The Record Newspaper 19 May 2005

Conclave:

Cardinal reveals some of what happened

The retired archbishop of Barcelona spoke about the “overwhelming” experience of participating in the conclave that elected Benedict XVI, at a dinner organized by e-christians.

Respecting the oath of secrecy, Cardinal Ricard María Carles, 78, spoke to the Spanish organization about everything from the pre-conclave meetings to the election of the new Pope.

The first day of the general congregations

was dedicated to familiarising the cardinals with logistical issues, such as seating arrangements and the doors which they should use, and even the names of the doors.

Carindal Carles commented that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the dean of the College of Cardinals, noted “in an amusing tone: ‘Its funny: after being here 20 years, now I find out the name of the door we come through.’”

The general congregations served to help the cardinals get to know one another. Each cardinal was given seven minutes to address the congregation, expressing “our views on the world and the Church,” said the cardinal.

There were cardinals “of all races, countries, cultures, explaining the problems and positive things in their countries and Churches,” he continued.

During those days, “we did not want to

Continued on Vista 3

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Cathedral closed

Monday’s freak winds shift Bunbury’s St Patrick’s 1 inch

The damage bill to the historic Bunbury St Patrick’s Cathedral, surrounding buildings and environment caused by Monday’s freak storm could be as high as $5 million according to Bunbury diocesan financial administrator John Ogilvie.

■ By Jamie O’Brien

Bishop Gerard Holohan of Bunbury said on Wednesday that St Patrick’s Cathedral will be closed for 12 to 18 months amid widespread concern about its future.

The Bishop said the concern was shared by people across the diocese and throughout the general community for which the building has been an icon since long before the diocese was established in 1954.

All services had been transferred to St Mary’s Church on Columba Street, which would become the temporary Cathedral.

Engineers, who were still studying the condition of the building, had confirmed the Cathedral shifted an inch at chest height around the north-western side of the building.

”The information needed for any decision about the future of the building will take some days to finalise,” Bishop Holohan said.

The area has been cordoned off and a security guard posted.

The foyer entrance of the Cathedral was also destroyed during the storm.

Roof tiles were blown away in winds that reportedly reached up to 91 kilometres an hour.

“The situation of the Parish Pictures, continued - Page 5

But in Perth St Mary’s future starts to take shape

Senator Chris Ellison (left), Archbishop Barry Hickey and Senator Ian Campbell discuss the model for the completion of St Mary’s Cathedral last week after Senator Campbell, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage had announced a $3 million grant towards the cost of the work.

The money was allocated in Senator

THE AUTHORITY OF LOVE

The success of a TV series starring a ‘super nanny’ who helps parents set boundaries for their children is a sign of hope for the development of a culture of responsibility. VISTA 4

Campbell’s portfolio in last week’s Federal budget. Senator Ellison, who is Minister for Justice and Customs, had presented the Archbishop’s request for assistance to the Prime Minister last year.

Senator Campbell said that cathedrals played a community role in addition to their particular religious role in all of Australia’s capital cities

Editorial - Page 6

Movies: Kingdom of Heaven - VISTA 4

The World - Pages 8-9

Tertiary education: Hands blessed - Page 3

Classifieds - Page 11

and it was important for the community to preserve and enhance these outstanding buildings. Archbishop Hickey thanked the two WA Senators for their assistance in the project.

He said the plans were now before the Perth City Council for approval. It is hoped construction will start in January next year, with completion about 18 months later.

MARY AGREEMENT

An historic agreement between Catholic and Anglican theologians on Mary is seen as a breakthrough in a centuries-old impasse between Protestantism and Catholicism.

Bishops listen as youth do the talking

About 45 young people from youth groups, faith organisations, universities, seminaries and parishes turned out to give their views to Archbishop Barry Hickey and Bishop Donald Sproxton on Tuesday night at the first of the Youth Consultations organised by the Archbishop.

■ By Hugh Ryan

Archbishop Hickey invited representatives of the many organisations to tell him and Bishop Sproxton what they expected of them as Teacher and Shepherd; what they thought of the existing state of the Church in the Archdiocese; and how best to attract vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

The official age range was up to 40, but most of the participants were in their twenties.

A number of them expressed concern about ‘inconsistencies’ among teachers, particularly RE teachers, and priests in their explanation of the faith.

Others sought a clearer link between the teachings of the Church and daily life.

Another said the Archbishop’s presence in mainstream media was important. His work with Linda Watson in helping to rescue women from prostitution was a great example.

Visibility in as many ways as possible was cited by another who recalled how a Year 2 student had recognised the Archbishop in the street during a class visit to the city because she had seen him on the LifeLink appeal.

One said that parishes (unspecified) were falling apart because of the attitude of priests, including refusal to say Mass for school children.

Another young man said we needed to look at ourselves to see if our faith is strong enough. “We have the answers, we need the faith.”

An RE teacher said there were inconsistencies in teaching, but they came from human error and not all teachers having had an adequate faith education in their own life. She suggested the Archbishop might organise open forums where things could be discussed “to make our faith more overt to ourselves and help to keep each other on

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track”. A young man said his friends could not commit to a gym membership let alone to Jesus or the Church, but his efforts to get them to Mass were often frustrated by petty unpleasantness from priests or parishioners such as dirty looks related to dress or uncertainty of movement.

“We need to show the example of our own warmth,” he said.

After a statistical presentation by Fr Pat Cunningham which revealed that the worst Mass-attending age groups in order were 25-29, 20-24, and 30-34, the young people expressed the need for more resources and more sustained effort to reach out to and spiritually support young people from the time of leaving school to the time of establishing their own families.

More resources were needed at universities and to link university groups. The young people took this in hand immediately, expressing their joy at meeting one another and grabbing the opportunity to start networking.

Having paid youth workers appeared to be working at Bateman, but there were suggestions that they were not always successful elsewhere. Developing a model and a philosophy based on the success at Bateman could be useful in other areas where some young people were eager, but did not know how to go about things.

The Mass was central to catholic life, but having a “Mass only” structure could be a limitation. There could be more open forums where people in their twenties could explore the meaning of being Catholic.

There was a need to find ways of moving towards young people to help them establish an identity as Catholics at a time when there was media animosity and a stigma attached to being Catholic.

We need a focus of community outreach and total Christian living.

As a Church we tend to miss the word relationship, as young people having a relationship with God; that excites me.

We need to show and tell the story of the love of God, not define it dryly.

On the subject of attracting vocations to the priesthood and the religious life, the young people offered many suggestions.

A seminarian said there was a need for prayer (“my Mum’s prayers in my case”) and structures to call people forward. It was not until priests spoke to him about it that the meaning of his call became clear.

Raising awareness was vital –recent Army Reserve ads on TV were cited as a good example.

It was important for young people to be able to mix with young priests and nuns.

Particular attention should be given to 20 to 35-year-old single women who had not yet decided to marry to help them clarify their identity as Catholics.

There was a renewal of vocations among young women, particularly to orthodox orders because orthodoxy was the radical approach in today’s Church and today’s world.

The questions of married priests and women priests were raised.

Archbishop Hickey said that while marriage was a Church rule not a

dogma it did not appear to have increased vocations in churches where it was allowed, and in Eastern Catholic Churches only celibate priests could become bishops.

The Church believed it did not have the authority from Christ to ordain women priests, so it would be unwise to put much energy into that issue.

The Archbishop said that Perth had been leading Australia in priestly ordinations, but Sydney and Melbourne were now catching up. There would be nine priests ordained in Perth before the end of this year, seven diocesan and two for religious orders.

Recently at a prayer festival at New Norcia, 7 of the 8 priests were young priests.

The next consultation – for the same groups plus those who were invited but unable to attend the first session – will be held at Como next Tuesday, starting at 6pm. The subjects to be covered are what young people want in the area of lay formation; and how to reach out to Catholics who are far from the Church and those who are alienated from the Church. The evening will conclude with an open forum. A light meal is provided.

Young people discuss what to tell Archbishop Hickey and Bishop Sproxton about young people and the Church at Tuesday night’s consultation. Photos: Jamie O’Brien

Bishop Donald Sproxton and Archbishop Hickey listen intently to young people.

Fiona attends ND blessing

More than 700 hands were blessed last week in a ceremony at the University of Notre Dame coinciding with International Nurses Day and Florence Nightingale’s 184th birthday.

The Blessing of Hands has traditionally been celebrated by nursing students but this year was extended to the whole College of Health; including students from the Schools of Counselling, Medicine, Nursing, Physiotherapy and Health & Physical Education.

Australian of the Year Dr Fiona Wood was the guest speaker at the ceremony and spoke of her journey and experience as a surgeon.

“Some of the most inspirational people I meet are the patients I treat,” she said.

“They tolerate such suffering and

Lotteries award cash for historic repairs

Lotterywest has allocated $28,370 for repairs to the Pro-Cathedral of St John the Evangelist.

Built in 1846, it was the first Catholic church in WA. Repaired and renovated many times, the church is currently suffering from a leaking roof and drainage problems.

The Lotterywest grant, announced by the Minister for Government Enterprises Eric Ripper, will enable the Archdiocese to remove paving and install airdrains, restore the roof, replace gutters, downpipes and flashings, and install lead coping.

Part of the conservation plan for the Pro-cathedral, the work will be supervised by heritage architects and carried out by heritage trades people.

pain and then move on and lead extraordinary lives,”

“You can’t imagine the pleasure and satisfaction you feel in knowing that your patient is going home,” Dr Wood said.

Over 350 people attended the ceremony where student’s hands were anointed with oil.

Father Greg Watson, who led the liturgy, said the health community is capable of doing extraordinary things and society highly values the work that they do.

“We anoint our College of Health students with oil as it symbolises healing, wellness and strength,”

“Kings, priests and prophets were anointed with oil as it also symbolises that those who are anointed are set aside as agents of God.”

● The acting Chancellor of the University of Notre Dame Australia announced the appointment of Supreme Court judge Neville Owen as the new chancellor of the university earlier this week.

Justice Owen is a Trustee and Governor of the University and one of Australia’s leading jurists.

Sr Sonia Wagner SGS said Justice Owen will take up the appointment on August 1 2005.

He replaces high-profile lawyer Terry O’Connor QC whose 15-year term as Chancellor finished at the end of last year.

Sr Sonia said: “The University

is fortunate to have such a distinguished citizen as Justice Owen in the position of Chancellor at a time when the University is expanding into Sydney,”

“He is well known and highly respected in both Western Australia and New South Wales; and the Board of Directors looks forward to working with him to continue the growth and development of Notre Dame as a distinctive and high quality Catholic University.”

Sr Sonia paid tribute to the work of his predecessor, Mr Terry O’Connor QC.

“The University owes an enormous debt to Terry O’Connor. He was there for the early and very difficult establishment years of the University,”

“His strong and unwavering support for the mission of the University provided a firm base on which the Vice Chancellors he worked with knew they could rely.

“He came to the position before Notre Dame had any students. He finished with the enrolment estimated to be 5000 in 2005 and an agreement in place with the Archdiocese of Sydney to establish a Campus there in 2006.

His contribution, which was most generous in terms of both his time and benefaction, will be long remembered and appreciated.”

By Jennifer Wakeman from Notre Dame and The Record’s Jamie O’Brien

CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF ADELAIDE

DIOCESAN PASTORAL RESOURCE TEAM

The Team Leader will lead a staff who will offer consultancy and advisory services to deaneries, parishes and other Diocesan agencies. The Catholic Church of Adelaide seeks to place family life at the heart of its Church community, and as the focus of its strategic planning. The Team Leader will help shape this process.

The successful applicant will:

•demonstrate a deep commitment to the Catholic faith;

•articulate a vision of Church in mission, with every family at its heart;

•possess outstanding leadership skills, especially in transformational leadership;

•demonstrate a sound theology of Church.

This position is a senior management position within the Archdiocese. For further information including a role description and other documentation please contact Mrs Aida Best on (08) 8210 8162.

