The Record Newspaper 25 June 2008

The Neeshams (meet

all 120 of them) all 120 of them)

M AT T H E W B I D D L E MATTHEW BIDDLE talks to a couple who began talks to a couple who one of Per th’s remarkable families - Vista 2-3 one Perth’s - Vista

Chiara’s Way

Just what is the Focolare?

DEBBIE WARRIER reports - Vista 1

THE R ECORD

the Parish. the Nation. the World.

“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 Gibney 1874

Neocatechumenals are fully on their Way

Signing sees Church approve new approach to adult catechesis begun in the slums of Madrid in 1964 by a young guitar-strumming layman and laywoman; Way also regarded as key contributor to New Evangelisation

The Way to be permanently headed not by clerics - but laity

■ By John Thavis (CNS) with Jesus Colina (Zenit)

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has given final approval to a set of statutes for the Neocatechumenal Way, confirming the movement’s unique approach to adult evangelisation.

The statutes, consigned to leaders of the movement on June 13 after several years of review, also introduced a new way of distributing the Eucharist during their liturgies.

Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez, the Spanish founders, welcomed the approval and said it would launch the movement on a new wave of evangelisation.

At a press conference June 13, the 69-year-old Arguello told how he initiated the movement in 1964 among Gypsies, the homeless and others living on the margins of society. He described the Neocatechumenal Way’s mission as a “battle” to reach young adults and said in the early years it encountered frequent resistance by church leaders.

“This battle we’ve fought has now been confirmed by the Holy See. This is very important, that this Pope has approved this. It’s amazing, it’s fantastic,” he said.

“This means that we, after these statutes, can begin the new evangelisation. We have thousands of

Continued on - Page 2

The age of the Neocats - Page 9

Interview: Kiko Arguello - Page 10

a press

historic

the life of

Santa Maria girls win the argument in global style

SANTA Maria College students beat their international peers in a debate conducted over the Internet on Thursday June 12.

The school competed in the English secondary school division against Delia Memorial School in Hong Kong, and won the debate on the topic: Governments should

Students defeat their international peers and competitors in debating competition

be able to block web portals. The students were competing in the seventh annual Hong Kong and Inter-City Schools Real Time Debate competition. The competi-

tion occurs through internet linkup and involves schools from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan and Perth. Debates are competed in the spoken languages of

English, Cantonese and Standard Mandarin.

Ms Sian Morgan, English Teacher and Team Coach, believes the debate was a great opportunity for the students to become involved in such a unique competition, especially as Santa Maria College was

Continued - Page 2

INDEX NO PLACE TO CALL HOME

The Parish - Pages 4-5

The Nation - Pages 6-7

Letters - Page 8

Perspectives - Vista 4 - Pg 9

The World - Pages 10-11

Panorama - Page 14

Classifieds - Page 15

The Society of St Vincent De Paul’s Winter Appeal is running. It focuses on the biting reality of being homeless. Page 16

Historic scenes: Carmen Hernandez and Kiko Arguello, top left, meet Pope Benedict XVI with Fr Mario Pezzi on June 13 before the signing. Kiko, below, plays the guitar during a 2006 audience with Pope Benedict XVI. Carmen and Kiko, above, speak in front of an audience gathered to mark the signing. Kiko, top right, speaks to media afterwards, and at

conference marking the

moment in

the Neocatechumenal Way. Cardinal Stabnislaw Rylko, right, greets Kiko Arguello at the official signing of the Way’s statutes. PHOTOS: BOTTOM LEFT: CNS, OTHERS: FR MICHAEL MOORE

Saint for the week

Pantaleon

died c. 304 feast – July 27

St Norbert’s welcomes new principal

The cult of this martyr spread in Asia Minor, where Emperor Justinian rebuilt his church in the sixth century, but no actual facts have survived. According to legend, he was a court physician to Emperor Galerius, but rejected a life of self-indulgence because of a Christian friend. After being arrested during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian, he was repeatedly tortured, then beheaded. Many marvels were attributed to his intercession and he became a popular patron of physicians. Reputed relics of his blood kept in Ravello, Italy, are said to liquefy on his feast day.

Saints for Today Saints

Stewardship

© 2005

© 2008

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Both the first reading and the Gospel today speak of hospitality and welcome. Our ministers of hospitality are a most visible example of using one’s time and talents to welcome the people of God. But the Gospel assures us that all who give even just “a cup of cold water” to one of His lowliest ones will be rewarded.

see Matthew 10:42

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 SS PETER AND PAUL, Apostles, Solemnity Red Vigil Mass

Acts 3: 1-10 Crippled from birth

Ps 18:1-7.20-21 Lord, help us

Gal 1:11-20 God chose me

Jn 21:15-19 Follow me

Mass during the day

Acts 12:1-11 Peter in prison

Ps 33: 2-9 Glorify the Lord

2Tim 4”6-8.17-18 I was rescued

Mt 16: 13-19 You are Peter

30 M first Martyrs of the Church of Rome

Gr Am 2:6-10.13-16 I brought you out

Ps 49:16-23 You despise my law

Mt 8:18-22 I will follow you

1 T

Gr Am 3:1-8.4:11-12 Meet your God

Ps 5:5-8 No sinner a guest

Mt 8:23-27 Save us, Lord!

2 W

Gr Am 5:14-15,21-24 Seek good

Ps 49:7-13.16-17 Listen

Mt 8:28-34 Freed from demons

3 T St Thomas, Apostle, Feast Red Eph 2:19-22 God’s household

Ps 116:1-2 Strong is God’s love

Jn 20:24-29 Doubt no longer

4 F St Elizabeth of Portugal (O)

Gr Am 8:4-6.9-12 Famine of the word

Ps 118:2.10.20.30.40.131 The way of truth

Mt 9:9-13 Mercy, not sacrifice

5 S St Anthony Zaccaria, priest (O)

Gr Am 9:11-15 Past glory restored

Ps 84:9.11-14 A voice of peace

Mt 9:14-17 Why no fasting?

The annual liturgical celebration of St Norbert Day on June 6 took on added meaning for St Norbert College when the entire staff and student community joined with the Norbertine Canons of Queens Park to welcome Mrs Desirée Grzenda-Day as their new principal at her inauguration ceremony.

The Mass celebrated by Fr Peter Joseph O Praem was concelebrated by the Most Reverend Hermenigild Noyens O Praem and Fr John Reynolds O Praem. The congregation was led in song by the St Norbert College Choir.

The prayerful inauguration at the conclusion of the Mass was presided over by Fr Peter Joseph O Praem and included participants from every aspect of St Norbert College life. The incoming principal, after accepting a hand-painted candle from Fr Peter Joseph,

received light for that candle from coloured candles representing the five Houses that make up the community of St Norbert College. Each of these House names is symbolic of

times and places in the life of St Norbert and his followers.

Mrs Grzenda-Day began her teaching career at St Norbert’s as a young graduate in 1980. Her 19-year career at St Norbert College saw her promoted from her role as a teacher of History and English to a highly respected and effective Head of House, Head of Department, vice principal and Acting Principal.

She displayed an unwavering loyalty to and affection for the students and staff of St Norbert College. She resigned in 1998 to be Catholic Education Office co-ordinator of Secondary Curriculum and Teaching then was co-ordinator of Executive Secretariat and Co-ordinator of Research and Innovation.

Her staff, students, community, family and friends wish Mrs Grzenda-Day a fruitful and happy tenure as the new Principal of St Norbert College.

Neocatechumenal statutes approved

Continued from Page 1 families in mission, thousands of young people, 70 seminaries and many opportunities. The moment to evangelise has arrived,” he said. The statutes, approved by the Pontifical Council for the Laity, are similar to experimental rules adopted in 2002. They described the Neocatechumenal Way as “an instrument at the service of the bishop for the rediscovery of Christian initiation on the part

of baptised adults.” The movement, the statutes said, is especially aimed at those who have drifted away from the church, those insufficiently catechised, those who want to deepen their faith and those who come from other Christian communities.

The statutes made clear that the Neocatechumenal Way has no material goods, but administers “spiritual goods” under a bishop’s jurisdiction.

It is the bishop who authorises the movement’s activity in

his diocese and who monitors its program to ensure harmony with local parishes, they said.

The statutes say the Way’s programs should be coordinated with local parish activities, and the movement should promote among its adherents “a mature sense of belonging to the parish.”

More specifically, the statutes said the movement’s weekly Mass - celebrated in small communities on Saturday evening - now forms part of the parish

Santa Maria wins debate

liturgy and must be open to other members of the parish.

Several liturgical exceptions enjoyed by the movement remain in place.

On the issue of Communion, Arguello said they reached a compromise with Pope Benedict XVI.

In the past, members of the Neocatechumenal Way have baked their own loaves of unleavened bread and have received the precious Body and Blood of Christ while seated around a table.

According to Arguello, the only significant change that the definitive statues introduced in regard to the liturgy affects the way of receiving Communion.

In keeping with the communities’ usual practice, Communion will continue to be received under both species and will be distributed by ministers in the assembly, instead of the procession of the faithful typical in the Roman rite.

This practice is kept in the definitive statutes, but for the reception of the Host, the faithful will stand before the minister. This is not the case in receiving the Chalice, which will continue to be received seated, to avoid spilling the precious Blood.

The kiss of peace will retain its place following the Prayer of the Faithful and before the beginning of the Eucharistic liturgy, though procuring that this moment not break the order and recollection of the assembly.

Arguello said the Vatican was expected to publish soon its 2003 approval of the theological content of the movement’s catechetical texts.

Travel Dream

Continued from Page 1 the first Australian team to enter. “Competing against an international school encouraged the girls to view the debate with an entirely new perspective,” said Sian. “They had to take into consideration that they were debating

Peter

Anthony

against students from a different cultural background to themselves.”

“This involved researching a new assortment of attitudes and beliefs in preparation for the debate. The girls did a fantastic job!” A video camera, projected split-screen, speak-

ers and microphone allowed for interaction between the debaters, adjudicators and audience.

The College is looking forward to involving more teams in the Hong Kong and Inter-City Schools Real Time Debate next year.

The statutes also provide for the election of a new leadership team of the Neocatechumenal Way after the deaths of Arguello and Hernandez.

The election will be carried out by a college of up to 120 electors, and the results must be confirmed by the Vatican’s laity council.

Winners: Santa Maria Year 10 students Kathleen Matthys, left, Chiara Sumich, Nadia Tedja and Stacey Giunta celebrate winning the debate against international competitors. With them is coach and English teacher Miss Sian Morgan.

PHOTO: COURTESTY SANTA MARIA COLLEGE

Welcome: New St Norbert’s College Principal Desiree Grzenda-Day carries a lighted candle during a special Mass to welcome her to her new role leading the Queens Park Secondary college. PHOTO: ST NORBERT’S

All the answers are right here: Hickey

■ By Anthony Barich

AS a prelate in a time when secularism is arguably taking hold of the western world like never before, Archbishop Barry Hickey rightly ponders how to get the Catechism of the Catholic Church into every home.

Question Time: 150 questions and answers on the Catholic Faith, by Opus Dei priest Fr John Flader, may just be the answer.

Fr Flader, a regular columnist with The Record who has spent almost 40 years in university chaplaincy, is adept and experienced at tackling the questions of young enquiring minds in easy-to-understand language.

Now Catholic Adult Education Centre director for the Archdiocese of Sydney, Fr Flader has compiled Question Time out of all the answers to the questions he has been asked in his column published in The Record and Sydney’s The Catholic Weekly.

These relate not only to the history of the Church but tackle new questions about changes since Vatican II and timeless questions concerning voting, the sacraments, homosexuality, divorce and evolution, among others. He’s already

in the process of writing a second edition, which promises to broaden even further into issues that have dogged our federal and State parliaments in recent years.

The only detraction, as stated by one individual at the book’s launch at The Record on June 20, is that is has no index. Fr Flader said this was due to publishing deadlines.

None-the-less, Archbishop Hickey was happy to launch the book as it will prove a “good starting point” in getting the Catechism into every home as Question Time draws heavily on it. “(Question Time) is smaller and less expensive (than the Catechism) and I have no doubt that anyone who delves into it will develop a thirst for more of the beauty of our Faith,” the Archbishop said.

“Its readers will feel liberated by the knowledge they have gained, and in that liberation they will want to know more.”

The Catechism, the Archbishop says, is an “absolute treasure” that he suspects is not widely known even among Catholics.

On that basis, he says that Question Time ought to have a place in every Catholic home, “including and perhaps especially, in the homes of Catholics who have wandered from the Church”.

Fr Flader references Scripture, the early Fathers of the Church, Popes through the ages and the Councils of the Church to answer a broad sweep of questions that “enlightens the reader about the Church herself. I don’t think it would be possible to read the book without becoming aware of the depth and wisdom – the very Truth – of the Church, which emerges from the pages as an ever-reliable source of the revelation of God,” the archbishop said.

For his own part, Fr Flader said he aims to give “unequivocably Catholic” answers while also carefully considering his “brother priests” who may practice the faith differently than what the Church actually affirms.

He compiled the book due to many positive responses to his columns and requests for such a book.

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, who wrote Question Time’s foreword, believes that life’s daily dilemmas will bring readers back to the book again and again.

“In its succinct and elegant explanations of Catholic teaching and belief, Catholics will find information, encouragement, reassurance and clarity,” Cardinal Pell said.

Available from The Record Bookshop for $29.95. Call 9227 7080 or email bookshop@therecord.com.au

Chisholm students aid Servites

STUDENTS of Chisholm Catholic College in Bedford are “truly living the faith” by assisting the Servite Sisters in the childcare service the Indian Sisters run at Kora Centre in Bayswater.

Chisholm Care, a ‘Christian Service – Learning program’ run by the college, has seen about 150 students help the Sisters over the past three years by interacting with the children, assisting the childcare workers and helping with cleaning and meals.

“It is truly wonderful to see the rapport which the students have with these children, many of whom come from refugee backgrounds or underprivileged circumstances,” said Sister Chitra, one of the Servites who run the Kora centre in Bedford.

“The children enjoy having these ‘buddies’ or mentors, and the program undoubtedly helps in the social and emotional development of the youngsters. The Chisholm students themselves see this as a great opportunity to reach out to the less fortunate in society and to develop a spirit of leadership,

initiative and caring. It is truly a great way to mould our youth and prepare them for the challenges in society.”

Chisholm has also supported the Kora Centre financially through its fund-raising programs and donations over the last two years.

The Sisters applaud and are “very grateful” to the Chisholm College staff and students for enabling Kora

to partner with Chisholm in such a wonderful program and for their tremendous on-going help and support.

To help the Sisters out financially, practically or materially, call them on 9271 9031, 9354 5083 or email koracentre@bigpond.com.

The Record Bookshop

Resources for Catholic families - all ages

Monday 9am-2.30pm

Tuesdays - CLOSED Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9am-2.30pm

Tel: (08) 9227 7080 Email: bookshop@therecord.com.au

FINANCE & OFFICE MANAGER

DIOCESE of BROOME

This role is a key position within the Diocese and has wide responsibilities including :

• Manage the finances of the Diocesan Office and oversee the finances of the parishes.

• Prepare budgets, BAS, FBT and financial reports.

• Oversee the management and maintenance of property of the Diocese.

• Manage payroll and staff salaries/wages records.

• Manage the Diocesan Office staff and volunteers

Applications must be completed through the listed website where the selection criteria and duty statement are featured: www.jolin.com. au/consulting/proapps.html

Applications close 4.00 pm Monday 14 July 2008

Caring: Students Mounica Achuthan and Aleksandra Saker with KORA Kids.

Answers: Archbishop Barry Hickey speaks during the launch of Question Time: 150 answers to Questions about the Catholic Faith by author Fr John Flader, seated, at The Record bookshop on Friday evening, June 20. PHOTO: ANTHONY BARICH

Another New Norcia monk goes to God

Fr John Wodon

Monk of New Norcia

■ By

Fr David Barry OSB

JEANMARIE Wodon was born in Marneffe, Belgium, on October 12, 1923, son of Jean-Narcisse-Georges Wodon, a Belgian army doctor, and his wife, MarieMadeleine, née Licops. Jean-Marie had two brothers and two sisters, all of whom predeceased him.

His primary and secondary schooling was at St Pieter’s College in Leuven, followed by a supplementary year of boarding at St Michael’s College in Brussels.

He was admitted as a novice in the Abbey of Mont-César in Louvain/Leuven (now Keizersberg, Leuven) a bit more than a year after World War II broke out, on November 20, 1940, at the age of seventeen, receiving as his monastic name Jean-Baptiste.

Simple profession followed on November 21, 1941 under Abbot Bernard Capelle.

Three momentous years later, with the Allied forces now in the ascendancy, he made his solemn profession on November 21, 1944, and was ordained to the presbyterate on 25 July 1946 by Bishop Suenens, then Auxiliary Bishop of Mechelen.

The German occupation of Belgium imposed a good deal of strain on the monastic community, whose monks were involved amongst other things in hiding Jews from the Gestapo.

Ironically it was an Allied bomb striking the monastery in late 1944 that caused a piece of shrapnel to lodge in Dom JeanBaptiste’s neck in such a way as to be inoperable; this caused him chronic pain for the rest of his life.

After ordination Fr Jean-Baptiste studied agriculture at the Institut d’Agronomie in the Université Catholique de Louvain from 1947 to 1950, at the same time managing the monastery’s farm, a task he performed until 1961.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s he was chaplain to an Aged Persons Home, but had to leave that on account of a road accident.

He came to Australia in 1984, and applied to Perth Auxiliary Bishop Robert Healy for some priestly work.

