no simple direct association between income, education, gender inequality, and HIV. Population-based surveys show that the wealthier African countries have the highest, not the lowest, infection levels in Africa, and more educated, upperincome people are generally more likely to be infected with HIV.” They say that it is “striking that a comparison of gender equality and HIV prevalence across African countries shows a strong positive, not negative, association.” That is, wherever women and men are

PHOTO: CNS/MIKE HUTCHINGS,

The 10 myths about Generalised HIV epidemics

Myth

1. HIV spreads like wildfire.

2. Prostitution is the problem.

3. Men are to blame.

4. Promiscuous adolescents.

5. Poverty and discrimination are to blame.

6. Condoms are the answer.

7. HIV testing reduces HIV incidence.

8. Treatment will stop the spread of AIDS.

9. New technology is the answer.

10. Sexual behaviour will not change.

most equal, HIV is most prevalent. Contrast Botswana, the second wealthiest country in Africa, with rare male circumcision, high levels of multiple concurrent partnerships and an HIV prevalence of 25 per cent, with Niger, the lowest ranking country in the Human Development Index, predominantly Muslim with strict sexual constraints and universal male circumcision, but an HIV prevalence of 0.7 per cent.

“Turning to generalised epidemics” continue Wilson and Halperin, “we face three overarching challenges. First, our most trusted prevention interventions – testing and counselling, condom promotion, school and youth programs, and treatment of other sexually transmitted infections … are at best unproven, and at worst disproven, for reducing HIV incidence. Second, the most solidly proven preventive intervention to date, male circumcision, is barely advancing … In countries such as Sambia, with 15 per cent adult HIV prevalence and nearly US$1billion in aid annually for AIDS, much less than 1 per cent of this funding goes for male circumcision services … Third, the major contributor to reduced HIV transmission in generalised epidemics has been reduction in multiple sexual partnerships (increased fidelity). Compelling evidence of this association has emerged in a growing number of African countries, such as Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. Additionally, partner reduction seems to have contributed to HIV declines in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Yet, except

Faithfully” and ‘Sero Grasing’ –Ugandan slang for ‘Don’t have sexual partners outside the home’ – were posted on public buildings, broadcast on radio and bellowed in speeches by government officials, teachers and AIDS-prevention workers across the country.

“Religious leaders scoured the Bible and the Koran for quotations about infidelity. Newspapers, theatres, singing groups and ordinary people spread the same message. Their words fell on fertile ground … A realistic fear of AIDS was reinforced by a compassionate response to the suffering the disease created. Ordinary Ugandans have always been much more open about AIDS than people from other African countries, and they were also far more likely to admit that they knew someone who had died of the disease or was infected with HIV. Community- and church-based groups sprang up to help families affected by AIDS. Uganda’s women’s movement, one of the oldest and most dynamic in Africa, galvanised around issues of domestic abuse, rape and HIV.

mainly drive these generalised epidemics.” A growing number of AIDS experts who are prepared to look at the facts are questioning why the Ugandan approach has not been emphasised in Southern Africa and elsewhere. Edward Green in his book Rethinking AIDS Prevention says,

“There is also a troubling suspicion among a growing number of scientists who support the ABC model that certain opponents may simply be AIDS profiteers, more interested in protecting their incomes than battling the disease.”

His book, Aids and Ideology, due for release later this year highlights the AIDS funding industry which is “drawing billions of dollars a year promoting condoms, testing, drugs and treatment of AIDS.”6

Truth

1. HIV is most infectious in the initial weeks when virus levels are high, but detection is not yet possible.

2. Of more importance are simultaneous (concurrent) long-term relationships, both formal, as in polygamy, and informal.

3. Although men’s behaviour is important, women having multiple partners are a significant contributor.

4. Epidemics span all reproductive ages. HIV incidence increases in women in their twenties and older.

5. The world’s highest HIV prevalence occurs in countries with greater wealth and literacy, such as Botswana (25%) and Swaziland, while countries such as Rwanda, Angola and Congo, known for episodes of conflict, genocide and rape have been much less affected.

6. There is no consistent relationship between condom use and the decline of a generalized epidemic.

7. There is no evidence that HIV testing has turned an epidemic around.

8. Treatment seems to lead to disinhibition rather than stopping new infections.

9. New technology is expensive and engenders a false sense of security.

10. Evidence is mounting that behaviour change is possible and has already happened in some areas.

Source: Shelton J, Ten myths and one truth about generalised HIV epidemics (2007), The Lancet, Vol. 370, p. 1809

for Uganda in the late 1980s, and more recently in Swasiland, reductions in multiple partnerships seem to have mainly occurred despite, not because of, formal programs.”

What happened in Uganda

In 1993, Helen Epstein was working as a molecular biologist in Uganda, at that time the country with the highest HIV-infection rate in the world. She explains how HIV incidence plummeted from 21 per cent in 1991 to six per cent in 2002.

“At the time, few international health experts were working on AIDS in Uganda, but the Ugandan government developed a simple and effective program on its own. In 1986, the Uganda Ministry of Health started a vigorous HIVprevention campaign in which the slogans ‘Love Carefully,’ ‘Love

“The anger of the activists, and the eloquent sorrow of women throughout the country who nursed the sick and helped neighbours cope, was a harsh reproach to promiscuous men. So was their gossip, a highly efficient method of spreading any public-health message.”

An article by Potts et al. in Science explains it as follows: “In Uganda, HIV prevalence declined dramatically following the extensive “Sero Grasing” campaign of the late 1980s. WHO surveys conducted in 1989 and 1995 found a greater than 50 per cent reduction in the number of people reporting multiple and casual partners. In Kenya, partner reduction and fidelity also appear to have been the main behavioural change associated with the recent HIV decline.

“Similar behaviour change has been reported in DHS surveys in Simbabwe, where HIV has also fallen, along with Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire, and urban Malawi. In Swasiland, the number of people reporting two or more partners in the past month was halved after an aggressive 2006 campaign focusing on the danger of having a ‘secret lover’.”

Reassessing the funding

Potts and his team plead for a reassessment of funding for interventions that have the greatest potential impact.

In a letter responding to comments by the Department of Evidence, Monitoring and Policy at UNAIDS, they say, “We note that the requested funding for [hyper-endemic and generalised] epidemics would comprise only a little over 20 per cent of the global total, even though such epidemics account for over two-thirds of all HIV infections worldwide.

“Also, although 5 per cent of this funding would be dedicated to circumcision programs, the large majority of resources would continue to be allocated to other interventions, for which the evidence of prevention impact in generalised epidemics is much weaker … Recent CDC data from Uganda suggest that most married people who recently acquired HIV were infected by an extramarital partner or by their spouse who had recently acquired HIV from an extramarital partner. Many of the latter were probably in the brief “acute infection” period, when HIV infectivity is much higher yet undetectable by a standard HIV test. It is crucial to address the multiple and concurrent partnerships that

Claiming that AIDS has been spread because of the lack of human rights for “vulnerable populations”, such as homosexual men and sex workers, the UN, in the document International Guidelines on HIVAIDS and Human Rights, have suggested that AIDS cannot be defeated unless all international laws restricting human sexuality are amended:

“Criminal law prohibiting sexual acts (including adultery, sod-

Part of the problem: a Ugandan Red Cross volunteer distributes condoms in the northern town of Lira during an AIDS commemoration service. CNS

omy, fornication and commercial sexual encounters) between consenting adults in private should be reviewed, with the aim of repeal.”

The Guidelines also promote abortion on demand, legalisation of homosexual marriage, and laws “providing penalties for vilification of people who engage in same-sex relationships.”

It seems that to the UN, AIDS funding is more about promoting the ideologies of the sexual revolution than about using the research to promote public health.

“To treat one AIDS patient with life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs costs more than US$1,000 a year. Our successful ABC campaign cost just 29 cents per person each year,” explains Sam Ruteikara, co-chair of Uganda’s AIDS Prevention Committee.

David Kalema, Ugandan AIDS activist, puts it poignantly in the film The Change is On, which documents the Catholic Church’s approach to behaviour modification in South Africa and Uganda:

“Maybe they tried [abstinence] and it failed, and since it failed with them, they think it will fail with everyone. I’m a testimony myself. I finished my primary [school] without having sex. I went for my secondary education, I didn’t have sex, I went to University, I was not having sex. I never fell sick because of not having sex. Can this world tell me that it only worked with me? The way it worked with me it can work with everyone else. My friends who used to laugh at me thinking that abstinence is abnormal, most of them are dead by now.”

