The Record Newspaper 29 September 2005

CHILDCARE: Catherine Parish looks at a new book on motherhood Vista 4 WHO

NEW JESUIT: James Calder ordained at John XXIII College Page 4

Church vindicated

Figures show abstinence stops AIDS - condoms don’t

A statistical analysis of the situation in Africa shows that the greater the percentage of Catholics in any country, the lower the level of HIV/ AIDS infection.

The striking figures were cited by Australian-based bioethicist Amin Abboud in a letter published by the British Medical Journal on July 30.

Abboud noted that any change in the Catholic Church’s position on condoms would be detrimental for Africa: “If the Catholic Church is promoting a message about HIV in African countries, it seems to be working,” he said.

Data from the World Health Organisation puts the figure for HIV infection in Swaziland at 42.6% of the population. Only 5% of the population is Catholic.

In Botswana, where 37% of the adult population is HIV infected, only 4% of the population is Catholic.

In Uganda, however, where 43% of the population is Catholic, the proportion of HIV infected adults is 4%.

Abboud commented that since the death of John Paul II there has been a “concerted campaign ... to attribute responsibility to him for the death of many Africans.” But, he continued, “Such accusations must always be supported by solid data. None has been presented so far.”

Recognition of the value of promoting abstinence, instead of just relying on condoms, came in a commentary published in The Lancet last November 27.

Written by a group of medical experts, and endorsed by a long list of health care experts, the article noted that when campaigns target young people who have not initiated sexual activity, “the first priority should be to encourage abstinence or delay of sexual onset, hence emphasising risk avoidance as the best way to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections as well as unwanted pregnancy.”

The article did support condom use, but also pointed out that even for those who have already engaged in sexual activity, “returning to abstinence or being mutually faithful with an uninfected partner are the most effective ways of avoiding

Continued on Page 7

NEW SHROUD THEORY

‘Be the hope of our future’

Archbishop Barry Hickey visited Clontarf Aboriginal College last week to talk with Year 12 students and to present copies of his book “Pope John Paul II speaks to youth”. He told the students that right up to the end of his life Pope John Paul II believed that young people were the hope of the future.

“The world has got a lot wrong with it, but young people can help to fix it up,” the Archbishop said.

“Get involved in society wherever you live. Get involved, do

Isabel Piczek is a liturgical artist - and a physicist. Her new theory on how the image on the Shroud of Turin was formed is winning intense interest.

something, help fix things that are wrong,” he urged.

“As Pope John Paul said, make Jesus your friend, but remember that he is a demanding friend – demanding that you be honest, generous, loving and compassionate.

“The first thing Jesus says is, ‘My Father loves you and I love you’.”

Answering questions from students, he reminded them that there would be a great pilgrimage to Uluru next year to celebrate

the 20th anniversary of Pope John Paul’s historic visit to Alice Springs in 1986.

“There were a long of young Aboriginal people from Western Australia at World Youth Day in Cologne last month, and I hope there will be many more at the Uluru pilgrimage next year,” he said.

The future: Archbishop Barry Hickey with Phillip Curley, of Meekatharra, and Nicole Lee, of Carnarvon, during the Archbishop’s visit to Clontarf.

Benedict reclaims St Peter’s for the faithful

■ By Elizabeth Lev of Zenit

In Italy, the “tramontana” is the brisk wind that blows away the lazy days of summer and brings the crisp, busy days of autumn. This September, it seems that a tramontana is gusting through St Peter’s, as new rules and policies are enacted through the basilica.

While some tourists may be dismayed by the changes, pilgrims will be delighted by the metamorphosis.

One new regulation requires all large groups touring the basilica to wear headsets while the guide speaks into a microphone. In the inevitable chaos surrounding the implementation of a new policy, several astonished tourists have seen their guide forbidden to speak in the absence of the so-called whisper sets.

The sets are available for rental at the entrance to the basilica, but one should reserve ahead as they tend to be always taken.

The custodians are also strictly enforcing a no-tour rule from 4.30 pm on. Whisper set or no, large groups cannot tour the basilica as the sacristans are preparing for the 5pm Mass.

The result is a thorn in the side for guides, but a joy for the faithful. St Peter’s is quieter than it has been in years - even when cruiseship companies disgorge thousands of tourists at once in the basilica. Instead of the din of explanations of this sculpture or that architectural marvel, there is a steady but low buzz of sound throughout the church until 5pm when the choir washes away the day’s business leaving prayer and praise in its wake.

These changes are part of Benedict XVI’s desire to reclaim the basilica for the faithful and to enhance their experience of prayer and meditation in the church.

Now in St Peter’s there is not only an atmosphere to pray but encouragement to do so.

FIRST IN 500 YEARS

The first volume of the St John’s Bible, a handwritten and illuminated Bible of the kind not seen for half a millenium is complete. And it’s available from

The Parish. The Nation. The World.

Sean takes the medal

■ By Jamie O’Brien

An Australind parishioner is one of the recipients of the Sunday Times Pride of Australia medals.

The winner of a medal in the ‘Fair Go’ category, Sean Scallen was born with severe spina bifida and is paralysed from the waist down.

Doctors in South Africa, where he was born, did not expect that he would live beyond 18 years of age.

His parents Richard and Julie and brothers, Paul and George, migrated to Australia in 1981.

For the first eight months, Sean stayed at the Perth Isolation Hospital where specialists cured the previously unknown tropical disease affecting his spine.

His father said this would not have been possible for his son in Africa. “All that could be hoped for there was for Sean to be placed in a

sheltered workshop situation for the rest of his life,” Richard said.

“It was well worth the risk of leaving our homeland for Sean, to give him a ‘Fair Go’ for as long as he had left to live.”

But Sean has blossomed in Australia. He is now 43, married with two stepdaughters, one of whom also had spina bifida, and belongs to Christ the Living Vine Parish where he is an active parishioner.

He writes a weekly fishing column for the Bunbury Mail and maintains a web-page on the local fishing scene for the disabled.

Richard believes Sean’s achievements are a result of being brought up with a ‘can do’ attitude.

“He was involved in all the family activities including mountaineering, white water rafting, fishing and camping,” Richard said. “He has

never looked back since coming to Australia.

“He just wanted to make a contribution to the community in which he lived and to help others.

“These communities received him with open arms and he has reciprocated to the best of his ability and has given volunteer service wherever he can.”

As well as being involved in a number of other projects, Sean delivers the Bunbury Mail newspaper and makes two pamphlet runs to 72 homes twice weekly in his wheel chair with his family.

Sean said receiving the medal had been a bonus, considering it was the first time they had been awarded to anyone and that he is in a wheel chair.

“My hope is that it will make people more aware of the disabled community,” he said.

WYD 2005 inspires Bateman

Youth from St Thomas More Parish in Bateman who went to World Youth Day in Cologne last month have returned saying they have a renewed vision of the Church.

David O’Connor is one of the young people who accompanied Monsignor Michael Keating and Fr Dat Vuong on their tour to WYD 2005; 34 youth from Bateman went on the tour. Mr O’Connor, 23, an accountant, said the experience showed him how big and diverse the Church really is.

He said the event could be a sign of the beginning of better times for the Church in Europe.

“Also with Sydney, that change might shift to Australia,” Mr O’Connor said. “It will bring about an awareness for those who are far

away or have lost touch with the Church,

“Many people wouldn’t have a clue about WYD, but the news of Sydney being the next host city may change that.”

Mr O’Connor said he gained much from a catechesis given by Archbishop Nichols of Birmingham at the parish of St Theodor’s in Vingst, Cologne, where many Australians took part in parish activities.

“I came to understand that worship is more than just praying and going to Church.”

“The Archbishop said our challenge now is to embrace [what Pope Benedict XVI taught] and try to live it in our everyday life.

“It is a way of life, and the true essence of worship. The experience

The Record

The Parish. The Nation. The World.

EDITOR PETERROSENGREN Lettersto:cathrec@iinet.net.au

JOURNALISTS JAMIEO'BRIEN jamieob@therecord.com.au

BRONWENCLUNE clune@therecord.com.au

MARKREIDY reidyrec@iinet.net.au

OFFICE MANAGER EUGENESUARES administration@therecord.com.au inc.sales/subscriptions

ADVERTISING CHRISMIZEN advertising@therecord.com.au

PRODUCTION MANAGER DEREKBOYLEN production@therecord.com.au

587NewcastleSt,Leederville

Tel:(08)92277080

Fax:(08)92277087

TheRecordisaweeklypublicationdistributedthroughparishesofthe

made me question whether I am worshiping every day or just on Sunday.

“What I understood of WYD was that it was trying to re-connect people and bring them back to the Church.”

Following their tour of Cologne for WYD, the Bateman group toured Rome, where they also saw the tomb of Pope John Paul II and visited a number of Basilicas.

“Walking past the tomb [of John Paul II] was a really moving experience.

“It was joyous to feel that this was the resting place of a man who has done so much for the human race during his time as Pope.

“It was a spiritually enriching and memorable experience.”

- Jamie O’Brien We had a great

time: Some of the 34 youth from Bateman who went to WYD ‘05 with Monsignor Michael Keating and Fr Dat Vuong.

Students win in speaking award

Hannah Sparrow of Newman Junior College Churchlands is the winner of the bestresearched speech at the 2005 annual Speak Up Award.

The Speak Up event is a speaking competition for primary school children.

St Paul’s Primary School Mt Lawley student Jack Dewsbury was also a winner of a Speak Up Award. He spoke about “The Great Australian Obsession”, a tongue in-cheek look at Australians and sport.

Jack is a keen sportsman himself and a long distance runner.

The award was started in 1987

by the Penguin Club, an Australian non-denominational women’s communication club.

The award aims to help build confidence while improving the oral and research skills of students in Year 6 and 7, as well as providing them with an opportunity to voice their concerns and opinions.

This year there were 191 entrants from 67 schools in the metropolitan area. Five of the 10 finalists this year were from Catholic schools.

Over 3million copies distributed world wide

“I Believe”–ALittle Catholic Catechism

New edition revised and extended in collaboration with the Vatican’s Congregation of the Clergy

TThis beautifully illustrated book is an introduction to the basics of the Catholic Faith and is addressed above all to families, but could also serve as a basic text for laity, priests and religious involved in religious education. The publication of this book is a response to the 'growing demand' for a compact introduction to the full Catechism of the Catholic Church. The book has met with 'great interest' among the faithful and is aimed at young people and adults.

Inspiring illustrations give this catechism an added dimension to help convey the spirit of the Gospel along

with its message. The catechism is 208 pp and measures 210mm by 148mm. The first part of the book is based upon the Apostles Creed. Each article of the Creed is explained in a separate chapter and illustrated with examples from the Bible. The second part is devoted to the Sacraments, the life of Jesus, prayer in the Christian life and an explanation of the Lord's Prayer. The book is based on the universal Catechism and has been approved by the Catholic Church. A lovely gift idea and every copy you buy enables us to send more copies overseas to those who are hungry for the Word of God.

OVER 75% SOLD

An overwhelming success in Australia with the previous edition of 20,000 copies selling out in less than 12 months.

OrderForm: “I Believe” - ALittle Catholic Catechism

Send to: Aid to the Church in Need, PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW2148

Phone/Fax No: (02) 9679-1929 E-mail: info@aidtochurch.org

AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED … a Catholic charity dependent on the Holy See, providing pastoral relief to needy and oppressed Churches

RETIREMENT NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD.