Bishop Healy referred him to New Norcia, and he came to the monastery in February 1985.

At the end of 1987, after the required period of probation and with the consent of the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes, he transferred his stability to Holy Trinity Abbey, New Norcia, adopting the English form of his name, John.

Never a well man, he put his agricultural

knowledge to use in the olive grove and orchard for some time, and had a stint as community infirmarian and also as sacristan.

Given the series of accidents he had, Fr John could be said to be accident-prone.

In November 1988 while driving to Perth he lost control of the car he was driving; it landed on its roof a hundred metres inside a paddock, and he escaped with two broken ribs, fourteen stitches in the hand and eight to the head.

He fell from a ladder in May the next year, and was found after a couple of days of extreme pain to have sustained a broken pelvis.

In January 1990 he fell from an almond tree and broke his right hip, but was able to visit family in Belgium in the middle of that year.

In August 1991 Fr John moved into geriatric care in Moline House, Karrinyup, where he remained for the next three years.

Even there ill luck dogged him. On December 31, 1991 he sustained severe burns from a radiator accident, treatment for which meant some weeks in the burns unit at Royal Perth Hospital and required two skin-graft operations.

After a period in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in October 1994, Fr John resided for a while in St Jude’s Hostel, Guildford. He spent some time in Cambridge Hospital, Lemnos Hospital in Shenton Park, and St Anne’s (now Mercy) Hospital, Mount Lawley.

In 1998 he took up residence in a St Vincent de Paul hostel in Guildford, and a few months later had an accident while picking fruit, this time breaking his knee, and had to spend some weeks in St John of God Hospital, Subiaco.

At the end of July 2005, Fr John moved to St Vincent’s Hostel, Guildford.

It was from there that he went recently via Swan District Hospital and Kalamunda Hospital to Hollywood Aged Care Village, where he died peacefully in the Nursing Home at about 2pm on June 11, with his Rosary in his hands.

May he rest in peace.

In my own home at last, after 50 years

JENNY Scallan, because of the nature of her husband’s occupation, has relocated her home 20 times in 50 years, lived in three different countries and only moved into her first own permanent home in Bunbury five years ago.

Jenny when asked “Where next?” replied, “The next move I make will out of here in a box.”

Jenny Scallan explained that she had married a mining engineer who was a professional mine manager and had only worked for two mining companies in his fifty year career but was transferred from project to project on an average of a move every two and a half years.

“We have also lived in nine dioceses during that time and eleven different parishes,” Richard told The Record. “Our four sons and our selves have had a fantastic life experience of meeting different people and living in different communities and life styles.”

The couple celebrated the Golden Jubilee of their Sacrament of Matrimony on June 7 at a concelebrated Mass at the Gelorup Carmelite Monastery Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes sung by the Carmelite Sisters.

Fr Tony Chiera VG (Bunbury) was principal celebrant and homilist. The concelebrating priests were Frs Jess Navarra P Admin; Dom Michael Leek OSB, PP; Tony Vallis PP, KHS; Peter Downes; Adolfo (JB) Bonghanoy; Deacons of the Word and Mass were Trevor Lyra and Patrick Moore.

Over 60 people attended the Jubilee Mass made up of family, close friends and parishioners representative of all those they have associated with over the 27 years the couple have lived in Australia.

After Mass the Carmelite Sisters presented the couple with a special cake they had made for them to share with the family.

Family and friends then relocated to the Truffles Restaurant in Boyanup for a celebratory lunch.

Jenny Bock married Dick Scallan on June 7, 1958 in the Church of Our Lady of Mercy, Springs, Republic of South Africa by Rev Father Marius Reville OP.

Jenny was the only daughter of George and Beryl Bock of Springs. George was a local identity and a Springbok Cricketer and Springbok Rugby Trialist. Jenny was the “Victrix Laudorem” of her College in her final year and loves sport of all kinds and especially enjoys golf. However, Jenny from day one of their marriage has been a professional wife, then a mother and more recently grandmother.

Jenny and Dick migrated to Australia in 1981.

They lived in Leeman, south of Geraldton, Zeehan, and Kalgoorlie while Dick worked at the Eneabba Mine, Renison Tin, Paddington and Kundana Mines.

The couple’s four sons are married and all live close by them in the Greater South West. They have nine grand children and are expecting the tenth, in September, God willing.

Jenny serves as Extra Ordinary Minister of the Eucharist, Reader and as a Catechist for Bunbury Catholic Community and Dick is a Permanent Deacon on the Community’s Pastoral Team.

Both of them are members of the Secular Franciscan Order.

Jenny’s brother is a Permanent Deacon in the Springs Parish of Our Lady of Mercy in South Africa.

The couple were presented with their requested Apostolic Blessing from the Holy Father by Fr JB at their regular 7.30 am Sunday Mass on 8 June.

When asked the secret of a successful marriage. “To have God as the priority in your life and be gifted with the right wife from the Lord,” Richard said.

“I have been very blessed by God with a wife, who, in my opinion is the reality of the prophet Sirach’s words: ‘The grace of a wife will charm her husband; her accomplishments will make him stronger. No price can be put on a well-trained character. A modest wife is a boon twice over; a chaste character cannot be weighed on scales. Like the sun rising over the mountain of the Lord is the beauty of a good wife in a well-kept home’.”

JESUS OUR EUCHARISTIC LOVE: FRANCISCAN FRIARS OF THE IMMACULATE

By Fr Stefano M Manelli

The faith of the Church, Pope Pius XII tells us, is this: that one and identical is the Word of God and the Son of Mary who suffered on the Cross, who is present in the Eucharist, and who rules Heaven. This beautiful little book looks at the Eucharist as exemplified in the lives of the saints, those who have followed their Creator with all their heart and all their will. In its pages you can find inspiration to begin to discover the real meaning of your life.

$6.95+postage

Available from The Record Bookshop 9227 7080 or email bookshop@therecord.com.au

Czestochowa (2) Auschwitz Wadowice Krakow (3) Shrine of Divine Mercy Budapest (2) Vienna (2) Prague (2)

Fr John Wodon

Happy at the first: Richard and Jenny Scallan on their wedding day.

Still going strong: Richard, not long a deacon of Bunbury diocese, and Jenny Scallan today.

the Parish

Perth duo to go one-on-one with Pope

■ By Anthony Barich

POPE Benedict XVI will personally confirm 24 young people in front of an expected 500,000 people at the World Youth Day Final Mass July 20 at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

For the two young people from Perth who on the list of 24 to be confirmed, both concede they are struggling to come to terms with the magnitude of this, and can scarcely believe their luck.

Shannon Kyrwood, 25 and David Proudlock, 23, will partake in the 10km pilgrimage walk from North Sydney to Randwick Racecourse via the Sydney Harbour Bridge the day before the Vigil and all-night sleep out. By 8am on the Sunday morning they must be at the front sanctuary preparing for the big event.

They will join 22 other candidates – 12 others from Australia and 10 from overseas who are yet to be confirmed – to be anointed with holy oil after the Pope invokes the gifts of the Holy Spirit then later will distribute Holy Communion for them.

In the cases of both West Australians, they encountered Christ and the Church through friendship. Both also went through the RCIA (Right of Christian Initiation of Adults) – David at All

Saints in Greenwood and Shannon at St Thomas More in Bateman.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Shannon, a Commonwealth Bank employee who was introduced to her local church by the family of her fiancé Adrian whom she met while working at McDonalds.

They will marry in November.

“I always felt a part of the Church because my local Bateman parish is so welcoming, but this will make it official,” Shannon told The Record last weeek.

She says the fact that she is marrying a Catholic helped her realise she made the right decision last year to become a Catholic having been brought up in the Salvation Army, when her family used to attend church services.

Her fiance’s sister Heather will be her Confirmation sponsor, and was her Godparent when Mgr Michael Keating baptised her at Easter this year.

David first started attending Foundation (now Youth Impact) events with friends at Prendiville College, and was later invited by friend Heather Black to a Disciples of Jesus social outing – a karaoke jam – where he made many more friends.

Heather later invited him to a Disciples of Jesus praise and worship Gathering, where he felt his faith come alive like never before.

He also enjoyed the friendship of people not afraid of talking about their faith.

“Being Catholic is always a challenge, but I enjoy it. I believe God has brought me to this,” he said.

“If I can’t find the means to overcome a situation, I turn to God and He always comes up with the answer. Catholic faith is a day-today thing, not just once a week.”

Now he has a daily prayer life, volunteers with the Disciples of

Jesus’ 24:7 youth group while working as an IT expert for a home building company.

Though baptised in the Anglican Church, he felt truly welcomed into the Catholic Church once he had his first Confession with Glendalough parish prist and Disciples of Jesus chaplain Fr Doug Harris, and hasn’t looked back.

Heather will be his sponsor when the Pope confirms him. World Youth Day 2008 organiser, Sydney

Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher OP, said it will be an unforgettable life-changing experience for all 24 youth involved.

“It’s not every day that one is confirmed by the global leader of the Catholic Church before hundreds of thousands of people,” Bishop Fisher said.

“The sacrament is life-changing and to receive the sacrament in this way will prove an unforgettable experience, one that they will each carry with them for the rest of their lives.

“The candidates have been selected as representatives of their regions by bishops across Australia and we are absolutely delighted to be able to present them to the Pope for this momentous occasion.”

The Australian candidates are aged from 16–43 and are from every state and territory, while the 10 international confirmation candidates are in the final process of selection.

The Australians are Patrick Barrett, Belinda Frame (NSW) Bernadette Kosandiak and John Low (South Australia), Alexandra Karagiannakis and Emily Jade Marsden (Tasmania), Matthew Reuter and Judi Robinson (Victoria), Bernardo Caballero and Joanne Richards (Queensland), Riordan Wang (ACT) and Tasman Gould Heyes (NT).

Where two or more are gathered in My name...20 years later

IT all started with a humble apology.

On May 22, about 50 past and present members of Our Lady of Sorrows prayer group gathered at St Benedict’s Church in Applecross to celebrate a wonderful journey that began 20 years ago with this apology for disturbing a prayer session.

Recounting the history of the group, long-term member, Colleen Vallini, reminded those who came to share the occasion, of the moment in 1988 when Dafne Jones apologised to Jean Gardner and Mary Galavan for disturbing their prayer after a Mass at the original Applecross Church.

The ensuing conversation revealed a mutual interest in the charismatic movement and the Our Lady Of Sorrows prayer group was born.

The group began with a 10 week Life in the Spirit course and this sparked a desire in the participants to continue to gather in prayer.

A theme, “Blooming where you are planted”, which was spoken about during the 20th anniversary celebrations, was appropriate, given that the group has moved numerous times, from private houses to the parish hall, a chapel in Attadale and now to the beautiful environs of the newly-consecrated St Benedict’s Church on Alness Street.

Over this time the group has varied in both size and devotional style. Beginning as purely charismatic in which numbers were at their peak, the group has gradually adopted a more faith-sharing, reflective and contemplative spirituality with a smaller number of participants.

Currently the format opens with music and song, followed by prayers of praise and thanksgiving, a reading and teaching, sharing, intercessory prayer and fellowship.

The group provides practical and prayerful supports for one another and contributes in many ways to a variety of projects, both locally

Together in prayer: The original and earlier founders of Lady of Sorrows Prayer Group.

and abroad. They also invite priests and facilitators to minister to them with Days of Reflection, as well as annual retreats and with relevant faith building courses.

The 20th Anniversary celebrations began with Mass, celebrated by St God of John Chaplain, Fr Hugh Galloway, who spoke of the impor-

PHOTO: SUPPLIED

tance of being constantly mindful of God’s presence and encouraged the prayer group to continue in their endeavour to share their faith lives with one another. This was followed by a slide show, which reflected the journey of love and friendship that has been central to the group’s history. The joy that

What’s The Weight of a Mass?

The Weight of A Mass: A Tale of Faith

By Josephine Nobisso

Josephine Nobisso’s touching story is of a poor devout widow who begs for a scrap of bread from a rich faithless baker. In return she promises to participate in the king’s wedding Mass as payment for the baker’s generosity. The baker writes “One Mass” on a scrap of paper and places it on his scale to determine how much bread it is worth. To his and the entire town’s surprise, nothing in the shop, not even the gigantic

this inspired continued throughout the lunch and fellowship that followed, signifying that all who had been touched by the prayer group, whether past or present, understood that they would always remain a part of this spiritual family.

The Lady of Sorrows prayer group, which gather together in prayer every Thursday between 13pm, is made up of people representing many parishes and ethnic backgrounds.

There is a strong Trinidad connection within the group, beginning with founding member Jean Gardner, then inaugural leader, Nina Collier, and through to current leader, Barbara Frost. Part of their Vision states: “We are called to be lights in the darkness in the little church of our family and the greater body of the Church.”

The group welcomes anyone who would like to join them. For further information contact Judy Phillips on 9364 9249.

Catholic Press Association Award

“One of The Best Children’s Books of the Year”

wedding cakes made for the king, outweighs the simple piece of paper representing the true worth of a Mass.

The book’s luminous watercolor paintings and passionate story will help children understand the true worth of the Catholic faith.

Hardback price $34.95+postage

Available from The Record Bookshop call Caroline (08) 9227 7080 bookshop@therecord.com.au

Gobsmacked: Shannon Kyrwood has yet to come to grips with the fact she will be confirmed by the Pope.

Awestruck: David Proudlock enjoys the challenge of being a Catholic. PHOTOS: ANTHONY BARICH

the Nation

World Cup star derives strength from higher power

Meet lightning on the soccer field - Mark Bresciano

- another World Youth Day 2008 Ambassador

■ By

Anthony Barich

SOCCEROO World Cup hero Mark Bresciano has joined the rising list of elite sports stars to come out of the closet and admit their faith has been the key to their success.

Bresciano, currently playing for Palermo in the prestigious Italian Serie A league, represented Australia at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and in the 2007 FIFA World Cup, when Australia suffered a heartbreaking loss to eventual winners Italy due to a controversial penalty.

Now Bresciano, who originally signed with Italian club Empoli before moving to Parma then Palermo as a midfielder, is one of 10 World Youth Day Ambassadors, says his faith played a “pivotal role” in his life thus far.

“It gives me strength and guidance,” Bresciano says of his faith, adding that it is an “honour” to be an ambassador for WYD08.

On the field, Bresciano is a versatile character with a renowned eye for goal. While he usually plays on the left side of midfield, he’s also known as a set-piece specialist and has been useful forward and in defence and central and right midfield.

Off the field, Bresciano has found versatility through the faith. Baptised early into a Catholic family, he attended Catholic schools and says he still regularly “communicates with God” by praying daily, and attends Mass.

Bresciano is one of Australia’s most talented footballers and has a renowned eye for goal.

He usually plays his football on the left side of midfield but can also

Bishops target lapsed

In

an

advertising campaign with a difference, Australia’s bishops are trying to get in touch with those who have drifted away

■ By Anthony Barich

THE Australian bishops have undertaken a $20,000 nation-wide secular newspaper advertising blitz with an open invitation for lapsed Catholics to return and ask for forgiveness for any hurt caused by the church to individuals in the past.

In a two-pronged attack, the bishops have also released a Pastoral Letter asking parishioners in the pews to reach out to people they know who have become estranged from the Church.

The advertisements ran over June 14-15 in every News Limited Sunday paper including the Sunday Times in Perth exactly a month out from World Youth Day July 15-20.

In the advertisements, the Australian bishops say they want to welcome back people who have drifted away from the life of the Church “for whatever reason, or people who have never really been a part of it”.

Catholic?

Been away?

The Catholic Bishops of Australia want to welcome back people who have drifted away from the life of the Church for whatever reason or who have never really been part of it.

The Church is God’s family and, like any family, has its differences. Sometimes people are hurt by other family members. We ask your forgiveness if you have been hurt in some way through the Church. Sometimes people can leave home just through the pressures of the world. We want you to know that, if you have been away, you are still called by God to the fullness of life, and to live that life in the community of the Church, where Christ with his life-giving Word and his Sacraments of salvation are available.

Why not join us again? We need each other. We need your help in carrying on the mission of Jesus. Only with you, can we be all that Jesus calls us to be as his Church. You have a God-given gift which you alone can bring to the Church. We need that gift.

Why not join us again? We all need God. The Church is not a palace for saints but a hospital for sinners. We all crave the healing Jesus offers. We can find it in the Church. Alone we can never solve our own problems or find our way. We need help. We need one another. We need God.

So wherever you are on your journey…come and celebrate with us. How to connect? Simply come to Mass, talk to a priest

contact 1300 4 FAITH – 1300 432 484 or visit www.evangeliseaustralia.com

Archbishop Philip Wilson on behalf of all the bishops of Australia

play as a forward and in the central or right midfield role. Bresciano is a versatile player who often assists in both attack and defence and is also a set-piece specialist.

“I really feel the need to give back to the Church for what it has given me,” Bresciano said. “I gain much inspiration from the Church and believe there is definitely a greater power which is where I derive a lot of comfort from.”

Bresciano first heard about World Youth Day in 2005 when it was announced that Sydney was the next host city.

“I am looking forward to the event and have some friends that will be attending,” he says.

“I believe World Youth Day will inspire young people to think about their faith and commitment to God and practise it on a more regular basis.

“What I hope is that World Youth Day will inspire young people to strengthen their faith, understand the need for peace and realise that we all need to get along in this world.

“I hope that people develop a better understanding of each other’s differences and accept people for who they are.”

For Bresciano, faith is more than something we ‘do’ once a week at Mass. He believes it pervades every aspect of life.

“I hope that young people see that faith plays a huge role in every way, even in today’s secular society,” he said.

