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On the outskirts of Perth, filled with migrants and young families, it’s
A proud day for St Helena’s
St Helena’s Parish Priest Francis Nguyen, colleague Fr John Arulraj and altar server Stacie Braganza enjoy the occasion of St Helena’s dedication and official opening last Sunday.
By Robert Hiini MORE than 12 years after Ellenbrook Catholics celebrated their first Mass in the area, the long hoped for church of St Helena of the Holy Cross was opened with great joy last Sunday, March 25. Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB began by blessing the large crowd gathered outside, receiving the plans of the church and unfastening the ribbons tied across the church doors. The faithful packed the pews, rear aisles and entrance way as the
Archbishop stood at the baptismal font, ready to bless the growing community inside. During the Mass, after a litany lead by seminarian Matthew Hodgson, the Archbishop uttered the prayer of dedication before anointing the altar with the Oil of Chrism, covering it and lathing it with his bare hands. Parish priest Fr Francis Nguyen and Fr Tony Vallis then anointed the walls before Archbishop Costelloe incensed the altar, followed by members of the parish building committee who dressed
it with cloth and candles. “Before anything else, we are disciples of Jesus; committed to following Him, to serving him and to loving Him,” Archbishop Costelloe said in his homily. “He is the treasure that we want to hold close to our hearts as a parish community. He is the treasure for which we are prepared to give up everything else.” Ellenbrook Catholics began worshipping in a small classroom at St Helena’s Catholic Primary School in 1999, graduating to its multi-purpose area four years ago.
The parish began under the late Fr Gerard Beeson (1999-2002) who was succeeded by Fr John Liszka (2003-2005) and Fr Francis Nguyen (2006–present). “It’s been a long journey and everyone has worked so hard,” Fr Nguyen told The Record last week, paying tribute to past priests, parishioners and the building committee. “We are so pleased to have a place where we can worship God; a welcoming place for prayer and devotion.” Parish Council chairperson Liz Lambert thanked the
PHOTO: ROBERT HIINI
building committee and the entire parish for bringing their hope to fruition, describing Fr Francis’ commitment as “unwavering”. “At times, you thought the building committee was crazy, sometimes we thought you were crazy too,” Ms Lambert said to much laughter, thanking the priest for his practical and spiritual leadership. The project had been a “moving and joyous experience”, Ms Lambert said, adding she had never seen “a group of people work so hard or so enthusiastically”. Photos: Pages 10-11
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March 28, 2012, The Record
PARISH ROUND-UP UNDA wins RAC Bike Hike challenge RECOGNITION for the University of Notre Dame Australia and its sporting endeavours has extended to cycling after the Fremantle campus won the inaugural Uni-Cycle Challenge award as part of the 2012 RAC Freeway Bike Hike for the Asthma Foundation of Western Australia. Notre Dame won the award for competing with the largest team of all the universities in Western Australia. The team comprised keen students, staff, family and friends who joined the challenging ride along Perth’s Kwinana Freeway for a worthy cause. Team member and Administrative Assistant at Fremantle’s Student Life Office, Renee Blackstock, said she was proud to accept the award on behalf of the University. “It was wonderful to see so many Notre Dame students and staff participating in this event,” Ms Blackstock said. “The university strongly encourages all staff and students to regularly participate in community events. “It was great that they took up the challenge to raise funds for a condition which affects so many.” Members of the Notre Dame team joined more than 8,000 other participants in the bike ride through some of Perth’s most beautiful suburbs. Bachelor of Biomedical Science student, Peter Martin, competed in the 30km category and said he found the event really enjoyable. “As a keen cyclist, I found the bike hike to be extremely well
“Easter is a time that unites all Christians. “It is wonderful that we are able to share our unique stations with the community and to promote the significance of them in the Church’s history,” Mr Gannon said. “We look forward to welcoming all to our campus for this special event on the University’s calendar.
Bootscooting and tai chi keep Morley fit
Renee Blackstock (front) accepts the RAC Bike Hike award on behalf of the UNDA riding team.
coordinated and knowing the proceeds of the day went to the Asthma Foundation of WA made the event even more rewarding,” Mr Martin said. “With such great support from the Notre Dame community, I hope to participate again next year with many more of our staff and students.” The university recently celebrated the international success of its futsal student, David Cappellaro. For more information about sporting and other extracurricular activities at Notre Dame’s Fremantle Campus, contact the Student Life Office on (08) 9433 0580.
Easter traditions on campus bring joy STAFF and students of the University of Notre Dame Australia’s Fremantle Campus will join with members of the community once again to celebrate Easter in what has become an important tradition on the campus. Each year, the University hosts a special Stations of the Cross service which follows the fourteen stations depicting the significant events in the last days of Jesus’ life. Campus Minister Tom Gannon said that following the Stations of the Cross has been a tradi-
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Sunday 1st - Red PASSION (PALM) SUNDAY Gospel Reading: Mk11:1-10 What are you doing? 1st Reading: Isa 50:4-7 No resistance Responsorial Ps 21:8-9,17-20, Psalm 23-24 They cast lots 2nd Reading: Phil 2:6-11 Death on a cross Gospel Reading: Mk 14:1 – 14:47 Am I a brigand?
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Born into a prosperous York Protestant family when Catholicism was forbidden, Margaret married wealthy Protestant John Clitherow, whose brother became a Catholic priest. Margaret soon became a Catholic and set up Mass centers in her home and a nearby inn. She was imprisoned three times for failing to attend Protestant services. When officials confirmed the secret Masses, Margaret was sentenced to death for treason. She died a martyr, pressed to death by a heavy load.
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Tuesday 3rd - Violet TUESDAY OF HOLY WEEK 1st Reading: Isa 49:1-6 Called before birth Responsorial Ps 70:1-6,15,17 Psalm: A rock to save me Gospel Reading: Jn 13:21-33,36-38 Lay down your life?
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Monday 2nd - Violet MONDAY OF HOLY WEEK 1st Reading: Isa 42:1-7 The cause of right Responsorial Ps 26:1-3,13-14 Psalm: Hold firm, take heart Gospel Reading: Jn 13:21-33,36-38 Lay down your life?
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tion each Lenten season at Notre Dame for the past ten years. “People of all ages and cultural backgrounds gather to reflect on Christ’s last days and, in particular, what each station of his journey means to them,” he said. Notre Dame’s service will be led by the Seminarians from Redemptoris Mater in Morley who will share the story of each station through song. The unique bronze stations displayed in the courtyards of the Fremantle campus were a gift from the late Diane Wansbrough, a Governor of the University, and created by one of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists, Peter Schipperheyn.
READINGS OF THE WEEK
Margaret Clitherow Editor
PHOTO: UNDA
DANCING and exercise classes are improving the wellbeing of the Morley community and attracting more people to the Infant Jesus parish hall. Line dancing, pilates and tai chi are some of the classes available and administrative officer Darren Parnell said anyone is welcome to join. Mr Parnell said it all started after people in the community asked if they could host activities in the hall. “We have made it a philosophy for us to have people here not only on the weekend but during the weekday as well,” he said. “The line dancing, in particular, has exploded.” The courses are individually priced and the parish asks for a small donation from the organiser to cover the cost of using the hall. “It is nice to have a hive of activity and to give people in the community a place to go,” Mr Parnell said. For more information on how to join these classes, please contact the Infant Jesus parish on (08) 9276 8500 or email ijparish@ carmelite.com
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Catholic clarity for complex times CATHOLIC families and those searching for truth need resources to help them negotiate the complexities of modern life, many of which are also active challenges to the desire of parents to lead their children to an encounter with the beauty of the Church. At The Record’s bookshop you can find great books for the family at good prices. Turn to Page 20 for some brilliant deals NOW!!
Wednesday 4th - Violet WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK 1st Reading: Isa 50:4-9 Insult withstood Responsorial Ps 68:8-10, 21-22,31,33-34 Psalm: I suffer taunts Gospel Reading: Mt 26:14-25 Thirty silver pieces Thursday 5th - White CHRISM MASS: THURSDAY OF HOLY WEEK (MORNING) 1st Reading: Isa 61:1-3,6,8-9 The Lord’s anointed Responsorial Ps 88:21-22,25,27 Psalms: David is anointed
2nd Reading: Rev 1:5-8 Sins are washed away Gospel Reading: Lk 4:16-21 Jesus is anointed HOLY THURSDAY EVENING MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER 1st Reading: Ex 12:1-8,11-14 The flesh to be eaten Responsorial Ps 115:12-13,15-18 Psalms: The cup of salvation 2nd Reading: 1 Cor 11:23-26 Proclaim the Lord’s death Gospel Reading: Jn 13:1-15 Jesus’ perfect love Friday 6th - Red GOOD FRIDAY CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S PASSION 1st Reading: Isa 52:13-53:12 A man of sorrows Responsorial Ps 30:2,6,12-13, Psalm: 15-17,25 Refuge in the Lord 2nd Reading: Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9 Do not let go of faith Gospel Reading: Jn 18:1-19:42 Jesus passion Saturday 7th - White EASTER VIGIL 1st Reading: Gen 1:1-2:2 Let there be light 2nd Reading: Gen 22:1-18 Offer your son 3rd Reading: Ex 14:15-15:1 The pillar of cloud 4th Reading: Isa 54:5-14 Everlasting love 5th Reading: Isa 55:1-11 Seek the Lord 6th Reading: Bar 3:9-15, 32 - 4:4 Walk in God’s way 7th Reading: Ezek 36:16-28 I shall cleanse you 8th Reading: Rom 6:3-11 Alive for God 9th Reading: Mk 16:1-17 Jesus has risen!
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March 28, 2012, The Record
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Dante tops Catholic fiction By Sarah Motherwell THE Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri and The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco have been rated as the top two Catholic fiction books by Goodreads reviewers. Goodreads is a free-to-join review website for books and has become one of the most popular review websites on the net. It is the largest site for readers and book recommendations in
the world, with more than seven million members and 270 million books reviewed. The website breaks down books into specific genres and subgenres including religious fiction and nonfiction. Of the 175 Catholic fiction books reviewed, The Divine Comedy by Dante topped the list with the most points. Points are based on the ranking of a book on each list and the num-
AUSTRALIA
ber of people who have voted for it. Coming in at number three is Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh; fourth is The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene and fifth is The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is currently rated as the best book ever while The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is the best book of 2012 - the story of a 16-year-old cancer survivor’s medical miracle.
Cruelty is consequence of child detention
Number one Catholic fiction book on Goodreads. PHOTO: ONLINE SOURCE
The St Vincent de Paul Society National Council says that cruelty is the unequivocal consequence of keeping children in detention and calls on the Government to honour its 2010 promise to end child detention. Chief Executive Dr John Falzon said he was deeply saddened to learn that around 528 children remain in immigration detention centres or alternative places of detention in Australia.
Perth kids have the luck of the Irish By Robert Hiini ARCHBISHOP Timothy Costelloe SDB had better watch his back. During St Patrick’s Day celebrations at St Mary’s Cathedral, a little girl caused hilarity when she strode across the sanctuary and parked herself, first on a priest’s chair and then on the Archbishop’s throne. It was one happy moment of many in an occasion featuring proud Irish banners, costumes and traditional Irish dancing and song. Fr Vincent Glynn celebrated the event’s thanksgiving Mass.
An ambitious little girl picking the best seat in the house for Mass. PHOTO: FR ROBERT CROSS
Decked out in green and gold, these children are not celebrating Australia Day, but St Patrick’s Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral.
Thank you but we still need your support Linda Watson is very grateful for your support for her House of Hope rescue ministry over the past 12 years. Hundreds of girls have been helped to quit the sex industry and start a new life. Right now, there is an immediate need to fix up our kitchen and driveway. Generous donors have already given $15,000 but we urgently require another $8,000 to complete. Any donation over $2 is tax-deductible and can be made by cash, cheque, Mastercard or Visa. We’d love to hear from you: PO Box 5640 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA 6831 08 9358 2544 or 0439 401 009
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March 28, 2012, The Record
An emotional roller coaster’s charitable destination WARD 3B, the oncology ward at Princess Margaret Hospital, is a place full of mixed emotions of hope, joy and heartache. In October 2010, La Salle College student Alastair Enkel became ill and was tested for leukaemia. Alastair’s father, Geoff Enkel, said, “Before going there with Alastair we were told the next few days would be a roller coaster of emotions, and they were not wrong.” “Fortunately, AJ’s tests were negative and he fully recovered from a virus,” he said. The experience touched the Enkel family and Mr Enkel, who is also La Salle College’s Board Chair, told his son if he lost his hair he would have his own hair shaved as well. As it turned out, neither needed to lose their hair but both chose to
shave for the World’s Great Shave in order to raise money to find a cure for this disease. Staff member Donna Gave also shaved her head to support her 20-year-old niece, Danielle Brand, who has recently been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The event aimed at raising awareness and funds for the Leukaemia Foundation. La Salle students donated a total of $362 during their lunchtime. Mrs Gava, Mr Enkel and Alastair have also been raising money individually through their work and local communities. To donate to Alastair and Geoff Enkel go to http:// my.leukaemiafoundation.org. au/43b Donations for Donna Gava can be made at http://mylleukaemiafoundation.org.au/donnagava
Donna Gava, Alastair Enkel and his father Geoff Enkel shaved their hair as part of the Great Shave.
PHOTO: LA SALLE COLLEGE
Long locks raise funds for research
Students’ bravery inspires staff
LUMEN Christi College Year 8 student Clayton Morfitt has raised more than $500 for shaving off his 13cm curly locks as part of this year’s World’s Greatest Shave. The 13-year-old said he was inspired to help raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation after he saw others shave off their hair for the cause. “I have lots of curly hair and don’t mind shaving it off for a good cause,” Clayton said. “I’m raising money to support blood cancer patients and to fund vital research.” Clayton managed to surpass his original goal of raising $300 with the support of his family, friends and the Lumen Christi community.
ST Brigid’s religious education teacher Amanda Amey led by example last week, sacrificing her locks for the World’s Greatest Shave. Keen to support the cause and to see a teacher get shaved by students, the Lesmurdie college community supported the event by raising more than $1000 during the lunch hour shave. Ms Amey said she was inspired to take part by the bravery of five St Brigid’s Year 12 girls who had their heads shaved last year. She said cancer has touched her family and friends. “There are people who have dealt with cancer and I felt I could show my support to them this way,” she said.