For over 155 years the Sisters of Mercy have provided wonderful aged care and community services from the Wembley site.

Now, as part of a program to expand and develop these important services, a substantial area of this historic site is being transformed into an over 55s village of world-class.

Mercy Village–Wembley will offer luxury apartments, villas and terraced villas in a safe, involving and superbly planned community, with its very own chapel.

PG516

Payment method:Cheque/money order enclosed

OR Please debit my credit card

BankcardVisaMastercard

. . . . . .

Ph . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ONLY6LEFT

To find out more about the limited opportunities available to become a part of this incomparably well located, premium–quality village, simply telephone Karen Bailey or Chris Gaggin now on 1800 144 313.

Or visit the Sales and Information Centre located at the Catherine McAuley Family Centre, at 18 Barrett Street, inWembley.

You’ll soon discover that we’ve taken care of absolutely everything.

Talented speakers: Hannah Sparrow (left) of Newman Junior College and Jack Dewsbury (right) of St Paul’s Primary School, Mt Lawely, were winners in this year’s annual Speak Up competition.

New Jesuit priest also seeks to be healer

■ By Jamie O’Brien

The Jesuits in Australia have a new priest: WA-born and educated Fr James Calder SJ.

And Fr Calder is a convert, deciding to become a Catholic when he was just 14 years of age.

Fr Calder was ordained by Emeritus Bishop Peter Quinn in the chapel of John XXIII College in Claremont last Saturday evening, September 24.

The newly-ordained Jesuit celebrated his first Mass in the same chapel the next day.

Originally from Harvey, Fr Calder’s journey with the Church began when he started school at the-then Newman Marist College, later attending Newman Secondary College in Churchlands.

In his early days of vocational searching, Fr Calder thought of becoming a Marist Brother.

It was during his second year of highschool, at the age of 14, that James became a Catholic.

“My family, while curious about this, have always loved me and supported me in my searching,” said Fr Calder.

“It was my family that provided the seeds of my relationship with Jesus,”

“Although in my early twenties I drifted off for a time, some kind of religious commitment has always been a steady feature of my life.”

A teacher and psychologist, Fr Calder said these skills, are really his way of being a healer.

“When I joined the Society, the Novice Master said ‘to want to be a Jesuit is to want to be a healer,”

“I want to do that,” Fr Calder said.

After a period of discernment at the Redemptorist Monastery in North Perth, Fr Calder began working at John XXIII College in Claremont and again began seriously thinking about the religious life, entering the Jesuits at the age of 28 after two years of discerning and living the vows of Jesuit life.

Jesuit formation, said Fr Calder is a long and somewhat arduous process, for which he is grateful.

“It involves the individual Jesuit in long periods of sustained study and long periods of sustained pastoral work,

“This has meant that with and in grace, I have had to confront myself as the Lord has burned off, and continues to do so, in his fire of love, the rough and selfish edges of my being,

“I am deeply grateful for the deepening capacities that have come to be born within me as a result of this formation and communal living,” he said.

Following his ordination, Fr Calder will return to Macquarie University in Sydney in order to undertake further studies in psychology.

Maranatha Institute for Adult Faith Education

Catholic Education Centre 50 Ruislip Street Leederville

TERM 4 COURSE 2005

7 weeks - Cost $45.00

beginning Tuesday 11th October

9.30am-12pm Catholic Moral Teaching with Fr Joe Parkinson

for further information

please phone 9212 9311 Tuesday, Thursday or Friday 9am-1.30pm. or email: maranatha@ceo.wa.edu.au

Caring Lady Funerals

With over 20 years experience, Caring Lady Funerals is a name you can TRUST.

Specialising in Catholic Funeral Masses and servicing all areas, we provide unrivalled quality and care for you and your loved ones.

Caring Lady Funerals, when Service and Compassion matters most.

1300 787 305

“A Caring Alternative”

Dayspring Centre for Christian Spirituality and Counselling Inc.

Places in all courses commencing February 2006 are now available. Be intentional about expanding your own spiritual practice, as well as your ability to hear and understand the inner pain and struggles of those God places in your care.

Want to explore contemplative spirituality?

Certificate 11 in Christian Spirituality for Ministry

Interested in deepening your spiritual journey using a contemplative approach?

Diploma in Christian Spirituality

Have you heard God calling you to the ministry of Spiritual Direction?

Graduate Diploma in Spiritual Direction

Contact the Dean of Studies, Beth Roberton Ph. 9275 3773 or email bethr@iinet.net.au

CHIEF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER

Aware that utilising contemporary and leading edge technology is vital to the Church’s call to evangelise, the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne seeks to appoint a Chief Information and Communications Officer.

This is a leadership role where a strong commitment to the mission, teachings and practices of the Catholic faith is equally important to an in depth technical knowledge of contemporary information management and communications technology.

Further details, including a position description, can be found on the Archdiocese website at http://www.melbourne.catholic.org.au/policies/hr-jobadverts.htm

Moment of happiness: Deacon James Calder kneels before Emeritus Bishop Peter Quinn of Bunbury during the ordination ceremony at John XXIII College chapel on Saturday evening.

Photo: Michael Miller

Evangelisation is what we

■ By Mark Reidy

The first step to evangelising is listening, US author and theologian Fr Stephen Bevans told over 180 people at the Sts John and Paul parish in Willetton on September 22.

Fr Bevans, Professor of Mission and Culture at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, was speaking in Perth as part of a national tour to mark the 30th anniversary of Evangelii Nuntiandi, Pope Paul VI’s landmark Apostolic Exhortation on evangelisation.

The conference, entitled ‘Witness to the Gospel in Modern Australia,’ encouraged representatives from a wide range of parishes and organisations to analyse and challenge methods and attitudes of evangelisation within the Church.

Fr Bevans emphasised that Catholics needed to be active listeners and adopt an inclusive attitude in their roles as evangelists. He said that whilst they should embrace the passion in which Pope Paul’s proclamation was presented, it was important not to look back with “rose-coloured glasses.”

It was important, he said, that the document be analysed and cri-

tiqued but it must first be viewed in its historical context.

Fr Bevans said that the1960’s had seen the breakdown of colonialism, an upsurge in nationalism, and confusion within the Church regarding the Second Vatican Council’s announcement that it was possible for the unbaptised to be saved.

To add to this uncertainty, liberation theology emerged in Latin America in the early 1970’s.

Fr Bevans said that many theologians and leaders responded to these changes by calling for the withdrawal of missionaries, claiming that they were destroying cultures rather than enriching them.

It was this turmoil that led to the promulgation of Evangelii Nuntiandi (‘evangelisation in the modern world’) in 1975, as the Church clarified its role in a changing climate.

Fr Bevans said that the document confirmed that “evangelisation is not what the Church has, it is what the Church is.”

It insisted that local cultures needed to be incorporated by missionaries, not replaced, and that Jesus’s message of justice, peace and liberation needed to be delivered by people who witnessed to these

truths. Evangelisation should never be imposed, it said, only invited.

Fr Bevans acknowledged the importance of Evangelii Nuntiandi within the history of the Church, but told participants he believed that Pope Paul had overlooked two

Entrepreneurs sell indulgence

■ By Jamie O’Brien

Students from Santa Maria College have an attractive proposition for lovers of fine food: the best in dessert.

They are so confident consumers will apreciate their product they have formed a company to design, publish and market their Indulgence collection of recipes.

Their company is known as ESKYA and will operate for the duration of the Young Achievement Australia program.

The national program provides students with the opportunity to start a company and realise their business ideas.

Students buy and sell shares in the company and use the funds to market their product.

When the company liquidates, accumulated profit goes to the shareholders.

The girls collected recipes by advertis-

ing throughout the school community.

The cookbook was produced primarily by the students, with a bit of professional assistance for the cover page.

Each has undertaken a professional role in the project as a managing director, manufacturer, finance advisor, marketing representative or salesperson.

Salesperson Alex Coole said ESKYA discussed a number of ideas and settled on the cookbook idea.

“It seemed a simple and effective idea taking into consideration the multiculturalism of this community,” she said.

Marketing representative Monica Johnson said while the project was timeconsuming, as much of the work was completed outside of school hours, it has opened the door for future opportunities.

Each cookbook costs $15 and can be purchased by contacting Santa Maria College on (08) 9329 1566.

Year of the Eucharist

O Food and Bread of angels, the angels take their fill of You. They are satisfied by You, but never tire of You.

– St Augustine

Many people travel great distances to visit the relics of saints and gaze on the magnificent churches dedicated to them. But You, my God, the Saint of saints, Creator of all things and Lord of the angels, are here present on the altar before me!

– Thomas à Kempis

priest

under-utilised in the Church today and more opportunities should be extended to them in areas of decision-making.

Secondly, inter-religious dialogue could have been addressed in greater depth; this topic was vitally important but Pope Paul had only briefly touched on the issue.

The topic is even more relevant today, he said, because of increased migration - voluntary and involuntary - with one in every 35 people in the world now living away from their country of birth. These movements have led to Australia and other countries becoming multicultural and Catholics need to adapt their role of evangelisation accordingly.

They must learn to surrender their own agendas, provide an attitude of openess and respect and be willing to learn from others beliefs.

important issues. First, it was particularly surprising that the role of women had not been emphasised more in the document as they had been pivotal to evangelisation since the time of Jesus. He said women continue to be

Along with migration, Fr Bevans said ecology and reconciliation (particularly with indigenous people) are concepts that need to be considered in today’s context.

These issues were not addressed in the 1975 document but, according to Fr Bevans, are social justice issues that are relevant in the role of evangelistion today.

Join Pope Benedict XVI in prayer - October

“For all Christians facing the threat of secularism: may they trust in God and be courageous witnesses of faith and hope.”

Mission intention: “For all Christians: besides praying for the missions may they also support missionary activity with material offerings.”

It’s not what we have, it’s what we are: Visiting US priest and mission expert Fr Stephen Bevans, leads Willetton conference participants in an exploration of Pope Paul VI’s landmark document on evangelisation.

Got a sweet tooth? These Santa Maria students have formed ESKYA, a company that publishes and markets their dessert cookbook, Indulgence

Photo courtesy Santa Maria College

Engaged Encounter celebrates 25 years

A program introduced in Perth for Catholic engaged couples nearly 25 years ago continues to thrive.

Dawesville Parishioners John and Joann O’Neil, Dez and Hilda Klass of St Thomas More Parish Bateman and Ballajura Parish Priest Fr John Jegorow delivered the first Engaged Encounter weekend to 16 couples in Rockingham on October 17 and 18, 1980.

This first presenting team had all experienced a weekend in America prior to launching the weekend experience in Perth.

Now living in Mandurah, Mrs O’Neil recalls how friends Ron and Mavis Pirola suggested they attend an Engaged Encounter weekend while they were on holidays in California.

“As it turned out the leaders of the program in California lived in the next street from where we were staying.”

The Engaged Encounter program began in America in 1974 as an outgrowth of the Marriage Encounter experience.

Since then the movement has spread throughout the world. Twenty couples attended Perth’s 216th Engaged Encounter weekend on September 17 and 18 at Mt Claremont.

The current co-ordinators of the program Luke and Vannessa Van Beek of St Francis of Assisi Parish Maida Vale presented the weekend together with Brendan and Browynne Grieve, Martin and Mog Piasecki and Fr Joseph

Parkinson. “A lot has changed in 25 years and couples preparing to marry are busier and perhaps older than 25 years ago,” said Mrs Van Beek.

