The Record Newspaper 28 July 2010

Wednesday, 28 July 2010

REMARKABLE TALE: CHINA’S LARGEST CATHOLIC VILLAGE PAGE 9

THE R ECORD

Family comes 1st

Freo MacKillop bonanza

Notre Dame to lead official Archdiocesan celebrations for Australia’s first sainthood

University students seek support to host MacKillop extravaganza

BY ANTHONY BARICH

THE University of Notre Dame Australia in Fremantle is planning a “Catholic Royal Show”-style festival on 17 October, the day of Blessed Mary MacKillop’s canonisation by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.

The Mary MacKillop Festival - to start with a Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton before proceeding in Fremantle with stalls, live bands and displays on the first Australian saint’s life on a closed-off Mouat Street - is the Archdiocese of Perth’s official event to celebrate the canonisation in Rome.

The university’s Drill Hall on Mouat Street will also screen the canonisation live at 4.30pm Perth time on ABC2 as Blessed MacKillop is canonised as St Mary of the Cross, her Religious name as Mother Superior of the first Australian-founded Religious congregation.

The idea was the brainchild of UNDA Nursing student and Notre Dame Student Association (NDSA) President Amy Rosario and her fellow students on the board when planning the 2010 calendar.

Amy told The Record the plan is driven by a desire to break the mould of the NDSA’s reputation as a “ball and cocktails club” and to “do something meaningful”, while pushing a “student-driven” agenda that has not been present in the university’s previous major events in its short 21-year history.

Continued on Page 6

Nedlands ‘Powerhouse of Prayer’ hits 75

For the full story on the Nedlands

and its 75th anniversary, turn to Pages 4-5.

PHOTO: BRIDGET SPINKS

‘Second opening’ of St Anne’s for Latin Mass community

BY ANTHONY BARICH

THE Traditional Latin Mass community in Perth is a sign of the unity and diversity of the Catholic Church, Archbishop Barry Hickey said.

“The Church is Catholic, therefore there has always been variety in the worship of the Church,” Archbishop Hickey said after celebrating the ‘second opening’ of St Anne’s Church in Belmont on 25 July, the new home of Perth’s Traditional Latin Mass community since it moved from St John’s Pro-Cathedral in Perth city.

“And while the Mass is the same, it has taken different forms. Different rites of the Church show that the Church is universal as well as one, and this is just another example of unity and diversity.”

Church of the Catacombs re-emerges

Soviet persecution of the Ukrainian Catholic Church was vicious but now it is forging a remarkable new presence, including a vibrant university that cares for the intellectyually disabled. PAGE 11

Archbishop Hickey told the congregation in his homily that he would like the community to be like a parish - to support the priest and the upkeep of the church and liaise with the diocese just as every parish does … “though it’s not a territorial parish, but in a way it’s a personal parish - people choose to go there”, he said.

He later told The Record that he wants it to be “a spiritual community of brothers and sisters who worship God, especially through the very historic and traditional ceremonies in the Church that have served her for many, many centuries”.

The church - which its Rector Fr Michael Rowe said is open to all Catholics, not just those attracted to the Latin Mass – was opened after months of renovations by the Latin Mass community on 17 March,

St Patrick’s Day. Last Sunday’s Mass was a Pontifical High Mass celebrated the day before the feast of St Anne and used the texts of the Mass of St Anne, which is understood to be over 1,000 years old.

St Anne was the mother of the Virgin Mary. Archbishop Hickey said that the ‘Proto’-Gospel of St James – not part of the official canon of Scripture but from which the Church derived much of its understanding of the early life of Mary – revealed that St Anne and her husband St Joachim were unable to have children, so Joachim went out into the desert to pray and Anne went to the temple.

God told them to reunite as the ability to conceive had been returned, and Mary was born.

Please turn to Page 7

Christianity isn’t just for social workers

I SAY, I SAY: It may be easier to speak of Jesus as a social worker rather than as the Son of God - that’s the temptation when we’re afraid of the embarassment of being identified as Christian. PAGE 17

A man prays at the tomb of Blessed Mary MacKillop inside the chapel dedicated to her in Sydney in 2007. Notre Dame University in Fremantle has organised aMary MacKillop Festival which will be the Archdiocese of Perth’s official event celebrating the first canonisation of an Australian Saint.

PHOTO: CNS/NANCY WIECHEC

Sisters: Carmelites, Sr Marie Therese and Sr Margaret Mary entered the Nedlands Carmel on 2 February 1962 and 1961 respectively. Sr Marie Therese was conscious of the monastic lifestyle, since there were Benedictine monks from New Norcia looking after her local parish at Mukinbudin. Sr Margaret Mary grew up “about a mile away” from the Nedlands Carmel, a monastery which held great mystery for her.

Carmel

Relatives and wider family of the Church farewell a beloved son

Life’s journey led to the priesthood of Jesus

BY GLYNNIS GRAINGER

Close friend of Maida Vale Parish Priest Fr Stephen Durkin, Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton, celebrated the Vigil Mass for the repose of Fr Durkin’s soul at Maida Vale church on Monday, 19 July.

and went briefly to CBC Highgate, after telling the Headmaster that he wanted to be a priest.

He became a trainee chef at a city hotel and his parents talked him into an apprenticeship at Royal Perth Hospital, where he hated the work.

Steve then had a variety of jobs, including working for a mining company at Shay Gap, and some taxi-driving in Perth.

Fr Durkin, Parish Priest of St Francis of Assisi parish Maida Vale, passed away on 13 July after a long battle with cancer, two weeks short of his 54th birthday.

Editor Peter Rosengren

Journalists

Bishop Sproxton also concelebrated a Pontifical Requiem Mass at the Cathedral the following day, together with Archbishop Barry Hickey and many priests of the Archdiocese.

Fr Durkin’s younger brother Bernie delivered the eulogy at the Requiem Mass.

Bridget Spinks baspinks@therecord.com.au

Mark Reidy mreidy@therecord.com.au

Stephen Edward Durkin was born on 28 July 1956 at Wagga Wagga NSW, the first child of his parents, Grahame and Moira. His father was in the Air Force, and the family made many moves because of this. His mother was from Sydney, where his sister Helen and brother Bernie were born.

In 1961, his father was posted back to Perth and the family moved to Nollamara where Steve commenced school at Our Lady of Lourdes. After a two-year stint in Penang, the family moved back to Koongamia and

AT A GLANCE

Forthcoming events around the Archdiocese

First ordinations in new Cathedral

Deacons Rodrigo Tomala Mujica and Benny Calanza - Will be ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Barry Hickey. These will be the first ordinations to the priesthood in the newly completed Cathedral. All welcome.

When: Friday, 6 August at 7pm.

Emmanuel Centre

Auslan Games Café - If you are interested in learning Australian Deaf Sign Language (Auslan) and/or would like to play board games or card games in sign language, come along to the Auslan Games Café. Morning tea provided as well. For more information or to RSVP, contact Susan or Barbara at Emmanuel Centre on 9328 9571 or 9328 8113 or email emmanuelcentre@westnet.com.au or turn up on the day. All welcome.

When: 10am - 12pm on the third Thursday of every month (next meeting 19 August) at Infant Jesus Parish, 47 Wellington Rd, Morley.

National Marriage Day

then Dianella, where Steve attended CBC Bedford, which later became St Mark’s and is now known as Chisholm College. He left school at the end of third year in 1972 as the school did not go beyond that, but he wanted to return to school

sary of the passing of the 2004 Marriage Amendment Act which occurred on 13 August. This amendment states that marriage is “a union between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life”.

National Marriage Day coordinator Mary-Louise Fowler said that the passing of this Act was primarily made possible through the many thousands of Australians being prepared to defend the foundation upon which our nation stands – the family based on marriage. The Mass is being supported by the Knights of the Southern Cross. For more information, visit: www.marriageday.org.au.

When: 7pm on 12 August at St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth.

St Paul’s, Mt Lawley

Bible Study - Mt Lawley Parish priest Fr Tim Deeter is offering two mini-courses on Wednesday nights. The first three Wednesdays will focus on the three Letters of St John while subsequent Wednesdays in September will focus on the Letters of St James and St Jude. Bring your Bible to the undercroft.

After 18 months in Sydney, where he moved in 1978, he returned to Perth and worked for the Salamone family in their tile business, and eventually managed a couple of their stores.

Early in 1980, Steve moved to St Charles Seminary in Guildford for 12 months, keeping his job in Midland with Tiles Expo.

The next year, aged 25, Steve attended the Rostrevor Seminary in Adelaide, but returned to Perth after 18 months and started working with Tiles Expo again.

Steve worked for a further three years, then met with the Archbishop and asked to attend St Paul’s Seminary in Sydney, which at that time was for mature-aged seminarians. Also, he had many close relatives in Sydney, which alleviated his homesickness.

He returned to Perth and was ordained a Deacon in 1991, spending 12 months at the Whitfords parish.

Steve was ordained a priest on 15 February 1992 at St Mary’s Cathedral in Perth, where he spent a few months and was

Continued on Page 3

St Anne’s, Belmont

Children’s Catechism DayConfessions, Exposition, Benediction and Holy Mass followed by catechism and activities in the hall. Please bring a plate for shared lunch in hall. This might become a regular Wednesday activity, but dates are TBA.

For further details contact Fr Rowe on 9444 9604. All welcome.

When: 9.30am - 2.30pm on 25 August at St Anne’s Parish Hall, Hehir St, Belmont.

All Saints, Greenwood

The Greenwood WYD Group Four Course Dinner - Vietnamese Parish priest Fr Vinh Dong will be preparing a four course meal for all those who’ve bought tickets to support Greenwood’s WYD pilgrims.

Tickets for this dinner are sold out but the parish is planning to host another dinner next month as there are already 21 people on the waiting list. Over 20 young people are going to WYD with Greenwood parish. For more details contact Emma - 0419 094 433.

The

Perth Mass for National Marriage Day – Archbishop Barry Hickey will celebrate a special Mass for National Marriage Day on 12 August, the eve of the sixth anniver-

When: 7.30 to 9.00pm, 18 and 25 August and 1, 8, 15 and 22 September at St Paul’s Church, 106 Rookwood St, Menora.

Record

When: 7pm on 30 July in the meeting room, 7 Liwara Pl, Greenwood.

Send your parish bulletin for At a Glance to baspinks@therecord.com.au.

Fr Stephen Durkin, Parish Priest of Maida Vale, who passed away on 13 July.

Subiaco a model for inner-city evangelisation

Archbishop blesses Subiaco parish facility

BY FR ROBERT CROSS

Subiaco parish priest Fr Joseph Walsh joined up to 50 guests for the official blessing of the Subiaco parish facility on 22 July by Archbishop Barry James Hickey.

The facility at St Joseph’s is located in the same multi-storey building that houses the Ear Science Institute, immediately adjacent to the parish church and presbytery.

In blessing the facility, Archbishop Hickey said that the development undertaken by Fr Walsh was a model for inner-city parishes which needed to find innovative ways to maintain their parish infrastructure in order to continue their essential ministry of evangelisation.

It was announced at the blessing that a bronze statue of Dom Salvado will soon be erected outside the Ear Science Building and parish facility as a reminder of

the fervent missionary zeal of this pioneer of the Church in Western Australia.

Acknowledgement was given by Jim Murphy to Fr Joseph Walsh for

his outstanding leadership of the Parish of Subiaco and the parishioners of Subiaco who have generously contributed to the recent developments in the parish.

Wheatbelt parish celebrates Benedictine’s pioneering work

BY GLYNNIS GRAINGER

THE Wheatbelt parish of St Joseph’s Church in Bolgart celebrated its 50th anniversary on 27 June with a special thanksgiving Mass followed by lunch at the Bolgart Sports Club.

Almost 100 past and present parishioners attended the Mass which was concelebrated by current parish priest Fr Richard Rutkauskas and former parish priest of the 1980s, Fr Jim Corcoran.

Acolyte Robert Edmonds welcomed those at the lunch and traced a brief history of the church.

He said the first official parish priest was Fr Felix, a Spanish Benedictine priest who lived at the Wyening Mission, an outpost of the New Norcia Benedictine community.

Both Fr Felix and the Anglican Minister held their services in the old Bolgart Community Hall until the fine weatherboard Catholic church was built in 1930.

In the 1950s, Fr Michael Cave

was appointed parish priest and, with his guidance and encouragement, four churches were built in the parish – Wongan Hills, Yerecoin, Calingiri and Bolgart, the last-named in 1960.

The builder of the present Bolgart church was the late Jack Williams, a relation of some of the old parishioners.

St Joseph’s Bolgart was officially opened on 6 June 1960 by the Abbot of New Norcia, the Reverend Gregory Gomez.

After the luncheon, a cake was cut to celebrate the day by senior past-parishioner, Jack McPherson.

Mr Edmonds told The Record: “Nowadays, our normal congregation is about 10-12 so we all appreciated being able to catch up with past parishioners and chat about days gone by.”

Masses at the Bolgart parish are every second and fourth Sunday at 8am, serviced from Goomalling.

Other churches in the parish include Ballidu, Dalwallinu, Dowerin, Goomalling, Wongan Hills and Wyalkatchem.

Fr Steve looked forward to God - and all those waiting for him

Continued from Page 2 chaplain for both Trinity and Mercedes Colleges.

He then moved to Mirrabooka parish, where he was assistant to the-then Fr Don Sproxton, now Auxiliary Bishop of Perth.

In April 1995 he was appointed assistant Parish Priest of Kalgoorlie and 12 months later took over as the parish priest where he spent six years.

Fr Vinh Dong was an assistant to Fr Durkin and a close friend who concelebrated at both funeral Masses for him last Monday and Tuesday.

At Easter 2000, Fr Durkin moved to St Francis of Assisi parish in Maida Vale where he remained until his death 10 years later.

Bernie said in the eulogy: “Steve was very popular wherever he went and also made many lifelong

friends, but he was never happier than when at Maida Vale.” His interests included travel, motorbikes, fishing, his dogs –golden Labradors - red wine and whisky.

Prior to his death, he told Bernie that he was a bit disappointed that he was going so young but had had a great life and would not change anything. He was, his brother said, a bit excited about dying as he would get the chance to meet his God and all of his friends and relatives who had gone before him.

One of the great loves of Fr Stephen Durkin’s life was his motorbike. His helmet was displayed at his Requiem Mass, at right. Archbishop Hickey sprinkles his coffin with holy water as Fr Durkin is commended to the love and mercy of God.

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Archbishop Barry Hickey blesses the new Subiaco facility with parish priest Fr Joseph Walsh.

PHOTO: FR ROBERT CROSS

After 75 years, their hidden life of contemplative prayer is still known by few. Women of Grace

BY : BRIDGET SPINKS

History tells us that one of the last things Archbishop Patrick Clune asked for on his death bed was an assurance that the Carmelite Nuns who were destined for Perth were “on the water” and therefore would not be retained in Sydney.

The Archbishop had worked assiduously to obtain Carmelites

to establish a prayer centre in the Archdiocese and was relieved to know that they were safely on their way.

Seven young Sisters (the Prioress was only 29) arrived in Perth on 28 May 1935 and stayed with the Good Shepherd Sisters until their Carmel in Nedlands was opened on June 16 the same year.

The Carmelite Monastery in Nedlands marked its 75th anniversary on 16 July, the Feast of

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, with a solemn Mass concelebrated by Archbishop Hickey and nine priests. The Carmelites have always relied on Divine Providence and now in 2010 there are 14 Sisters in residence at Nedlands, with various cultural backgrounds including Irish, British, Burmese, Dutch, Tongan, Jewish, Vietnamese and Australian.

In preparation for the celebration, the Carmelites ensured that

the whole chapel was checked for maintenance and then painted. This year’s 22 March hailstorm that struck Perth and caused serious damage to the University of Western Australia barely affected the recently repaired chapel of the Nedlands Carmel less than twelve streets away. “God spared us during the hailstorm. There were only a few holes in the stained glass windows and almost no damage to the chapel that

we’d done up. It was Providence,” Carmelites Sr Margaret Mary and Sr Marie Therese said.

“It’s amazing how God takes care of us,” said Sr Marie Therese, who has been in the Carmel for 48 years.

“During WWII there were serious food shortages and ration cards,” the Nuns said. “The people always looked after us. They would see that the nuns didn’t lack what was needed, and the nuns gave their meat ration to the priest,” Sr Marie Therese said.

“It was serious; it was hard to get things,” added Sr Margaret Mary, who has been in the Carmel for 49 years.

“I was born in 1938,” she said, recalling childhood memories from growing up during and after the war. “The shortage didn’t last notably long, but it was real.”