© D Fleming 2009

Deirdre Fleming

A

2006 photo.

REUTERS

St Charles rector ‘a terrier’: Tannock

■ By Anthony Barich

FATHER Kevin Long has built an extraordinary chapel community at St Thomas More College in his 10 years as Rector, University of Notre Dame founding Vice Chancellor Dr Peter Tannock said at his farewell Mass in the college chapel on March 1.

“He’s a terrier, he never gives up; and he just goes after things. He has very good judgement and is a very fine priest,” Dr Tannock recalled to The Record of Fr Kevin, who left St Thomas More College on March 8 to begin his six-year post as Rector of St Charles’ Seminary in Guildford.

Fr Kevin had built a strong following among the lay community and had put in a “tremendous effort” into the physical quality of the college’s chapel, gardens and facilities, Dr Tannock said at the farewell Mass.

Dr Tannock said that St Thomas More College always had a strong chapel community, but Fr Kevin built it into an “extraordinary com-

munity”, with rich liturgy during weekday Masses becoming an institution in itself, while Sunday Masses were often full to capacity.

Dr Tannock said that Fr Kevin, 54, has an extensive and impressive academic history and a record of strong liturgical practice that will stand him in good stead to lead St Charles’ Seminary, which the former UNDA Vice Chancellor said is “an immensely important position” for the future of the Church in WA and beyond.

“It was a very difficult decision by Archbishop Barry Hickey to ask Fr Kevin to leave St Thomas More College, as he’d been so successful there, its never been in better shape; but the Archbishop saw the seminary position as a higher priority for the Church for the long term in WA and I believe he’s correct,” Dr Tannock said.

“The general quality of life and programs at Thomas More College moved on rapidly under him.”

Dr Tannock said that Fr Kevin, a founding member of UNDA’s School of Theology – a role he said was crucial as a core subject

at the university – “really gave a superb performance in leadership and management there. He brought it on in leaps and bounds in atmosphere and culture,” he said. Its popularity, Dr Tannock said, was proven by the high level of demand for places.

In detailing Fr Kevin’s life of academic yearning and vocational concerns, Dr Tannock said the new St Charles’ Seminary Rector was a “gifted scholar and outstanding teacher” at UNDA, noted for his contribution to the core curriculum.

Educated by the Sisters of St Joseph and the Christian Brothers, Fr Kevin first entered Corpus Christ College in 1973 but left after four years to teach at the Mercy Sisters Academy of Mary

Work with us to reduce abortions: Caritas to Smith

Federal Government snubs Caritas.

■ By Anthony Barich

THE Federal Government has not responded to repeated calls to meet with the Catholic Church on the future of maternal healthcare in foreign aid after Foreign Minister Stephen Smith lifted a decade-old ban on funding overseas abortion providers.

Caritas Australia chief executive Jack de Groot said that Caritas had been kept in the dark about the policy change on March 10, that saw Mr Smith, a Catholic, overturn AusAID guidelines implemented by the Howard Government in 1996, despite Prime Minister Kevin Rudd admitting he does not agree with the decision.

Mr de Groot wrote to Mr Smith the day of the announcement requesting a meeting, and faxed another letter through on March 18, but had received no response at time of writing last week, and said he is “gravely concerned” about the implications of this policy for Caritas’ ongoing work in aid and development around the world.

He said that he expected the Federal Government to lift the ban after new United States President Barack Obama enacted a similar measure upon being installed, as supporting freedom of choice to abort is part of the ALP’s policy platform; and though Mr Smith said that Australian and international NGOs will continue to be able to choose what services they deliver in line with their own philosophies and policies, the Caritas CEO is now “unsure” whether Catholic agencies overseas who refuse to conduct abortions are safe from funding restrictions.

Mr de Groot, in Perth on March 11 for the Parliament House launch of Project Compassion, warned that by not consulting the Catholic Church, one of the largest service providers in maternal health and early childhood development in countries throughout the Pacific, Africa, Latin America and Asia, the government was not ensuring the best outcome of any policy change. He now wants to work with the government to achieve Mr Smith’s stated aim of reducing abortions.

“Our principle of protecting the sanctity of human life is not met with this policy change,” Mr de Groot told The Record.

Mr Smith, the Member for Perth, said: “Avoiding terminations through family planning services and advice will continue to be the focus

of Australian funded activities”, prompting Mr de Groot to respond that “if the government wants to reduce abortions, then funding abortion clinics is not the right way to go about it”.

There is no evidence that any abortion providers, in Australia or overseas, focus on avoiding terminations. Instead, they offer abortions as a form of family planning, said Peter Westmore, president of the National Civic Council, a mainly-Christian group seeking to shape public policy on cultural, family, political, economic and international issues.

The Minister said in a statement that it is a “tragedy” that there are an estimated 42 million terminations performed globally each year, and that almost half of these are estimated to be “medically unsafe”.

“Around 68,000 women die each year as a result of unsafe abortions and approximately 220,000 children lose their mothers in this way,” he said, adding that the United Nations estimates that universal family planning could save the lives of as many as 175,000 women each year.

However, Mr de Groot said abortion is “barely a fringe issue” in the overall scheme of maternal healthcare in developing nations.

He said that maternal and child health programs should not only include medical funding but also include training of midwives, counselling, medical assistance, training on domestic violence, improving gender equality and awareness, programs that support women to improve their incomes, education and socioeconomic position in society, gender empowerment and programs that tackle sexually transmitted infections.

"Training midwives in Bangladesh, supporting women and children with HIV in Cambodia, providing counselling, medical services and advocating for justice for victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, challenging stigma, raising awareness and treating sexually transmitted infections in Papua New Guinea, are but a few of our many programs that meet the needs and aspirations of women and children in desperate poverty," Mr de Groot.

He added that the $15 million over four years that the Federal Government allocated to maternal healthcare as part of the new arrangement is far short of the $600 million required to achieve the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

Caritas currently targets approximately 20 per cent of its aid expenditure on these issues and “this should be at least the equivalent amount that the Australian Government supplies through our aid program,” Mr de Groot said. He said that at current levels, federal funding should be about $600 million increasing to $1 billion by 2015.

Currently AusAID provides no publicly available data on the spending on these programs.

Immaculate and completed a Bachelor of Theology in 1977.

Fr Kevin was ordained to the priesthood aged 27 by Archbishop Sir Frank Little of Melbourne at the parish of St Anthony in Alphington in Melbourne’s northeast, where he grew up with his family. His mother Claire Long and his brother and sister-in-law also travelled from Melbourne for the farewell Mass at the St Thomas More College Chapel. He became interested in ecumenical affairs and received a Masters Degree in 1994 from the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College in Dublin. He returned to Perth to undertake a PhD in history at the University of WA, staying at St Thomas More College – the beginning of a 20-year stint at the college.

He was appointed vice-Rector of the college under Fr Tim Quinlan in 1993, and when the Jesuits withdrew from the college, Archbishop Hickey, chairman of the college Council, appointed him temporary Rector then Rector of the college in

2000. He was a founding member of UNDA’s School of Theology at Notre Dame, and became a “much admired and followed lecturer” specialising in Church history, Dr Tannock said.

“He was a very popular lecturer, and being a lecturer in Notre Dame’s core curriculum is very challenging. It has to be very well taught so that it’s compulsory and very credible. He goes to the seminary at a relatively youthful age and full of beans.

“I think he’ll be a great success there,” Dr Tannock said.”

At the Mass for Fr Kevin’s farewell, Archbishop Hickey also acknowledged Claudia O’Malley, who assisted Fr Long for many years as sacristern and liturgical coordinator. He was also heavily involved in ecumenism, Dr Tannock said – a point proven by the presence of an Anglican bishop and leaders of Eastern Rite churches at the farewell Mass and representatives of other UWA colleges.

“He does things with a bit of style,” Dr Tannock said.