Applications close Monday May 30, 2005.

Notre Dame medical students Jenny Lee, left, Danni Paterson, Ebony Doherty and Chinnu Rajalakshmi meet Professor Fiona Wood, a woman many Australians consider a hero at last week’s blessing of hands.

Photo: Jamie O’Brien

Schools: life-blood of Catholic Education

The memory of Pope John Paul II has been honoured at St Maria Goretti’s Catholic School in Redcliffe in the naming of the new Year 1 classroom that was blessed and opened recently.

The Pope John Paul II Learning Centre is the latest capital development project at the school that continues to grow on the foundations of the Marist Fathers and Sisters of Mercy.

In blessing the new facilities, Fr Brian O’Loughlin, Vicar General of the diocese of Perth, paid tribute to the strong sense of community spirit at the school.

“By working together you make St Maria Goretti’s a strong school

where Christian values are learned and shared,” he said.

Echoing this sentiment, Tony Giglia, Assistant Director, Planning, Resources and Governance Section at the Catholic Education Office, said schools such as St Maria Goretti’s were the life-blood of Catholic education and the Church.

“St Maria Goretti’s forms an integral part of the parish and projects itself into the community as a family oriented, Catholic parish primary school where parents are encouraged to be involved to the extent that they are able to,” he said.

“This is critical to the development of a close, nurturing school community that has as its main

objective the excellent education of students. “One of the most powerful statements a parent can make about their love for their children is to be involved with their education. Your commitment to this school in so many ways is fundamentally important to how it progresses into the future.”

Adding to this, Principal Drew Jago said the school was blessed with the fruits of a very supportive, interested and loving parent community.

“As a strong faith community, we believe and are deeply committed to growth, thus enabling all children and their families to enjoy the St Maria Goretti way,” he added.

Deepening the faith is priority, new rector says Rally set to make Gov’t re-live legislation

■ By Jamie O’Brien

The new rector of St Charles Seminary, Fr Don Hughes, says he will work on the philosophy that he has to walk with the students to give them the example of a life of faith.

“I want to give to them a ministry in which they are close to their people so that they [the future priests] can rejoice with them and mourn with them in their daily life.”

Fr Hughes, who will take up his new appointment towards the end of the year, is replacing Mgr Tim Corcoran.

Mgr Corcoran will be returning to Parish Ministry.

Born in Fremantle, Fr Hughes was educated at Christian Brothers College in Fremantle and undertook his studies in philosophy at St Charles Seminary from 1946 to 1952 under the direction of Dr Goody, who later became Archbishop.

Fr Hughes is also a former classmate of Fr Pat O’Hearn who died last year.

Following this he joined the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and studied in Ireland and was ordained in September 1957.

After various appointments as a missionary priest in Sorrento in New South Wales and Victoria, then as teacher in Brisbane in 1961, as founding Rector of Mazenod College in Lesmurdie in 1966, as a Parish Priest in Adelaide and later Auckland, New Zealand Fr Hughes returned to Melbourne to become the Novice Master and Superior of the Oblate Seminary.

He was then appointed Parish Priest and Rector of St Patrick’s Basilica in Fremantle in 1996.

From 2002 he has been Parish Priest of Lesmurdie.

Fr Hughes said he looks forward to assisting with deepening the faith of the students at St Charles as a priority in conjunction with their academic studies.

“My aim is to show them how to serve as deeply spiritual priests, able to cope with the pressures of modern life,” he said.

Prolifers will gather at Parliament House at 12 noon on Thursday, May 26 to mark the seventh anniversary of the passage of the 1998 legislation which made abortion legal in Western Australia.

The Rally is an annual event organised by the Coalition for the Defence of Human Life. Coalition Secretary, Dr Ted Watt said “It is important for those who value every human life, including that of unborn children, the sick and the disabled, to make it publicly known that we will never accept a legal regime which authorises the killing of a single innocent human being. The Rally for Life serves to make this declaration.

“We are still waiting on the latest abortion figures from the Health Department but our estimate is that over 57,000 children have been killed under the laws passed by the Western Australian Parliament on May 26, 1998.

“Just last month the Legislative Council defeated, by 20 votes to

5, a motion moved by the Hon Paddy Embry, MLC which would have protected all human embryos created in Western Australia after 5 April 2002 from being used in destructive research.

“The Parliament will soon be faced with the Government’s proposed ‘right-to-die’ legislation which may well include provisions allowing patients to be starved to death.

“The Rally for Life gives us an opportunity to encourage the determined band of prolife MPs - Liberal, Labor and others - who have stood up for the defence of human life within the State Parliament.”

Speakers at the Rally for Life include Archbishop Barry Hickey who will be reflecting on “Pope John Paul II: His Legacy and the Culture of Life” and Churches of Christ Pastor Rob Furlong who will speak on the recent death by starvation of Terri Schiavo and its implications for Western Australians.

Schiavo’s parents thank Vatican for support

VATICAN CITY (CNS)The parents of the late Terri Schindler Schiavo visited a top Vatican official to thank him for his defence of their daughter’s right to life.

Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, received Bob and Mary Schindler, parents of the 41-year-old Florida woman who died on March 31, nearly two weeks after a court ordered her feeding tube to be disconnected.

Schiavo had been in what doctors defined as a persistent vegetative state since 1990.

At his May 17 meeting with the Schindlers, Cardinal Martino reiterated his condemnation of “the killing of this woman in one of the most inhumane and cruel ways, through hunger and thirst,” according to a written statement released by the council.

Rev Fr Brian O’Loughlin with Fr Eugene McGrath, of St Anne’s Parish Belmont

Rosary proving a hit among children

■ By Jamie O’Brien

A small group of Catholics is trying to encourage praying the Rosary in schools throughout the Archdiocese of Perth by providing free Rosary beads for children.

“The Rosary is one of the time honored prayers of the Church,” said Tony Pitchford, Chairman of the Decade a Day project.

“It seems to have diminished a bit.”

According to Mr Pitchford, thousands of Rosaries have been purchased and distributed to about half the schools in the Perth Archdiocese, but there is no money left in the bank to buy more beads.

Over 15, 000 free Rosaries have been distributed to 57 of the 107 schools con-

tacted. Organised by the Family Prayer Crusade, the Decade a Day project originated in Newcastle, New South Wales, shortly after the events of September 11 2001 in New York.

“Its rapid growth in many other countries since then can only be attributed to the influence of Our Lady wanting young children to learn and appreciate the Rosary,” Mr Pitchford said.

“For many readers this may include their own young children or grandchildren.” A number of remarkable stories have already come from schools that have taken up the idea.

“In the last couple of weeks we have given up to 4000 to 12 schools alone,” Mr Pitchford said.

Some children, says Mr Pitchford, have happily reminded their teacher

not to forget the Rosary before class finishes. Some have asked their parents for their own rosary beads and some have been given beads by their grandmothers. There have also been instances of children prompting their parents to say the Rosary at home. All these simple stories indicate a love for something new to many children. Children who receive rosary beads from the Decade a Day project also receive a Certificate and the Angelus for participating.

The Family Prayer Crusade is encouraging readers to make a donation to assist its work.

Anyone unable to assist financially might like to help by praying a decade of the Rosary.

Donations can be sent to the Decade a Day Project, Legion of Mary, 36 Windsor Street, Perth 6000.

Talks on offer can provide answers to life

A series of talks are being offered by the Neocatechumenal Way at the parish of St Gerard’s Mirrabooka, which can help listeners to discover God’s love and the meaning of life.

The Neocatechumenal Way has been recommended by Pope John Paul II as an itinerary of Christian formation and welcomed by Archbishop Hickey as one of the fruits of the second Vatican Council.

It is a way of discovering the rich-

ness and strength of the sacrament of baptism, knowing and accepting ourselves, learning to understand the scriptures and walking together in a small community as a part of the local parish, helping other people in their journey of faith.

Youth and adults are invited to listen to the series of talks, or catechesis, commencing Monday June 6 and Thursday June 9 in the parish hall, on Majella Road, Westminster.

The talks will continue every Monday and Thursday night at 7.30pm for eight weeks.

Pictured above those who will present the talks, Duncan and Carmel McFarlane, Jenny and Clifford Lakay, Francesco and Antonella Trentin and Redemptoris Mater Seminarian Manoel Lopez-Borges.

Parish priest Fr Abraham Martin stands centre with an icon of the virgin Mary and the child Jesus.

Bunbury Cathedral suffers severe damage

Continued from Page 1

house is particularly sad,” Bishop Holohan said.

“The authorities have rightly decided the roof is too unsafe for anyone to go up to place tarpaulins to cover it, “We just have to watch the weather damage it further,” he said.

Pieces of roof from residential flats owned by the diocese were blown off and spread up to 80 metres away. The diocesan offices were without power until Monday afternoon, also sustaining extensive damage because of a collapsed ceiling.

Two parishioners were setting up for Mass in the Cathedral when the storm occurred, and had to take cover. Their cars outside also suffered damage.

“It looked like a war zone,” Mr Ogilvie said.

“However parishioners

helped put tin back on the roofs and replant some of the shrubs just to clean the area up so we could continue working,” he said.

Bunbury Catholic College also sustained some damage, according to Principal Ivan Banks.

“We consider ourselves much more fortunate than other businesses,” Mr Banks said.

The school library was affected by water damage, an air conditioner was damaged and a tree went through the roof of the manual arts woodwork room.

Mr Banks added that almost every tree on the property was also damaged.

Estimated costs and times it will take to repair the damage were not available at the time The Record went to print.

“There was a great team effort and a large number of staff and students assisted in cleaning up the debris around the place,” Mr Banks said.

Let us not be indifferent to the Eucharist, but reflect upon It, saying: “It is God Almighty who comes down upon the altar! I shall touch Him, converse with Him, and receive Him into my heart.”– St John of Avila

There is a school in Heaven, with only one lesson taught: how to love. The Teacher is Jesus, and the subject is His Body and Blood.

–

St Gemma Galgani

Come, experience the love of your Mother

The decision of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission to release their document “Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ” (See page 8) is itself a matter of grace and hope.

It is an impressive demonstration of the truth of Pope Benedict XVI’s recent statement that God is in charge of history. It also demonstrates that He continues to use Mary as a means of implementing our spiritual history.

Mary is the one He chose to give us the Word in the first place, which is why she is known to Catholics as the Ark of the Covenant, the ark in which the Word of God was carried for nine months before the rest of the world knew that the new Covenant had begun. It is therefore not surprising that she is a vehicle for the new springtime for Christianity which Pope John Paul II so confidently predicted at the turn of the millennium.

Although the document is a Catholic/Anglican agreement, its contents carry messages that may make it much easier for other Protestant Christians to see the Catholic Church in a new light.

“Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ” agrees that all of the Church’s teachings about Mary are based in Scripture. In particular, it reveals the scriptural foundations for the comparatively recent dogmatic pronouncements about the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the Assumption (1950). Not only that, it confirms that Catholic

“Where Mary would have been seen as the biggest stumbling block of all just a few decades ago, Time magazine astonished most Catholics by putting her on the cover of its March 28 edition this year under the words “Hail, Mary” as a pointer to their 8-page cover story on how Protestants were beginning to find their own reasons to celebrate the mother of Jesus.”

expression of those doctrines clearly attributes their origin to the divine power of Jesus.

This will be no surprise to Catholics because all of the Church’s teachings, spiritual and moral, are based in scripture and can either be found there directly or found in the meaning of scriptural events. It will, however, be a surprise to many Protestants because some of them believe that Catholics do not believe in the Bible, or not very deeply if we give it any credence at all.

This is a centuries-old belief which is passed on the way most centuries-old beliefs about other people and other religions are passed on, unthinkingly just because it has always been ‘true’. It is a handy foundation for anger and malice for

those who like those things, but for most it is simply taken as a fact that doesn’t need examination.

If nothing else, this document will invite Protestants in general to see Catholics differently.