Year 8 student Clayton Morfitt with his 13cm long curls before his great shave. PHOTO: LUMEN CHRISTI COLLEGE
Amanda Amey’s hair was shaved at lunchtime to show her support for cancer patients. PHOTO: ST BRIGID’S COLLEGE
Clayton with his hairdresser, Mario.
PHOTO: LUMEN CHRISTI COLLEGE
Colourful, cropped and clipped: UNDA students join the shave STUDENTS at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Sydney sported creatively cropped and coloured hairstyles on March 19 following a World’s Greatest Shave fundraiser. The student life office-run fundraiser saw students make a donation to have their hairstyle made over by fellow students. More than $500 was raised on the day and this will be donated to the Leukemia Foundation to help those with blood-related cancers. According to the Leukaemia Foundation, $500 can enable two patients and their carers to attend
an educational or support program specific to their blood cancer. Sahil Sharma was the first student to sit nervously in the barber’s chair set up in the Notre Dame courtyard as his fellow student, Leanne Cavallaro, brandished the clippers. “I’ve never had my head shaved before, so I’m not sure about what I’m going to look like when Leanne’s finished with those clippers,” Mr Sharma said. “Either way, my hair will grow back, but it was important for me to get involved in World’s Greatest Shave because we need to continue
to remember people whose hair is affected by their cancer treatment and it’s everyone’s responsibility to contribute to a cure.” The Manager of the Student Life Office, Bronwen Jones, said the Notre Dame community had once again rallied around a great cause. “It is fantastic to see students and staff get involved in this fundraiser every year and to see recognition for the importance of the event continue to grow,” Ms Jones said. “Many thanks to everyone who participated on the day and to our community members who donated to this worthy cause.”
University of Notre Dame student Sahil Sharma was the first student to have his head shaved at the university’s Greatest Shave fundraiser. PHOTO: UNDA
March 28, 2012, The Record
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Patriarch of the parish remembered 60 years on APPLECROSS parish’s first priest, Father Albert Lynch, was remembered as the parish celebrated its 60th anniversary on March 18 with a Mass at the Ardross Street church. Bishop Donald Sproxton, who concelebrated the Mass with current parish priest Fr Peter Whiteley, shared his memories of Fr Albert with the congregation, describing him as “the patriarch of the parish”. Archbishop Redmond Prendiville first announced the Applecross parish in June 1952 and appointed Fr Albert to the position of parish priest. The parish covers the area from North Lake Road to the Canning River. Fr Albert established a parish committee in 1951 and held numerous fundraisers. In 1952, he announced the purchase of a site between Alness and Adross Streets in Applecross, where the Catholic church and St Benedict’s school now stand. St Benedict’s Primary School opened on February 2, 1953 with about 50 students who were taught by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions Order. The school buildings were used to celebrate Mass, with tables removed and replaced with kneelers on the weekend. This continued until March 8, 1959 when Archbishop Prendiville formally opened the St Benedict’s Church hall. The Sisters taught at the school until 1974, when the school board appointed a principal. Fr Albert retired from the position of parish priest and was succeeded by Fr Rodney Williams
Students of St Benedict’s Catholic Primary School perform a liturgical dance during the Thanksgiving Reflection.
in 1973 who held the position for five years. Fr Albert died on August 23, 1976 in Applecross and was represented at the Mass by his niece Irene Batini and husband Frank.
Sacred Heart Primary carves its history into stone
A morning tea was held in the Fr Albert Lynch room where the congregation sang Happy Birthday to celebrate Fr William’s 90th birthday which was the following day. Photographs of the original
church building and a memorabilia display, including Fr Albert’s vestments, were open for viewing during the Mass. Former parish priest Fr John O’Reilly, who succeeded Fr
PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Williams in 1978, was present. St Benedict’s Catholic Primary School students performed a liturgical dance during the Thanksgiving Reflection. - GLYNNIS GRAINGER
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Worldwide, the Church is under attack Beautifully illustrated by Spanish nun, from atheistic regimes, militant Islam, Miren Sorne, this delightful Child’s bible is sects and basic ignorance of the Faith. available for a donation of $7.00. The international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is able to counter these attacks by supplying Child’s Bibles to children and families who simply cannot afford them, in countries where the Church is poor or persecuted. Since its launch in 1979, ACN has printed and distributed 48 million copies of God Speaks to His Children in 167 languages. It is the Catholic Church’s most successful Child’s bible ever!
Bolivia
Nino Bongiovanni, Stephen Smith MP, Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey and Principal Chris Dunning with the plaque. PHOTO: SACRED HEART PRIMARY SCHOOL
By Sarah Motherwell
This inspiring book can also teach the Faith here in Australia: with your family, godchildren, or in your parish or school. The Child’s Bible is a perfect gift for children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces, especially to mark a First Holy Communion. The Bible complements the catechism and children’s rosary booklet also published by ACN and available via our website.
BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED THROUGHOUT 48 Bible stories from the Old and New Testaments Available for a donation of $7.00 A lovely gift idea!
Record WA
STONEMASON Nino Bongiovanni has helped preserve a little piece of Sacred Heart Primary School’s history by crafting an old marble stone from the school’s original building into a commemorative plaque. The plaque was unveiled at the opening ceremony of the new school’s building, which was completed in September last year and funded by the federal government’s “building the education revolution” initiative. Mr Bongiovanni is a parent at the school and chairman of the board in charge of the school’s building program. He is the director of Malagabased stonemasonry company Sogenco, which was given the
task of crafting the plaque. Mr Bongiovanni said they wanted to something nice for the school but had a few nervous moments when it came to carving the stone. “It was challenging because the stone has been weathered for such a long time,” he said. “The surface was very crumbly and brittle so we had to shave it so we could find some stone that could hold a letter.” Sacred Heart Primary’s financial officer, Sue Haynes, said the block was found in a disused part of the school and it is suspected it used to be part of the old girls bathroom. Federal member for Perth, Stephen Smith, and Archbishop Hickey attended the opening. The school was founded by Our Lady of the Missions Order in 1877.
Rosary from the Holy Land
Simple in design and yet profound in its symbolic significance, the olivewood rosary, handmade in Bethlehem by Christian families struggling for survival, are also available for a donation of $7.00. All proceeds will go towards the work of Aid to the Church in Need for the poor and persecuted Church worldwide.
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March 28, 2012, The Record
Mourning with Mother who lost her beloved Son By Barbara Harris ST DENIS’ parish in Joondana is the only parish in Australia that offers the Desolata service each year just before Easter. When the Servite Friars (Order of the Servants of Mary) went to St Denis Parish, Joondanna in 1952, they brought with them a unique traditional liturgical service on Good Friday evenings, which has been part of the Servite spirituality since its beginnings in the 13th century. The liturgical service is called the Desolata. The central theme is to spend time with Mary in her sorrow as
she reflects on the life and death of her son, Jesus. This is similar to a wake after someone dies in our own lives. Over many years, this service has taken various forms. For the last three years at St Denis, the focus has been on Mary as mother of Jesus. St Denis parishioner Suzanne Lawrence asks Mary, portrayed by Sr Elizabeth Nicholls, many of the questions we all ask in our sufferings or would like to ask Mary. For example, Mary is asked, “You were born without original sin, did you understand what this meant? Mary, what did it mean for you
when Jesus left home to do God’s will? How did you feel when they crucified Jesus?”
“I am spurred on by the love and power that Mary found to endure and watch when others gave up and ran away.” Sr Elizabeth said, “When I was first asked to stand in for Mary, I was overwhelmed. Mary’s experiences are heartwrenching.
“I am spurred on by the love and power that Mary found to watch, to endure when others gave up and ran away.” “This taught me that this is what every mother does, every father does or every lover does as they watch terrible suffering and look for the courage to stay with their loved one, whether the person is in jail or in hospital,” she said. “Like Mary, we are not always aware of the full meaning of our circumstances and, like Mary, we ponder and we struggle to accept what is happening around and in our lives”. Those present at this service
can connect to tragedies in their own lives knowing that Mary has been there, experienced that and is there ready to support and sustain through her son Jesus. Those who come along this year are invited to bring photos of their departed loved ones to the service. During the service, they will be invited to place the photos at the foot of the Cross in the sanctuary. After the service, these photos can be perpetually placed in the Via Matris Chapel at St Denis Church. The Desolata starts at 7.30pm on Good Friday, April 6 in St Denis Church, corner Osborne and Roberts St, Joondanna.
Centre sets migrants up for life By Robert Hiini THE opening of Centacare’s new Mirrabooka centre on March 16 may have looked like just another building opening. There were the usual speeches and “thank yous”, even the presence of MLA Janine Freeman, but the first-hand testimony of recently arrived migrants provided insight into its wider significance. The site’s nine training rooms will be used to teach 300 students per week under the Federal Government’s language literacy and numeracy program, most of them recently arrived migrants. Graduate Aminata Toumbou, originally from the West African country of Mauritania, was one of three former students who spoke at the event. “They give us our life because if you don’t speak any English how can you do anything so we are very, very proud of them,” she said. “It’s helpful for us; to get anything, to get a a job, or to get your licence.” Centacare teacher Amber Farquharson said the centre had two major functions; to help new migrants integrate and to help them find a job. “While there is a curriculum, we cater it to the students’ needs and interests (teaching) reading and writing that is relevant to their lives” she said She said she had recently taught English centred around food to a class of women with a shared passion for cooking.
Teacher’s aide, Kim Ten Wong (centre), with some of his former teachers at the opening of the new Mirrabooka Centacare centre.
Cultural diversity among the clientele is reflective of the area with students hailing from countries such as South Sudan, Ethiopia, Burma and Indonesia. After graduating, Kim Ten Wong wanted to help people who were in the same situation as himself, returning to Centacare to work as a volunteer teacher aide.
“I look forward and think about the future of Centacare,” he said. “It should be very great and bright where we will build up a huge education department to help migrants, after which they understand and use English and get a new job and build up a new life in Australia.” Mr Wong said after learning
English at Centacare he can now help students to do the same thing. Laughter ensued when Miss Kumba thanked one of her teachers for advising her to get her licence as a community police officer looked on. “She was the one who told me go and get your licence,” she said. “Thank God the policeman is
PHOTO: ROBERT HIINI
here. Thank God I have my licence in my bag.” Home-grown Australians with language and numeracy difficulties are also expected to use the program. Centacare receives some funding from the Archdiocese of Perth and has been providing social services in WA since 1976.
New centre equips school for “21st century learning” ST BRIGID’S College in Lesmurdie officially opened its $3 million One World centre on March 6, funded by the Federal Government’s Building for the Education Revolution” program. More than 1,500 students and guests attended the opening of the 4,000-square-metre building which has been constructed on the road that previously separated the junior school campus from the middle and senior campuses. The building now links both the primary and secondary school and brings together the previously separated college library. St Brigid’s College Principal Amelia Toffoli said the completed centre provides the school with new infrastructure and resources that meet the needs of “21st century learning”. She said the new building should benefit the school and community for years to come.
The centrepiece of the building is the primary multipurpose hall, the Wandju Room, and the adjacent undercover area. The well-lit air-conditioned facility is equipped with twin projector screens and features glasswork depicting Mercy locations around the world inte-
The $3 million airconditioned centre in Lesmurdie will benefit students and the community. grated with designs expressing College values. The building for the education revolution program has funded about 24,000 infrastructure projects for about 9,500 Australian schools.
St Brigid’s College students at the unveiling of the school’s new One World centre.
PHOTO: SUPPLIED
March 28, 2012, The Record
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Adult approach to stem cell research ARCHBISHOP of Sydney Cardinal George Pell today announced that the Archdiocese of Sydney’s fifth grant of $100,000 to support adult stem cell research has been awarded to John Rasko and Janet Macpherson from the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPA), Sydney. The research will look at ways adult stem cells can be produced in safe and increased quantities to help suppress reactions to foreign tissues, or rejection, following transplants or similar procedures. Professor Rasko is Head of the Department of Cell & Molecular Therapies at RPA and an internationally-recognised leader in clinical stem cell therapy and the study of blood. He also heads the Gene and Stem Cell Therapy Program at the Centenary Institute of
the University of Sydney. Dr Macpherson is also well-known in the field of stem cell research and joined the Department of Cell & Molecular Therapies at RPAH in 2010. In a speech on the 2011 grant, Cardinal Pell said the project on finding a way to develop adult stem cells, which could revolutionise the treatment of a whole range of diseases, highlights some of the wonderful avenues of research and healing the method opens up. “I am delighted the grant will help to support the work of two such accomplished and innovative researchers, and wish them every success in their research,” he said. Harvested from bone marrow, adult stems cells, known as mesenchymal stromal cells, are capable of developing into connective tissues
like bone and cartilage and support the formation of blood and lymphatic cells. Mesenchymal stromal cells also contain immunomodulatory properties which Dr Macpherson said makes them valuable in helping
New research will bring answers and treatments that people are searching for, hopes professor. suppress reactions to foreign tissues as occurs with organ and bone marrow transplants and similar procedures. Director of the Plunkett Centre
for Ethics at St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst Bernadette Tobin said currently, despite the promise shown in the therapeutic use of mesenchymal stromal cells, the major limitation has been their slow proliferation and the difficulty in procuring an adequate number for use in therapeutic and different procedures. Dr Macpherson and Professor Rasko are hopeful their research may provide some answers to previous limitations. “As a result of this grant we would hope our research will lead to clinical trials and therapeutic treatment of individuals,” Professor Rasko said. “We know people are looking for answers and treatments and that is our goal.” Professor Rasko’s team has
already shown how blood forming cells respond favourably to being grown on an elastic bed or “nano mattress”. Professor Rasko and Dr Macpherson now plan to test the potential of the “nano mattress”, hoping not only to develop a safe, cost-effective way of manufacturing MSC stem cells but to discover ways to maintain these cells in conditions as near to their natural environment as possible. If their research proves successful, the implications could be far-reaching and improve the treatment of a range of diseases including many forms of cancer. The Archdiocese of Sydney has made four grants over the past eight years to leading Australian researchers to foster and support their adult stem cell studies.