Pope needs our prayers, solidarity, says Wilson

■ By Anthony Barich

THE president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has personally written to Pope Benedict XVI on behalf of the Australian bishops assuring him of “prayerful solidarity and support”, in the wake of the controversy over the pontiff’s lifting of excommunication orders of four Society of Pius X bishops.

In a March 16 statement, Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide said that Pope Benedict’s 2,500-word March 12 letter to bishops regarding the Society of St Pius X was a deeply personal and moving account of the pontiff’s deep desire to take all possible steps to work towards Church unity.

The Pope’s letter referred to the recent heated discussion which erupted both within and outside the Church, in the wake of Pope Benedict’s decision to lift the excommunication of four bishops who were illicitly consecrated in 1988 by the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Society.

Archbishop Wilson said he had written to Pope Benedict on behalf of the Australian bishops, assuring him of prayerful solidarity and support, and thanking him for his letter which he was sure would achieve the pope’s stated desire of contributing “to peace in the Church.”

In his letter, the Pope spoke of his

regret that the gesture of reconciliation had been overshadowed by revelations about the unacceptable position of Bishop Richard Williamson with regard to the Jewish Holocaust. He accepted that more rigorous internet checking would have alerted the Holy See to Bishop Williamson’s views.

“The Holy Father’s letter was a uniquely personal plea for understanding,” Archbishop Wilson said. “It contains both humble acknowledgement of mistakes made, as well as a deeply human insight into the suffering felt by subsequent attacks on him.”

Archbishop Wilson said the Pope’s letter was a “stirring call to Church unity from the Successor of Peter”, in which, he said, the Pope argues that even small gestures of reconciliation can be fruitful in shifting people from their entrenched positions and changing their hearts so that they begin to move back towards life within the Church.

“During this Lenten season of purification of heart and of turning back to God, I ask all Catholics to offer special prayers for the Holy Father, so that in this way we can support him in his enormously challenging ministry,” Archbishop Wilson said.

“I ask also for prayers for Church unity, that we too, can offer the hand of reconciliation to all our brothers and sisters, who might for one reason or another find themselves outside the Church’s loving embrace, but who have a genuine longing for Christ in their lives. It is in this way that hearts and minds can be changed.”

Dr Peter Tannock

Jack de Groot

Pope under fire, needs support.

CHILDREN

Kids bitz

ARTISTS WEEK

Danielle Dias aged 6 years from Sacred Heart Thornlie, has sent in a beautiful colouring along with a handwritten letter. Thankyou!

colour

OF THE

Marek Toczylowski from Karawarra has sent in a very artistic colouring of Our Lady. Thankyou!

Thankyou to all the children who sent in art again this week. It is absolutely wonderful to receive your beautiful pieces. Keep it coming, and I will print some every week. Every child who sends in art/poetry/drawings will receive a gift from the Record Bookshop. Love Justine xo

Siobhan Kirwan aged 6 years from Holy Rosary School, Doubleview sent in two lovely drawings, this is one of them. Thankyou!

FAITH

ELLEN – YR 10 SANTA MARIA COLLEGE

High above the mountain, Deeper than the deep blue sea, Longer than the desert grass, Further than the eye can see.

Something you cannot touch, Smell, sense, or see. But something that is always there, Past, present or future, where?

It lingers in the darkest corner, But is brighter than a star Carries the burden of an angel, And the love of a burning fire. This gift, its glory sent from above, This gift, its presence, within your heart, This gift, its character, your best friend, This gift, its love, lasts forever on end.

Faith is priceless, not a penny taken from your hand, Faith is strong, it will forever stand.

CHILDREN’S HILDREN STOR Y TORY

MARY OF MAGDALA SEARCHES FOR JESUS

By Joe Sarnicola

THE sun had not yet risen in the east, but Mary of Magdala was awake. She had not been able to rest or sleep since Jesus had been crucified. She had seen him after he had been beaten and then forced to carry his own cross up the hill to Calvary. That was where they killed him. Now here she was slowly walking toward the tomb where Jesus had been buried. She thought she had run out of tears, but still she cried.

When she finally reached the tomb, she discovered the heavy stone that had sealed the entrance had been rolled away. Mary carefully stepped into the cold, dark hole that had been carved out of the rock. Jesus was not there. Mary screamed. What had happened? Did the soldiers take his body away? Or grave robbers? Mary ran as fast as her tired legs would carry her to the home of Simon Peter, where one of the other disciples was with him. Out of breath from running and nearly hysterical, Mary told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”

Peter and the other disciple immediately ran to the site of the tomb. They found the tomb empty, as Mary had said. Inside, the burial garments of Jesus were on the ground. The cloth that had covered his head had been rolled up into a ball.

The two disciples returned to their homes, not knowing what to do next.

Mary stayed behind. She was too upset to do anything but cry outside of the tomb. But something inside the tomb caught her attention. She looked in and saw two angels in white garments. One was at the head of the spot where Jesus had lain, the other was at the foot. They asked Mary, “Woman, why are you weeping?” And Mary answered, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.”

As soon as she said this a man appeared behind her. It was Jesus, but Mary did not recognise him. She thought he was the gardener.

Jesus said to Mary, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”

“Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.”

Then Jesus said, “Mary,” and Mary recognised him.

READ MORE ABOUT IT: John 20 Q & A

1. Where was Mary going so early in the morning?

2. Who did Mary see inside the tomb?

Lydia Daniel aged 6 years from Balwyn, Victoria has drawn a very special picture of Noahs Ark. Thankyou!

Sarah Raphael aged 6 years has sent us a beautiful colouring of Jesus speaking to the fisherman. Thankyou!

Sign of the Cross

We show that we love God by making the Sign of the Cross. Colour the cross, and then make the Sign of the Cross on yourself as you say the prayer.

In the name of the Father, (touch forehead) and of the son, (touch chest) and of the Holy (touch left shoulder) Spirit (touch right shoulder.

Adoration a reminder of what life is all about

MHow I Pray

y family and I belong to the Disciples of Jesus Covenant Community which encourages a spiritual life based on Charismatic praise and Adoration. The use of music permits me to pray out loud the words of praise that exist in my heart. Through this I am able to enter into a time of deep worship of God. Speaking in tongues is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This gift allows me to connect deeply with God in a way that is truly mysterious. I am a lover of Adoration. Spending time daily in front of the Blessed Sacrament allows me to focus on Jesus. I want to commit my life to Him. Adoration is a reminder of what life is all about – following the call of Christ.

I pray regularly with my wife and children. Praying with and for each other as a family is important. We use a variety of prayer with our children including spontaneous prayers of thanksgiving, blessing and intercession. Whenever possible we say a decade of the Rosary.

I have developed a deep appreciation for living within an environment of grace. I have felt called to draw deeply from the Sacraments, participate in the daily Eucharist, seek regular Reconciliation and pray the Divine Office (the Liturgy of the Hours). I am particularly drawn to Lauds, the Morning Prayer. Participating fully in the Disciples of Jesus’ way of life encourages me to live a life of prayer and mission.

My role within the Disciples of Jesus is one of pastoral ministry. Through this I have been privileged to witness God perform miracles in the lives of many people.

I also am blessed to spend time with young people who are so open to surrendering to God’s love. In return they desire to serve Him in amazing ways. They open their hearts to Him and He responds accordingly. Young people filled with the fire of God’s love are so inspiring to be around.

The biggest obstacle to my faith came when my youngest brother was diagnosed with a rare terminal disease. I was so angry with God.

I couldn’t understand why He would choose not to heal my brother and allow him to live. My brother’s death became a crisis of faith. Thankfully my pastoral carer within the Disciples of Jesus encouraged me to be honest with God and express my anger towards Him.

My friend knew God was big enough to deal with whatever it was I wanted to throw at Him.

I remember standing at my brother’s grave yelling, screaming and swearing at God. If anyone had been around I probably would have been locked up.

After my ranting and raving I heard an inner voice say, “How do you think I feel?” I truly believe this was the voice of God.

It was then that I had an insight into what it must have been like for God to deliver his Son, Jesus to be sacrificed upon a cross. He did so to free us from the consequences of sin and to share in His heavenly glory where there is no pain or sadness. I finally understood the gift of salvation. Out of this time of crisis came a renewal of faith. It has led me to a life of serving God whenever and wherever I can.