“In 1980 the average age of participants was 22 while at the most recent program the average age was 28.” The retreat environment creates opportunity to reflect and plan their future lives together.

Topics covered include a couple’s desires, ambitions, goals, and their attitudes about money, sex, children, and family.

Participants on the weekend, Vannessa Italiano and Paul Busby, said the weekend was a fantastic opportunity to ‘stand still’ together.

Brendan Beale and Jenny Cardill said, “The content was presented in a non-threatening context and gave us the opportunity to discuss topics of our sexuality, communication and decision-making,” said Miss Cardill.

Over 3500 couples in Western Australia have experienced an Engaged Encounter Weekend over the past 25 years.

Engaged Encounter will celebrate the 25th anniversary on Saturday October 22 at St Charles Seminary, 30 Meadow St Guilford with Mass at 1pm and afternoon tea following.

For more information please contact Vannessa Van Beek on 08 9293 1998, or via email at vanbeek28@bigpond.com.au

Priests on the move

Eleven priests are on the move in metropolitan parishes over the next few months.

Archbishop Barry Hickey announced the appointments last week.

He had previously announced that Mgr Tim Corcoran would retire as Rector of St Charles’ seminary in Guildford, to be replaced by Fr Don Hughes OMI, currently parish priest of Lesmurdie, who will go to the seminary next month.

Mgr Corcoran will become parish priest of Thornlie in February next year, replacing Fr Patrick Lim who will become parish priest at Kalamunda at that time.

Fr John Cranley OMI, currently parish priest at Kalamunda, will become Administrator of Lesmurdie in place of Fr Hughes on October 10.

Theologian Fr John Thornhill SM will be priest in charge of Kalamunda from October 10 to mid-February when Fr Lim takes up his appointment.

Fr Tiziano Bogoni, priest in charge of Bassendean, is leaving for Italy with a view to establishing a religious community there.

Fr Jim Shelton, currently at All Saints Chapel in Allendale Square, will become

letters to the editor

LONDON OR PERTH?

Do Western Australians wish to see an innocent person shot by eager police as happened in London?

Why then has there been no public debate in regard to the legislation currently before State Parliament to effect the extension of State police power? Where is the public approval for such a measure?

If passed, is this legislation to remain in place forever? Is there provision for this legislation to be reviewed every year?

Human freedom

The secular argument for human freedom launched almost three centuries ago under the rubric of “Natural Rights,” has often been reduced to a calculation of probabilities: Democracy and the personal freedoms it protects are good not because they have an inherent moral superiority over other forms of organising society, but because they are the least messy alternative in a world of dramatic differences. Being tolerant, civil and in a word “democratic” is just easier than being cranky and assertive, it keeps the lid on, so to speak. But if the social pressures of plurality and difference become intense, the answer to the question, “Why be tolerant, civil and democratic?” cannot simply be “Because it works better” that essentially pragmatic answer cannot be sustained when racial, ethnic or religious conflict reaches the boiling point. Only a moral commitment to tolerance and democratic civility that is buttressed by norms transcending our immediate circumstances can sustain a commitment to the freedom of the “other” when that “other” becomes threatening. And that is the situation of a World in which “otherness” impinges on us daily, thanks to the transportation and communications revolutions.

Perhaps even more ominously, the temptation to steal fire from the Gods and remake the human condition has reemerged on the edge of the new millennium, not

What compensation is there for the innocent, or their surviving relatives, when police make a mistake? As for the search and seize provision, what penalties are to be in place for police who may abuse their position?

Why is it that Gallop’s legislation constitutes such an assault on citizens’ basic civil rights?

P. Weygers PERTH

from race or class-based political fanatics this time, but from science. The very question of who counts as a human being is now being debated in a way our grand parents could not imagine. Is a cloned human being a member of the human community? What about the socially unproductive and the inconvenient, the gravely handicapped, the elderly, the unborn? If the question, “What are the putative people good for?” is the only question our laws recognise, then we really are living in Aldous Huxley’s brave new world, and tyranny cannot be far around the corner.

In these circumstances, Pope John Paul II’s proposal about the moral foundations of free society, based on his distinctive understanding of the nature and dignity of the human person, is assuredly not for Catholics only. It has implications for the Pope’s fellow Christians, for Jew, for Muslim, for adherents of other great world religions, and for “all men and women of good will.” The Papacy has traditionally claimed a universal reach.

Pope John Paul’s Pontificate is the first in history in which that claim has been empirically validated. It is a very obscure corner

Archbishop on air

of this planet that has not been touched in some way by the life of this Pope and by his proposal for humanities future.

R. Finlayson SHELLEY

With thanks

Through your pages, on behalf of the five parishioners from Waroona-Yarloop parish and myself, who made the journey to hear Fr Steve Bevans speak I sincerely thank the Catholic Missions Office in Perth for their initiative.

We heard the foremost missiologist in the English-speaking world give a wonderful analysis and critique of Evangelii Nuntiandi. The local panel also made a worthwhile contribution to the reading of the signs of the times.

My only regret was that I could not bring the whole parish to hear a very enjoyable, interesting, and informative discussion on the Mission of the Church. Our congratulations to all responsible for the day.

Fr Noel FitzSimons Waroona-Yarloop

priest in charge at Bassendean from November 2. Fr Marcellinus OFM will look after Bassendean until November 2.

Carmelite changes

Fr Gerard Moran OCD will leave Infant Jesus Parish, Morley, on November 7 to become Prior at the Carmelite retreat house and parish at Varroville in New South Wales.

Fr Paul Maunder will become parish priest from November 1, with Fr Joseph Kelly continuing as an assistant priest and Fr Tadgh Tierney joining him on January 1, 2006.

Fr Maunder is well known in Morley, having been parish priest from 1993 to ’96 and Prior of the Carmelite house from ’93 to ’99.

Fr Tierney has been parish priest at Varroville for the last 12 years.

The Carmelite Friars came to Perth 50 years ago last Tuesday, on September 27, 1955, when Fr Hilary and Fr Jarlath arrived to take up their appointment.

Fr Jarlath Flynn died in Ireland a few years ago, but Fr Hilary is still living at Varroville at the age of 94.

For those who missed Archbishop Hickey’s address on Channel Nine the text is below:

Welcome.

Can Australia survive without God? I don’t think so.

When our nation began we had freedom of religion but no established religion.

Belief in God was pretty universal. Parliament began (and still begins) with the Lord’s Prayer. Laws reflected Christian values.

Today, religion is often not taught in Government schools. Prayer is rarely heard. In

hundreds of thousands of families prayers are never said.

In this spiritual vacuum people drift. Depression and suicide rates rise. Family life crumbles and violence increases.

This is the perfect time to assert the need for God, for a return to prayer, community and spiritual values.

I’m Barry Hickey, Catholic Archbishop of Perth.

Next week: Prevention of AIDS. For current and past talks visit www.perthcatholic.org.au.

Catholic Engaged Encounter co-ordinators Luke and Vanessa Van Beek

The abolition of truth?

Moral relativism is back on the radar of public consciousness around the world. Many media picked up on the phrase ‘dictatorship of relativism’ used by the-then Cardinal Josef Ratzinger in a pre-conclave speech to cardinals after the death of John Paul II. In an address to the National Press Club last week, C ARDINAL GEORGE PELL reflected on the new dictatorship’s lack of substance...

Shortly before he entered the conclave in which he was elected pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger preached the homily at the preconclave Mass and warned against the rise of “a dictatorship of relativism”. It is an evocative phrase which frightened some and provoked confusion in others.

Taking as his text St Paul’s warning to the Ephesians (4:14-16), that “we must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine” but “must grow up” in Christ and in love, the Cardinal offered the following reflection:

“Every day new sects are born and we see realised what St Paul says on the deception of men, on the cunning that tends to lead into error (cf. Ephesians 4:14). To have a clear faith according to the creed of the Church, is often labelled as fundamentalism. While relativism, that is, allowing oneself to be carried about with every wind of ‘doctrine’, seems to be the only attitude that is fashionable. A dictatorship of relativism is being constituted that recognises nothing as absolute and which only leaves the ‘I’ and its whims as the ultimate measure.”

When I heard these words in St Peter’s Square my first instinct was to think that Cardinal Ratzinger obviously did not want to be pope. I wondered whether he thought a

few home truths would not go astray on this final occasion when he was at centre stage.

The words were blunt, and provocative, even if he spoke of a dictatorship “being constituted”, a dark cloud on the horizon, rather than claiming that the fashionable winds of doctrine were everywhere triumphant.

Relativism is powerful in Western life, evidenced in many areas from the decline in the study of history and English literature, through to the triumph of subjective values and conscience over moral truth and the downgrading of heterosexual marriage. None of this is entirely new: relativism is an antique theory. The great thinker and father of history Heraclitus [History 3, 38] noted that different cultures differ in their basic beliefs and customs, and at the dawn of our philosophical tradition the Greek philosopher Protagoras challenged the religious and moral wisdom of his day, arguing that each individual’s own opinions are the measure of truth [see Plato Theaetetus 151eff]. This theory has so far received no official sanction – usually because wise men and women have seen that either relativism is the real truth about the Universe, in which case relativism is wrong since there is a real truth, or relativism is not the real truth, in which case we should all stop thinking about it. The danger today is that people do not even think this far to see the inconsistencies. Hence Pope Benedict’s warning.

One reason for optimism is that no one believes deep down in relativism. People may express their scepticism about truth and morality in lecture rooms or in print, but afterwards, they will go on to sip a cappuccino, pay the mortgage, drive home on the left side of the road, and presumably avoid acts

of murder and cannibalism throughout their evening. People, unless insane, do not live as relativists. They care about truth and follow clear cut rules.

Catholics call the universal acceptance of the many basic moral norms ‘natural law’ – the term simply means that whereas some laws apply only to Australians, moral laws apply to everyone who shares human nature. Some remain sceptical of this – but interestingly, philosophers and thinkers of quite secular temperament now regularly explore the notion of objective morality in their teaching and writing.

“Relativism is a position that explains a self-obsessed, overly materialist, ethics-lite minority – and that, I firmly believe, is not Australia today and not the Australia we want for tomorrow.”

Nothing matters more than truth to our country. Differences about important issues such as war, slavery, abortion, euthanasia are different claims to moral truth, not merely competing preferences. Some who have never been deprived of truth can give it up too easily, perhaps using talk of relativism or secularism to camouflage their actual commitment to money, success, possessions, power. But these are ambiguous goods: they can be misused and are rarely distributed fairly. It is getting to the truth about things and having the integrity to live by that truth that is the ideal we should pass to the next generation. By comparison, relativism is bankrupt: it offers

How far? Have we reached a situation where magazines, radio, television and newspapers now depend on the idea that almost anything is permissable while people who believe in a moral code based on objective truths about our identity as human beings are pushed into the background?

no future because it is not livable; and where it is a camouflage, what it camouflages is generally rotten and often shaped by greed.

Jesus said “I am the Truth” and for this he, and countless good men and women, lived and died. Nobody lives and dies for relativism: people do not sacrifice themselves for a theory which states that such a gesture is merely relative.

The abolition of truth does not ensure a proper tolerance of diversity, but removes the constraints on any passing majority opinion and prevents us from discriminating legally between the tolerable and intolerable. Relativism is a position that explains a self-obsessed, overly materialist, ethics-lite minority – and that, I firmly believe, is not Australia today and not the Australia we want for tomorrow.