Real PM cements web relationship PRIME Minister Julia Gillard visited a Catholic girls school in Korea early this week where students regularly conference over the internet with contemporaries in Australia, including a Catholic school in New South Wales. The prime minister visited Gyeseong Catholic Girls High School in Seoul where she participated in a class being run jointly via videoconference between Gyeseong and four schools in Armidale NSW; O’Connor Catholic School, Duval High School, Ben Venue Public School and Armidale City Public School. The four Armidale schools participate in an existing program set up and coordinated by the University of New England called the Australia-Korea Connexion (AKC) program. The AKC program allows Australian school students to communicate with Korean counterparts via ‘face-to-face’ classes using videoconferencing facilities, online discussions and school exchange visits. Eighteen primary and secondary schools, nine from Korea and nine from Australia, from both the private and public sectors, currently participate in the program. The program has received Australian government grant funding totalling $24,000 over the two years from 2010-12 through the Australia-Korea Foundation.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits the Gyeseong Catholic Girls High School in Seoul.
PHOTO: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER
Blessing of hippocratic hands NEW students have been welcomed to the University of Notre Dame Australia’s Sydney School of Medicine at the annual Blessing of the Hands ceremony. Sydney’s Cardinal George Pell celebrated the liturgy at Sacred Heart Church at Darlinghurst, blessing the hands of each student individually and praying they would bring healing to all the people they served. In attendance were the new Medicine students, their families and friends, Notre Dame staff and governors and members of the medical profession. During his homily, Cardinal Pell said students would soon carry out God’s work if they let themselves be guided by him. “A pen doesn’t know what it’s going to write, an artist’s brush doesn’t know what it’s going to paint,” Cardinal Pell said.
“In the same way, God takes someone into his hands in order to begin his work, and that person doesn’t know what he or she will have to do. He or she is an instrument that moves in the hands of God; he shapes you and makes you
Your hands are healing tools for your profession: to stitch, percuss, palpate, suture and prescribe. more sacred through the task you must carry out.” Dean of the Sydney School of Medicine, Professor Christine Bennett, said the Blessing of the Hands was an important tradition. “As doctors, your hands are an
important healing tool for your profession. With them, you will palpate, percuss and take a pulse; stitch, suture, prescribe. You will also use them to comfort, ease pain and connect with patients,” Professor Bennett said. “This ceremony will add to your preparation, personally and spiritually, for your journey to becoming a doctor.” UNDA Sydney had a separate ceremony to bless the hands of nursing students. The nursing students took an oath that affirmed their commitment to undertake Jesus’ ministry by extending their hands to all who seek relief from suffering. Nursing school dean Tracey Thornley urged the nursing students to look to famous nurses such as Florence Nightingale and Vivian Bullwinkle for an insight into what it means to practise one’s craft with integrity and dedication.
A new student of the University of Notre Dame Sydney School of Medicine has her hands blessed by Sydney Cardinal George Pell at a liturgy celebration at Sacred Heart Church. PHOTO: UNDA
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March 28, 2012, The Record
Europe trends anti-Christian By Jonathan Luxmoore A CHURCH-BACKED report has documented rising anti-Christian prejudice in Europe, despite calls for fairer legislation and measures to curb discrimination. “Studies suggest 85 per cent of hate crimes in Europe are directed against Christians – it is high time for the public debate to respond to this reality,” said Gudrun Kugler, director of the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians. “A restrictive application of freedom of conscience is leading to professions such as magistrates, doctors, nurses and midwives as well as pharmacists slowly closing for Christians. Teachers and parents get into trouble when they disagree with state-defined sexual ethics,” Kugler said on March 19. Her agency’s 53-page report, published the same day, said incidents in 2011 had included a resolution by European legislators calling for a reassessment of legislation with “negative ramifications for Christians” and a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that Christian crosses could remain in Italian schools after a constitutional challenge. It said “countless individuals and institutions” had warned of increasing anti-Christian intolerance and that the observatory had documented acts of vandalism, desecration, defamation and the exclusion of Christians from public and social life. “Intolerant and discriminatory behaviour results from opposition to individual traits of the Christian faith or moral positions that are intrinsically part of the Christian
faith, as well as from a negative, categorical bias against Christians or Christianity as a whole,” the report said. “This behaviour causes various sectors of society to be used as
vehicles of intolerance and discrimination against Christians.” Church leaders have urged better protection for Christian rights after complaints of prejudice across Europe. In October 2010, the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences urged local bishops to help collect data on anti-Christian acts and “awaken public opinion.”
In a summer 2011 hate-crime report, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said violent anti-Christian discrimination had been monitored in Albania and Kosovo, but also in Austria, Belgium, France and Spain. Editor’s Note: The report is posted online at www.intoleranceagainstchristians.eu
Coptic Orthodox lose spiritual leader
UKRAINE
Handing shrines to Orthodox ‘a threat’ The major archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kiev-Halych, said governmentbacked legislation to transfer control of key national Christian shrines to the Orthodox Church was “a clear threat to the interdenominational peace and agreement established in our state during recent years. Ukraine’s Communist Party and governing Party of Regions introduced legislation under which major shrines such as Kiev’s Monastery of the Caves, currently under state ownership, would be handed over to the largest Orthodox denomination, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate. - CNS
CHINA
Chinese take Bishop for ‘learning classes’
A priest lights a candle in front of a picture of Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, who served as patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church for 41 years and died on March 17 at the age of 88. PHOTO: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS/CNS
Coadjutor Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou and his chancellor, Fr Paul Jiang Sunian, were taken into custody by government officials in mid-March to attend “learning classes,” sources told the Asian Church news agency, UCA News. Bishop Shao, 49, was appointed by the Holy See to lead Wenzhou’s underground Catholic community in 2007 and is not recognised by the government. He and Fr Jiang were taken on March 19. If Bishop Shao and Fr Jiang are “intelligent enough in their learning,” they will be allowed back soon; if not, they will be detained longer, local Church sources quoted government officials as saying. “This implies their release depends on whether they accept the government’s religious policies,” a source said. - CNS
Special Commemorative photo
Installation of Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB THROUGH HIM, WITH HIM, IN HIM ... A beautiful and special A4 commemorative photograph taken by Michael Connelly at the installation of Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB in St Mary’s Cathedral on March 21. Also pictured in this stunning photograph are Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey of Perth, Papal Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto and Bishop Donald Sproxton.
ONLY $24.95 + P/H
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Bishops urge prayer, fasting THE US bishops have urged Catholics and “all people of faith” across their country to join them in prayer and fasting for religious freedom and conscience protection. Meanwhile, former US ambassadors to the Vatican who represented both Democratic and Republican presidents have joined in a new effort to support federal legislation reaffirming constitutional rights to religious liberty and freedom of conscience. Among current threats to religious liberty, they said, is the US Department of Health and Human Services mandate that forces employers, including religious ones, to provide coverage of contraception/sterilisation in their health plans.
The bishops have asked Catholics and others to join them in “prayer and penance for our leaders and for the complete protection of our first freedom – religious liberty – which is not only protected in the laws and customs of our great nation, but rooted in the teachings of our great tradition.” “Prayer for Religious Liberty” cards are available on the site as a downloadable PDF file. The cards are in English and Spanish and feature three different images: Mary as the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the US; Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas and the unborn; and St Thomas More, the patron saint of the legal profession who was martyred for standing up for his
religious beliefs. “Prayer is the ultimate source of our strength - for without God, we can do nothing; but with God, all things are possible,” the bishops said in a March 14 statement titled “United for Religious Freedom.” In a letter addressed to Catholics in their state, Pennsylvania’s bishops called for a day of prayer on March 30, saying the observance was planned in response “to the assault by the federal government on constitutionally guaranteed religious liberty.” They, too, cited the federal contraceptive mandate, saying it “punished the Church for its firmly held beliefs and consistent teaching.” Former US Ambassadors to the Vatican Raymond Flynn, who served under President Bill
Clinton from 1993 to 1997, and Jim Nicholson, who represented President George W Bush at the Vatican from 2001-05, are among the religious leaders and former government officials involved in Conscience Cause, an organisation committed to overturning the Department of Health and Human Services’ inclusion of contraceptives and sterilisation among mandated preventive services for women under the new health reform law. “This is the most serious attack on our human, constitutional and religious rights that I have ever heard of,” Flynn told CNS on March 12. “All Americans concerned about freedom and the protection of our religious values must speak out and get involved in this
critical debate.” Flynn, who also was mayor of Boston from 1984 to 1993, said he expects to travel around the country giving speeches in favour of action by Congress to reverse the HHS mandate. “We are all committed to doing whatever we can to protect human rights and the conscience rights of all people, not just Catholics,” he said. The group also includes religious leaders such as the Rev Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Rabbi Meir Yaakov Solovelchik, associate rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York; and the Rev Joe Watkins, pastor of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Philadelphia. - CNS
‘Faith, not ideology, is the true progress’ VISITING Latin America for the second time in his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI offered a message of hope for social progress rooted in a revival of Catholic faith. The overriding message of the Pope’s public statements during his three days in Mexico from March 23-26, was that this troubled country, and the region in general, cannot solve their problems – which include poverty, inequality, corruption and violence – by following the prescriptions of secular ideologies. Instead, the Pope said, peace and justice in this world require a divinely inspired change in the human heart. “When addressing the deeper dimension of personal and community life, human strategies will not suffice to save us,” the Pope said in his homily during an outdoor Mass at Guanajuato Bicentennial Park on March 25. “We must have recourse to the one who alone can give life in its fullness, because he is the essence of life and its author.” Pope Benedict told reporters that the “Church is not a political power, it is not a party ... it is a moral reality, a moral power.” Yet the Pope made it clear that he was not encouraging believers to withdraw into a private kind of piety. “The first job of the Church is to educate consciences,” he said, “both in individual ethics and public ethics.” Christian hope, the Pope told an audience that included Mexican President Felipe Calderon, does not merely console the faithful with the promise of personal immortality. The practical expression of this inspiration, the Pope said, is the Church’s extensive charitable activities which help “those who suffer from hunger, lack shelter, or are in need in some way in their life.” That point seemed particularly relevant to the second half of Pope Benedict’s Latin America visit, to Cuba from March 26-28. Catholic charities in Cuba have become notably active in recent years, sometimes in cooperation with the state. After half a century of communist government and decades of official atheism there, Pope Benedict could hardly find more powerful evidence for the inadequacy of secular solutions than the Church’s growing role in caring for Cuba’s poor. - CNS
A volunteer displays the embroidery on a traditional Mexican charro that was presented to Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Leon, Mexico. PHOTO: EDGARD GARRIDO/REUTERS/CNS
Pope turns Cuba’s eyes to the family CELEBRATING an outdoor Mass on his first day in Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged the struggles of the country’s Catholics after half a century of communism and described human freedom as a necessity for both salvation and social justice. The Pope spoke on March 26 in Antonio Maceo Revolution Square, in Cuba’s second-largest city. He had arrived in the country a few hours earlier, after spending three days in Mexico. The Vatican had said the square would hold 200,000 people and it was full; several thousand also filled the streets leading to the square. Cuban President Raul Castro, who welcomed the Pope at the airport, sat in the front row for Mass. Tens of thousands of those at the Mass were wearing white t-shirts welcoming the Pope as the “pilgrim of charity”; many wore baseball caps to protect them from the hot sun. In his homily, the Pope painted a dire picture of a society without faith. “When God is set aside, the world becomes an inhospitable place for
A crowd packs Antonio Maceo Revolution Square as Pope Benedict XVI arrives to celebrate Mass in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, on March 26. PHOTO: PAUL HARING/CNS
man,” he said. “Apart from God, we are alienated from ourselves and are hurled into the void. “Obedience to God is what opens the doors of the world to the truth, to salvation,” the Pope said. “Redemption is always this process of the lifting up of the human will to full communion with the divine will.” Taking his theme from the day’s
liturgical feast of the Annunciation, when Mary learned that she would conceive and bear the Son of God, the Pope emphasised that fulfilment of the divine plan involved Mary’s free acceptance of her role. “Our God, coming into the world, wished to depend on the free consent of one of his creatures,” Pope Benedict said. “It is touching to see how God not only respects
human freedom: He almost seems to require it.” The most specific advice in the Pope’s homily regarded a topic familiar to his listeners in the prosperous capitalist countries of Western Europe and North America: the sanctity of the “family founded on matrimony” as the “fundamental cell of society and an authentic domestic Church.” “You, dear husbands and wives, are called to be, especially for your children, a real and visible sign of the love of Christ for the Church,” Pope Benedict said. “Cuba needs the witness of your fidelity, your unity, your capacity to welcome human life, especially that of the weakest and most needy.” According to the Centre for Demographic Studies at the University of Havana, Cuba’s divorce rate has almost tripled in four decades, rising from 22 divorces per 100 marriages in 1970 to 64 in 2009. The country’s parliament is scheduled later this year to consider the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in response to a campaign led by Mariela Castro, daughter of President Raul Castro. - CNS
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March 28, 2012, The Record
The after party: Above, the people of St Helena's, Ellenbrook, celebrate a new chapter in their community at their adjacent Holy Cross College. Left, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB enjoying the first church dedication of his archbishopric.
PHOTOS: ROBERT HIINI
Below, St Helena's Parish Priest Fr Francis Nguyen being warmly congratulated by the Archbishop. Below right, Fr Armando Carandang, and Fr Kenneth Williams with seminarians from St Charles Seminary, Guildford. Below far right, the sanctuary of the new church. PHOTOS: ROBERT HIINI
The True for
Ellen
Named after St Helena of Constantinople, dis Holy Cross Church, Ellenbrook is a sign Cath
r
March 28, 2012, The Record
Cross
nbrook
scoverer of the True Cross, St Helena of the holicism is thriving at the outskirts of the city.
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Above right, a likeness of St Helena Parish's patron saint in stained glass. Below right, locals meet Dominican Father, Anthony Van Dyke OP. PHOTO: ROBERT HIINI
Helena circa 255-330 August 18
Çrosiers
Helena was the mother of Constantine, the Roman emperor who in 313 ended the persecution of Christians throughout the empire. She was born in Asia Minor, married a Roman general named Constantius Chlorus, and gave birth to Constantine in 274 in what is now Serbia. She became a Christian in 312, and thereafter was known for her devotion, prayerfulness and generosity to the poor. In about 326, she went to the Holy Land, where she spent her last years humbly doing the housework in her convent but also building churches on holy sites. She reportedly found the “true cross” of Calvary.
