Record PERTH, WA: March 7, 1996
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What's Inside... Bishop Peter Quinn's pastoral letter to the people of Bunbury Diocese for Lent - Page 2 Carnarvon welcomes Polish priests - Page 3 Eucharistic adoration for Lent - Page 9 Sally Trench saves Bosnian children - Page 5 Miraculous medals and the teenage mutant ninja turtles - Page 9
Thanksgiving Day plan for Australia By Colleen McGuiness-Howard Australians will be able to give thanks to God for their great land once a year as a nation if the dream of an Australian Redemptorist priest comes to fruition. Father Keith 'Rimer wants to establish an Australian Thanksgiving Day on the last Sunday of July to help Australians cool( together in family groups to give thanks for the Lucky Country. A missioner, and currently livFr Keith Turner with kb book ing in Miami. Queensland, Fr because it is a season withJuly limier came up with the germ of school or public holidays. out an idea at the North Perth His book. Australian Thanksmonastery during,his term there the format 1989 to 1991. The idea, which giving Day, provides and prayers with day the for of part could well become freedoms' the for God to praise Australia's tradition, has now fully matured in the form of a Australians enjoy, its beauty and book published in Queensland its bounty. It thanks God for the founders just prior to Christmas. It's an appealing, simple but of our Nation, who, in Fr Keith's powerful message that he puts words, "did all the hard spade work, who laid the foundations out. He urges Australians to come for this nation, which we are now together on the last Sunday of enjoyiug." He says the Aboriginal people July as a family unit, sharing a certainly part of this too as are traditional meal with an Australian emphasis, not only in the original inhabitants and, familial unity, but most impor- regardless of race origin, the fact tantly to thank God for the bless- that we all now live in Australia ings he has poured out upon must be acknowledged. To date Fr Keith has written to Australia. received enthusiastic respand He picked the last Sunday in
Mercedes' generations remember 150 years
Two generations celebrate 150 years of the oldest Mercy school in Australia - Mercedes College - last week at St Mary's Cathedral in Perth: Mercedes' students bring symbols representing the life of the Victoria Square college family since 1846. Below, some of the 30 Mercy sisters present at the Mass, with past and present links to Mercedes. - Report and more pictures - Page 5
onses from all Australian Catholic bishops and is now approaching the Anglican bishops and heads of other churches. Buoyed by their response and that of lay people, Fr Keith's next targets in his Australia-wide campaign are the supermarkets whom he believes could feature a traditional meal for the day. Fr Keith believes it should be a traditional family meal on a full day spent together, and emphasises that regardless of the food fare. the Australian damper just has to be at the centre of it because of its truly Australian character. He also suggests that churches could then promote the day in advance so Australia with one Archbishop Barry Hickey will mighty voice could praise God become the first Roman Catholic on this special day. prelate of Perth to preach in St Lyn Price from Attadale assisted George's Anglican Cathedral in Fr Keith with the book during his the city when he visits it this time in Perth and shares his Sunday morning to preach at the views on bringing together fami- Sam Eucharist and again at the lies in pride because of our 10am Sung Eucharist. unique Australian identity and The Dean of St George's. the culture, and giving Almighty God Very Rev Dr John Shepherd. thanks for his generosity to the invited Archbishop Hickey, Australian people. whose historic visit follows on Australian Thanksgiving Day from a similar official visit to St sells for $4.95 plus $1.55 postage George's in 1995 by Father Kevin from Santa Monica Publishing. Long, chairman of the Perth PO Box 518, Palm Beach, Catholic archdiocese's EcumenQueensland 4221. ical Affairs Committee. It is also available from the Fr Long was also the first North Perth Monastery. phone Catholic priest to preach at St (09) 328 6600. George's Cathedral.
Archbishop makes history Dr Shepherd said the idea of Archbishop Hickey preaching at St George's had come to him out of the blue. As far as he was aware it was the first time the Catholic Archbishop of Perth had preached in the Anglican Cathedral. "It's also fabulous because its a good testimony to the developing relations between the two churches," he said. Father Kevin Long said the visit was a sign of the Archbishop's, and therefore the Church in Perth's, commitment to the ecumenical vision outlined by Pope John Paul in his encyclical Ut Unum Sint.
New Kimberley schools' course aims to save Aboriginal languages "A lot have a very small number approximately thirty distinct languages throughout the Kimberley of speakers - usually old people some are extinct and probably there are only half A new unit to be taught in region, today a dozen still spoken by the whole retrieval. beyond and Catholic schools throughout the community," Ms Hudson told of of loss Part of the tragedy the Kimberley may help halt the conThe Record in an interview at the is that these as such languages tinuing loss of traditional AboriCatholic Education Broome ginal languages which were once they are, in every sense, ancient. Office. spoken throughout the entire Aboriginal people have been in "As the old people die off, the region. Australia at least 40.000 years languages (just) go. That's the periodically archaeologists and Launched on Wednesday and case right across Australia," she developed over the last seven push the arrival of the first said. furand further back Australians years by Broome Catholic Perth Catholic Education Office Education Office consultant ther into the mists of time. Aileen specialist Joyce Hudson, the unit, entitled And while the disappearing language launched Kimberley Hawkes Aboriginal Languages Kimberley languages may not be identical , is designed to stimulate a desire with those spoken in pre-history Aboriginal Languages at a weekin Aboriginal children to learn they are, nevertheless, part of an long induction seminar held in their own disappearing lan- unbroken tradition. But today Broome each year for teachers guages before it is too late. few survive and, where they do, new to the Kimberley. they are not in good overall "conAnd disappearing they are. Continued on Page 5. dition." Whereas there were once By Peter Rosengren
Young Kimberley Aborigines: hope for their ancestral languages
Time to recover the value of Lenten fasting
I
t was a pleasant surprise to hear on radio and TV recently our new Deputy Prime Minister telling Australia that he had given up cheese for Lent. It was not the sort of remark that one expects from politicians, but it made me sit up and take notice. Mr Tim Fisher revealed to the Australian public one of the private practices of Catholics and Christians generally - to give something up for Lent. Penance, together with prayer and ahnsgiving, captures the religious character of Lent. Last week I discussed the importance of prayer in its many forms. No matter what particular
style we use when we pray, prayer serves to strengthen our union with God. This week I ask you to consider penance, especially in the form of fasting. We all do penance, whether we choose to or not. Life brings to each of us its burdens, cares and worries. All these we can offer to God in the penitential spirit of Lent. Fasting is different. It is a form of voluntary self denial, deliberately chosen. It is an extra burden added to all the ones we do not choose. Many people fast for reasons other than religious. Our athletes would never achieve their goals without exercising strict discipline over
what and how much they eat. Diet is a most important factor in weight reduction and health programmes. Most health books have a chapter on fasting and its beneficial properties. I have met people who have told me how well they feel as Lent draws to a close, because they have taken the matter of fasting seriously. Why are we expected to fast? In both the Old and New Testament fasting is linked to conversion, turning back to God. Its voluntary discipline is a reminder that we do not exist for ourselves alone but for God. It is a sign of our ultimate dependency on God.
A WORLD WITHOUT WATER
Did you know that one person in every five in the world is living in poverty? Think about that. Try to imagine how you would react if one in five of your family and friends was homeless, starving, sick or illiterate. What would you do? In the Third World, half of the people lack the simple basics of water and sanitation that we take for granted. With no reliable source of clean water, they face a constant risk of disease from contaminated supplies. Project Compassion is bringing hope to people in countries around the world, with programmes that seek new water sources and provide the basics of health and hygiene. By aiming its programmes at the causes of sickness and poverty, Project Compassion gives people the start they need for a better future. Project Compassion has made enormous progress in poor communities around the world. With your help this Lent, we can make a difference in the fight against poverty. Imagine what you and Project Compassion can do.