They both entered on the same day but a year apart, Sr Margaret Mary on 2 February 1961 and Sr Marie Therese in 1962.

Sr Margaret Mary grew up “about a mile away” from the monastery in Nedlands, the third eldest of seven.

“The Carmel was always here; and it was a great mystery. I couldn’t understand why people

How long does it take to become a Carmelite?

To become a Carmelite takes several years.

If a person wants to enter, she might ‘live-in’ with the Sisters for a period up to three months. When she enters, she is in Postulancy for six to 18 months. Then she receives the habit and will spend two years in the Novitiate. At the end, there is a first profession of vows and after three years, the Sister makes her final vows and becomes fully professed. At various stages of progression, the community votes before vows are taken.

From left to right, behind the grill: Carmelites Sr Marie Therese with Scooby, Sr Margaret Mary and Sr Caroline. The Sisters only leave the monastery to visit the doctor or dentist. Living in the monastery enclosure is part of the call, they said.

PHOTO: BRIDGET SPINKS

Above: Sr Philomena (Eileen Brigid Brennan) was the first West Australian to enter the Nedlands Carmel at age 17 in 1937, just two years after its foundation. In this picture, taken some time ago, Sr Philomena stands in her much loved bush of Leschenaultia at the back of the monastery. Sr Philomena is now 90. PHOTO: COURTESY

After 75 years, their hidden life of contemplative prayer is still known by few. Women of Grace

BY : BRIDGET SPINKS

History tells us that one of the last things Archbishop Patrick Clune asked for on his death bed was an assurance that the Carmelite Nuns who were destined for Perth were “on the water” and therefore would not be retained in Sydney.

The Archbishop had worked assiduously to obtain Carmelites

to establish a prayer centre in the Archdiocese and was relieved to know that they were safely on their way.

Seven young Sisters (the Prioress was only 29) arrived in Perth on 28 May 1935 and stayed with the Good Shepherd Sisters until their Carmel in Nedlands was opened on June 16 the same year.

The Carmelite Monastery in Nedlands marked its 75th anniversary on 16 July, the Feast of

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, with a solemn Mass concelebrated by Archbishop Hickey and nine priests. The Carmelites have always relied on Divine Providence and now in 2010 there are 14 Sisters in residence at Nedlands, with various cultural backgrounds including Irish, British, Burmese, Dutch, Tongan, Jewish, Vietnamese and Australian.

In preparation for the celebration, the Carmelites ensured that

the whole chapel was checked for maintenance and then painted. This year’s 22 March hailstorm that struck Perth and caused serious damage to the University of Western Australia barely affected the recently repaired chapel of the Nedlands Carmel less than twelve streets away. “God spared us during the hailstorm. There were only a few holes in the stained glass windows and almost no damage to the chapel that

we’d done up. It was Providence,” Carmelites Sr Margaret Mary and Sr Marie Therese said.

“It’s amazing how God takes care of us,” said Sr Marie Therese, who has been in the Carmel for 48 years.

“During WWII there were serious food shortages and ration cards,” the Nuns said. “The people always looked after us. They would see that the nuns didn’t lack what was needed, and the nuns gave their meat ration to the priest,” Sr Marie Therese said.

“It was serious; it was hard to get things,” added Sr Margaret Mary, who has been in the Carmel for 49 years.

“I was born in 1938,” she said, recalling childhood memories from growing up during and after the war. “The shortage didn’t last notably long, but it was real.”

They both entered on the same day but a year apart, Sr Margaret Mary on 2 February 1961 and Sr Marie Therese in 1962.

Sr Margaret Mary grew up “about a mile away” from the monastery in Nedlands, the third eldest of seven.

“The Carmel was always here; and it was a great mystery. I couldn’t understand why people

How long does it take to become a Carmelite?

To become a Carmelite takes several years.

If a person wants to enter, she might ‘live-in’ with the Sisters for a period up to three months. When she enters, she is in Postulancy for six to 18 months. Then she receives the habit and will spend two years in the Novitiate. At the end, there is a first profession of vows and after three years, the Sister makes her final vows and becomes fully professed. At various stages of progression, the community votes before vows are taken.

From left to right, behind the grill: Carmelites Sr Marie Therese with Scooby, Sr Margaret Mary and Sr Caroline. The Sisters only leave the monastery to visit the doctor or dentist. Living in the monastery enclosure is part of the call, they said.

PHOTO: BRIDGET SPINKS

Above: Sr Philomena (Eileen Brigid Brennan) was the first West Australian to enter the Nedlands Carmel at age 17 in 1937, just two years after its foundation. In this picture, taken some time ago, Sr Philomena stands in her much loved bush of Leschenaultia at the back of the monastery. Sr Philomena is now 90. PHOTO: COURTESY

CARMELITE 75TH

would join,” she said. At the age of 21, when she knocked on the door, they preferred that she didn’t enter that year.

“I felt it was definitely God calling me, but where to? Because they made me wait, it was an attraction to me. I was intrigued,” Sr Margaret Mary said.

She spent the next year in the Kimberley teaching in a school in Bishop Jobst’s diocese in what was then called La Grange (now Bidyadanga).

Living in a remote community, she said, meant that there was time to develop a “life of personal prayer more deeply”.

“The church was really a Nissan

hut with a corrugated iron roof and walls, left behind after the war,” she said.

“It was quiet; there was no radio, no traffic, no cars, no aeroplanes.”

Often she was alone with the Blessed Sacrament “which deepened the call,” she said.

Although tempted to stay and help the Aborigines in the Kimberley because “they’re crying out for help,” Sr Margaret Mary says by living in the Carmel, she is helping.

“We believe that prayer is our way of helping all people.”

There is a minimum of three hours of silent prayer in the monastery - one at dawn, one around

midday and another hour at dusk not to mention the Great Silence that falls after the Office of Readings in the evenings.

“Living in the monastery enclosure is part of the call; you never really go out, except to the dentist or doctor’” Sr Margaret Mary said.

“It’s kind of freeing - you’re free to live without masks; free to concentrate on the thing you’re here for,” Sr Marie Therese added.

“If you don’t feel free, you probably aren’t called,” she said.

Sr Marie Therese said that there are things that happen and things that are said through people and through reading that “all add up”.

Sr Marie Therese, from Mukinbudin, remembers when she was enrolled in the Scapular in her first year of boarding school at Our Lady of the Missions at Sacred Heart College, Highgate.

“It was significant for me getting enrolled in the Scapular,” Sr Marie Therese said.

The recessional hymn that day was Pure As Carmel’s Snows from the Carmelite missal, whose chorus goes as follows, “Mother of Mt Carmel, hear, Shades are falling, night is near”.

That same recessional, Pure as Carmel’s Snows, was chosen as the recessional for the 75th anniversary Mass of Thanksgiving.

At the Mass, Archbishop Hickey said that “the silence, the poverty, the community and the prayer” of the Carmelite spirituality are characteristics of Mary, who is “a great model of prayer, of silence, of contemplation”.

The Archbishop referenced the moment on Calvary when Christ entrusted His Mother to John the Apostle to explain the significance of Mary’s title and special role as Mother of the Church.

“He was entrusting His mother to John and through John, to the whole Church,” he said “Let us remember to make, like St John, a place for Mary in our home. Either in an image or perhaps beyond an image to a place in our heart, so that she is honoured and venerated,” he said.

In the monastery, Sr Marie Therese says, “Mary is someone who is always there. She’s all around the place. It’s her Order”. “She’s so much

Elaine Thomas, Prior of the Carmelite tertiaries since July says belonging to the Order is “a joy”. She has been a member of the Third Order of Carmel since 1979. The aim is to “live a normal holy life, as holy as we can,” she said.

“I try to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ and imitate Mary in her silence and contemplative way.”

Some of the features of the prayer life for a Third Order or Secular Carmelite include the daily recitation of the Divine Office - Morning and Evening Prayer and if possible, Night Prayer - and daily Mass where possible.

There are nine active secular Carmelites in Perth and at least four “long distance” members in Western Australia who are part of the order but

may be unable to attend meetings due to distance or health. Judith Greer has been a lay Carmelite for 15 years.

Living in the Carmelite-run parish of Hilton for 40 years attracted her to the order.

“Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Hilton was run by Carmelites for 50 years until about three years ago when they had to withdraw the Carmelites because there was a shortage of priests,” she said.

For Judith, the Carmelite spirituality is “very calm, very spiritual and very prayerful” and she said she appreciates the contemplative aspect too. St Teresa of Avila and St Thérese of Lisieux and Edith Stein (St Teresia Benedicta of the Cross) are in a stained glass window in the parish church at Hilton. “It’s beautiful. It’s inspiring for us,” she said.

part of Carmel; it’s as if she permeates the whole atmosphere - in the quietness, in her own contemplation. Christ is the centre of our life; she always makes Him the centre of her life,” said Sr Marie Therese.

Sr Margaret Mary agreed and added that God was the reason and the purpose of their life in Carmel.

“The sacred humanity of Christ, the Mass and the Sacraments are the centre of our life,” she said.

“And in the hours of quiet prayer, we’re very free about the way we seek God in our life. The aim is union with God. Carmelite spirituality leaves the person interiorly free to seek God at whatever stage they’re at.”

Sr Marie Therese said she “felt called by God” from an early age.

“I always thought I’d be a nun, but I didn’t tell anyone.”

“I knew in essence what the Carmel was; I knew it was union with God that you were aiming for.”

To ensure that there is an awareness that contemplative life is offered in the Catholic Church for men and women, there is an association of monasteries for Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. The Holy See has encouraged the Associations (between Carmels) since the 1950s, but the one the Nedlands Carmel belongs

A day in the life of Carmel

5.30 One hour of silent prayer

to was established in the 1990s and has a web presence explaining the order and the vocation.

But to grow vocations, the Carmelites begin with prayer.

“We have a day to pray for vocations. The first thing is to pray to the Lord of the Harvest and try to live our life as well as we can and pray that others will join us and have reading material ready. It’s really a mystery,” Sr Marie Therese said.

“God does do a direct call,” Sr Margaret Mary added, “He puts it directly into the person’s heart.” They said a “call” happens when a person feels an attraction and/or an inspiration to the vocation.

“I’m sure God uses various influences to attract people. If you feel it’s God’s will, you somehow know it’s what He wants. We don’t seek or try to persuade but we have some reading material about our life available so that if there’s a consciousness in people’s minds, they can make a choice,” Sr Marie Therese said. “It’s amazing, when you think about it; the wonder of it; being called by God. Sometimes I think, how is it that I’m here?” Sr Marie Therese added.

For more information about the Carmelites, their way of life and spirituality, visit: www.carmelite.com.

6.30 Office of Morning Prayer (together)

7.00 Mass followed by Thanksgiving and the Little Office of Terce followed by breakfast and work in silence, speaking only for work or charity

11.00 Second Little Hour of prayer for the midday hour (7 minutes) and an examination of conscience

11.15 Dinner and washing up followed by an hour of rec reation together - ‘lightening up’. “St Therese of the Little Flower thought they needed that,” Sr Margaret Mary said.

Then the Carmelites pray the Afternoon Hour of prayer (7 minutes), which is followed by an hour of silence (resting/reading) and then work till 4.30.

4.30 The Office of Evening Prayer

4.50 Hour of silent prayer

5.50 Free time while the cook (a Carmelite Sister) prepares supper

6.30 Supper followed by some recreation, then Night Prayer and the Office of Readings and the Great Silence

10.30 Lights out.

The Carmelites have four dogs which are not only pets but guard dogs too. They are Scooby, the Jack Russell (pictured above inspecting the handiwork); Bosco, a New Zealand Huntaway Rhodesian Ridgeback cross; Mattie, a German Shepherd and Peggy, a cross. PHOTO: COURTESY OF NEDLANDS CARMELITES

Above: Third order Carmelites from left to right, Judith Greer, Elaine Thomas, Fr Ari Pawarto

Carm, Portia Curtain and Monica Cook at Nedlands Carmel on 16 July for the festivities.

PHOTO: BRIDGET SPINKS

Notre Dame to host Royal Show-style MacKillop festival

Continued from Page 1

Amy, an avowed “Mary MacKillop fan”, said the Australian Blessed - who founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in Penola, South Australia in 1866 – appeals to youth with her image as a “rebel” whose vision of education continues today in the very existence of UNDA.

Blessed MacKillop - who will be canonised as “St Mary of the Cross”, named after her title within her Order – was excommunicated in 1871, aged 29, the result of a number of factors, especially her desire for the Josephites to be selfgoverning, not responsible to local priests as a Commission investigating the Order recommended at the time.

Her legacy of the Josephites having established 117 schools by her death in 1909 is enjoyed by students today, Amy said, so it was fitting that Notre Dame host the Perth Archdiocese’s celebration of her canonisation.

“Catholic education is kind of a continuation of Mary’s vision,” said Amy, the first Nursing student to be President of the NDSA. “Students of Notre Dame have benefited so much from her legacy.”

The Josephites are also inviting people to join them for a 2.30pm cruise down the Swan River to Fremantle to watch the canonisation after the 11am Mass at the Cathedral. It leaves Fremantle for the return journey at 7pm.

Why a cruise? The Josephites have a strong connection to travelling by water.

Firstly, “for Mary, life as cofounder of the Congregation meant she had many distances to cover.” Josephite Sr Kathleen Dawe told The Record of the significance of water to the Australian Blessed,and its link to the 17 October cruise.

“Life for her in the 1860s meant she had to take long trips on the steamships.”

Mary’s only visit to WA was in Albany on 26 April 1873 when the SS Golcondra berthed for a short

in brief...

$20,000 for MacKillop Museum

The Australian Government has contributed a $20,000 grant to assist with the costs of the $90,000 project to upgrade the resources in the Museum at Mary MacKillop Place.

Benedict to receive locket of Mary’s hair

THE foresight of the late Sr Campion Roche RSJ, who stashed Mary MacKillop’s belongings under her bed and in her cupboards for safekeeping, will be rewarded when strands of Mary’s hair taken from a locket are presented to Pope Benedict XVI as official relics during the canonisation of Australia’s first Saint.

The hair will be presented to Pope Benedict XVI as part of the canonisation ceremony in St Peter’s Square. It will be contained in a specially designed and uniquely Australian reliquary – a cross made from Australian red gum from Penola, where Mary was a governess and established her first school house.

stay. She was en route to Rome to visit Pope Pius IX to counter a move by some against central government of the Congregation by the General Superior – Blessed MacKillop - and consequently her successors.

“A woman of courage indeed was Mary to undertake such a journey alone,” Sr Dawe said. “Imagine her surprise when she was in her accommodation and saw her own Uncle Alexander Cameron walk past. He had arrived on another ship. Mary often reminded the Sisters that we are but travellers here. Our life is a pilgrimage of faith, hope and love.”

Secondly, the arrival of the first group of Josephites in Fremantle from Adelaide on 28 October 1887 and their departure by steamer on 9 December 1887 for Champion Bay to begin the Sisters’ first mission in WA in Northampton.

Thirdly, “to give thanks for the many women from Ireland who sighted the famous ‘dingo on the flour mill’ as they arrived in Fremantle to begin their journey to join the Josephites”, Sr Kathleen said.

“We want to acknowledge their generous contribution to education, nursing and social work throughout the length and breadth of Australia. Each one gave her time and talents to our people so generously.”

Blessed MacKillop’s mother Flora also drowned off the coast of NSW near Eden in the wreck of the Ly-ee-moon when travelling from Victoria to help her daughter with a fete.

Upon hearing the news of her mother’s death, Blessed MacKillop immediately went to the Oratory and remained two hours before the Blessed Sacrament in prayer.

The UNDA students are seeking support in organising the event.

Contact Amy on 0433 625 211 or email amy.rosario1@my.nd. edu.au. For the cruise, contact Sr Kathleen on kdawe@perthcatholic. org.au.

A multi-touch screen is to be installed in a table format for visitors to engage in group discussion or individual interaction. Printed versions of the material accessible on the screen will be available. School groups will be able to book a session which is part of the teacher support package available for intensive learning requirements. Historical societies and interest groups will also benefit by the table format to engage in topical discussions as part of their pilgrimage to the site.

The Sisters of St Joseph commissioned Penola sculptor Guy Detot to craft the cross. He has also made two others - one to be kept at Mary’s tomb in North Sydney and one to go to the Mary MacKillop Interpretive Centre at Penola.

Sr Anne Derwin RSJ, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of St Joseph, said it is the practice that a relic of the person to be canonised is presented to the Pope during the ceremony.

The relic is usually carried forward by the Postulator of the Cause, meaning that Sr Maria Casey RSJ will have that honour in the case of Mary MacKillop.