“So you can see why I’m really looking forward to this event, so I can form new friendships and share people’s experiences through God.”

He believes it is important that today’s young people realise the need for reflection in life.

“Whether it be once a day, once a week, or once a month, we need the time to focus on what things are really important in life,” he said.

“And no matter what kind of situation you find yourself in, God is always with you.”

“The Church is God’s family and, like any family, has its differences,” the bishops say in the advertisements. “Sometimes people are hurt by other family members. We ask your forgiveness if you have been hurt in some way through the Church.”

The bishops also acknowledge that some Catholics in Australia have drifted away because of the pressures of life.

“Why not join us again? We need each other,” the bishops said. “We need your help in carrying on the mission of Jesus. Only with you, can we be all that Jesus calls us to be as His Church. You have a God-given gift which you alone can bring to the Church. We

need that gift.” The advertisement encourages people to connect with the Church again simply by going along to Mass, talking to a priest or calling a special hotline, 1300 4 FAITH (1300 432 484), where trained staff help put people in touch with a local church community.

The bishops followed this up with the Pastoral Letter distributed to all Australian parishes over June 21-22, encouraging parishioners to make their parish “a place of true welcome for people who do respond to the invitation to return”.

The letter encourages parish communities to make use of two new resources developed by the bishops’ National Office for

Evangelisation. The first, called Reconnect, is a six-week program for parishes to run for people wishing to return to practice their faith. The second, called Rewired, is a similar program aimed at encouraging young people to engage in the life of the Church.

In their pastoral letter, the bishops say that World Youth Day will be a “unique and powerful witness to Jesus Christ and to life in the Church”.

“World Youth Day will challenge all those who have Jesus in their heart to reflect more deeply on their relationship with him. It may well be the occasion for many to turn again to the family of the Church,” the bishops say in the Pastoral Letter.

Warnbro woman chosen to sing own composition at WYD

WESTERN Australian Warnbro resident, 31 year old Lisa Howard, has been selected from among 600 applicants to sing her own composition of Veni Deus (Come, Lord) at World Youth Day in July in Sydney.

Married with two children and expecting her third in December, she is a classically-trained singer whose successes include having sung in Westminster Abbey, after training in London and Sydney.

Among recent local appearances, Lisa featured at Ballet at Chittering (together with husband Adam playing guitar and also singing), and sang the recent opening of St Bernadette’s, Port Kennedy, where she sang Schubert’s Ave Maria and The Prayer

While raising a family Lisa is also a sought-after singing teacher who teaches privately and in schools. She is currently finalising a debut CD of her own compositions of sacred songs to promote healing through faith; it is due to be released towards the end of 2008.

Combining motherhood, household duties, and the creativity of her career, Lisa says her aim is to give glory to God “which He deserves after all the blessings he has given to me in helping me achieve my dreams and balancing being a wife and mother.”

Sydney-bound: Lisa Howard, right, combines being a wife and mother with her love of singing and teaching music. She has been chosen to sing her own composition at World Youth Day in Sydney next month.

Look at moi: Mark Bresciano celebrates scoring a goal in Australia’s victory over Uruguay in the World Cup qualifier in 2005.

the Nation

Muslim-Christian contact brings new set of problems

Greater proximity means more problems - but also opportunities, key Church expert says.

■ By Paul Gray

CLOSER contact between Christians and Muslims - and an exclusive and violent attitude on the part of some Muslims - are creating new challenges in ChristianMuslim relations, a senior Vatican diplomatic official has told The Record Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, who was appointed by Pope Benedict as the Vatican’s ambassador to Egypt and Delegate to the League of Arab States in 2006, will give lectures at Murdoch University next month.

He will be the inaugural Murdoch international theologian, an initiative to bring leading religious thinkers to Perth within the university’s Theology Program.

In an email interview with The Record, the English Archbishop said that religious differences between Christians and Muslims remain the same today as they have always been. “While Christians and Muslims are united in their belief in one God, they are divided in their understanding of this God,” he said.

“The biggest difference is that Christians believe in a God who has become Incarnate, that is, has entered into the world in the person of Jesus Christ. Muslims reject the Incarnation as being incompatible with the exalted nature of God. This changes the whole perspective of religion,” Archbishop Fitzgerald said.

But apart from the religious differences, there are separate chal-

Fitzgerald said. Inherent human weakness and also sinfulness help to perpetuate the religious divisions, but “it is important to recognise the positive aspects of the different religions and not only concentrate on the divisions,” the Archbishop said.

Asked if it is a duty of all Christians to engage in inter-faith dialogue, Archbishop Fitzgerald cited Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter Redemptoris Missio

The late Pope said all members of the faithful and all Christian communities are called to practise dialogue, although not always to the same degree and in the same way.

Archbishop Fitzgerald said interreligious dialogue and ecumenism are “really only specific ways of loving one’s neighbour, trying to build up a society where there is peace, harmony and cooperation.”

Questioned about the Vatican’s number one priority in relation to the Arab and Muslim world at the moment, Archbishop Fitzgerald said the Holy See’s concern is always for the wellbeing of Christian communities.

“So it could be said that its priority is to see that religious liberty is truly respected,” he said.

A just solution to conflict between Israel and Palestine must be considered a priority also, he said.

Archbishop Fitzgerald will deliver the LJ Kiernan Memorial Lectures on July 8, 9, and 10 on Christian-Muslim relations in a changing world, Religious pluralism: a theological consideration, and Witnessing to Christ, ecumenism and religious dialogue.

For further information, contact Murdoch

Hit broadcasters hard for breaches of standards: inquiry

■ By Paul Gray

COMMERCIAL broadcasters should have their licences suspended or cancelled under certain circumstances when they have repeatedly breached the industry’s code of practice, a government inquiry has found.

The inquiry was headed by South Australian Liberal Party Senator Cory Bernardi.

Widespread media reporting last week presented the inquiry as a response to on-air expletives used by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey.

In fact the inquiry was an examination of the effectiveness of the broadcasting industry’s codes of practice, and was launched after repeated expressions of concern over major broadcasters’ apparent lack of interest in acting on public complaints about obscenity on air.

The cross-party Senate inquiry involved four Senators from the ALP, four from the Liberal Party and one from the Australian Democrats.

It made 20 recommendations, including one that a federal government review of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) should be carried out no later than 2010.

The inquiry also recommended that a “parental lock-out” system

On the attack: South Australian Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi.

should be mandated as a standard feature on digital television sets sold in Australia.

Fears that the broadcasting industry’s present regulations are essentially toothless were addressed by the committee.

This is a concern that has been raised in recent years by numerous members of the public, as well as by advocacy groups.

The committee found that the second time a broadcaster is found to be in breach of the same part of the code, the Australian Communications and Media

Continued - Page 12

lenges in Christian-Muslim relations today. These are caused, first, by the greater proximity between the two religions almost everywhere in the world. “Christians and Muslims are necessarily coming into contact. They have to find ways of living in harmony, and also of working together on behalf of the rest of humankind.”

A further problem has emerged with the growth of an exclusive attitude on the part of some Muslims. In some cases this exclusive attitude is “turning to violence”.

The Archbishop says through modern communications, radical extremist Muslim groups are in contact with one another. This makes the tendency more dangerous, both for Christians and Muslims, and makes the problem harder to combat.

In response to questions from The Record, Archbishop Fitzgerald gave his views on a number of important questions touching on the relationship between Christians and Muslims today.

Explaining the Church’s teaching on the reasons for religious divisions in the world, he cited a Second Vatican Council document, Nostra Aetate, which says that all humankind is engaged in a common search for answers to fundamental questions of existence.

These questions include ‘What is the meaning and purpose of life?’, ‘What is upright and what is sinful behaviour?’, ‘What is the cause and purpose of suffering?’ and ‘What happens at death?’

The Church teaches that all humans are united in their searching of such questions, and that this search is ultimately a search for God. While people are divided in their answers to these existential questions, “it is in this reality that divine revelation takes place, culminating in Jesus Christ,” Archbishop

PRINCIPALSHIPS

SACRED HEART PRIMARY SCHOOL, THORNLIE

Sacred Heart, which was founded by the Loreto Sisters in 1965, is a co-educational double-stream school with a current enrolment of 563 students from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 7. The school has an established and inclusive Special Education Centre.

Using the IDEAS framework, the school and its staff have a strong focus on improvement and work hard to meet the needs of the school community. The school operates a licensed and purpose-built Child Care Centre for before, during and after-school, as well as vacation care. Sacred Heart is a thriving, multicultural community with specialist teachers in Information Communication Technology, Art, Music and Movement, Physical Education, LOTE (Japanese), Educational Support and Library. There is an extensive network of Kindergarten to Year 7 Education Assistants, as well as a Psychologist and Nurse, all working to meet the diverse needs of the school community.

The School Board and Parents and Friends’ Association work closely with the Principal to continue building a strong community spirit. The parish and school enjoy a close, harmonious and effective relationship.

ST PAUL’S PRIMARY SCHOOL, KARRATHA

St Paul’s is a growing co-educational primary school catering for students from Kindergarten to Year 7. Situated in the Pilbara, the school was established by the Presentation Sisters in 1978 and today accommodates approximately 300 students and 25 staff. St Paul’s is highly regarded in the town and has a strong and positive affiliation with the parish. The school has a specialist Health and Physical Education teacher, a modern computer laboratory, smart boards and a well-resourced library. The staff are hard working and committed to ensuring the best educational outcomes for students.

Karratha, with a population of approximately 13000, is a well-established, modern town with sporting and shopping facilities. There are local attractions in the form of gorges, bush walking, four-wheel driving, fishing and water sports.

ST THOMAS’ PRIMARY SCHOOL, CLAREMONT

St Thomas’ was established in 1909 by the Presentation Sisters and today is a vibrant, single stream co-educational primary school catering for the families of St Thomas’ parish and surrounding areas for students from Kindergarten to Year 6.

The school is in the fifth year of the implementation of the RAISe (Raising Achievement in Schools) initiative. RAISe focuses on improving student outcomes in literacy and numeracy for all children. During the National Literacy and Numeracy Week in 2007 the school received a Commonwealth Government Highly Commended award for its work. A whole school approach and commitment to collaborative processes for the purposes of school improvement ensures that St Thomas’ continues to thrive.

Professional development for staff, which is connected to school priorities, ensures that initiatives and priorities are implemented effectively. Access to a well-resourced library, support staff for literacy and numeracy, and specialist teachers in Art, LOTE (Italian), Physical Education, Information and Communication Technologies and Music, support the rich and diverse education available to the children. An enrichment program is also available to students. With the financial support of an enthusiastic Parents and Friends’ Association, all classes will have interactive whiteboards by the beginning of 2009. The school thrives on the excellent goodwill and support of the Parish Priest, School Board and Parents and Friends’ Association.

The successful applicants will be expected to take up these positions at the commencement of 2009. Applicants need to be practising Catholics and experienced educators committed to the objectives and ethos of Catholic education. They will have the requisite theological, educational, pastoral and administrative competencies, together with an appropriate four year minimum tertiary qualification, and will have completed Accreditation for Leadership of the Religious Education Area or its equivalent. A current WACOT registration number must also be included.

The official application form, referee assessment forms and instructions can be accessed on the Catholic Education Office website www.ceo.wa.edu.au Enquiries should be directed to Helen Brennan, Consultant, Workforce Relations & Development Team on (08) 6380 5237 or email wrd@ceo.wa.edu.au All applications, on the official form, should reach The Director, Catholic Education, Catholic Education Office of WA, PO Box 198, Leederville 6903 by 9 July 2008.

Analysis: British Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, a specialist in Christian-Muslim dialogue, will give a series of lectures at Murdoch University in July.

PHOTO: CNS

Sts Peter and Paul and God’s good time

This weekend we celebrate the feast of Sts Peter and Paul, two extraordinary saints who are wonderful examples of what can happen to very ordinary men. Apart from all their efforts to teach us the kingdom of God according to Jesus, their lives make wonderful lessons about the kingdom.

On those occasions when we remember Christ’s instruction not to judge other people, we tend to explain its wisdom by acknowledging that we never know enough about another person’s background and experience to be able to pass judgement on them. That’s true, but Sts Peter and Paul remind that us as well as our ignorance about their past, we have no idea about another person’s future. We have no idea what is going to happen to people in God’s good time.

Peter was probably a very likeable bloke, generous, impulsive, and eager to drag the whole crew along with him whenever he had a bright idea. He was a fully grown fisherman when we first met him and nobody would have expected him to be anything else. He had his faults, but he was a good bloke. Hidden deep away in his subconscious (the thorn in his flesh) was a weakness for succumbing to peer group pressure, even to the point of denying that he knew Jesus.

Paul was probably not so easily likeable, more rational (calculating, if you didn’t like him) than impulsive, and not as enthusiastic as Peter. He was probably ambitious and likely to end up in some sort of public position, a fact that would have pleased some and alarmed others, depending on how they read his character.

THE RECORD

PO Box 75 Leederville, WA 6902 cathrec@iinet.net.au

Tel: (08) 9227 7080

Fax: (08) 9227 7087

The thorn in his flesh was a strong impulse to control the lives of others, even to the point of persecution. He never got rid of the impulse, but learned to avoid acting on it.

Under the influence of Jesus, Peter became a priest, a prophet and the King’s right hand man (the holder of the keys). He conquered the thorn in his flesh to such an extent that for love of Jesus he led the kingdom out of the nationalistic confines of Israel into the world to make it truly catholic, available to everyone. In place of denial, he gave his life for Jesus.

After he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul turned away from the blindness of hate entirely towards the light that had blinded him and then given him his sight back. Instead of trying to compel people to behave the way he wanted them to, he gave his life to teaching people what God wanted them to know.

In place of the meanness and viciousness of control, he came to understand the real meaning of love and presented it to the world with great clarity. Instead of persecuting others, he suffered all manner of injustice and persecution for the sake of the kingdom.

These are two extraordinary transformations, almost transfigurations.

But they are not unique. This paper confidently asserts the Church they helped to establish has occasioned countless millions of such transformations, not all of them necessarily as spectacular, but all of them as important because they happen in the quiet of an individual’s mind and heart. Whether they occur by adult conversion or by steady growth through prayer, the word and the sacraments, these transformations are the purpose and the glory of the Church.

In old age, we can all look back on our youth and squirm in our discomfort, or we can look back from a transformed position and be intensely grateful for the grace of God.

At the same time, we can look at all those around us with affection because we don’t know where they’ve come from and we don’t know where God is leading them. All we know is that we have no grounds to despair for them, and no grounds for doubting that God is never late with his remarkable goodness.

Sts Peter and Paul, help us to see the lessons of your lives.

letters to the editor

Around t he tabl e dnuorA t eh lbat e

Happy in WA

Until we moved to Western Australia, our regular place of worship was St Francis church in Melbourne where my wife was a Eucharistic Minister.

Very recently we arrived in Kelmscott, and today (June 15) attended High Mass in thus suburb’s Good Shepherd Church. Mass was celebrated for us in Latin on the overcast, cold and wintry afternoon by Father Michael Rowe from St Anne’s at Belmont.

And what an occasion it was for this district’s newly formed Gregorian Chant Group, singing with their pastor at its own inaugural High Mass, here in the foothills of their Darling Ranges Parish.

It was not so very long ago that Mathew Biddle – one of The Record’s own fine young journalists, wrote an article about Kelmscott’s trail blazing workshop on Sacred Music, out of whose

Hickey cartoon unfair

Alston’s cartoon in The West Australian of June 20 was quite uncalled-for and over the top. Archbishop Hickey never said anything about “going to Hell” and furthermore, Catholic churches are not empty on Sundays and Holy Days.

Even weekday Masses regularly have several people there, the Cathedral perhaps fifty or more daily. Many suburban churches are packed at Sunday, with many of the congregation being young people.

Of course, things could be better, but today’s secular culture has taken a toll. What the Archbishop had to say was spot-on.

The ten commandments are basic requirements for an orderly, upright society to live by. They are the very minimum requirements.

The churches that now “go with the flow” of modern secular society are the very ones that are losing membership.

Jerome Gonzalez Willetton

Saturday session suddenly grew an integrated group. The culmination of the Gregorian group’s perseverance and elan was Father Rowe’s celebrated High Mass, the success of which is a tribute to both the cantor and his choir’s conductor, and especially also to the effective leadership provided by a most hard working and committed Catholic woman.

The congregation, which pleasantly filled this rather small-ish Good Shepherd church, was invited by that conductor to join in the singing – which it did.

And so the newly blossomed Latin Mass community becomes

Clergy on the move in Perth

Several appointments announced

Archbishop Hickey announced a number of clergy changes this week for the Archdiocese.

Fr Pavol Herda , recently ordained and featured in last week’s edition of The Record, has been appointed Assistant Priest at Sacred Heart Parish, Thornlie from 1 August 2008.

Fr Joseph Lee , currently Chaplain to Royal Perth Hospital, has been appointed Parish Priest of Pater Noster Church, Myaree, from 1 August 2008.

Fr Andrew Albis, currently at St Joachim’s Pro Cathedral, has been appointed Assistant Priest at St Mary’s, Kalgoorlie from 1 August 2008.

Fr Thai Vu, currently at Bateman and Myaree, has been appointed to

It takes Courage...

By George Weigel

What does it mean to have a Church in crisis? What is the cause of the clergy abuse that has affected the Church? What is the real solution to this crisis? With deep and clear thinking, papal biographer and noted theologian George Weigel analyses the crisis and states that what we have is really a crisis of fidelity to the true essence of being Catholic. The solution is for the clergy and laity alike to have the courage to live lives that are unashamedly Catholic. This book is a forward-looking call to action and a passionate embrace of life lived in faith.