It is also a way of giving priority to the spiritual. The one who fasts can better resist the tendency to selfishness. When fasting, is linked with prayer and good works, it becomes a powerful means of re-directing our lives away from ourselves back to God and our neighbour. If it is not linked with prayer and good works, fasting runs the risk of becoming mere formalism or even a hypocritical pharisaical gesture that drew condemnation from Jesus himself. Fasting for religious motives is not popular in Western societies at present. There is an attitude that fasting is somehow a rejection of one's value as a human being, that it is negative and sombre, that it arises from guilt and is a denial of life. Eastern religions have not accepted those criticisms. They still maintain the religious value of fasting, especially at the Holy Seasons of the year. We should do no less. It is time to recover the value of fasting and self denial in the matter of good in order to halt the spread of hedonism and self-indulgence. It is time to recover the sense of our utter dependence on God, and to use our Sacred Seasons, like Lent, in order to redirect our lives along the spiritual path. Individuals and families should take this matter seriously. Even older children can join in little prac-
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The Recaid, March 7 1996 Page 2
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Perspective tices of self-denial, under the wise guidance of their parents. But it is the parents who must set the example. Prayer and fasting are firmly within the long and strong tradition of the Church. The Holy Father reminded us last year in his eleventh Encyclical Letter, The Gospel of Life (EV, 100) that the "culture of death" surrounding us can be overcome by these means. "Jesus himself has shown by his example that prayer and fasting are the first and most effective weapons against the forces of evil". "Let us therefore", he says, "discover anew the courage to pray and fast."
Bishop Peter Quinn's Lenten Pastoral Letter
Bishop Peter Quinn
My Dear People, This Lenten Season is our time for spiritual refurbishment and rediscovery of priorities in life. Even faithful Catholics can lose their sense of enthusiasm and slip into the humdrum of doing the right thing while personally not making much growth in the inner journey of a deeper and deeper conversion to our God. It is very sad when followers of Christ radiate an attitude to life and people that is not only off-putting but positively betrays the core chalProject Compassion — lenge of Our Lord and the Gospel values. "Love one another as I have giving hope loved you". Practising your religion can give a sense of spiritual security and a confident assurance that God will hear your prayers, but we err if we let it stop there. MINI MIN IN= NM Following Christ calls us to accept a challenge and that challenge is to Australian Catholic Relief, model ourselves on his example. GPO Box 9830 in your state capital city Let us look at some examples from his life. When they brought before him I'd like to help and enclose my donation $ the woman taken in adultery there Please debit my [i] Bankcard n Visa Mastercard was no doubt she had done wrong but that was not what he was going to make a big denunciation about. He turned and said "let him without sin cast the first stone" and gave Amount $ _ Expiry date / Signed her forgiveness and the command "sin no more". Mr/Mrs/Miss _ lb hate sin and love the sinner (BLOCK lettets please) calls for a compassion in our lives Address that is not easy particularly if we have been offended or hurt. Righteous indignation and judgmental condemnation in the name Postcode Donations over $2 are tax deductible ACM 35Romal of religion is far from Christ teaching us "Whatever you did to the MIMI IMMO MIMI MI= IMMO IMO IMMINI SIM MEM MINN
r
Archbishop's
least of these you did to me." There was another time when a most unpopular tax collector climbed up a tree to have a look at Jesus passing by. In spite of his unpleasant and detested role in the community Jesus went to his house and rested there a while. His life was changed in that very encounter. So often we reject neighbours or associates who get on our nerves because they don't fit into our way of thinking or have social convictions we do not accept. They may be the very ones our Christian faith should be touching, Influencing or helping. Lent is a time to reflect on Jesus' way of handling life situations and measuring our own style and standards. It is a time to grow closer to Him by a real conversion and self appraisal. To do this it is most appropriate to encounter Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In recent years there has been a notable decline in confessing our sins in this sacramental celebration of healing and forgiving. "Go and sin no more" Jesus said. In this sacrament it is said by the same Lord to each one of us. I encourage all Parish Priests to preach on this sacrament and explain its significance at length during Lent. Make adequate provisions for private reconciliation as well as the pastorally beneficial second form of the sacrament with communal prayers of preparation and examination of conscience, a form that many are finding so helpful and enriching as they ask Gods forgiveness in a community of faith. I hope and pray that Lent will be a time of generosity and sacrifice in the form of contributions to the Church's work for the needy and underprivileged - Project Compassion - and I hope and pray that our prayers and penances will help us meet the Risen Christ at Easter in renewed faithfulness and zeal. May God bless you all.
Vatican urges more dialogue on East Timor John Paul ll's name for the VATICAN CITY (CNS) - A leadcourage to find a solution to the ing Vatican official has urged dispute. Indonesia and East Timor to He said it was important to resolve their longstanding disinclude young people in the diapute through dialogue, in a way logue. that recognises the "cultural Cardinal Etchegaray described and religious identity" of the MAUMERE, Indonesia (CNS) - his trip as a pastoral visit, but he Timorese. A magistrates' court on the east- also met with civil authorities in "I wish to say to all those ern Indonesian island of Flores Indonesia and East Timor. Involved: Believe in the power of has convicted four Catholics and In East Timor four weeks ago, dialogue, of dialogue among acquitted 30 others of charges according to UCA News, an Asia yourselves and of dialogue out- stemming from a riot related to a church news agency based in side the country," Cardinal Roger Host desecration case last year in Thailand, a brief anti-Indonesia Etchegaray said last week at the Maumere. protest interrupted the opening end of a visit to Indonesia and The four-judge panel sentenced of a 3.17 billion rupiah ($1.8 milthe territory of East Timor. Gregorius Delang to seven years lion) minor seminary complex His statement, made available In prison for killing a soldier for East Timor in Balide village. on 27 February at the Vatican, named Sudarno, UCA News, an Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes underscored support for what he Asia church news agency based Belo, apostolic administrator of called the "legitimate aspira- in Thailand. reported. Dili diocese, opened the Our tions" of the predominantly Defence lawyers immediately Lady of Fatima Minor Seminary Catholic population of East appealed the convictions. with the Vatican's ambassador to Timor. One judge said the light sen- Indonesia. There can be "no peace without tence a prosecutor asked for a Financial contributors to the justice," and that means respect Host desecrater had fueled the new seminary, with a capacity of for human rights, the cardinal riot. 150 students, include Catholics said. He is president of the Silvester Manis, a member of throughout Timor, East Pontifical Council for justice and the defence team from Jakarta- Portuguese benefactors. the Peace. based Catholic-run Veritas Australian and Indonesian Indonesia invaded East Timor Foundation, told UCA News Governments, and Indonesian In 1975 and annexed it the fol- that Delang killed Sudarno in President Soeharto. lowing year, but its sovereignty self-defence when Sudarno tried East Timorese youth opposed over the territory has not been to overpower Delang and take to Indonesia's 1976 integration of recognised by the United his sword. East Timor interrupted the cereNations. The local church and 'The only valid testimony on mony by unfurling posters of human rights groups have said the killing was from Detang, Jose "Xanana" Alexandre more than 200.000 people - a the defendant," the lawyer said. Gusmao, jailed leader of Fretilin third of the East Timorese popu- "Prosecutors failed to find (Revolutionary Front for an lation - have been killed in the other witnesses to testify against Independent East Timor). and civil war and social disruption him." yelling "Viva Timor Leste" (long since Indonesia's invasion. live East Timor). In recent years, discussion has The interruption prompted an focused on proposals for limited "There must be space for the angry reaction from Bishop Belo, autonomy and self-government realisation of the legitimate aspi- who said, "Do not abuse this relifor East Timor. Cardinal rations of the Timorese people to gious ceremony for your political Etchegaray said this dialogue see their special religious and goals. With your stupid, shamemust go forward with mutual cultural identity recognised," he less action you bring shame to respect on both sides. said. He issued an appeal in Pope Catholics."