“We thought it would be nice to have something uniquely Australian for the reliquary and we had the thought that the red gum from Penola would be nice,” Sr Anne said.

After a day spent exploring the old station at Penola where Mary worked as a governess, Mr Detot

Mary’s things was Sr Campion Roche. “She kept a lot of it under her bed and was instrumental in getting Mary’s letters transcribed and pushing for the Cause (for Sainthood),” Sr Anne said.

One of the senior Sisters of the time later recalled the following about Sr Campion’s endeavours to vouchsafe Mary MacKillop’s belongings: “As novices, we were invited to her office to see what had been gathered. Sr Campion opened her treasures which were kept in cupboards with glass doors.

found inspiration in some old red gum fence posts on the property. Sr Anne said the sisters were “thrilled” with the end result.

The actual hand-over of the hair from Postulator to Sculptor will take place when Sr Maria returns briefly to Australia from Rome next month.

Sr Anne said it is not known who originally took the strands of hair and kept them in the locket, but they have been in the Order’s archive since the 1960s.

“One of the Sisters said her family was given it by a Sister who guarded Mary MacKillop’s things – her letters and mementos which were kept after she died,” she said. The Sister who kept guard over

“There was not much there because I don’t think we valued the thought of keeping things … Among the things we were shown was a little purse, a little box which was not opened for fear that contact with the outside air could destroy or harm the contents – I think this could have been a lock of hair, part of a habit – a sleeve rather out of shape because of Mary MacKillop’s stroke, a book of customs and rules, a pair of Rosary beads and I think a crucifix.”

When she died on 29 September 1979 aged 87 years, Sr Campion was remembered as “a woman with an awareness of the importance of history, heritage and tradition; with a vision of a challenging future; but above all a woman with a great capacity for warmth and friendship”.

In more contemporary times, Sr Campion is seen by one Josephite as “keeper of that treasure, custodian of the memories and preserver of the spirit”. Sr Campion’s spirit will no doubt be felt by many during the presentation of the relics on 17 October.

Cross to feature at canonisation

WYD Cross to play key role in MacKillop canonisation celebrations

THE original World Youth Day Cross which now has its permanent home at a church in Rome will play a key role in the canonisation celebrations for Blessed Mother Mary MacKillop in Rome on 17 October.

Although the WYD Cross which featured at the first WYD in Rome in 1984 was not the Cross that was carried so triumphantly across Australia in the lead up to Sydney’s WYD08, it is nevertheless symbolically linked to Australia. For this reason it will be the central prayer focus during the Vigil Liturgy which will take place in Rome on 16 October, the eve of the canonisation of Australia’s first saint.

The original Cross which is now almost 25 years old no longer travels and remains a permanent fixture in Rome, while the Cross which Australians saw, touched and prayed beside during WYD08, and which is now touring every village and town in Spain in preparation for Madrid’s WYD11, is known as the “Travelling Cross.”

For the Sisters of St Joseph, the WYD Cross has profound significance not only because it represents the youth of the world

the Sisters of St Joseph’s Liturgy Committee for the Canonisation Working Party.

Sr Carmel came up with the idea to incorporate the WYD Cross and its Australian connection into the canonisation celebrations, but admits when she first suggested this, she had no idea there was a WYD Travelling Cross and that the original Cross was kept at a church in Rome.

“We wanted the WYD Cross as our central prayer focus at the liturgy as it was large enough to have an impact in the huge Auditorium Concilliazone where the Vigil Liturgy will be held, and also because it has become such a treasured memory for so many Australians,” she said.

whose education became one of the key missions of their founder, Mary MacKillop, but because when the WYD’s Travelling Cross arrived in Australia in 2007, the first place it was taken to was Mary MacKillop’s tomb in North Sydney.

“This was why we thought it would be wonderful to link our ‘journey’ to Rome with the Cross that lay across Mary’s tomb,” says Sr Carmel Pilcher, a member of

But the Sisters thought their request would come to nothing, because as far as they knew, the WYD Cross was no longer in Rome but making its way across Spain. To their surprise, they discovered there were two WYD Crosses, and Sr Maria Casey, the Sisters of St Joseph’s Romebased Postulator for the Cause of Canonisation of Mary MacKillop, was charged with obtaining permission to borrow the original WYD Cross for the Vigil Liturgy in their founder’s honour on 16 October.

Thrilled permission has been granted, Sr Carmel says the Sisters now envision a group of people of all ages and representing many nations gathering around the Cross as part of the Vigil.

Notre Dame Student Association President Amy Rosario with Rosie Parker, one of a handful of students who came up with the idea of a Mary MacKillop Festival that has turned into the official Archdiocesan celebration for the Australian Blessed’s canonisation.

PHOTO: ANTHONY BARICH

Sr Campion Roche, who had the foresight to stash Mary MacKillop’s belongings under her bed and in her cupboard for safekeeping.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF JOSEPHITES

Spanish young people hold a wooden cross as a symbol of the next World Youth Day as Pope Benedict XVI leads Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on 5 April.

Performing Arts opens at Cathedral

The Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral, Mgr Michael Keating, concelebrated the Opening Mass of the 21st Annual Performing Arts Festival for Catholic Schools and Colleges at St Mary’s Cathedral on 23 July with Fr Christopher Ross OSM and Cathedral Assistant Priests Frs Jeronimo Flamenco and Jean-Noel Marie.

They were joined by representative staff and students from Catholic schools and colleges from throughout the Archdiocese of Perth.

The assembly was welcomed on behalf of the Director of Catholic Education, Mr Ron Dullard, who was unable to be present.

The singing was led by the choir of Liwara Catholic Primary School.

Liwara students also performed the opening liturgical movement. Students from Sacred Heart College in Sorrento performed a post-Communion liturgical movement titled In the Arms of an Angel. After the Post Communion Prayer, Major Ian Milne (Retired) officially opened the 21st Annual Performing Arts Festival for Catholic Schools and Colleges.

from Sacred Heart

Sorrento

St Anne’s a ‘sign of Church unity’

Continued from Page 1

St Anne’s community in Belmont uses the traditional Latin liturgy of the Church as requested by Pope Benedict XVI in his 2007 document released Motu Proprio (“on his own impulse”), Summorum Pontificum (“Of the Supreme Pontiffs”).

While the Mass that the Traditional Latin Mass community celebrates is referred to as the 1962 Missal – issued by Pope John XXIII - the text was, Fr Rowe said, codified at the Council of Trent (1545-1563), while much of the Mass itself dates back to ancient Rome when it was Christianised.

This form of worship - celebrating the Faith of our Fathers as the hymn goes – is experiencing a surge of interest among youth across Australia, which Fr Rowe says is due to the attraction of “the Mass of the saints”.

The appeal, Fr Rowe said, is both worldly and spiritual.

“It’s part of the patrimony and history of the Church that they find very appealing. When you’re attending a traditional Latin Mass, you’re attending something which was celebrated by the saints throughout the ages - even modern ones like St John Vianney and St Padre Pio,” Fr Rowe said.

“Young people find the prayers of this Mass very prayerful and

helpful to come close to God, which is why we come to church. They find traditional forms of Church liturgy very uplifting and prayerful. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says prayer is raising the mind and heart to God, and that’s what this Mass does.

“For young people today, they see a reverence and a beauty in the liturgy - in an old Mass for a new generation. It’s new for them in the sense that most young people didn’t grow up with it, so they’re discovering the beauty of the Church’s liturgy as it’s been

celebrated over the centuries. At the same time, we’re trying to find stability in a world that’s very unstable. This Mass gives people stability in their prayer life and, as we know, God is unchanging; and they find the liturgy helping them in growing closer to God. After all, the Church believes that the Mass is the foretaste of heaven.”

The Traditional Latin Mass or “Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite” (sometimes shortened to “Extraordinary Rite”), is often referred to as the “Tridentine” Mass.

Viet Sister, priest study in Perth

RECENTLY arrived from Vietnam, Fr Lai Tam Thuy Minh and Sr (Anna) Nguyen Thi Quyen introduced themselves to Archbishop Barry Hickey on 22 July, together with parish priest of Greenwood, Fr Vinh Dong. Fr Lai and Sr Anna will study at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Fremantle, which has provided two scholarships for the Archbishop’s Vietnam Projects.

There are now two priests and one Religious Sister studying at UNDA, with two other Religous Sisters currently studying English at Central TAFE in Perth, with a view to commencing tertiary studies in 2011.

Top: Archbishop Barry Hickey gives first Holy Communion to Joshua Walsh, 7.

Above: an altar boy lights the altar candles prior to the special Mass.

PHOTOS: ANTHONY BARICH

Top right: Liwara students perform the opening liturgical movement.

Below right: Students

College in

perform a post-Communion liturgical movement at St Mary’s Cathedral in Victoria Square. PHOTOS: FR ROBERT CROSS

Win at all costs

As many will be aware, the subject of asylum seekers is potentially an issue, or perhaps the issue, which could determine the outcome of the next federal election - not for the first time. The notorious ‘Tampa Affair,’ as it was known at the time, was regarded by many as being a significant factor in the John Howard election win of 2001.

Insofar as one can speak of impressions at this point in our nation’s history, feelings seem to coalesce into two main camps: those who believe asylum seekers should be treated more leniently and those who wish to take a tougher line. It seems clear that both main political parties have sought to position themselves as far as they can with the latter sentiment which is at large in the community. Both have sought to appear sincere and politically correct in their handling of the matter and, at the same time, tough enough to capture the vote of Australians concerned by the idea of boatloads of job-robbing welfare burdens about to flood the northern horizon as they head for Australian shores.

There is in the spectacle of our two main political parties jostling for votes on the issue of asylum seekers something that smells vaguely insane and almost Lilliputian. Australians have historically been a nation fearful of being swamped or invaded. One only has to look to the golden era of Australian literature in the 19th century or scan the experience of the Chinese on Australian goldfields at the same time, to take two examples.

In this sense Australians have often been a shallow people, ultimately concerned above almost all other things with our standard of living and, apparently, little else. But if one were to stand back and consider the real world outside the warped prisms offered by our television sets and radio talk-back lynch mobs one would wonder what the fuss was all about.

THE RECORD

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

Tel: (08) 9227 7080

Fax: (08) 9227 7087

The total number of asylum seekers the nation is dealing with at the moment is in the hundreds but, judging fom the often hysterical calls on talkback radio, one would think it was the hundreds of thousands. And yet, according to one estimate, between 1975 and 1994 over 112,000 Vietnamese refugees were accepted for settlement in Australia. The country did not collapse, nor did the economy go to the wall. The starving children of Australian families did not skip through the streets making their living as pickpockets.

The truth is that Australia is a vast nation possessed of huge concentrations of natural resources that the rest of the world needs and with a miniscule population inhabiting several cities spread out around an enormous coastline. This is a country that is waiting to be built, and in which little (compared to the possibilities) has actually been done. Ours is a country that could sustain a far greater population, by some estimates as many as 50 million people on a sustainable basis.

Whatever his real or imagined failings, our last Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, actually was prepared to think big for the future in terms of population. The election mongering on the matter of asylum seekers (all in the name of sustainability) betrays a mediocrity across both major political parties that might almost be called depressing. Adding to the bizarre ethos of our politics is the fact that our fear of sharing our country has been fanned, aided and abetted by the lunacies of the radical environmental mindset, comfortable in its suburban cafe setting, which has decreed that no matter what, people will always come second to the environment. The radical green dogmatism of the suburbs (and our legislatures) refuses absolutely to accept that anything other than its own definition of a sustainable population will ever be acceptable.

Someone once said that people without land are entitled to land without people. At this particular election, it’s hard to say why this should be wrong at all. Prudent optimism and vision, not fear, is the real path for the future of this country’s environment.

in brief...

S Korea scales back aid

SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) - Heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula have led the South Korean government to scale back an interfaith plan to deliver humanitarian aid to the North.

UCA News reported that leaders of Religious Solidarity for Reconciliation and Peace of Korea said they would cross the border and deliver 300 tons of flour on 26 July. However, the Korean government office in charge of North-South unification opposed a proposal to send about 30 religious leaders to Kaesong, North Korea, to distribute the aid. The group includes Buddhist, Catholic, Cheondogyo, Protestant and Won Buddhist leaders. Fr John Kim Hun-il, a member of the group, said the unification ministry told it to send only five or six members to make the delivery.

Seoul put in place tough cross-border restrictions after South Korea blamed the North for the sinking of one of its warships. Director of education and outreach, and directors Kathy Saile, of the Office of Domestic Social Development, and Ralph McCloud, of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, spoke with CNS about the implications of the new study and their efforts to end child and adult poverty.

60 years a blessing

Last weekend, Sunday, 18 July, my wife Alice and I celebrated our 60th year of marriage, which was conducted at the Sacred Heart Church, Mundaring on 15 July 1950 by the late Fr Tom Linnane with Nuptial Mass.

Sixty odd people, mostly from long distances, gathered to present us with their very best and most loving congratulations. The presence of so many, mostly grandchildren and, great grans too, the eldest being 31 years old, the youngest just over one year, was ever so gratifying, so loving. I am 85+; mum, 79 - still on our feet, thanks be to God and everyone’s love. Fairly healthy, though a bit worn out, I am a bit doddery, can’t (not allowed) to climb ladders, still do a bit of gardening, vegies and some flowers too, the flowers, sweet peas and dahlias. I mostly give away to all sorts, and it has become a hobby with me.

Peter Bertola Esperance WA

The Eucharist is real, not an object

Ipraise and thank God that the necessary conversations are beginning once again.

That, we the people of God are proclaiming “Yes, we are the People of God” and it is “our Church”.

I am sorry though, that CV Phillips (9 June) perceived that I was ‘having a dig’ at the “pro-Latinists”. Be assured, that was not my intent but rather, my request is for balanced reporting by our Catholic Press, that 2nd Vatican is not dead in the hearts of the ‘people of God’.

I note that you indicated that you did not understand what my letter was all about. Yes, it was probably too long, covering too many issues; however, if you could read it again then I would be more than happy to meet with you over coffee.

It heartens me that you experi-

ence the Tridentine Liturgy “as a beautiful and worshipful way of adoring God” and as a fellow Catholic I respect your choice for that decision.

However, there seems to be a good deal of pressure and expectations from many quarters within our Church that this is the only way to God as indicated by the many letters in The Record. Added to this is Cardinal Pell’s comment that “The Eucharist has been Dumbed Down”. I believe that this is not what the Vatican Council said or wanted. I personally do not wish to revert to the rubrics, rituals or theology of the Tridentine Liturgy.

Why? Because the “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” as I wrote in my last letter, restored the Eucharist as an action to be engaged in by the entire Church, rather than a static object of the devotion or theatrical performance:

“Such participation by the Christian people ... is their right and duty by reason of their baptism in the reform and promotion of the liturgy, this full and active participation by all the people is the aim to be considered before all else.”

Fr Jim Hogan, a US diocesan priest of some 48 years, says in his book, “Yes we are; the living body of Christ” (2010).This priest reminds me so much of my great mentor and friend, the late Father Jim O’Brien of Perth WA.

Fr Jim Hogan says that:

The Liturgy of Vatican II calls all the baptised to a new appreciation of our self understanding as the “living Body of Christ”. The living, risen Christ, gathers us not just to influence us, inform us, or cause us to think but most importantly to gather us around a table to feed us with his life and transform us – to bring about a community to become what we eat and drink which is the living body of Christ.

The Eucharist therefore is not a magic ritual, or an object to be adored or worshipped.

Every Eucharist is meant to be a transition, a change of rhythm, crossing a threshold out of our comfort zone, and an awareness of the sacred and divine, in the gathered community - just like the last supper with Jesus.

“The Eucharist is a mystery of Faith, it is a call to action, a prayer in which the entire community is engaged, and in which the living body is nourished”.

CV Phillips goes too far in claiming that our Pope is calling all of us to participate in the Tridentine Mass. Many of us do not want to go back to the individualistic (me, God to save my soul) and negative theology of our youth which emphasised sin, guilt, and

the suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross; Atonement Theology. There was no grounding – no sense of the spiritual or the sacred in the everyday life we are called to lead every day at home and at play.

We seem to forget that the risen Christ and the new life we share in Him are at the heart and Core of our Faith. Look back to the two editions of The Record over Easter this year; they were wonderful coloured photos of the ‘people of God’, sadly it was all about Good Friday. It may also be that we do not have enough icons that depict the Resurrection?

“The Resurrection is the core and central message of Christianity from which all flows and upon which all depends.”