But the signs of the times are that there is much more going on than merely that, valuable though it would be. For decades now, Protestant scriptural scholarship has been opening up new vistas on the joy and beauty of scriptural truth, and those scholars who have simultaneously been looking at Catholic teaching have been pleasantly surprised by the results.

Where most Protestants followed the Anglican 1930 line that reversed the teaching on contraception, recent studies have led quite a

Join Pope Benedict XVI in prayer - May

few of them to realise that scripture says otherwise.

Where Mary would have been seen as the biggest stumbling block of all just a few decades ago, Time magazine astonished most Catholics by putting her on the cover of its March 28 edition this year under the words “Hail, Mary” as a pointer to their 8-page cover story on how Protestants were beginning to find their own reasons to celebrate the mother of Jesus. It is hardly a tsunami swamping Protestant objections to the Catholic way of honouring Mary, but it looks like Mary is beginning to claim her rightful place in human hearts.

Those who have been involved in teaching the Catholic faith to other Christians (such as in RCIA

“That those persecuted for the sake of faith and justice may experience the consolation and strength of the Holy Spirit”.

Mission intention: “That the Pontifical Missionary Works, proposed by the Holy Father and the bishops for the evangelisation of all nations, may help the people of God to feel that they have a real part to play in the mission ‘ad gentes’.”

teams) will be well aware that the fear of idolatry is deep in many people’s subconscious and is not easy for them to deal with. They are also aware that once they make the effort to approach Mary as Mother the fears vanish and Mary’s love leads them on with joy to the celebration of Christ in the Eucharist.

Catholic experience is that love of Mary has never led anyone away from Jesus. On the contrary, Mary inexorably leads her children closer and closer to her divine Son. The concept of there being any division of desire or will between Jesus and Mary is impossible for Catholics to contemplate. Mary’s answer to God at the time of the Annunciation “Let it be done to me according to your word” was a complete acceptance of the will of God, an acceptance which she sustained throughout her life on earth and which she could not possibly diminish in the presence of God in heaven.

For many Protestants, however, these things have not been so clear. Catholics need to remember and respect the fact that their absence from devotion to Mary has been triggered by a desire not to offend God. Many Catholics admire their steadfast devotion to Jesus while silently sorrowing that they do not experience the love of the one who was appointed from the Cross to be their mother.

As the meaning of “Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ” becomes more widely known, the woman who united God and man in her own womb will lead those who love her son to greater unity.

Statistics that should make us stop. And think.

A public forum presented by Perth Catholic Mission and The Record on the plight of the world’s children and our Christian response.

● Children in the world: 2.2 billion;

● Children living in poverty : more than one billion;

● Children with no access to health care in developing countries : 1 out of 7;

● Daily rate of under-5 children mortality for lack of preventative measures against illnesses: 29,158 per day;

● Death rate of children in 2003 : 10.6 million;

● Life expectancy for a child born in Japan : 85 years;

● Life expectancy for a child born in Zambia : 33 years;

● Number of child deaths as a direct or indirect result of conflicts in 2003: 3.6 million;

● Children sexually exploited : 2 million;

● Estimate of new HIV-infected children in 2003: 5 million;

● Estimate of sexually transmitted deseases for Under 25-individuals: 2.5 million;

Come and hear a talk about a subject that we all need to know and understand.

● HIV-AIDS orphan children : 15 million (of these , 80% living in Sub-Sahara Africa);

● Percentage of public spending for Health Care from Governments of industrialised countries: 14%;

● Percentage of public spending for Health Care from South East Asia and Pacific: 1%;

● Global military expenses in 2003 : 956 billion US dollars.

- Source: Unicef 2005 Report

Come and hear a talk about a subject that we all need to know and understand

DATE: Friday 17th June 2005

TIME: 7pm to 9pm

VENUE: Catholic Pastoral Centre of Our Lady of the Mission 40a Mary Street Highgate

KEY NOTE SPEAKER:

Fr. Patrick Byrne, SVD

Secretary General of the Vatican’s Pontifical Society of Missionary Childhood

Fr Patrick, as a Vatican official, has been to all the world’s trouble spots to monitor the plight of children and facilitate concrete responses to address their immediate and long-term needs in collaboration with local and international agencies with similar goals.

More than one billion children are living in poverty around the world.

In 2003, 3.6 million children died as a direct or indirect result of conflicts.

This public forum has been organised by the Catholic Mission Office in Perth and Bunbury in conjunction with The Record. It is hoped that this forum will not only affirm the concern we all have for the suffering of children around the world, but give us practical pointers to the seeds that we can sow today that will make a difference tomorrow.

A Sudanese refugee mother breast-feeds her malnourished child. Photo:

Reality TV conversions

BBC reality show puts non-Catholics into The Monastery for 40 days

■ By Simon Caldwell

Dom Perignon, the man who put his name to one of the best-known brands of champagne, was perhaps the only Benedictine priest ever to have made an impression on Tony Burke, an agnostic who once filmed trailers for a sex chat line.

But after Burke, 29, spent 40 days and 40 nights in Worth Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Crawley, England, he was a changed man.

He underwent a religious conversion, came to believe in God, quit his job - and never looked back.

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” he said.

Burke, a resident of London, was one of five men selected from hundreds to take part in “The Monastery,” a three-part reality television show being broadcast in Britain by the BBC, beginning on May 10. The show followed the experiences of each of the five participants, none of whom was Catholic, as they tried to adapt to the Benedictine way of life.

“We saw in this project an opportunity to discover what our way of life offers to people today who do not share our beliefs,” Benedictine Abbot Christopher Jamison said.

“For the participants, we hoped that they would discover hidden depths in their lives and in those hidden depths encounter God. This hope was fulfilled to an extent that took us all by surprise,” he said.

Abbot Jamison first invited the men to use silence as a “wonderful spiritual bath which we invite you to use to relax your spiritual muscles so you can start listening to God, listening to each other and listening with the ear of your heart to your own deepest self.”

The men prayed with the monks six times a day, and each participant was asked to observe the Benedictine rules of silence, obedience and humility.

Predictably, they found the Benedictine lifestyle difficult. Burke was one of the first to crack. In the first

episode he was filmed leaving the abbey with Gary McCormick, a 36-year-old painter and former member of a Protestant paramilitary unit from Northern Ireland, in search of “virgins and cigarettes” in a nearby village.

The pair returned with a bag containing cigarettes, potato chips, chocolates and soda; they were asked to sit down while Abbot Jamison explained that true freedom rested in being able to choose to resist the urges of the body.

Burke and McCormick were joined in the abbey by Anthoney Wright, 32, a “high-earning, high-energy” bachelor from London who boasted to the group that he had gone to the monastery straight from a “Cartier polo match.”

Wright, who works for a legal publishing company, was filmed partying in the days before he arrived at the abbey. He was shown giving a high-five to a barman in a fashionable Mayfair salon and winking at the camera as a girl threw her arms around his neck.

Also in the group was Nick Buxton, 37, a student of Buddhism at Cambridge University who, since filming ended, has returned to his Anglican roots and regularly attends church. He took an intellectual approach to the challenge but struggled with the “part of me that doesn’t believe.”

Peter Gryffyd, 70, a retired teacher and published poet from Bristol, was the only married man in the cast. He said he sought the answer to the question, “What is the meaning of life?”

McCormick said he “couldn’t stay out of jail” after he became involved with the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and later became a drug user. He fought back tears as he told how he swore violently at his mother, “the only one who ever really stood by me in all my life.”

McCormick was one of the first to find what he was looking for - the strength to come to terms with his past - and the ensuing inner peace.

“There are 22 monks in here, and every one of them loves you and accepts you,” he said. “I have never been made so welcome in a place in all of my life.”

“They talk to you; they maybe know about your background, yet they don’t judge you. It’s hard to put into words but the acceptance here is, to me, it’s like

walking into heaven,” he said. Over the weeks that followed, Gryffyd regained the faith he rejected in his youth, and Buxton edged closer to becoming an Anglican minister.

Burke discussed his past drinking problems and confessed that he was unhappy with his present life. Then, on day 38, he had a “religious experience,” and reported a “surge of energy” that left him in tears.

Burke told Catholic News Service on May 10 that he now attends a Catholic Church near his home in London.

“I was looking for a different way of approaching life, and my time in the monastery gave me a tremendous amount of affirmation,” he said.

“I went in as an agnostic, and had a very specific and profound experience. It was something I couldn’t ignore and haven’t ignored,” he said, adding that since filming was completed in September he has also returned to the abbey at least once a month to pray with the monks.

Wright was shown coming to terms with being raised by grandparents after being abandoned as a 2-year-old. He told CNS that the monastery experience motivated him to realise his ambitions. He said he has since taken a pay cut to set up his own music production company.

He added that he now prays daily and makes the occasional visit to London’s Westminster Cathedral.

“The experience is still happening,” he said. “It is when you get back to civilisation that you start to go back over all the things you learned.”

He said he flirted with the idea of becoming a Catholic but instead opted to pursue a spiritual life of his own making.

“Definitely, the experience has changed me a lot, but at the end of the day I am not about to become a monk,” he told CNS.

“Everyone has the stereotypical idea of what a monk is. You think of them as being old-fashioned and not part of the modern world. But they were great. They were just like normal guys who you could talk to easily. It was the most unbelievably peaceful and spiritual place. I will remember the experience forever,” he said.

“I am still in contact with them. I consider them friends. How many other guys can say they have 22 monks as spiritual advisers?” he said. - CNS

Five men who retreated from their ordinary lives to join the monks at Worth Abbey in Crawley, England, are the stars of “The Monastery,” a three-part reality television show being broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Photo: CNS

Sr Cosmas: Tireless dedicated love

■ By Jamie O’Brien

After more than 50 years of working in Uganda as a Francisan Missionary Sister, Irish nun Sr Cosmas says the Ugandan people are ‘her’ people and she is grateful for the time she has spent there.

Sr Cosmas has spent the past three weeks in Perth to visit her sister Deirdre Gearon of Balcatta.

As a Franciscan Missionary of Africa, Sr Cosmas said she felt called from a very young age to care for women and children, in particular girls, in Africa.

She works together with four other Franciscan Missionary Sisters in Uganda, where they serve prisoners, refugees, students and the disadvantaged – physically, mentally and/or socially.

The country borders to the east with the Congo and to the west with Kenya, has little resources and its weather conditions are affected greatly by the fact the equator runs right through it.

“It is either terribly wet,” says Sr Cosmas, “or very dry, which can be disastrous.”

Maize (corn) is the most common foods, although not very nourishing, it does help to sustain their life.

She says she entered the Order because she wanted to serve in Africa, in particular Uganda, as at the time she believed it was one of the poorest nations.

After completing degrees in Education and Theology, Sr Cosmas attended the Maymooth Pontifical University in Ireland.

In about 1944, at the age of 19, Sr Cosmas began her life in Uganda, in the town of Nkokonjeru (which means White Hen) training teach-

ers.

By 1954, Sr Cosmas was working in Lusikisiki, South Africa, where she was Principal at a boys and girls Primary school. She spent a further six years in Kenya, in the 1970’s until she returned to Uganda in 1979.

Originally named Dymphna Collen, her religious name comes from St Cosmas, who together with twin brother St Damian, treated the poor for free and were martyred together with their five brothers.

Many would find it hard to believe - after hearing of the vast amount of work she carries out in her adopted country - that Sr Cosmas turns 80 in November this year .

Her sister Deirdre Gearon said she remembers Sr Cosmas as being a quiet and intelligent achiever during their childhood years.

Mrs Gearon went on to say it became evident her sister would be working in somewhere like Uganda because she joined a missionary order.

Despite having suffered various bouts of malaria in which she felt close to death, Sr Cosmas has no intention of retiring soon.

It was at the age of seven that Sr Cosmas said she remembers hearing the story of a missionary priest, and soon made up her mind that this is what she wanted to do.

At present she is working with street children, mainly boys, who can’t afford to go to school but are being trained as carpenters and tailors.