Camarvon benefits from Poland's faith
Jail for death after Host riot
Bishop Justin Bianchini of Geraldton, right, recently installed Father Leonard Macionczyk, left, as the new parish priest of St Mary's parish, Carnarvon, in a ceremony conducted in the grounds of St Mary's Catholic School. Both Fr Leonard, who joined the parish in early January, and assistant priest Fr Tadeusz, centre, are Salvatorian Fathers from Poland. They will be stationed in Carnarvon for several years. Bishop Bianchini has recenthy returned from a trip to Poland undertaken to develop the relationship with the Salvatorian congregation, which has priests in the diocese. During his visit he met seminarians with an interest in Australia.
Catholic-Lutheran talks Lutherans and Roman Catholics in Australia took another step towards closer understanding and possible unity last week when the Australian LutheranRoman Catholic Dialogue launched its latest report. entitled Communion and Mission. The Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue, a joint national initiative of the two churches which is based in Adelaide, has issued
several co-sponsored reports on matters of faith and Church life. The new document underlines areas of strong agreement on the nature of the Church. 'Both churches embrace the biblical idea of the Church as a communion which springs from and reflects the Ilinitarian life of God," Fr Dennis Edwards, a Catholic member of the dialogue team, said.
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TOMORROW L TODAY
Taize an oasis in a fractured world By Colleen McGuinness-Howard an 'shared in an interesting way
with others. Presented by
Bruce Downes
Bruce is the Director of the Catholic Youth Ministry
Friday 8, 15, 22 March 96 commencing at 7:30pm Cathedral Parish Centre; Hay Street, Perth
$5.00 per nIght Complete this section and return it to the Youth Ministry along with your registration fee
Catholic loath Ministry PO Box 194 North Perth WA 6006
CATHOLIC YOUTH MINISTRY
(Presen . Eirigh an la -The Bush Band that appeared at the 1996 -Serze the Day - Youth Convention!Worming at
S't
trick 's
B USHDANCE Also featuring the amazing magician )
este,/
7:30pm
Saturday. March 16th 1996 Queen of Apostles Primary School eft%,• Tribute Street Riverton *ea
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Tickets available from the
Catholic Youth Office Students/Unemployed $7.00 Workers $10.00 Families $25.00
CATHOLIC YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULT OFFICE 30 CLAVERTON STREET NORTH PERTH TEL: (09) 328 9622 The Record. March,7 1996 Page 4
We see Taize (Community), as a small parable of the Gospel which lives out peace and recondliation," said Brother Ghislain, visiting member of the French Taize Community, popular younq people the world. Among other things, the Taize community has become synonymous with beautiful music, the essence of which comprises short chanted Scriptural passages. On a mission of working to bring together people of all Christian denominations, ages and racial backgrounds, Brother Ghislain visited Perth last week running a residential retreat, a celebration of Taize spirituality, and a gathering for clergy. Founded by Brother Roger in 1940. the Taize Community has grown from a small hand of brothers to one hundred from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds representing 25 different countries. About 30 years ago. this monastic community welcomed young adults to Taize and its popularity has so grown, that during the peak seasons as many as 6.000 young people each week come from all over Europe and the world. The spirit of Taize has also been taken into countries through huge meetings which have been Brother Ghislain, with Archbishop Hickey during his recent visit to Perth held overseas, attracting many address a big assembly of miners capital, and apart from those thousands of the young. In Krakow. Poland. Although ecu- who choose the Taize monastery. Why Taize? Well in Br menical as a body. the Taize some opt for small fraternities Ghislain's view it is because they Brothers continue to belong to located in poor areas of the are searching. their own churches and maintain world. He believes with family and personal relationships with the Assisting also in the work of the societal divisions, young people different heads of churches. Taize Community since 1966, are are fragmented, scattered. They take life-long monastic the Sisters of St Andrew, an interThey are searching for inner vows, earn their living and share national Catholic community unity, but during their week-long with others entirely through their who live in a neighbouring vilaverage stay in Taize. "they dis- own work accepting no dona- lage and assist in welcoming cover they also belong to this tions from anyone nor holding young people to Taize. family which is the Church." Although a week long stay (known as a meeting) is the norm, some young adults on Catholic Youth Information Centre approval, are permitted to stay for a year to discern their lives. These people then assist in the Community and with the inter1406 O'Brien Rd. Gidgegannup continental meetings which are held throughout the year. Set in 17 hectares of natural bush adjoining Walyunga National park, and just 45 minutes from the city, Eagle's Nest can take Life for the monastic communigroups of up to 55 in perfect surroundings for youth retreats, ty and pilgrims is simple, but this Christian living camps or other youth formation programs. is part of the appeal in the eyes of Priority is given to Catholic parish youth groups, schools and the young who participate other church youth organisations. through their common prayer three times a day. The following dates are still available for 1995-1996 They also have a chance to (Dates in: bold - weekend, Italics - unconfirmed, underlined = share in small groups with other school holidays young folk from around the world and are empowered to Available Dates for Eagle's Nest. deepen their inner life with a March 17-21, 24-29, 29-31 view towards assuming responsiApril 7-12, 14-19, 22-26, 27-28, 29-30 bilities in their place of origin. May 1-2, 5-8, 12-17, 19-22, 26-29 Br Ghislain said there had June 2-3, 15-16, 17-19, 23-27 always been a friendship link July 1 ,6-7, 8-11, 15-19, 20-21, 22-24, 27-28, 29-31. between the Popes and the Taize Aug. 4-9, 11-14, 18-22, 24-25, 26-28. 31-1 Community and cited how at the beginning of the Second Vatican Sept 2-6, 7-8, 9-11, 16-1Z 21-22, 23-2Z 28-29, 30 Council, Pope John 23rd "who Oct. 1-3, 7-11, 12-13, 14-17, 21-24, 28-31 had a deep affection for the Taize Nov. 1-3, 4-6, 9-10, 11-15, 16-17, 18-22, 23-24, 25-28 Community." invited Brother Dec. 2-6, 7-8, 9-13. 14-15, 16-20, 21-22, 27-29, Roger to be an observer during 30-31 the Council. Br Ghislain said Pope John Paul For bookings and enquiries, phone Eagle's Nest direct II visited them twice as a cardinal on 574 7030 and once as Pope in 1986. and had invited Brother Roger to
EAGLE'S NEST
Mercedes College 150 years
Self-sacrifice of Mercy Sisters remembered By Colleen McGuiness-Howard Mercedes - the oldest girls' school in Australia founded by the Mercy Sisters - has just celebrated a monumental 150 years! The oldest secondary school in Western Australia, it's students have made a mark for themselves within Australia and abroad, and its beautiful buildings clothed with a patina of age, reflect an air of quiet satisfaction, accomplishment, and respectability . . . . the sort of qualities one would expect from a top academic institution. Mind you - their sports and arts prowess is also quite considerable, and here too students have gone on to earn names for themselves. St Mary's Cathedral was filled last Friday for the Mass celebrating 150 years of the school offered by Archbishop Hickey Bishop Robert Healy and chaplain Fr Kazimierz Stuglik Thirty Mercy Sisters linked to the college, and students, staff, and a sprinkling of former students, some who later joined the Mercy Order were present. Violinist and former student Dan Carney, organist Elizabeth Edwards, and singer Sarah Jennings added to the considerable power and music of the Mercedes choir under Mrs Regina Hunt. After the Mass commemorative medals were individually
Mercedes Principal, Sister Assisium speaking at the Mass
given to the Sisters present in recognition of their contribution while Principal Sr Assisium pointed to the great achievements made to date by the sisters' enormous work, suffering, self-sacrifice and hardship endured and offered up especially by the pioneer sisters 150 years ago. who not only gave education to the poor, but also helped their families and the wider Perth communitY Archbishop Hickey told how a message had been sent 150 years ago to the Mercy motherhouse in Ireland saying there were 4,000 children waiting to be taught. The Mercy Sisters responded
with alacrity and sent six sisters out to the fledgling settlement in January 1846 to establish a school because of their love for the poor. However, as Archbishop Hickey pointed out, there were in fact only about a thousand school-age children in WA at that time, and of that number, there were only approximately 30 to 35 Catholic children in Perth. Needless to say, the undaunted Sisters opened their school In February 1946 with one girl turning up on the day! The numbers grew to around 50 in the next couple of months and the rest is an historical success story for Mercedes and the sisters' tenacity. Adding to the history of the early years, Sr Assisium said the sisters for many, many years were teachers, cooks, cleaners, painters, handywomen, visitors to the sick, support for those in need - and general survivors of tough situations as the years have written on the pages of time, "whereas in contrast today and with changed times, our annual cleaning bill is around $100,000!" As a final salute to the past and present, a number of former students were given a chance to get together with morning tea in the conference hall which boasted photographic displays of former years.