Without the Resurrection, His Crucifixion would have been long forgotten surely? May I suggest your readers go on a pilgrimage to the Riverton parish; led by Fr John Flynn or the Bridgetown parish led by Fr Wayne Bendotti, as both are wonderful leaders of the “People of God” and in the sanctuary there is a symbol that teaches us or at least reminds us; that we are a “Resurrected People”.

Guido J Vogels

Vicar Social Apostolate Catholic Archdiocese of Perth

Parental leave

The Paid Parental Leave scheme (PPL) of Julia Gillard is great for paid-work mums but discriminates against familywork mums who do the most important work of all - childcare for our greatest resources, our children.

The current scheme will provide paid-work mums an average of $3,100 more then family-work mums (56%) who receive only the baby bonus.

Surely in justice, all mothers should be paid the same amount under one equal scheme. Recent polls have shown 71% of all parents, and 79% of 18-34 year olds agree on this fairness.

In Canada and Sweden, separate schemes for paid-work and family-work mums have caused problems. The growing cost of PPL for paid-work mums has lessened the bonus benefit for family-work mums, and forced many of them into paid-work and their children into expensive, much inferior, state-funded childcare (abundant evidence).

Eighty per cent of pre-school children in Sweden are in daycare because families have been denied a choice by this economic coercion. The resultant weakening of close bonding, nurturing and

family cohesion has increased the loss of social capital, leading to loss of identity and friends to feral behaviour.

Unless the next Federal Government provides equal PPL to all mothers under a non-discriminatory scheme, we too will suffer further social problems of disintegration. What has happened to our proper priorities?

John Carty Goornong

VIC

The atheists are converting

Re some recent letters to the editor along the lines that one tends to abandon belief in God as more discoveries are made about life etc, I should like to say that the complete opposite is, in fact, the case.

Antony Flew, “the world’s most notorious atheist”(his words), changed his mind and wrote the book There is a God after realising that his former atheistic position was untenable in the light of more recent discoveries.

Likewise, Drs Scott Hahn and Benjamin Wiker have written Answering the new atheism: dismantling Dawkins’ ‘case’ against God. This book has an endorsement on the back cover by Antony Flew who stated, “Rarely, if ever, in my many years as a professor of philosophy did I ever have the opportunity to read such a compelling argument”.

I would suggest the militant atheists refrain from jumping into the arena to try to ridicule believers in God, until they fully digest the astronomical odds against the chance emergence of life on earth in the limited time that was available, as well as the similar odds against the incredibly precise requirements at the time of the Big Bang in order for life on earth to have occurred at all.

If one chooses not to believe in God, that’s one thing, but please do not keep going public trying to belittle those who do.

MJ Gonzalez Willetton WA

Philosophy at stake in election

Julia Gillard’s admission that she does not believe in the existence of God has caused some controversy. She is admired because she is seen as not being prepared to compromise her conscience so as to curry favour with Christian voters. That, in itself, is a quality to be very much admired in any human being.

However, as Prime Minister responsible for the governance of all Australians, there is understandable concern among Christians that laws enacted during her term of office may be made to reflect her personal convictions.

With her central approach to health and education, Christians need to be reassured that, for example, private hospitals and schools will not be obliged to close down, Australia wide, unless they comply with what may be her views on moral issues such as abortion, sex education, or even

her preference for the removal of school chaplains.

It is not whether Julia Gillard personally believes in God which is the issue, but whether she believes in the moral and social implications of the Ten Commandments, and whether she will be prepared to compromise her conscience enough so as to tolerate Christian principles which may be in conflict with hers.

G Aquilina Lynwood WA

The implications of being Green

Now that Labor has done a deal with the Greens, the worry for Australia, and its taxpayers, increases exponentially. Some sort of Carbon Tax is virtually inevitable if this alliance takes Government. Despite the known facts, the Greens continue to insist that the Earth’s climate is being altered by mankind, and can, therefore, be un-altered. If global warming is caused by mankind, how explain the Medieval Warming Period, where temperatures were much higher than today?

There is a much higher correlation between the earth’s temperatures and solar activity, than with any of man’s activity. A tax on carbon emissions will cost Australians millions, will siphon funds into artificial stocks and shares trading companies, and all in a futile attempt to do the impossible.

CV Phillips

Southern River WA

Sheen still at work

Iam writing to congratulate you on the excellent article on Archbishop Fulton Sheen by Anthony Barich.

Gradually Sheen is coming back to prominence here since his cause for canonisation is advancing. Watching and reading his works, it is clear that his knowledge and enthusiasm for the faith is overflowing, as is his desire to impart this love to others.

Mary Burke

Ferndale WA

Dunsboroughites to be surveyed

Over the last five years the population of Dunsborough has doubled, yet the number of people who now attend Mass is only half what it was before this doubling. Prior to five years ago, the number of resident people attending Mass was between two to three hundred (as per the communion count of hosts), now we are lucky to make ninety or a hundred all-told over a vigil Saturday and Sunday’s Mass. We are a tourist town so numbers are bolstered during holiday times.

For those people still regularly attending Mass, who are the lay backbone support for its celebration, this is both startling and disturbing.

As one of those people, I thought if we could find the reason for this substantial retreat from the Mass

(the core of our Catholic faith), we may be able to address these reasons and try to reduce its flow.

With this in mind, a survey is under way in Dunsborough, stemming from the popular phrase, “the people are the Church”. It invites people to give their reasons for not coming to Mass and their general disenchantment with the Church. The title of the survey is Enriching the Changes (enclosed); the reference to ‘change’ being the new format of the Mass which is to be introduced worldwide next year; something which those who do not go to Mass would know nothing about, so that you may well ask, what is the point of the change, unless the Church feels there is an even greater people’s exodus under way as happened in the 60’s when priests and nuns left in droves.

Perhaps reasons for the apparent decline of the influence of the Church over its Catholic people can be extracted from the article published in the 7 July Record with the heading: Liturgy renewal to inspire martyrs’ love for the Mass in people

This article sent a chill through my heart. As I see it, it is full of reasons to keep away from the Church and if that means the Mass, well, the fault is not the people’s.

Margaret R Wilcox Dunsborough WA

Life still relevant

The coming Federal elections will be a titanic clash between the anti-life antiChristian forces supporting Julia Gillard and the pro-life, pro-Christian philosophy Tony Abbott is perceived to represent.

With this wake up call to Catholics, the words of my most memorable Catholic teacher, Reverend Mother Casimir, come flooding back.

“Christians are expected to live in the world, but not of it!” More recently I have learned these words have their origin in the Didache, the earliest “catechism” of the Catholic faith.

They were written by the martyr St Justin, whose words are as relevant today as then.

“Christians do not practise abortion” and “God has placed us in this world as His sentinels and we must not desert our posts!” Until now the choice has not been so stark. Faced with a choice between electing an anti-life or a pro-life Prime Minister, some Catholics, for the sake of the sanctity of the lives of their unborn brothers and sisters, will be called upon to sacrifice their vote for the Labor Party and cast their votes instead for a pro-life Prime Minister regardless of their party political affiliation. The sanctity of life is the top priority. A line must be drawn in the sand.

Only when would-be prime ministers understand that being anti-life is an impediment to election to the highest office in the land, can Catholics and pro-lifers of all and no faith, return to voting for the party of their choice. For now, we must vote for life.

Denise M Cameron President, Pro Life Victoria East Brunswick

Parish story? parishes@therecord.com.au

School story? schools@therecord.com.au

Whitford teams blitz competitors

BY : BRIDGET SPINKS

It was a Whitford-Whitford final in both Soccer and Netball at the inter-parish Soccer & Netball Tournament held on 25 July at Sacred Heart College oval and netball courts and hosted by Our Lady of the Mission parish, Whitford.

One hundred and 30 people of all ages, from 15-60 years of age, took part in the competition with some parishes putting forward more than one team.

Whitford parish had four teams competing for the soccer trophy; Bateman had two while Mirrabooka, Westminster, Willetton and Clarkson all had one team.

In the Ladies Netball competition, Whitford parish had three teams and Mirrabooka had one.

“Piked out” was the Whitford winning netball team, which took out the Whitford’s Netball inter-parish trophy, and is a team of ladies that plays netball in a Tuesday night ladies competition.

Our Lady of the Mission, Whitford parishioners, including

run the event on the day.

The process of organising the competition “brought parishes together,” Nicole said, as before the event, Peter Westneat had planning meetings with members of other parishes including Mirrabooka, Westminster and Bateman.

Playing sport with people of the same faith added another dimension to people that she would only see in the parish context, Nicole said.

“There were a few conversations of faith going on around. It was good to meet people from the same faith in a different context.

“There were priests out playing on the field. It was good to see the priests doing something different and getting involved,” she said.

In the Netball final, Whitford’s 1 (aka “Piked Out”) defeated Whitford’s 2 (26-14) while Whitford’s 1 defeated Whitford’s 4 (4-1) in the Soccer.

Biblical expert to speak at Notre Dame

THE Slattery Lecture presented by Notre Dame University’s School of Philosophy and Theology in Fremantle will see Fr Justin Taylor SM from the internationally renowned École Biblique in Jerusalem speak at the university on 19 August.

Fr Taylor, a New Zealand priest, will speak on the literary novelty of the New Testament.

The Gospels treat the everyday world and ordinary people in a way that is both realistic and serious, even tragic.

Such a literary treatment is without precedent in Greek or Roman literature and constitutes a literary revolution.

For the Gospel writers’ way of rendering reality departs notably from those practised by writers in the classical tradition, who observed the rule of separation of styles.

This new aesthetic reflects a new social reality and, ultimately, belief in the incarnation of God in a person of low degree. In fact, both the choice of the real to be imitated and the means used to represent it are so novel that we must credit the evangelists either

with representing the simply real or, if they are representing an imagined reality, with the invention of a wholly new technique of fiction writing that is unparalleled before the rise of the modern realistic novel.

Fr Taylor studied history at the University of Cambridge in England, where he graduated with a PhD in 1972. After teaching for several years in the Marist seminary in New Zealand, he went to Jerusalem to study at the École Biblique et Archéologique Française.

Since 1988, he has been teaching and researching at the École Biblique in the fields of New Testament and Christian origins and is currently Professor of New Testament and Vice-Director. He is also co-director of a research seminar in New Testament at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

His lecture will be at 7.30pm, Thursday, 19 August in Foley Hall, 19 Mouat Street, Fremantle. Those wishing to attenmd should RSVP by 12 August to Deborah Tarrant on dtarrant2@ nd.edu.au or (08) 9433 0138.

Nicole Chamberlain, 20, Caitlyn Rice, 21, and Peter Westneat, 21 organised the competition while the Whitford team leaders helped

Faith on the fields: Willeton took on Whitford and competed valiantly against Willetton Parish in soccer and netball but lost out on the day.

Notre Dame embraces families in day of

Clockwise from top left: Notre Dame Vice Chancellor Celia Hammond with children on the family day in Fremantle; children with their faces painted; boys in the gymnasium enjoy the games; a girl during activities; a woman and child present themselves for a blessing by UNDA Fremantle chaplain Fr John Sebastian OMI during Mass on the day.

Notre Dame embraces families in day of

Clockwise from top left: Notre Dame Vice Chancellor Celia Hammond with children on the family day in Fremantle; children with their faces painted; boys in the gymnasium enjoy the games; a girl during activities; a woman and child present themselves for a blessing by UNDA Fremantle chaplain Fr John Sebastian OMI during Mass on the day.

fun, activites and worship in Fremantle

The laughter of children and parents could be heard on The University of Notre Dame Australia’s Fremantle and Sydney campuses as they shared a funfilled Children’s Day.

Introduced by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Celia Hammond in 2009, Children’s Day has become an annual event which invites staff to bring their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends to the campuses for the day.

A range of fun activities are organised for the children to participate in, including the opportunity to prepare a special liturgy for Mass which is celebrated by all the staff and visitors.

On the Sydney Campus, children were entertained by a clown, had their faces painted, decorated biscuits, took pony rides, fed baby animals and danced along to the singing troupe the Jitterbugs.

Sydney Philosophy and Theology lecturer Peter Holmes,brought all his seven children, aged 12 years to 4 months, along for the day.

“My kids had a fantastic time getting involved in all the activities and meeting other children. The day provided a great opportunity for my family to spend time at my workplace and made them feel really welcome to be on campus,” said Mr Holmes.

Vice Chancellor Professor Celia Hammond, whose own three boys participated, was delighted with the day.

“I believe that this is now an important event on the Notre Dame calendar. It has grown in popularity and is a real statement of one of the central values of Catholic tradition; family. It was great to see so many Notre Dame staff enjoying themselves with their children.”

Above: Notre Dame Student Association President Amy Rosario spends time with children. Clockwise from top left: a boy with his face painted enjoys the fun; a man and his son during the Mass; children enjoy activities; children participated in activities on the day; a face painter at work; children in an activiy in the hall; a girl has her face painted; children are entertained in the Notre Dame Chapel; Notre Dame chaplain Fr John Sebastian OMI during the Mass; a boy looks up during the Mass on the day.

fun, activities and worship in Fremantle

BY MICHELLE EBBS PHOTOS BY SIMON KING

The laughter of children and parents could be heard on The University of Notre Dame Australia’s Fremantle and Sydney campuses as they shared a fun-filled Children’s Day in early July.

Introduced by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Celia Hammond in 2009, Children’s Day has become an annual event which invites staff to bring their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends to the campuses for the day.

A range of fun activities are organised for the children to participate in, including the opportunity to prepare a special liturgy for Mass which is celebrated by all the staff and visitors.

On the Sydney Campus, children were entertained by a clown, had their faces painted, decorated biscuits, took pony rides, fed baby animals and danced along to the singing troupe the Jitterbugs.

Sydney Philosophy and Theology lecturer Peter Holmes,brought all his seven children, aged 12 years to 4 months, along for the day.

“My kids had a fantastic time getting involved in all the activities and meeting other children. The day provided a great opportunity for my family to spend time at my workplace and made them feel really welcome to be on campus,” said Mr Holmes.

Vice Chancellor Professor Celia Hammond, whose own three boys participated, was delighted with the day.

“I believe that this is now an important event on the Notre Dame calendar. It has grown in popularity and is a real statement of one of the central values of Catholic tradition; family. It was great to see so many Notre Dame staff enjoying themselves with their children.”

Above: Notre Dame Student Association President Amy Rosario spends time with children. Clockwise from top left: a boy with his face painted enjoys the fun; a man and his son during the Mass; children enjoy activities; children participated in activities on the day; a face painter at work; children in an activiy in the hall; Monika Tolic has her face painted; children are entertained in the Notre Dame Chapel; Notre Dame chaplain Fr John Sebastian OMI during the Mass; a boy looks up during the Mass on the day.

The University of the Catacombs

Fr Borys Gudziak, Rector of

the Ukrainian Catholic University which has produced spectacular results on a shoestring budget, addressed the University of WA on the subject on 27 July. The Record reveals its success story.

BY DR ANDREW T HOMAS K ANIA Director of Spirituality, Aquinas College

The Orthodox theologian Jaroslav Pelikan once described Metropolitan Andrii Sheptys’kyi with the words that he was: “the most influential figure … in the entire history of the Ukrainian Church in the 20th Century.” Overseeing the direction and protection of the Ukrainian Catholic Church for nearly half a century as its Primate, Sheptyt’skyi set in place the structures within his Church that would see its eventual survival against not only the oppression of the Nazi regime, but also the 45 years of Communist persecution which were to follow.

One of Sheptys’kyi’s lasting legacies was his dream of building a Ukrainian Catholic University, a place solemnly charged with the development of scholars who could not only sustain and develop the Byzantine Rite, but play a role in the spiritual as well as the political germination of Ukraine.

Sheptyts’kyi himself was a man of great education; he had earned three doctorates: philosophy, theology and law – and he was also fluent in a dozen European languages, as well as Hebrew.

Education for Sheptyts’kyi was the key to the survival not only of the Ukrainian Catholic Church – but the Ukrainian national identity. In one of his pastoral letters, Sheptyts’kyi told his faithful: “A nation which has scholars wins respect and honour among other nations. And other nations must reckon with such a nation. And for people in the villages, education is an item of almost primary need. A dark, uneducated people easily wastes all that it has and lets itself be misled in every way. Such a nation is unapproachable with even the best idea. It doesn’t know its own faith …”. (Sirka,

1989, p 270). Due to tensions between the Polish government and the Ukrainian population living on Polish soil, Sheptyts’kyi’s ambition for a Ukrainian Catholic University did not come to fruition in his lifetime.

In its place, in 1928, he established the L’viv Theological Academy and appointed Reverend Iosyf Slipyj (later of Morris West’s Shoes of the Fisherman fame) to be its Rector.