$19.95+postage

AVAILABLE NOW! from The Record Bookshop 9227 7080 or email bookshop@therecord.com.au

St Charles Seminary, Guildford as a member of the Formation Staff, from 1 August 2008.

Fr Nelson Po, currently at Kalgoorlie/Boulder, has been appointed Chaplain to Royal Perth Hospital, from 1 August 2008.

Fr Noel Latt and Fr Richard Dun have recently arrived from Burma.

Fr Noel, currently at Bassendean, has been appointed Assistant Priest at St Joachim’s Pro-Cathedral, Victoria Park from 1 August 2008; and Fr Richard is assisting at Sacred Heart, Thornlie.

Fr Joseph Angelo, currently at Harvey in the Bunbury Diocese, has been appointed Parish Priest of St Brigid’s, Midland from 1 August 2008.

Fr Michael Slattery of Bunbury Diocese, has been appointed coordinator of the Diocesan Centre for Evangelisation

one more minute part of Malachi’s prophecy: “From the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof, My Name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place where there is sacrifice, there shall be offered to My Name a clean oblation.”

I think Pope Benedict XVI would recognise the Group’s concerted effort as a laudable achievement.

And a postscript: the young Master of Ceremonies’ directing was so smooth that I almost forgot to mention it.

Joseph F A Sutherland Kelmscott

Bishops go after criminals

BRASILIA, Brazil (CNS)The Brazilian bishops’ conference is collecting signatures in support of legislation that would bar criminals convicted of serious crimes from running for office. The bishops’ conference and 35 other organisations joined together as the Movement Against Electoral Corruption to garner the 1.3 million signatures needed to get their bill before congress. Under Brazilian law, by collecting signatures from 1 per cent of all voters in at least five states, civil society groups can present their own bills before congress, where they will be voted on and could become law. The general secretary of the bishops’ conference, said at a press conference on June 16 that popular pressure will make the bill’s approval possible.  CNS

The Gift of Confession: A Positive Approach to the Sacrament of Reconciliation

By Fr Michael de Stoop

Presented in a very readable and entertaining style, with a foreword by Cardinal George Pell, the author presents 25 personal benefits received through Confession. He provides readers with a refreshing and uplifting alternative to viewing this Sacrament simply in relation to sin.

“This is a book about God’s unfailing mercy”, said Archbishop Barry Hickey.

$19.95+postage

available from The Record Bookshop 9227 7080 or email bookshop@therecord.com.au

Vista

- Page 11

Focolare: moving forward

■ By Deb Warrier

It takes a rare individual to inspire 5 million people to embrace the ideal of spiritual unity. Yet Chiara Lubich did just that by establishing the Focolare movement. It had humble beginnings in 1943 in Trent, Italy where a young Chiara and her friends chose to live lives focused on the Gospel.

Since then the lay movement has bridged gaps between individuals, groups, movements, associations, Catholics, Christians of different churches, priests, religious, and followers of other religions as well as people of good will with no religious affiliation.

Focolare means “hearth” or “family fireside.” The imagery created by the definition is a warm and inviting one. Chiara’s death on March 14 this year is far from signifying the

end of the movement according to members

Brian and Denise Mills.

“Chiara was the founder of the Focolare and had the charism of unity given to her from God. The charism and statutes remain. Her spirit goes on in all of us,” said Brian.

Brian and Denise have been married for 48 years. They have six children all of whom are married and seventeen grandchildren. They have been with the Focolare movement since 1973. Recently they spoke to The Record regarding the movement which for them has become a way of life.

Central to the spirituality of the movement is the awareness that Jesus is in our midst. In Matthew’s Gospel he recounts Jesus’ words to the apostles, “Where two or three are gathered in my name I am in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20).

The acknowledgment of the silent “Witness” is a constant reminder to act as He would. This openness to God and each other when there is conflict leads to what Brian referred to as the “third solution” that promotes unity.

According to Brian and Denise being a part of the Focolare movement has enabled them to practise reciprocal love, albeit with human limitations.

Christ’s example of total love for the other was demonstrated by His willingness to suffer and die for us. Living by that example is the challenge. “When I wake up in the morning I

say the Divine Offering and promise the Lord everything. Sometimes I get as far as the door and I’ve already fallen down! The grace of the present moment is that we can always start again immediately,” Denise said.

The couple explained that the movement is Gospel focused and has a Marian devotion. Members receive a monthly leaflet called, “Word of Life” which is a reflection on a passage taken from the Gospel. There is a commitment to mutual and constant charity and the desire to be a continuation of Mary’s presence on earth.

Having love for Jesus and seeing Him in others leads the Focolare to seek detachment from everything around them and themselves. They believe that this is necessary to obtain unity on a supernatural level.

Pope John Paul II spoke of a New Evangelisation that began with evangelising ourselves and announcing that humanity is loved by God.

The Focolare believe they have responded to that call by what they refer to as the Spirituality of Communion which is expressed in the ‘Art of Christian Loving.’

This requires: seeing Jesus in every person, loving others without exception, being the first to love, making ourselves one with others, loving our enemies, reciprocating love, loving to the point of self denial and sacrifice by loving Jesus Crucified and Forsaken

in one’s own suffering. They also evangelise by announcing the Word in such ways as: monthly leaflets, a monthly world-wide telephone link-up, meetings, congresses and some 170 Mariapolises which are held every summer in various nations, and in 20 permanent towns in every continent of the world.

“Mariapolis means the City of Mary and is the annual gathering of Focolare members,” said Brian. His wife continued, “The people come for a few days and live together. Everyone can come to a Mariapolis. They will experience the presence of Jesus in their midst.”

The emphasis is on living the Gospel together and creating a relaxed family environment. There are talks, drama, music, witnessing and prayer. Denise added that if participants were experiencing problems in their own lives before they came, they were able to start again with lessons learnt from the Mariapolis.

The couple spoke of men and women who consecrated their lives to God through the movement. Men who made this decision are referred to as Focolarini (singular: focolarino) and women are referred to as Focolarine (singular: focolarina). They follow the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. They commit themselves with private vows. These men live communally as do the women.

Above: Denise and Brian Mills.

PHOTO: DEBBIE WARRIER

Centre: Mariapolis group Fairbridge

2005. PHOTO: WOMENS FOCOLARE

Right: Chiara Lubich during a meeting in Rome in 1997. PHOTO: CNS ALESSIA GIULIANI,

Focolare at work: Some children during a Workshop at Mariapolis 2008 at the Pallotine Conference and Retreat Centre in Rossmoyne .

PHOTO: COURTESY OF WOMENS FOCOLARE

Cardinal defies UK Government over laws that would force it to place children with gay couples.

John Heard discusses the Catholic vote, reform and humane politics.

Palmyra pioneers build a great

Catholic family

■ By Matthew Biddle

On a hot summer’s day in the late 1930s an athletic young man by the name of Edward Neesham played a practical joke on an unsuspecting young lady named Margaret Miller at the Bicton Baths (now known as the Melville pools). Little did he know that more than 70 years later the pair would still be together, with almost 120 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The Neeshams have truly built one of the State’s greatest family dynasties.

That first meeting was slightly less than romantic.

“I was doing laps down at Melville pools, and this day I saw Peg, and I thought ‘That young lady needs a bit of help,’” Ted explained.

“So I got up behind her to give her a bit of a nudge, and into the water she went, but before she hit the water she turned around and looked at me, and the next thing I knew I had fallen for her. And I had a lucky run with her.”

Both Ted and Peg were born and bred locals – Ted was born in Palmyra in 1920 and Peg was born in neighbouring East Fremantle in 1922. But by age six Peg’s family had moved to Palmyra.

Her father, Henry Miller, was a baker and later built his own bakery, which is now known as the Miller Bakehouse Museum.

Peg was the youngest of a family of 14, while Ted was the youngest of nine.

“I was very fortunate, I was the youngest girl, and I did a lot of playing of the piano and I spent most of my time at school with the nuns,” Peg said.

“I was a bit spoilt, I spent a lot of time with my mum and she was wonderful, she did all the sewing for my children, and she taught me a lot.”

Growing up in the 1920s and ‘30s provided many unique ways of having fun, according to Ted.

“We delivered milk to various people, and if we ever ran short of milk we’d just get the customer a little bit extra – out of his tap,” he said.

“There was a terrific amount of variety in our lives; it was a marvellous life really.”

In 1939 Ted, who was brought up a Methodist, converted to Catholicism, a move he has never regretted.

“When dad first set eyes on mum – mum coming from a good Catholic family – he knew he wouldn’t stand a chance of getting married if he wasn’t a Catholic,” eldest daughter Margaret said.

Three years later on October 7, 1942, the pair was married by Fr McBride at St Gerard’s church (now Our Lady of Fatima).

The newly-weds lived with Peg’s parents for the first few years of their marriage, on the corner of Hammad and Baal Streets, just metres from their current home.

However, the outbreak of World War II resulted in Ted’s transfer to New Guinea in 1943, where he served in the Ambulance Corp for two years.

On Ted’s return the Neeshams began building their home on Baal Street, where they have lived ever since.

Both Ted and Peg were disciplined, hard workers, who gave up a lot for their children, according to their eldest daughter Margaret.

“Our parents gave us everything they could; the faith, a good education and we always had good clothing – mum made it all herself – so we didn’t really go without, and we all played sport and learnt music,” she said.

Between 1943 and 1965 the Neesham family grew steadily. First came Teddy, then Harry, David, Margaret, Mary, Peter, Anne, Gerard, Robert, John, Catherine, Irene and Teresa. Tragically, the two youngest boys, Robert and John, passed away at early ages.

The sudden loss of Robert occurred on a stormy winter’s night when, coming home from football training, he was hit by a car.

“They all loved their sport, our little fellow Robby, the day he was killed, he came home from school and he had his footy shorts and socks on,” Peg recounted.

“I said to him ‘Don’t go to training tonight love, it’s raining,’ and he said ‘Mum I have to go,’ and that rang in my ears for years.

“The boys thought he was great because he was just a natural and they’d always be out the back kicking the footy.”

Sadly, John passed away when he was only three months old, due to golden staph.

The Sport Connection

The Neesham surname is well-known throughout Fremantle as a family of brilliant sportspeople. Peg and Ted have always been keen swimmers, since the day they met at the Melville pools, and their love of the water has been passed on to their children.

All of their sons were talented at football, swimming and water polo, each with the ability to play at a high level.

David Neesham pursued water polo, becoming a four-time Olympian, before coaching the Australian men’s side for several years.

The water polo talent has been passed on through the genes, with several of the Neeshams’ grandchildren representing Australia in water polo over the years.

And the Olympic connection is continuing too. David’s son Tim Neesham is about to embark on his third Olympic Games at Beijing in August.

Possibly the most well-known Neesham is Gerard, the fifth son of Ted and Peg, who carved out a distinguished footballing career in the WAFL before coaching Fremantle in the AFL.

Gerard played 218 WAFL matches, won three premierships, and even had a short stint in the VFL for the Sydney Swans in 1982.

But it was his coaching career which most remember. In 1995, Gerard became the inaugural coach of the Fremantle Dockers AFL club, whom he led for four seasons.

Music has also been an interest in the Neesham family, passed on by Peg who is still a talented pianist.

“Mum’s very good, she’s gifted with her piano abilities,” daughter Anne said.

Each of the children learnt how to play a musical instrument at school under the guidance of

the nuns the pian

Peg, w piano at dren or “I pla it,” she s it still.”

Parish

The Fatima p Ted a morning Mass.

Peg h flowers years, w two dec

The y are well

“Havi different are very “It ha the early gious hu

The importa

Living in a wel hosts to “We h try and t Anne sa “You Palmy Ted and for man

“They church a “One history o are the v The N a strong church e cation a “Dad

Family

Memories: A handsome Ted Neesham with his elegant bride Peg on the couple’s wedding day, October 7, 1942.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE NEESHAM FAMILY

Living happily ever after: Peg and Ted Neesham at home, where they have lived for more than 60 years.

PHOTO: MATTHEW BIDDLE

Happy days: Peg and Ted Neesham have been happily married for more than 65 years and now have more than 100 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE NEESHAM FAMILY

s, most following their mother in learning no while others learnt the violin. who absolutely loves music, still plays the home regularly, often for the grandchilgreat-grandchildren.

ay for the little babies now and they love said. “I’ve always loved music and I love

h Pioneers

Neeshams have attended Our Lady of parish since childhood.

and Peg continue to walk to church every g, rain, hail or shine, to attend daily has played the organ and arranged the regularly at the parish for more than 65 while Ted was an acolyte for more than ades.

youngest daughter Teresa said her parents known in the parish. ing been involved for so long and in many t ways they have many friendships and recognisable,” she said. as always been a close community and in y days the parish was the social and reliub of their life.”

Neeshams’ Catholic faith has been an ant part of the family’s life for many years. g across the road from the Palmyra church ll-sized home, the Neeshams were often visiting priests. had priests who’d come up from the counthey’d often stay here overnight,” daughter aid.

couldn’t separate religion and family.”

yra parish priest Fr Francis Ughanze said Peg have been a major part of the parish ny years. y are a part of the traditional pillars of the at Palmyra,” he said.

does not need to be introduced to the of the parish to realise that the Neeshams very foundation of the church here.”

Neeshams brought their children up in gly Catholic atmosphere, taking them to every Sunday, giving them a Catholic edund praying the family Rosary.

especially used to say that the family that

prays together stays together, and so we said the Rosary every night as a family,” Anne said.

“Our lives were centred around Our Lady of Fatima (parish), and our grandparents and relations, it was really family-oriented.

“The Church has been an integral part of our lives.”

And it has continued to be an important part of the lives of the third and fourth generation of children.

Many of the Neeshams’ grandchildren and great-grandchildren live in the Palmyra area and although not all attend the same Mass, there are at least 50 relatives of Ted and Peg Neesham who are parishioners at Our Lady of Fatima.

Fr Ughanze said having so many members of one family in a parish is extremely rare.

“I remember remarking once that I could start a different Mass for them in the parish, because when the Neeshams assemble in the church, they form a whole large segment,” he said.

Family still plays an important role in the Neeshams’ life.

Every Friday their daughters visit, often bringing their own children, and the whole family enjoys lunch together.

“Every Friday my daughters come home, and they’re absolutely beautiful and they all get on very well as a family,” Ted said.

Four of the Neeshams’ children still attend Our

Lady of Fatima parish and live in Palmyra, while the rest of the clan live in the Perth metropolitan region.

The extended family – children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren – almost 120 descendants – gather together several times each year to celebrate birthdays, Christmas and Easter.

The Neeshams have managed to pass the Catholic faith on through the generations, a significant achievement according to Fr Ughanze.

“I see them as a very good example of how the Catholic faith has to be lived and how we should all try to hand down the right teachings to our children,” he said.

“It’s amazing to me … how their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren still come to Mass and still worship fervently. That is the sort of thing I would wish for every family.”

A Lasting Legacy

The Neeshams admit to having an excellent run with their health for many years, due in part to a highly active lifestyle.

“After dad retired, mum and dad used to swim every day … so they kept active that way for a long time,” eldest daughter Margaret said.

However, the last few years have been slightly tougher, particularly for Ted, who had a skin cancer removed earlier this year. Recently he was

admitted to hospital where he has been for more than a week now.

But there’s no doubt their legacy will last for many years to come, and the Neesham name will continue to extend in the future.

Daughter Catherine said her parents had passed on many valuable qualities to all of their children.

“I think they’ve given us an inner strength, a family bond, our faith, and also being the size we are we’re never frightened of numbers, we often have bigger gatherings than most,” she said.

Margaret said her inspirational parents have taught her to love her family and to always enjoy each other’s company.

“They’ve been very loving and special parents, they’ve done a lot of hard work for us, and given us a great example of family life and religion,” she said.

Ted’s piece of advice to young families – use your money wisely.

“When I got my first job at D & J Fowlers in Fremantle, after the first week I was paid 12 and sixpence, and I took it home, put it on the table, and mum said to me, ‘You’ll put 12 shillings into the [bank], and the balance, that’s yours to spend’,” he said.

“We learnt the value of money - I used to take Peggy to the pictures, but she had to pay – it was only when I got a job that I decided to pay.”

Focolare moving forward... full steam ahead

Continued from Vista 1

There is no expectation that members will make that lifestyle choice. Those that do are called to that vocation, concurred Brian and Denise. Single young members are referred to as the ‘Gen’ short for ‘generazione nuova.’ This means in English ‘new generation’ as it is renewed by the life of the Gospel.

The Focolare movement has no initiation process or eligibility requirements. Those wanting to join need only get in touch with their local Men’s or Women’s Focolare.

In Perth the local Men’s Focolare is in

Bayswater and the contact number is: 6278 3425. The Women’s Focolare is in Nollamara and the contact number is: 9349 4052.

The Catholic Church gave statutes of the Focolare movement approval firstly in 1964 and more recently in 1990.

In 1998 Pope John Paul II gathered 300, 000 representatives of 60 Ecclesial Movements and New Communities at the Vatican for their 1st World Congress. The Focolare movement was present amongst those acknowledged for their contribution to this dialogue and cooperation within the Catholic Church.

Focolare is a nickname that stuck for the movement whose actual name is The Work of Mary.

The Focolare believe that a Marian devotion is highly compatible with the divine model of unity, the Forsakened and Crucified Christ. Through our own suffering we come to know Him and like Mary we can then be a conduit to others.