PERSPECTIVES

IVF truth must be spoken Body Language

By Christopher West

Technology and human conception

When Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets earlier this year, the internet was abuzz with debates about the reproductive technology industry. But the debates focused primarily on how many embryos should be allowed to be transferred to a woman’s body. Very few seemed to be asking the more fundamental question: Should we be producing children in a laboratory at all?

The pain and even anguish of infertile couples mustn’t be undermined. However, as good as the desire for children is in itself, it doesn’t justify any and every means of "getting" a child.

The Church’s basic moral principle regarding reproductive technologies is this: if a given technology assists the marital embrace in achieving its natural end, it can be morally acceptable, even praiseworthy. However, if it replaces the marital embrace as the means by which the child is conceived, it’s not in keeping with God’s design.

Separating conception from the loving embrace of husband and wife not only provokes many further evils, but, even if these are avoided, it remains contrary to the dignity of the child, the dignity of the spouses and their relationship, and man’s status as a creature. Let’s look briefly at

each (for further discussion, see my book “Good News About Sex and Marriage” (Servant, 2004)).

(1) Provokes further evils: Separating conception from the marital embrace doesn’t necessarily entail the following evils, but more often than not it leads to them in practice: masturbation as a means of obtaining sperm; production of "excess" human lives that are either destroyed through abortion, frozen for later "use," or intentionally farmed for medical experimentation; a "eugenic mentality" that discriminates between human beings, not treating all with equal care and dignity; the trafficking of gametes (both sperm and ova) and frozen embryos for use by others.

(2) The dignity of the child: To seek a child as the end result of a technological procedure is to treat the child in some way as a product. For those involved, this creates – consciously or unconsciously, subtly or not so subtly – a depersonalised orientation towards the child. Products are subject to quality control. When you spend top dollar for a new computer, you want it in mint condition. You don’t care about the specific computer you pulled out of the box. You want one that works. If it’s defective, you’ll take it back for a refund or exchange it for another one. Similarly, the temptation is all too real for a couple paying thousands (even tens of thousands) of dollars for these procedures to want a "refund" or an "exchange" if their "product" is defective.

I don’t mean to imply that every couple who pays for these procedures stoops to this level. The temptation to apply "quality controls" can be resisted. But a depersonalising mindset is built into the very nature of the procedure.

(3) The dignity of the spouses and their relationship: The technological generation of human life is simply not marital. In other words, the child is not the fruit of his parent’s marital union, but the product of a technological procedure performed by a third party apart from their union altogether. As a former professor of mine put it, “Spouses can no more delegate to others the privilege they have of begetting human life than they can delegate to others the right they have to engage in the marital act” (William May, Marriage: The Rock on Which the Family Is Built, Ignatius Press, 1995).

The marital embrace is not simply the biological transmission of gametes. It is a profoundly personal, sacramental, physical and spiritual reality. To divorce human conception from this sublime union shows a lack of understanding of the deepest essence of married love.

(4) Man’s status as a creature: God alone is the "Lord and Giver of Life."

Spouses have the distinct privilege of co-operating with God in pro-creating children, but, as creatures themselves, they aren’t the masters of life. They’re only the servants of God’s design. Through technological fertilisation, we set ourselves up as operators instead of co-operators, creators instead of procreators. We deny our status as creatures and make ourselves “like God.”

None of this is said to condemn anyone. We simply “know not what we do.” The Church, following Christ, proclaims mercy to all. But truth must be spoken. And as we come closer and closer to Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” the Church’s teaching on reproductive technologies appears more and more like true wisdom than mere fingerwagging.

How many Stations are there anyway?

Q&A

By Fr John Flader

The Stations of the cross

I am familiar with the traditional 14 Stations of the Cross but now have seen some churches with different Stations. Are they approved by the Church?

Let me begin by explaining the origin of this popular devotion. It goes back to the early centuries in Jerusalem, where Christian pilgrims would retrace the route taken by Jesus when he carried his cross to Mount Calvary, or Golgotha. These early pilgrimages varied considerably, with different starting places and different routes.

In the medieval period, as the practice became more developed, the pilgrimage would usually start at the ruins of the Antonia Fortress, built by Herod to guard the Temple, where Pontius Pilate judged Jesus. It would conclude at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Golgotha and the burial place of Jesus. By the 16th century this route came to be called the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Sorrow. At certain places, or stations, along the way, the pilgrims would stop to recall specific events narrated or implied in the Gospel accounts.

From around the 15th century, stations were erected in various places in Europe and became known as the Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross. Since the middle of the 17th century, there have been 14 stations, beginning with Jesus condemned to death by Pilate, and concluding with his being laid in the tomb.

According to the Vatican Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, the Way of the Cross in its present form was widely promoted by St Leonardo da Porto Maurizio, who died in 1751. It was approved by the Holy See and indulgences were granted for those who practised it. (cf. DPPL, 132)

As regards the spiritual meaning of the devotion, the Directory adds: “In the Via Crucis, various strands of Christian piety coalesce: the idea of life being a journey or pilgrimage; as a passage from earthly exile to our true home in heaven; the deep desire to be conformed to the Passion of Christ; the demands of following Christ, which imply that his disciples must follow behind the Master, daily carrying their own crosses (cf. Lk 9:23; DPPL, 133).”

Since six of the traditional stations are not expressly mentioned in Scripture –Jesus’ three falls, his meeting with Mary and with Veronica, and his being laid in the arms of his mother – in recent times the stations have been rearranged so that they correspond more closely to the Gospel accounts. In this way, moreover, the devotion can have more appeal to other Christians.

These are often referred to as the Scriptural Stations of the Cross. Are they approved by the Holy See?

The Directory on Popular Piety says the following: “The traditional form of the Via Crucis, with its fourteen stations, is to be retained as the typical form of this pious exercise; from time to time, however, as the occasion warrants, one or other of the traditional stations might possibly be substituted with a reflection on some other aspects of the Gospel account of the journey to Calvary which are traditionally included in the Stations of the Cross.

“Alternative forms of the Via Crucis have been approved by the Apostolic See or publicly used by the Roman Pontiff: these can be regarded as genuine forms of the devotion and may be used as occasion might warrant.” (DPPL, 134)

For example, the Vatican’s Central Committee for the Holy Year 1975 approved different stations, which were included in the Libro del Pellegrino, Pilgrims’ Book, issued on that occasion. Likewise, Pope John Paul II presided over the Scriptural Stations at the Coliseum on Good Friday 1991, and in the subsequent years of his pontificate. These stations were: 1. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane; 2. Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested; 3. Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin; 4. Jesus is denied by St Peter; 5. Jesus is judged by Pontius Pilate; 6. Jesus is scourged at the pillar and crowned with thorns; 7. Jesus bears the Cross; 8. Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene to carry the Cross; 9. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem; 10. Jesus is crucified; 11. Jesus promises his kingdom to the good thief; 12. Jesus speaks to his mother and the beloved disciple; 13. Jesus dies on the Cross; 14. Jesus is placed in the tomb.

As is clear, even though the traditional stations are preferred, these new stations are perfectly acceptable, at least for occasional use.

Mario Borg

with Debbie Warrier

Interrogate your conscience

Being Heard

By John Heard

Lent

The world is broken, and we are not meant to fix it, because we are unable to.

That is the curious lot of humanity. It marks out our limitations. No matter how hard we strive, no matter our intentions, “the good we choose and mean to do // Prospers if He wills it to // And if not, then it fails”.

The poetry is James MacAuley’s, of course, from his beautiful Retreat, and the lines were passed to B A Santamaria at a moment of particular turmoil, but the lesson is available to all of us.

We have no guarantee that what we do, simply because we want to do it, or because we think we ought to do it, or because we have been told by reliable authority simply to do it - we have no promise that this will be enough.

Catholics must submit everything to God for approval, and as we cannot (except via authentic revelation) know His mind in advance (the idea itself is heresy), and we cannot always assign His favour to past activity (that too can be madness); we must leave our best at His feet.

We must surrender. That is the lesson of Lent.

That does not mean, of course, that we are not responsible for our failures, and it

does not mean that we can have no part in our victories. Christians are not crude determinists. Rather, we know that man alone is a pitiable thing, and his triumphs are modest. Set alongside the majesty of the One, one is nothing – and we are only made something by the inexpressibly generous love of God. Nothing we do, we know, if we are conformed to the Cross, is done entirely according to our genius; rather it is of the grace of God.