Students start studying at 7am and continue until 9pm, often with little or no food seated in classrooms consisting of simple benches and chairs.

Resources are scarce; often one book has to suffice between a group of 300 students or more.

Sr Cosmas says she doesn’t think

too much about the great needs of her students otherwise she feels the situation would become impossible to work in. “Many of the girls are very talented and intelligent and all they need is a chance,”

“While the situation has improved in the past 18 years, the Government has had to start from scratch in providing essential services,” Sr Cosmas said.

The refugee crisis is also a reality in Uganda.

“Very often it feels like the outside world is completely unaware or not terribly interested in what is happening.”

Many of the men, women and children have fled from the north to escape rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Sr Cosmas says it is not really a war but a conflict where the LRA attack, kill and deliberately disfigure innocent people in an effort to recruit them to their army.

The rebel movement claims to rule by the Ten Commandments, however the reality is far from it.

“There are hundreds of thousands in camps for fear of being abducted,” Sr Cosmas said.

“The Red Cross and United Nations are doing their best to provide food and blankets but this help is very limited also.”

There is also the fact that often this aid is sabotaged by the LRA.

Often women have tried to go home in search of food and possessions but have returned maimed – their eyes, ears, nose and even their breasts have been mutilated.

Children have seen their parents killed, attacked, and abducted and many former child soldiers, says Sr Cosmas, are learning to speak about the traumatic experiences they have suffered.

“Some of them know they have killed and raped and are learning to deal with the effects of their actions,”

“They are real people, they feel guilty for their actions and are learning to live with that.”

The Ugandan Government has offered amnesty to rebel leaders in an effort to maintain peace.

The difficulty for many of those who escape from the LRA is that often they cannot return to their

Finetuning the call to holiness

■ By Joanna Lawson

Whether they’re hoping to change their lives or are just not satisfied with mediocrity, more and more people are taking…

The Retreat Option

tribal village for fear of retribution and social exclusion.

Peace will be the biggest money earner for Uganda, says Sr Cosmas, and believes the country has a lot to offer in terms of tourism.

Sr Cosmas supports John Paul II and his discernment that the best option to control the HIV/AIDS crises is to abstain from sexual intercourse.

With little or no access to medication or testing, Sr Cosmas says she has seen many people die from the disease, a number of them during childbirth.

There are more than two million orphans according to Sr Cosmas, and that is only counting those who have managed to be counted.

Sr Cosmas has seen more than 600 Ugandan women professed in the Little Sisters of St Francis, founded by the same woman – Mother Kevin Kearney from Wicklow, Ireland – who founded the Franciscan Missionary Sisters.

“They are doing excellent work among their own people.”

Many of the orphans are forced to live with relatives, however this is difficult as often whole families are wiped out.

Older siblings - some as young as ten or 11 - take the place of parents, missing out on an education because they have to work, often just managing to survive.

Ugandan President Museveni and his wife Janet have also led a long term Government campaign to promote abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage as the best way to control the HIV/AIDS crises.

Many have taken up the invitation with much enthusiasm, says Sr Cosmas, a fact she wishes could have come about earlier.

Sr Cosmas adds that she admires the way many of the women who have taken HIV patients into their home to care for them.

“All the women want to do is to live long enough to see their children go to school.”

Sr Cosmas is pleased by the fact that a number of her students have risen above the obstacles of poverty and violence and are now teaching.

Since she first went to Uganda, Sr Cosmas has seen more than 600 Ugandan women professed in the Little Sisters of St Francis, founded by the same woman – Mother Kevin Kearney from Wicklow, Ireland – who founded the Franciscan Missionary Sisters.

“They are doing excellent work among their own people,” Sr Cosmas said.

The people, she says, despite the demoralising situations, lack of help from bigger nations and the country’s own lack of resources are resilient and very welcoming.

“The people are so grateful, all they want is an opportunity to help themselves.”

By 11.30 in the morning I was already wishing the day was over. A parking ticket was attempting to fly way in the breeze but was pinned down by my windscreen wiper. While trying to exit the scene of the crime, I nudged the old battered car behind me with my shiny new blue bumper.

I was on my way to interview Father Hugh Thomas, a Redemptorist priest based at the Redemptorist Monastery in North Perth. My mood was low. The weather bureau said conditions were bright, but it still felt like there were a few gloomy clouds hanging about in the sky. I parked just outside the side entrance to the monastery and found my way to the garden that fringes the retreat house.

Spiritual retreats are experiencing a popularity boom the world over. People are willing to give up days, weeks, even months to seclude themselves from the outside world, and get in touch with their true selves.

The effect was almost immediate. Smelling the wet earth and faint scent of a mixture of flowers was a relaxant better than any planned shopping spree could have been. Spiritual retreats are experiencing a popularity boom the world

over. People are willing to give up days, weeks, even months to seclude themselves from the outside world, and get in touch with their true self. If you wish, you can funk dance your way into a frenzy, and utilise the ensuing exhaustion to your spiritual benefit. Or have crystals placed on energy points of the body to release negativity. The methods are countless and sometimes nonsensical, but fortunately, they can also be very simple. Catholics and other Christians can go on a retreat and experience the same seclusion and introspection, but the focus is on listening to God.

In India, the “Divine Retreat Centre” at Potta in Kerala in the south of the subcontinent, draws thousands from around the world every year. The faithful, including those facing addictions and personal crises, are helped to overcome obstacles to happiness with periods of meditation, scripture study, and short periods of fasting. The effect of attending a retreat is summed up by one man in a passage on his personal website (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/9669/ mypota.htm):

“No matter how many times people would tell you that you should have to go for a Retreat, you would listen politely and then forget, but when you are called by God, you will go quite unexpectedly and meekly, and then you really enjoy the Grace of God, and your eyes would see His power, love and supremeness.”

Here in Perth, Fr Hugh Thomas runs a variety of retreats at the Redemptorist Monastery in North Perth to meet the needs of the varied communities that make up Perth’s Catholic community. The numbers of those participating in retreats increased noticeably in the Jubilee year, he says. “In today’s world, people are bombarded with an awful lot of noise,” says Father Thomas. “We live in a very secular society, and the hectic nature of life does not let you get very deep problems and resentments prevent it.

“People find they need God in their life, and retreats provide the space to be able to listen to God.”

In his letter written for the coming of the new millennium Novo Millennio Iuente Pope John Paul II said... “It is important however that whatever we propose, with the help of God, we should be profoundly rooted in contemplation and prayer. Ours is a time of continual movement which often leads to restlessness, with the risk of ‘doing for the sake of doing’. We must resist this temptation by trying ‘to be’ before trying ‘to do’.”

A retreat provides the time and environment to allow people to let

the “noise” disappear so that they can listen. There are several retreat houses run within the Archdiocese, and many are situated in rural areas.

Silence and the awesome beauty of nature are the usual backdrop of such settings. Even at the Monastery, which fronts onto busy Vincent Street, giant gum trees and high walls prevents the din of the road from bothering the residents of the retreat house. But most important is the structure of the retreat itself such as what goes on to make the restless person quiet.

Father Thomas tells me of the different kinds of retreat run at the Monastery. “We have charismatic retreats where we sing and pray to the Lord. “It’s very energetic,”

“Then we also have contemplative retreats where we read the scriptures and meditate, and listen to the God within us.”

Most people access retreats through organisations such as Saint Vincent De Paul, Catholic Womens’ League and the like. But at houses such as the Benedictine Monastery in New Norcia, individuals can book themselves a place at retreats that are open to the public.

But it is not only adults that

can benefit from retreat programs.

Perth’s Catholic schools take up a number of bookings at retreat houses around the central and outer metropolitan areas. On my way to the Redemptorist office, I picked my way through groups of students from Servite college, engaged in a retreat.

Janice Broderick manages the retreat house. “All kinds of people are going on retreat,” she says. “We recently had one for men that were turning 21 years old.

“I think that the ideal time for kids to go on retreat is their first year out of high school, just when it’s easy to slip into the lifestyle of drinking, and missing Church on a Sunday once, then the next week, then only going at Easter and Christmas.

“It’s very easy to do.” Father Thomas nods quietly in agreement. Retreats help people to focus on “being”. Being our true self, the person that God created, rather than a person who is merely a product of popular culture. Being a real follower of Jesus by reading scriptures and understanding His word.

“Pope John Paul II reminded us of the universal call to holiness, and that it’s different for people of all walks of life,” he says.

“A husband and father will have a different holiness to that of a nun or a priest.

“A retreat is the best help to that call.”

Can going on retreat have an effect on the lifestyle of those that attend? Most people that attend are in earnest pursuit of a change to themselves or the way they are living.

“I find it very rewarding to give retreats,” says Father Thomas, smiling.

“The people who attend are very serious about becoming closer to God, and are not satisfied with mediocrity.

“For me it is just very rewarding to see tired, stressed, anxious people walk out refreshed; with new energy and calm again.”

With the interview drawing to a close, Father walks me to my car. I see the small scratch on the bumper, and remember the frustration it caused at the time.

The parking ticket sits in the passenger seat screwed up into a ball.

Neither of these things seem like a big deal now, but if trifling things have the power to change my mood, I realise that it’s probably wise if I took some time to look after myself, and maybe go on a retreat.

Spanish Cardinal opens up on what took place in the conclave

Continued from Page 1

talk

from God,” admitted Cardinal Carles.

“I never thought I would live the experience of a conclave. We cardinals were conscious that those 115 men had to choose, with the Holy Spirit, the one who would govern 1.1 billion Catholics,” said the retired archbishop. Arriving in the Sistine Chapel

and taking the oath was “overwhelming,” he said. Cardinal Carles continued: “And not just on the first day, when entering the conclave, which was seen on television. Every morning and afternoon, with our vote in hand, when going up to the altar, and seeing the Christ of the Last Judgment surrounded by the Sistine Chapel ... we said the formula: ‘I swear before this Christ, who will judge me!’

“When one is there, there is no place for ‘lobbies,’ or pressure groups, or the likes, or any of that!

“What you see, when 115 persons of different races and cultures are in agreement on the fourth ballot, is that the Holy Spirit acts. One did not vote for someone one liked, or of a similar culture; it was the Spirit.” The cardinal said that it was exactly 5:30 p.m. on April 19 when the two-thirds were reached – the

majority necessary for the valid election of the Pope.

“I had on the table this very watch which I wear and I looked at the time: exactly 5:30 p.m. At once, there was applause, when the recounting resulted in the twothirds. The recounting was not yet over, and the inspectors asked for silence, and patience, until all the votes were counted,” he said.

Cardinal Carles said the vice dean, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, put

the question to Cardinal Ratzinger. And Ratzinger replied in Latin: “Although unworthy, I accept out of obedience.” Cardinal Meisner of Cologne later said: “When I saw that at 78, an age when others are retired, he was to take charge of such a great mission and he did so with such delight and intelligence, I was inwardly overwhelmed and the tears flowed. I am a man and not a machine. And a man with a heart can weep.” - Zenit

Sr Cosmas, originally from Ireland, with a statue she brought to Perth from Uganda, where she serves as a missionary Sister. Photo: Jamie O’Brien

in

Africa earlier this year with Elizabeth Vanzyle, a member of the 3rd order of Fransican Missionary Sisters, and Ms Vanzyle’s grandson.

Father Hugh Thomas at the recent Catholic Prayer Festival.

Is the authority of love coming back?

■ With Mark Reidy

Upon seeing the latest television ratings I couldn’t help but recall the words of the late Pope John Paul II, “God is preparing a great springtime for Christianity, and we can already see its first signs.”

I’m sure John Paul did not have the success of the current TV series “Super Nanny” in mind when he left us with these words of hope, but I believe it could indirectly be one of the seedlings of optimism that he envisaged.

Recent survey results indicate that running parallel to society’s desire to be titillated (a la ‘Desperate Housewives’) is a growing quest for meaningful direction.