Saints
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March 28, 2012, The Record
,
A
CTRESS Shari Rigby sat right across from her interviewer, her legs crossed. On the instep of her right foot was a tattoo of a flower. She was asked what it was. “Her name would have been Lily,” Rigby answered, “and so that’s there to remind me.” She was talking about the baby she had aborted 20 years ago. Rigby plays a relatively small part in the new movie October Baby, but it is a pivotal role. She plays the birth mother of Hannah (Rachel Hendrix), but Hannah was born as the survivor of a botched abortion; Hannah’s twin brother only survived a handful of days after the abortion attempt. The kicker is that brother directors Andrew and Jon Erwin, when
they sent Rigby the script for her consideration, had no idea she had ever undergone an abortion. In fact, Jon Erwin told Catholic News Service it was not until after the movie had been shown to several focus groups that Rigby went in front of the camera again to address
March 23 in about 360 theatres, details the revelation to college student Hannah about the circumstances behind her birth, and her quest to find the woman who tried to abort her. The movie also stars John Schneider (The Dukes of Hazzard,
a joint interview with CNS at a Washington hotel. Rigby is part of show biz royalty. She’s the aunt of 2007 American Idol winner Jordin Sparks. Coincidentally, Chris Sligh, a finalist during the season Sparks won, has a comic-relief role in October
Brother directors Andrew and Jon Erwin did not even know that their chosen actress had herself had an abortion until the film was screened. moviegoers about her own abortion experience, which has been added to the film’s closing credits. “There are millions and millions of postabortive women out there,” Erwin said. October Baby, which debuts
Smallville) as Hannah’s father and Jasmine Guy (A Different World) as the nurse from the abortion clinic all those years ago. Erwin, Rigby and Hendrix spent two days in the Washington area to promote October Baby, conducting
Baby. Hendrix - as did the Erwin brothers - grew up in Alabama, where the movie was filmed in a brisk 20-day shooting schedule, but by the time October Baby was ready to shoot, she had moved to Zurich, where her photojournalist husband
lives. Hendrix had even established her own photo studio. Erwin said he remembered casting Hendrix in a music video for Christian music singer Michael Smith. “She just had that look,” he said. October Baby is her first feature film. “I just told her to step up to the plate, take a big swing and run with it - and she did,” Erwin added. If October Baby does well at the box office, Hendrix said she and her husband would relocate to Los Angeles to try her hand at the film industry full time. Hendrix won an “special achievement in acting” award at the Red Rock Film Festival when October Baby was screened there - except festival sponsors hadn’t expected to give anybody an acting award. As a prize, Hendrix received a
Human trafficking victims tell their When Wendy Barnes tried to run away from her pimp, it was not the beatings that hurt the most but the realisation that
W
ENDY Barnes knew her pimp the father of her three children, the man who had lured her into prostitution at the age of 15 - was going to beat her. And she knew she just could not take it anymore. “I had to get out of that life,” said Barnes. “I had to get away from me.” So she ran. She had gone about a block before she realised it was snowing. Another block flashed by, and she realised she didn’t have any shoes on. But it was not until she found a hiding place behind a dumpster that the biggest realisation hit her: “I knew,” she said slowly, “no one cared.” Barnes was eventually arrested and spent two years in jail which
for her was a turning point. “It was my escape from him,” she told a stunned audience of more than 200 attending “Human Trafficking: The Child Slave,” a March 10 symposium sponsored by Southern California Partners for Global Justice, a group made up of more than a dozen religious orders, the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, and the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s Office of Justice and Peace. Human trafficking is the recruitment, smuggling, abduction, transportation, harbouring, buying or selling of a person by means of force, fraud, threats or coercion for commercial and sexual exploitation. It does not have to involve transporting people over international boundaries or state lines; US citi-
zens can be trafficked within the United States. Barnes grew up in Oregon, for instance, and spent some time in Washington state. “One hundred and seventy-three countries have laws against selling
“Because if there is a law, there are consequences, and we live in a culture where people do obey the law because of consequences.” people,” keynote speaker Sandie Morgan told a full auditorium at Mount St Mary’s College’s Doheny
Campus in Los Angeles. “It is like, ‘Why do we need a law?’” she continued. “Because if there’s a law, there are consequences, and we live in a culture where people obey the law because of consequences.” However, added Morgan, the former administrator of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force, just because one doesn’t buy or sell another human being, that does not mean that one is not implicated in the morass of human trafficking. “Our culpability in driving demand for human trafficking isn’t just the people purchasing children for sex,” said Morgan. She added, those who buy groceries produced by slave labour also contribute to the problem. Among the exhibitors at the symposium was Catholic
Relief Services, the US bishops’ overseas relief and development agency. Its representatives were there to help attendees understand how fair trade products provide labourers with a fair wage, allowing them to support their families with dignity; fair trade is an alternative to labour bondage, which is one facet of human trafficking. Sex trafficking is another facet, the one that impacted Barnes. Another speaker was Papito Ojok, who is from Uganda, where many of his peers were abducted and coerced into becoming child soldiers in a war that started long before they were born. Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, is the man behind the child soldiers and the subject of the “Kony 2012” awareness campaign
March 28, 2012, The Record
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A Survivor’s
STORY
As October Baby, the story of a teenage girl who discovers she is the survivor of an abortion, hit cinemas, Mark Pattison talks to actress Shari Rigby about her role in the film.
stock library of video effects clips. If she makes it to LA, Hendrix can join Rigby, who just changed her professional name back to her maiden name after having gone by her German-American husband’s surname of Wiedmann. “It either gets mispronounced or misspelled,” Rigby said. When not acting, Rigby helps with her husband’s LA-based farm equipment parts business. Acknowledging the seeming incongruity of having a farm business in one of America’s biggest metropolises, Rigby hastened to add, “it’s like the amazon.com of farm parts ordering.” Erwin praised the investment by American Family Studios in the film which cost a mere $1 million to make. Its parent, the American Family Association, has been for
decades one of the staunchest critics of television and film content. “They told us, ‘everybody knows what we’re against. Now they’ll get to know what we’re for,’” Erwin said. He’s a bit bothered by the movie’s PG-13 rating, saying there’s no
Rigby says the flower tattoo on her right foot is to remind her of her aborted daughter Lily. objectionable content. “Apparently, ‘abortion’ is a PG-13 word,” Erwin said. When October Baby premieres, its chief debut competition will be the much-awaited The Hunger Games, on 10 times as many
screens as October Baby. The initial thinking was that October Baby would get swamped but then, Hendrix said, “there will be all these teenage girls waiting in line to see Hunger Games and they’ll see the poster for October Baby and they’ll want to go see our movie, too.” October Baby was given a classification of A-II - adults and adolescents - by CNS for “mature subject matter and potentially disturbing references”. It is a “strongly pro-life message movie whose theme viewers dedicated to the dignity of all human beings will welcome unanimously,” said staff critic John Mulderig. “Opinions about the aesthetic package in which they wrap their point,” he added, “may be more divided.” - CNS
stories at symposium
no one cared about her writes Elisabeth Deffner that, coincidentally, went viral the week before the symposium. Though Ojok escaped that fate, his family was decimated by the war. Rebels came to his home and killed his father, his aunt was raped, then murdered; his sister was abducted, and to this day he does not know what became of her. “I was very young, age of 7, when I started to live on my own,” said Ojok in an interview with the Orange County Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Orange. But networking and quick thinking helped him as he struggled in a displaced persons camp, anxious to attend school and stay out of rebel hands. When he encountered Invisible Children - the organisation behind “Kony 2012” - he was accepted into its scholarship program. In the fall, he will begin law school, with an
eye toward practising international law to try to help protect vulnerable children around the world. Survivors’ stories and current statistics painted a stark portrait of the pervasiveness of human traf-
Simply attending events on human trafficking helps not only to inform and empower attendees but to give hope to survivors. ficking in all parts of the world but that is what attendees came to hear. “It’s important to hear what
strategies exist that we can help our community know how to deal with (human trafficking) in a better way,” explained attendee Marge Driscoll, a member of the Justice and Peace Council at St Mel in Woodland Hills. In Los Angeles, the Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet demonstrate on Sunset Boulevard with antitrafficking signs on the first Friday of every month. In the fall, a major motion picture - Trade of Innocents - will be released in theatres, showcasing the sex tourism trade and starring Mira Sorvino and Dermot Mulroney. Simply attending events like the symposium helps, Barnes told the audience, not only because attendees become informed and empowered, but because they give hope to survivors. - CNS
A lesson in marriage from Mary and St Joseph Dear Father, I know that Our Lady was always a virgin and did not have carnal relations with St Joseph. But how could St Joseph be chaste through his marriage with Our Lady?
I
THINK that anyone who reflects on this matter asks the same question you do. We know by faith that Mary was always a virgin but we still find it hard to understand how Mary and Joseph could have lived the whole of their married life together in complete continence. First, we recall that Our Lady was always a virgin, not only before giving birth to Jesus but afterwards as well. She is the “ever virgin” Mary, and her perpetual virginity is a dogma of faith (cf J Flader, Question Time, Connor Court 2008, q 34). This means that she and St Joseph never had marital relations. They lived complete continence throughout their married life together. This would have been for as long as 30 years. Since there is no mention of St Joseph in the Gospels when Jesus begins his public life around the age of 30, it seems he had died by then. If, as appears likely, St Joseph was around 18 or 20 when they married, they could have lived in this way until St Joseph was around 50. How did they manage to live chastity so well? First, we know that St Joseph had been chosen by God from all eternity for his role, and part of his preparation would have been the granting by God of all the necessary virtues. Just as Our Lady is “model of the virtues”, as the Second Vatican Council called her (LG 65), so St Joseph, humanly speaking, would have been naturally very virtuous. It is inconceivable that God would have chosen as the legal father of Jesus someone who was, for example, lazy, selfcentred, proud, untidy, foul mouthed, gluttonous or lacking in sobriety. Rather, as in the case of Mary, God would have filled St Joseph with virtues in preparation for his important role. Among these virtues was chastity, self-control in the appetites of the flesh. It would have been these virtues in great measure that attracted Our Lady to St Joseph as a future spouse. Second, God would have given St Joseph all the special graces he needed for his role. God grants everyone all the graces they require for their particular role in life – as parent, teacher, community leader, religious, priest, bishop, pope – and we can be certain that he filled St Joseph with all the necessary graces. The words of Our Lord to
Q&A By Fr John Flader St Paul remind us of this: “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor 12:9). We see this, for example, in St Joseph’s complete docility when, on four occasions, God manifests his will to him through an angel in a dream (cf Mt 1:20; 2:13, 19, 22). St Joseph’s immediate response suggests that he had received very special graces. Similarly, God would have given St Joseph special graces to live chastity with Our Lady. Third, Our Lady’s own exceptional virtue, especially her modesty, would have assisted St Joseph immensely. We
There are other women - like Mary who exude modesty, naturalness and purity in everything. She would have helped anyone. can understand this very easily. There are some women whose behaviour, dress, conversation, etc, are sensual and seductive, and in their presence men are naturally tempted to unchaste thoughts and desires. But there are other women who exude modesty, naturalness, purity in everything. Such was Mary. She was “mother most pure, mother most chaste, mother inviolate, mother undefiled”, as we say in the Litany of Loreto. She would have helped anyone who knew her to control their thoughts and desires. We should remember that Our Lady was very beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful woman God ever created. To live with her for thirty years in complete continence can only be explained if Mary was the chaste and modest woman she was. Finally, because St Joseph loved Our Lady so much – after all, he preferred to live with her in continence rather than not be married to her at all – he was respectful of all her wishes and decisions. He only wanted her good, what God wanted for her and what she wanted for herself and for Jesus.
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Where
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March 28, 2012, The Record
In part two of this article, Marcus Roberts surveys the global spread of ‘femicide’: the selective abortion of baby girls.
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want to turn to other countries that are part of this insidious “global war” against baby girls. Another East Asian country – Vietnam – is also experiencing a rise in its sex ratio at birth (SRB – see shaded box below). Vietnam is a “sub-replacement fertility society”, has easy access to abortion and an increasing diffusion of ultrasound technology. Between 1999 and 2009, Vietnam’s SRB has risen from 105 to over 110 baby boys to girls. This rise coincided with a rapid increase in the material wealth of Vietnamese society, and there is a positive correspondence between SRB and prosperity within Vietnam – the poorest areas have the lowest SRBs. The world’s second largest country has also suffered an upsurge in its SRBs. From 1979-1992 the Indian SRB was around 105. During 2000-2006 this had risen to 109 and the more recent survey for 2004-2006 placed the SRB at 112. The gender imbalances are most extreme in the northwest where the sex ratio for ages 0-6 in the states of Haryana and Punjab is around 120 and in Delhi where the sex ratio for those under 7 is about 115. Like Vietnam, SRBs and child sex ratios correlate positively with education, income and urbanisation. Elsewhere in the world, countries with unusually high SRBs include: Albania (113 in 2004); El Salvador (110 in 2007); Philippines (109 in 2007) and Serbia (108 in 2008). When broken down by sex ratio for children aged 0-4 years old, the countries with the highest figures are: Lebanon (110 in 2007); Bangladesh (108 in 2001); Papua New Guinea (108 in 2000) and Albania (107 in 2001). These figures show the truly global spread of female feticide. As Eberstadt states: “...The ten societies with biologically unnatural SRBs examined thus far represent most of the world’s major religious and cultural traditions: Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity.” Even within countries reporting “normal” SRBs, there are communities and ethnic groups that have higher SRBs. In the USA, SRBs of 108 were characteristic of the “Asian-Pacific” population – a population that a generation ago had SRBs within the normal biological range. In England and Wales, the SRBs for Indian-born mothers rose from 104 in the 1980s to 108 in the late 1990s. According to Eberstadt, this is not a natural occurrence: “... In both the US and the UK, these gender disparities were due largely to sharp increases in higherparity SRBs, strongly suggesting that sex-selective abortions were the driver. The American and British cases also point to the possibility that sexselective abortion may be common to other subpopulations in developed or less developed societies, even if these do not affect the overall SRB for each country as a whole.” Eberstadt draws some conclusions as to why these imbalances are occurring – a “merciless” preference for sons in certain societies; a low fertility rate which makes each birth being a son more important;
Mothers in a maternity ward in Manila in the Philippines. Around the world, baby girls are being aborted more because they are believed to be less productive or more of a burden for families to support. The trend has spread to many nations throughout the world, including developed countries. PHOTO: CNS
and the availability of ultrasound and cheap abortions which makes parental preference obtainable. The effect of these SRB imbalances, the problem of sex-selective abortions and neglect of female infants is truly massive. Using figures provided by the United Nations Population Division (UNPD) and the US Census Bureau’s International Programs Centre (IPC), as well as official demographic statistics from various nations, Eberstadt estimates that those countries with a sex ratio of 107 or higher at birth and up to age of 5:
youth sex ratios in these societies should be around 105, the unnatural “girl deficit” for females 0-19 years of age as of 2010 would have totalled roughly 32-33 million by both UNPD and IPC figures.” It is indeed a massive issue – one that the sheer numbers make it hard to comprehend. But it is not surprising that with these figures in mind, Eberstadt claims that the global war: “… has come to distort the population composition of the entire human species: this new and medicalised war against baby girls is indeed truly global in scale and scope.” Eberstadt
What are SRBs?