Education

Recently some newspapers have given considerable coverage to demonstrating how relativism’s intrusion into the classroom as post-modernism or “critical literacy” affects education at both secondary and university level. In some schools the study of English texts as English language has been abandoned altogether for the lower secondary grades and replaced with a blancmange of English, social studies and comparative religion called “Integrated Studies”.

While parents wonder why their children have never heard of the Romantic poets, Yeats or the Great War poets and never ploughed through a Bronte, Orwell or Dickens novel, their children are engaged in analysing a variety of “texts” including films, magazines,

Cardinal George Pell

The Living Word

Since The Saint John’s Bible was announced five years ago, it has gained national and international public interest. Newsweek magazine has called it “America’s Book of Kells.” A BBC documentary aired for the first time in the United States in December 2003, and has been viewed on more than 25 stations nationally. BBC 4 Radio produced a 30-minute audio documentary that aired in the United Kingdom on Good Friday of this year. Major stories have appeared in The London Times, The New York Times and People Magazine, to name a few, as well as television coverage on Good Morning America, World News Tonight, The Today Show, PBS and the BBC.

Representatives Abbot John Klassen, Calligrapher Donald Jackson and Saint John’s University President Br Dietrich Reinhart from Saint John’s Abbey and University were among thousands of religious pilgrims who attended a papal audience in Rome on May 26, 2004. The Saint John’s delegation presented a limited edition, full-size reproduction of Gospels and Acts, from The Saint John’s Bible, to the Holy Father.

A masterpiece, a work of art, and a unique treasure: the St John’s Bible, commissioned by a Benedictine Abbey and University in the US and produced by a former calligrapher to the Queen is now the first hand-written and illuminated Bible in 500 years. The first volume of the Gospels and Acts in a projected seven-volume series which will contain the whole Bible is now available. The series is due for completion in 2006.

Psalm 107

Calligrapher Donald Jackson elected to illuminate the Psalms in a very different way – taking musical recordings of the Psalms (Gregorian Chant by the monks of Saint John’s) as well as recordings from other sacred texts and converting them into a digital format with colourful patterns and wave formations. He then created artistic renderings of these colour patterns and incorporated them into choirbooks that appear at the beginning of the Psalms. He also scattered these “virtual voice prints” throughout the Book of Psalms.

This unique edition of the Gospels and Acts is now available from The Record. Measuring approximately 25.5 cm by 39 cm, hardback, this edition is of an exceptional quality in its printing and reproduction of the original. The St John’s Bible makes an ideal gift or a text to read over and meditate upon, and would be excellent for use in parish ceremonies and liturgies.

$90 plus postage Contact Eugene on (08) 9227 7080 or

Unique bible page: The first completed page of the handwritten St John’s Bible illuminates the Gospel of Matthew. The unique Bible, being created by calligrapher Donald Jackson, was commissioned by St John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Photo: CNS

Above left: Pope John Paul II views illuminated works of art that illustrate The Saint John’s Bible.

Above right: One of the world’s leading calligraphers, Donald Jackson is the artistic director and illuminator of The Saint John’s Bible. He is the former scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Crown Office at the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, a position in which he is responsible for the creation of official state documents. He is an elected Fellow and past Chairman of the prestigious Society of Scribes and Illuminators. Donald Jackson works with a team of theologians and artists from Saint John’s University and Abbey on The Saint John’s Bible. From his scriptorium in Wales, he oversees scribes, artists, and craftsman who work with him on the handwriting and illumination of the seven-volume, 1,150-page book.

Right: A woman views the first page of the Book of Psalms from the Saint John’s Bible. When complete, it will be the first handwritten and illuminated Bible in 500 years.

Photos: CNS

The power of the inner ring

■ With Anna Krohn

The airwaves, newsprint and glossies these days are saturated with acid exclusives“Tell-all” accounts of betraying colleagues, unfaithful spouses and fair-weather friendships.

As much as “mateship” and “loyalty” give us Australians a collective warm inner glow - we seem to have an even greater appetite for savage personal exposees and sniping gossip. Nothing sells better.

Why do we lap up the headlines and stand in queues for more? Do we relish the vindication of the tall poppy cut down to size? Does all this scandal make us believe that we are not so bad ourselves?

In 1944, C.S. Lewis, the great Christian apologist and writer, best known today for his classic Narnia stories, hit the nail squarely on the spot.

Lewis gave a short address called “The Inner Ring: or Why Good Men do Bad Things” to an unsuspecting audience of university students. What he had to say is as fresh and incisive today as it was in war-time Britain, and even more relevant.

Lewis argues that the dominant “main-spring” and temptation in our actions- above our craving for money, power or sex- is the knowledge, the “delicious knowledge that we - we four or five huddled by the stove - are the people that know.”

This desire to belong to a cosy and often condemning “us”, point-

ing the finger out at the excluded “them” is according to Lewis “one of the factors which go to make the world as we know it – this whole pell-mell of struggle, competition, confusion, graft, disappoint-

ment and advertisement.” Pulling no punches, Lewis asks the young would-be academics and professionals if they have not already “ever first neglected, and finally shaken off, friends whom you really

loved and who might have lasted you a lifetime in order to court the friendship of those who appeared to you more important, more esoteric... have you ever derived actual pleasure from the loneliness and

humiliation of the outsiders after you yourself were in?”

And how easy and domestic is this corruption of our integrity. “Over a drink or a cup of coffee” ... “just at the moment when you are most anxious not to appear crude, or naïf or a prig- the hint will come”.

The hint that in order to “be in the know” “to really belong” – we just cross this little line of charity, of honesty or fair play or justice. The oasis of the Inner Ring- glimmers and lures us on the horizon but it also never satisfies.

Chasing the “Inner Ring” invariably brings people to scandals and crises.

“Of all the passions the passion of the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things.” Lewis somberly concludes, “The quest for the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it.”

Well how do we break this futile quest? We seek the “real inside” says Lewis. The sometimes less glamorous but lasting realities of integrity, virtue and true friendship. Sometimes being true to these things will make us temporarily feel like “outsiders”, out-of-step with the times.

“This is friendship, ... it causes perhaps half of all the happiness in the world, and no Inner Ring can ever have it.”

A genuine “must-read” for our politicians, corporate heads, movie idols, sports stars and for us mere mortals.

Childcare not so great - but are we ready to hear that yet?

Catherine Parish

@ home

Wouldn’t you think a new book that blows the whistle on the harm early child care does to children would make headlines?

Yet Anne Manne’s new book Motherhood: How Should We Care for Our Children has passed with a single article by Bettina Arndt on page 10 of the The West Australian on Monday 19 September.

The essence of Ms Manne’s thesis is that the best start for a child is in the home of his or her parents, and her research shows that the more time they spend in long-term group child care in the early years, the more likely children are to exhibit aggressive behaviour, clash with figures of authority, and be poorly socialised.

Perhaps because it doesn’t involve dodgy financial dealings that lose shareholders’ millions, or contain huge amounts of scuttlebutt about famous Canberra faces, it isn’t newsworthy. Its only about little kids, after all, who haven’t even learned

to speak properly yet so can’t tell us if they hate it, or it frightens them, in words - only in behaviour.

In a society where two incomes are believed to be necessary (and often, sadly, are) to buy a house and live the lifestyle we think is appropriate, most families have used day care at some time or another in their children’s early years.

However, because this widespread use of institutional day care is such a comparatively recent phenomenon, parents have not had the benefit of detailed research on its longer-term effects on children.

Now that this new and well-founded research is available, it should be ringing warning bells in the ears of all concerned parents. Those using or considering use of childcare must take a realistic look at their options in the light of these new findings.

We have to ask the question: should our children’s needs be subservient to our lifestyle, or should our lifestyle be adjusted to the genuine needs of our children? It is certainly something that should be addressed in marriage preparation courses, so that young couples don’t dig themselves into a financial hole they cannot get out of without resorting to extensive use of long-term childcare.

Realistically, though, a comprehensive, lucid and strongly evidence-based condemnation of group childcare for very young children is not going to be a bestseller in the current social climate. The

people it will appeal to as a vindication for what they have known all along are those who have arranged their lives so that they can have one parent at home with the children

full time. Unfortunately, as they have made the sacrifices necessary to give their children the best start possible, they probably can’t afford to buy it and will have to nag the

local library remorselessly to spend some of the ratepayers’ money on getting one for the shelves. At least there won’t be a waiting list for that one!

Pros and Cons: Catherine Parish asks “Is childcare good for children?” A new book by Australian writer Anne Manne indicates it’s not; the best start in life for a child is in the home of his or her parents.

Abolishing truth for the sake of fashion

Continued from Vista 1 advertisements and even road signs as part of critical literacy. The trend has apparently gone furthest in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, and I am aware that NSW Board of Studies syllabuses prescribe these authors.

Of course there are always rationalisations for why school syllabuses are manipulated in this way. The official website of the Tasmanian school syllabus explains that the objectives of critical literacy are to enable students to “deconstruct the structures and features of texts”, to overcome the assumption that “texts [are] timeless, universal or unbiased”, to understand the “unequal positions of power” that texts often present, and in this way to “work for social equity and change”. It is all meant to be very “empowering”.

Examining how relativism in the form of school-based post-modernism proposes to make students into “agents of social change” makes it apparent very quickly that there is another agenda at work underneath it all. Generally accepted understandings of family, sexuality, maleness, femaleness, parenthood, and culture are treated as “dominant discourses” that impose and legitimise injustice and intolerance. These dominant discourses are then undermined by a disproportionate focus on ‘texts” which normalise moral and social disorder. Too much time is given to narratives about sad and dysfunctional individuals and shattered families. While no one is arguing that chil-

dren, especially senior secondary school students, should be brought up only on fairy tales with happy endings, this narrow focus and the rejection of those principles which build and maintain society’s social capital mean that students are not forced to confront and learn from the great English language classics but are allowed to sink towards the sordid and the dismal rather than strive towards the good and the beautiful.

Theologian Jaroslav Pelikan, writing shortly after Pope Benedict’s homily, described relativism as “nothing more or less than the deconstruction of all objectivity in our perceptions of reality. Accordingly, there is no real, objective and historical truth, only those notions which each special proponent offers as his own idea of truth.”

My generation has had the benefit of learning from the tradition and thus we can critique it. To give youngsters all-critiqueand-no-foundation leaves them rudderless. School syllabuses or university courses in which great works of literature and the study of history are dismissed as “elitist” or relevant only to “the dominant ethnic and social group” dismantle the sense of an objective reality in young people, by denying any philosophic foundation for adhering to humanist values. Although the stated purpose may be to make students “sensitive” to the experiences and stories of others, the effort is often counterproductive. If it is impossible to get a handle on the true range of human endeavour because nobility, faith, heroism and compassion become deceptions, facades for the exercise of power, then students are forced back into their own small personal worlds, good, bad or different.

Looked at in this way an education in relativism seems more like a recipe for disenfranchisement and passivity than empowerment. If you want people to move the world it actually helps if you put some ground under their feet. This is one of the things that Christianity does. As Pope Benedict said elsewhere in his pre-conclave homily, ‘A faith profoundly rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. This friendship opens us to all that is good and gives us the measure to discern between what is true and what is false, between deceit and truth”. Having a “measure to discern between what is true and what is false, between deceit and truth”, is the source of empowerment, and the last-

ing basis for concern and compassion for others. One of the most important reasons for persisting with the difficult search for truth, is that wishes are a poor substitute for reality. Australians want our country to be a fair and decent society. Wishing will not make this happen. It takes clear thinking. We actually need a clear and well-founded notion of fairness and decency and need to work consistently towards them.