This perspective can be summarised even more succinctly using Denise’s words. She said, “We have to be what Mary was – bringing people to Jesus through our lives.”

y fun: Ted and Peg Neesham (third row, centre) with almost 120 family members, including children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and in-laws, on Boxing Day 2006.

Perspectives

It’s adventure from tot to teen Beware of reform for the sake of it

Being Heard

By John Heard

The Catholic Vote: Reform we can believe in

Hillary Clinton was right to mock.

In a speech delivered on February 24, 2008, she said:

“Let’s just get everybody together, let’s get unified, the sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing, and everyone will know we should do the right thing, and the world will be perfect...”

Certainly, she had a better grip of the mechanics of serious reform than her rival for the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama. His supporters chanted “Yes We Can” as though they thought change might come about through sheer force of numbers, or voter intensity.

Big changes in politics, of course, don’t just happen – people make them happen. Good people must pursue reform, and they must vote for justice. Then, once a better order is established, good people must fight to prevent any backslide to the bad old days.

This is, however, also just one way of describing a particular sort of politics. Hopeful chants belong to another tradition, one that says where people indicate that they are tired of politics-as-usual – whether because it has become particularly shrill, or it is needlessly divisive they will rally for more fundamental change.

So Barack Obama is right too.

To say that things don’t need to be so fraught, that they don’t need to be as divided as they have been; to press for individual voters to mass together, and to change the shape of things to come – this is not fantasy.

It is, rather, a general election theme now, and common to both competing presidential campaigns.

Indeed, change has become a bipartisan mantra, and John McCain – an American war hero and Republican maverick – certainly has a claim to its power too.

So regardless of the candidates’ serious policy differences, and the ambiguity of the polls, American voters appear to be heading together into a rare “change” election.

The first thing good people (and Catholics) should note, however, is that a valid mandate for reform need not lead to a valuing of change for its own sake.

As GK Chesterton wrote: “... reform implies form. It implies that we are trying to shape the world in a particular image; to make it something that we see already in our minds.”

“Evolution”, he went on, “is a metaphor from mere automatic unrolling” while progress “is a metaphor from merely walking along a road-very likely the wrong road”.

Catholic voters, in particular, should be wary of appeals for reform that might degenerate quickly into less worthy changes. They must interrogate the candidates’ claims, to see if they will really be able to secure reform. They must then

monitor any developments after the election.

They must, in this way, do the hard work of reform, even while hoping for a new dawn.

For Catholics know, of course, that the basic goal of any humane politics is flourishing, and we know the shape of a just society.

When our imaginations and intellects fall short, there are authoritative statements from the Popes. These rich teachings can help voters discern what real reform looks like, and the Church’s social teaching provides a road map for the journey toward greater justice.

Further, bishops’ conferences everywhere publish simple election guides for Catholic voters, and these list key concerns, alongside the relevant Catholic moral teachings.

We know what is right, then – the culture of life, enlightened stewardship of nature, economic / job prosperity, just war, and lasting peace - and we should vote for it.

In this context, Catholic voters could do worse than to take to heart a speech on democracy given by Cardinal Gibbons. The illustrious Archbishop of Baltimore, taking possession of his Titular Roman See (Santa Maria in Trastevere) on March 25, 1877 said:

“For myself, as a citizen of the United States, and without closing my eyes to our shortcomings as a nation, I say, with a deep sense of pride and gratitude, that I belong to a country where the civil government holds over us the aegis of its protection, without interfering with us in the legitimate exercise of our sublime mission as ministers of the Gospel of Christ.

“Our country has liberty without licence, and authority without despotism.

“She rears no wall to exclude the stranger from among us.

“She has few frowning fortifications to repel the invader, for she is at peace with all the world.

“She rests secure in the consciousness of her strength and her good will toward all.

“Her harbours are open to welcome the honest emigrant who comes to advance his temporal interests and find a peaceful home.”

American Catholics should be able to say the same thing as a result of this election.

Indeed, after any election in which their preferences make a difference, Catholic voters everywhere should be able to describe theirs as a democracy that has moved toward this ideal.

Where no one candidate fits the bill, Catholic voters must weigh their votes carefully, but let each Catholic’s vote bring his country closer to perfection, justice, and peace.

John

with Catherine Parish

Sitting here with a roomful of my eldest son’s teenage friends booming away in the background while I try to think, it strikes me forcibly that a mere five years ago, when I first started writing these columns, I had a houseful of little children and a baby on the way.

Those years of the baby and toddler-hood of my youngest have also been the time of my three oldest progressing into adolescence.

We now have a wide range of experiences happening, from first day pre-primary jitters to year 11 exams; both symptoms of the continuous process of slowly letting go that begins with school.

Conversation can range within a couple of minutes from the skewed moral universe of Northern Lights to why we assume that superheroes are male, to why Thomas the Tank Engine is blue.

You smile quietly to yourself as you listen to your 13-year-old trying to explain to your sceptical five-year-old how Jesus can be God and also God’s Son (which has stumped far finer minds than his), with the final recourse to the oft-used statement in our house that we can’t understand everything about everything, and that is why Catholics have a faith and not just a religion – they can be taught. What I loved the most was the acceptance of the questioner of the

reasonableness of this answer; his faith in his brother’s wisdom was quite touching.

From worrying about the cost of nappies (yes I have to admit I was environmentally irresponsible enough to often opt for disposables) we have progressed to worrying about the cost of shaving cream, razors and the other assorted personal items suddenly needed by growing children.

From worrying whether they are eating enough we regard the steadily increasing food bill with resignation.

From waiting eagerly for their first words we – well you all know the ending of that sentence I am sure...

From bemoaning the careless drivers on the road as we walked to school with our little ones, teaching them to cross safely, we progress to worrying that those same little hands we held so carefully will soon to be holding the steering wheel of a car.

The blossoming of your adult relationship with your children is a fascinating and stimulating experience, and it is revelatory to watch the relationships between your children take a more mature shape also. The delight in and interest of watching your children

become adults, and hopefully helping them somewhat to get over the various obstacles and challenges that await them, is never failing for this parent at least.

What delights my heart the most is that they still turn to you as they did in their infancy, just for different things.

But it also causes me to realise how absolutely blessed and privileged I have been to be able to stay at home and watch this story unfold, especially as the prospect of a return to paid work outside the home becomes ever more likely, directly relative to the increasing price of petrol and food.

This new adventure of having grown children is just beginning for us and I don’t want to miss a minute of it.

- timp61@bigpond.com

Down with glib pessimism

In clear view

By Guy Crouchback

In the latest edition of the University of WA magazine Uniview, former WA Premier Carmen Lawrence is quoted as saying: “We are wealthier than we’ve ever been, but no more content. We have more ‘stuff’ than ever before and we are, in aggregate, three times richer than our grandparents, but we are no happier.”

I find this statement not only glib and false, but positively offensive.

Who is this affluent politician to tell people that they are no happier although better off?

According to the United Nations Development Program Human Development Report of 2000, between 1900 and 2000, lifeexpectancy in developing countries went from 30 years (roughly the average everywhere before the Industrial Revolution) to 65 years.

According to the World Bank in 2004 the number of people living below $1 dollar a day (in 1993 purchasing power) dropped in the same period by about half a billion, despite the growth in popula-

tion. Who says these people are not happier living more than twice as long, and not having to bury large numbers of their children dead in infancy?

For having lives that are something more than, as Kipling put it, “A long-drawn question between a crop and a crop”?

Were all the sacrifices of our ancestors to build a better world for us pointless? Who says we are no happier, or - it comes to much the same thing - no more grateful, as a result?

And if our ancestors’ strivings were pointless and have brought no happiness, is it equally pointless for us to strive to build a better world for our own children?

Have the labours of scientists, doctors, inventors, authors, agronomists all been in vain in increasing human happiness as they have increased human welfare and lifeexpectancy?

Are universities, dedicated to expanding knowledge, completely futile?

Have the efforts of missionaries like David Livingstone and Father Damien in spreading Christianity been pointless, leaving us as benighted and miserable as ever?

If we are no happier than before, why bother with education, charity, scientific research or any other endeavour?

Why did men of the intellectual calibre of St Augustine and St Aquinas urge us to follow Reason,

and the monks of post-Roman Europe (sometimes called the Dark Ages) work to improve human living standards not only by keeping literacy alive but also with waterwheels, drainage, vineyards, hospitals and stock-breeding?

Why did one of those monks write a delightful song of praise to an early water-wheel that saved horses’ backs being broken and men dropping from exhaustion grinding corn?

Christianity holds that poverty is blessed, but that it ought to be relieved. Is there in fact no point in relieving it? Does the sump of misery remain the same?

Or as that gloomy atheist Philip Larkin put it in one verse: “Man hands on misery to man. It deepen as a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, and don’t have any kind yourself.” - If all our endeavours have come to nothing, is that a creed for anyone, Christian or Pagan, to live by?

I venture to say not. To say that we are no happier for all the strivings of those who preceded us is to say that good work and good works - to which all Christians are called - are futile.

It was not, I am sure, the speaker’s intention, but words like this can make glib, insidious undertone to our lives which, if we listen to it unthinkingly and unreflectively, may in the end have the power to overthrow our hard-won civilisation.

Perspectives

Prepare to enter the age of the Neocats

The ecclesial movement will play a decisive role in the future of the Catholic Church, says

Fr Ian Ker

Throughout the western world the Church is declining numerically.

The most prominent exception to the general rule of decline is the rise and growth of the movements and communities described as “ecclesial” rather than “lay” by Pope John Paul II because they are open to all the baptised, whether lay, clerical, or religious, thus manifesting in concrete form the ecclesiology of organic communion that the Church recovered in Vatican II’s Constitution of the Church.

Of the various new ecclesial movements the largest, fastest-growing, and most controversial is the Neocatechumenal Way, whose statutes were officially approved by the Holy See last week.

Ten years ago, in an important theological address on the ecclesial movements, Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, stressed that in the matter of discerning new charisms in the Church, bishops should respect the primacy of the Petrine office. He will now be expecting bishops hostile to the Neocatechumenate to respect that primacy. In that same address in 1998 the present Pope spoke enthusiastically of how at the beginning of the 1970s he had “come into close contact with movements like the Neocatechumens, Communione e Liberazione, and the Focolarini and thus experienced the enthusiasm and verve with which they lived out their faith”.

This was the time, he recalled, when “after the great upsurge of the Council, a frost seemed to set in instead of springtime”. A year later Cardinal Ratzinger told a meeting of bishops that the first of the new ecclesial movements he had encountered was the Neocatechumenal Way and he had been “delighted” to discover this “new postbaptismal catechumenate” at a time when “the family and the school were no longer, as they had been in the past, places of initiation into the faith and into communion with Christ in the Church”.

The Neocatechumenal Way began in 1963 when a young, talented Spanish painter called Kiko Argüello, who had had a conversion experience after a period of atheism as a student, returned for Christmas to his parents’ house. There he found the cook in tears in the kitchen. Spain was still a very poor country in the early 1960s, and Kiko learned that the woman lived with her drunken and abusive husband in one of the shanty towns on the outskirts of Madrid.

Kiko visited the woman in the squalid shack where she lived. Hearing what seemed like a call from God to leave everything, he went to stay with the family in their tiny kitchen. The scene of utter desolation in that slum so horrified him that, on completing his national service, he decided that in the event of the Second Coming he would want Christ to find him at the feet of the crucified Christ - namely, at the feet of the poorest of the poor.

His inspiration came from Charles de Foucauld: to live in silence at the feet of Christ crucified. He went to live himself in a shack in the shanty town, taking nothing with him except his Bible and guitar. The slumdwellers were curious as to who he was and why he was there. They discovered he was a Christian and began to ask him questions about the Gospel. The group that gathered round him in 1963 were the first community of what was to become the Neocatechumenal Way, and Kiko’s talks to this group the first so-called “catechesis”. At the same time he was joined by a young Spanish woman called Carmen Hernández, who had just completed a theology degree at a missionary institute. When the police began to pull down the shanty town Kiko appealed to the then Archbishop of Madrid, Mgr Casimiro Morcillo, who came to see for himself.

He was so impressed by the work Kiko and Carmen were doing that he invited them to begin the same catechesis in the parishes of Madrid. Subsequently, he gave them a letter of introduction to the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, who invited them to do the same in Rome.

The movement spread with extraordinary rapidity and as early as 1974 Pope Paul VI publicly hailed its members. He said: “Here we see post-conciliar fruits! ... How great is the joy, how great is the hope, which you give us with your presence and with your activity!” Pope John Paul II enthusiastically supported the Way, resisting hostile pressure from within the Roman Curia as well as the local episcopate. And in 1987 he asked the movement to open a seminary in the diocese of Rome; today about half the ordinations for the diocese of Rome come from this Redemptoris Mater seminary, the first of the 70 that now exist worldwide, including one in the Westminster diocese. So far 1,600 priests have been ordained from these seminaries, which have now about 2,000 seminarians.

The movement itself has about a million members, excluding children, belonging to some 20,000 communities.

Why is there such opposition to the Neocatechumenate? First of all, because there is opposition to all the movements from local bishops and clergy. This is nothing new: St Thomas Aquinas had to defend the Dominicans against the local clergy in Paris; after the Council of Trent bishops whose hearts were not in real reform and renewal did not want the Jesuits in their dioceses.

GK Chesterton noted that whenever there has “appeared, in Catholic history, a new and promising experiment, bolder or broader, more enlightened than existing routine, that movement” was always “upheld” by the papacy, while it was “naturally more or less negatively resisted by the bishops... [and] the clergy... Official oligarchies of that sort generally do resist reform.”

Secondly, the Neocatechumenate is especially controversial because it operates within rather than externally to parishes.

The main bone of contention is the Saturday evening Mass celebrated for a community or communities. However, we already have children’s and family Masses in parishes from which adults and single people are not excluded, nor have parishioners ever been excluded from Neocatechumenal Eucharists, contrary to popular rumour. The statutes specifically state that these Eucharists are “part of the ordinary liturgical pastoral work of the parish and are open also to other faithful”; the same would be true of a Tridentine Mass. They recognise that the Neocats are entitled to have a Mass in their own style, with a number of liturgical innovations (others that were originally permitted on an experimental basis have been disallowed), but it is open to all parishioners, and is no more divisive than a folk or Latin or Tridentine Mass is in a parish.

Anyway, Pope Benedict has firmly rejected the charge of divisiveness as the decisive criterion: “Faith remains a sword and may demand conflict for the sake of truth and love,” he has said. And he also has condemned that “attitude of intellectual superiority that immediately brands the zeal of those seized by the Holy Spirit and their uninhibited faith with the anathema of fundamentalism”, a charge regularly levelled at members of the Neocatechumenate.

At the time of the Council of Trent what the Church needed above all was a body of highly trained clergy: the charism of St Ignatius Loyola was provided by the Holy Spirit. In this post-conciliar time the greatest need is for baptised Catholics who are not merely sacramentalised but deeply formed in the faith: the Holy Spirit has given the Church the Neocatechumenate. I believe that June 13, 2008, the day its statutes were formally approved, will be recognised as a significant date in the history of the Church.

Fr Ian Ker teaches theology at Oxford and is a parish priest

Transformative education thrives on community Higher Education

By Dr Shane Lavery

Service-Learning – Education students engaging with the Community

There has been some discussion in the education media recently about a number of Australian tertiary institutions introducing a servicelearning component as a compulsory part of a student’s undergraduate degree.

At Notre Dame, ‘Service learning’ is integral to many degrees. It is a teaching method where classroom learning is deepened through service to others. One of the key elements to the success of any service-learning program is a sense of reciprocity and respect between those being served and those serving - where the experience is meaningful and worthwhile to both parties.

As a lecturer in education at Notre Dame, one of my responsibilities is to teach the Education, Service and Community Engagement unit. This unit is founded on the notion of integrating personal values/beliefs and volunteering. The theological concept of metanoia - Change of Heart - underpins this unit. It is my strong belief that transformative education must engage both the head and the heart, and transformative education thrives on community engagement.

This semester proved to be a wonderful example of how successful the service learning program can be. 25 second year education students completed their handson experience in community facilities such as the ‘Fresh Start’ drug rehabilitation clinic coordinated by WA General Practitioner Dr George O’Neill; St John of God Hospice; the Shopfront, an initiative funded through the Catholic fundraising organisation Lifelink; St Vincent de Paul, in primary and second-

ary special education support centres, and at the Drug Awareness, Rehabilitation and Management WA youth outreach program.

Our students’ response to their service and the response from their supervisors, was testimony to the value of such an important and valuable initiative.

Faced with challenging work environments it was rewarding to read the students’ feedback. As one student wrote in her journal after working with street kids: “It has been a tough night, throughout the whole evening I had been exposed to more and more sad stories of seemingly unending despair from these kids … I am determined to give what I can and hopefully, make some difference, no matter how small and insignificant it may be.”

As the course coordinator, I was particularly pleased with the feedback from the students’ placement supervisors who were lavish in their praise of our students. Comments included: “has shown excellent initiative in dealing with both patients and staff”; “very professional”; “has a great attitude towards the children”; “showed empathy and worked extremely well with our clientele”; “shows excellent skills in all areas of this clinic”; “keen to understand the individual needs of each client she supported”; “her approach towards the students has been outstanding.”

Given that the majority of Catholic secondary colleges in Western Australia undertake comprehensive service-learning programs, it makes sense for education students at Notre Dame to experience service-learning first-hand. These students can now put a human face to those, who for whatever reason, society often marginalises.