“Super Nanny” is a reality show featuring a British nanny, Jo Frost, who is invited into the homes of struggling American parents whose lives are in turmoil due to their inability to control their children. Ratings indicate that 1.8 million viewers tuned in nationally as it became the third highest rating show in Australia. In Sydney it out-

moviereview

rated “Desperate Housewives” by 20,000 to become their most popular.

While such results may not be the transforming revival that Christians hope for, they at least indicate that large numbers of people are searching for answers and guidance, reflecting the findings of the Australian Childhood Foundation which indicated that 63 per cent of those surveyed were concerned with their level of confidence as parents.

1.8 million viewers tuned in nationally as it became the third highest rating show in Australia. In Sydney it outrated “Desperate Housewives” by 20,000 to become their most popular.

It would appear that this is the harvest from the seeds of permissive parenting advocated by Dr Benjamin Spock and associates who were so influential in the 1950’s and 60’s. Today we are left with a generation of dads and mums who are the products of these accommodating parental practices and are consequently often bereft of key skills to manage their own children.

In their own lifetime they have seen sharp increases in rates of juvenile crime, drug use, sexual promiscuity, suicide, depression, use of prescribed medication etc.

and they fear for the future of their children.

While Frost encourages parents to use quality time and loving interaction with their children she is unashamed in her promotion of discipline and boundaries.

Despite the cry of some psychologists that her techniques are eroding the dignity of the child, the increasing popularity of her style indicates that parents have had enough of children ruling the roost and are seeking to reclaim their rightful place. There is a recognition that the order of authority has been distorted, resulting in family and social upheaval. It is more apparent that the ideal of replacing boundaries with choices and discipline with affection was not, in actual fact, what children needed.

It recognises the reality that if behavioural parameters are not imposed then the natural inclination of children will be to satisfy their own desires. Parents are beginning to realise that it is more loving to establish themselves as authority figures, not friends, and that their children’s social and emotional development is enhanced when firm boundaries are applied, not removed.

This new movement of thought could well be one sign of the springtime spoken of by Pope John Paul II as it is exposing a searching generation to the very principles which have been promoted and adhered to by the Catholic Church for over 2000 years. That is, that adult and child alike, when left unbridled,

become slaves to their own passions. We are seeing this individually in children who have not been allowed to learn and mature in the safety of a regulated environment and we can see it in a society that has surrendered to its own desires and ignored the parameters established by a loving Creator.

Perhaps the time is nearing when our world will make the connection between the struggles of the family unit and that of the wider society. When they begin to understand that without loving authority and God-given boundaries we are no different to a child left to their own devices. Then, it is only a matter of time before we self-destruct.

Kingdom of Heaven: mad Hollywood on the loose

■ By Paul Gray

Evil, nasty Christians. Nice, noble Muslims. Hollywood seldom surprises keen observers when it oozes political correctness.

But director Ridley Scott takes the fashionable intellectual caricature of “traditional” Christianity to excess in his new movie, Kingdom of Heaven

The nation’s number one box office earner in its first week, Kingdom of Heaven re-creates the history of the Crusades, particularly the few years leading up to the assault on Jerusalem by the Muslim warrior Saladin.

Re-creates – but does not tell the truth. Not in the most important detail, which is the reason why the Christian armies were there in the Holy Land to begin with.

Some historians and critics have slammed Kingdom of Heaven for being woefully inaccurate in its depiction of history. Certainly, the errors are easy to spot for those who know the facts.

Unfortunately, however, plenty of credible historical detail is also recorded in the film - which makes it even more misleading and dangerous to truth.

For example, the French knight Reynald de Chatillon, shown as a key player in Scott’s version of the Crusades, was indeed a red-headed Christian who raided Muslim caravans and kidnapped (not murdered,

as the film says) the sister of Saladin himself.

And influential 1950s historian Steven Runciman did report that Saladin exacted the dramatic revenge on Reynald that is shown in the film.

But contrast that with the portrayal of the movie’s main Christian character, Balian of Ibelin, the heart-throb hero played by Orlando Bloom. Unlike Bloom, the real Balian did not have a love affair with the Princess of Jerusalem – and he was not a humble blacksmith who went on Crusade in expiation for the sin of murdering a priest.

Kingdom of Heaven opens with this entirely fictional murder, which is shown as “understandable” because the “priest” is so dishonest, intolerant and cruel. Oh, and the priest also a graverobber.

Heroic Orlando runs him through, then goes on a worldweary pilgrimage to Jerusalem, torn between a desire to obey some vague chivalric ideal and the growing conviction that all religion is pointless.

Some Crusader. Even worse than this, though, is the movie’s depiction of the legendary warrior-monks, the Knights Templar, who are surely one of the most interesting groups in the history of Christianity.

Ridley Scott portrays the Templars as unbelievably, indeed insanely evil. Think of those bulbous-eyed mad monks from the Michael Palin comedy Jabberwocky, roll them together with Monty Python’s murderous Pirhana brothers, and you have Scott’s Templars.

The historical reality was quite different. The movie portrays the

Templars as an evil renegade force, out to murder, pillage and provoke war wherever they possibly could. Not so, says the distinguished British writer Piers Paul Read in his much-praised history, The Templars In fact, says Read, “The Templars were a multinational force engaged in the defence of the Christian concept of a world order: and their demise marks the point when the pursuit of the common good within Christendom became subordinate to the interests of the nation state – a process that the world community is now trying to reverse.” Read adds, that it’s also difficult to understand the mentality of the time of the Crusades unless we look at the real significance attached to the city of Jerusalem by the three monotheistic religions, Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

If we don’t understand those religions, we can’t understand the Crusades.

One of the world’s leading scholars of Islam, Prof Bernard Lewis, also presents a somewhat different picture of the Crusades.

“In Western usage,” Prof Lewis said, the word ‘crusade’ “has long since lost its original meaning of ‘a war for the cross,’ and many [people] are probably unaware that this is the derivation of the name.

“At present, ‘crusade almost always means simply a vigorous campaign for a good cause.

“Yet ‘crusade’ still touches a raw nerve in the Middle East, where the Crusades are seen and presented as early medieval precursors of European imperialism – aggressive, expansionist and predatory. I have no wish to defend or excuse the often atrocious behaviour of the crusaders, both in their countries of origin and in the countries they invaded, but the imperialist parallel is highly misleading.

“The Crusades could more accurately be described as a limited, belated and, in the last analysis, ineffectual response to the jihad - a failed attempt to recover by a Christian holy war what had been lost to a Muslim holy war.”

History is always different from how Hollywood presents it. At a time when the history of IslamicChristian relations needs to be better understood, Kingdom of Heaven represents a whole new problem of its own.

British nanny, Jo Frost is the Super Nanny

Orlando Bloom, left, stars in a scene from the movie “Kingdom of Heaven.”

Photo: CNS

the West

No matter where, they brought Eucharist

■ By Mary Busher

Taking the Mass and their Eucharistic Lord to Catholic settlers in WA’s early days called for priests of exceptional zeal and character.

Nothing in their seminary training could have prepared them for the difficulties encountered. For some the challenge was too much. But those who successfully adapted to pioneering life certainly earned the love of their sparse congregations and a place in our history

When Belgium born Archdeacon Lecaille died aged 83 on May 7 1908 his priestly work had taken him thousands of miles through WA on horseback. Riding from Busselton to Geraldton was a routine undertaking.

A tribute in The Catholic Record of May 10, 1908, noted that in his 51 years in WA his name was a household word. He was a familiar figure on horseback, carrying all the requisites for offering the Mass as well as his camping and cooking needs.

Ordained at Propaganda College Rome in 1856, he arrived in WA in February 1858. He built the first presbytery at Bunbury and the first chapel at the Vasse. Appointed to what was then the Northern District, he arrived in Greenough

in February 1865. From there, travelling on horseback, he looked after people at Geraldton, Northampton, Dongara, The Flats, Yarraghadee, Strawberry, Mt Erin and places in between.

For many years he offered Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve at Greenough then set off, still fasting, to ride many miles to other centres to say two more Masses before noon to celebrate the Nativity with his scattered flock.

In July 1888 he transferred to the Vasse. At his Greenough farewell Archdeacon Lecaille estimated that in his 23 years in the region he had baptised some 2000 Catholics. He left as he had arrived - on horseback and rode the 450 miles to Busselton.

Irish born Father James Duff was ordained at All Hallows Dublin and shortly afterwards left for WA. He worked in Fremantle and Perth for a time then in 1889 made the first of several missionary trips to the North West.

He took the Mass and sacraments to miners on the Kimberley goldfields and was the first cleric to arrive after the Ashburton gold rush.

In 1893 he was on the Murchison goldfields when many people were dying of typhoid fever. Where Cue township now stands he offered the first Mass there - “on a raw morning, in a shed, through every crevice of which the rain penetrated.” (from a Record report.)

For health reasons postings to Perth and Katanning followed. Then in response to requests for a priest Bishop Gibney assigned Father Duff to Coolgardie.

Some three years later in the Catholic Record of February 11 1899, Father Duff recalled that the Bishop advised that as the train only went as far as Burracoppin, he should buy a camel there for the rest of the journey. Duff said he preferred a bicycle. He had never ridden one but spent his last two days in Perth practising riding on the walk in front of the Bishop’s Palace.

Extracts from his account of

the trip reveal his tenacity. “At Burracoppin I was advised not to try the journey as there was little or no water on the road. I had a duty to perform so I started and took my chances.

“I carried a bag of vestments tied to the handle of my bike.

“I camped at night, ate very little, rinsed my mouth with water but did not drink much. I rose early and covered many miles before the sun was very hot.

“The track you could easily find by the dead horses and camels. In two instances I passed the remains of some unfortunate prospector

who had paid the penalty of death on account of bad health, or want of water.

“At last I saw some tents dotted here and there - surely this is Coolgardie I said to myself.

“The first man I struck was a solicitor, Frank Harney, a Dublin University man. When I asked if I was near Kennedy’s Hotel where I was to say the first Mass, he inquired in astonishment if I was the Father from Perth. I was not surprised he did not know me as a priest. I was covered in dust, my clothes ruined and the sun had not been kind to hands or face.

“Kennedy’s Hotel was a hessian structure. It was a thriving business. Protestants and Catholics all welcomed me.”

The report noted the hotel’s dining room wasn’t large enough for that first Mass - the overflow of worshippers knelt outside in the street.

At his farewell from Coolgardie (Record July 25, 1896) Father Duff recalled that in some places he had been required to be priest, undertaker and grave-digger, all in the one day.

Archdeacon Lecaille and Fr Duff are just two of the many pioneering priests who worked under tremendous difficulties to ensure WA Catholics had access to the sacramental life of the Church.

Communion a special day

First Communion days have always been special occasions for children, their families and parish communities.

The many festivities associated with this day may sometimes distract the young participants a little from the spiritual side, but the traditional family gathering had the approval of the Pope of the Eucharist, St Pius X.

The advocate of frequent communion by the laity, in 1906 he directed that First Communion day be made more impressive in the lives of Catholic children.

The directive, published in The Record on August 18, 1906, prescribed that in Rome First Communion was to be received in the child’s parish church. It was to be preceded by a special instruction lasting some 30 or 40 days, and by a retreat of several days’ duration.

To further highlight the solemnity of this Day, Pius X granted throughout the universal Church a plenary indulgence to all first communicants, and their blood relations, down to the third degree inclusively.

This was subject to family members joining the children in the reception of the sacraments and praying for the Pope’s intention.

Fr Lecaille

Fr James Duff

The first church at Menzies 1893, typical of the early churches on the Goldfields used by Father Duff and other priests.

Photo: The Record January 21, 1899

An early Mass kit of the type used by pioneering priests in Western Australia

Photo: Derek Boylen

Yesteryear: children pose for their first Holy Communion photo in Perth. In 1906 Pope Pius X had urged that such days be more specially celebrated.