Same sex attracted Catholics, and Christians generally, need to keep this in mind, then, when claiming this or that as a Lenten success or failure. I need to keep it in mind.

Certainly, when contemplating sin, literally a “turning away” from God, we do well to remember God’s majesty. When we suffer, and fail, we must turn again to Him.

Because, of course, while the truth of God’s power should encourage us to cultivate a healthy fear of Him, we should not forget that He always has the means, the power, to pull us out of darkness.

For the Church teaches us that God’s mercy is greater than our sin. He is mightier, indeed, brighter and more loving than all the sin of every man on earth.

When we hesitate before the confessional - and same sex attracted men hesitate, I hesitate, Catholics in great numbers hesitate - when we stall and skulk, we must remember His inexhaustible light.

We must allow it to track through our lives, to lick about the filthy edges, and we must stand still, calm and docile, as it wars against our secret shame.

None of this should be abstract, either.

Catholics, especially in Lent and Holy Week, come right up against the mystery of Christ’s Passion.

We cannot, therefore, ignore the reality, the bloody mess of sin, and the lengths that God has gone to to wipe it all away.

The Stations of the Cross, the Passion narrative, these demonstrate that Israel’s One, Who dwells in “unapproachable light” has, by the Incarnation and the Cross, irrevocably bound Himself, in the most immediate way, to our human lot.

Christ suffers with us.

That should give us great hope, andenduring these dying days of the Lenten discipline – lend us strength.

For same sex attracted Catholics, struggling to carry our own particular crosses, the fact of Christ’s suffering changes everything. On Laetare Sunday, when the Church puts on rose vestments, indeed, all Catholics get a sense of imminent joy.

In the bright flare of Easter night, we will learn again that the meaning of holy suffering is always undying joy.

Whatever we give up for Him makes us better men. It makes us more like Him, Who is goodness and beauty and truth.

Now, however, in the deep days of sorrow, we must endure. The world is broken, and we are not meant to fix it, because we are unable to. We cannot even fix ourselves.

Same sex attracted men must endure, and we must hope. If we have fallen, we must pick ourselves up. I must pick myself up. We must come, same sex attracted or otherwise, you and me, to the confessional. We must interrogate our consciences, and tell of our failures.

We can do this because He makes all things new (Revelation 21:5), even sorrowful, pitiable creatures, even human beings, even you – and broken down, useless, miserable me.

John Heard is an Australian writer.

Tolerate everyone except religious

In clear view

By Guy Crouchback

The great British culture-war continues to provide warnings.

In my column on October 22 last year, I wrote of 90 Muslim parents in Britain who objected to homosexual propaganda being forced upon their children at two primary schools in the Bristol area.

The children were being given books, one of which, titled King and King, and described as a fairy-tale, featured as its hero a prince who turns down three princesses before, in a happy ending, marrying one of their brothers.

Another, called And Tango Makes Three, told of two male homosexual penguins who fall in love and adopt. The children receiving this material were as young as five.

Faced by the protests of the Muslim parents – which, incidentally, appear to have been phrased in the most polite and reasonable terms, objecting to the fact that their children were talking about homosexuality before they were considered old enough to be told about heterosexuality – the materials were withdrawn.

Now, however, it is reported that the books are back in various primary schools, and this time there is no backing down by Authority. At the George Tomlinson Primary School, in the outer London area of Waltham Forest, more than 30 children have been withdrawn by Muslim and Christian parents after having these same works of literature given them as part of “celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month.”

This time, instead of respecting the parents’ wishes and withdrawing the

material, the Waltham Forest Council is reported to be bringing criminal prosecutons against them for abetting truancy.

A spokesperson for the council said that the action was being taken against the parents as part of a policy of – believe it or not – promoting tolerance. A further irony is that the general standard of education in many government schools is now so poor that children might often have a better chance in life by being taken out of them (The same day this story broke, for example, a survey indicated that 60 per cent of secondary-school children had never heard of the Nazi holocaust – at a time when anti-Semitism is making an alarming come-back).

British columnist Richard Littlejohn wrote: “Devout Christian and Muslim parents had warned the school in advance that they had strong religious objections.

“Pervez Latif, a 41-year-old accountant, kept his nine and 10-year-old sons at home and is now facing prosecution.

“He wrote to the chairman of the school governors, but his protests were

Filling the vacuum inside youth

Fr Anthony Paganoni, Scalabrinian, continues his series on a long-running successful initiative in youth ministry in the province of Lombardy, Italy.

The ItalianWay

The appeal of informality to youth today.

Informality captures the spirit, the inmost soul of the Oratorio, dating back to the very beginnings in the time of St Philip Neri. This essential quality is not the result of some deliberate strategy but rather the fruit of cumulative experience garnered over several centuries. Time and again, the whole research team dwell on this particular dimension, as being best adapted to the needs of many of the young people experiencing the threshold syndrome, with its consequent feelings of restlessness and marginalisation.

In adult terms, threshold speaks of ambivalence, of being neither inside nor yet outside, but in that intermediate space, both physical and otherwise, that lies in front of a home, a school, a factory - a parish - where rules and ethical codes are clearly defined. But not yet embraced by the people standing on the threshold, nursing conflicting feelings of distrust and fear, antagonism and at times attraction to the new world beckoning from the inside.

This is the situation of the young people so often lingering just beyond the bounds of either parish or oratorio, expressing their ambivalence by their looks and their studied casualness.

They recall the steel balls suspended between and kept in place by two magnetic fields. Could it be that these young people resemble this ‘suspended neutrality’, caught between two contrasting and mutually attractive yet reciprocally negating forces?

In such a situation freedom of choice - to go forward or backward - is practically nonexistent. The ambiguity causes anxiety and paralysis, and hence marginalisation.

But this is not necessarily exhibiting deviant behaviour, as many closed-minded observers might be tempted to suggest.

Rather it is as if they are experiencing a vacuum inside them, trapped within static confines, with little scope for re-positioning themselves or moving forward.

ignored. Sarah Saed, 40, withdrew her eight-year-old daughter with great reluctance. It was the first blemish on her 100 per cent attendance record. ‘This was the only choice I had,’ she said. ‘It is not an appropriate age for children to be learning about homosexual relationships’.”

Under thre present law in Britain, parents have the legal right to exempt their children from religious education and sex lessons.

However, by dishonest legal trickery this objection is not allowed in the present case because this material is officially classed as “history.”

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month was originally supported by the equivalent of the British Education Department, and is now supported by a plethora of official organisations dedicated to recreating Britain and the psychology of the British people. They include the Metropolitan Police Service, the Metropolitan Police Authority, Amnesty International and the Crown Prosecution Service.

Such an analysis underlies many attempts by the youth leaders within the Oratorio to make and - if successful - keep in contact with those on the threshold.

This is a stage in their development that affects a high proportion of young people nowadays. Their marginalisation, particularly if brought about by circumstances beyond their control, such as race or ethnicity, social status, interruption to schooling, can damage the individual’s sense of worth and self-respect to the point of triggering anti-social behaviour and violence.

In such cases, the multiplicity of subcultures diverging from mainstream social norms can be the source of many of the problems continuously reported in the media.

Of course, marginalisation is not a process affecting only young people.

We can meet mature-age people here in Australia who in some cases have chosen to depend fully on the security net for their support.

To be continued...

Tony Paganoni, Scalabrinian Intriguing developments in Youth Ministry

PANORAMA

Panorama entries must be in by 12pm Monday. Contributions may be emailed to administration@therecord.com.au, faxed to 9227 7087, 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 will be a put into classifieds and charged accordingly. The Record reserves the right to decline or modify any advertisment.

Friday March 27 and Sunday March 29

HEALING MASS AND TALK ON DIVINE MERCY

7pm to 9.30pm at Holy Family Church, Lot 375, Alcock Street, Maddington. Healing Mass, and 29 March from 3pm to 5pm, talk on Divine Mercy and Prayers for Healing, presided over by Fr Jose Vettiyankal, VC from India. Enq: Fr Varghese 9493 1703.