I believe that teachers impact the future by touching the hearts and minds of young people. At Notre Dame we want our teachers, those to whom we entrust our country’s future, to operate from virtues of compassion, service and kindness. That is, to be like Jesus who came to “set the downtrodden free (Lk 4:18). Service learning is a splendid instructor of these virtues.

Dr Shane Lavery School of Education Notre Dame University

The Rise of Benedict XVI: The inside story of how the Pope was elected and what it means for the world

By John L. Allen

Allen also analyses the battle Pope Benedict XVI has begun against ‘the Dictatorship of Relativism’, his aim to renew the culture of the Church and the surprises and challenges his Pontificate will bring. An engaging book for those who want an inside scoop to Pope Benedict XVI before his Australian visit.

$14.95+postage

Available from The Record Bookshop 9227 7080 or email bookshop@therecord.com.au

By Trish Clark

Good Night & God Bless Volume 1: A Guide to Convent and Monastery Accommodation in Austria, Czech Republic and Italy

Good Night & God Bless takes you on a tour of religious hideaways offering tourist and pilgrimage accommodation throughout Europe. It reveals these unique, atmospheric and affordable places which accommodate tourists or those pursuing a pilgrimage or spiritual retreat.

This user-friendly travel book provides safe, affordable and comfortable accommodation information, local tourist information, places of pilgrimage, travel tid-bits and anecdotes against a fascinating backdrop of history and religion. An amazing reference guide for all those planning to travel to Europe!

$29.95+postage

the World

We serve the bishops, the parishes: Arguello

The Catholic Church’s approval of the statutes governing the approach to Christian formation and evangelisation of the Neocatechumenal Way is an historic moment, both for the Way itself and as an indication of the importance with which both it and the new movements are regarded in general as part of the Catholic Church’s approach to the challenges posed by modern and intensely secular socities.

THE unique way of Christian formation known as the Neocatechumenal Way has been again reinvigorated by the Pope, its founder said in an interview with Vatican Radio the day after the formal approval of its statutes.

“We have come here with profound gratitude and immense joy for the approval, in a definitive way, of the Statute of the Neocatechumenal Way,” Kiko Arguello told interviewer Debra Donnini on June 14, the day after the handing over of the Decree containing the signed statutes.

Arguello and co-founder Carmen Hernandez, together with Fr Mario Pezzi - all three of whom are International Responsibles of the Way - were present for the Vatican meeting.

Asked what the significance of the event was for the new movement he founded, Arguello said it would aid the Church’s outreach to the world.

“This is extremely important because we are a gift of the Holy Spirit and a help to the Church for the new evangelisation,” he said.

“After 40 years and after so many sufferings the Church has seen the fruits of these 40 years.

“She has consulted numerous bishops, many parishes, and a great number of missionary families.

“The Church has seen the seminaries and in the end we have been recognised as an ecclesial reality.”

He said the improvements to the Way’s governing statutes “have been predominantly to recognise that the liturgical practices of the Way are an ecclesial practice and are not our invention because, for the Way, the liturgy is extremely important”.

“The Eucharist above all, for the young people, can be useful in saving them from drugs, and making them profoundly Christian,” he said.

“The Church has been patient and in the end, has recognised that this reality is an ecclesial one,” he said.

Asked about the importance of the recognition of the “public juridical personality” of the Neocatechumenal Way, he said: «We do not want to make of the Catechumenal Way “a strong association” because the animation of Christian life belongs to the bishop; we are a service to the bishop.

“The Church understands that we have to reinforce our reality in order to be more visible in the Church and so she has recognised us as a ‘public juridical personality’. This means that our mode of operating is in the name of the Church.

“But as with all the other public foundations which administer material goods, the Church

A cook’s tears and young atheist turnedbeliever’s faith led to new phenomenon

THE Neocatechumenal Way , writes Oxford priest Fr Nicholas Ker, began in 1963 when a young, talented Spanish painter called Kiko Argüello, who had had a conversion experience after a period of atheism as a student, returned for Christmas to his parents’ house.

There he found the cook in tears in the kitchen.

Spain was still a very poor country in the early 1960s, and Kiko learned that the woman lived with her drunken and abusive husband in one of the shanty towns on the outskirts of Madrid.

Kiko visited the woman in the squalid shack where she lived. Hearing what seemed like a call from God to leave everything, he went to stay with the family in their tiny kitchen.

The scene of utter desolation in that slum so horrified him that, on completing his national service, he decided that in the event of the

recognises that we have spiritual goods.

“Spiritual goods are, for example, all the fruits of the Neocatechumenate, like the use of the catecheses, the creativity.

“These are goods which we put at the service of the diocese.

“But the Catechumenal Way, in itself, has neither cash nor public funds. Everything belongs to the Diocese. The Way is only a service to the Diocese.”

More than 40 years ago, Arguello started to live among the poor in the shanty town of Palomeras Altas.

Today, there are approximately 20,000 Neocatechumenal communities in 107 countries of the world.

He described his feelings about the occasion, saying he experienced: “Gratitude to the Virgin Mary, to God, to his Son Jesus Christ and to Peter.

“I think that what Christ said

Second Coming he would want Christ to find him at the feet of the crucified Christ - namely, at the feet of the poorest of the poor.

His inspiration came from Charles de Foucauld: to live in silence at the feet of Christ crucified. He went to live himself in a shack in the shanty town, taking nothing with him except his Bible and guitar.

The slum-dwellers were curious as to who he was and why he was there. They discovered he was a Christian and began to ask him questions about the Gospel.

The group that gathered round him in 1963 were the first community of what was to become the Neocatechumenal Way, and Kiko’s talks to this group the first so-called “catechesis”.

Fr Ker on “the Neocats” - Page 9

Key Statute points

■ The Way is headed by laity rather than clerics, and will be after the death of founders Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez. This recognises the Holy Spirit’s action in establishing the Way through laity.

■ Liturgies of the Way, normally conducted on Saturday evenings, are now one of the official liturgies of the parish where a Neocatechumenal community exists.

■ Those attending the liturgy receive Communion standing rather than seated but will continue to receive the precious Blood seated.

■ The Way has no material goods but administers “spiritual goods” under the local bishop’s jurisdiction and oversight.

■ The Way’s programs to be coordinated with local activities of the parish.

■ The introductions to the readings; the resonance before the homily and the kiss of peace after the Prayers of the Faithful and before the Eucharistic Liturgy remain as before.

The Way around the world...

The Way today is present in 107 countries of the five continents, with 19,000 communities in 5,700 parishes of 1,200 dioceses. In Italy it has been active since 1968 and today has over 4,500 communities in 200 dioceses. In Brazil, there are approximately 3000 communities.

‘You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church’ is brilliant: without Peter we wouldn’t exist. It has been providential, through Paul VI, John Paul II, and also this Pope, that they have known how to help us and have known how to see the action of the Holy Spirit.

“That’s why I am expressing my gratitude for the Church being like a mother.”

Commenting on the New Evangelisation called for by Pope John Paul II and the role of the Way in contributing to a new missionary impetus from tyhe Church he said: “When Pope John Paul II spoke about “new evangelisation,” inventing these two new words, nobody understood exactly what he meant.

“Today, thanks to the new ecclesial reality, we can begin to understand that we are in need of a new evangelisation.

“John Paul II said, ‘New methods,

new content, new creativity, a new evangelisation that has new methods and content in her expression and in her realisation’.

“We think that now just because of the Statute and its recognition, it has reinforced us. The confirmation of the Way as a valid form of catechesis for the Tweny First century by the Church meant that it can launch again the families in mission, the itinerants, the young and the call for vocations.”

After years of formation in Neocatechumenal communities and at the invitation of bishops, some families choose to become missionary families in areas where no Neocatechumenal community exists or where the Church wants missoinary families to help build and spread the faith.

“We do this always as a help to the bishops,” Aguello said.

“We are a reality born just to help the parishes.”

... and in Perth

■ Fourteen communities existing in six parishes.

■ One seminary, Redemptoris Mater, in Camboon Rd, Morley with 20 seminarians currently studying for the priesthood.

■ Under an informal agreement with Archbishop Barry Hickey newly ordained priests serve in the Archdiocese of Perth for two years and then become available to work in the archdiocese or other dioceses as missionaries.

■ 25 priests have been ordained for Perth since the establishment of Redemptoris Mater in

August 1994. The seminary lives on Divine Providence.

Celebration: Members of Neocatechumenal communities in Perth sing and dance around the altar after the celebration of the Eucharist following an all-night vigil at Perth’s Redemptoris Mater Seminary held recently to honour the visit of the World Youth Day Cross, in foreground, and Icon.

PHOTO: PETER ROSENGREN

US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick blesses young men offering themselves for priesthood in the Neocatechumenal Way.

PHOTO:CNS

Backing: Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, has welcomed the approval of the Neocatechumenal Way, saying its unique approach brings “many fruits” to the life of the Church. PHOTO: CNS

UK Catholic agency defies same-sex couples adoption policy

A Catholic adoption agency headed by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor is to become the first in Britain to defy the Government over laws that would force it to place children with same-sex couples.

■ By Simon Caldwell

THE Catholic Children’s Society (Westminster) aims to stay open in spite of the new rules – and to continue its policy of placing children solely with married heterosexuals and single people.

Church lawyers believe they have found a way in which the charity can comply with the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs) and remain loyal to Catholic teaching opposed to both gay marriage and adoption by gay couples.

They hope that by simply amending its constitution to refer directly to “married heterosexual couples”, rather than the present reference to “couples who wish to adopt” they will fulfil the demands of the legislation. The agency, based in North Kensington, West London, will now begin a legal process to amend its constitution before the law kicks in on New Year’s Day.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, the president of the OCS, said: “I fully support the decision of the trustees in their endeavours to continue the valuable work of the society.”

The Cardinal is taking a risk that could see the charity’s actions challenged in the courts by campaigners.

But he also appears to be sending a clear message to other bishops that they should fight to save their remaining adoption agencies after a week that has seen one Manchester – based agency pull out of adoption altogether.

Another agency, also called Catholic Children’s Society, but covering the dioceses of Arundel and Brighton, Portsmouth and Southwark, confirmed days earlier that it would cut ties with the Church to stay open, possibly renaming itself the Cabrini Children’s Society. Catholic adoption agencies in Nottingham and Northampton have also declared that they will pursue independence from the Church.

The decision by the Westminster trustees will undoubtedly be welcomed by the many London Catholics who raise thousands of pounds for the agency each year, among them the comedian Frank Skinner, who in 2001 gave the CCs the £125,000 prize money he had won on ITV’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

The CCS has been advised that a new constitution could help the charity to comply with the legislation by appealing to Regulation 18 of the SOR’s.

This reads that “nothing in these regulations shall make it unlawful for a person to provide benefits only to a person of a particular sexual orientation if (a) he acts in pursuance of a charitable instrument and (b) the restrictions of benefits to persons of that sexual

orientation is imposed by reason of, or on the grounds of, the provisions of a charitable instrument.”

Jim Richards, director of the CCS, said: “our original constitution goes back to 1905 and, as you can imagine, in those days the SOR’s weren’t on the horizon. The assumption we made then, quite understandably, is that when we talked about adoption and couples we are talking about married couples, but because of the SORs we have to spell that out and make clear that what we are talking about is heterosexual married couples.

“We have received legal advice that indicates that this is a possibility and on the basis of that legal advice we are going forward to alter our constitutions and later in the summer we will be formally seeking approval from the Charity Commissions.”

Mr Richards said that, besides married couples, the agency would continue its policy of assessing single people, either heterosexual or homosexual, on the sole basis of the stable environment they could offer a homeless child.

“We simply want to continue to do what we have been doing for many, many years reasonably successfully,” he said. “Adoption is a very important part of the Church’s work with children who are extremely vulnerable.”

He said the crisis “need not have happened if the Government had given an exemption to the adoption agencies as governments in other EU countries did.”

“Other countries didn’t see adoption as goods and services and therefore adoption didn’t fall under their SOR’s,” he added. “This is a problem of the Government’s making which has been foisted on us.”

The CCS (Westminster) is the oldest Catholic adoption agency in

Lancaster has already indicated that it is his preferred option for the Catholic Caring Services to remain an agency of his diocese but has yet to convince the trustees – who favour independence from the Church – of its possible merits.

The agencies act by finding married couples and individuals willing to adopt and preparing them to meet legal and local authority criteria before they are matched with children put up for adoption by social workers.

Evidence suggests the best way to provide a better future for the 4,000 children in British care homes would be to give them a permanent family through adoption.

As Prime Minister Tony Blair pushed through laws designed to encourage greater use of adoption in 2002; as part of the reforms gay couples were allowed to adopt for the first time.

The SOR’s, introduced under the 2006 Equality Act, later ruled that adoption agencies which rejected same–sex couples could be breaking the law. The SOR’s created civil laws that give homosexuals the power to sue individuals or institutions for alleged discrimination in the provision of goods and services.

The Government intended it to be applied to Catholic adoption agencies and refused to grant them an exemption in spite of pleas from the bishops.

in brief

Vatican musical

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The Vatican has thrown its support behind an Italian musical highlighting the life of Mary.

The Vatican also hosted the show’s world premiere in the Paul VI audience hall on June 17.

“Mary of Nazareth: A Story That Continues” was sponsored by the pontifical councils for Culture and for Social Communications; the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone; the Italian Senate; and Rome’s city and regional governments.

Some 40 actors, 12 dancers and a 60-piece orchestra brought the story of “the most important woman in the history of humanity” to the stage.

At a June 10 press conference at the Vatican, Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, said he was pleased the council was sponsoring a musical dedicated to Mary. He said while the council does not see its role as a promoter of musicals this project stood out.

In a world that has lost so many values, people are still “nostalgic” and looking for sense and meaning in their lives, he said.

This show reminds people that Mary “is a woman of our times” who once again “presents (and) communicates Christ the Lord to mankind today,” he said.

“And that is why the pontifical council was pleased to see this show and gives its sponsorship,” he said.

the country and was founded by Bishop Richard Challoner in 1764 when penal laws made it illegal to be a Roman Catholic in Britain.

Today it supports some 3,000 children, young people and their families every year through a network of family centres and nurseries, and its fostering, adoption, counselling and child protection services, as well as its work with travellers and families on low incomes. Each year the society finds new families for about 15 “hard-to-place” children, most of whom are suffering from severe emotional or behavioural problems or who are disabled – and it is this service that is at risk from the regulations.

Auxiliary Bishop Bernard Longley of the CCS, announced the trustees’ decision in a letter to priests last week, saying it was made with regards to Catholic teaching on the ”centrality of marriage and the importance of family life”.

“The trustees are satisfied that the society’s circumstances are such that we are now able to take the necessary steps to comply with the legislation by applying Regulation 18 of the SOR’s.” he said.

“It is important to stress that the adoption services of our society are still very much open for business and applications from people wishing to adopt are most welcome at any time.”

The announcement came just days after the Catholic Children’s Rescue Society of the Diocese of Salford became the first of the 13 Catholic adoption agencies to say it would stop assessing potential adopters because of the SOR’s.

But with the Cardinal showing leadership, it is likely that other adoption agencies will now seriously consider pursuing a similar route to the CCS (Westminster).

Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue of

The SOR’s mean that if a samesex couple felt they had been discriminated against by an adoption agency on the basis of their sexual orientation they could take the charity to a county court.

If a judge then found against the charity, it is most likely that an order would be made forcing the agency to change its policies. Damages of thousands of pounds may also be awarded to the complainants.

Writing in The Catholic Herald last month, Neil Addison, a Liverpool-based barrister and the author of the legal textbook Religious Discrimination and Hatred Law, said that British Law on the SOR’s was untested and any court case launched against a Catholic adoption agency would have an uncertain outcome.

He said: “The SOR’s cannot be looked at in isolation. You also have to consider human rights protection for religious belief, equality legislation prohibiting religious discrimination and finally the Adoption Act, which makes welfare of the child the primary consideration.

“Many questions remain unanswered,” he said. “But when you have such a cocktail of law and competing rights you have ample scope for legal argument, negotiation and compromise.”

Mr Addison added he believed that the Church had a moral obligation to challenge the law.

He said: “the Church cannot withdraw from its social activities without compromising its essential nature and being seen as irrelevant.

“But that means that the Church and its organisations must be willing to fight and defend their right to provide services in accordance with Catholic principles.

“The Church may not win but if Catholic agencies are to be closed down and children deprived of these services let that be done – and seen to be done – by the Government and not the Church.”

No commitments have been made about where the show will play now that it has premiered at the Vatican.

“We have made contacts with people in South America, Europe, Italy and the Middle East,” said Sergio Pellerey, head of the show’s promotional agency, AIRAM.

Pauline inspiration

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI asked the whole Church to draw inspiration from the jubilee year dedicated to St Paul and to imitate the apostle’s courageous missionary efforts.

St Paul demonstrated that with firm faith “we can overcome every form of fear,” the Pope said at a Sunday blessing on June 22.

The Pope officially was to open the Pauline year at a prayer service on June 28 in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, where the saint’s tomb is located.

At his Sunday blessing, the pope spoke about the role of faith in conquering fear. He cited an episode from a difficult period in the evangelising efforts of St Paul, when God appeared in a vision and told him: “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you.”

In fact, St Paul continued to preach with courage, suffering martyrdom in the end, the Pope said.

The Church is now preparing to celebrate the 2000th year of his birth with the jubilee year, he said.

“May this great spiritual and pastoral event stimulate in us a renewed faith in Jesus Christ, who calls us to announce and witness his Gospel without any fear,” he said.

Won’t back down: Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor has vowed to resist British laws forcing Catholic adoption agencies to place orphans with same-sex couples. The Church argues that every child is best cared for in the context of feminine and masculine parental love in a family.