Western Australia’s first baptism register (1848 - 1866)

The World

Mary brings hope in Anglican agreement

Anglicans, Catholics reach agreement on Mary’s role in Christian life

■ By Cindy Wooden

While some Roman Catholics may need to exercise more care in their devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, honouring her and seeking her help are not practices that should separate Catholics and Anglicans, says a new joint statement.

The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission released its statement of agreement, “Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ,” on May 16.

The document said, “We believe there is no continuing theological reason for ecclesial division on these matters.”

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, often seen as a distinctively Roman Catholic or Orthodox practice, has roots in Scripture and the early Christian tradition, which make it part of Anglicans’ heritage as well, the document said.

In their liturgical calendars, both Anglicans and Roman Catholics mark major events in the life of Mary, and in their formal prayers both refer to her as “ever virgin” and as “Mother of God Incarnate,” the document said.

By examining “our shared belief concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary,” the document said, members of the dialogue team hoped to provide a “context for a common appreciation of the Marian dogmas” of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, which have divided Anglicans and Roman Catholics for 150 years.

While the Vatican and the Anglican Communion office authorised publication of the new document for study and discussion, the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion do not consider it an official statement until the Vatican and the Anglicans’ Lambeth Conference officially approve it.

In their introduction, the Catholic cochairman, Archbishop Alexander J. Brunett of Seattle, and the Anglican co-chairman, Archbishop Peter F. Carnley of Perth, Australia, wrote, “In this statement we have had to face squarely dogmatic definitions which are integral to the faith of Roman Catholics but largely foreign to the faith of Anglicans.”

Invoking papal infallibility, the Catholic Church solemnly proclaimed in 1854 that Mary had been conceived free from original sin and in 1950 that she was taken body and soul into heaven at the end of her life.

Because Anglicans and other nonCatholics do not recognise the infallibility of the Pope and because Mary’s conception and assumption are not mentioned explicitly in Scripture, the two dogmas have been considered major obstacles to Christian unity.

In the five years they spent working on the document, members of ARCIC did not try to tackle the question of papal infallibility, but rather looked at the content of the two dogmas, particularly in reference to Scripture, early Church theologians and the statements of Church councils held before Roman Catholics and Anglicans split.

“It is impossible to be faithful to Scripture and not to take Mary seriously,” the document said.

“Anglicans and Roman Catholics together affirm” that Mary was biologically Jesus’

mother, that she was a virgin and that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, the document said.

Early Church theologians taught that Mary remained a virgin, it said. “In their reflection, virginity was understood not

beyond Scripture and tradition, ARCIC said. In popular religion, Mary came widely to be viewed as an intermediary between God and humanity, and even as a worker of miracles with powers that verged on the divine,” it said.

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, often seen as a distinctively Roman Catholic or Orthodox practice, has roots in Scripture and the early Christian tradition, which make it part of Anglicans’ heritage as well, the document said.

only as physical integrity, but as an interior disposition of openness, obedience and single-hearted fidelity to Christ.”

By the 16th century, however, reformers were calling for greater restraint in Marian devotion that had seemed to move far

The reformers reacted “against devotional practices which approached Mary as a mediatrix (mediator) alongside Christ or sometimes even in his place,” the document said.

The reformers’ emphasis on Jesus Christ

as the only mediator between God and humanity led them to reject the “real and perceived abuses surrounding devotion to Mary. It also led to the loss of some positive aspects of devotion and the diminution of her place in the life of the Church,” it said.

“To be Roman Catholic came to be identified by an emphasis on devotion to Mary,” the statement said.

And the growth in devotion contributed to the consensus among Roman Catholics that led to the solemn definitions of Mary’s Immaculate Conception and Assumption.

While Anglicans may object to the way the dogmas were proclaimed, ARCIC members said the teachings make sense when seen in the light of a scriptural pattern through which God prepares those he has called to fulfil a special mission and rewards those who wholeheartedly cooperate with him.

ARCIC members encouraged Roman Catholics and Anglicans to look at the dogmas in the context of the eighth chapter of St Paul’s Letter to the Romans, which affirms that those whom God “foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.... And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified.”

“Mary is marked out from the beginning as the one chosen, called and graced by God through the Holy Spirit for the task that lay ahead of her,” the document said.

ARCIC members said that in proclaiming the Immaculate Conception the Catholic Church specifically explained that Mary was conceived free of sin “in view of the merits of Jesus Christ,” thereby affirming that Mary, like all people who came before and would come after Christ, was saved through his passion, death and resurrection.

Therefore, the dialogue members said, “we can affirm together that Christ’s redeeming work reached ‘back’ in Mary to the depths of her being and to her earliest beginnings.”

ARCIC members also said that while there is no direct reference in the Bible to the end of Mary’s life, the Bible does mention other great followers of God - including Elijah and Enoch - being drawn into God’s presence at the end of their earthly lives.

“We note that the dogma (of the Assumption) does not adopt a particular position on how Mary’s life ended, nor does it use about her the language of death and resurrection, but celebrates the action of God in her,” the statement said.

“We can affirm together the teaching that God has taken the Blessed Virgin Mary in the fullness of her person into his glory as consonant with Scripture and that it can, indeed, only be understood in the light of Scripture,” the dialogue commission said.

ARCIC also looked at differences in the devotional practices of Anglicans and Roman Catholics, particularly the Catholic practice of asking Mary to pray for or intercede for them.

The dialogue commission underlined Christian teaching that Jesus is the only mediator between God and humanity. However, it also noted that asking a friend, a pastor or even someone who has died to pray for someone does not deny the fact that God alone answers people’s prayers.

But because Roman Catholics and Anglicans believe that Mary now lives with Jesus, whom she bore, “she is believed to exercise a distinctive ministry of assisting others through her active prayer,” it said.

While some Roman Catholics may need to exercise more care in their devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, honouring her and seeking her help are not practices that should separate Roman Catholics and Anglicans, said leaders of the two Churches on May 16. PHOTO: CNS

The World

Pope Benedict appoints Levada

Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican agency charged with protecting and promoting the Church’s teachings on faith and morals.

The appointment, announced on May 13, marked the first time a US prelate has headed the congregation. It is the oldest of the Vatican’s nine congregations and is considered primary in responsibility and influence.

Pope Benedict, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was prefect of the doctrinal congregation from 1981 until the death of Pope John Paul II in April. The appointment of his successor was closely watched, and sources said cardinals and archbishops from Italy, Austria and Spain were also considered as candidates for the position.

In naming Archbishop Levada, 68, the Pope chose someone who has worked closely with the congregation over the last 30 years. He was a congregation staff member from 1976 to 1982 and has been a bishop-member of the congregation since 2000.

In the 1980s, Archbishop Levada collaborated with then-Cardinal Ratzinger as one of a small group

of bishops appointed to write the “Catechism of the Catholic Church.”

In November 2003 he began a threeyear term as chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Doctrine.

Archbishop Levada met privately with Pope Benedict 10 days before his appointment was announced.

His new position means that he will be named a cardinal in a future consistory. Archbishop Levada, who has headed the Archdiocese of San Francisco since 1995, was a key figure in the approval of new norms to handle cases of priestly sexual abuse. In 2002, he was a member

of the US -Vatican commission that made final revisions to the norms, which laid out a strict policy on priestly sex abuse and provided for removal from ministry or laicization of priests who have sexually abused minors.

Archbishop Levada will now head the Vatican agency that oversees the handling of priestly sexual abuse cases, under policies initiated by the late Pope John Paul in 2001 and 2003. In some “grave and clear cases” of sexual abuse, the doctrinal congregation can dismiss the priest from the priesthood by decree, without a formal church trial.

The archbishop also has had experience with the pastoral side of another issue that has drawn increasing attention from the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation: same-sex marriage proposals.

Archbishop Levada told a Synod of Bishops in 1997 that on the homosexuality issue, his own experience in San Francisco has taught him how easily dialogue can be overtaken by political pressure. “The city’s human rights commission named me as contributing to a ‘climate’ of discrimination against homosexuals because I said public recognition should not be given to so-called ‘gay marriages,’” he said. CNS

Sainthood now for John Paul II

Late Pope lived ‘extraordinary’ life, says Vatican’s sainthood chief

Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to waive the five-year waiting period before Pope John Paul II’s sainthood cause could begin was an “exceptional, extraordinary” move because the late Pope was extraordinary, said Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins.

“We all expected it because John Paul II’s fame of holiness was clear to all,” the cardinal, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, told Vatican Radio on May 13, a few hours after Pope Benedict announced his decision.

The cardinal said the Rome

the world in brief

Marianne Cope honour

Diocese “must proceed with the official opening of the cause for beatification, as well as with nominating a postulator” to guide and promote the work.

Generally, a canonisation cause is opened by the diocese where the potential saint died.

In Krakow, Poland, Cardinal Franciszek Macharski told KAI, Poland’s Catholic information agency, that the archdiocese would help collect testimonials about the late Pope’s life but would “fulfil all requirements” just like any other sainthood cause.

Cardinal Saraiva Martins said the postulator guides the process of gathering the candidate’s written work and documents related to his or her life and draws up a list of

Mother Marianne Cope of Molokai was beatified at a Vatican liturgy that recalled her missionary spirit and her self-giving work among leprosy patients in Hawaii.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, presided over the beatification Mass on May 14 in St Peter’s Basilica.

Also beatified was a Spanish nun who founded a missionary religious order.

After brief summaries of their lives were read aloud, Cardinal Saraiva Martins read the decree proclaiming the two “blessed.”

As giant banners with portraits of the newly beatified were unveiled, a wave of applause swept through the basilica.

people who can testify to how the candidate heroically lived a life of Christian virtue.

“This is the mechanism foreseen by the juridical norms,” he said.

“Obviously, all of this requires time, but we truly hope that everything will proceed quickly and that we can venerate John Paul II as ‘blessed’ as soon as possible,” the cardinal told the radio.

“The whole Church has proclaimed his holiness and told us:

‘For us, John Paul II was a living Gospel. He lived the Gospel in its depths. He truly was a saint,’”

Cardinal Saraiva Martins said.

He said Church leaders must listen to that type of consensus expressed by Catholics from all over the world.

In attendance were more than 100 Catholics from Hawaii and more than 300 from Syracuse, New York where members of Blessed Mother Marianne’s order, the Sisters of St Francis, have their motherhouse.

The Spanish nun beatified was Blessed Florentina Nicol Goni, also known as Mother Ascension del Corazon de Jesus, founder of the Dominican Missionaries of the Rosary.

Bringing the joy of Christ

Maintaining a tradition of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI ordained 21 priests and urged them to lead people to Christ through the Eucharist.

By centering their mission on the Eucharist, the new priests can bring “the joy of Christ to those who suffer, those in doubt and even those who are reluctant,” the Pope

Cardinal Saraiva Martins, who is from Portugal, said it was a “happy coincidence” that Pope Benedict made his announcement on May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, to whom Pope John Paul had been so devoted.

“I see in this a marvellous sign that underlines in a particularly strong way the intimate and profound bond John Paul II had with Fatima,” he said. “The life of Pope John Paul is almost inexplicable without referring to Fatima.”

Pope John Paul was wounded by a would-be assassin May 13, 1981; he said he believed Our Lady of Fatima guided the bullets away from his vital organs, saving his life.

said during the Mass in St Peter’s Basilica on May 15.

The newly ordained, who completed their priestly studies in the Diocese of Rome, were applauded by friends and relatives who packed the basilica.

The priests included 11 from Italy and 10 from other countries in Europe, Africa and South America.

The annual ordination Mass was a tradition begun by Pope John Paul II, who in later years needed help getting through the long and taxing liturgy.

Some hope in Sudan

Leaders of two rebel groups fighting in Sudan’s Darfur region pledged to resume talks with the government while the rebels called on the world community to help sup-

Trust in God: Benedict

History “is not in the hands of dark powers,” but in God’s hands, says Benedict XVI, calling the faithful to confidence.

The Holy Father commented to in the general audience on the canticle of praise of Revelation (15:3-4), thus continuing with the series of reflections, begun by John Paul II, on the Psalms and canticles of vespers, the evening prayer of the Church.