Some argue that a public consensus on issues is sufficient and that ideas of right and wrong and truth are superfluous to this. The problem with consensus, even community-wide consensus, it that it is malleable, manipulable and subject to strange changes over time. It is amazing what we can get used to, given enough time and given enough confusion about identity, experience, values and tolerance. Deeds that were formerly crimes have in some places become constitutional rights in lit-

tle more than a generation, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill. People sometimes look to the law as a way out of the labyrinth. Questions of right and wrong are to be resolved through the decisions of courts. However these changing legal rulings are either the product of social consensus or social engineering, running ahead of society, by senior judges. An explicit relativism provides no basis to evaluate these developments.

Religious Principles

A society like Australia, despite many among the elite understanding themselves as secular, has been living off Christian principles for nearly two centuries. This has tempted some to take for granted values like human rights, social justice, a fair go, and kindness towards the battlers.

If you want people to move the world it actually helps if you put some ground under their feet. This is one of the things that Christianity does.

But values like this do not occur spontaneously. Very few societies in history have been founded on all of them, and some e.g. the Roman Empire have even regarded compassion and humility as weaknesses. Humane values have to be nurtured, explained, defended, and above all given a foundation in reality. The twentieth century, the most cruel in history, has given us abundant evidence for this proposition. An interesting analysis of this evidence has been provided by the moral philosopher Jonathan Glover in his book Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century. In addition to examining the great catastrophes that took place Glover also considers what held back some people from co-operating in atrocities and encouraged resistance in the face of evil.

Glover is an atheist and an opponent of many Christian positions e.g. supporter of infanticide but he is concerned with “the fading of the moral law.” I attended a course of his lectures at Oxford more than 25 years ago and he told me proudly more recently that a few Bishops, more Anglicans than Catholics had been his pupils. While drawing attention to “the evils of religious intolerance, religious persecution and religious wars”, he also argues that “it is striking how many protests against and acts of resistance to atrocity have also come from principled religious commitment”. He worries that the decline of religion will mean the decline of this source of resistance, and that in the absence of God our moral code will be that of the society we live in: meaning that we become hostages to tribalism, inherited prejudice and the winds of fashion.

The second part of Cardinal Pell’s address to the National Press Club, which took place on 21 September last week, will appear in next week’s Record.

Good news for Church, bad for PC: the figures back abstinence

Continued from Page 1

infection.” This goes even for adults: “When targeting sexually active adults, the first priority should be to promote mutual fidelity with an uninfected partner as the best way to assure avoidance of HIV infection,” stated the article.

This argument is based on solid medical evidence, the authors pointed out: “The experience of countries where HIV has declined suggests that partner reduction is of central epidemiological importance in achieving large-scale HIV incidence reduction, both in generalised and more concentrated epidemics.”

Questioning orthodoxy

Recent information on the situation in Uganda, which is often cited as an example of how programs advocating abstinence and fidelity to partners can reduce the incidence of AIDS, confirms the position of those who question relying on condoms.

A report published on September 13 on Aidsmap, a United Kingdom Web site dedicated to distributing information on AIDS, summarised the findings of a study published in the September 1 issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes

The study demonstrated that while campaigns to distribute and promote condoms in Uganda did increase usage, they did not lead to consistent use. Moreover, men in the group targeted by the campaigns then “went on to have a larger number of sexual partners and were somewhat less likely to use condoms with casual sex partners than the control group.”

The findings, noted Aidsmap, “raise uncomfortable questions about the evidence base that informs the current international orthodoxy in HIV prevention.”

The study compared two groups recruited from poor urban communities in Kampala. Another conclusion was that “improved availability of condoms in Uganda has had

only a modest effect on condom uptake.”

Changing behaviour

This latest study confirms the arguments made by Edward Green, in his 2003 book, Rethinking AIDS Prevention. Green is a senior research scientist at the Harvard Centre for Population and Development Studies and a member of the President’s Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS.

Green does not have moral objections to condoms, and, in fact, has worked in the past with organisations that promote contraceptives and family planning programs. Nevertheless, he raises serious doubts about the wisdom of fighting AIDS by relying on condom distribution.

In Africa, repeated population surveys show that the most common behavioural change in response to the diffusion of AIDS is an increase in the fidelity to one’s partner, the reduction of sexual partners, and sexual abstinence. When, in addi-

tion to this spontaneous response, this type of change is promoted through campaigns, then we are building on what people naturally do, Green argued.

Unfortunately, he added, foreign experts only too often arrive and impose campaigns that ignore the benefits of behavioural changes, preferring to rely on distributing condoms.

In addition, Green cites studies showing that condom promotion campaigns do not lead to longterm consistent use. And inconsistent use is associated with a higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases. In fact, the African countries with the highest condom user rates and numbers of condoms available, Zimbabwe and Botswana, also rank at the top of the list for rates of HIV infection.

Nor are condoms infallible, particularly those typically available in African countries, Green observes. In fact, condoms are widely held to be one of the least effective methods of contraception, yet paradoxi-

cally, are promoted by experts as the answer to preventing AIDS.

This is not to say, Green points out, that the use of condoms causes AIDS, “only that condoms might give men a somewhat greater sense of security than warranted by actual condom effectiveness.”

Pope Benedict

Independently of these debates, the new Pope quickly gave an answer to those pressing for changes in Church doctrine. Addressing the bishops from a group of southern African countries on June 10, Benedict XVI urged them to continue supporting family life and to help those suffering from AIDS.

The Catholic Church, commented the Pontiff, “has always been at the forefront both in prevention and in treatment of this illness.”

And, he added: “The traditional teaching of the Church has proven to be the only fail-safe way to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.”

- Zenit

William Butler Yeats

George Orwell

The World

Intelligent design heads to court

Teaching intelligent design to get court test in Pennsylvania

■ By Agostino Bono

Acase before a federal district court in Pennsylvania could decide whether intelligent design is a religious belief or a scientific theory suitable to be taught in public school classrooms as an alternative to evolution.

In at least 19 other states, teaching intelligent design is an issue before public school boards.

The Pennsylvania civil suit challenges the decision of the Dover, Pa., public school board that intelligent design be presented to students as an alternative scientific position.

The suit claims that intelligent design is a disguised form of introducing belief in God into the classroom, thus violating the Establishment Clause of the Constitution prohibiting a state-established religion.

Intelligent design holds that science can prove that there is a design and purpose inherent in life forms that springs from an unnamed intelligence. It opposes the evolutionary position of chance and randomness as the process for the development of life.

“We will be successful in the Dover case. It will be the death knell for the teaching of intelligent design in the public schools,” said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and a United Church of Christ minister.

“Who is the designer other than God? From a legal standpoint, this is a religious issue,” he said.

Americans United and the American Civil Liberties Union are providing legal counsel for the parents challenging the Dover school board.

Rev. Lynn, a lawyer, said the plaintiffs will prove in court that the Dover school

board is promoting religion and that the policy has a religious purpose.

Disagreeing that intelligent design is a religious belief was Mark Ryland, a lawyer who supports the view that it is science.

“The Establishment Clause deals with sectarian strife and keeping the peace among religions. It is not about public discussion based on reason,” said Ryland, director of the Washington office of the Discovery Institute, a resource centre promoting intelligent design.

He said that a court decision in the Dover case would be a major setback for the intelligent design cause only if it was a broad decision that the Dover policy is uncon-

stitutional. More likely would be a narrow court decision that would help other school boards decide how to frame policies for teaching intelligent design, he said.

Ryland and Rev. Lynn were among four lawyers discussing the Dover case at a September 22 panel discussion in Washington sponsored by the Federalist Society and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

The nonjury, civil trial of the Dover case was scheduled to open on September 26 in Harrisburg, Pa.

Ryland said the Dover policy was poorly thought out but constitutional.

The Discovery Institute does not support

requiring the teaching of intelligent design in public schools, he said. Instead, it advocates a critical approach to the teaching of evolution that points out the gaps and imperfections in the theory, he said.

“No one is advocating that evolution not be taught as the predominant view on the origins of life,” he said.

David DeWolf, a Gonzaga University law professor and Discovery Institute fellow, said teaching intelligent design in public schools is constitutional.

“But as a public policy, I believe that it is unwise to require that it be taught because of the controversies surrounding it,” he said.

K. Hollyn Hollman, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said the establishment clause aims to protect religious freedom and freedom of conscience by prohibiting the government from taking sides on religious matters.

Previous Church-state court cases have revolved around whether the government was religiously neutral in its policies and whether the motives and purposes of the government were religious or secular, she said.

“We don’t want a government-sponsored religion,” said Hollman.

Neither the Discovery Institute nor the Baptist committee is directly involved in the Dover case.

Hollman and Rev. Lynn said there is a place in public school social science and history classes for teaching about religion, but that religion should be left out of science classes.

“If people like myself want to add spiritual matter to science, so be it,” said Rev. Lynn. “But to add this in the science class does no good to religion or science.”

DeWolf said that if a student walked into biology class with a magazine article on intelligent design and asked the teacher what this was all about, “it would be absurd for the teacher to say that the Constitution prohibits him from discussing it or that this is religion dressed up as science.”

Lay Benedictine numbers swell Vatican not hiding criminal

Ranks of lay people making commitment to Benedictines swell

While religious orders worldwide continue to deal with declining numbers, the ranks of lay people making a commitment as Benedictines are swelling.

The September 19-25 World Congress of Benedictine Oblates in Rome was the first international gathering sponsored by the order.

Some 300 people representing more than 25,000 oblates associated with close to 1,200 Benedictine monasteries around the world attended the meeting. Oblates live with or are associated with the Benedictines but do not make vows.

The largest group of delegates came from the United States, which has at least 10,000 oblates, said Lavern Hayworth, an oblate from Oregon’s Mount Angel Abbey and the lay leader of the North American oblate association.

Despite the declining number

of Benedictines, she told Catholic News Service, “oblates are spreading Benedictine spirituality, and it is touching thousands of people around the world.”

While the religious members of the monasteries are spending more time engaged in work outside their cloisters, they have preserved the cloister as a place of silence, manual labour and prayer, she said. Lay people, busy with their families and jobs, are attracted to Benedictines as masters of balance, she said. Working in small groups, congress participants discussed the role of Benedictine monasteries in their lives, the importance of prayer and contemplation, and the formation of community, especially within their families and in their workplaces.

“The monastery is a place of nurturing, a sacred place which helps us to be more aware of the presence of God in all aspects of our lives,” the September 20 working group summary said. “It also teaches us to find a balance in work, prayer, study and family

life.” Hayworth said the delegates spent much time discussing the potential and power of following the Benedictine admonition to treat others as Christ.

“Treating your husband or wife as Christ when he or she comes through the door at the end of the day, or treating the people you work with as Christ - sometimes this is more difficult than treating strangers as Christ,” she said.

“But when you treat others as Christ, you can change the world,” Hayworth said.

The September 21 working group summary said participants “highlighted the fact that we must start off by recognising the uniqueness of others and realising that all human beings are children of God who deserve respect and love.” A survey of Benedictine monasteries with oblate programs showed that the growing number of oblates is not just a Catholic phenomenon, but that other Christians are asking for formation in Benedictine spirituality and are making commitments as oblates.