Course aims to save languages Aboriginal children. Similar Continued from Page exist in many other problems Not only will it be taught in world such as parts of the Ms schools but Catholic, Hudson has already received Canada and Alaska where expressions of interest and native Innuit languages are inquiries from government also disappearing as indigenous culture is subsumed by schools in the Kimberley. This will make it a double modern life. To value their native lanfirst for the Catholic education children must first be guage, system as the unit is entirely the work of Ms Hudson and interested in language, and her colleagues at the Broome part of the unit's method is to give students a perspective on Catholic Education Office. Broome CEO's jawa curricu- the importance of languages lum resource centre has pro- through exposure to other spoduced a teacher's handbook ken tongues. Making use of languages and providing information, activities, work sheets and resources alphabets such as Cyrillic (the Slav alphabet) and Japanese, to teach the program. Aboriginal LanguaKimberley Ms Hudson said Kimberley Aboriginal Languages most ges gives students languageimportant objective was to oriented challenges, such as help arrest the drift away from code-breaking, to be solved. traditional languages to English Hopefully this will help them and Kriol (a mixture of see that English is not the only Aboriginal and English) among alternative available, Ms the younger generation of Hudson said.
The course is also the result of a clear need expressed by members of Aboriginal communities to preserve language. The unit was tested last year at St Mary's College in Broome and at the remote Warmun community's Ngalangangpum School. The response to the trial was positive. "The students love it.. . . At Warmun the final project for last year's class was to make a sign (using Aboriginal words) for the community," she said. As part of their course students had to speak to community elders and members who spoke the Warmun language. "They did their own research and went to members of their own community. "The fact that they followed it right through meant that it was a success," she said.
TWILIGHT RETREAT A preparation for Easter
22nd March 1996 Friday evening 6pm to 9pm Servite Priory, 2 Morgans St, Than Hill 6pm-7pm Fellowship with light meal of soup and bread 7pm-9pm Evening Prayer and Scripture Readings Reflections with Taize chants, Mediation All are welcome Suggested donation $5 (at door) To assist in catering, please confirm your
attendance before 15th March.
Phone 444 5810 or leave message on answer ing machine. CHRISHAN MEDITATION COMMUNITY WA
Students enacting the Good Samaritan Gospel reading at the celebration.
Archbishop Hickey receives offertory gifts from a Mercedes student as school chaplain Fr Kazimierz Stuglik looks on.
Mercy Sisters Eileen McVittie (left), Mary Keely (both ex-students), and Elizabeth Divine at the 150th anniversary celebrations.
Would your children survive 6 months on 1meagre meal a day? M ost children in Australia have 3 good meals a day plus the occasional snack between meals. They are generally well fed and enjoy good health. In remote and isolated villages in India children are gravely affected by hunger and malnutrition. The majority of village people are untrained farmers who work their small fields with hand tools and wooden diggers. When the rainy seasons are good 2 crops are sown and harvested. But these provide only 2 meagre meals a day, consisting mostly of maize and rice which feed the family f or perhaps 5 months. For the next 7 months it is a daily ordeal of trying to supply even 1 meal a day consisting of fruits, nuts and roots taken from the jungle. These meals lack nuttition and leave children weak and prone to hunger and malnutrition and to all kinds of sickness, some fatal. Of those who survive childhood many will live on with ill health and poor mental growth. Living conditions in these areas are deplorable. Basic facilities are minimal or non-existent. Families live in mud dwellings, lack nutritious food, clean water, medical care, education and employment. Priests and nuns have appealed for funds to establish Community Care Centres and schools in these remote areas where families can be helped to help themselves. Where these facilities have been established the effects on the whole community have been remarkable. Families learn to cope with the problems of poverty and work together as a community. Water resources are improved, food production is increased. They learn about child care, nutrition, hygiene, sanitation and how to avoid sickness and what to do when it occurs. They need your help. A $50 donation is worth more than 10 times that amount in our Mission R egion. Whatever you can give will be greatly appreciated. Donations are tax deductible. Please make your cheque payable to "Australian Jesuit Mission Overseas Aid Fund - and post it with the coupon.
Australian Jesuit Mission in India cares for the poorest of the poor
Redemptorist Retreat House by: Fr Dan Magill CSsR From 4pm, 12 April to 10am 19 April Booking enquiries: Jan Broderick 328 6800
Help us Lord to compare the misery these children suffer with our own wellbeing. Help us to provide the material help these children need so desperately.
• • • • • • • • * • •
National Nrector, Father Tom O'Donovan, SJ. Australian Jesuit Mission in India (Est. 1951), PO Box 193, North Sydney, NSW, 2059. to help establish Community Care I enclose $ Centres & Schools in remoicareas where children are in great need of help. Tick._ for tax deduction receipt Mr/Mrs/Miss
. Address
(Block letters olease)
PR.7.3
• • • • • • • • • • •
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The Record. March 7 1996 Page 5
100 years of heart-lifting Irish charm By Colleen McGuinness-Howard Being born one hundred years ago in Ireland on 31 January 1896, was attraction enough for Patrick Hugh Kane's relatives who came from Auckland, London, Belfast, and various places in Australia, gathering for the first time ever, to celebrate this notable milestone last month at the Little Sisters of the Poor, Glendalough, which has been home to Mr Kane for the past 20 years following the death of his wife Kath. The fifth son of eight children, the 16 year old Patrick promised his dying father in 1912 he would take care of his mother and siblings living at home. With his promise fulfilled, in early 1926 he left Ireland and migrated to Western Australia and after six months in Perth, transferred to Dalwallinu as a fettler on the railway for ten years. Marrying in January 1936, Mr Kane settled in Waroona to raise their family of three children, working variously with the Railways and Nestle's Milk Factory, until returning to Perth in 1952 where he worked with the SEC until his retirement in 1961.