History is “not in the hands of dark powers, chance or human choices,” assured the Bishop of Rome, who boarded a white open jeep to greet the 20,000 pilgrims present in St Peter’s square.

“Over the unleashing of evil energies, the vehement irruption of Satan, and the emergence of so many scourges and evils, the Lord rises, supreme arbiter of historical events,” he added.

“God is not indifferent to human events, but penetrates them realising his ‘ways,’ namely his plans and efficacious ‘deeds,’” said the Holy Father.

“This divine intervention has a very specific purpose: to be a sign that invites all the peoples of the earth to conversion ... Nations must learn to ‘read’ in history a message of God,” he explained in his address, written in Italian.

Benedict XVI emphasised that “humanity’s history is not confused and without meaning, nor is it given over, without appeal, to the malfeasance of the arrogant and perverse.” In fact, “there is the possibility to recognise divine action hidden in it.” The Pope reminded his listeners that in the Second Vatican Council’s pastoral constitution “Gaudium et Spes,” the believer is invited “to scrutinise, in the light of the Gospel, the signs of the times to see in them the manifestation of the very action of God.”

“This attitude of faith leads man to recognise the power of God operating in history, and thus to open himself to fear of the name of the Lord,” a fear that “does not coincide with dread, but is the recognition of the mystery of the divine transcendence,” he said. ZENIT

port efforts to bring peace to the region. During a May 13 press conference at the Rome headquarters of the Community of Sant’Egidio, representatives of two armed opposition movements in Darfur promised “to resume as soon as possible” and “without preconditions” peace negotiations that have been stalled since December 2004.

Top-level representatives of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement issued a written declaration announcing they were ready to resume the peace process begun in Abuja, Nigeria, under the auspices of the African Union.

The Community of Sant’Egidio is a Catholic organisation that has been involved in mediating political disputes in Africa and Eastern Europe.

Archbishop Levada takes up Pope Benedict’s old post.

PHOTO: CNS

This week The Record continues a series taken from Pope Benedict XVI’s homily at his inauguration Mass of April 24.

“Dear friends! At this moment there is no need for me to present a program of governance. I was able to give an indication of what I see as my task in my message of Wednesday April 20, and there will be other opportunities to do so. My real program of governance is not to do my own will, not to pursue my own ideas, but to listen, together with the whole Church, to the word and the will of the Lord, to be guided by Him, so that He Himself will lead the Church at this hour of our history. Instead of putting forward a program, I should simply like to comment on the two liturgical symbols which represent the inauguration of the Petrine Ministry; both these symbols, moreover, reflect clearly what we heard proclaimed in today’s readings.

What the pallium indicates first and foremost is that we are all carried by Christ.

“The first symbol is the pallium, woven in pure wool, which will be placed on my shoulders. This ancient sign, which the bishops of Rome have worn since the fourth century, may be considered an image of the yoke of Christ, which the bishop of this city, the Servant of the Servants of God, takes upon his shoulders. God’s yoke is God’s will, which we accept. And this will does not weigh down on us, oppressing us and taking away our freedom. To know what God wants, to know where the path of life is found - this was Israel’s joy, this was her great privilege. It is also our joy: God’s will does not alienate us, it purifies us - even if this can be painful - and so it leads us to ourselves. In this way, we serve not only Him, but the salvation of the whole world, of all history.

The symbolism of the pallium is

even more concrete: the lamb’s wool is meant to represent the lost, sick or weak sheep which the shepherd places on his shoulders and carries to the waters of life. For the Fathers of the Church, the parable of the lost sheep, which the shepherd seeks in the desert, was an image of the mystery of Christ and the Church. The human race - every one of us - is the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this happen; He cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon His shoulders and carries our humanity; He carries us all - He is the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. What the pallium indicates first and foremost is that we are all carried by Christ. But at the same time it invites us to carry one another. Hence the pallium becomes a symbol of the shepherd’s mission, of which the second reading and the Gospel speak. The pastor must be inspired by Christ’s holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God’s darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth’s treasures no longer serve to build God’s garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction. The Church as a whole and all her pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.

“The symbol of the lamb also has a deeper meaning. In the ancient Near East, it was customary for kings to style themselves shepherds of their people. This was an image of their power, a cynical image: to them their subjects were like sheep, which the shepherd could dispose of as he wished. When the shepherd

of all humanity, the living God, Himself became a lamb, He stood on the side of the lambs, with those who are downtrodden and killed. This is how He reveals Himself to be the true shepherd: ‘I am the Good Shepherd . . . I lay down my life for the sheep,’ Jesus says of Himself (Jn 10:14ff). It is not power, but love that redeems us! This is God’s sign: He Himself is love. How often we wish that God would show Himself stronger, that He would strike decisively, defeating evil and creating a better world. All ideologies of power justify themselves in exactly this way, they justify the destruction of whatever would stand in the

that we’re Catholic] ; followed by Just do it! / Patrick Madrid: Search and Rescue. Your prayerful and financial support is needed to keep these great Catholic programs on Access 31. Please send donations to The Rosary Christian Tutorial Association. PO Box 1270, Booragoon 6954. Tapes and DVDs available on request. Enq.: 9330-1170.

Monday May 23

HEALING MASS

For those who have lost children through abortion or other circumstances. At Immaculate Conception Church, East Fremantle beginning at 7pm with Rosary followed by Healing Mass at 7.30pm. All welcome to attend.

Wednesday May 25

PONTIFICAL MASS

St Brigid’s Parish, Midland, Cnr Morrison Road and Great Northern Highway, invites everyone to celebrate the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians. Celebrated by Bishop Peter Quinn. Beginning at 9.30am. Followed by Eucharistic procession around

way of progress and the liberation of humanity. We suffer on account of God’s patience. And yet, we need His patience. God, Who became a lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified One, not by those who crucified Him. The world is redeemed by the patience of God. It is destroyed by the impatience of man.

“One of the basic characteristics of a shepherd must be to love the people entrusted to him, even as he loves Christ whom he serves. ‘Feed my sheep.’ says Christ to Peter, and now, at this moment, He says it to me as well. Feeding means loving, and loving also means being

and Benediction. Preceding this celebration will be a Triduum of Masses commencing on Wednesday May 25 at 7.30pm. Rosary and Confession 7pm. Enq.. 9274 1495.

Friday May 27

BUSINESS PERSONS MASS

Will be celebrated at all Saints Chapel, Allendale Square, Perth at 7am followed by a breakfast meeting at the WA Club, 101 St Georges Tce, Perth. Guest Speaker Dr Paul Watt (Inventor). Breakfast will incur a cost. Enq.. 9384 0809

Saturday May 28

MAY QUEEN BALL

From 7.30pm to 12.30am to fundraise for Holy Family church Maddington. It will be held at Maddington Community Centre (corner of Yule & Alcock Street) For more information contact Francis Williams 9459 3873, 9493 4287, 0404 893 877 or: francis@perthfamily.com

Tuesday May 31

DAY OF REFLECTION

St Bernadette’s Church, Jugan Street, Glendalough commencing 10.30am with Rosary followed by Holy Mass, talks and Confessions. Concluding 2pm. Bring lunch to share.

ready to suffer. Loving means giving the sheep what is truly good, the nourishment of God’s truth, of God’s word, the nourishment of His presence, which He gives us in the blessed Sacrament. My dear friends - at this moment I can only say: pray for me, that I may learn to love the Lord more and more. Pray for me, that I may learn to love His flock more and more - in other words, you, the holy Church, each one of you and all of you together. Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to carry one another.

Wednesday June 1

CARITAS AUSTRALIA INVITES YOU TO BREAKFAST Tsunami And Caritas Update. Be Challenged By Guest Speakers. National Director, Jack De Groot And Global Education Advisor, Janeen Murphy. 7.30-9am, Perth Zoo Function Centre, Cost $30pp. Bookings essential. RSVP by Wed May 25. Tel: 9223 1311 Or After 16 May 9422 7925 At Highgate. Email Perth@Caritas.Org.Au

Friday June 3-5

HOLY SPIRIT OF FREEDOM COMMUNITY ANNUAL

CONFERENCE FOR THE BUNBURY DIOCESE

To be held in Pemberton, the conference theme is “Living Flame Transforming Love” and all are invited to be a part of this Festival of Praise and Worship. For more details, bookings and accommodation alternatives contact Lisa on 9776 0323 or Connie on 9776 1092.

Saturday June 4

DAY WITH MARY

St Thomas the Apostle Church, Cnr College Road and Melville Street, Claremont. From 9am to 5pm. A video on Fatima will be shown followed by a day of prayer and instruction based upon the messages of Fatima. Includes Sacrament of Penance, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons on the

Italian Archbishop Piero Marini helps Pope Benedict XVI adjust the pallium during his inaugural mass. Photo: CNS

Deadline: 5pm Tuesday

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MAY 120 Confirmation, Kwinana - Mgr Peter McCrann

20-22 Parish Visitation and Confirmation, Floreat/Wembley - Archbishop Hickey

Parish Visitation and Confirmation, Queens Park - Bishop Sproxton

21 Confirmation, Kelmscott - Mgr Thomas McDonald

21 & 22 Confirmation, Yangebup - Mgr Tim Corcoran

22 Confirmation, Palmyra - Bishop Quinn

23 Breakfast Launch of National Palliative Care Week - Fr Sean Bredin OSCam

24 Consultation on Youth and the Church, Como - Archbishop Hickey, Bishop Sproxton Confirmation, Newman College (at Doubleview) - Bishop Quinn

Eucharist and Our Lady, Rosaries, procession of Blessed Sacrament and Stations of the Cross. Enq. Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.

Sunday June 5

DIVINE MERCY

An afternoon with Jesus and Mary at St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Square, Perth at 1.30pm. Holy Rosary, Reconciliation and Sermon on Our Lady of Perpetual Help with Fr Hugh Thomas CSSR followed by Divine Mercy prayers and Benediction. Enq. John 9467 7771 or Linda 9275 6608.

Thursday July 2

CLASS OF ‘62 REUNION

Our Lady’s College, Victoria Square from 3pm to 5pm. Cost incurred. Enq. Maureen Colgan 9317 2733. Email: mcolgan@westnet.com.au

Saturday July 9

CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY ANNUAL DINNER

To be held at South Fremantle Football Club at 7pm. All welcome. For more details please contact us on 9319 8344.

REFLECTION AFTERNOONS

Challenge of Living as a Eucharistic Community in the Modern World. For everyone involved in Eucharistic Ministries or Service. Speakers include Archbishop Hickey. Topics: Engaging Our Youth, 12 June; Spirituality, 10 July; Evangelisation, 7 August; Challenge of Change, 21 August, Redemptorist Monastery, 2- 4 pm. Phone 9422 7902

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.

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RE-UPHOLSTRY

■ REUPHOLSTRY

Lounge,kitchen,dinning,etc. Wide range of fabrics. Warwick, Can/vale, Willetton and surr areas. Call Lawrie 94560757, mb 0409689955.

OFFICIAL DIARY

Humour

A woman walked up to a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch. “I couldn’t help noticing how happy you look,” she said. “What’s your secret for a long happy life?”

“I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day,” he said. “I also drink a case of whiskey a week, eat fatty foods, and never exercise.”

“That’s amazing,” the woman said. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-six,” he said.

Qu: Why did the lizard cross the road? Ans: To visit his flat mate.

25 Visit Yr 8s at Mercedes College - Archbishop Hickey

26 Rally for Life, Parliament House - Archbishop Hickey

27 Presentation of Youth Book to Yr 12s at Corpus Christi College - Bishop Sproxton

27, 28, 29 Confirmation, Ocean Reef - Bishop Sproxton

29 Celebratory Lunch for Anniversary of Italian Republic - Archbishop Hickey

Corpus Christi Procession, St Mary’s Cathedral, 3.30 pm - Archbishop Hickey Confirmation, Rivervale - Mgr Peter McCrann

2 Mass at Orana Catholic Primary School - Bishop Sproxton

3 Confirmation, Leederville - Bishop Holohan

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Please note that effective from the May 12 edition of The Record notices placed in the ‘Panorama’ section will incur a small administration fee. The fee will simply cover production costs and will ensure the future of the Panorama section in The Record, being as it is a ‘notice board’ for many events around the numerous parishes in Western Australia.