The Vatican spokesman denied reports that the Vatican Secretariat of State has attempted to help hide a Croatian general accused of war crimes.

Croatian bishops and government officials also have denied the accused general is hiding under Church protection.

Carla del Ponte, chief prosecutor for the UN international tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, told a London newspaper she believes Gen. Ante Gotovina is hiding in a Franciscan monastery in Croatia.

She said she had met with Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, Vatican foreign minister, in July seeking the Vatican’s help in discovering which of roughly 80 monasteries in Croatia was sheltering the general.

“They said they have no intelligence and I don’t believe that,” she told the Telegraph. “I think that the Catholic Church has the most advanced intelligence services.”

“Mgr Lajolo said to me, ‘Let me know in which monastery Gotovina is hiding.’ I said, if I knew, I would

not be here in Rome,” the prosecutor said.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said on September 20, “The Secretariat of State is not an organ of the Holy See that can collaborate institutionally with tribunals.”

He said Archbishop Lajolo asked del Ponte to explain why she believed the general was hiding in a monastery and to provide some indication of which monastery it might be so that he could contact local Church authorities.

Previous investigations of rumours that the general was hiding in a church building “had a negative outcome,” Navarro-Valls said.

The spokesman said that as of September 20 del Ponte had provided the Vatican with no further details about her suspicions.

Croatia’s bishops said del Ponte’s accusations “put forward a whole series of unacceptable theories that would even seem extraordinary for a colloquial conversation, not to mention for the high authority that she represents.” CNS

Charles Darwin, father of evolution and, inset, how he has been despicted by intelligent design supporters.

PHOTO: CNS

The World

Afghanistan in need of help

CRS official says Afghanistan needs war against poverty

As international troops continue their fight against terrorism in Afghanistan, the world community should be waging war against the country’s grinding poverty, said one Catholic relief worker.

“It’s the war on poverty that needs to be won, because if we don’t change this, then the people will be easier prey for the insurgents,” said P.M. Jose, Afghanistan country representative for Catholic Relief Services, the US bishops’ international relief and development agency.

“The international community has to choose to be in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan,” because decades of war, military intervention and outside control have rendered the country “in need and vulnerable,” he told Catholic News Service.

Jose was part of a September 22 meeting hosted by the Vaticanbased Caritas Internationalis, an umbrella organisation for Catholic charities. Caritas partners working in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan meet once a year at Caritas headquarters at the Vatican to review their projects’ progress and needs.

Caritas agencies have raised more than $30 million as part of an emergency appeal for long-term development projects in Afghanistan. Jose said the international community needs to support aid agencies in a coordinated battle against poverty, disease and illiteracy, which is as high as 80 percent for women, if it is to succeed in fostering a stable, democratic nation.

“People cannot forget this country. We need to be with them,” helping fund and carry out longterm development and educational projects, he said.

He cautioned people against believing that Afghanistan no longer needs the world’s support, “that the problem is over, but that is what the insurgents want. We mustn’t fall into their trap.”

Pope meets with Father Hans Kung

Pope, Father Hans Kung have ‘friendly’ meeting, Vatican says

Pope Benedict XVI and German theologian Father Hans Kung, who have known each other for almost 50 years, met on September 24 in Castel Gandolfo in what the Vatican described as a “friendly” encounter.

Joaquin Navarro-Valls, Vatican spokesman, said the Pope and Father Kung “agreed that in the space of this meeting it made no sense to enter into an argument about the doctrinal questions remaining between Hans Kung and the magisterium of the Church.”

Father Kung served as a theological expert at the Second Vatican

the world in brief

Council, but in 1979 the Vatican withdrew permission for him to teach as a Catholic theologian, although not restricting his ministry as a Catholic priest.

The German priest has challenged official Church positions on papal infallibility, birth control, priestly celibacy and the all-male priesthood.

Navarro-Valls said the meeting focussed on two topics of Father Kung’s recent work: the possibility of developing a “global ethic” drawing from all religious traditions and the dialogue between Christian faith and science.

“Professor Kung emphasised that his ‘weltethos’ (global ethic) project was not an abstract intellectual construct, but rather it shines light

Sunday Mass on agenda

Pope Benedict XVI presides in October over the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, an assembly that will review liturgical issues, emphasise the importance of Sunday Mass and mark the close of the “Year of the Eucharist.” More than 250 bishops from every continent will attend the October 2-23 synod to discuss the theme “The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church.” Earlier this year, Pope Benedict shortened the assembly and changed the format to include more group discussion and less speech-giving in response to long-standing criticism of the synod process. The synod will take an in-depth look at many pastoral aspects of the Eucharist, then formulate con-

on the moral values on which the great world religions converge,” the Vatican spokesman said.

Father Kung believes that the moral values common to the world’s main religions can be acceptable to people of no religious faith as well as to believers, Navarro-Valls said.

“The Pope appreciated the efforts of Professor Kung to contribute to a renewed recognition of humanity’s essential moral values through a dialogue of religions and through an encounter with secular reason,” the spokesman added.

“He emphasised that the commitment to a new awareness of the values that sustain human life is also an important objective of his pontificate,” Navarro-Valls said.

The spokesman said Pope

clusions that are passed on to the Pope for possible use in a later document. The synod’s function has always been advisory, and many observers will be watching the October session to see if the new Pope expands that role or gives the synod additional responsibilities.

No date for gay document

The Vatican has been working since 2001 on an instruction against accepting homosexual candidates to the priesthood, but several officials said in late September that Pope Benedict XVI has not approved the document yet, so a date for its publication has not been set. “Obviously, it will come out, but the question is when,” one Vatican official told Catholic News Service on September 22. A top official at one of the congrega-

Jose said their work has focussed on accelerated education programs for youths and young adults, especially women, who may have “missed out on an education during the (rule of) the Taliban.”

Caritas partners, including CRS, also work with refugees and displaced people and are involved in building wells and reconstructing homes and roads. CNS

Eucharist the centre

The Eucharist should be an impetus for the faithful to love others and attend to their needs through charity, Pope Benedict XVI said at his September 25 noontime Angelus. Jesus transformed his death into “a gift of himself, an act of love which he gives completely,” said the Pope.

“In the Eucharist, the Lord, with his body, gives himself, his soul and his divinity to us, and we become one with him and among ourselves,” he said to the people gathered in the courtyard of his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

The faithful’s response to God’s great act of love and sacrifice “should then be concrete,” he said. “One must express an authentic conversion to love, in forgiveness, in mutual welcoming and attention to the needs of all people,” said the Pope.

He said there were myriad ways one could serve others every day and that the faithful could look to the Eucharist as a source of energy and inspiration for performing good works.

Benedict also supported Father Kung’s attempts to promote a dialogue between faith and science, including his efforts to convince scientists of the need to address the question of God’s existence.

In his 1997 book, “Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977,” then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said he had met Father Kung in 1957 at a theological convention. The two served as experts at the Second Vatican Council, 1962-65.

Pope Benedict was Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany, at the time the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith revoked permission for Father Kung to teach as a Catholic theologian; however, he and other German bishops were consulted by the Vatican. CNS

tions working on the instruction insisted on September 22, “It has not been approved. There is nothing new” to report about the document’s progress. Since 2001 - when the Congregation for Catholic Education, which is responsible for setting seminary policies, decided an instruction was needed and began working with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on a draft - numerous reports have been published claiming it was about to be released.

Vatican-Chinese hope

A longtime Vatican diplomat who specialised in relations with reluctant Asian governments said the Vatican “is ready to begin a constructive dialogue with Chinese authorities tomorrow, or rather, this very night.” Archbishop Claudio Celli, secretary

“In this way the Eucharist becomes the source of the spiritual energy that renews the world in the love of Christ,” he said. The Pope said the saints offered the Church examples of people who received strength for their charitable works from the Eucharist. He highlighted St Vincent de Paul, the founder of the Daughters of Charity whose feast day was September 27, and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the founder of the Missionaries of Charity.

Before praying the Angelus, Pope Benedict thanked all the people of Castel Gandolfo for welcoming him during the summer months.

The Pope, who was scheduled to return to the Vatican on September 28, was to have an evening meeting on September 26 with the local bishop, members of religious orders working in the town, the mayor and city council as well as members of the various police forces who ensure public order when he lives in the town. CNS

of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See and a former top official in the Vatican Secretariat of State said The Archbishop made his remarks after receiving the Freinademetz Award from the Divine Word Missionaries for his contributions to improving understanding between the peoples of China and Europe. Archbishop Celli said that although the process of rapprochement between the Vatican and China has not reached an official, formal level contacts have existed for several years. While the Catholic Church wants to normalize its relations with China and ensure full religious freedom for its faithful there, the Church is not alone in having a responsibility to forge stronger ties with the country, he said. “Development and a commitment to peace require a great new relationship with China,” he said.

Afghan girls demonstrate against poverty in Kabul, Afghanistan, on September 13.

PHOTO: CNS

Catholic Church TV Australia

Program guide: 1 - 31 October

Aurora Community Television is available on Foxtel Digital and Austar Digital. Channel 183

Saturday 1st October 2005

5:00am Mass for You At Home

5:30am Octava Dies

10:00am Mass for You At Home

2:00pm Secret Priests

Sunday 2nd October 2005

5:00am Mass for You At Home

5:30am Octava Dies

10:00am Mass for You At Home

10:30am Octava Dies

Monday 3rd October 2005

5:00am Mass for You At Home

5:30am Octava Dies

8:00am Edmund Rice

10:00am Mass for You At Home

Tuesday 4th October 2005

5:00am Mass for You At Home

5:30am Octava Dies

10:00am Mass for You At Home

Program Notes

Octava Dies (Eight Days)

Made by Vatican Television, Octava Dies (Eight Days) is a weekly half hour round up of the activities of the Pope and the Vatican.

Secret Priests

As we celebrate the feast of St Wenceslas this week, we look at the how the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic survived under communist rule.

Edmund Rice - The Quiet Revolutionary

This week we celebrate the anniversary of Edmund Rice and here we learn of the work of the Christian Brothers in the educational, welfare, and pastoral projects they run with their lay colleagues through their traditional works and the Edmund Rice Camps.

Our Forgotten People

This week Australia joins the world in marking World Mental Health Week. Our Forgotten People shows us some of the most vulnerable members of our community are being largely forgotten. Groups like the St Vincent De Paul

Sunday October 2

DIVINE MERCY

are picking up the pieces of years of social and political neglect.

Mission Without Limits

This week we remember Fr Jules Chevalier, founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Sisters of Lady of the Sacred Heart and Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. This film shows us what inspired Fr Chevalier and how those lay people and religious who follow in his way today develop his work for anyone in need.

Conflict Resolution

This week in Australia we marks disarmament week and World Mission Day. Conflict Resolution looks at one of the ways Caritas is working in East Timor and beyond, by helping enemies forgive each other and be reconciled for the common good.

The Business of Making Saints

As we celebrate All Saints Day and All Souls Day this documentary explores the process by which a saint is created, and how Australia’s own Mary MacKillop made the grade.