PHOTO: CNS

Be responsibile now: Obama to black dads

FATHER’S Day in the US brought hard-hitting comment from black leaders. Presidential candidate Barack Obama preached a message of responsibility to black fathers at a church in his hometown, saying too many were missing from their families lives, “acting like boys instead of men” and weakening “the foundations of our families”.

Obama himself grew up without his father from the age of two, but said he was lucky to have loving grandparents who helped his mother.

“I resolved many years ago that it was my obligation to break the cycle - that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father to my girls,” he told the congregation.

He urged black parents to demand the best from themselves and their children - not to be satisfied with just B grades but to go for A’s.

Comedian Bill Cosby, who has been hassling black dads for several years, wrote a comment in USA Today together with Alvin F Poussaint. Unemployment and imprisonment made many black men unmarriageable but they tried to prove their manliness by sexual conquests; abandoning their “drive-by babies” only showed their insecurity. Many had never seen a real father in action.

However, there were now many organised efforts to help young black men. Some avoided their children because they saw themselves as bad role models.

“What they need to appreciate is that from the moment they commit themselves to their child, they can still become good role models,” said Cosby and Poussaint.  MERCATORNET

Broadcasters must pay for breaches

Continued from page 7

Authority should use its existing powers to impose additional conditions on the broadcaster’s license.

In the event of subsequent breaches, ACMA should use its powers to pursue a civil penalty, refer the matter for prosecution as an offence and suspend or cancel the license.

Other new measures in the Senate committee’s recommendations were that each broadcaster should have a nominated complaints officer within its organisation whose sole role is to respond to complaints.

“The officer should be separate from the program, production and scheduling sections, and from the area responsible for classifying or rating programs.

“Officers should receive relevant training in the appropriate code of conduct and complaint management. The contact details of the complaints officer should be published on the website of the broadcaster, industry body and ACMA,” the inquiry recommended.

This recommendation, and others in the committee’s final report, were not widely reported in the general media.

The Senate committee also recommended that all broadcasters should amend their codes of practice website capabilities to allow viewers to make complaints about the code by email or electronically.

“Email and electronic complaints about coderelated issues should receive the same response as a written complaint,” it said.

The Senate inquiry also said a log of all telephone complaints received by free-to-air commercial television stations should be maintained.

The log should include a short summary of each complaint, and should be provided to Free TV Australia and the ACMA.

The inquiry also found that the classification watermark showing each program’s rating should be clearly visible throughout program promotions on free-to-air television stations. This would “increase viewer awareness of the classification of the program being promoted.”

A number of Church bodies including the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Archdioceses of Melbourne and Adelaide made submissions to the inquiry during its public consultation phase.

Devoted to God since age 10

Fr Giovanni Fontana, 1939-2008

FR GIOVANNI Fontana CRS (pictured recently, above during the visit of the World Youth Day Cross and Icon), was born in Sale Langhe, Italy, on November 1, 1939.

The first-born of a humble family of peasants with five children, Giovanni entered the minor seminary when he was just 10 years old.

At the age of 17 he made his first Profession of Religious vows in the Order of the Somascan Fathers and 10 years later - on March 5, 1966 - he was ordained a priest in Rome.

The first period of his priestly life was spent in his native Italy and was completely devoted to the care and education of youth.

This is the most specific apostolate of the Somascan Fathers, founded by St Jerome Emiliani in 1532 for the care of orphans.

In 1988 Fr Giovanni was sent to India to start the first Somascan community in that country, where in 17 years of tireless activity he aided scores of vocations and built several formation houses and youth centres for orphan and street children.

On July 25, 2005, Fr Giovanni joined the Somascan community at St Jerome’s, Spearwood.

During his first period in Western Australia he devoted himself particularly to the care of the elderly and sick of the area (including at the Murdoch Hospice).

In June 2007 he was appointed Acting parish priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Hilton, where he served until March 2008.

During the last three months of life Fr Giovanni was entrusted with the care of the Italian population in several areas of the Diocese - Northbridge, Leederville, Morley, and Kalamunda, apart from Spearwood.

Fr Giovanni passed away suddenly on June 6 due to heart failure.

His Requiem Mass at St Jerome’s Church on June 15 was presided over by Archbishop Barry Hickey and concelebrated by 52 priests - a reflection of the mark he left on his brother priests.

Hundreds of faithful from all the places where Fr Giovanni was well known for his apostolic zeal came to pay their last respects to this gentle, humble, fervent and exceedingly energetic servant of the people of God.

Fr John Ryan new Vicar for health

ARCHBISHOP Barry Hickey has appointed Fr John Ryan as Episcopal Vicar for Health in the Archdiocese.

Until May 25, Fr Ryan was Parish Priest at Scarborough, but health chaplaincy has been the dominant feature of his 30 years of priesthood.

In his new role, he replaces Fr Sean Bredin OSCam who has left because of the withdrawal of the Camillian Fathers from the Archdiocese.

Fr Ryan was born in Sydney in 1936 and when he became an altar boy at the Concord Church he was the seventh generation of his family to do so.

At 16, he joined the Blessed Sacrament Fathers novitiate at Bowral, but left before completing the program.

He worked mainly in the furniture trade and established a reputation as a furniture designer before coming to WA in 1970 at the age of 34. He said he came for a holiday, but was willing to stay if he was offered a job. He was offered two in furniture design, accepted one and is still here.

Like many young men, John had wandered from the practice of the Faith, but he was very keen on music and used to attend the sung Masses at the Cathedral when Annette Georke was in charge of music.

He remembers vividly that on the 26th Sunday of Year C, the readings suddenly and unexpectedly made clear sense to him. His faith returned, he returned to the Faith, and a couple of years later he asked Archbishop Goody to send him to St Paul’s in Kensington, NSW, the seminary for late vocations. His intention at the time was to become a permanent deacon.

He was ordained a deacon by the late Bishop Robert Healy in December 1975 and was appointed to Rockingham. He recalls his first sermon and his extreme nervousness.

Unknown to him, Bishop Healy was standing outside the window listening to him, and later gave him the nod of approval. His nerves were so obvious that one of the congregation, Mrs Marie McLernon, told him she spent the entire sermon praying that he would not stop.

He went on to establish a reputation as a good preacher and teacher.

One of his achievements was to deliver a

five-hour commentary on ABC-TV when Pope John Paul II visited Perth and said Mass at Belmont Park racecourse. He sat in the studio in Adelaide Tce watching two monitors and commenting on the pictures of whichever one the producer directed him to.

After a year in Rockingham he returned to St Paul’s for two more years study and was then ordained a priest by Archbishop Goody in the Rockingham church in 1978. He was appointed Assistant Priest at Armadale and then spent several month as Administrator of Whitford.

During his second stint at St Paul’s, his pastoral experience was gained as an assistant at Caritas Centre at St Vincent’s Hospital. It was the Sydney centre for admissions for people with serious psychiatric problems.

In 1979, Archbishop Goody asked him to become the Catholic Chaplain to Royal Perth Hospital. The appointment was to the entire hospital – patients, nurses, doctors, board members, cleaners and anyone else who wanted his help, whether Catholic or not.

At Caritas, his training included a weeklong seminar on death and dying by the famed Dr Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. At RPH he was invited to be a founding member of the Hospital Palliative Care and Patient Assistance Advisory Committee to conduct a feasibility study on provision of a domicilary service for the terminally ill, regardless of age or disease.

When introduced, this palliative care program included a non-denominational chaplaincy service to visit patients at home and to put them in touch with suitable ministers of their own religion as required. Fr Ryan was the coordinator.

Then, in 1981-82 he was on the Steering Committee of the Hospice Palliative Care Service.

The palliative care program spread throughout the metropolitan area and to regional centres. Fr Ryan participated in professional and public seminars on palliating the physical, mental and spiritual pain at times of loss.

In 1988 Archbishop Foley sent him to Rome to study the pastoral theology of health care at the Institute for Pastoral Theology

newly established by the Camillians. The two-year course was delivered entirely in Italian and Fr Ryan had only two months beforehand in Rome to start to pick up the language. He also lived with the Camillians who would allow only Italian to be spoken.

After completing the course he returned to Perth in 1990 and was appointed Chaplain to Hollywood Hospital and Parish Priest at Shenton Park. In 1996-97 he completely refurbished St Aloysius’ Church at Shenton Park.

At the end of 1997 he went on loan to Melbourne for two years, and soon after his return he was appointed Parish Priest at Scarborough in April 2001.

In his new role as Episcopal Vicar for Health, Fr Ryan will:

■ Support Catholic Health Care and encourage Catholic Chaplains in Catholic hospitals and in other private and public hospitals.

■ Liaise with Pastoral Care departments in hospitals on the conditions relating to Chaplains, particularly in teamwork, ecumenical cooperation, hours of attendance, and access to Catholic patients.

■ Represent Catholic Chaplains with hospital administrators and government departments about adequate remuneration.

■ Encourage and assist Catholic initiatives in post-abortion trauma.

■ Be a resource person for seminarians and priests, including priests new to the Archdiocese, in health matters.

■ Be available to lecture at Maranatha, on CPE courses, and seminars on health-related matters, and pastoral care of the sick.

■ Offer assistance to Catholic Health Care organisations such as MercyCare, St John of God Health Care, Knights of the Southern Cross, Catholic Homes and Religious Congregations.

■ Ensure that the Church continues to offer pastoral care and support in the area of mental health.

■ When requested speak on behalf of the Archbishop on health matters and represent him.

■ Be the Church’s representative on the Council of Churches Chaplaincy Committee for health matters.

Farewell: A member of the congregation at St Jerome’s Parish Church in Spearwood, farewells Fr Giovanni Fontana at his funeral on June 15. Fr Fontana, a Somascan priest, was chaplain to the Italian Catholic community in a number of areas, including Spearwood. PHOTO: EUGEN MATTES

kids pics Kids bitz jokes

~ DEAR PARENTS/ GRANDPARENTS ~

If you have great kids recipes please share them with us and we will publish your recipe in kidz bitz with your name.

send to: Justine Stevens, The Record, PO Box 75 Leederville WA 6902 or email production@therecord.com.au

~ DEAR KIDS!~

If you would like your poems, drawings or photos published please send them to:

Justine Stevens, The Record, PO Box 75 Leederville WA 6902 or email production@therecord.com.au

puzzles

BIBLE BRAINTEASERs

OUR LADY BRAINTEASER

Which one does not belong in each list and why?

o Guadalupe, Medjugorje, Fatima, Lourdes

o Vessel of Honour, Lady in White, Seat of Wisdom, Tower of Ivory

o Scapular, Asperges, Rosary, Miraculous Medal

o Black Madonna, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Assunta, Ave Maria

Solutions from catholic culture brainteaser

o Hagia Sophia: Hagia Sophia was originally the Church of Holy Wisdom built by Emperor Constantine in Istanbul. It was then claimed as an Imperial Mosque by a Sultan who was impressed by its mosaic beauty. In 1934 the Turkish President declared it a museum. All the others are world famous Catholic Churches. Kölner Dom is the Cathedral of Cologne. Notre Dame is the Cathedral of Chartres. St Peter’s is the Basilica of Rome

o Prague: Manilla, Rome and Denver have all been World Youth Day host cities. Prague has not.

o Schoenstatt: Schoenstatt is a Secular Institute. All the others are Religious Institutes according to the Canon of the Church.

o Barnabas: Barnabas was the saint who accompanied St Paul in Greece, Rome and Asia Minor, bringing many Gentiles to the Church. John, Pius and Benedict were all names taken by Popes of the Church.

Benedict: Cool stance.

THE preacher was wired for sound with a lapel mic, and as he preached, he moved briskly about the platform, jerking the mic cord as he went. Then he moved to one side, getting wound up in the cord and nearly tripping before jerking it again.

After several circles and jerks, a little girl in the third pew leaned toward her mother and whispered,”If he gets loose, will he hurt us?”

*************************************************

SIXYEAR old Angie and her four-year old brother, Joel, were sitting together in church. Joel giggled, sang and talked out loud.

Finally, his big sister had had enough. “You’re not supposed to talk out loud in church.” “Why? Who’s going to stop me?” Joel asked.

Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, “See those two men standing by the door? They’re hushers.” **************************************************

MY grandson was visiting one day when he asked, “Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?”

I mentally polished my halo while I asked, “No, how are we alike?”

“You’re both old,” he replied. **************************************************

A TENYEAR old, under the tutelage of her grandmother, was becoming quite knowledgeable about the Bible.

Then one day she floored her grandmother by asking, “Which Virgin was the mother of Jesus? The Virgin Mary or the King James Virgin?”

*************************************************

A SUNDAY School class was studying the Ten Commandments. They were ready to discuss the last one. The teacher asked if anyone could tell her what it was. Susie raised her hand, stood tall and quoted, “Thou shalt not take the covers off thy neighbor’s wife.” *************************************************

KIDS COOKING

EGGS BENEDICT

Ingredients:

4 English muffins

4 poached eggs (see tip)

100g smoked salmon

1 bunch asparagus, trimmed, blanched

Hollandaise sauce

4 egg-yolks

2 tablespoons water

180g clarified butter (see tip)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Method:

1. Split the muffins. Toast lightly and keep warm. 2. Hollandaise sauce. Whisk yolks with water in a heatproof bowl. Whisk over a saucepan of simmering water until pale and creamy. Continue whisking for 2-3 minutes, until thick.

3. Remove from heat. Whisk in cooled butter a little at a time until thickened. Blend in lemon juice, season to taste. Set aside.

4. Meanwhile, arrange muffins on plates. Top with an egg and smoked salmon. Accompany with spears of asparagus. Serve immediately, drizzled with sauce.

Top tips

To make clarified butter, melt butter over low heat until three layers form. Skim off white froth. Allow milk solids to drop to bottom. Pour butter into a jug, discarding sediment in bottom of pan. To poach eggs, break them into a frying pan of gently simmering water with a splash of vinegar (this aids setting of the egg). Simmer until cooked — splash a little hot water over the eggs during cooking.

Serving size: Serves 4

Cooking time: Less than 15 minutes

ST AGNES BISCUITS

Ingredients:

125g sugar

300g butter

375g flour

apricot jam

Method:

Combine the first three ingredients and work to a smooth dough.

Refrigerate for 10 minutes, Roll out dough to a thickness of about 6mm. Cut out an even number of circles about 5 cm in diameter. Let dough rest for 1/2 hour. Bake at moderate temperature (175c) about 12 minutes. Spread apricot jam on one circle and cover with a second circle.

Serves: about 36 biscuits

Fairy Kate: Off to her friend’s fairy party.

Panorama

A roundup of events in the Archdiocese

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 constitute a classified event, and will be charged accordingly. The Record reserves the right to decline or modify any advertisment.

June 27 – August 8

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT SEMINAR

Meet Jesus in a personal relationship of love, and discover the power of His Spirit working through you! The Gosnells Charismatic Prayer Group presents this 7 week seminar, Friday evenings, 8pm - 9.30pm at Gosnells Church, 175 Corfield St, Gosnells. Starts June 27. Details from Carol 9456 5835 (A/H).

Sunday June 29

PERTH WYD SUNDAY SESH #5 GRAND FINALE!

6pm with Mass at St Joachim Parish, 122 Shepperton Road, Victoria Park, the Sesh will commence at 7.15pm. All WYD Leaders and Pilgrims must attend. Theme: We belong to the worldwide Church and Perth days in the diocese. Guest Speaker: Paul Kelly. All welcome. Enq: Tammy 9422 7944 or www.wydperth.com http://www.wydperth.com

Sunday June 29

FEAST OF THE SACRED HEART

2.30pm at Our Lady’s Assumption Church, 356 Grand Prom, Dianella. Procession and Solemn Mass. All welcome, join in praying for peace in the world and our families. Associations please bring your banners. Enq: Franco 9275 4504.

Sunday June 29

BULLSBROOK SHRINE PILGRIMAGE

2pm at Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Road Bullsbrook. Pilgrimage includes Rosary, Pilgrimage Mass 2.30pm, procession to the Shrine, Benediction, and blessing of the sick. All welcome. Reconciliation 1.30pm prior to Pilgrimage Mass celebrated at the Shrine every Sunday. Enq: 9447 3292.

Wednesday July 2

DAY OF REFLECTION

10.45am to 3pm at Mary MacKillop Centre, 16 York St, South Perth. Come on guided tour Pilgrimage of the Mary MacKillop Centre; learn more about Saint Blessed Mary MacKillop. Visit the Museum, Mary MacKillop shop, and Personal Prayer in the Chapel. Arrive early for morning tea. BYO and share. Cost: Donation. Everyone Welcome Enq: Sister Maree 04 1468 3926.

Wednesday July 2

AN UNDERSTANDING AND COPING WITH GRIEF WORKSHOP

7.30pm to 9pm at Immaculate Conception Parish Centre, 2 Preston Point Road, East Fremantle. Facilitated by Gerry Smith, (Director of Grief Management Educational Services) Issues relating to life-changing situations, i.e. divorce, employment loss, children leaving home, getting old, or mental illness. Workshop is free. Enq: Barbara 9328 8113.

Thursday July 3 PRAYER AND MEDITATION SERVICE

Commencing at 7.30pm at Our Lady of Grace, 3 Kitchener St North Beach, using songs from Taize. Spend time in prayerful, meditative silence, bathed in candlelight reflecting on themed readings. Enq: Beth 9447 0061 or Office 9448 4888.