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he sex ratio at birth is usually displayed as a three-digit figure which (in this article) indicates the number of boys born compared to 100 girls. The higher figure is because demographers theorise that boys are more likely to have higher mortality rates for reasons such as engaging in more dangerous behaviours or death through participation in conflict and wars etc. There is a regular relationship between the number of male and female births in the human population – the sex ratio at birth for large populations generally falls within a narrow range of 103-106 boys for every 100 girls. A higher figure eg 115 indicates that baby girls
“… total … over 50 countries and territories accounting for over 3.2 billion people, or nearly half of the world’s total population. By the reckoning of UNPD, the overall global sex ratio at birth has already assumed naturally impossible heights in the era of sex-selective abortion, rising from 105 in 1975-80 to 107 for 200510. By the same token, IPC puts the worldwide under-5 child sex ratio at 107 for 2010. To go by both UNPD and IPC reconstructions of local agesex structures, today’s societies with unnaturally high SRBs and/or child sex ratios had an aggregate “boy surplus” of over 55 million males under the age of 20 by the year 2010; and if we assume that the SRBs and child/
understandably does not hold anything back when he discusses the effect of sex-selective abortions: “It establishes a new social reality that inescapably colours the whole realm of human relationships, redefining the role of women as the disfavoured sex in nakedly utilitarian terms, and indeed signalling that their very existence is now conditional and contingent.” While women may be seen to be more “valuable”, this can have perverse consequences – including increased demand for prostitution and an upsurge in the kidnapping and trafficking of women. And what about the men left behind? Well, they are less likely to be
married – by 2040, 23 per cent of Chinese males in their early 40s or under will have never married (up from about 4 per cent as of 2000). Unmarried men tend to suffer greater health risks than their married counterparts, while there is the question of their support in old age if they have no children (especially with the population getting older as well). Finally, there is the social impact of “excess males” – increased crime, violence, social tensions and a greater proclivity for social instability are all touted as potential problems from such an unbalanced population. So what does the future hold? Eberstadt mentions three factors associated with SRB imbalances – low or sub-replacement fertility levels, easy access to ultrasounds and abortion services and a “ruthless son preference”. The first two factors are unlikely to go away anytime soon. The third factor is harder to pick (in part due to demographers tending to ask people how many children they want to have, but not what sex they want their babies to be). However, Eberstadt does posit a gloomy outlook in this regard: “… societies where female rates exceed male rates (patterns arising from systemic discriminatory mistreatment of little girls) may be correspondingly disposed to prenatal gender discrimination as well. According to the World Health Organisation’s 2009 Life Tables, over 60 countries currently experience higher infant or age 1-4 mortality rates for girls than for boys: a roster including much of South-Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, and over a dozen countries in sub-Saharan Africa. If such gender bias in mortality turns out to
be a predictor of sex-selection bias, this global problem may get considerably worse before it gets better.” There is one ray of hope in an otherwise bleak canvas: South Korea. In the early 1990s, South Korea’s SRB was similar to China’s – around 114. By 2009 however, its SRB had declined to a practically “normal” 106. How this happened is up for debate but it does seem to have been less affected by governmental policy than by civil society: “… more specifically, by the spontaneous and largely uncoordinated congealing of a mass movement for honouring, protecting, and prizing daughters. In effect, this movement — drawing largely but by no means exclusively on the faith-based community — sparked a national conversation of conscience about the practice of female feticide. This conversation was instrumental in stigmatising the practice, not altogether unlike the way in which nationwide conversations of conscience helped to stigmatise international slavetrading in other countries in earlier times.” Until people stop wanting so desperately to have a boy that they are willing to kill their baby girls, it is unlikely that countries’ SRBs will change. Reading and thinking about this article has made me quite glad that Ash Wednesday came this year and that we are in the season of Lent. There is a lot of grace to be asked for and repentance to be done. This reflection by University of Auckland contract law lecturer Marcus Roberts was inspired by an article by Nicholas Eberstadt which appeared in The New Atlantis – the journal of technology and society. Mr Eberstadt holds the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute and his article can be found online at: www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/theglobal-war-against-baby-girls
March 28, 2012, The Record
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Reaching out
to the
alking ounded
Abortion occasionally makes it into the forum of public debate, but who listens to the real women left in its wake? When an abortion grief organisation asked for volunteers, Thornlie woman Maureen Ryan said yes, writes Robert Hiini.
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HE seething hatred was still there and its ferocity ran electric down the phone line. As a young, unmarried woman, the caller had fallen pregnant to her then boyfriend – a man she would eventually go on to marry. Against her deep-seated will, she was leaned-on to have an abortion – and it was her boyfriend’s mother who did the strongest leaning. Forty years on, and she still can’t stand the sight of her. “She hates her mother-in-law so much that it just devours her every day,” Abortion Grief Australia (AGA) phone counsellor Maureen Ryan said. “She hates the woman who made her do this and she wanted to know what to do about it – how to get rid of the hate before it wrecked her marriage.” In the five years she has volunteered on AGA’s Helpline, it’s a plea Maureen Ryan has heard over and over. “You get people like that. It’s chewed their whole life up. Really sad. It’s something they keep to themselves or the people they do talk to are sick of hearing about it. So they realise if they don’t talk it builds up again.” Maureen doesn’t propose solutions. Most of the time, she simply listens. Being an abortion grief counsellor is not something the retired mother of three ever imagined herself doing. She was sitting in a pew when she heard the invitation, when a woman from AGA adressed the congregation after Mass. “I guess I was just pretty well like everyone else, in the midst of my own life,” Maureen said. “It’s got to be the right time in your life and I’ve got time now.” Tuesday is her day for listening. The phone line in the humble Thornlie home she shares with husband Terry is diverted to pick up calls from all over Australia. “I was quite nervous when I first started, but I found if you don’t say much but you sort of have an understanding ear and a sympathetic voice, then they’ll talk.” Some of the calls last for minutes, others for hours. Some are harrowing and even occasionally abusive. But the experience of difficult calls, Maureen says, is tempered by the friendly ones with some women ringing up three or four times a year for a friendly chat. Another woman rings. She says she has a friend who had an abortion. Her friend seems upset but isn’t saying anything about it. After listening intently, Maureen reaches across her kitchen table for a plastic folder. She thumbs through it, looking for the phone number of a counsellor or help centre in the woman’s area (she informs callers if these are religious organisations or if they charge for services). Sometimes women ring asking for the address of an abortion clinic, having confused the Abortion Grief Australia Helpline with the number of an abortion provider.
“What’s difficult about answering the phone”, asked abortion grief counsellor Maureen Ryan, pictured above with husband Terry.
“She didn’t want to listen,” Maureen said of one such caller. “She didn’t want to hear anything. All she wanted was an address for an abortion clinic. “In that case, I say that since abortion has been made legal, (the abortion providers) are supposed to
Tuesday is Maureen’s day for listening; calls come in from all round Australia, sometimes taking minutes, others many hours. counsel you beforehand and they are supposed to counsel you afterwards. So, if you are determined to go ahead with it, make sure you have this counselling beforehand,” Maureen said. “Sometimes people stop and say ‘oh, why do I need this counselling?’ It’s really just a matter of touching on something where that person might stop and listen instead of panicking.” Maureen had no direct experience of abortion prior to volunteering with AGA but, looking back, recognised its presence in several dark moments of the past. She remembered, as a child, overhearing her mother’s conversation with a friend about the Dutch woman next door who had “done
something to herself ”. The neighbour’s son had come home to find his mother lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Her 18-year-old twin girls had already seen her lying there but, unmoved, left their mother where she was. “I remember thinking, ‘that poor woman, her daughters just stepping over her like that’. It just didn’t make sense,” Maureen said. Only years later did Maureen make the connection. Another time, when Maureen was a young woman living in Melbourne, a friend of her flatmate suddenly disappeared. “She’s going all funny ever since she had something done,” was all her flatmate would say. “People didn’t talk about it,” Maureen said. “People didn’t ask questions.” While the politics of abortion occasionally rages on in legislative debates and popular culture, women are ringing up to talk about it; even while others contest the likely cause of their grief. The sheer diversity of callers defies profiling, Maureen said, but over the years she has developed a feel for how to talk with women of different ages and backgrounds. “With older women, I bring up the men who came back from the Vietnam War. It’s the same type of problem,” she said. “The government wanted it silenced. The men had to come back in civvies. They weren’t allowed to talk about the war. They
had to pretend it never happened.” In the wake of Vietnam, some of the ex-soldiers resorted to alcohol and substance abuse, she tells older callers; some, even succumbing to suicidal thoughts. “A lot of the older woman get a grip on that because they know people who went through that,” Maureen said. “They think ‘oh, it’s not just something that’s in my mind’, it’s an actual thing that is happening to their whole system.” While her AGA work may have been her first direct contact with abortion, Maureen’s volunteering goes back considerably further. She’s been involved with the disabilities support group Personal Advocacy Service for more than 16 years. Maureen and her fellow ‘advocates’ gather with their ‘friends’ - people with intellectual disabili-
PHOTO: ROBERT HIINI
ties - for fun activities and time out from their day-to-day lives. “It’s a really great group to be in. I get tired and think, “oh geez, I’ve got to go there tonight” and then they all come in with their smiling faces and you go home and think, “gee, that was really good”.” Her husband Terry also got caught up in PAS, volunteering with the group for the past 10 years; one more of their shared travails since meeting as young people at a Perth Catholic social club. “From then on, he was doomed,” Maureen said looking over at Terry, both of them laughing. Sitting across from his wife, Terry admits to the pride and admiration he has for her. “She’s the sort of person who is levelheaded and can feel for people and how they’re feeling,” he said. “I knew she’d do a good job of it.”
The first step towards healing
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bortion Grief Australia was founded in 1984 by Registered Nurse Dawn Dureau and has run a national helpline since 1990. It is currently headed by Registered Nurse Julie Cook. Thousands of women and health professionals ring the helpline each year looking for help and the latest advice on abortion trauma. The line also doubles as a crisis line for women and men experiencing unexpected pregnancy. Around a fifth of calls come from men. AGA’s website features information and fact sheets on abortion trauma and crisis pregnancy, for women, men and health professionals, accessible at www.abortiongrief.asu.au. occur in the human population. n A non-judgemental friendly ear is just a phone call away. AGA’s 24 hour counselling number is: 1300 363 550
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editorial
Prayer, fasting and holding fast
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hat is unfolding in the US as President Barack Obama attempts to coerce all religious employers to medically insure their employees for practices many of those targeted by his move believe violate their most fundamental beliefs is, surely, one of the most remarkable spectacles in the modern political history of that nation. The most notable opposition to President Obama’s legislation has come from the Catholic Church which, because of its widely-known positions on issues such as artificial contraception and abortion, is clearly also the President’s main target. The latest remarkable development in the ongoing saga of the push by President Obama and his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sibelius, who, in Australian terms would be described as the equivalent of a Federal Minister for Health, was the call issued by the Catholic Bishops of the US on March 20 to Catholics and “all people of faith” to join them in prayer and fasting for religious freedom and the protection of conscience. The call issued by the bishops signalled one of the most serious moments in the history of religious and political freedom in the history of the United States, essentially because what has become transparently clear to many observers is that President Obama and Secretary Sebelius’ attempt to mandate the provision of artificial contraception by Catholic and other private employers would, if successful, destroy religious freedom in the US, effectively removing any official right of Catholic institutions to operate according to central principles of their faith. The whole issue is remarkable. At a time when the European Union has been teetering on the brink of financial collapse for the last two years, threatening to bring down the whole international financial and economic system to a state not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s, a President of the United States of America, one of the two most powerful economies on earth, has made it a policy priority to try and force the Catholic Church in his country to abandon, in practice, core beliefs on matters such as the sanctity of human life. Some would call this a problem in prioritisation. At the very heart of the conflict between President Obama and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church are really two issues, with the first being an issue of history: the fact that the 18th century authors of the US Constitution were precisely attempting to construct a document which would guarantee the-then young nation freedom from the patterns and problems of the European ancien regime which often included despotic rule, subjugation of the judiciary and the loss of individual freedoms in the face of tyrannical forms of government. In a bizarre reversal of history and purely in the interests of his own political agenda, an American President is not so much turning the founding principles of the American Constitution on their head as simply jettisoning them in the interests of political expediency. PO Box 3075 The second issue at the heart Adelaide Terrace of the conflict is not only hisPERTH WA 6832 torical but cultural and moral, and perhaps best described as a office@therecord.com.au near-perfect example of the dicTel: (08) 9220 5900 tatorship of moral relativism, the Fax: (08) 9325 4580 phrase famously coined by thenDean of the College of Cardinals, Josef Ratzinger, shortly before the papal conclave of 2005. The psychology of moral relativism proclaims loudly that no-one should seek to impose his or her morality on another person, while its core belief is that what is moral for one person is not necessarily moral for another. Setting aside the fact that while at no time in the history of the US has the the Catholic Church sought to impose its moral teachings on society and that to engage in moral debate is not an attempt to impose belief, moral relativism appeals tremendously to many people because it sounds so reasonable and tolerant. In effect, it is a path to societal suicide. Moral relativism has no information to give us, no answers, no solutions to the gates of Auschwitz. President Obama’s push is an excellent example of how moral relativism naturally morphs into the fascist, totalitarian mind which, convinced of its moral and intellectual superiority, sees no contradiction in proclaiming tolerance whilst busily engaged in enforcing total intolerance or simply dispensing with any pretense at all. His attempt to politically intimidate and intellectually crush the Catholic Church in his country bears out the truth of the old saying that anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice, one of which the US President is clearly happy to take advantage. Interestingly, Australia is a culture lacking originality; we tend to copy others in the hope that we can be seen as cosmopolitan as well. What has happened in the US is likely to come our way too. If there is a silver lining to the beginning of persecution of the Catholic Church and of Christianity in a nation which loudly procaims its value of personal freedom, paradoxically, it is that President Obama has done more than any other individual in several decades in the US to unite the entire Church around its pastors and shepherds. The action of the US bishops calling their faithful and others of faith to prayer and fasting is courageous and it is clear that the bishops of that country understand what is at stake. We would therefore do well this Lent, all of us, to remember their intentions in our own prayers too.