Saturday March 28

ST PADRE PIO DAY OF PRAYER

8.30am at St Brigid, Aberdeen Street, Northbridge. St Padre Pio DVD, 10am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Divine Mercy, silent adoration and Benediction. 11am Holy Mass, Padre Pio liturgy, celebrant Fr Tiziano Bogoni. Confessions available. 12noon shared lunch, bring a plate. Tea and coffee provided. Enq: Des 6278 1540.

Saturday March 28

A HALF DAY PRAYER RETREAT FOR INCREASE OF PERPETUAL ADORATION

9am to 12.30pm at St Gerard Majella, 37 Changton Way, Mirrabooka. Mass followed by communal prayers and opportunity for quiet reflection and reconciliation concluding with Benediction. Light lunch provided. All are invited. Enq: Joy 9344 2609 or Norma 9342 4136.

Saturday March 28

DAY OF THE UNBORN CHILD

10am at St Joachim’s Parish, Shepperton Road, Victoria Park. Holy Mass, Celebrant Most Rev BJ Hickey, followed by procession with flowers in memory of a child whose life has been taken away by the tragedy of abortion. 11am Holy Hour led by Pro-Life Chaplain, Columban priest Fr Paul Carey. Enq: Helen 9402 0349.

Saturday March 28

VOICE OF THE VOICELESS MINISTRY OF POPE

JOHN PAUL II

12noon at Santa Clara Church; corner Coolgardie and Pollock Streets, Bentley. Healing Mass and Adoration, with the Voice of the Voiceless Music Ministry. Followed by fellowship. Please bring a plate. All welcome to attend. Enq: 0437 286 301.

Saturday March 28

NOVENA DEVOTIONS TO OUR LADY OF GOOD HEALTH, VAILANKANNI

5pm at Holy Trinity Church, Embleton, followed by Mass at 6pm. Enq: Office 9271 9528 or George 9272 1379.

Sunday March 29

LENTEN REFLECTION DAY WITH ST FRANCIS

10am at Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor Street, East Perth, commencing with tea. The Secular Franciscans invite all interested people to a day of prayer reflection. Shared lunch BYO. Conclude with Eucharist at 2.30pm and followed by tea. Enq: Mary 9377 7925 or Anne-Marie 9447 4252.

Sunday March 29

LENTEN RETREAT

8.45am to 4pm at 7 Warde Street, Midland. A quiet time with God; attendance is mandatory from beginning to end. BYO lunch. Tea and coffee provided. No charge, love offering. Must book. Enq: 9250 5395.

Monday March 30

TRUE LOVE WAITS

7.30pm, Catholic Pastoral Centre, Highgate presents, Responsible Parenthood and Marriage. Maria is a qualified educator on Natural Family Planning, experienced speaker, will enlighten that this is not just a dependable, clinical tool for achieving or avoiding a pregnancy, but a lifestyle and approach which better expresses the authentic love of Christ. Enq: Julie 0438 447 708.

Tuesday March 31

MMP TUESDAY CENACLE DAY OF REFLECTION

10.30am at St Jerome’s Church, 36 Troode Street, Munster. Rosary, followed by Mass, and talks by Fr Johnson Malayil, Somascan. Bring lunch to share. Tea and coffee provided. Conclude 2pm. Enq: 9341 8082.

Tuesday March 31

LA SALLE COLLEGE OPEN DAY

You are invited to tour the extensive facilities of our Catholic Co-educational College for Years 7 to 12 at 5 La Salle Avenue, Middle Swan. Tour times: 9.30am, 11.30am and 1.40pm. No bookings necessary. Enq: Sabrina 9449 0635.

Wednesday April 1

NATURAL FERTILITY SERVICES

7pm to 8.30pm at 29 Victoria Square, Perth. Come and join us for a free evening presentation to enrich your marriage by a Family Life Educator. The presentation is entitled Healthy Decision - Family Planning, Naturally and includes light supper. RSVP by March 24, 2009. Enq: 9223 1396 Tuesday and Thursday 8.30am to 3pm or admin.nfs@aanet.com.au

Wednesday April 1

HEALING FIRE BURNING LOVE MINISTRY

CHARISMATIC STATIONS OF THE CROSS

7.30pm at St Brigid, Aberdeen Street, Northbridge. Praise and worship, 8pm Stations of the Cross, Reconciliation and Healing Service. A time to praise and rejoice in what the Lord has done for you. Enq: Jenni 9445 1028 or 0404 389 679.

Thursday April 2

PRAYER DAY

10am to 1pm at Mary MacKillop Centre, 16 York Street, South Perth. Tea followed by reflecting on the Cross with Mary MacKillop. Come to a time of rest and reflection. Facilitator Dora Maguire RSJ. Cost: Donation. RSVP 30 March. Enq: marymackillopcentre@sosjwa.org.au or 9334 0940.

Friday April 3

CATHOLIC FAITH RENEWAL EVENING

7.30pm at St John and Paul’s Parish, Pinetree Gully Road, Willetton. Songs of praise, talk by Father Greg Donovan followed by Thanksgiving Mass and light refreshments after Mass. All welcome and bring a friend. Enq: Kathy 9295 0913 or Rose 0403 300 720.

Friday April 3

PRO-LIFE WITNESS

9.30am, Mass at St Brigid’s Midland followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at abortion clinic, led by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. Enq: Helen 9402 0349.

Friday April 3

THE ALLIANCE, TRIUMPH AND REIGN OF THE UNITED HEARTS OF JESUS AND MARY

5.15pm at St Bernadette’s Church, Glendalough. Confessions and 5.45pm Mass followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, hourly Rosaries, hymns and reflections etc throughout the night. Conclude with midnight Mass in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Enq: Father Doug Harris 9444 6131 or Dorothy 9342 5845.

Saturday April 4

WITNESS FOR LIFE

8.30am, Mass at St Augustine’s, Gladstone Road, Rivervale followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at abortion clinic, led by Columban Missionary, Fr Paul Carey. Enq: Helen 9402 0349.

Saturday April 4

DAY WITH MARY

9am to 5pm at Saint Bernadette Church, Leeder Street and Jugan Street, Glendalough. 9am Video on Fatima. Day of prayer and instruction based upon the Fatima message. Reconciliation, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons on Eucharist and Our Lady, Rosaries, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Stations of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enq: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.

Sunday April 5

DIVINE MERCY

1.30pm at St Joachim’s Church, Shepperton Road and Harper Street, Victoria Park. An afternoon with Jesus and Mary, Rosary and Reconciliation. Sermon with Fr Johnson

Malayil CRS on the Passion of Jesus and St Francis of Paolia followed by Divine Mercy prayers and Benediction. Refreshments followed by a Video/DVD Come Back Home Part 1 with Fr Corapi. Enq: John 9457 7771 or Linda 9275 6608.

Friday April 10

CATHOLIC AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE – BINDOON GOOD FRIDAY CEREMONIES

Commence 10.30am with Confessions, 11am Stations of the Cross, followed by Confessions again. 2.30pm Solemn Ceremony, The Lord’s Passion. All are welcome. Enq: 9576 1040 or Fr Paul 9571 1839.

Good Friday April 10 to Sunday April 19

DIVINE MERCY FEAST DAY

3pm to 4pm every day at Holy Family Church, Lot 375, Alcock Street, Maddington. Divine Mercy feast celebration will start with 9 days of Divine Mercy Novena. Enq: 9493 1703.

Sunday April 19

DIVINE MERCY

1.30pm at St Joachim’s Parish, Harper Street and Shepperton Road, Victoria Park. Holy Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy Prayer. 2.30pm Holy Mass main Celebrant Monsignor Thomas McDonald and preacher Fr Hugh Thomas, C.S.S.R. and other priests are invited to concelebrate. 3.30pm, Benediction, followed by Veneration of Saint Faustina’s First Class relic. Enq: John 9457 7771 or Linda 9275 6608.

Saturday April 25

ST PADRE PIO PILGRIMAGE – BULLSBROOKBINDOON AND GIN GIN

8am Buses depart from pick up points. 9.30am Station of the Cross, at Bullsbrook. 11am Holy Mass and BYO lunch Bindoon. Tea and coffee provided. 2pm, Eucharistic Procession, Rosary, Divine Mercy and Benediction at Gin Gin. 3.34pm Depart for Perth. Enq: Midland Catrina 9255 1938, Bassendean Ivana 9279 7261, Morley Patsy 9444 3617, Balcatta Rosa 9276 1952, Glendalough Mary 6278 1540, Girawheen and Mirrabooka Nita 9367 1366.