Friday July 4

PROLIFE WITNESS

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

Friday July 4 HOLY HOUR FOR VOCATIONS TO THE PRIESTHOOD AND RELIGIOUS LIFE

Commencing with Holy Mass at 7pm, Celebrant Fr Saminedi, at Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, 2 Rawlins Street, Glendalough. Holy Hour Adoration at 7.30pm with Fr Don Kettle. All welcome. Refreshments provided.

Friday July 4

CATHOLIC FAITH RENEWAL  PRAISE AND WORSHIP

Commencing at 7.30pm at St John and Paul’s Church, Pinetree, Gully Road, Willeton. Talk on Mary v Martha by Fr Greg Donovan and Thanksgiving Mass. Refreshments after Mass. All welcome, bring family and friends. Enq: Rita 9272 1465 or Rose 0403 300 720.

Saturday July 5

WITNESS FOR LIFE

Commencing with Mass at St Augustine’s, Gladstone Road. Rivervale at 8.30am, followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at abortion clinic, led by Fr Paul Carey SSC. Enq Helene 9402 0349.

Saturday July 5

DAY WITH MARY

9am to 5pm, at Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament Church, Corfield and Isdell, Gosnells. 9am Video on Fatima. Day of prayer and instruction based upon the Fatima message. Reconciliation, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons on the Eucharist and Our Lady by His Grace Archbishop Hickey, Rosaries, Blessed Sacrament Procession and Stations of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enq: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.

Sunday July 6

INTERNATIONAL FOOD FAIR ST EMILIE DE VIALAR

BUILDING FUND

10am - 3pm, St Emilie’s Primary School, 151 Amherst Road, Canning Vale. Savour authentic flavours from Australia, Asia, Europe and more. Sniff great buys at Bargain Corner, live band, games, and great prizes at the Treasure Trove. Coupons $10, now on sale All Welcome! Enq: Francis 0437 562 263 lksltt@yahoo.com Dominic 0447 053 347 celestialorchids@gmail.com

Sunday July 7

DIVINE MERCY  AN AFTERNOON WITH JESUS AND MARY

1.30pm at St Joachim’s Church, Shepperton Road Victoria Park. Holy Rosary and Reconciliation, Sermon on St Thomas the Apostle by Fr Hugh Thomas. Divine Mercy prayers and Benediction. Refreshments, then Video/DVD, The Power of the Holy Rosary Part 1, with Fr John Corapi. Enq: John 9457 7771 or Linda 9275 6608.

Wednesday July 9

CHAPLETS OF THE DIVINE MERCY

7.30 pm at St Thomas More Catholic Church Dean Road Bateman. A beautiful, prayerful, sung devotion, held on the second Wednesday of each month. All are welcome. Enq: George 9310 9493(hm) or 9325 2010(wk).

Thursday July 10

PERTH DAYS IN THE DIOCESE YOUTH FESTIVAL

From 2pm to 10pm, on the Perth Esplanade. Come join thousands of young people from around the world travelling to Perth prior to WYD, with live bands, dance, powerful speakers, street theatre, drama and indigenous performances. Tickets: visit wydperth.com, email wydperth@highgate–perthcatholic.org.au mailto:wydperth@highgate and #8211;perthcatholic. org.au Silvana 08 9422 7944.

Every Friday to July 11

NEW LIFE IN GOD’S SPIRIT SEMINAR

7.30pm – 9.30pm, St Brigid’s Church, Corner Aberdeen and Fitzgerald Street Northbridge. Be filled with grace, love and power of the Holy Spirit. Renew your faith by listening to talks and testimonies given by Charismatic Priests and laypeople. Enq: Jenni 9445 1028 or 0404389679.

Saturday July 12

ST PADRE PIO PRAYER GROUP

8.45am with St Padre Pio DVD, at All Saints Catholic Chapel, Allendale Square, 77 St Georges Terrace, Perth. 10am Exposition of the Blessed

Sacrament, Rosary, Adoration and Benediction. 1pm Holy Mass, St Padre Pio liturgy. Lunch 2pm BYO lunch. Tea and coffee provided. All welcome. Enq: Des 6278 1540.

Saturday July 12

PERTH DAYS IN THE DIOCESE COMMISSIONING MASS

10am, on the Perth Esplanade, come celebrate with all the pilgrims heading off to WYD. Mass celebrated by Archbishop Hickey, concelebrated by international bishops and priests from around the world. Details for tickets visit wydperth.com or email wydperth@highgate-perthcatholic.org. au. or Silvana 08 9422 7944.

Wednesday July 16 CATHOLICS RETURNING HOME

A meeting for Parish organisers and interested persons, to advance this programe, will be held at 36 Windsor St Perth at 1.30pm. Enq: Thea, 9458 3724 or Fred 9447 5433.

Sunday July 13

THE WORLD APOSTOLATE OF FATIMA  HOLY HOUR OF REPARATION

3pm at St Mary’s Church, Franklin Street, Leederville. All welcome. Enq: Diana 9339 2614.

Monday July 21

ST PIO PRAYER GROUP DEVOTION MASS  WYD

Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Dominica Ambrosia at the Capuchin Church in Sydney. Details and bookings travel to Sydney phone Nick 9378 2684.

Wednesday July 23

ST SIMON PETER PLAYERS  PUBLIC MEETING

7.30pm at St Simon Peters Parish Centre. An inter-parish Performing Arts Group seeks players and crew for its 2009 original production, The Story of the Three Marys, Mary of Nazareth, Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene. No experience necessary. Enq: Gerald 9404 7292.

Friday July 25

MEDJUGORJE EVENING OF PRAYER

7pm with Adoration, Meditation and Rosary at Santa Clara Parish, Palmerston Street, Bentley. All welcome to an Evening of Prayer with Our Lady Queen of Peace, followed by Holy Mass. Concluding 9pm. Enq: Eileen 9402 2480.

Thursday July 26 to Sunday July 29

FEAST OF ST PETER AND PAUL

6.30pm with Reconciliation at Good Shepherd Church, Lockridge. 7pm Rosary, 7.30pm Speaker.

Saturday, 5.30pm Reconciliation, 6.30pm Vigil Mass 7.30pm Speaker. Sunday, Feast of St Peter and St Paul 9.30am Mass. New members will be instituted into the Order of St Peter and St Paul. Enq: Nick De Luca (famdeluca@optusnet. com.au).

Friday August 8 – Sunday August 10

SEPARATED, DIVORCED WIDOWED  BEGINNING

EXPERIENCE WEEKEND

The next weekend programme will be held at Epiphany Retreat Centre, Rossmoyne. To assist and support people in learning to close the door gently on a relationship that has ended in order to get on with living. Enq: Bev 9332 7971 or Margaret 9294 4892.

Every 1st Tuesday of the Month

HEALING MASS

7.30pm at St Joachim’s Parish Hall, Shepparton Road, Victoria Park Incorporating, hymns, spiritual reflection and Novena to God the Father. Enq: Jan 9323 8089.

Every Saturday

VIDEO / DVD NIGHT

Starting after the 6.30pm Mass, at St. Joseph’s Church, 20 Hamilton Street, Bassendean. A variety of Videos/Dvd’s, will be shown i.e. The Saints, Conversion Stories, Catholic Teaching

etc. Videos approx. 30mins. Want to learn more about our Catholic faith? Bring the family, no charge. June 14 showing Saints and Catholic Rome. June 21 Padre Pio - The Man Who Knew Suffering.

Every Saturday HOLY SPIRIT OF FREEDOM CHARISMATIC PRAYER MEETING

10.30am to 12.30pm at St Peter the Apostle Parish Hall, 91 Wood Street, Inglewood. All welcome. Enq: 9475 0155.

First Friday of Each Month

GENERAL PRAYER ASSEMBLY

7.30pm at St Joachim Parish Hall, Shepperton Road, Victoria Park. The couples for Christ and its Family Ministries welcome all members who now reside or are visiting Perth to join the community in its monthly general prayer assembly. Enq: Tony and Dolly Haber 9440 4540.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Jesuit Volunteers Australia calls for part-time volunteers to respond to the needs of people in the community who live in marginalised circumstances. At the heart of this program is a reflective process, based on Gospel values, which underpins the work of the volunteers. To learn more: www.jss.org.au. Enq: Kevin Wringe 9316 3469 or email kwringe@iinet.net.au.

Every Sunday

LATIN MASS KELMSCOTT

The Latin Mass according to the 1962 missal will be offered every Sunday at 2pm at the Good Shepherd Parish, 40-42 Streich Avenue, Kelmscott, with Rosary preceding. All welcome.

Every Tuesday

THE GOSPEL OF ST MATTHEW  COURSE

Every Tuesday 7.30pm St Joachim’s Parish Hall, Shepperton Road, Victoria Park. Exciting revelations into the Gospel of St Matthew are being offered free of charge. Conducted by Fr Douglas Rowe SFP. Participants will be introduced into an insightful exploration of this fascinating Gospel. Light refreshments will follow. Please bring your bible and a friend.

VOLUNTEER DRIVER

Emmanuel Centre is looking for a volunteer who has a truck and who will take newspapers for recycling from East Perth to Canning Vale. Every couple of months we have five-tonne of bundled newspapers for recycling. Please call Fr Paul 9328 8113 or ring pager 9480 5960.

First Friday and First Saturday COMMUNION OF REPARATION ALL NIGHT VIGIL

Corpus Christi Church, Mosman Park, 47 Lochee Road. Starting with Mass at 7pm on Friday with Father Bogoni and concluding with Mass at midnight. Confessions, Rosaries, Prayers and silent Adoration every hour. Please join us for reparation to The Two Hearts according to the message of Our Lady of Fatima. Enq: Vicky 0400 282 357.

First Friday of the Month WITNESS FOR LIFE

Pro-Life Mass at St Brigid’s, Midland starting at 9.30am. Followed by Rosary, procession and prayer vigil at abortion clinic. Led by Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. Enq: Helene 9403 2444.

BOOK DONATIONS WANTED

Can you help? We urgently need donations of Altar Vessels, Catholic books, Bibles, Divine Office, Missals, Lectionaries, Sacramentaries etc. Telephone: (08) 9293 3092.

Editor: Long submissions will be edited without any ruth.

MISSION MATTERS

Missionary reflections on the Feast of St Paul Today’s feast celebrates 2000 years since the birth of St Paul. From persecuting Jesus’ followers he was called to be an Apostle, fired with love for Jesus and the gospel. His zealous missionary journeys across Asia Minor and ancient Greece see him fearlessly proclaiming the liberating power of Jesus’ death and resurrection. If Jesus proclaimed the reign of God, Paul in turn becomes the founder of Christianity and its missionary mandate, establishing communities across Asia Minor and Greece, with the intent that they would send out members from their own as missionaries of the gospel. Hardships tested Paul’s work but as he wrote to his loved disciple Timothy “The Lord stood by me and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all might hear it”. Are we not all called to live our faith with the same conversion and missionary zeal as St Paul in our everyday lives?

Now for something different...

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his five-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: ‘Daddy, can I ask you a question?’

DAD: ‘Yeah sure, what it is?’ he replied.

SON: ‘Daddy, how much do you make an hour?’

DAD: ‘That’s none of your business.

Why do you ask such a thing?’ the man said angrily.

SON: ‘I just want to know.

Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?’

DAD: ‘If you must know, I make $50 an hour.’

SON: ‘Oh,’ the little boy replied, hanging his head.

After a second or two he then looked up at his father, ‘Daddy, may I please borrow $25?’ he said. The father was furious.

‘If the only reason you asked was so you could borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed.

Think about why you are being so selfish. I don’t work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.’

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions.

‘How dare he ask such questions, just to get some money?’ he grumbled.

However after an hour or so, the man had calmed down and started to think:

‘Maybe there was something he really

needed to buy with that $25. After all, he rarely asked for money’. He went to the little boy’s room and opened the door.

DAD: ‘Are you asleep, son?’

SON: ‘No daddy, I’m awake’.

DAD: ‘I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier’.

‘It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $25 you asked for.’

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. ‘Oh, thank you daddy!’ He yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled notes and began to slowly count out his money.

When the man saw that the boy already had money, he again became angry.

DAD: ‘Why did you want more money if you already had some?’ he yelled.

SON: ‘Because I didn’t have enough before, but now I do. I have $50.’

Then looking up into his father’s eyes, he asked, ‘ Daddy can I please buy an hour of your time?

Maybe you could come home early tomorrow and we could spend some time together?’

The father was crushed.

He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness. This is just a reminder to all those who get so caught up in work that they overlook those who really matter.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we work for will be able to easily replace us, but the family and friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

Make time for living while you’re still breathing.

-Don’t wait for your child to borrow $25!

ACCOMMODATION

■ ST ANNE’S CHURCH, BINDOON accom for retreat/family/group or single $25 per night or $100 for family or group. BYO food. Tea/coffee provided. Tel 9576 0975.

BUILDING TRADES

■ BRICK REPOINTING

Phone Nigel 9242 2952.

■ PERROTT PAINTING PTY LTD

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

■ BRICKLAYING

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

■ PICASSO PAINTING

Top service. Phone 0419 915 836, fax 9345 0505.

CHRISTIAN SINGLES

Meet other Christian singles over small group dinners or on individual dates. FigTrees is Perth’s ONLY genuine Christian dating agency. So, call 9472 8218 to make an appointment or check out our web site figtrees.com.au. 9-328 Albany Highway, Victoria Park. Open Tues-Fri 10am - 6pm.

HEALTH

■ DEMENTIA REMISSION

Do you, or your loved one, suffer Dementia. Get into Dementia Remission like me! http://www. wgrey.com.au/dm/index.htm or (02) 9971 8093.

BOOK REPAIRS

■ REPAIR YOUR LITURGICAL BOOKS

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

FURNITURE REMOVAL

■ ALL AREAS

Mike Murphy 0416 226 434.

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS

■ KINLAR VESTMENTS

‘Modern meets tradition.’ Quality hand-made & decorated. Vestments, altar cloths, banners. Vickii Smith Veness. 9402 8356 or 0409 114 093.

■ 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 Street, Perth Ph 9322 4520. Convenient city location for a good selection of cards, candles, statues, medals, apparel and gifts for baptism, reconciliation, communion, confirmation and weddings. We also stock a range of Monastique skin care product made by the Carmelite Sisters, fashion accessories, jewellery, handbags and Australian made gifts. Opening hours 8.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Thursday. 8.30am to 7pm Fridays.

IN MEMORIAM

PENDAL (Hon. Phillip George)

A very warm tribute to Phil, highly respected and admired close friend since YCW days, 45 years ago. A man of principle, conscience, independence, courage, faith and the utmost integrity. We will not see his like again. Deepest sympathy to Maxine and family.

Rob O’Connor

Name:

Address:

Suburb:

Postcode:

Telephone:

Mass of Fr Pavol Herda, Slovak Republic - Archbishop Hickey

Joondanna - Bishop Sproxton

Greenmount - Fr Brian O’Loughlin VG Servite College, 50th Anniversary BallFr Brian O’Loughlin VG 29 Confirmation, Manning - Bishop Sproxton

Mass for Pauline Year, Mt Lawley - Fr Brian O’Loughlin VG

The Last Word

Appeal sees streets through eyes of homeless

The question is, can we help?

■ By Anthony Barich

THE St Vincent de Paul Society used the proverbial sledgehammer to launch its Winter Appeal on June 4.

The Society, publicly called Vinnies now, aims to “personalise the predicament of many in our community living in desperation” by displaying a collection of images taken by homeless people and those who assist them at the Central Design Centre at Central TAFE in Northbridge.

Vinnies WA State president Genevieve De Souza said the images are striking, gritty and sometimes moving representations that give the wider public an interior view of the lives of homeless people who took the photographs.

“The Winter Appeal aims to put a face to the faceless population – the homeless, and bring back the idea that these people are not strangers, they could be your mother, brother or sister,” Ms De Souza said.

Some were chosen because of their artistic value, others for their simplicity.

All of them are honest snapshots of their lives.

The Winter Appeal, that officially started on May 1, runs until the end of July, is themed “This time it’s personal” this year, and aims to raise $600,000.

Ms De Souza said that Australia is now the world leader in unaf-

fordable housing, “and for most Australians the dream of home ownership is over and renting has become impossible... The generalisation that homeless people are predominantly older men is no longer the case,” she said.

“The average homeless person is now a 35-year-old male.”

Over 100,000 Australians are homeless, 60 per cent of whom have been so for over a year. Of the 100,000, 58 per cent are males.

Housing stress and eviction are the two most significant issues facing families this winter, especially younger, lower income families, says Vinnies.

A quarter of homeless are children under 18, and 45 per cent of homeless people are so due to “serious problems with interpersonal relationships” like domestic violence, family breakdown, conflict and abuse.

Beneath the surface, though, there are other underlying problems, like financial crises, which impacts on their ability to buy food, housing, clothing and healthcare – things the rest of us often take for granted.

About 2000 Vinnies volunteers and 410 Vinnies Youth Members work in WA, helping homeless men, women, children, families and youth through “Special Works” – helping out with household information, overseas partnerships, refugee and migrant support, youth programs, clothing and furniture and mental health issues.

To donate to the Society phone 13 18 12 or log onto www.vinnies.org.au

Home: While most Western Australians get into a warm bed every night this Perth man, and many others like him, sleep in whatever they can find - in this case an upturned concrete building block on parkland. PHOTOS: COURTESY ST VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY

Food: The homeless must scrounge for basic foodstuffs, and often have little means to preare their meals.

Cold comfort: As winter sets in, clothes, shelter and a place to sleep are absolute priorities; but they’re not always available.

My place: Part of the problem of homelessness is that the environments offering shelter are often devoid of comfort, brutal in physical and psychological ways.