many ways. In praising God for his hundred years, Mass was celebrated in the Little Sisters' Glendalough chapel by home town fellow compatriot Fr John McGrath, and resident chaplain Fr Oliver, during which a Papal Blessing was presented to Mr Kane. This was followed by a luncheon in the hall decorated with photographs of Mr Kane, his home and family in Ireland and Australia. Later all attended an afternoon concert together with Sisters, staff and residents in the Occupational Therapy room decorated with shamrocks and balloons. Yet more afternoon tea celebrations with speeches, tabling of 50 cards from around the world, a message from the Queen - and a chance for Mr Kane to hold Mr Kane with youngest daughter Theresa Whitfield (left) and oldest daughter Josephile Sr Margaret from Midland babies and behold grandchilHis only son Brian died at the daughter, also In London, joining Sr Margaret recalls the gen- dren he hadn't seen for many age of 34 in Canberra, leaving a them at Glendalough. erosity of her parents in their years. wife and two young children, However the lady behind the parishes of Waroona and later As for Sr Margaret, she pays whom now well established, scenes organising this special Leederville, with the warm wel- great tribute to the Little Sisters' came from Canberra, Sydney occasion for the family reunion. come given to the Josephites and care and loving devotion showand London respectively to be was Mr Kane's eldest daughter parish priest in Waroona "espe- ered on her father all these part of the 53 relatives get- Margaret who joined the cially when he didn't have a years, "and the considerable together. Josephite Sisters in 1955 and presbytery of his own!" and sub- part they've played, has enabled Youngest daughter Theresa who is currently based at sequently the Mercy Sisters and the wonderful memory of this and her family travelled from Midland as Counsellor at La Christian Brothers in Leederville day to be etched in our hearts Canberra with their eldest Salle College, Viveash. whom she said were helped in forever.
Music is not just for Alternative to violence forum the ears but our souls By Colleen McGuinness Howard As the pianist's fingers ripple across the keyboard and cascading sound enraptures the listener - it all looks effortless doesn't it? But is it all that easy? Well according to Applecmss parishioner and highly accredited mistress of the keyboard Pauline Belviso, there's more to it than meets the eye. Contrary to the heavenly thought that good music "falls out of the sky." this is not so, says Pauline who tells of the hard work involved for those who perform and wish to succeed. She can speak with authority on musical matters because of her considerable background. Music and religion have been very much part of Pauline's life as in the thirties and forties, her uncle was East Victoria Park parish priest Monsignor Frank O'Connor, and her sister Marietta is a St John of God sister in Geraldton. With the musical parental background of a mother who played the violin and sang, and a father who loved classical music Pauline grew up with a love of music and sense of giving, hence her numerous works for charity. One of these is performing for the Jesuit Mission concerts.
Pauline Belviso at the piano Currently she is a senior member of the music faculty at Edith Cowan. Churchlands. Great concerts remain in your mind and soul, she said, adding that good music is an absolute necessity for the soul. Regarding the popular phenomenon of Gregorian Chant, Pauline believes it points to the need people have to find something to fill the void within them and the fascination of religious music traditions. I 've always been told God works in mysterious ways... you never know what is taking place in their mind and soul."
A fruit of programs developed in every one there is a power for The Advanced workshop looks in prisons to help violent offend- good. This power can transform at the underlying causes of vioers can now help those outside potentially violent situations and lence. prisons. help each of us to deal with our Some people go on to the third The Alternatives to Violence own violence. stage and take the naining for Project (AVP) first began in New The AVP program is experien- Facilitators workshop where the York in 1975 when prisoners in tial and participants have found emphasis is on the development Green Haven Prison sought the it challenging, rewarding and of team building. help of Quakers to conduct a enjoyable. Two of the people who help workshop on non-violence. In AVP people come together facilitate prison workshops are The workshop was successful on a voluntary basis. inmates who trained in 1995. and the idea spread to other prisIf you come to a workshop and The next Basic workshops take ons in the United States. do not wish to take part in an place in Subiaco over the weekSoon it became clear that mem- exercise, no pressure will be ends of March 15 - 17 and April bers of the general public would applied to you. 19 -21. benefit from the program. In prison. inmates choose to go The times are: Friday 6.45pm to AVP is now established in all to a workshop. 10pm. Saturday 9.00am to 10pm. Australian States except South AVP insists that no inducements Sunday 9.00am to 5pm. Australia. be given to prisoners for particiThe charges are: High The first workshops in Western pation in AVP workshops. income/institution $00-$110. The AVP program has three middle income $60-580. low Australia were held in September 1994. Since then stages. Income $30-$40. The Basic workshop focuses on workshops have continued to be There is assistance for those held for the community in building self-esteem, improving having difficulties paying. Subiaco and also for the inmates communication skills and, For further information please of Casuarina Prison. through role plays, learning ways phone 272 1268 or 272 4252, Central to AVP is the belief that to respond to conflict situations. Laurence Smitheringale. 13 ,P `3
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Reunion to celebrate 40 years
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Call Lorraine Williams BA (History). on 364 2617 for a free pre-interview meeting. Celbrating 40 years since Nazareth House in Hilton (now Foley village) opened for the elderly are staff from past and present. Phnt,- Eugene Mattes Thc•Record, Mamtv-7, 1996 'Page 6
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&Ilers 10 Iheo Co/liar Focus debates on truth, not on winning
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isolated 'reasoning' about cats' tails will be obvious to anyone with an average understanding of the meaning of words and grammatical structures. But if these kinds of statements are separated by a stream of verbosity, the deception becomes much less obvious and confusion results. The interpretation of the documents of Vatican II and the papal encyclicals fell prey to a similar abuse. Deliberately manipulated by trained theologians with their own agenda and, ignorantly, by sincere but under-educated lay-people under the influence of the former, confusion has spread through the parishes by a multitude of discussion groups. Just one example: At the time of the name change from 'Confession' to 'Reconciliation' we had parish discussion on this aspect of the liturgy.
One participant strongly defended the proposition that 'we cannot sin if we are unaware that what we are doing is a sin. Therefore we should not teach our children about sin; then they cannot sin, and 'reconciliation' will become unnecessary.' This was not the statement of a deviant rebel but of a sincere and devout, regular Sunday-Mass participant: yet, straight out of the pagan Jungian school of psychoanalysis. May I suggest that J. Jenkins look more extensively for his or her understanding of the Catholic Faith among the original documents of Vatican H, papal encyclicals and the authentic Roman Catholic Catechism - it is surprising what these documents actually say when read in the original. Matt Bruekers
sake of the Kingdom of God not only does not contradict the dignity of marriage but he recently formulated rules presupposes and confirms it Marriage regarding deacons suggest that a and virginity and celibacy are two ways of widowed deacon would sully him- expressing and living the one mystery of the covenant of God with his people. self if he were to marry again. When marriage is not esteemed, neither I can see no reason why a deacon should can consecrated virginity or celibacy exist: not enter a second marriage after he when human sexuality is not regarded as death of his first wife. a great value given by the Creator, the The other issue is: can a woman be a renunciation of it for the sake of the deacon? Kingdom loses its meaning." Geoff Taylor Further on. Pope John Paul says: Riverton "Virginity or celibacy, by liberating the human heart in a unique way, "so as to Editor's note: The Catechism of the make it with greater love for God for all Catholic Church naturally leads the read- humanity". bears witness that the er from its teaching on celibacy to that on of God and his justice is that virginity, referring to Pope John Paul tic Kingdom price which is preferred to great of pearl Familiaris Exhortation. Apostolic no matter how great. value other every Consortia on the role of the Christian sought as the only be must hence and Family in the Modern World. The Pope in value. definitive turn bases his teaching on virginity (celibacy) on the Word of God in St it is for this reason that the Church. Matthew (Chap. 22:30) and St Paul (1 throughout her history. has always defended the superiority of this charism to Corinthians 7:32-35). that of marriage, by reason of the wholly The Pope teaches that celibacy "for the singular link it has with the Kingdom of God." On the question of whether a woman can be a deacon, the great doctrinal document of Vatican II, Lumen Gentium. (the Dogmatic Constit-ution on the Church. 29) speaks of the diaconate being conferred only on men.