Despite the fact that the Polish government forbade any awarding of degrees from the Academy, Sheptyts’kyi continued to plan for the time when this Academy, which by World War II had 300 students enrolled, could begin life as a recognised university. Ever the philanthropist, Sheptyts’kyi provided scholarships to students to study abroad at the universities of Vienna, Freiburg, Rome and Innsbruck, both clergy and laity.

At the time of its closure by the Soviets, the L’viv Theological Academy had two faculties: theology/philosophy and law. In a period of less than two decades, Sheptyts’kyi’s dream had become the wellspring from which some of the greatest minds of the Ukrainian Catholic Church of the 20th century were to germinate.

Tragically, it was also to become the garden-bed of some of the Catholic Church’s greatest martyrs of the 20th century; a by-product of the strong faith development engendered by the Academy, and the viciously oppressive persecution of the Communist regime.

As Fr Borys Gudziak, the current Rector of the now Ukrainian Catholic University of L’viv writes about those early years of the Theological Academy and the people it produced: “They walked

our streets and rode on our roads, sat on our episcopal thrones and in our confessionals; they gave lectures at solemn conferences and reports from their professorial chairs, they studied in our Theological Academy and seminaries.

“They probably did not think that the terrible trial of martyrdom and its everlasting crown was waiting for them.

“They wore priestly vestments and the habits of our religious communities, they heard stirring words from their spiritual directors about self-giving and self-dedication, which we often hear, but receive as something everyday, as an abstraction, something unreal and far away in time and space”. (Gudziak, 2004, p 4).

Of the 25 Ukrainian Catholics beatified by Pope John Paul II on 26 June 2001, many of these Ukrainian Saints had an association with the Theological Academy as either staff or students.

It goes without saying that the foundations on which the Ukrainian Catholic University, established in 1994, now stands were dearly bought; purchased from decades of struggle and martyrdom.

The Ukrainian Catholic University is today not only the first Eastern Catholic University in the world but also the first Catholic University established in what was once the Soviet Union.

In a remarkably short space of time, the University has earned itself astonishing accolades.

In an article in the Daily

Telegraph in London (6 June 2009), Damian Thompson wrote about the University: “You probably haven’t heard of the Ukrainian Catholic University – but I suspect that is going to change. For this wonderful institution offers a philosophy of teaching in radical contrast to the moribund model of Catholic further education found in this country and much of the West.” Moreover, a feature article in the international magazine The Economist (26 April 2010), praised the work of Gudziak and his colleagues: “In the evening, it is time to visit an old friend, Borys Gudziak, the inspirational rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University.

“In the early stages of the second world war, the Soviet occupiers of western Ukraine murdered the university’s staff and sent the students to the gulag.

“Fr Borys - a Harvard-educated American-Ukrainian - has refounded it, with spectacular results.

“Run on a shoestring, it has educated thousands of students in theology, philosophy, classics and other subjects (it has just launched an MBA). But it is not just an academic powerhouse: part of its mission is to provide a loving life for mentally handicapped people.

“Like many ex-Communist countries, Ukraine too often adheres to the shameful standards of the Soviet Union in dealing with such matters.

“Fr Borys is raising money for a grand building in which the finest accommodation will be reserved

for mentally handicapped people.

“That teaches the students something even more valuable than what they learn in the classroom … UCU is a jewel in Ukraine’s educational system.

“But it struggles.

“A few years ago, the authorities hassled it and indirectly threatened Fr Borys with deportation.

“It is affiliated with the Greek Catholic church, which is under the Pope’s authority but uses Orthodox liturgy.

“Harshly persecuted in the Soviet period, the Church is still regarded with suspicion by some Soviet-minded Ukrainians. UCU’s independent curriculum, high academic standards and insistence on admitting solely on merit are a sharp challenge to Ukraine’s educational establishment.”

Today, the Ukrainian Catholic University – nearly a century after Sheptyts’kyi first dreamt the idea, is fast taking its place on the world-stage as a major player in higher education.

But it has a unique nature - it is a university with a growing reputation for academic excellence – but it lives under the glowing light of men and women who in the past, lived lives of Faith, not merely as conjecture, or from force of habit, or cultural osmosis – but out of deeply reasoned and committed certitude; where Faith and Reason are not opponents, but are conjugal partners in the human spirit.

Catholic radio host prepares MP3 players for troops, wounded soldiers

WASHINGTON (CNS) - The first 1,000 MP3 players prepared by the host of a Catholic radio programme are making their way to Catholic troops and wounded soldiers, a year in the making.

They’re not just any MP3 players, though. They’re “filled with Catholic content,” according to Cheri Lomonte, host of the Gabriel Award-winning radio programme Mary’s Touch and the force behind a project she calls “Frontline Faith.”

The intent of the distribution programme is to provide Catholic inspirational messages and recordings to tide Catholic soldiers over between the infrequent visits of a Catholic chaplain to battle zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lomonte, in a 20

July phone interview from Austin, Texas, said her radio programme had a guest who helped bring wounded soldiers to Lourdes, France. Lomonte said she asked the guest, “What can we do to help?” The answer she got was: “Make sure they don’t get to this point. Do something before they get to this point.” Previously, Lomonte had distributed MP3 players to some of Austin’s homeless. “We put appropriate things on the player, including snippets from the Mary’s Touch radio programme,” she said. But this project would prove to be a more exacting effort. The MP3s for use by troops are “packed with Catholic things,” Lomonte said - seven hours’ worth. “They could lis-

ten to a Mass, they could listen to a Rosary.” The Mass is a Memorial Day Mass celebrated by Archbishop Timothy P Broglio of the US Archdiocese for the Military Services at St Matthew Cathedral in Washington. The Rosary is a “Warrior Rosary” conceived by Lynda MacFarland, the wife of a career military man, using the Sorrowful Mysteries.

Other programming on the MP3 includes “Centurions of Rome,” a presentation made by the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York; children’s letters to soldiers read by the children themselves; an examination of conscience; interview features from Mary’s Touch; and two and a half hours of stories about faith

in military life, including The Grunt Padre about a priest who ministered to infantry soldiers and a tale of a soldier who carried the Eucharist into battle. The military Archdiocese is distributing the MP3 players through its chaplains. But that can take some time, with a shortage of Catholic chaplains in the military.

“Our troops do not get to see a priest for sometimes seven to eight months,” Lomonte said. “That would be like you and me not being able to receive the Eucharist until Valentine’s Day, or sometime in the spring. ... How can our troops go without the Eucharist for that long when they need it the most?”

It costs about US$24 to buy the MP3 player, load it and prepare

it for shipment. The funds raised have allowed for 1,000 players to be readied for distribution.

“We have 330,000 Catholics in our military, and our long-term goal is to have an MP3 player called ‘Frontline Faith’ to every member in our military who wants it,” Lomonte said.

The MP3 players aren’t just for combat zones. “One of the first places we send this to is our hospitals,” Lomonte said. “They have nothing. Our chaplains hand them out.”

Lomonte noted that the suicide rate among active-duty soldiers is at an all-time high. “They’re deprived of their spirituality,” she declared. “At a time when they need some kind of spirituality, this will help them.”

Borys Gudziak

Metropolitan Andrii Sheptys’kyi

The Ukrainian Catholic University’s logo.

Welcome to China’s Catholic Village

TANTHONY E C LARK, PHD

Ignatius Insight

ravelling through China’s poorer provinces one often sees blue coal trucks, mule-driven carts brimming with freshly harvested vegetables, squatting peasants smoking long-stemmed pipes, or dilapidated roadside hovels with exposed light bulbs hanging precariously from crumbling ceilings.

Occasional pavilions or temples might be seen, though these were largely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

Catholic churches suffered two major periods of destruction, the Boxer Uprising (1898-1900) and the Cultural Revolution.

The anti-foreign Boxers, called the Fists of Righteous Harmony, swept through China’s northern provinces attacking churches and Christians, and when the Red Guards were told to destroy the “four olds” – old ideas, old customs, old habits, and old culture – they attacked not only anything that seemed traditional, but also anything that was foreign or religious.

Being old, traditional, foreign, and religious, Catholic churches, orphanages, seminaries, and hospitals suffered widespread destruction through the Maoist era.

Despite these two historical events Chinese Christianity has grown at a meteoric rate in recent decades, swelling from around four million faithful in 1949 to over fifty million today.

The current government has behaved quite openly to this growth compared to its previous intolerance, though the situation in China remains unsteady, and present signs suggest increased control over Catholic activities by the central authorities.

Surveillance cameras monitor church entrances and the Religious Affairs Bureau has become more rigid in its stance against Roman “interference” in Church affairs in China.

Papal authority, abortion and the election of Bishops continue to be sensitive topics, though the level of intensity of these conflicts differs from province to province.

One of the most astounding Catholic success stories in China is the village of Liuhecun, located an hour’s drive outside of the economically poor capital city of Shanxi, Taiyuan, the centre of what is China’s most Catholic diocese.

Liuhecun is difficult to find without help, and it is best accessed through the introduction of one of the local priests.

On the way to the village one of Shanxi’s largest secrets unfurls; church after church dot the landscape and high steeples rise above small villages as they do in southern France.

Passing through a narrow side road one arrives at Liuhecun and is welcomed by three great statues at the village entrance: St Peter holding his keys is flanked by Saints Simon and Paul. Thirty minutes before Mass the village loudspeakers, once airing the revolutionary voice of Mao and Party slogans, now broadcasts the Rosary.

Winding through the village, the large church with its imposing edifice and towering dome loom above, and once you arrive you are greeted by a curious admixture of

Romanesque architecture, yellow plastic palm trees, and streaming coloured banners. Shanxi has its own peculiar tastes, and almost every church contains two large grandfather clocks (no-one could tell me the origin of this curious tradition) and lines of coloured flags in and outside the sanctuary.

Liuhecun is China’s largest Catholic village. Attending one of the church’s Sunday Masses, which draws nearly three thousand faithful, is dizzying.

Before Mass the priests and faithful kneel to intone the Rosary in an old Shanxi-style chant – it is a loud affair, broadcast over loudspeakers.

In what is only a very mod-

bell tower in flowing white robes; her hands were extended in prayer before her.

They say an army of angels surrounded her as she prayed, and whichever direction she faced pointed toward the direction from which the Boxers were approaching.

Thus, with Mary’s help the stronger men of the community were able to prepare in advance to ward off the Boxer attack. Several times the Boxers approached, and each time Mary appeared above the church praying in the direction of their advance.

The Catholics of the village also attribute to Mary’s assistance the fact that the Boxer cannons backfired on the attackers as they fired on the village. Today, the village’s devotion to Mary is tangible; traditionally each family prays an evening Rosary and displays an image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in their home.

Nearly seven decades after the violent Boxer Uprising, the Cultural Revolution disturbed the peaceful rhythms of the village.

The church was stripped of its pews, the altar lay bare, and revolutionary slogans covered the walls and columns.

Like all China at that time, Liuhecun’s church was closed and the faithful were compelled to either join the radical fervour of the Red Guards or suffer under the revolution for remaining Catholic.

Some of the villagers erected tents for Mass where the priest courageously offered the Holy Sacrifice on a makeshift altar.

One elderly man, in his 90s, quite openly recounted for us the arrest and beating of his Franciscan uncle during the turbulence of the Maoist era.

The priest was “struggled against” several times, which included pulling his hair, physical beatings, and cruel forms of restraint.

In the end, the priest suffered from a head injury and died. Stories of Mary’s assistance and the sacrifices of such holy people as the Franciscan who died in 1969 strengthen the resolve of the village to remain committed to its faith.

Fr Zhang informed me that there are new struggles today, less related to persecution than the burgeoning wave of materialism that prevails in modern China.

While the youth are in the village they commonly attend catechism, in addition to a rich schedule of liturgical rites and parish events.

Since nearly all of the villagers are active Catholics, those who remain in the community are little affected by the consumerism and secular views of China’s majority.

Less than three percent of China is Christian, so there is scant spiritual support for those who leave the village for study or employment outside the community.

policy China. Just over two centuries ago, Liuhecun was little more than a sequence of agricultural fields; today it is a Catholic success story in a country with a long history of anti-Catholic persecution.

When asked about the village’s dedication to the Pope, Fr Zhang noted its fierce loyalty to the Holy Father and its commitment to following his teachings.

I noticed the proudly-displayed papal blessing and photograph of Benedict XVI near Fr Zhang’s desk as he answered this question.

“We are a very traditional Catholic community,” he said, “not like in other countries.”

I could not help but think that despite the irregularity of the Chinese Church’s relationship with Rome, in many ways it retains a stronger Catholic identity and commitment than many other countries.

Liuhecun is an extraordinary Catholic village, and it enjoys comparative freedom from governmental interference, perhaps due to its remote location. It is also extremely poor, and the lure of material comforts continues to draw villagers away.

Not all of those who leave the village strain to retain their faith, however. Liuhecun is one of the principal springs from which vocations emerge in all of China.

It seems that in almost every diocese one encounters a young priest who tells you he is from Liuhecun, and there can be little doubt that most of China’s Catholics have heard of this wellspring of faith and vocations.

The faith of China’s largest Catholic village is passionate, for the very name of their small village alludes to God’s role in synchronising all existence. From ancient times China has believed in the harmonious relationship between the “five directions,” north, south, east, west, middle, known as the “Five Harmonies” (Wuhe).

Not long after the Catholics of this region settled, they named their new village “Six Harmonies Village” (Liuhecun) because they believe there can be no harmony without God, the “sixth direction.”

As I departed from Liuhecun after attending a Mass that felt almost like Mass at St Peter’s, Fr Zhang, his assistant priest, and the church manager stood near the gate, waving goodbye.

Hundreds of old men and women stood near the church door watching the foreign guests leaving the village. And it seemed like a thousand children ran past us laughing and playing with each other.

I imagined that many of those young boys and girls, God willing, someday will serve the Church as priests and nuns.

I wondered also how many nonChinese Catholics have heard of this astonishing village, tucked inconspicuously in the arid scenery of Shanxi province.

est village by Chinese standards – around seven thousand people – more than ninety percent are Catholic.

One of the reasons for its strong commitment to its Catholic faith, villagers say, is the village’s endurance through the two terrible antiCatholic persecutions.

Popular local stories circulate about how Liuhecun village survived the ravages of the Boxer Uprising. In a meeting with the church’s lively pastor, Fr Zhang Junhai, one of these stories was recounted.

The residents say that as the Boxers approached the village during the summer of 1900, the Virgin Mary appeared above the church’s

The villagers can rely on each other for support and encouragement; they are willing to bear the monetary fines when having more than one child since their Catholic neighbours support and assist them. But it is more difficult to resist official policies and pressures when away from the community.

Liuhecun remains China’s largest Catholic village largely because it has formulated strategies for having multiple children, who are subsequently raised in devoted Catholic households.

Attending Mass in the immense church, one is bewildered by the number of children whirling through the aisles before the service, a unique sight in one-child-

Looking back at the enormous church I reflected on the Catholicity of the Catholic Church; a Western-style church surrounded by all things Chinese. Most Westerners would not recognise the tunes of the chanted prayers, or the language, or the way people interact.

But any Christian would readily admire the deeply pious faith of Liuhecun’s humble Catholics, who have not only survived two persecutions, but in fact grown from them as a seed from watered soil.

Dr Anthony E Clark, Assistant Professor of Asian History at Whitworth University (Spokane, Washington), has been travelling and researching in China this summer. The following was written in Shanghai on 8 July 2010.

Top: Statues of St Peter holding his keys to the Kingdom, St Simon and St Paul tower over the entrance to Liuhecun village; middle: Liucecun villagers pray the Rosary; above: the front edifice of Liuhecun church today.

Sudanese Bishops decry lack of progress toward referendum

WITh less than six months to go before the 9 January referendum on the future of Southern Sudan as an independent nation, Sudan’s Bishops have expressed concern that there is not enough time to finish preparations.

In a 22 July statement released at the end of a week-long meeting, Sudan’s Bishops called upon Sudanese officials in the country’s northern and southern regions to ensure that the referendum for Southern Sudan - and a separate one for Abyei - take place “on time, in a free and fair manner, and that the outcomes are recognised and respected.”

They said many people throughout the country have expressed fear that the warring factions that signed the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement have not made the referendum a priority and “that transparency and inclusiveness are lacking.” The referendum for southern Sudan will determine if the largely Christian and animist South, with its significant oil deposits, will secede from the Islamic North.