The second issue at the heart of the confrontation between the US Catholic bishops and President Obama is the dictatorship of moral relativism.
THE RECORD
March 28, 2012, The Record
The big difficulty giving up all has paid off really well The call to a unique way of life and work came early for Fr Don Kettle. Name: Fr Don Kettle Age: 49 Occupation: Businessman-turnedParish Priest, Holy Spirit Parish, City Beach
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WAS born in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, the youngest son of five children. My family migrated to Perth in 1963. I was educated by the Sisters of St Joseph at St Pius X primary school, then by the Christian Brothers at Aquinas College. Before commencing my seminary studies I was the proprietor and co-director of my own packaging company which is still running today, though I don’t have any financial interest in it any more. I completed my studies and formation at the Pontifical Irish College, Rome and was ordained to the Diaconate by His Eminence Cardinal Cassidy on Easter Monday 2001 at St Anthony’s Church. Since my return I was appointed as chaplain to Hollywood Private Hospital and assisted at St Aloysius Parish, Shenton Park. I was ordained to the Presbyterate by His Grace Archbishop Hickey in February 2002. After my priestly ordination I was appointed as the assistant priest at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Rockingham for two years. Then I was appointed as the director of Catholic Youth Ministry for three years, before my current appointment as parish priest at Holy Spirit, City Beach. At the 47th World Day of Prayer for Vocations the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, said:
My
Vocation with Debbie Warrier “Witness awakens vocations. The fruitfulness of our efforts to promote vocations depends primarily on God’s free action, yet, as pastoral experience confirms, it is also helped by the quality and depth of the personal and communal witness of those who have already answered the Lord’s call to
At the age of seven I wanted to serve Mass at the altar and I suppose it was during this time that I first thought of becoming a priest. the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life, for their witness is then able to awaken in others a desire to respond generously to Christ’s call.” The witness of my parish priest, Fr Patrick Carmody, was an inspirational influence in my life growing up. His zeal for souls and apostolic vision towards those entrusted to his care was unrelenting. He tirelessly served his people
with love and devotion. At the age of seven I wanted to serve Mass at the altar and I suppose it was during this time that I first thought of becoming a priest. As a child I dreamt of becoming a priest, but my desire to do so was fading, I was now caught up in what the world had to offer, so I tried to ignore the call to the priesthood by distracting myself, of what I thought would bring me happiness. During my time of discernment one question kept coming back to me. What would I say to Jesus face to face when asked, “Why didn’t you answer me, when I called?” Finally I said, “OK, Lord, I give up, I’ll give it 100 per cent but you will have to do the rest, if this is my vocation in life.” It was extremely difficult to change direction in my life, because I was well established, but as I let go of all the things I thought would bring me happiness, I found much much more, bringing with it joy, peace, contentment, and fullness in my life. Now 14 years have gone by since I started out on this adventure of following Christ. Deep joys and satisfaction have been woven in with difficulties and challenges in my years – but I am sure of one thing, it’s worth it, my life for Christ. I hope and pray with humility that I live up to our Holy Father’s expectations of every priest and every consecrated person, that is to be faithful to his or her vocation and radiate the joy of serving Christ and to draw all Christians to respond to the universal call to holiness.
So often we lose sight of the resurrection that is looming Despite trials, great beauty has emerged in the voices of those around me.
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ECENTLY, over a period of two weeks, I attended six funerals. At one, as the priest blessed the coffin and the white pall was placed over it, he reminded us that our baptism is about death, death into the life of Christ. In Baptism, we die with Jesus to rise with him, too. That got me to thinking. I was sharing that thought with a group of people including parents who have a child with a disability and others with disabilities. One mother said, “You know, I can identify with that. My husband and I had a very profound lesson about Baptism and dying with our firstborn. “Before our son was born, my husband and I were so looking forward to our first child. We had plenty of plans for him or her. We would be so proud. Our child was going to be beautiful and smart and oh so loving. “When Aiden was born, though, we both died. How could God be so cruel to us? It was so hard in the beginning. Each day was like a dying to ourselves. We realised just how self-centred we were. Aiden has changed all that.” “When we let go of our dreams for Aiden and allowed God’s way to develop, we entered into another world. Sure, we lost ‘friends’ who found Aiden confronting. We didn’t get invited out as much as we had before Aiden was born.
Bee in my bonnet A reflection on the struggles of those who are forgotten
By Barbara Harris “That was a kind of dying, too. Aiden is now 13 and our journey is by no means ended. However, we have been blessed to be in a world where we have gained so much that is more valuable than our limited dreams and visions. The strange
Now I play wheelchair basketball and I have never enjoyed playing and competing so much. thing is that we can now see that Aiden is sooo beautiful and smart (he knows what’s really important) and loving. His capacity to forgive puts my husband and me to shame. Looking back, I see we died and now we are learning what it truly means to be alive.” Joe was also at the meeting. He is an engineer for a big mining
company. He was driving home from work in his city office one day when his car was struck by a driver who had been drinking. Joe is now dependent on a wheelchair for getting around. “After listening to people in the group, I, too, realised that I had never made the connection between baptism and death before,” he said. “It makes sense now. When I finally accepted the reality of being in a wheelchair I, too, entered into a new world. “When I could walk, I played basketball. Now I play wheelchair basketball and I have never enjoyed playing so much. My team mates and the opponents, too, demonstrate so much determination, stamina and skill that just being on the same court is inspiring. “Before the accident, I was out on the court to win and to impress. Now I am happy to just be playing. In some sense, I died in the accident but now I am learning what it means to be truly alive.” Attending six funerals in two weeks was not easy. That I and many others gained a deeper understanding of Baptism, death and resurrection is a blessing beyond compare. My thanks to the many people who over many years have shared with me so many titbits of wisdom, love and learning. May this coming Easter, after the passion and death, bring you to new life in the Risen Christ.
March 28, 2012, The Record
Page 17
Never underestimate prayer’s power to help
Whatever our problems, many others have much worse. We can help by tapping nothing less than the power of heaven.
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F you have spent 15 minutes browsing through this paper, by the time you lay it down, a child somewhere in Australia will have been physically, sexually or emotionally violated. That doesn’t make for comfortable reading but it’s a fact. Last year’s statistics shows that there were almost 33,000 substantiated incidents of these forms of abuse and it is assumed that many are occurring undetected. If we are not traumatised by this reality, then our hearts need to be broken. So I challenge you. Take time now to imagine the feeling of terror that is being experienced by the child who is, at this very moment, being violated. Members of the psychiatric profession have equated the stress levels of such abuse with those of a soldier in an intense combat situation. Imagine the intensity of their accelerated heart beat, the tightening of their limbs, the nausea triggered by the knotting within their stomach, the immobilising fear as they desperately search for an escape but know that there isn’t one. Unlike the soldier, they have no way
I say I say
By Mark Reidy
of physically defending themselves, so they are forced to create their own emotional and psychological walls from within. Now make this visualisation more real for yourself. Picture that child as someone whom you love dearly. Imagine that little body trembling and cowering and his whimpering cry, knowing that he is totally alone. Abnormal surges of adrenaline are pumping through his brain, causing biochemical changes that will trigger permanent distortions to his thought processes and behaviour. Feelings of fear, distrust and helplessness will become life-long companions and sabotage every relationship formed from that point on. The resulting Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome will ensure that theyt will relive their horror
through flashbacks, night terrors and a deep-seated anxiety that won’t go away. They will carry these distorted feelings into their schools and social lives. Their behaviours and reactions to situations will begin to isolate them from their peers and this will increase the likelihood of them being bullied or bullying. So distracted are their
This form of prayer may be all we are ever called to, but we should be under no illusion that the battle finishes there. Faith without works is dead. thoughts that they will fall behind in their schoolwork and be labelled accordingly. It is more than likely that life at home is dysfunctional, with each member so caught up in his or her own trauma that they do not or cannot offer any support. The child
will withdraw further into an emotional shell and search desperately for any avenue of relief. He will become drawn to others who live in the same world of darkness and they will invariably lead each other deeper into the abyss. He will discover ways of temporarily numbing the anxiety within, through alcohol, drugs and doomed relationships. All glimmer of light will be snuffed out. Does the thought of this scenario happening to a child you love trigger a sickening sense within you? Does it evoke feelings of anger and the desire to do something - anything – to ensure that this evil will never again be inflicted on another child? Because that, I believe, is the reaction that God yearns for. The problem is that many of us are convinced that there is nothing we can do. That is a lie. We are members of a Church whose founder told us, “Whatever you ask for in my name I will do,” (John 14:13). Jesus is the Light that can dispel all darkness, yet we often forget that we have access to the switch. If enough Christians across the nations prayed and fasted in
unity for the innocent lives being destroyed, then the foundations that underpin this evil will begin to crumble. It is God’s promise. This form of prayer may be all most of us are called to, but we should be under no illusion that the battle finishes there. James tells us that “Faith without works is dead”. We must also individually discern whether God is asking us to take a step further and seek out a group or organisation that practically reaches out to these wounded people. Or even to address the situation from a political perspective, from letter writing to campaigning for more effective and protective legislation. Or perhaps he will simply ask us to smile and not ignore the homeless or bedraggled individual whom we pass by on the street. Perhaps we will even be called to buy him a coffee or a meal and to spend time with him. We may even be able to shine some of the Light we have been given onto that frightened child who is hiding within them. Because that is where their healing will begin.
When marriage hangs in the balance The same-sex marriage push would radically alter national life for the worse, write Greg Donnelly. Australians must act now.
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HETHER you live in Perth or Sydney, Darwin or Hobart or any w here in between, you would be aware that there is a major struggle playing itself out before us. That struggle is over what will be the future definition of marriage under our federal legislation. On the one hand there are those who argue marriage is a cultural construct that does not have an inherent nature. Therefore, the argument goes, it can and should be redefined from being a relationship between a man and a woman to that of two adults, thus accommodating the desires of homosexual couples who wish to marry. This stands in contrast to those, including myself, who believe marriage in and of itself has a fixed nature ie intrinsically the marriage relationship involves a man and a woman. Across cultures, reaching back as far as anyone can trace, this has been the case. And the key reason why, as Australian bioethicist Margaret Somerville has observed? Because marriage is the social institution that both symbolises and protects the inherently reproductive relationship that exists between a man and a woman, thereby establishing children’s human rights regarding their biological origins and the family structure in which they are reared. As with so many fellow Australians, I see this as far more than an adult-centred debate over the asserted right by same-sex couples to have their love recognised. The debate embraces far more than this. At the heart of it is the way in which we as a society want to frame and promote the idea of family into the future. Do we want to uncouple those biological ties that bind a child to her or his mother and father and substitute it with something else? Something else that could, following the logic of the argument, be changed again in the future to meet the claimed emotional needs of adults. So what must be done? At the moment Committees of both the Senate and the House of Representatives are examining
proposed bills that, if enacted and passed into law, would change the definition of marriage. The change would be from a relationship between a man and a woman to two adults. All up, there are three separate bills that are being sponsored to bring this about, one in the Senate and two in the House of Representatives.
Photo: 123rf.com
ing for submissions on the bills. Submissions to the Senate inquiry close on April 2, 2012. Submissions to the House of Representatives inquiry close on April 20, 2012. The House of Representatives inquiry, in addition to submissions, includes an online survey that is completed via the inquiry webpage. Submissions can be made electronically or may be mailed to the
I urge in the strongest possible terms for everybody to get involved. No matter where you live in Australia, young or old, access to a computer or not; have your say. You do not have to write long, detailed submissions. Short, concise submissions are very valuable. Both inquiries are important so submissions should be made to both the Senate and the House
Do we want to uncouple those biological ties that bind a child to her or his mother and father and substitute them with something else? It is likely that one or more of these bills will be debated and voted on in the second half of this year. Exactly when, nobody can be sure. Committees from both the Senate and the House of Representatives are inquiring into the bills. These inquiries are call-
respective Senate and House of Representative Committees. Access to the two inquiry webpages is obtained by visiting the Parliament of Australia website. It is easy to follow – red for the Senate and green for the House of Representatives.
of Representatives. And don’t forget to complete the House of Representatives online survey. It is no exaggeration that we in Australia are approaching a fork in the road on this very important matter. There is no inevitable path that
this issue will necessarily proceed down. Same-sex marriage, despite the popular rhetoric, is not inevitable. If every person who believes the definition of marriage should not be altered made the effort to participate in the current inquiries and speak to their federal Member of Parliament and Senators about the views they hold, the current threat to the definition of marriage would be defeated. If that does not happen, those proposing the change may get their way. It is time to act now. Involve as many likeminded people as you can. The future of marriage depends on all of us working together. Get your submissions and completed survey in today. Greg Donnelly is a member of the Legislative Council in the New South Wales State Parliament.