such situation. Even some older man in a wheelchair in a rest home could be taken for a jaunt to the beach or the local park or footy match. It's not the things we do but the things we leave undone which are perhaps the most important. Here is a chance to do something very worthwhile. Vonny Hellberg Fremantle
"Therefore, normally a cat has got three think the letter of J. Jenkins (The Record, 29 February) requires a more tails." The Nobel-laureate Dr Peter Medawar in-depth response than that given by the Editor because it is the result of a type (Pluto's Republic, p242) points to another of reasoning that has become common in common technique when making a the post-Vatican II Catholic Church: soph- scathing attack on the idol of many postVatican Catholics, Father Teilhard de istry. The ancient Greek Sophists were, Chardin SJ. Dr Medawar, an atheist, is not interested among other things, teachers of rhetoric and 'logic'. specialising in the training of in Christian theology but he is very conpeople who wanted to become lawyers cerned about Fr Teilhard's abuse of scienand politicians. The object of their 'logi- tific terms to give his statements a veneer cal' exercises was not to establish the of scientific respectability. St Augustine, in his prescription for the truth but to win a debate. (Nothing has proper use of logic to defend the Faith. changed has it?) An example of the application of one took the sophist logical techniques and pointed out which ones could profitably technique of the Sophists: "Normally, no cat has got two tails. You be used for the purpose of expounding the truth and which ones would, agree?" Normally, one cat has got one more tail inevitably, lead to error. The linguistic dishonesty in the starkly than no cat. You agree?"
Freemasonry still off limits
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reemasonry's public relations activities in recent years have sought to present a changed and more open image, by means of seminars, sponsorship. open lodge sessions, TV radio and the printed media. People may wonder whether the Church has in some way modified or "up-dated" her traditional ruling on membership to a lodge. On the contrary, membership to any masonic association remains prohibited to Catholics. Whilst the integrity and personal beliefs of individual Masons are not being called into dispute, the Church bases its unchanged teaching upon Freemasonry's official rituals and principles, which have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Catholic Church and with Christianity in general. Helen Sawyer Greenwood .
Cart before the horse
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hilst I sympathise with A. Jago's view (The Record, 29 February) on the Family Law Act. I cannot agree. with ibt - he is putting the cart before the horse. Who on earth could stop their spouse from leaving by, implicitly threatening them with the consequences of a "beefed Up" Family Law Act? What we should be working toward is changing the prevalent view in society that marriage is not a life-long commitment but a disposable commodity. We need to demonstrate our true acceptance of the indissolubility of marriage by setting an example for all to see. What is required is a change of heart, not law. Rory O'Hagan Attadale
A sally on deacons
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Boys do need Dads
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Baptism: one duty of a deacon
n today's parish newsletter was some helpful advice for parents of teenagers. Very nice too - but what about the lone parent, the single Mum? I have a friend bringing up three young boys on her own. Doing it as well as any mother could do and they are three good boys. But no mother can be mother and father too. The boys are getting to an age where they need a Dad to take them fishing, bush walking etc. Can't the Church form a Rotary type association of older men to help out in
Lesmurdie
Fight porn with prayer
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nce again the Australian public has been hoodwinked. On 1 February 1, 1984. new censorship procedures came into operation. Barriers to the importation of hardcore pornography (other than child pornography, incitation of terrorism and extreme violence) were lifted. The floodgates opened and a flourishing porn industry emerged. Promoters justify their actions by pointing to their massive contribution of tax dollars to the public purse. On 1 January 1. 1996. the Federal Government removed the ban on Xrated cinema films. They can now be screened in theatres throughout the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. This perversion by stealth is more insidious and dangerous than any cancer. We all respond promptly to the bodily threat of cancer but we are more tardy when the mind or soul are endangered. Individually and collectively we have a responsibility to protest the exploitation of the young and the vulnerable. Not wanting to get involved boils down to a shared culpability Why should we be brow beaten by callous mercenaries? Let us fight porn with prayer and let us start the battle today! J. M. Wallace Kensington
Samaritan woman was humble enough to admit the truth never get thirsty again, Jesus preKarrinyup parish priest Father sents her with the truth. Richard Rutkauskas continues The truth would have cut her to his meditations on the Sunday the bone but it made her take readings in Lent to help us in our notice of what Jesus was saying journey to Easter 1996. to her. The Samaritans had manipulated the Scriptures to ometimes the truth hurts. suit their own beliefs and she Not many people like to herself was lacking in her own hear about their shortcom- personal life. ings from others, especially if Jesus presents himself to her as what is said is true. It's often the promised Messiah, the hard to admit the truth to one- Christ, who gives the type of self, let alone hear it from other water "that wells up to eternal people. life". The "living water" is that In the Gospel for the third which comes from true worship Sunday of Lent, Jesus presents of the Father, a worship in "spirit the truth to the Samaritan and truth". woman. We, too, are called to true worAfter a playful exchange about ship of the Father. We, too, are living water allowing her to called to receive that "living
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fal4 Ut " "4 N fr
Y141' Y‘1,01 with Fr Richard Rutkauskas water". But like the Samaritan woman we have to be prepared to accept a challenge. It's very easy to see God as an all loving, all forgiving God who loves us despite ourselves. This is very true and we should never deny it. But Jesus came into the world
to give us the truth of "living had been living in a culture of water", the truth of God's teach- false worship and who had been ings, of God's commandments. living a life of personal sin, was The truth of how we can follow given new hope through the source of living water - of new him into eternal life. The teachings of the Church, life. That new hope led her to tell the truth that comes to us through the Magisterium is not a others and bring them to Jesus. In these difficult times in which smorgasbord of ideas from which we can pick and choose a we live we, too, need to recognise the source of that same livway of life to suit ourselves. It comes from the same Church ing water. During this Lent let us pray and that Jesus built on the rock of St. Peter - He is the head, we are the reflect on the truth: that new and everlasting life comes from living parts. Through that living body, with Christ alone. He challenges us not to hinder the Holy Father as Christ's Vicar on earth, living water comes to us, not to make us feel bad about give us life and lead us to life ourselves, but to lead us away from the death of sin to His new everlasting. The Samaritan woman, who and wonderful life. The Record, March 7 1996 Page 7
Feature
A saintly beacon of charity among the London poor Mother Magdalen Taylor, foundress of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God.