July and 25 August. Cantors for the Country. To give people confidence and practical skills to lead the singing in country parishes.13 August and 22 October, Combined Liturgical Ministry Workshop No 2: 28 June. Phone: 9422 7902

THE GINGINCHITTERING PARISH

Wish to thank all kind people who contributed to the success of our Multicultural Food Fair by gifts of food, attendance and advertising. May God bless you!

INNER HEALING

Presenter Murray Graham, Inigo Centre Director

Cost: Donation for Inigo Centre. Multi-purpose Room. John XXIII College. 7.30-9.30pm.

THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL JUSTICE COUNCIL

Holding a seminar concerning ‘The Living and Dying of Terry Schiavo” with Fr Joe Parkinson, Director of the LJ Goody Bioethics Centre Perth, to be held at the Catholic Pastoral Centre 40A Mary St Highgate (parking off Harold St) at 1-2PM. All welcome. Enq. Terry Quinn Catholic Social Justice Council 94227926

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

2 – 26th April to 1st July CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY TERM

Family & Friends Support Groups of Substance Abusers on Wednesdays 7pm–9pm, Substance Abusers Support Groups on Tuesdays 5.30–7.30pm & Fridays all day Group for Substance Abusers 9.30am–2pm including Healing Mass on Fridays at 12.30pm during term. Weekday Rosary at 12.301pm. Our new address is 4 Preston Point Road, East Fremantle behind Immaculate Conception Parish.

SECULAR FRANCISCANS IN WA

You are invited to find out more about following Franciscan way of life as a layperson. Contact the group nearest you and come along. Midland fraternity meets on the second Friday of each month at 1pm, contact Mary 9377 7925. Balcatta fraternity meets on the third Sunday of each month at 3pm contact Dunstan 9276 9415. Perth fraternity meets on the fourth Sunday of each month at 2.30pm contact John 9385 5649. Dardunup fraternity meets on the third Sunday of each month at 1.30pm contact 9721 6815.

CATHOLICS EXPERIENCING THE BIBLE

An exciting opportunity to learn more about your faith. Enrolments are now open for study at ‘Acts2come’ Catholic Bible College. Subjects include Bible Timeline, Theology of the Body, Acts of the Apostles, Spiritual Gifts, Life Skills, Christian Virtues in a Post-modern Society and Catholic Ethics. Day, evening, and part-time courses are available. Enq. Jane Borg on 9202 6859

ENTERTAINMENT BOOK

Valid through June 2006 available at ALL SAINTS’ CHAPEL, 77 Allendale Square, St. George’s Terrace, Perth. Featuring the best in dining, hotel accommodation, theatre, sports and much more all with 25% to 50% off or two for one offers. Place your order now. Available from May 30th. Enq. 9325 2009, daytime hours 8am – 4pm, Monday through Friday. Thank you for supporting All Saints’ Chapel fund raising efforts.

EPIPHANY CENTRE

The management committee is urgently seeking a live-in Catholic couple (or single) to be responsible for the centre. Some experience in hospitality, catering and ground management. A small allowance will be provided. Enq. Denise 9354 0200. Applications to The President, Epiphany Centre, 65th Avenue, Rossmoyne 6148.

THE DEVINE 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

Deadline: 5pm Tuesday

BUILDING TRADES

■ BRICK REPOINTING

Phone Nigel 9242 2952

■ HANDYPERSON

Home maintenance good rates. Phone Adrian 9343 9025

■ GUTTERS/DOWNPIPES

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

■ 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

FURNITURE REMOVAL

■ ALL AREAS

Mike Murphy 0416 226 434.

HEALTH

■ GLYCONUTRIENTS

Now here is a product that could change your life, a dietary supplement that surpasses all others. Glyconutrients are a technological breakthrough and a new area of science. Learn more about optimal health and Glyconutrients by calling: Mary Anne 9284 1662. Find out Glyconutrients can provide you with a healthy business and a healthier life.

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

■ DENMARK

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

MENTAL HEALTH

■ RECOVERY

Hennie is a qualified Counsellor; she deals with Trauma, Anxiety, Phobias, Panic disorders, Depression, Grief, anger, self-esteem, Weight Loss, Smoking and Neuro somatic illness. Registered member A.F.N.I and Registered member H.H Dip (P.H) Enquires 9525 0292.

MAY 120 Confirmation, Kwinana - Mgr Peter McCrann

20-22 Parish Visitation and Confirmation, Floreat/Wembley - Archbishop Hickey

Parish Visitation and Confirmation, Queens Park - Bishop Sproxton

21 Confirmation, Kelmscott - Mgr Thomas McDonald

21 & 22 Confirmation, Yangebup - Mgr Tim Corcoran

22 Confirmation, Palmyra - Bishop Quinn

23 Breakfast Launch of National Palliative Care Week - Fr Sean Bredin OSCam

24 Consultation on Youth and the Church, Como - Archbishop Hickey, Bishop Sproxton Confirmation, Newman College (at Doubleview) - Bishop Quinn

Eucharist and Our Lady, Rosaries, procession of Blessed Sacrament and Stations of the Cross. Enq. Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.

Sunday June 5

DIVINE MERCY

An afternoon with Jesus and Mary at St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Square, Perth at 1.30pm. Holy Rosary, Reconciliation and Sermon on Our Lady of Perpetual Help with Fr Hugh Thomas CSSR followed by Divine Mercy prayers and Benediction. Enq. John 9467 7771 or Linda 9275 6608.

Thursday July 2

CLASS OF ‘62 REUNION

Our Lady’s College, Victoria Square from 3pm to 5pm. Cost incurred. Enq. Maureen Colgan 9317 2733. Email: mcolgan@westnet.com.au

Saturday July 9

CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY ANNUAL DINNER

To be held at South Fremantle Football Club at 7pm. All welcome. For more details please contact us on 9319 8344.

REFLECTION AFTERNOONS

Challenge of Living as a Eucharistic Community in the Modern World. For everyone involved in Eucharistic Ministries or Service. Speakers include Archbishop Hickey. Topics: Engaging Our Youth, 12 June; Spirituality, 10 July; Evangelisation, 7 August; Challenge of Change, 21 August, Redemptorist Monastery, 2- 4 pm. Phone 9422 7902

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

Leadership for Music Ministry 9 June, 23 June, 28

ADVERTISEMENTS

MUMS ON A MISSION

■ SUCCEED FROM HOME

Call Christine on Tel: 9256 2895

NOVENA

■ ST JUDE

Dear St Jude once more you have honoured the Lord God of Hopes. Thank you. Love, Joan.

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS

■ BAPTISM/WEDDING CANDLES

Carefully hand crafted by Benedictine Sisters. www.Jamberooabbey.org. Ph: 02 4236 0011, Fax: 02 4236 0041

■ RICH HARVEST  YOUR CHRISTIAN SHOP

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

RE-UPHOLSTRY

■ REUPHOLSTRY

Lounge,kitchen,dinning,etc. Wide range of fabrics. Warwick, Can/vale, Willetton and surr areas. Call Lawrie 94560757, mb 0409689955.

OFFICIAL DIARY

Humour

A woman walked up to a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch. “I couldn’t help noticing how happy you look,” she said. “What’s your secret for a long happy life?”

“I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day,” he said. “I also drink a case of whiskey a week, eat fatty foods, and never exercise.”

“That’s amazing,” the woman said. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-six,” he said.

Qu: Why did the lizard cross the road? Ans: To visit his flat mate.

25 Visit Yr 8s at Mercedes College - Archbishop Hickey

26 Rally for Life, Parliament House - Archbishop Hickey

27 Presentation of Youth Book to Yr 12s at Corpus Christi College - Bishop Sproxton

27, 28, 29 Confirmation, Ocean Reef - Bishop Sproxton

29 Celebratory Lunch for Anniversary of Italian Republic - Archbishop Hickey

Corpus Christi Procession, St Mary’s Cathedral, 3.30 pm - Archbishop Hickey Confirmation, Rivervale - Mgr Peter McCrann

2 Mass at Orana Catholic Primary School - Bishop Sproxton

3 Confirmation, Leederville - Bishop Holohan

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Please note that effective from the May 12 edition of The Record notices placed in the ‘Panorama’ section will incur a small administration fee. The fee will simply cover production costs and will ensure the future of the Panorama section in The Record, being as it is a ‘notice board’ for many events around the numerous parishes in Western Australia.

July and 25 August. Cantors for the Country. To give people confidence and practical skills to lead the singing in country parishes.13 August and 22 October, Combined Liturgical Ministry Workshop No 2: 28 June. Phone: 9422 7902

THE GINGINCHITTERING PARISH

Wish to thank all kind people who contributed to the success of our Multicultural Food Fair by gifts of food, attendance and advertising. May God bless you!

INNER HEALING

Presenter Murray Graham, Inigo Centre Director

Cost: Donation for Inigo Centre. Multi-purpose Room. John XXIII College. 7.30-9.30pm.

THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL JUSTICE COUNCIL

Holding a seminar concerning ‘The Living and Dying of Terry Schiavo” with Fr Joe Parkinson, Director of the LJ Goody Bioethics Centre Perth, to be held at the Catholic Pastoral Centre 40A Mary St Highgate (parking off Harold St) at 1-2PM. All welcome. Enq. Terry Quinn Catholic Social Justice Council 94227926

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

2 – 26th April to 1st July CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY TERM

Family & Friends Support Groups of Substance Abusers on Wednesdays 7pm–9pm, Substance Abusers Support Groups on Tuesdays 5.30–7.30pm & Fridays all day Group for Substance Abusers 9.30am–2pm including Healing Mass on Fridays at 12.30pm during term. Weekday Rosary at 12.301pm. Our new address is 4 Preston Point Road, East Fremantle behind Immaculate Conception Parish.

SECULAR FRANCISCANS IN WA

You are invited to find out more about following Franciscan way of life as a layperson. Contact the group nearest you and come along. Midland fraternity meets on the second Friday of each month at 1pm, contact Mary 9377 7925. Balcatta fraternity meets on the third Sunday of each month at 3pm contact Dunstan 9276 9415. Perth fraternity meets on the fourth Sunday of each month at 2.30pm contact John 9385 5649. Dardunup fraternity meets on the third Sunday of each month at 1.30pm contact 9721 6815.

CATHOLICS EXPERIENCING THE BIBLE

An exciting opportunity to learn more about your faith. Enrolments are now open for study at ‘Acts2come’ Catholic Bible College. Subjects include Bible Timeline, Theology of the Body, Acts of the Apostles, Spiritual Gifts, Life Skills, Christian Virtues in a Post-modern Society and Catholic Ethics. Day, evening, and part-time courses are available. Enq. Jane Borg on 9202 6859

ENTERTAINMENT BOOK

Valid through June 2006 available at ALL SAINTS’ CHAPEL, 77 Allendale Square, St. George’s Terrace, Perth. Featuring the best in dining, hotel accommodation, theatre, sports and much more all with 25% to 50% off or two for one offers. Place your order now. Available from May 30th. Enq. 9325 2009, daytime hours 8am – 4pm, Monday through Friday. Thank you for supporting All Saints’ Chapel fund raising efforts.

EPIPHANY CENTRE

The management committee is urgently seeking a live-in Catholic couple (or single) to be responsible for the centre. Some experience in hospitality, catering and ground management. A small allowance will be provided. Enq. Denise 9354 0200. Applications to The President, Epiphany Centre, 65th Avenue, Rossmoyne 6148.

THE DEVINE 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