Page 18
March 28, 2012, The Record
PANORAMA SATURDAY, MARCH 31 Sand Sculpture Competition 9am-1.30pm at Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre. Perth Catholic Youth Ministry presents the 2012 Sand Sculpture Competition. Come and join the fun this summer and watch the youth groups battle it out for the annual shield. It’s a great family and community event with beach games, so bring your bucket and spade and join in the fun. If you haven’t registered a team. Enq: CYM 9422 7912 or admin@cym.com.au <mailto:admin@ cym.com.au>
NEXT WEEK SUNDAY, APRIL 1 Goliath Music Festival 7.30-10.30pm at Sacred Heart Primary School hall, Harold St, Highgate (next to CYM). Perth Catholic Youth Ministry will be hosting an original Catholic music festival featuring local artists and loads of awesome music. This is a FREE event so bring all your friends and family for a great night to celebrate World Youth Day. Enq: admin@cym. com.au, email admin@cym.com.au or 9422 7912. MONDAY, APRIL 2 Open Day at La Salle College 9.30-11.30am and 1.40pm at La Salle College, open day tours. 5 La Salle Ave, Middle Swan. View our extensive facilities. Register preferred tour time via events@lasalle.wa.edu.au or mail to: events@lasalle.wa.edu.au or 9274 6266. FRIDAY, APRIL 6 Divine Mercy Novena 2.30pm at Holy Family Parish, Lot 375, Alcock St, Maddington. Confession. 3-4pm divine mercy chaplet and novena, preaching on divine mercy, prayers for healing. Enq: 9493 1703. Desolata Service “Keeping Vigil with Our Blessed Mother” 7.30pm at St Denis Catholic Parish, cnr Osborne St and Roberts Rd, Joondanna. SUNDAY, APRIL 8 Latin Mass 2pm at Good Shepherd Parish, Streich Ave, Kelmscott. Enq: John 9390 6646. Art Exhibition at the Cathedral 9am-5pm Margaret Fane will be holding her annual Art Exhibition on Easter Sunday and the following Sunday, April 15. All proceeds to the Cathedral Restoration Fund. Credit card facilities available. Enq: 0432 834 743. THURSDAY, APRIL 12 Life in the Spirit Seminar 7.30pm at The Good Shepherd Parish, cnr Morley Dr and Altone Rd, Lockridge. The seminar will run for seven weeks every Thursday. Enq: Colleen on 9377 5133 or Shirley on 9279 9165. Healing Mass 7pm at St John Paul Parish, Willetton. Mass will be celebrated in honour of St Peregrine, patron of cancer sufferers and helper of all in need. There will be veneration of the relic of St Peregrine and anointing of the sick. Enq: Jim 9457 1539. FRIDAY, APRIL 13 There Be Dragons Movie Screening Unfortunately, this screening has been cancelled. SATURDAY, APRIL 14 Divine Mercy Novena 2.30pm at Holy Family Parish, Lot 375, Alcock St, Maddington. Confession. 3-4pm divine mercy chaplet and novena, preaching on divine mercy, prayers for healing. Enq: 9493 1703. St Padre Pio Prayer Day 8.30am at St Anne’s Parish, 13 Hehir St, Belmont. St Padre Pio DVD in parish centre. 10am exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, rosary, divine mercy, silent adoration and benediction. 11am Latin Rite Mass, St Padre Pio liturgy, Confession available. 12pm bring a plate for a shared lunch, tea and coffee supplied. (Next Padre Pio prayer day - May 12: St Lawrence Parish, Balcatta. June 16: St Mary’s Cathedral, Padre Pio’s canonisation 10th anniversary.) Enq: Des 6278 1540. SATURDAY, APRIL 14-15 Annual Mariapolis Retreat 9.30am at Epiphany, St Vincent Pallotti Retreat and Conference Centre, 50 Fifth Ave Rossmoyne. Enq: Focolare Centre 9349 4052
UPCOMING SUNDAY, APRIL 15 Divine Mercy 1.30pm at St Mary’s Cathedral. The Feast of Divine Mercy will be celebrated with reconciliation, holy rosary and chaplet of divine mercy, followed by holy Mass at 2.30pm. The main celebrant and homilist for the afternoon will be Bishop Don Sproxton and other priests are invited to celebrate.
What’s on around the Archdiocese of Perth, where and when
After holy Mass, benediction will be offered by Fr Tizano Bogoni and concludes with veneration of two first class relics of St Faustina Kowalska. Tea and coffee available at parish centre. Enq John 9457 7771. 4th Annual Celebration of the Feast of Divine Mercy 2-3pm at Holy Family Parish, Lot 375, Alcock St, Maddington. Confession, 3-5pm procession with divine mercy icon, Eucharistic adoration. Enq: 9493 1703. Devotion to Divine Mercy 2.30pm at All Saints Parish, Greenwood. There will be exposition of the Blessed Sacrament followed by divine mercy novena at 3pm and Mass. Enq: Charles 0416 22 6943. Divine Mercy 3pm at St Bernadette Parish, Glendalough, 49 Jugan St, Mount Hawthorn. Divine mercy chaplet, sung litany of divine mercy. 3.30pm celebrated Mass with veneration of divine mercy image. Mass celebrant Fr Ronan Murphy. 4.30pm rite of benediction and veneration of sacred relic of St Faustina. (Please go to Confession prior to feast day.) Enq: 9444 6131. FRIDAY, APRIL 20 4th Anniversary Celebration Mass 2pm at St Jerome’s Parish, 36 Troode St, Munster. St Jerome’s divine mercy group invites all divine mercy prayer groups and everyone to celebrate our 4th anniversary with a healing Mass. Service will be led by Fr Varghese Parackal VC. From 2- 3pm: exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and divine mercy chaplet. 3-4pm Mass, talk on divine mercy and healing. Enq: Connie 9494 1495. SATURDAY, 21 AND SUNDAY, APRIL 22 Catholic Faith Renewal Retreat 9am-6pm at James Nestor Hall, 50 Ruislip St, West Leederville. Fr Gino Henriques will lead a retreat on “God’s life giving covenant of love in marriage and family life”. Enq: Kathy 9295 0913 or Ann 0412 166 164 or catholicfaithrenewal@gmail.com. SUNDAY, APRIL 22 Latin Mass 2pm at Good Shepherd Parish, Streich Ave, Kelmscott. Enq: John 9390 6646.
Enq: Bradley on youthfromsmc@gmail.com. EVERY SECOND SUNDAY Healing Hour 7-8pm at St Lawrence Parish, Balcatta. Join us for songs of praise and worship, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and prayers for the sick (except Easter Sunday). Enq: Fr Irek Czech SDS or parish office Tues - Thur, 9am-2.30pm 9344 7066. EVERY THIRD SUNDAY Oblates of St Benedict – Meeting 2pm at St Joseph’s Convent, York St, South Perth. For all interested in studying the Rule of St Benedict and its relevance to the everyday life of today for laypeople: Vespers and afternoon tea afterwards. Enq: Secretary 9457 5758. EVERY FOURTH SUNDAY
Taizé Prayer Evening 7-8pm at St Lawrence Parish, Balcatta. Spend an hour listening to simple music (canons), short readings from the Scriptures and intercession prayer. Reflect on the mercy of God in silence. Enq: Fr Irek Czech SDS or parish office Tues - Thur, 9am2.30pm 9344 7066.
REGULAR EVENTS EVERY SUNDAY Gate of Heaven Catholic Radio Join the Franciscans of the Immaculate from 7.309pm on Radio Fremantle 107.9FM for Catholic radio broadcast of EWTN and our own live shows. Enq: radio@ausmaria.com. Pilgrim Mass - Shrine of the Virgin of the Revelation 2pm at Shrine, 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. Commencing with rosary followed by benediction. Reconciliation is available before every celebration. Anointing of the sick administered during Mass every second Sunday of the month. Pilgrimage in honour of the Virgin of the Revelation last Sunday of the month. Side entrance to church and shrine open daily between 9am-5pm. Enq Sacri 9447 3292. EVERY FIRST SUNDAY St Mary’s Cathedral Youth Group – Fellowship with Pizza 5pm at St Mary’s Cathedral, 17 Victoria Sq, Perth. Begins with youth Mass followed by fellowship downstairs in parish centre. Bring a plate to share.
EVERY FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH
Group Fifty – Charismatic Renewal Group 7.30pm at the Redemptorist Monastery, 150 Vincent St, North Perth. Includes prayer, praise and Mass. Enq: Elaine 9440 3661.
EVERY LAST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH
EVERY FIRST FRIDAY
Filipino Mass 3pm at Notre Dame Church, cnr Daley and Wright Sts, Cloverdale. Please bring a plate to share for socialisation after the Mass. Enq: Fr Nelson Po 0410 843 412, Elsa 0404 03 8483.
Healing Mass 7pm at St Peter’s Parish, Inglewood. Praise and worship, exposition and Eucharistic adoration, benediction and anointing of the sick followed by holy Mass and fellowship. Celebrants Fr Dat and invited priests. 6.45pm Reconciliation. Enq: Mary Ann 0409 672 304, Prescilla 043 3457 352 and Catherine 043 3923 083.
EVERY MONDAY Evening Adoration and Mass 7pm at St Thomas Parish, Claremont, cnr Melville St and College Rd. Eucharistic adoration, reconciliation, evening prayer and benediction, followed by Mass and night prayer at 8pm. Enq: Kim on 9384 0598 or email to claremont@perthcatholic.org.au.
The Life and Mission of St Mary MacKillop 9.30-11.30am at Infant Jesus Parish Centre, cnr Wellington Rd and Smith St, Morley. Cost: $15. Enq: Shelley 9276 8500.
LAST MONDAY OF THE MONTH
SUNDAY, MAY 27
St Mary’s Cathedral Praise Meeting 7.45pm every Thursday at the Legion of Mary’s Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. Includes praise, song and healing ministry. Enq: Kay 9382 3668 or fmi@flameministries.org.
Voice of the Voiceless Healing Mass 12pm at St Bridgid’s Parish, 211 Aberdeen St. Northbridge. Bring a plate to share after Mass. Enq: Frank 9296 7591 or 0408 183 325.
Be Still in His Presence – Ecumenical Christian Programme 7.30-8.45pm at St Swithun Anglican Church, 195 Lesmurdie St, Lesmurdie (hall behind church). Begins with songs of praise and worship, silent time, lectio divina, small group sharing and a cuppa at the end. Enq: Lynne 9293 3848 or 043 5252 941.
2012 Busselton May Rosary Pilgrimage in Honour of Our Lady 2.30pm at Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine, Bove’s Farm, Roy Rd, Jindong, Busselton. Begins with hymn singing and concelebrated Mass led by Fr Tony at 1pm. Followed by rosary procession, benediction and afternoon tea. Note: Roy Rd runs off Bussell Hwy, approx halfway between Busselton and Margaret River. Enq and bus bookings: Francis 0404 893 877 or 9459 3873.
Divine Mercy 11am at Ss John and Paul Church, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Pray the rosary and chaplet of divine mercy and for the consecrated life, especially here in John Paul Parish. Concludes with veneration of the first class relic of St Faustina. Please do come and join us in prayer. Enq: John 9457 7771.
Prayer in Style of Taizé 7.30-8.30pm at Our Lady of Grace Parish, 3 Kitchener St, North Beach. Includes prayer, song and silence in candlelight – symbol of Christ the light of the world. Taizé info: www.taize.fr. Enq: secretary 9448 4888 or 9448 4457.
SUNDAY, APRIL 29
SUNDAY, MAY 6
EVERY THURSDAY
Holy Hour for Vocations to the Priesthood, Religious Life 2-3pm at Infant Jesus Parish, Wellington St, Morley. The hour includes exposition of the blessed Eucharist, silent prayer, scripture and prayers of intercession. Come and pray that those discerning vocations can hear clearly God’s call.
75th Anniversary 10am Mass at St Francis Xavier Church, Quairading followed by lunch. Celebrating the anniversary of the blessing and opening of the parish. Enq: Boyle (08) 9645 1513 or Box 163, Quairading 6383. Reflection Day 10am at Redemptorist Monastery, 190 Vincent St, North Perth, (enter though main door). Morning tea followed by morning prayer 10.30am. Mass at 2.30pm. Please bring a plate for shared lunch. Enq: Angela 9275 5658.
Bateman. A beautiful, prayerful, sung devotion. Includes exposition followed by benediction. Enq: George 9310 9493 or 9325 2010 (w).
EVERY TUESDAY Bible Teaching with a Difference 7.30pm at St Joachim’s parish hall, Victoria Park. Exciting revelations with meaningful applications that will change your life. Bring Bible, a notebook and a friend. Enq: Jan 9284 1662. Novena to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal 6pm at Pater Noster Church, Marmion and Evershed Sts, Myaree. Mass at 5.30pm followed by benediction. Enq: John 040 8952 194. EVERY FIRST TUESDAY Short MMP Cenacle for Priests 2pm at Edel Quinn Centre, 36 Windsor St, East Perth. Enq: Fr Watt 9376 1734. EVERY WEDNESDAY Holy Spirit of Freedom Community 7.30pm at The Church of Christ, 111 Stirling St, Perth. We are delighted to welcome everyone to attend our Holy Spirit of Freedom praise meeting. Enq: 042 3907 869 or hsofperth@gmail.com. Bible Study at Cathedral 6.15pm at St Mary’s Cathedral, 17 Victoria Sq, Perth. Deepen your faith through reading and reflecting on holy Scripture by Fr Jean-Noel. Meeting room beneath Cathedral. Enq: Marie 9223 1372. Holy Hour - Catholic Youth Ministry CYM is back in 2012, followed by $5 supper and fellowship. Mass at 5.30pm and Holy Hour (adoration) at 6.30pm at the Catholic Pastoral Centre, 40A Mary St, Highgate. Enq: www.cym.com or 9422 7912. EVERY FIRST WEDNESDAY Holy Hour Prayer for Priests 7.30-8.30pm at Holy Spirit Parish, 2 Keaney Pl, City Beach. All welcome. Enq: Linda 9341 3079. Novena to St Mary of the Cross MacKillop 7-7.45pm at Blessed Mary MacKillop Parish, cnr Cassowary Dr and Pelican Pde, Ballajura. Begins with Mass, novena prayers and benediction. Followed by healing prayers and anointing of the sick. Enq: Madi 9249 9093 or Gerry 0417 187 240. EVERY SECOND WEDNESDAY Chaplets of the Divine Mercy 7.30pm at St Thomas More Parish, Dean Rd,
Holy Hour for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life 7pm at Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, 2 Rawlins St, Glendalough. Mass followed by adoration with Fr Doug Harris. All welcome. Refreshments provided. Healing and Anointing Mass 8.45am Pater Noster Church, Evershed St, Myaree. Begins with reconciliation followed by 9am Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, anointing of the sick and prayers to St Peregrine. Enq: Joy 9337 7189. EVERY FIRST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH Healing Mass 12.35pm at St Thomas Parish, cnr Melville St and College Rd, Claremont. Spiritual leader Fr Waddell. Enq: Kim 9384 0598, claremont@perthcatholic.org. au. EVERY LAST SATURDAY Novena Devotions – Our Lady Vailankanni of Good Health 5pm at Holy Trinity Parish, 8 Burnett St, Embleton. Followed by Mass at 6pm. Enq: George 9272 1379.