Monday April 27

DIVINE MERCY PILGRIMAGE TO ST ANNE’S BINDOON

12pm BYO lunch. 1.30 pm Holy Rosary, Benediction and Way of the Cross. 2.30 pm Holy Mass followed by Divine Mercy Devotions and Benediction. 3.45pm tea. 4.30pm return to Perth. All Divine Mercy Prayer Groups are welcome. Transport, Francis 9459 3873 or 0404 893 877. Enq: Sheila 9575 4023 or Fr Paul 9571 1839.

Sunday May 3

THE 2009 BUSSELTON MAY ROSARY CELEBRATION IN HONOUR OF OUR LADY

12.30pm at Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine, Bove’s Farm, Roy Road, Jindong, Busselton. Hymn singing. 1pm Concelebrated Mass led by Fr Tony Cheira, followed by Rosary Procession and Benediction. Tea provided. All welcome. Note: Roy Road runs off the Bussell Highway, approximately halfway between Busselton and Margaret River. Bookings: Francis 0404 893 877 or 9459 3873.

CHANGE OF WEEKEND MASS TIME

OUR LADY OF LOURDES – NOLLAMARA PARISH

From 18 April 2009, Weekend Mass times will be as follows Saturday Vigil 6pm and Sunday 9am. Weekday Masses remain the same. Enq: Catherine 9345 5541.

Every Sunday

SHRINE OF VIRGIN OF THE REVELATION

2pm at 36 Chittering Road, Bullsbrook. Pilgrim Mass, with Rosary and Benediction. Reconciliation is available in English and Italian. Anointing of the sick is every second Sunday of the month during Mass. Honour of the Virgin of the Revelation is on the last Sunday of the month and side entrance is open daily between 9am and 5pm. Enq: SACRI: 9447 3292.

Every Tuesday NIGHT PRAYER MEETINGS

7pm at St Mary’s Cathedral parish centre, 450 Hay Street, Perth. 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. Recess, April 7 and 14.

Every Tuesday BIBLE TEACHING WITH A DIFFERENCE

7.30pm St Joachim’s Parish Hall, Shepperton Road, Victoria Park. Special topic, Keeping your Word. Come and see. Light refreshments will follow. Bring along your Bible, a notebook and a friend. Enq: Jan 9284 1662.

LA SALLE COLLEGE

ABORIGINAL SCHOLARSHIPS YEAR 7 AND 8 2010

La Salle College is now accepting Aboriginal Scholarship Applications. The two scholarships for Years 7 and 8 in 2010 are funded by the College and offer full tuition for a period of up to three years. Closing date 30 April 2009. Enq: Ms Linda Balcombe 9274 6266 or email lba@lasalle. wa.edu.au

LA SALLE COLLEGE

ENROLMENTS YEAR 7, 2011

La Salle College is now finalising enrolments for Year 7 in 2011- current Year 5 students. For an enrolment package, contact Ms Linda Balcombe, 9274 6266.

Every 1st and 3rd Sunday of Each Month

ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL SINGERS CHOIR

9.30am at St Joachim’s Pro Cathedral, Victoria Park. We are seeking new members to join us – be part of singing at the refurbished St Mary’s Cathedral. Full training provided. Enq: Michael 041 429 4338 or michael@ michaelpeters.id.au

Every Tuesday THEOLOGY OF THE BODY FOR TEENS

6.30pm to 7.30pm at Holy Spirit, City Beach. DVD by Christopher West will be shown for 12 weeks, with breaks over Easter. Young and experienced facilitators will assist discussion in small groups following each DVD viewing. Cost, free. Intended age group, 16-18. Enq: 9341 3079, HolySpirit.Parish@perthcatholic.org.au

Every Wednesday THE JULIAN SINGERS

7.30pm to 9.30pm at the Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor Street, East Perth. Inviting any interested people for rehearsals to see if they may like to join the choir. We are a liturgical choir and also perform an annual charity concert. Enq: Chris 9276 2736 or Angela 9275 2066.

Every First Friday of the month

ST PADRE PIO - LATIN MASS

7.30pm at St Joseph’s Church, 22 Hamilton Street, Bassendean. Latin Mass according to the 1962 missal will be offered in honour of St Padre Pio. The Latin Mass is also offered every Monday evening - except the third week of the month - at 7.30pm. All welcome.

Third Sunday of the Month

OBLATES OF ST BENEDICT

2pm at St Joseph’s Convent, York Street, South Perth. Oblates affiliated with the Benedictine Abbey New Norcia welcome all who are interested in studying the rule of St Benedict and its relevance to the everyday life of today for lay people. Vespers and afternoon tea conclude meetings. Enq: 9457 5758.

Every Sunday

DIVINE MERCY PRAYER AS NOVENA

3pm St Aloysius Church, 84 Keightley Road, West Shenton Park. An opportunity for all to gather once a week and say the powerful Divine Mercy, Eucharistic Adoration, healing prayers followed by Holy Mass at 4pm. Enq: 9381 5383.

CLASSIFIEDS

Stewardship

Mercy Sister founded lasting legacy

Bishop’s stories of tragedy sparked Mercy sister’s outreach to Sudan.

ERIE, Pennsylvania (CNS) -

Eighteen years ago, Mercy Sister Marilyn Lacey was at a conference in Los Angeles and heard a Catholic bishop tell about life in Sudan, which at the time was in the middle of a civil war.

Bishop Paride Taban of Torit told of 1 million displaced people and how he housed refugee children in his home.

He said there were no schools, hospitals or clinics, and he described bomb craters on his front lawn.

Unfamiliar with the situation in Sudan, Sister Marilyn was stunned.

“I told him that I wanted to know more about what was going on in Sudan,” she recalled in an interview on March 11 during a visit to Mercyhurst College, Mercyhurst Prep and the Mercy motherhouse in Erie to seek help and support for projects in Sudan.

A member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas West Midwest Community, Sister Marilyn said the bishop responded, “Come and see.” In 1992, she went to Sudan and what she saw there changed her forever.

“There were about 10,000 people who were starving. I couldn’t understand how they were able to stand,” she said.

Last year, Sister Marilyn founded Mercy Beyond Borders, www.mercybeyondborders.org, a nonprofit agency that helps educate young girls and supports small entrepreneurial projects that can be run by displaced women in southern Sudan.

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

Jesus tells us today that the person who loves their life will lose it, but the person who is willing to set aside their own life in this world will keep it for eternal life. This teaching is found in the other Gospels as well (Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24), and is obviously an important criteria for those who want to be disciples. What is Jesus telling us here? For the Christian disciple stewardship is not an option. Being a steward simply means that we live a life that is Christ-centered not self-centered, setting aside our own desires and wants and replacing them with Jesus and His will as the governing power in our lives. Being a good steward is putting Christ first when it comes to using and sharing their gifts.

For further information on how stewardship can build your parish community, call Brian Stephens on 9422 7924.

Walking with Him Daily Mass Readings

29 S 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT

Vio Jer 31:31-34 A new covenant Ps 50:3-4.12-15 A pure heart Heb 5:7-9 Source of salvation Jn 12:20-30 The hour has come

30 M Vio Dan 13:1-9.15-17.19-30.33-62 False evidence Ps 22:1-6 I fear no evil Jn 8:1-11 Neither do I condemn [Alt. Any day this week: 2 Kings 4:18-21.32-38;Ps 16:16.15;Jn 11:1-45]

31 T Vio Num 21:4-9 A bronze serpent Ps 101: 2-3.16-21 Answer quickly Jn 8:21-30 Will he kill himself?

1 W Vio Dan 3:14-20.24-25.28 Refuse to worship Dan 3:52-56 Glory and praise Jn 8:31-42 You will learn the truth

2 TH Vio Gen 17:3-9 My covenant with you Ps 104:4-9 Covenant recalled Jn 8:51-59 You do not know God

3 F Vio Jer 20:10-13 Sing to the Lord Ps 17:2-7 God is my shield Jn 10:31-42 ou claim to be God

4 S Vio Ezek 37:21-28 I shall make them one Jer 31:10-13 Guardian shepherd Jn 11:45-56 High priest’s prophecy

MISSION MATTERS

Missionary reflections on this Sunday’s Gospel; John 12: 24

“…if it dies, it yields a rich harvest…”

Living and working amongst the people of impoverished and displaced communities, being in relationship with those less fortunate, immersed in their suffering and brokenness, journeying together, one cannot help but die to self each day. For it’s only in doing so that God’s love is able to flourish and grow into something new, something resilient, something transformative. I have just returned from a week spent walking with the Arrernte people of Alice Springs and their bishop. At a Mass at one of the camps quarantined by the Intervention, I was struck by how Bishop Hurley had died to self and the loving relationship that so palpably exists… a relationship that will indeed yield a rich harvest amidst the squalor, the suffering and the brokenness.