Observers consider the referendum more important for Sudan’s future than April’s elections for national and regional offices. “If unity is an option, we must understand what kind of unity we are speaking of,” said the Bishops, who noted that, in the multicultural country, “one entity still dominates and imposes itself on others in an oppressive manner, at every level.”

Italian Bishop condemns Mafia ceremonies at Catholic shrines

BISHOP Giuseppe Fiorini Morosini of Locri-Gerace, Italy, has called upon Mafia leaders to cease the practice of holding initiation ceremonies at Catholic shrines.

Reacting to the release of police videotapes showing an initiation at a Marian shrine near Reggio Calabria, the Bishop released an open letter to the Mafia condemning the use of religious shrines for criminal purposes.

He added the observation that if Mafia figures would amend their ways, the Church is “always willing to welcome you with open arms because it is the only institution that believes in the possibility of your conversion.”

Dog receives communion at Anglican parish

A DOG has received communion at an Anglican parish in Toronto. Pets are permitted in the church.

“The minister welcomed me and said come up and take communion, and Trapper [the dog] came up with me and the minister gave him communion as well,” said Donald Keith, the dog’s owner. “Then he bent his head and said a little prayer.”

“I thought it was a nice way to welcome me into the church,” said Mr Keith, a new member. “99.9 per cent of the people in the church love Trapper, and the kids play with him.”

Following a parishioner’s complaint, the local Anglican Bishop decided that Trapper would not receive communion again, though he will continue to be welcome at church.

World Youth Day Madrid to assist 10,000 pilgrims with disabilities

THE Alares Foundation in Spain recently signed an agreement with organisers of World Youth Day Madrid to recruit volunteers to assist the more than 10,000 young people with disabilities expected to attend the event.

Marieta de Jaureguizar of the WYD press office noted that there will be specialised training for the volunteers selected to work in this capacity.

She added that the Alares Foundation will operate a 24-hour phone line to address concerns of those providing special assistance to the young pilgrims. More than 10,000 attendees with disabilities are expected to attend World Youth Day 2011.

Papal delegate has sweeping authority over Legionaries

POPE Benedict XVI has granted sweeping authority to the prelate who will supervise the reform of the Legion of Christ.

Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, the Pope’s delegate, will have authority over the Legionaries and the affiliated lay group, Regnum Christi, “for as long as it takes” to complete necessary reform under the terms of the papal appointment.

The Archbishop will have the power to approve or reject decisions by the Legionaries’ current leadership, make changes in the constitution of the religious order, supervise administrative decisions and admissions to Legion seminaries, and “intervene wherever he sees fit, including in the internal government of the Institute, on all levels.”

The terms of the delegate’s appointment were posted by the Legionaries on 23 July.

The announcement noted that all members of the Legion and of Regnum Christi would have access to Archbishop De Paolis, and that any decisions made by the papal delegate could be appealed only to the Pope himself.

Actively homosexual clergy should never have become priests: Vallini

Cardinal challenges gay priests in Rome: reform or get out

BY CAROL GLATZ Catholic News Service

ROME - In the wake of an undercover video and news report documenting priests in Rome engaged in homosexual acts, the Pope’s vicar for the city of Rome has challenged gay clerics to amend their lives or leave the priesthood.

The Rome diocese has also called for priests engaged in “unworthy” behaviour to leave the priesthood and stop sullying the reputation of the vast majority of honourable ministers.

“They never should have become priests,” said Cardinal Agostino Vallini, of the actively homosexual clerics. “No one is forcing them to stay priests,” he added.

The Cardinal was responding to an article in Panorama magazine that reported many priests were regular patrons of gay bars and night clubs. The article suggested that homosexuality was widespread among the priests of Rome.

The Rome diocese pointed out that the priests who were active in the city’s homosexual night life were not necessarily priests of Rome, noting that many priests from around the world come to study and work in Rome.

But Cardinal Vallini added a stronger message, denouncing priests who “continued to take the benefits” of clerical life while engaging in homosexual activities.

The diocese also condemned the article for its overall aim of discrediting the Church It said it “is committed to rigorously prosecute, according to Church norms, any behaviour unworthy of priestly life.”

On 23 July the Italian weekly news magazine Panorama published a lengthy dossier detailing the sexual behaviour of some priests residing in Rome.

A journalist and a practising homosexual male accomplice went undercover with a hidden video camera to several popular gay night spots in Rome for 20 days.

The magazine said it discovered “numerous cases” of priests who were “perfectly integrated in the capital’s gay scene.”

The article focused on three priests, two Italian and one French, who, based on the video footage, were seen “dancing half-naked” and engaged in sexual acts.

A 23 July written statement issued by the diocese of Rome said “the news article’s aim is clear: to create scandal and defame all priests, based on the declaration of one of those interviewed who said ‘98 per cent of the priests I know are homosexual,’ to discredit the Church and - on the flipside - put pressure on that part of the Church they have defined as ‘intransigent, which struggles to ignore the reality’ of homosexual priests.”

“The facts recounted (in the article) can only cause pain and discon-

certion in Rome’s Church community,” it said, adding that people who were familiar with Rome’s clergy know that its priests do not lead a “double life” but lead “just one lifehappy and joyous - consistent with their vocation.”

The diocesan statement also pointed out that there are hundreds of priests living in Rome who are not part of the Rome diocese, but are foreigners accountable to their Bishops at home.

Priests who are living “a double life,” the statement said, “have not understood what the Catholic priesthood is and should not have become priests” in the first place.

It said such priests should recognise that “no one is forcing them to be priests (as they are) just exploiting the benefits” of the priesthood.

“Consistency demands that they be discovered. We do not wish them ill, but we cannot accept that because of their behaviour the honourability of everyone else is dragged through the mud,” it said.

Irish Church brought to its knees

IRELAND’S newest Bishop has compared recent reaction to the clerical abuse scandal to a “surgeon’s knife” that “has been painful but necessary.”

“Society has forced us in the Irish Church to look into the mirror and what we saw were weakness and failure, victims and abuse,” said 65 year old Bishop Liam MacDaid during his 25 July ordination ceremony as Bishop of Clogher, a rural diocese that straddles the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. “The surgeon’s knife has been painful but necessary. A lot of evil and poison has been excised.

“There comes a time when the surgeon’s knife has done what it can, is put away and a regime of rehabilitation for the patient is put in place.

“We have been brought to our knees but maybe that is no bad thing. It can bring us closer to the core of the mystery.” When Jesus was on his knees when he washed the feet of the disciples, the prelate said, this was the “last and definitive gesture he left

Bishop Liam MacDaid

us” before he celebrated the meal which was to become our Eucharist.

“There was no room for privilege, for earthly pomp or power or

for lording it over anyone. In the strength of the Eucharist and led by the Spirit of God we were to walk humbly before God and serve one another unselfishly and without discrimination,” the Bishop said.

“This was to be the well where we were to be nourished spiritually in a way that would lead us to eternal life. “So while society keeps the mirror in front of us and rightly checks that we are sincere in our intentions and efforts towards rehabilitation”, he invited the diocese’s priests and the lay to join him in a repentant return to the well of salvation.

“The journey will include for many facing the enormous challenge of forgiveness. Despite his intense suffering, Jesus forgave those who mocked, spat at, scourged and abused Him. One of the co-crucified could not bring himself beyond abuse and excluded himself; the other rose to embracing forgiveness and was welcomed into the kingdom. There are many painful experiences in life where only forgiveness can bring closure.”

Italian Cardinal Agostino Vallini chats with US Cardinal William J Levada before their elevation to the College of Cardinals during a 2006 ceremony at the Vatican. Cardinal Vallini said that actively homosexual clergy should never have become priests.

PHOTO: CNS/CHRIS HELGREN, REUTERS

Faith-based AIDS work faces fund cuts

Treatment 2.0: Catholic AIDS workers say they already have tight budget

BY PAUL JEFFREY Catholic News Service

VIENNA - Large reductions in funding for AIDS work around the world are putting at risk the lives of people who depend on faith-based organisations for care, treatment and support, warned Catholic activists and others participating in the XVIII International AIDS Conference.

Results from a rapid assessment of 19 faith-based organisations working on AIDS in poor countries was conducted in June by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, which announced the results at a 21 July news conference.

The study found that all but two of the agencies surveyed were already experiencing at least a flat-lining of funding. Some had already been forced to make cutbacks in the past six months while others had been warned that cuts in funding levels are about to be announced.

Becky Johnson, the researcher who compiled the report, said funding cuts to faith-based groups could devastate poor areas of the world, such as sub-Saharan Africa, where such organisations provide up to 70 percent of health care and HIV-related services.

US Maryknoll Fr Richard Bauer, executive director of Catholic AIDS Action, a programme of the Namibian Bishops’ conference, expressed concern that he may soon be forced to chose who lives and who dies.

“We provide support for over 14,000 orphans, and this cut in funding forces me to ask which child I have to say no to. What are the criteria? Is it the poorest kids, the HIV-positive kids, do we do psycho-social assessment, or what?” Fr Bauer asked.

“The donors say I’ve got to cut 20 percent, and I need their help in figuring out where. But when I ask, they respond with deafening silence.”

Fr Bauer’s largest single funder is the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, created in 2003. The priest said PEPFAR has told him to expect a decline in funds through 2015. That cut is rumored to be 20 percent, Fr Bauer said, while the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, another major donor, has indicated that he will soon lose an initial 10 percent, with more cuts likely to follow.

“PEPFAR wants to fund the government because they see that as more sustainable. Excuse me, but the government of Namibia came into existence only in 1990, whereas the Church has been there for hundreds of years. If you’re really interested in sustainability, then fund the Church,” Fr Bauer told CNS.

The phrase “Treatment 2.0” debuted in Vienna, pushed by people such as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former US President Bill Clinton as code for doing more with less, for being smarter in carrying out programmes. Yet Fr Bauer said it does not apply to his programmes.

“Everyone is talking Treatment 2.0 and that we have to be smarter. In some of the larger NGOs and government programmes, they can do that. But faith-based organisations like the one I work with

and other groups are facing,” she said. Mogedal said faith-based organisations are the last groups that should be cut.

“It’s the faith-based services that have the longest history of being present with people in rural and remote areas of so many countries of the world, long before national programmes were ready,” she said.

Yet it’s more than just history that makes them valuable, she said.

“The faith-based services have a unique profile. Around the mosques and churches there is a presence with people in their suffering and in their hope,” she said.

“Through that relationship there is also a capability to communicate with people about health services, AIDS, behaviour and stigma. Faith-based organisations use that relationship of being in dialogue with people who suffer to constructively add value to the services they provide, much more than other agencies can do who might also be providing services.”

the medical component, it’s all about support, home visits, and helping people reintegrate socially and economically. So adherence is much higher,” she said.

The irony of funding cuts is that current programmes are working, Smith said.

“The staffs of these programmes are today working with hope rather than despair. Rather than dying, people are asking them how to get a job or get back into school or learn farming skills. There’s a decrease in the number of orphans. All of that is going to change now for the worse with the withdrawal of funding. It’s an injustice that our churches should be shouting about very loudly,” she said.

Fr Bauer agreed that currently successful outcomes are endangered.

Caritas head appeals for marginalised AIDS victims

VIENNA, Austria (CNA)Giving a talk before the kickoff of an international conference in Austria on the AIDS crisis, Caritas Internationalis Secretary General LesleyAnne Knight stressed that Catholics need to underpin their efforts in the global fight against AIDS by reaching out with “compassion, communion and conscience.”

Dr Knight spoke to participants in a meeting on 16 July regarding HIV in the run-up to the 17th annual International AIDS Conference.

Speaking to 100 individuals from Catholic organisations from 23 countries, Knight said that the conference would offer opportunities for increasing development and collaboration in the worldwide effort to fight AIDS.

“We need to develop a much better understanding and appreciation of how the circumstances in which people live make them vulnerable to HIV infection, and powerless to prevent it,” she noted.

“Our compassion needs to extend to people who are marginalised by society: to groups such as injecting drug users, men who have sex with men, commercial sex workers, and prison populations.”

have no padding in the budget.

We run things on a shoestring.

Out of a sense of justice and integrity I never padded our budget. It’s already bare bones. I put in there just what I needed to provide services,” he said.

“Yet we just got a 17 per cent increase in our electricity cost.

There’s a petrol increase. And salaries have to go up at least five per cent a year if we want to keep qualified staff. My fixed costs are going up, and the funding is going down. Yet they say, ‘Be smarter.’

Well, I give them my budget and say, ‘How do I do that?’ Because I don’t have the answer,” he said, adding, “I think the faith-based organisations have been smarter all along.”

Sigrun Mogedal, Norway’s AIDS ambassador, said the results of the ecumenical study accurately reflect what’s happening on the ground in poor countries.

“These findings are real. They aren’t an effort to paint a grim picture in order to appeal for more funds. It’s the daily reality that many faith-based organisations

She added that their record isn’t perfect, referring to religious support for discrimination against homosexuals in some African countries.

“Some faith-based groups have fomented stigma rather than release people from stigma, have created barriers to those living with HIV,” Mogedal said.

Ann Smith, HIV corporate strategist for the English and Welsh Bishops’ Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, called the cutbacks in funding a sin.

“We’re hearing time and again from our partners that northern agencies are pulling back on their budget commitments. So they have to put people on waiting lists for antiretroviral treatment, which means you have to wait for someone else to die in order to start receiving treatment yourself. This is a sin against people living with HIV,” Smith told CNS.

She agreed that faith-based organisations are the last that should be cut. “Research on antiretroviral treatment in Asia and Africa shows faith-based organisations have a higher level of compliance, because the service they provide is more than just

“Namibia is a success story in terms of the number of women who accessed programmes” of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, he said. “They did that because there are 3,000 Catholic AIDS Action volunteers wandering around villages with red T-shirts on, and as soon as they see a pregnant woman they go up to her and say, ‘Did you know there’s a medicine that can help your baby?’ They get over 85 percent of the women into the clinics. What’s going to happen to that?”

Mogedal called for an end to playing politics with AIDS.

“We can no longer afford to have politicians play around with AIDS, so we will keep pushing, keeping it visible, because that’s what it will take. We shouldn’t make AIDS the flavour of the month, as this is going to be a long haul,” Mogedal said.

“We need to mobilise the troops to make sure this stays on the agenda. And maybe it’s acceptable that it’s not at the top of the agenda, because being in the limelight for a politician means simple solutions and quick results, and HIV isn’t going to offer either.

“It needs hard solutions. It needs compassion and accompanying people. And who better than the faith-based communities to accompany people in their suffering? It’s their strength.”

Patrick Nicholson, head of communications for Caritas Internationalis explained to CNA that Knight “is not saying that it is impossible for vulnerable and marginalized people to avoid HIV infection.” Rather, “she is saying that we need to develop a compassionate understanding of their circumstances so that we can find the best way to help them,” Nicholson added.

“She means ‘powerless’ in the sense that people are often unable to see a way out of their predicaments without the compassionate help of another person,” he explained. “Some of these groups, such as sex workers and prison populations, can also be rendered ‘powerless’ by the fact that they are vulnerable to rape.”

Knight said this dynamic “presents us with the challenge of coming to terms with the realities of life for people within these groups. We need to be able to feel their suffering too and develop realistic solutions that will be effective in these diverse, difficult and complex contexts.”

The secretary general went on in her address to say that as Catholics, “we have much to share, but we also have an opportunity to listen and to learn. We don’t hold all the answers. We should participate in conferences such as this with open minds and hearts, seeking information to develop new solutions rather than reinforce entrenched ideas.”

Catholic ministers, government employees and students hold candles in memory of those who lost their lives because of HIV and AIDS during the 26th International AIDS Candlelight Memorial in Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City, Philippines, in May last year.

PHOTO: CNS/ ROMEO RANOCO, REUTERS

Maryknoll Fr Richard Bauer, executive director of Catholic AIDS Action in Namibia, speaks during a 21 July press conference at the XVIII International AIDS Conference. Father Bauer was describing the effects of proposed reductions in AIDS funding on the people with whom he works.

PHOTO: CNS/PAUL JEFFREY

WYD proposal for Africa

FOLLOWING the success of the first World Cup in Africa, an internationally-active Catholic missions organisation is imagining the possibility of the continent breaking new ground by hosting some major Catholic events.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup wrapped up in Johannesburg, South Africa with Spain prevailing over Holland by a score of 1-0 in the final.

The Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) asked on its website, “So, now that Africa ... has shown it can organise a great international event, handling public order, why doesn’t the Church also entrust the continent with the promotion of a great world appointment, something that until now has never happened?”