By Patricia Halligan
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t is natural for human beings to strive and to have heroes and heroines. These heroes and heroines can also influence the lives of their admirers. There are endless examples of people struggling to achieve their goals in life and looking to others to help them do it. The faith community of Mandurah for instance has set itself the goal of sending a young mother with cancer on a trip to Lourdes. At Lourdes she will be cherished because as one of the sick she shares in the suffering of Our Lord. The lives of the Catholic saints, on the other hand. reflect Christian spiritual values which emphasise, faith in God, hope in a better life and love for one's fellow human beings. It also encourages the patient acceptance of the cross of suffering which is so much part of the human condition.. The life of Mother Magdalen Taylor. the 19th century foundress of the English religious order known as the Poor Servants of the Mother of God is an excellent example of these values. She has been my inspiration in trying to live my Catholic Christian life in an unique way, and I unashamedly confess her as one of my heroines whose cause for canonisation is well under way. She was born Frances Margaret
Thylor on 20 Wiliam. 1832. She was the tenth and last child of the Anglican clergyman Reverend Henry Taylor and his wife Louisa. She was brought up in the rarnbling vicarage at Stoke Rochford in Lincolnshire in England in a loving, carefree existence amid the glories of nature in England's green and beautiful countryside. God in his wisdom allowed her this carefree happy time in order to prepare his servant more thoroughly for the work he had chosen for her. When she was eight years old her beloved father's increasing ill health from tuberculosis clouded her carefree world and he eventually died in 1842. Frances and her family moved to London. It was then that Frances became acquainted both with the new railway and industrial culture and with the London poor. Of course. Frances as a vicar's daughter knew what poverty was. Her father and mother were beloved by the poor in their village but there was a quality about the degradation of the London poor in those days which tugged at the heart strings of any compassionate Victorian. Frances or Fanny as she was affectionately called by her friends and family had, even as a little girl, been moved by compassion at the sight of the London poor and had longed in her tender heart to relieve it. But before her work of charity could begin fully. God had another momentous event for her -
Sleeping Out Under the Arches, by Gustav Dore, 1870
The Record. March 7 1996 Page 8
conversion to the Catholic faith at a time in the English-speaking world when turning to Catholicism required great heroism. As a young 17-year-old, Frances answered Florence Nightingale's call for nurses to nurse the neglected common soldiers in the Crimea. They were dying by the thousands from wounds rotten with gangrene if cholera or typhus didn't kill them first. Frances was brought up in the Protestant faith but it was the simple faith of a wounded Irish soldier in the Crimea, and how peacefully he died after he had seen the priest and been to Confession and Holy Communion, that led to her conversion. She compared the resignation of the Catholic Irish soldiers to death with the deaths of the soldiers of her own Protestant faith. In her common sense, practical way she went to the heart of the faith by concluding that Jesus must be really present in the Eucharist to bring such peace to everyone who is child-like and humble enough to believe it. As her interest in Catholicism grew, she was also influenced by the serenity and gentleness of the Irish Sisters of Mercy. She compared the order they brought to the wards in their care in the Crimea to the chaos of some of the others. All this filled her with a sense of urgency that she must be received into the Church without delay. With death all around her she could not bear to think that she might die without ever becoming a Catholic. Her fervent desire was granted and she was received into the Catholic Church by Father Sydney Woollen SJ on 14 April 1855. Back in England. her work had started in earnest by 1868 as she and the few gallant women who accompanied her tried to bring some relief to the poorest Londoners who lived in the squalid conditions. The young
women went out visiting the garrets and cellars and soon had the poor calling at their house. This led to complaints from people who thought the prestige of the Fleet street neighbourhood was being undermined by the presence of the poor. Fanny was forced to move and she carried on her work at the invitation of Father Healy OMI. from his parish at Tower Hill. There she ran an industrial school for girls during the day and another school in the evenings.
those in their hostels for homeless youth who suffer from parental rejection; as pastoral workers they visit the elderly who suffer most of all from loneliness and insecurity: as prison visitors they encounter criminals of a different kind but like their founder they search for the 'real person under the unattractive exterior'. It is easy to see that if Mother Magdalen were here today in her own down to earth practical way she would have tackled the modern problem of wholesale abor-
A poor garret in London's Bethnal Green in 1863 work Mother Magdalen's amongst the poor was vital, not just to the poor but as a courageous example to the tiny struggling English Catholic Church which was just emerging from centuries of persecution. God understood everything. He knew that she could not do everything alone and provided her with generous benefactors. Besides Fr Healy in those early days she also had Lady Georgiana Fullerton whom she had admired since she was a child. Lady Georgiana had converted to Catholicism some years before and, like many converts, was zealous abut her new found faith. Lady Georgiana suggested that Frances go to Poland to learn about a religious congregation with a view to opening one in England. This did not prove suitable as the conditions the Polish sisters were serving in were much different to those in London, so Frances ended up founding a completely new religious congregation named the Poor Servants of the Mother of God. This order has just celebrated its 125th year and has congregations in England and Scotland, Ireland, the United States, Venezuela, France, Italy and lately in Kenya where they have just opened a novitiate in the poor diocese of Kitui. One hundred and twenty-five years later the industrial revolution is over and her sisters are still responding in our own postindustrial consumer society by caring for those who have been damaged by the selfish individualism that it has produced in all its forms. This time the 'orphans' are
tion murders of hidden, unknown babies in their mother's wombs as enthusiastically as she 'rescued' poor girls driven to a life of prostitution in her own day. She would have done this not only because she saw Christ in every person but because she has a unique devotion to the Incarnate God in His Mother's Womb. The cause for the beatification of Mother Magdalen Taylor is now well advanced and many small miracles and favours have been granted through Mother Magdalen Taylor's intercession. All that is required now is the required miracle, the 'big one'. For this to happen more people must know about Mother Magdalen and say the prayers for her beatification and ask for her intercession. Catholics can get so much faith. Inspiration and hope if only they will look to the saints who are our friends in Heaven. Mother Magdalen deserves to be recognised and loved by , Australians especially those who have English roots as she lived a very English life. Her work amongst the poor was truly heroic and this is the stuff saints are made of. Only death prevented her from working for her beloved poor and she died in 1900 sadly missed by her sisters. If you would like to take a more active part in Mother Magdalen's cause, please contact: Sister Rose Joseph, SMG. St Mary's Convent, Hight Street London Roe Hampton, SW154HJ, England.
Features
Banish fear: meet Jesus this Love is a gift given Lent in eucharistic adoration By Jean Gardner Can you not watch one hour with Me?(Mark 14:32). The response of West Australian Catholics to this call to spend a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament each week has been truly inspiring. This has followed Archbishop Barry Hickey formally welcoming the Society for Eucharistic Adoration into the Perth Archdiocese on the Feast of Corpus Christi last year. Comments have been received such as it is wonderful to see the revival of this once-treasured form of prayer and worship", and "I wish to register with the society in the hope that through my Holy Hour of worship others may be converted and return to the Church from which they have strayed". Recent years have seen a resurgence of this centuries-old form of prayer and worship. Our Holy Father began Perpetual Adoration in a chapel in the Vatican on 2 December. 1981. "The Church and the world", he said. "have a great need of Eucharistic Devotion. Jesus waits for us in this Sacrament of Love. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him, ready to make reparation for the great evils of this world". Vatican II has emphasised the importance of lay involvement in the Church's mission. In July 1993 a group of lay people. endeavouring to promote and encourage all forms of Eucharistic Adoration, met in Sydney and formed the Society for Eucharistic Adoration. The heart of every parish is Jesus truly present. Body. Blood. Soul and Divinity in the
Tabernacle, often forgotten and yet burning with love for each of us. This Lenten season, let us listen to the anguished cry of Our Saviour in Gethsemane: "Can you not watch one hour with Me?" What better sacrifice to offer during Lent than to give Him our time, to console Him and to thank Him for His sacrifice on Calvary. His powerful presence in this sacrament of love reminds us of the love with which He gave himself up on the Cross to save us.