1:30pm Edmund Rice

Wednesday 5th October 2005

5:00am Mass for You At Home

5:30am Octava Dies

10:00am Mass for You At Home

10:30am Octava Dies

Thursday 6th October 2005

5:00am Mass for You At Home

5:30am Octava Dies

10:00am Mass for You At Home

Friday 7th October 2005

5:00am Mass for You At Home

5:30am Octava Dies

10:00am

Octava Dies

Saturday 8th October 2005

Octava Dies

Edmund Rice

Sunday 9th October 2005

Monday 10th October 2005

Octava Dies

Our Forgotten People

Tuesday 11th October 2005

Wednesday 12th October 2005

Thursday 13th October 2005

Friday 14th October 2005

Saturday

All times are WA time.

Sunday 16th October 2005

Monday 17th October 2005

for You At Home

Mission Without Limits

Tuesday 18th October 2005

Mass for You At Home

Octava Dies

Wednesday 19th October 2005

Octava Dies

Thursday 20th October 2005

Mass for You At Home

Octava Dies

Mass for You At Home

Friday 21st October 2005

Mass for You At Home 5:30am Octava Dies 10:00am Mass for You At Home 10:30am Octava Dies

Saturday 22nd October 2005 5:00am Mass for You At Home 5:30am Octava Dies 10:00am Mass for You At Home 1:30pm Mission Without Limits

Sunday 23rd October 2005 5:00am Mass for You At Home 5:30am Octava Dies 10:00am Mass for You At Home 10:30am Octava Dies

Monday 24th October 2005 5:00am Mass for You At Home 5:30am Octava Dies 8:00am Conflict Resolution 10:00am Mass for You At Home

Tuesday 25th October 2005 5:00am Mass for You At Home 5:30am Octava Dies 10:00am Mass for You At Home 1:30pm Conflict Resolution

Wednesday 26th October 2005 5:00am Mass for You At Home 5:30am Octava Dies 10:00am Mass for You At Home 10:30am Octava Dies

Thursday 27th October 2005 5:00am Mass for You At Home 5:30am Octava Dies 10:00am Mass for You At Home

Friday 28th October 2005 5:00am Mass for You At Home 5:30am Octava Dies

10:00am Mass for You At Home 10:30am Octava Dies

Saturday 29th October 2005 5:00am Mass for You At Home 5:30am Octava Dies

10:00am Mass for You At Home 2:00pm Conflict Resolution

Sunday 30th October 2005 5:00am Mass for You At Home 5:30am Octava Dies

10:00am Mass for You At Home

10:30am Octava Dies

Monday 31st October 2005 5:00am Mass for You At Home 5:30am Octava Dies 10:00am Mass for You At Home 2:30pm The Business Of Making Saints

PANORAMA a roundup of events in the archdiocese

Commencing Wednesday October 5

DISCOVER YOUR CATHOLIC ROOTS

An afternoon with Jesus and Mary at St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Square at 1.30pm. Holy Rosary and Reconciliation as well as sermon on St Faustina Kowalska with Fr Peter Meo, followed by Divine Mercy prayers and Benediction. Enq John 9457 7771, Linda 9275 6608.

Friday September 30 - Sunday October 2

BROTHER ANDREW RETREAT

Spring-time weekend retreat for Brother Andrew’s fifth anniversary will be held at God’s Farm. Brother Andrew was co-founder with Mother Teresa of the Missionaries of Charity Brothers. Retreat Master is Father Brian Morgan. Brother Kevin Paull will give a special presentation on Brother Andrew’s life. Daily Mass. Enq Betty Peaker s.f.o Ph/Fax 9755 6212.

Monday October 3

THE PASSING OF ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI

The Secular Franciscan order will be celebrating the feast with readings on the passing of St Francis of Assisi and the Mass of the feast. All welcome. St John’s Pro Cathedral, Victoria Square, 6.30pm. Supper at the Parish Centre. Enq Mary 9377 7925.

Athol Bloomer, a Hebrew Catholic, will speak on Judaism and Scripture. A series of 4 evening talks commencing Wednesdays 5, 12, 19 and 26 October at 7.30pm at Casa di Luisa Piccarreta, 59 Newton St, Spearwood. Further info: Jenny (08) 9494 2604.

Friday October 7

PRO LIFE PROCESSION MIDLAND

Lead by Archbishop Hickey, commencing at 9.30am with Mass at St Brigid’s Church Midland followed by Procession and Rosary. Enq Helen 9402 0349.

Friday October 7

RETREAT: UNION WITH GOD  CONTEMPLATIVE/ACTIVE

Fr Paul from Cross Roads Community will hold a Retreat at St John of God Retreat Centre, Safety Bay. For more details please contact us on 9319 8344.

Friday October 7

LA SALLE COLLEGE ART EXHIBITION

La Salle College 21st Art Exhibition, featuring the works of local and WA Artists together with a student display held in conjunction with Spring in the Valley 8-9 October. Official Opening Friday 7 October from 7pm to 10pm at $20.00 entry,

includes Swan Valley premium wines and cocktail savouries. Tickets can be purchased from the College on 9274 6266. Entry free on 8 and 9 October from 10am to 4pm. Ring 9274 6266 for tickets.

Friday October 7 - Sunday October 9

PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE LORD

Charismatic Conference presented by Holy Spirit of Freedom Community, sponsored by the Apostles for Christ, Willetton. All invited to attend a weekend of praise and worship, teaching, prayer and healing ministry and the celebration of the Eucharist. Held at Orana Catholic Primary School hall, Cnr Vahland and Querrin Aves, Willetton. Enq Gloria and Ben Heuer 9310 3937 or Michelle Ricketts 9414 1260.

Friday October 7

BULLSBROOK PILGRIMAGE, FEAST OF HOLY ROSARY

Shrine of the Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. Exposition 11.00am, Mass 12.00 noon. All welcome. Further info: Fr Ahearn (08) 9927 1451.

Saturday October 8

MASS OF MOST HOLY ROSARY OF THE

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Solemn pontifical Mass at the Throne in the tradi-

tional Latin Rite celebrated by Archbishop Barry Hickey, St Mary’s Cathedral, Saturday 8 October, 10.00am. All welcome. Music: Renaissance Polyphony and Gregorian chant. Confessions heard before and after Mass. Further info: Fr Michael Rowe (08) 9444 9604.

Sunday October 9

BULLSBROOK: HEALING MASS AND RECONCILIATION

Every second Sunday of month at the Shrine. Reconciliation (Italian or English) 1.30pm. Also Mass, Exposition, Benediction. All welcome to pilgrim’s Mass every Sunday at 2pm.

Sunday October 9

FATIMA HOLY HOUR

St Aloysius Church, corner of Keightly Rd West and Henry St, Shenton Park, 3.00pm. All welcome. Further info: (08) 9339 2614.

Sunday October 9

SCHOENSTATT SPRING AFFAIR  BE THERE!

Besides the usual money spenders at the Fair there is something for everyone to take home free of charge: A SPECIAL VISIT TO THE SCHOENSTATT SHRINE. This is a great opportunity to make the long-planned visit to this special place of Grace

BOOK KEEPING

■ SMALL BUSINESS BOOKKEEPING MYOB

Bulk rates negotiable. Ph: Margaret 9459 5866/0403 778 426

BUILDING TRADES

■ BRICK REPOINTING

Phone Nigel 9242 2952.

■ GUTTERS/DOWNPIPES

Need renewing, best work and cheapest prices. Free quote. Ph: Ad 9447 7475 or 0408 955 991 5008.

■ MJP PAINTING & DECORATING  REG: 6197

“South of the River” quality work guaranteed. Phone Michael - 041 796 8802

■ PERROTT PAINTING PTY LTD

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

■ PICASSO PAINTING

Top service. Phone 9345 0557, fax 9345 0505.

CATHOLICS CORNER

■ RETAILER OF CATHOLIC PRODUCTS

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

CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER

■ WORK FROM HOME

Around your children & family commitments. My business is expanding and I need people to open new areas all over Australia. Training given. Highly lucrative. www.cyber-success-4u.org

FOR SALE

■ LUMEN CHRISTI HOMES

Augusta Life Time Lease. Enquiries Catholic Diocese of Bunbury 9721 0500.

FURNITURE REMOVAL

■ AAA SLIPSTREAM

Piano removal, sales and hire. Special discount for schools. Contact Tony 0418 923 414

■ ALL AREAS

Mike Murphy 0416 226 434.

HEALTH

■ CHINESE REFLEXOLOGY

Two day course 10-11 October, 6.30pm9.30pm. Sts John and Paul Parish, Pinetree Gully Rd, Willetton. Cost by donation. Enq Fr Dominic Su SDS 9294 3504/0429 921 823, Anne Yeap 9459 0642/ 0421 953 747, Augustine Lai 9310 4532. Book Early.

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

■ BUSSELTON

Geog Bay, Park Home sleeps UP TO 6, winter rates apply. Ph Elizabeth 0408 959 671.

■ DENMARK

Holiday House 3bdr x 2bth, sleeps up to 8. BOOK NOW. Ph: Maria 0412 083 377.

■ DUNSBOROUGH

3 bed cosy cottage, sleeps 7, available for holiday rental, quiet oasis 3 mins walk to beach. Sheila 9309 5071.

LEARN GREGORIAN CHANT

■ FOR BEGINNERS

Notation, vocal techniques, English modal chants, Latin Chants. 6 week course on Mondays starting 10 October. The only prerequisite is a willingness to sing. Jubilus Song School Australia. Making sacred music simple. Phone 1300 725 138.

REAL ESTATE

■ SHEILA SHANNON

Thinking of changing your address?

Selling or buying, please think of me! Sheila Shannon, First Western Realty, ...hoping for your call 040 88 66 593.

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS

■ HUMBLE MESSENGER

Shop 16/80 Barrack St (Inside Bon Marche Arcade) Perth WA 6000.

Trading Hours: Monday-Closed,TuesFri-10am-5pm, Sat-10am-3pm, Ph/Fax 9225 7199, 0421 131 716.

■ ST JUDE  BGS.

■ CARETAKER/HANDYMAN

For Catholic Church, Bindoon. Accom provided. Suit pensioner. For details tel 9571-1839 or 9576-0006.

■ CLEANER

Looking for a trustworthy,committed cleaner to do two houses in the Stirling + Duncraig areas. Day-Saturday, but can be negotiated. Please call Joan during the day on 9444 9366 or after 7pm 9344 3380.

■ HELP REQUIRED Resident of Church’s Christ Retirement village wants a Cleaner for 2 hours once a fortnight $13p/hour. Negotiable. Time and amount is negotiable. Phone: 9271 0800.

OFFICIAL DIARY

OCTOBER

2 Mass for deceased members of Catenian Association, St Mary’s Cathedral - Archbishop Hickey Confirmation, Como - Bishop Sproxton

3 Clergy and Seminarians Day, St Charles’ Seminary - Archbishop Hickey

4 Mass, East Fremantle - Archbishop Hickey

5 Mass and Blessing of building works at Pregnancy Assistance - Archbishop Hickey Annual Mass for AFO/CDF, Catholic Pastoral Centre - Archbishop Hickey, Bishop Sproxton

during the month of the Rosary. This Sunday also marks the end of the Year of the Eucharist , to be continued for every day for the rest of your life!

Friday October 14

EUCHARISTIC YEAR CLOSING CEREMONY

40-hour Eucharistic Adoration at Embleton beginning 6pm on Friday and concluding 9am on Sunday with Mass and a procession around the Church with Benediction and Fellowship in the Parish hall. Enq 9271 5528, 9272 1379.