Through their www.missionline.org website, writer Gerolamo Fazzini proposed on behalf of the organisation that Africa should be considered to host the next World Youth Day or the 2012 World Family Encounter. Reasoning that the greatest percentage of youth in the Church and the greatest increase in the number of Christians can be found on the continent, he proposed that the “vitality” of African Catholics should be rewarded. Fazzini called Africa “the natural candidate” for a continental conference with the “Churchfamily” as its focus. “Besides being a sign of esteem, (which would be) politically important, the assignment of a great ecclesial event to Africa would also offer a concrete sign of a truly universal Church that bets on the poor and their resources. A sign of counter-trend, of which we have enormous need.”

New children’s book based on Pope Benedict’s audiences

A NEW children’s book based on Pope Benedict’s general audiences on the apostles has been published in Italy. Gli amici di Gesù [The Friends of Jesus] includes an introduction by Fr Julian Carron, president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, who writes that the Pope “takes us by the hand and accompanies us as we discover who Jesus’ first companions were, how they met him and were conquered by him to the point that they never abandoned him.”

Russian Patriarch rips Protestant compromises with secularism

PATRIARCH Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, praised Pope Benedict and blasted Protestant bodies that have accepted women’s ordination and caved in to the secular culture on homosexuality.

Noting that the Pope is criticised by “liberal theologians and liberal mass media in the West,” Patriarch Kirill said that “on many public and moral issues his approach fully coincides with the approach of the Russian Orthodox Church. This gives us an opportunity to advocate Christian values together with the Catholic Church, in particular at international organisations and on the international arena.”

On the other hand, some Protestant bodies have “let sinful elements of the world enter their internal world and justify these elements, if they are offered by secular society … secular philosophical liberal stock phrases are repeated within Protestant churches and take root in religious thinking.” For example, “the word of God is distorted to please the secular liberal standard” on homosexuality, the patriarch noted. “It is written in black and white that it is a sin.”

‘Family that prays together, stays together’ priest up for sainthood

THE Archdiocese of Baltimore on 20 July included the diocesan phase of the canonisation cause of Fr Patrick Peyton (19091992), the “Rosary priest”, famous for the adage “The family that prays together stays together.”

In compiling the 16,000page report, investigators interviewed 80 witnesses, including Dolores Hope and actor Joseph Campanella.

India vocations surge despite persecutions

Vocations increase in India despite religious persecution, Catholic Bishop reports

NEW DELHI, India (CNA)Vocations to the priesthood in the north region of India are continuing to grow despite escalating persecution, Bishop Anthony Chirayath of Sagar Diocese in the state of Madhya Pradesh reported.

He told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the news agency for pastoral charity, that the number of candidates to the priesthood in his diocese has been on the rise for the past decade. “When the diocese started in 1968 as an exarchate there were only 600 Catholics and three priests – now we are (at) 35,” he said.

India’s Minister for International Affairs reports that Madhya Pradesh had 654 religious-related violent incidents in 2009, the second-highest in the country.

Bishop Chirayath noted that it has taken courage for young people to step forward to serve in the Church in the face of violence and family circumstances. “They know, after (violence in) Orissa, that there are persecutions and these incidents – the killing of priests and sisters – are all known to every young man or woman.

“But in spite of that they come forward to be priests or sisters.”

“In some cases only - children come forward – it takes courage to proclaim Jesus to the non-Christian world, it is a challenge,” the Bishop continued.

He noted that although many religious sisters have been attacked, sexually assaulted, or killed, young women too are answering their vocational calls.

“There are still plenty of vocations, God has blessed us,” commented Bishop Chirayath, who heads a diocese in the Syro-

Malabar Church, an Eastern Church in full communion with the Pope. Many vocations come from the southwestern state of Kerala where the Syro-Malabar community is particularly strong, ACN News reports.

“We are sons of St Thomas –part of a tradition of faith stretching back 2,000 years,” he said, crediting both the prevalence of family devotions like the Rosary and youth involvement in social and religious activity as factors which encourage vocations. Bishop Chirayath said that when he became Bishop four years ago, the diocese lacked a minor seminary and students were placed under the parish priest.

The new St Mary’s Minor Seminary, built a few miles from the Bishop’s residence, can accommodate 15 students but currently has 25 minor seminarians living there. It has four classrooms, a library and small offices for teachers but still needs a chapel and a

dining room. The Bishop called the minor seminary “an essential element in the formation of future priests.”

Prospective priests enter the minor seminary for three years after high school, before going through one year of intense spiritual formation at centres in neighbouring dioceses.

They then spend three years at the major seminary where they receive intensive training in Hindi, English and basic theology. They also study to enter university so they can secure a philosophy degree.

ACN is providing more than US$23,000 for the construction of the seminary chapel which will be able to accommodate 60 people.

“In a proper chapel we can give them a proper liturgical formation – in a chapel where there is the Blessed Sacrament, a crucifix and so on,” Bishop Chirayath told ACN News, deeming a place of prayer to be “central.”

One who prays is never alone

Through the ‘Our Father,’ we are never alone, teaches Pope Benedict

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy

(CNA/EWTN News) - The Our Father helps us to confront the difficulties in our lives, Pope Benedict XVI said on 25 July during the festive atmosphere of Castel Gandolfo’s Sagra delle pesche, an annual festival celebrating the local peach production.

For the occasion, the Holy Father was presented with a basket of local white peaches which were blessed at a nearby parish, shortly before the Angelus.

In reciting the prayer, we never find ourselves alone as our voices are “intertwined with that of the Church”, he added.

During his catechesis, the Pope reflected on Sunday’s Gospel from Luke in which Jesus is asked by the disciples to teach them how to pray. To this, Benedict XVI said, “Jesus does not make objections, He does not speak of strange or esoteric formulas, but with great simplicity He says: ‘When you are praying, say, “Father ...,’ and He

taught the Our Father, taking it from His own prayer, with which he addressed God, His Father.”

We learn these words from St Matthew’s Gospel from the time we are young, he pointed out. “They imprint themselves in our memory, mould our lives, they accompany us up to our last breath. They reveal that we are not already completely children of God, but we must become them and be them ... through our ever deeper communion with Jesus.

“Being children becomes the equivalent of following Christ,” he said, quoting a passage from the first Jesus of Nazareth book.

The Our Father prayer “takes and also expresses” our human and spiritual needs, he explained, alluding to the phrase “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins.”

The pontiff noted that this “is not an ‘asking’ to satisfy one’s own wishes, as much rather as gaining from it friendship with God, who - as the Gospel says - “will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask it of him.

People throughout history have become “friends of God” through prayer, he added, saying that among them was St Teresa of Avila.

And it was she, he pointed out, “who invited her sisters to ‘beseech God to deliver us from these perils forever and to keep us from all evil! And although our desire for this may not be perfect, let us strive to make the petition. What does it cost us to ask it, since we ask it of One Who is so powerful?”

“Whenever we recite the Our Father, our voice is intertwined with that of the Church, so that he who prays is never alone.”

Concluding the thought with a quotation from a 1989 document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Christian meditation, Pope Benedict said, “From the rich variety of Christian prayer as proposed by the Church, each member of the faithful should seek and find his own way, his own form of prayer ... therefore, let himself be led ... by the Holy Spirit, who guides him, through Christ, to the Father.”

He ended his catechesis in prayer for the pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela, the location of the tomb of St James, whose feast is celebrated on Sunday.

He also asked that the Virgin Mary “help us to rediscover the beauty and the depth of Christian prayer.”

Fr Julian Carron

Christians attend a peace meeting in New Delhi in December 2007. Christian leaders in India sought intervention from the federal government to end anti-Christian violence which has killed Christians since the attacks by Hindu radicals began. The Catholic Church continues to be persecuted today, yet this has not hindered vocations to the priesthood, says a local Bishop. PHOTO: CNS

We have an amazing Creator Father

Noelene Choudhury

Ihave been a Christian all my life. I became a baptised member of the Seventh Day Adventist church 41 years ago.

I have lived in a lot of towns and moved around a lot.

Why I became Catholic

with Debbie Warrier

Over the last 10 years of my life I just couldn’t find a Church I was comfortable with. I spent a lot of time in prayer and Bible reading and decided to pray to God for guidance as to which Church He would like me to go to. After several months of prayer I had a very strong feeling to go to the Infant Jesus Parish in Morley. So I went and immediately felt at home. As I was already baptised I only required Confirmation to be welcomed formally into the Catholic Church. A number of my Catholic friends were supportive when I decided to convert. A very dear friend in France was delighted for me. I had him to talk to throughout some of the process. He was planning to come to Perth this Easter to be there for my formal acceptance but passed away suddenly on Christmas Eve.

So Easter this year was particularly significant as I firmly believe in the resurrection and that I shall meet him again. My friend and sponsor Brenda has been very helpful.

I haven’t discussed this decision with many members of my family although they did know I was a searcher and had gone to many different churches. At the time I frequently described myself as a non denominational Christian. My two sons are aware that I am Catholic and support me.

I believe we need to spend time reading our Bible and in prayer so that we know what God wants of us. Knowing the Word enables us to understand the true meaning and significance of the Church rituals. Since converting, my faith has taken on a deeper meaning in practice.

For instance, I find the Passion of Christ very meaningful and emotional. Christ knew what it was to suffer. It amazes me that Jesus could love us so much that He would be prepared to take on all our sins and suffering and then offer Himself as our substitute so we could inherit eternal life.

The celebration of the Eucharist reveals our need for Christ. I love the Mass and find it very uplifting. We should never forget its importance.

I became a Catholic at the Easter Vigil this year.

It was a wonderful experience and I got very close to the other members of my RCIA group.

One of the things that I liked about the Catholic Church is the respect for God that I have noticed there. Catholicism differs from other Christian faiths in its formality and emphasis on Mary and the saints. It is my belief that I have been witness to divine healing in others, such as someone who was close to me being delivered from spirit possession after many years of prayers on his behalf.

Another miraculous recovery I have witnessed is that of my sister who is mentally retarded and has cerebral palsy. She used to have problems with ear infections which affected her hearing. Then she was anointed for healing and has never had that problem since. It was beautiful. God answers prayers. No matter what happens, we have an awesome Creator and Father.

Contact Debbie via dwarrier75@gmail.com

Is the Eucharist just the Body of Christ?

Q&A

By Fr John Flader

Christ in the Eucharist

When we receive Communion, the minister on offering the host says “The Body of Christ”, and on offering the chalice “The Blood of Christ”. I like to think that I am receiving more than just the Body or the Blood when I receive Communion. Am I wrong in this view?

You are not wrong. In fact, you are very right, possibly even more right than you realise. As I explained in an earlier column on “Communion under both kinds”, it has always been the understanding of the Church that under each species, of bread or of wine, we receive not only the Body or the Blood, but the whole Christ.

This is the doctrine of what is traditionally called concomitance. Since Christ cannot be divided, He is present, whole and entire, in the smallest particle of the host and in the tiniest drop of the Precious Blood.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it: “Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ” (CCC 1377).

Even though the minister may say “The Body of Christ”, what we are

receiving is not just the Body, but the Body and the Blood, the whole Christ.

The words “Body” and “Blood” can easily mislead us. They can suggest that we are receiving the parts of Christ, as if the Eucharist were just a “thing” or at best the dead Christ.

But we are not receiving a “thing”, we are receiving a person – the living, risen person of Jesus. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: “ Under the consecrated species of bread and wine, Christ Himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner” (CCC 1415).

It is as if, on walking down the aisle to receive Him, we meet the living Jesus coming out to embrace us and give Himself to us. With what faith and love we would receive Him!

But in Communion we not only receive Him, we become intimately united with Him. As He said in the synagogue of Capernaum, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (Jn 6:56). He gives Himself to us in a nuptial covenant relationship – we become “one flesh” with Him. How true are the words of St Paul when applied to Communion:

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20)!

The Eucharist is truly an awesome gift. There is no more intimate union with Christ on earth than holy Communion. After becoming one with Christ in this way, we cannot go back to our daily routine as if nothing special had happened.

Yet St Faustina records these words of Jesus: “When I come to a human heart in holy Communion, my hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul, but souls do not even pay attention. They leave me to myself and busy themselves with other things … They treat me as a dead object” (Diary, n 1447).

No, the Eucharist is not a dead object. It is a person – the living, loving person of Jesus, who offers Himself to us so as to become one with us.

But there is still more. Jesus does not come alone. He is always united with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who come with Him. From all eternity, the three divine Persons are one God. They cannot be separated. Jesus says: “I am in the Father and the Father in me” (Jn 14:10). So when we receive Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, we are receiving the whole Trinity. We become truly temples of the Blessed Trinity. It is as if the whole of heaven were present in our soul.

St Therese of Lisieux experienced this when she made her first Communion some time after her mother had died. She was moved to tears but not, as some thought, because her mother was not there. She writes: “As if the absence of my mother could make me unhappy on the day of my first Communion! As all of heaven entered my soul when I received Jesus, my mother came to me as well” (The Story of a Soul).

Misplaced rationality saps truth from faith

I say I say

By Mark Reidy

Most people love a good mystery – but only on the proviso that by the conclusion of the episode or by the last page, they have been provided with an acceptable conclusion. It is a formula that has been successfully adopted by television producers, novelists and moviemakers alike as they tap into the innate human desire to seek and find answers. It is our way of attempting to gain some semblance of control over our environment.

Such yearning has inspired spectacular advances in science, medicine and technology as courageous and inquisitive men and women throughout history have stepped into the unknown in an attempt to understand and explain the world they live in.

However our appetite to intellectually comprehend all around us, it seems, has become insatiable. It has even permeated our Church as we become increasingly uncomfortable with the element of mystery that has, from conception, been an integral part of her existence.

As Church and State separated centuries ago and educational institutions became more influential in shaping societies, intellectualism became the currency of western civilisation. Belief in anything that could not be rationally explained was assigned to the category of superstition – an opiate for the

uneducated peasants and a source of power for the religious hierarchy. Since that time the Church, in an attempt to remain relevant in a world that increasingly demands concrete evidence, has valiantly battled to marry spirituality with intellectualism - but it has come at a cost.

Earlier this year when I attended Mass at a local parish, an invited speaker addressed the congregation in an effort to raise money for a worthy cause.

In her attempt to encourage generosity from her audience she referred to the Gospel account of the feeding of 5,000.

The miracle, she suggested, may not necessarily have constituted supernatural intervention but, rather, may have been that Jesus inspired those who did have loaves and fishes to share and as a result, all were fed.

It was a well-intentioned sentiment that was intended to inspire listeners, but sadly, it is indicative of a rationality that has infiltrated the Church.

A growing number of individuals, it seems, are being moulded by external influences, rather than the other way around. In an attempt to maintain credibility in a world that requires answers, there are those who want to push the supernatural element that once defined us into the dark corners of the public square. After all, it is much easier to promote the Church as a successful welfare organisation than to announce it as the Body of Christ that will lead souls to an eternity with their Heavenly Father.

It is more socially acceptable to speak of Jesus as a great man with a great message than to tell another that He was the Son of God who died and rose again for their sins.

In an effort to make the Church more palatable for unbelievers we have allowed ourselves to water down those elements that cannot be rationalised and perhaps we have even come to accept them ourselves.

Do we truly believe that we receive the literal Body and Blood of Jesus at Mass each week or is it simply a ritual that serves to socially unite us as a community of believers? Do we believe that Jesus actually performed miracles and that we can do even greater things in His name - or are these merely outdated stories from a primitive era that need to be translated into a more modern and enlightened context?

The truth is that these beliefs are foundational to our Church and will never be compromised, no matter how uncomfortable they may make us feel.

As individuals, we must ultimately accept that if are to fully embrace our faith, we must choose to accept that there are some mysteries that we may never, in this lifetime, fully understand.

PANORAMA

A roundup of events in the Archdiocese

Panorama entries must be in by 12pm Monday.

Contributions may be emailed to administration@therecord.com.au, faxed to 9325 4580, or mailed to PO Box 3075, Adelaide Terrace, Perth WA 6832.

FRIDAY, 30 JULY

Medjugorje - Evening of Prayer

7pm at Our Lady Queen of Poland, 35 Eighth Ave, Maylands. An Evening of Prayer with Our Lady Queen of Peace with Adoration, Rosary, Benediction concluding with Holy Mass. Free DVD on Donald Calloway’s testimony from life of sexual promiscuity, drugs and crime through to his conversion to the priesthood. Approximate conclusion 9pm. All warmly welcomed. Enq: Eileen 9402 2480 for Fr Bogoni.

SUNDAY, 1 AUGUST

Divine Mercy

1.30pm at St Francis Xavier Church, 25 Windsor St, Perth. An afternoon with Jesus and Mary. Fr Doug Harris will give homily on St John Vianney. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: John 9457 7771.