Interested in local or overseas missionary experience, then call Francis at Catholic Mission on 9422 7933

All things being equal, this particular turtle should stay in Africa, says Pope

Turtle given by Pygmies to Pope will stay in Africa.

LUANDA, Angola (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI and Vatican aides decided that the live turtle given to the Pope by a group of Pygmies from Cameroon should stay in Africa.

Although Vatican officials initially spoke about finding a home for the turtle in the Vatican Gardens, in the end they asked staff members of the Vatican Embassy in Luanda to find it a proper home, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman. A group of 15 Pygmies from the Baka

ethnic group came to the Pope's residence at the apostolic nunciature in Yaounde, Cameroon, on March 20 as the pontiff was preparing to leave for Angola.

They built a ceremonial hut out of leaves in the garden of the residence, and the Pope came out to greet them.

The Pygmies, including grandparents, parents and children, sang songs and danced to the beat of drums, then gave the Pope three gifts: a basket, a cloth mat and the turtle, which is a symbol of wisdom in Cameroon. The Baka Pygmies inhabit rain forests in southern Cameroon. A hunting and gathering people, they number fewer than 30,000.

ADVERTISEMENTS

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■ GUADALUPE HILL-TRIGG www.beachhouseperth.com Ph: 0400 292 100.

BUILDING TRADES

■ BRICK RE-POINTING Phone Nigel 9242 2952.

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

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20 years exp. Quality work. Ph 9405 7333 or 0409 296 598.

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

BOOK REPAIRS

■ REPAIR YOUR LITURGICAL BOOKS

General repairs to books, old bibles & missals. 2ndhand Catholic books avail. Tydewi Bindery 9293 3092.

HEALTH

■ FREE Sample pack for Extra energy and Weight loss. Call - 02 98075337 or 0432 274 643.

■ COUNSELLING/PSYCHOTHERAPY www.christianpsychologist.info Tel: 9203 5278.

■ EDUCATION & COUNSELLING Invest in your relationships and happiness for the whole family. RCPD courses beginning in Fro also family counselling and Austudy Appr. ADV. Dip in Christian counselling. 0409 405 585.

SINGLES

■ CHRISTIAN SINGLES Widowed, divorced or never married. All age groups. Meet-for-Drinks, Dinner Seminars and Individual Dates. Phone 9472 8218. Tues-Fri 10am - 6pm. www.figtrees.com.au

FURNITURE REMOVAL

■ ALL AREAS Mike Murphy 0416 226 434.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

■ GROTTO

The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate need volunteers to help build a limestone Grotto for our Blessed Mother. Please contact Fr Joseph Michael Mary at (08) 94372792.

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS

■ CATHOLICS CORNER

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

■ RICH HARVEST – YOUR CHRISTIAN SHOP

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

■ OTTIMO

Shop 108, TRINITY ARCADE (Terrace Level) Hay St, Perth. Ph 9322 4520. Convenient city location for a good selection of Christian products/gifts. We also have handbags, fashion accessories.Opening hours Monday-Friday 9am-6pm.

SETTLEMENTS / FINANCE

■ EFFECTIVE LEGAL Family owned law firm focusing on property settlements and wills. If you are buying, selling or investing in property, protect your family and your investment, contact us on (08) 9218 9177.

■ FOR EVERYTHING FINANCE Ph. Declan 0422 487 563, www.goalfinancialservices.com.au Save yourself time, money and stress. FBL 4712

THANKS

■ TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN

Oh most beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God. Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. Oh Star of the Sea, help me herein. You are my Mother. Oh Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, I beseech you from the bottom of my heart, to suffer me my necessities (make request). There are none who can withstand your power. Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee (three times). Holy Mary I place this prayer in your hands three times). Say this prayer for three consecutive days. - AW

WANTED

■ SEEKING BOOKS

Any number of copies of The Catholic Worship Book or The New Living Parish Hymnal are sought by St Mary’s Parish, West Melbourne. Contact Jeremy 0429 395 484.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi carries a woven cage containing the turtle that was given to Pope Benedict XVI by pygmies from the Baka ethnic group in Cameroon on March 20. PHOTO: CNS/ALESSIA GIULIANI, CATHOLIC PRESS PHOTO

The Saint Benedict Home Protection Kit

For those looking for protection from the forces of darkness and temptation, our Saint Benedict Home Protection Kit may be just what they seek. Homeowners of all denominations are invited to bring Saint Benedict, the Protector of Hearth and Home, into their lives, into their homes. In this exclusive Home Protection kit, you will find everything you need to protect your home, including step-by-step instructions for its use. Individual box contains; one 5" resin statue, a full colour story card, two Saint Benedict Medals (3/4" Dia Pewter/Enamel Medals) and a full-colour tear-off Saint Benedict holy card with the Prayer to Saint Benedict, Protector of Hearth and Home on the back.

Individual Box: 3" W x 2" H x 5 3/8" D; RRP $23.95

Saint Peregrine Cancer Kit Display

Saint Peregine, Patron of Cancer Patients, trusted greatly in the power of prayer. Afflicted with cancer of the foot, he turned to God for healing. Overnight, Saint Peregine was richly rewarded for his Faith and became completely cured of his cancer. Our Saint Peregrine Cancer Kit allows you, through the intercession of Saint Peregrine, to receive God's complete healing of spirit, body and soul.

Saint Peregrine Kit contains: one 5" resin statue, a full-color story card, a Saint Peregrine devotional medal (3⁄4" H) a Saint Peregrine pocket token (1 1⁄4" Dia Pewter Finish) and a full-colour tear-off Saint Peregrine holy card with the Prayer to Saint Peregrine.

Individual Box: 3" W x 5 3⁄8" H x 2" D 1" H RRP $23.95

Saint Jude Prayer Kit Display

Saint Gerard Motherhood Kit Display

Saint Gerard, Patron of Expectant Mothers, trusted greatly in the power of prayer. On one occasion, an expectant mother, fearing the loss of her baby, asked Gerard to pray for her. He graciously obliged and the mother delivered a healthy baby. Through many miraculous encounters, God worked wonders through Saint Gerard. Our Saint Gerard Motherhood Kit, through the intercession of Saint Gerard, to receive God's complete protection during their pregnancy and delivery.

The Saint Gerard Motherhood Kit includes: one 5" resin statue, a full-colour story card, a Saint Gerard devotional medal (3⁄4" H), a Saint Gerard pocket token (1 1⁄4" Dia) and a full-colour tear-off Saint Gerard holy card with the Prayer to Saint Gerard, Patron Saint of Expectant Mothers and Unborn Children, on the back.

Individual Box: 3" W x 53⁄8" H x 2" D

RRP $23.95

Saint Jude, Patron of Desperate Situations and Impossible Causes, trusted greatly in the power of the Cross of Christ Jesus. Through the intercession of Saint Jude, may you know God's peace, support, and comfort during troubled times, and His friendship always.

The Saint Jude Prayer Kit display includes: one 5" resin statue, a full-colour story card, a Saint Jude devotional medal (3⁄4" H) a Saint Jude pocket token (1 1⁄4" Dia) and a full-colour tear-off Saint Jude holy card with the Novena to Saint Jude, Patron Saint of Desperate Situations and Impossible Causes, on the back.

Individual Box: 3" W x 5 3⁄8" H x 2" D

RRP $23.95