Sunday October 16

ST GERARD MAJELLA 40TH ANNIVERSARY

Celebrations commencing 9.30am with Mass followed by lunch in St Gerard’s school grounds, Westminster, meat provided bring salads and dessert to share. BYO Drinks. Enq 9349 2315.

Friday October 21

REUNION THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION

Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish and School, Miles St Karrinyup invites Priests, past parishioners, teachers, pupils and anyone who has ever been a part of our past to celebrate our 40th Anniversary. Please bring photos with you. Commencing with Mass at 6pm followed by light supper and drinks. RSVP John Reid 9341 2895, OLGC School Secretary 9341 3148.

Saturday October 29

YOUTH WITH A MISSION OPEN DAY

Youth With A Mission has existed in Perth for over 20 years equipping young and old alike with the knowledge and methods to impact this city and nations abroad with the Gospel. A great event for a youth group. Date: 29th October 2005... time: 10am - 4pm... location: 150 Claisebrook Road, Perth... contact: (08) 9328 5321... hope to see you there.

BULLSBROOK SHRINE MASS PROGRAM

Shrine of Virgin of the Revelation, 36 Chittering Rd. Bullsbrook. 2pm Holy Mass, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Holy Rosary. Reconciliation available in Italian and English. A monthly pilgrimage is held on the last Sunday of the month in honour of the Virgin of the Revelation. Anointing of the sick is administered for spiritual and physical healing during Holy Mass every second Sunday of the month. All enq SACRI 9447 3292.

SCHOENSTATT FAMILY MOVEMENT: MONTHLY DEVOTIONS

An international group focussed on family faith development through dedication to our Blessed Mother. Monthly devotions at the Armadale shrine on the first Sunday at or after the 18th day of the month at 3pm. Next event: October 23. 9 Talus Drive Armadale. Enq Sisters of Mary 08 9399 2349 or Peter de San Miguel 0407 242 707 www.schoenstatt.org.au

ST CLARE’S SCHOOL, SISTERS OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD

A short history of St Clare’s School is being prepared to celebrate 50 years of its work in WA. Any past students, staff, families or others associated with the school - from its time at Leederville, at North Perth, at East Perth or at Wembley - are invited to contact us with photographs, or memories. Privacy will be protected, in accordance with your wishes. Please contact Nancy Paterson on 0417 927 126, (email npaters@yahoo.com.au) or St Clare’s School, PO Box 21 & 23 Carlisle North 6161. Tel: 9470 5711.

ALL SAINTS CHAPEL

CONFESSIONS: 10.30 to 11.45am and two lunchtime

MASSES: 12.10 and 1.10pm Monday through Friday. Easy to find in the heart of Perth , 77 ALLENDALE

SQUARE, St. George’s Terrace, Perth, WA. Exposition: 8am - 4pm. Morning Prayer: 8am (Liturgical hours). Holy Rosary daily: 12.40pm. Divine Mercy Prayers and Benediction: Mondays and Fridays 1.35pm. St Pio of Pietrelcina Novena to the Sacred Heart and Benediction: Wednesdays 1.35pm. Lending Library of a thousand books, videos, cassettes at your service. Tel: 9325 2009. www.allsaintschapel.com

INDONESIAN MASS

Every Sunday at 11.30am at St Benedict’s church Alness St, Applecross. Further info www.waicc.org. au.

PERPETUAL ADORATION

Christ the King, Lefroy Rd, Beaconsfield. Enq Joe Migro 9430 7937, A/H 0419 403 100. Adoration also at Sacred Heart, 64 Mary St Highgate, St Anne’s, 77 Hehir St Belmont. Bassendean, 19 Hamilton St and Mirrabooka, 37 Changton Wy.

PERPETUAL ADORATION AT ST BERNADETTE’S

Adoration: Chapel open all day and all night. All welcome, 49 Jugan St, Glendalough, just north of

6 Visit to Notre Dame University - Archbishop Hickey

7-9 Parish Visitation, Attadale - Bishop Sproxton

8 Pontifical High Mass, St Mary’s Cathedral - Archbishop Hickey

9 Mass at Lockridge Parish - Archbishop Hickey

12 Opening and blessing of Foundations - Archbishop Hickey

Opening and Blessing of Fremantle Mausoleum - Fr John Sherman OMI

13 Council of Priests’ Meeting, Glendalough - Archbishop Hickey, Bishop Sproxton

the city. Meanwhile, Masses every night at 5.45pm Monday to Friday, 6.30pm, Saturday and the last Sunday Mass in Perth is at 7pm.

BLESSED SACRAMENT ADORATION

Holy Family Church, Alcock Street, Maddington. Every Friday 8.30 am Holy Mass followed by Blessed Sacrament Adoration till 12 noon. Every first Friday of the month, anointing of the sick during Mass. Enq. 9398 6350.

SUNDAY CHINESE MASS

The Perth Chinese Catholic Community invite you to join in at St Brigid’s Church, 211 Aberdeen St (Cnr of Aberdeen and Fitzgerald) Northbridge. Celebrant Rev Fr Dominic Su SDS. Mass starts 4.30pm every Sunday. Enq Augustine 9310 4532, Mr Lee 9310 9197, Peter 9310 1789.

LITURGY OFFICE OFFERING EXCELLENT WORKSHOPS

Cantors for the Country: To give people confidence and practical skills to lead the singing in country parishes 22 October. Phone: 9422 7902.

CONFRATERNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Confraternity of the Holy Spirit has been sanctioned in the Perth Archdiocese, our aim is to make

the Holy Spirit known and loved, and to develop awareness of His presence in our lives. If you would like more information please call WA Coordinator Frank Pimm on 9304 5190.

First Sunday of each month

DEVOTIONS IN HONOUR OF THE DIVINE MERCY

Fr Douglas Hoare and Santa Clara Parish Community welcome anyone from surrounding Parishes and beyond to the Santa Clara Church, Bentley. The afternoon commences with the 3 o’clock prayer, followed by the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Reflection, and concludes with Benediction.

THE DIVINE MERCY APOSTOLATE

St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Square, Perth – each first Sunday of the month from 1.30pm to 3.15pm with a different priest each month. All Saints Chapel, Allendale Square, 77 St George’s Tce, Perth - each Monday and Friday at 1.35pm. Main Celebrant Fr James Shelton. St Francis Xavier Church, 25 Windsor Street, East Perth - each Saturday from 2.30pm to 3.30pm, main celebrant Fr Marcellinus Meilak, OFM. Saints John and Paul Church, Pinetree Gully Drive, Willeton - each Wednesday from 4pm to 5pm. All Enq John 9457 7771.

Please Note

The Last Word

Floating Shroud theory

Artist says shroud’s image left on cloth at moment of Resurrection

■ By Paula Doyle

World-renowned Los Angeles liturgical artist Isabel Piczek earned accolades for her breakthrough theory “opening new doors of research” at the International Shroud of Turin Conference in Dallas on September 8-11.

The conference drew 160 scientists, artists and physicians from around the world to share the latest research on the shroud, believed by many to portray a full-length image of the crucified Christ.

A Catholic and also a theoretical physicist, Piczek believes the image was left on the shroud at the moment of Christ’s resurrection.

Using a statue she created as a visual aid that measures one-third the actual size of the man depicted on the shroud, Piczek presented her explanation of the image’s “concealed basrelief effect.” She theorises the image of the shroud was transported onto a straight and taut linen above and below the man’s hovering body.

“One of the puzzling mysteries of the shroud is that the image transported to an absolutely straight, taut surface is not flat. It is semi-threedimensional, very much the same as a bas-relief is in art,” explained Piczek. “In art, the bas-relief image always curves out of a straight background that radically eliminates the rest of the space behind the bas-relief.”

Refuting theories that the figure on the shroud was painted, Piczek said the image’s strong foreshortening of the body combined with the lack of a continuous film of a paint medium on the cloth’s surface are “decisive arguments” that the shroud is not a painting.

According to Piczek, the foreshortening of the legs, reflecting the reclined figure’s elevated knees, excludes the possibility of a contact image of any kind.

“An unknown system obeying laws

different from optics created the image with strangely similar visual results,” she said.

Piczek said she arrived at her theory during the creation of the shroud statue a month before.

“A heretofore unknown interface acted as an event horizon,” explained Piczek. “The straight, taut linen of the shroud simply was forced to parallel the shape of this powerful interface. The projection, an action at a distance, happens from the surface and limit of this, taking with itself the bas-relief image of the upper and, separately, the underside of the body.”

Piczek, who holds degrees in art and particle physics, thinks this new explanation of how the image appeared warrants greater investigation of the nonimage area of the shroud. Such research could yield scientific clues to the “unknown information field” that caused the projection, according to her.

“The image of the shroud and its riddle cannot be solved through the science of the past,” she said.

Concurring with French physicist and shroud researcher William Wolkowski, Piczek believes that the transdisciplinary study of the shroud will give birth to a new scientific age. “The shroud shows the future of science,” she said.

In an interview with The Tidings, Los Angeles’ archdiocesan newspaper, she called the conference a “landmark event” because of the presence of

Turin, Italy, officials who fielded questions about the shroud, last displayed in public in 2000. Mgr Giuseppe Ghiberti, adviser and spokesman for the papally appointed custodian of the shroud in Turin, led the delegation and delivered the keynote address.

Piczek said the Turin officials dispelled rumours about the shroud, including whether or not the shroud has been vacuumed.

“The old thought that the shroud has been vacuumed is not true. The dirt on the cloth is historic,” said Piczek, a founding board member of the Dallas-based American Shroud of Turin Association for Research. The association co-sponsored the Dallas conference along with the 400-yearold Centro shroud organisation based in Turin and the 50-year-old Holy Shroud Guild based in Esopus, N.Y.

During the conference, botany expert Alan Whanger indicated that pollen and flowers on the shroud reveal plants native to Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. Other conference presenters discussed their analysis of the shroud’s human bloodstains as well as biblical references to the shroud and an explanation of the cloth’s “lost years” before it resurfaced in France in the 13th century.

Next year, another international shroud conference, organised by Dr August Accetta, founder of the Southern California Shroud Centre in Huntington Beach, will be held in the Los Angeles area. - CNS

11.

Babies born to married parents have lower rates of infant mortality. On average, having an unmarried mother is associated with an approximately 50 percent increase in the risk of infant mortality. US studies show that while parental marital status predicts infant mortality in both blacks and whites, the increased risk due to the mother’s marital status is greatest among the most advantaged: white mothers over the age of 20.

The cause of this relationship between marital status and infant mortality is not well known. There are many selection effects involved: Unmarried mothers are more likely to be young, black, less educated and poor than are married mothers. But even after controlling for age, race and education, children born to unwed mothers generally have higher rates of infant morality. While unmarried mothers are also less likely to get early prenatal care, infant mortality rates in these instances are higher not only in the neonatal period, but through infancy and even early childhood. Children born to unmarried mothers have an increased incidence of both intentional and unintentional fatal injuries. Marital status remains a powerful predictor of infant mortality, even in countries with nationalised health care systems and strong supports for single mothers.

Extraordinary means: Isabel Piczek, a Los Angeles liturgical artist whose artwork is displayed at the Vatican, was a featured presenter at the International Shroud of Turin Conference in Dallas on September 8-11. She claims the Shroud could not have been produced using ordinary artistic techniques. Photo: CNS

A controversial mystery: Cardinal Giovanni Saldarini blesses the Shroud of Turin before it is put on display in Turin’s cathedral. Photo: CNS