Caritas Australia - Family Fun Day

Be More Walk For Water

11am-1pm at Lake Monger, Lake Monger Dr, Leederville. Meet at Dodd St carpark near Speech and Hearing centre. There will be walkathon, music, face painting, sausage sizzle. Come prepared for the weather; bring buckets and tap water to keep hydrated. Enq: Caritas Australia 9422 7925.

TUESDAY, 3 AUGUST

Faith Enrichment Series

7.30-9pm at Applecross Parish Centre, 115 Ardross St, Ardross. Murray Graham will talk on Do You Want a More Loving and Resilient Family? The talk will make a crucial link between the Psychology and Spirituality of Resilience with some key research findings. Enq: Wim 0421 636 763.

THURSDAY, 5 AUGUST

Group 50 Catholic Charismatic Renewal Prayer Group

7.30pm at Redemptorist Monastery, 190 Vincent St, North Perth. There will be Prayer and Praise, Mass and the Sacrament of Anointing. Every 2nd and 4th Thursdays include Lalilith Pereira satellite message. 19 August in Retreat house.

FRIDAY, 6 AUGUST

Pro-Life Witness

9.30am at St Brigid’s Church, Midland. Mass followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at abortion clinic, led by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. All welcome to come and pray for the conversion of hearts. Enq: Helen 9402 0349.

Catholic Faith Renewal Evening

7.30pm at St John and Paul’s Parish, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Songs of Praise, sharing by Fr Paschal Kearney, CSSp on Prophetic Leadership followed by Thanksgiving Mass. All welcome to attend and encourage you to bring your family and friends. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: catholicfaithrenewal@gmail.com or Kathy 9295 0913.

SATURDAY, 7 AUGUST

Faith Enrichment Series

4-5.30pm at Applecross Parish Centre, 115 Ardross St, Ardross. Murray Graham will lead discussion Growing in Love and Silent Reflection on Deepening of Spirituality, link between Being Loved and Changing Behaviour, How to Grow in Love. Presentation followed by Mass. Donations. Enq: Wim 0421 636 763.

Day With Mary

9am-5pm at Our Lady of Grace Church, 3 Kitchener St, North Beach. Day of prayer and instruction based on the Fatima message. 9am Video, 10.10am Holy Mass, Reconciliation, Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons on Eucharist and Our

Lady, Rosaries and Stations of the Cross. BYO lunch. Enq: Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.

Witness for Life

8.30am at St Augustine’s, Gladstone Rd, Rivervale. Mass celebrated by Fr Paul Carey, and followed by Rosary procession and prayer vigil at nearby abortion clinic. All welcome to come and pray for the conversion of hearts. Enq: Helen 9402 0349.

SUNDAY, 8 AUGUST

The World Apostolate of Fatima – Eucharistic Hour 3pm at St Mary’s Church, James St, Guildford. There will be the National Pilgrim Virgin Statue of our Apostolate. All welcome. Enq: Diana 9339 2614.

SUNDAY, 8 AUGUST AND SUNDAY, 15 AUGUST

Extraordinary Form of the Latin Holy Mass

12.30pm at Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Palmyra. All welcome.

FRIDAY, 13 AUGUST TO SUNDAY, 15 AUGUST

Beginning Experience Weekend Programme

Separated, Divorced, or Widowed

7pm at Epiphany Retreat Centre, Rossmoyne. Beginning Experience is designed to assist and support people in learning to close the door gently on a relationship that has ended, in order to get on with living. Enq: Maureen 9537 1915 or Bev 9332 7971.

SATURDAY, 14 AUGUST

Divine Mercy

2.30pm at St Francis Xavier’s Church, Windsor St, East Perth. Healing Mass, main celebrant Fr Marcellinus Meilak OFM, followed by veneration of First Class Relic of St Faustina Kowalska. Reconciliation in English and Italian will be offered. Refreshments afterwards. Enq: John 9457 7771.

SUNDAY, 15 AUGUST

Divine Mercy Pilgrimage - Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

12 noon BYO lunch, Divine Mercy Church site, Muchea East Rd and Santa Gertrudas Dr, Lower Chittering. There will be Exposition, Rosary, Benediction, blessing of grounds and Divine Mercy image. 2pm Holy Mass, Chaplet of Divine Mercy followed by Br Stanley’s talk and veneration service. Tea provided. Transport bookings, Francis 9459 3873, 0404 893 877 or Fr Paul 9571 1839.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Bullsbrook Shrine

2pm at 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. The Pilgrimage commences with a Marian Procession and Rosary followed by Mass. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. All are most welcome. Enq: 9447 3292.

The Associates of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition - 20th Anniversary

2.30pm at Christ the King Parish Hall, Lefroy Rd and Moran St, Beaconsfield. Relatives, friends, colleagues and past students are invited to attend. Later, tea with the Sisters to celebrate and to launch our Commemorative Project; The Klong Lan Educational Project – Thailand. Bring a plate. RSVP by 10 August. Enq: germaine.m@ optusnet.com.au. Germaine 9335 1639 or Wendy 9330 1723.

TUESDAY, 17 AUGUST

Past Pupils and Friends of Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart 9am at St Joseph’s Convent, York St, South Perth. Mass in the Chapel for those who wish to attend followed by tea. Limited numbers. Enq: Betty 9246 0302 or Maureen 9447 2346.

FRIDAY, 27 TO SUNDAY, 29 AUGUST

Post Abortion Hope, Reconciliation and Healing Weekend Retreat

The Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat is for anyone suffering the spiritual and psychological effects of a past abortion experience. The Retreat starts at 5pm. The Archdiocese of Perth sponsors this confidential and beautiful healing ministry. Enq: Jenny (08) 9445 7464.

GENERAL NOTICES

Perpetual Adoration

Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is in its seventh year at Christ the King Church, Beaconsfield. Open 24 hours except at Mass times. All welcome. Enq Joe 9319 1169.

Perpetual Adoration

Sacred Heart Church, 64 Mary St, Highgate. All that is needed is for each one of us to be willing to spend one hour a week with Jesus so that all the hours are covered with one person in the Chapel. Available times, Monday 2-3am, 4-5am, Saturday 11am-12 noon, Tuesday 11am12 noon, Sunday 2-3pm, 3-4pm; Thursday 7-8pm. Enq Helen 9444 7962.

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

The Church of St Jude in Langford is seeking to put together a visit to Jordan, the Holy Land and Egypt, leaving 8 September 2010. The duration of pilgrimage is expected to be 15 days and could accommodate 28-30 people. Fr Terry Raj will be the Spiritual Director. Enq Matt 6460 6877, mattpicc1@gmail.com.

Archbishop Goody Award Applications

Award established by The Most Reverend Sir Lancelot Goody, KBE to further the lay apostolate in the Archdiocese of Perth by financing the formation, education and training of lay people. This year we are particularly interested in endeavours having to do with the Rite of Christian Initiation. Applications for the Award are to be submitted before 31 July 2010. Enq: Kim 9384 0598 or claremont@perthcatholic.org.au.

EVERY SUNDAY

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 the church and shrine open daily between 9am-5pm. Enq SACRI 9447 3292.

EVERY SUNDAY AND MONDAY

Extraordinary Form of Latin Holy Mass 11am Sunday and 7.30pm Monday except 3rd Monday of the month, at St Joseph’s Parish, 20 Hamilton St, Bassendean.

EVERY FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE MONTH

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 to the Priesthood or Religious life hear clearly God’s loving call to them.

LAST MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH

Christian Spirituality Presentation 7.30-9.15pm at the Church hall behind St Swithan’s Anglican Church, 195 Lesmurdie Rd, Lesmurdie. Stephanie Woods will present The Desert Period of Christianity, 260 to 600AD. From this time period came the understanding of the monastic lifestyle and contemplative prayer. No cost. Enq Lynne 9293 3848.

EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT

Novena and Benediction to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

6pm at the Pater Noster Church, Marmion and Evershed Sts, Myaree. Mass at 5.30pm. Enq: John 0408 952 194.

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 9475 0155 or hsofperth@gmail.com.

EVERY THURSDAY

Catholic Questions and Answers

7-7.30pm at St Joseph’s Parish Centre, 20 Hamilton St, Bassendean. Catechesis learned easily with questions and answers. The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Adult learning and deepening of the Catholic Faith, with Fr John Corapi DVD series, 7.30-9pm.

EVERY FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH

Taize Prayer and Meditation

7.30-8.30pm at Our Lady of Grace Church, 3 Kitchener Street, North Beach. All are warmly invited to prayer and meditation using songs from Taize. In Peace and Candlelight we make our pilgrimage. Enq: Joan 9448 4457.

EVERY THURSDAY OF THE MONTH

11am at St John and Paul Church, Pine Tree Gully Road, Willetton. Pray the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and for the consecrated life especially here in John Paul parish, conclude with veneration of the First Class Relic of Saint Faustina. Please do come and join us in prayer. Enq: John 9457 7771.

FIRST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH

Communion of Reparation All Night Vigil

All warmly invited 7pm-1am at Corpus Christi Church, Lochee St, Mosman Park. Mass, Rosary, Confession and Adoration. Enq Vicky 0400 282 357.

Mass for Vocations

7pm at the Sisters of the Poor, 2 Rawlins St, Glendalough. Celebrated by Fr Doug Harris, followed by Holy Hour and Benediction, refreshments will follow.

Healing Mass

7pm at St Peter’s Church, 93 Wood St, Inglewood. Benediction, Praise and Worship followed by Mass with Fr Sam and Fr Joseph Tran as celebrants, later fellowship. Enq: Priscilla 0433 457 352.

EVERY FRIDAY LUNCHTIME

Christian Meditation comes to the City

12.15-12.45pm at The Wesley Uniting Church, William and Hay Sts, Perth. Ecumenical Christian meditation as taught by Fr Laurence Freeman. All welcome. Enq: CMC WA 9444 5810, Anne 9335 8142 or christianmedittion@ iinet.net.au or www.christianmeditationaustralia.org.

ANNOUNCEMENTS BIRTHS BAPTISMS MARRIAGES ANNIVERSARIES DEATHS IN MEMORIAL

Text only: $10.00 Text with photo: $20.00 Limit of 30 words per announcement.

To place an announcment in next week’s issue, please contact production@therecord.com.au.

ACCOMMODATION

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

ESPERANCE 3 bedroom house f/furnished. Ph 08 9076 5083.

GUADALUPE HILL TRIGG www.beachhouseperth.com Ph 0400 292 100.

HEALTH

PSYCHOLOGY and PSYCHOTHERAPY www.peterwatt.com.au

Ph 9203 5278.B

BOOK BINDING

BOOK REPAIR SERVICE

New book binding, general book repairs, rebinding, new ribbons; old leather bindings restored. Tydewi Bindery 9377 0005.

TRADE SERVICES

BRENDON HANDYMAN

SERVICES Home, building maintenance, repairs and renovations. NOR. Ph 0427 539 588.

BRICK REPOINTING

Ph Nigel 9242 2952.

PERROTT PAINTING Pty Ltd For all your residential, commercial painting requirements.

Ph Tom Perrott 9444 1200.

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

FURNITURE REMOVAL

ALL AREAS. Competitive Rates. Mike Murphy Ph 0416 226 434.

LAWN MOWING

WRR LAWN MOWING & WEED

CLASSIFIEDS

Deadline: 11am Monday

cards, candles, statues, Bibles, medals and much more. Shop 108, Trinity Arcade (Terrace level), 671 Hay St, Perth. Ph 9322 4520. Mon-Fri 9am-6pm.

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 Quality hand-made and decorated vestments: Albs, Stoles, Chasubles, altar linen, banners etc. 12 Favenc Way, Padbury. By appointment only. Ph Vicki 9402 1318 or 0409 114 093.

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 website on www. excelsettlements.com. SINE FOR

SALE

PEEKABOO CORNER Good quality & affordable branded kids’ clothing. For boys & girls 0 to 6 years. Don’t miss out 20% discount for first 20 customers. Errina: 0401 454 933. Email: peekaboo.corner@gmail.com or visit www.peekaboo-corner.blogspot. com.

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

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.

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS

CATHOLICS CORNER Retailer of Catholic products specialising in gifts, cards and apparel for Baptism, Communion and Confirmation. Ph 9456 1777. Shop 12, 64-66 Bannister Rd, Canning Vale. Open Mon-Sat.

OTTIMO Convenient city location for books, CDs/DVDs,

ORGAN FOR SALE Old fashioned chamber organ. Wilcox and White. Meridian Gonn USA. Photo and details email:gschaefer@ amnet.net.au or call George on 08 9386 1695.

ART FOR THE CATHEDRAL www.margaretfane.com.au.

CHURCH KNEELERS

Pair of splendid jarrah three metre kneelers. Photo and details email: gschaefer@amnet.net.au or call George on 08 9386 1695.

Walking with Him

1 S 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gr Eccl 1:2. 2:21-23 ‘All is vanity!’ Ps 89:3-6.12-14.17 A watch in the night Col 3:1-5.9-11 Heavenly things Lk 12:13-21 Rich in God’s sight

2 M St Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop (0); St Peter Julian Eymard, priest (0)

Gr Jer 28:1-17 Reliance on falsehood

Ps 118:29.43.79-80.95.102 The way of error

Mt 14:13-21 Jesus took pity on them

3 Tu Jer 30:1-2.12-15.18-22 Your wound incurable

Gr Ps 101:16-21.29.22-23 The Lord leaned down

Mt 14:22-36 Man of little faith

4 W St John Vianney, priest (M)

Wh Jer 31:1-7 The God of all

Jer 31:10-13 I will console them

Mt 15:21-28 Take pity on me

5 Th St Dominic, priest (M)

Wh Jer 31:31-34 A new covenant

Ps 50:12-15.18-19 Joy of your help

Mt 16:13-23 Who do you say I am?

RENTAL

HOLIDAY RENTAL 

SCARBOROUGH

Self contained unit. Sleeps 6. Walk to beach. Ph 0402 673 409.

GREAT OPPORTUNITY

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Work from Home - P/T or F/T, 02 8230 0290 or visit www.dreamlife1.com.

THANKSGIVING

THANK YOU , Infant Jesus of Prague, for blessing us with the sale of my son Anthony’s house, and the successful purchase of a new house for his young family. Dawn Barich.

COMPANIONSHIP

LADY SENIOR 80S ITALIAN seeks companionship 2 or 3 times per week for tea and espresso coffee/chat for an hour or two in Woodlands NOR. Offer $5 fuel reimburse for visit. Ph 0418 841 757 afternoon.

” by Don Sharkey. Photograph of Pope John Paul celebrating mass in WA. Contact: email rodway@iinet.net. au.

Returns, Bookkeeping, GST, BAS, etc. NOR, reasonable rates.

0411 377 137, 0466 872 587 After Hrs: 6401 3844.

6 F The Transfiguration Of The Lord (feast)

Wh Dan 7:9-10.13-14 Eternal sovereignty

Ps 96:1-2.5-6.9 The Lord is king

2 Pet 1:16-19 It was no myth

Lk 9:28-36 This is my Son

7 S Ss Sixtus II, Pope, and companions, martyrs (0); St Cajetan, priest (0)

Gr Hab 1:12-2:4 Write the vision down

Ps 9:8-13 Proclaim his works

Mt 17:14-20 The boy was cured

Catholic clarity in a complex world...

AT a time when “the God question’’ has rarely been as controversial, Test Everything, Hold fast to what is good puts the case that: “It is more reasonable to believe in God than to reject the hypothesis of God by appealing to chance. Goodness, truth and beauty call for an explanation as do the principles of mathematics, physics, and the purpose-driven miracles of biology which run through our universe.’’

Regardless of whether readers share his values and outlook, Cardinal George Pell has given them a provocative incitement to think and wonder about life’s biggest questions that confront us all, sooner or later.

The Record is proud to offer the Cardinal’s new book, a collection of 80 pieces that are incisive, often unpredictable, sometimes sensitive, occasionally hard-hitting, always engaging and never, ever dull. Readers will feel closer to Christ, and feel that they know Him a little better after exploring His life, teachings and what they mean for our lives and our loved ones in the cyber age.

.....”His critical choices regarding `the cultural wars’ are on target. With irony, humour and easily worn scholarship, he counsels and cajoles the reader, always using the Cross of Christ as the unique and final measure of what it means to be human and thus holy ... His writings reveal a strong, gentle, and an all-embracing heart. The style is fluent and fresh. Mulling over them is a source of joy, wisdom, and wonder.’’

- Cardinal Francis Stafford, the Vatican

Contact Bibiana on (08) 9227 7080 or via: bookshop@therecord.com.au