GENERAL Free Divine Mercy Image for Parishes High quality oil painting and glossy print – Divine Mercy Promotions. Images are of very high quality. For any parish willing to accept and place inside the church. Oil paintings - 160 x 90cm and glossy print - 100 x 60cm. Enq: Irene 9417 3267 (w). Sacred Heart Pioneers Is there anyone out there who would like to know more about the Sacred Heart pioneers? If so, please contact Spiritual Director Fr Doug Harris 9444 6131 or John 9457 7771. St Philomena’s Chapel 3/24 Juna Drive, Malaga. Mass of the day: Monday 6.45am. Vigil Masses: Mon-Fri 4.45pm. Enq: Fr David 9376 1734. Mary MacKillop Merchandise Available for sale from the Mary MacKillop Centre. Enq: Sr Maree 041 4683 926 or 08 9334 0933. Financially Disadvantaged People Requiring Low Care Aged Care Placement The Little Sisters of the Poor community - set in beautiful gardens in the suburb of Glendalough. “Making the elderly happy, that is everything!” St Jeanne Jugan (foundress). Registration and enq: Sr Marie 9443 3155. Resource Centre for Personal Development The Holistic Health Seminar “The Instinct to Heal’’, every Tuesday 3-4.30pm; and RCPD2 “Internalise Principles of Successful Relationships and Use Emotional Intelligence and Communication Skills” every Tuesday 4.30-6.30pm, 197 High St, Fremantle - Tuesdays 3-4.30pm. Beginning Feb 21. Enq: Eva 0409 405 585. Bookings are essential. Courses held at The Faith Centre in 2012 450 Hay St, Perth 1. RCPD2 - Internalise Principles of Successful Relationships and Use Emotional Intelligence and Communication Skills This course provides knowledge of principles that, if applied, will improve all relationships. Skills of
self-analysis are taught as well as communication skills. Mondays: 5-7pm, from 20 Feb–10 Dec. For enquiries or bookings ph Paul 0402 222 578. 2. RCPD4 – Increase Personal and Spiritual Awareness and Improve Relationships This course promotes self-awareness and spiritual growth. Emotional development is explained in order to improve understanding between persons. Study of Psychology and Theology. Mondays: 10am–12.30pm, from 20 Feb–10 Dec. For enquiries or bookings ph Eva 0409 405 585. 3. Higher Certificate in Biblical Studies The Higher Certificate of Biblical Studies is a distance education programme that can be followed in your own home at your own pace with periodic face-to-face contact workshops. Tutorial assistance is available as required. It is equivalent to a one-year tertiary course, although it is recommended that you aim to complete it in two years. For enquiries and enrolment, ph The Faith Centre on 6140 2420. Is your son or daughter unsure of what to do this year? Suggest a Certificate IV course to discern God’s purpose for their life. They will also learn more about the Catholic faith and develop skills in communication and leadership. Acts 2 College of Mission & Evangelisation (National Code 51452). Enq: Jane 9202 6859. AA Alcoholics Anonymous Is alcohol costing you more than just money? Enq: AA 3253 5666. Saints and Sacred Relics Apostolate Invite SSRA, Perth invites interested parties, parish priests, leaders of religious communities, lay associations, to organise relic visitations to their own parishes, communities, etc. We have available authenticated relics, mostly first-class, of Catholic saints and blesseds including Sts Mary Mackillop, Padre Pio, Anthony of Padua, Therese of Lisieux, Maximilian Kolbe and Simon Stock and Blessed Pope John Paul II. Free of charge and all welcome. Enq: Giovanny 0478 201 092 or ssra-perth@ catholic.org. A Different Lenten Programme WAVN (Western Australian Vocations Network) - short Lenten program to reflect on the significance of the psalms in Christian worship. Sundays: 6-7.30pm. Dates: March 18 and 25; April 1. Venue: Archbishop Clune Lecture Theatre, Newman Siena Centre, 33 Williamstown Rd, Doubleview. Enq: Kathy 0418 926 590. Aboriginal Scholarships, Year 7, 2013 – Closing April 27, 2012 As a commitment to working with Aboriginal people to enhance life choices and help further career opportunities for Aboriginal youth, La Salle College offers Aboriginal Scholarships each year. This scholarship entitles the recipients to full/ partial tuition. Applications close April 27, 2012. An application form can be downloaded from the college website at www.lasalle.wa.edu.au by viewing Scholarships under Parent Resources. Enrolments, Year 7, 2014 La Salle College is now accepting enrolments for Year 7, 2014. For a prospectus and enrolment form please contact college reception on 9274 6266 or email lasalle@lasalle.wa.edu.au. Pellegrini Books Wanted An order of Sisters in Italy is looking for the following: The Living Pyx of Jesus, Fervourings From Galilee’s Hills, Fervourings From the Love-Broken Heart of Christ, Fervourings From the Lips of the Mast, Listening to the Indwelling Presence, Sheltering the Divine Outcast, Daily Inspection and Cleansing of the Living Temple of God, and Staunch Friends of Jesus, the Lover of Youth. If you are able to help, please contact Justine on 0419 964 624 or justine@waterempire.com. Day with Mary As the first Saturday in April is Holy Saturday, there will be no Day With Mary. The next one will be on May 5 at St Jerome Parish in Munster. Communion of Reparation All Night Vigils Good Friday As Friday, April 6 falls on Good Friday, the Friday/ Saturday vigils at St Gerard Majella Church Mirrabooka, and Corpus Christi Church Mosman Park, will not take place but will recommence on Friday, May 4 as usual. Healing Mass There will not be a Healing Mass on Good Friday, April 6 at St Peter’s Parish, Wood Street, Inglewood. The Next Healing Mass will be on Friday, May 4 and every first Friday following.
Panorama Deadline Friday 5pm
Classifieds
March 28, 2012, The Record
Page 19
CLASSIFIEDS Deadline: 11am Monday RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS
MISSION ACTIVITIES
PILGRIMAGES
CATHOLICS CORNER Retailer of Catholic products specialising in gifts, cards and apparel for Baptism, Communion and Confirmation. Ph 9456 1777. Shop 12, 64-66 Bannister Rd, Canning Vale. Open Mon-Sat.
LEARN HOW TO MAKE ROSARY BEADS for the missions and special rosaries for family and friends. Phone: (02) 6822 1474 or visit our website: OurLadysRosaryMakers.org.au.
TO OUR LADY OF VELANKANNI, ST FRANCIS XAVIER, ST PHILOMENA, ST MOTHER THERESA OF KOLKATA
RICH HARVEST YOUR CHRISTIAN SHOP Looking for Bibles, CDs, books, cards, gifts, statues, Baptism/Communion apparel, religious vestments, etc? Visit us at 39 Hulme Ct (off McCoy St), Myaree. Ph 9329 9889 (after 10.30am Mon to Sat). We are here to serve. KINLAR VESTMENTS www.kinlarvestments.com.au Quality handmade and decorated vestments: albs, stoles, chasubles, altar linen, banners, etc. 12 Favenc Way, Padbury. By appointment only. Ph Vickii on 9402 1318, 0409 114 093 or kinlar.vestments@ gmail.com.
BOOK BINDING NEW BOOK BINDING, general book repairs; rebinding; new ribbons; old leather bindings restored. Tydewi Bindery 0422 968 572.
SETTLEMENTS ARE YOU BUYING OR SELLING real estate or a business? Why not ask Excel Settlements for a quote for your settlement. We offer reasonable fees, excellent service and no hidden costs. Ring Excel on 9481 4499 for a quote. Check our web site on www.excelsettlements.com.au.
TAX SERVICE
TRADE SERVICES BRENDAN HANDYMAN SERVICES Home, building maintenance, repairs and renovations. NOR. Ph 0427 539 588. PROPERTY MAINTENANCE Your handyperson. No job too small. SOR. Jim 0413 309 821. BRICK RE-POINTING Ph Nigel 9242 2952. PICASSO PAINTING Top service. Ph 0419 915 836, 9345 0557 or fax 9345 0505. PERROTT PAINTING Pty Ltd For all your residential, commercial painting requirements. Ph Tom Perrott 9444 1200. LAWNMOWING AND WEED SPRAYING Garden clean ups and rubbish removal. Get rid of bindii, jojo and other unsightly weeds. Based in Tuart Hill. Enq: 9443 9243 or 0402 326 637.
FURNITURE REMOVAL ALL AREAS. Competitive rates. Mike Murphy Ph 0416 226 434.
QUALITY TAX RETURNS PREPARED by registered tax agent with over 35 years’ experience. Call Tony Marchei on 0412 055 184 for appointment. AXXO Accounting & Management, Unit 20/222 Walter Rd, Morley.
ACCOMMODATION HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION Esperance holiday accommodation, three bedroom house, fully furnished. Phone 08 9076 5083.
POSITION AVAILABLE ELECTRICIAN WANTED Robmar Electrical Service (EC007003). Apply to Rob Mazone 9306 5773 or 0417 957 329.
HEALTH ACHES, PAIN, STRESS Indian mature male masseur. Reflex Relax Massage $30 per hour. Jai 0438 520 993
Tour covers all main cities in India: Chennai, Pondicherry, Velan-kanni, Bangalore, Mysore, Cochin, Goa, Delhi, Thaij Mahal, Kolkata, Darjeeling and more. Contact Charles Donovan 0400 216 257 or F Sam 0426 506 510. OPTION 1: 25 DAYS: PILGRIMAGE TO HOLY LAND, ROME, COLLAVALENZA, DUBLIN (IRELAND FOR EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS), KNOCK AND MEDJUGORJE Departing May 22, from $7,790, includes flight transfers, bed, breakfast, evening meals, guide, taxes. Spiritual Director Fr Ronan Murphy. Leader Yolanda Nardizzi. Tel: 9245 2222, Mob 0413 707 707. OPTION 2: 19 DAYS: PILGRIMAGE TO ROME, COLLAVALENZA, DUBLIN (IRELAND FOR EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS), KNOCK AND MEDJUGORJE. Departing May 29, from $5,990, includes flight transfers, bed, breakfast, evening meals, guide, taxes. Spiritual Director Fr Ronan Murphy. Leader Yolanda Nardizzi. Tel: 9245 2222, Mob 0413 707 707. PILGRIMAGE DEPART PERTH APRIL 30, RETURN MAY 17/18 (early hours) for Paris (3 nights) visit Lisieux (St Therese), Notre Dame for Relics of The Passion, Sacre Coeur, Miraculous Medal Shrine, St Vincent De Paul. Flight to Lourdes 5 nights stay, flight to Split 7 nights stay in Medjugorje. Spiritual Director Fr Bogoni. Costs $5,395: includes flight transfers, bed, breakfast, evening meals, guide, tipping and taxes. Contact: Eileen 9402 2480, mob 0407 471 256, or medjugorje@ y7mail.com.
C R O S S W O R D
ACROSS 2 “I am the way and the ___ and the life.” (Jn 14:6) 5 One of the two natures of Jesus 8 “___ have mercy” 9 Abner’s father (2 Sam 2:8) 11 “Light from light, ___ God from…” 13 “When we ___ this bread…” 14 Biblical measure 15 “…___ and female he created them” (Gen 1:27) 16 ___1, papal licence plate 17 Leader of the Maccabees 20 Ark landing 22 Gentile prophet of the Old Testament 27 Catholic author of The Father Brown Mysteries 28 Palm product 29 “___ us this day our daily bread…” 30 Commander of the army who was made king over Israel (1 Kings 16:16) 32 Type of cross 33 Actor and convert Cooper 35 Number of sacraments, in Roman numerals 36 Church section 37 Place of the ___ (Mt 27: 33) 38 Sr Prejean DOWN 1 Merton’s university 3 Savior 4 Housing for a patriarch 5 Bethsaida, to Philip
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Winter hrs. in the Diocese of Cheyenne Assist at Mass Rite in the Catholic Church St Therese of Lisieux is a patron of this country Along with Timothy, he was a disciple of Paul Religious garb Symbol of hope The whole earth had one before the Tower of Babel Prayer of repentance Pope before Benedict III “___ Lingua” Jesus prepared this after his Resurrection (Jn 21:12) ___, talent, and treasure “…___ take away the sins of the world.”
LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION
Catholicism Series
Page 20
Fr. Robert Barron created the groundbreaking CATHOLICISM ADULT STUDY PROGRAM as a thematic presentation of what Catholics believe and why, so all adults can come to a deeper understanding of the Catholic Faith. Not a video lecture, Church history or scripture study, this engaging and interesting formational program uses the art, architecture, literature, music and all the treasures of the Catholic tradition to illuminate the timeless teachings of the Church.
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The CATHOLICISM Study Guide and Workbook contains ten lessons, which correspond to each episode of Father Barron’s DVD series.
Shook me to the core... Mike Leonard, NBC Today Show Correspondent and Executive Producer of CATHOLICISM
Answering the call for The New Evangelization, this multi-media educational program reveals the truth, beauty and richness of the Faith in an unprecedented way. Features: 5 DVD Set, each contains 2 episodes, 50-60 min per episode.
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