This calls for a most generous response on our part and a challenge for us to respond by giving ourselves to Him as freely as he offered himself on the Cross. Let us go to Him with our brokenness, our nothingness, our everyday trials in response to his call: "Come to Me all you who labour and are burdened and I shall give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)
Jesus takes away all anxiety and fear and refreshes us and makes us strong. We do not find God in the busyness of this world. Even our own
Jesus present In the monstrance on the attar at St Dominic's, Inatoo.
homes are full of distractions. In the quiet of an Adoration Chapel or Church we establish a oneness with God, leading us to healing and a great inner peace which only He can give. This peace permeates our very being and spreads through us to our families and the community. If you want to experience real joy in your life, spiritual graces for you and your family and help in every need, go before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The greatest of all reasons is simply that Our Lord made it clear when he gave his eucharistic discourse: Indeed, this is the Will of My Father, that everyone who looks upon the Son and believes in Him, shall have eternal life. Him I will raise up on the last day." (John 6:40) If you would like to become a member of the Society for Eucharistic Adoration or wish to receive any information, please write to: Mrs Jean Gardner, state convener for the Society for Eucharistic Adoration. Catholic Church Office, Victoria Square. Perth, 8000. Membership entails spending an hour of quiet prayer before the Blessed Sacrament once a week in any church or chapel. Mass is offered each month for members' spiritual and temporal welfare. The experience of the Church is that, as devotion for the Blessed Sacrament grows. there is a corresponding increase in priestly and religious vocations. Since 1973. Mother Teresa of Calcutta and her Daughters of Charity began making a Holy Hour every day and their number of vocations have doubled. It is the most beautiful thing" she says. "you could ever think of doing. People are hungry for God".
Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Miraculous Medals A Mother's Story
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eenage mutant ninja turtles and miraculous medals don't mix. I have found that out on two separate occasions now when Luke's medal has been ripped from his neck at school during ninja wrestling at recess. It's a public school but Luke says his six-year-old friends thought his medal was 'real cool'. Cool, yes, but strong enough to withstand a headlock by 'Michelangelo?' No way! We haven't found anything tough enough to replace the miraculous medal so now we rely on the prayer to his guardian angel to keep Luke safe during school hours. The wearing of medals and scapulars has largely died out these days, especially amongst young people which may be why Luke's friends thought his medal was such hot stuff. If parents realised how much children like these visible signs of our faith, they might resurrect them. In an article in The Tablet. John F X. Harriott wrote about how many of our old Catholic practices have been dropped. For instance. 20 years ago it was quite common to see Catholics in restaurants blessing themselves and saying grace before they ate. Now you never see it. times", "In recent
writes
Harriott. "we Catholics have been excessively afflicted by a puritan spirit which jibs at almost any visible action expressive of faith." "We were once notorious for our bobbings and genuflections, our signs of the cross and sprinklings of holy water, our rosaries and medallions and scapulars, our lightings of candles, processions and blessings. . . ." Harriott maintains we are embarrassed by these things today and that we want to just fade into the crowd . . . . I must admit that being a parent has brought me back to a more traditional observance of the faith. The faith of my children (six, four and two years of age) is so vibrant that it makes mine more lively too. We parents think that we pass on the faith to our children and we do, but I think children have an enthusiasm and holiness that in turn helps deepen the parents' faith. Watching my four-year-old pray the Hail Mary with eyes closed and hands joined, brings me closer to God. I introduced a holy water font for my kids and they took to it like ducks. The first week I was re-filling it constantly as they splashed and blessed themselves vigorously all day. Now, after six months, our holy water use is dramatically down but I remind them occasionally that the devil hates to go near
anyone who is blessed with holy candle so as to avert another water. Consequently I notice they unseemly brawl. These visible signs of our faith sometimes bless themselves at in God's presence are healthy night as they go upstairs. A girlfriend recently returned and I feel it is good for my kids to from Medjugorje told me that have a strong sense of their idenOur Lady has reportedly asked tity as Catholics. We had a nice surprise the us to have a small altar somewhere in our homes so that other day when we asked a became our project last week young priest to bless a new miraculous medal. I thought he and the kids loved it. We took our beautiful icon cru- was pretty trendy and would cifix off the wall and placed it on think us a bunch of dopes but he a very low shelf and at the foot of said. "Oh this is my favourite the cross we placed the Virgin medal! It saved my life once who normally goes with the when I was in a car that did a Christmas nativity. Then we triple roll. I really believe that added a candle, our rosary beads Mary intervened because I wore her medal." and a blessed medal. This done, we appointed Laura Having said this much I must 'Mary's helper' for the week and admit I felt guilty the other day she picked a few flowers and when I sent Luke off to public placed them in a vase on the school with a statue of Mary to altar. This week Luke was sup- show for 'Sharing' . . . . I tried to posed to be `Mary's helper' and talk him out of it because I feared replace the flowers but Laura the kids might laugh at him. but I wasn't quite ready to surrender knew his teacher was Catholic her role. and . . I knew she wouldn't be As a result the whole altar near- offended. ly got wiped out as the acolytes Anyway he took it and he said fought furiously for the honour. the kids liked it and that Armand We suffered a cracked candle- (the roughest. toughest kid in stick (something I'm sure doesn't class) had said, "Hey Luke. I'm happen in the 'best' cathedrals) Catholic too. We're brothers!" but the acolytes have made their and had insisted walking arm-inpeace and harmony reigns arm with him at recess. around the family altar. So at So who knows? Maybe if we night we kneel there with a light- don't hide our faith we can ed candle and say evening achieve some good even in prayers and it feels like a special unlikely places. occasion. We keep strict tabs on - The Majellan Magazine whose turn it is to blow out the
The third installment from the Pontifical Council for the Family's guidelines for sex education.
M
an is called to love and to self-giving in the unity of body and spirit. Femininity and masculinity gifts complementary are through which human sexuality is an integrating part of the concrete capacity for love which God has inscribed in man and woman. This capacity for love as selfgiving is thus "incarnated" in the nuptial meaning of the body, which bears the imprint of the person's masculinity and femininity. 'The human body, with its sex, and its masculinity and femininity, seen in the very mystery of creation, is not only a source of fruitfulness and procreation, as in the whole natural order, but includes right from the beginning' the 'nuptial' attribute, that is, the capacity of expressing love: that love precisely in which the manperson becomes a gift and - by means of this gift - fulfills the very meaning of his being and existence." (Pope John Paul. 1980 and 1983) Every form of love will always bear this masculine and feminine character. uman sexuality is thus a good. part of that created gift which God saw as being "very good" when he created the human person in his image and likeness. and "male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). Insofar as it is a way of relating and being open to others. sexuality has love as its intrinsic end, more precisely'. love as donation and acceptance. love as giving and receiving . . . . when suc.h love exists in marriage. self-giving expresses. through the body. the complymentarity and totality of the gift. Married love thus becomes a power which enriches persons and makes them grnw. and at the same time it contributes to building up the civilisation of love. But when the sense and meaning of gift is lacking in sexuality. a "civilisation of things and not of persons" takes over. "a civilisation in which persons are used in the same way as things are used. In the context of a civilisation of use, woman can become an object for man, children a hindrance to parents." (Gratissamam Sane. 13) The gift of God: this great truth and basic fact stands at the centre of the Christian conscience of parents and their children. Here we refer to the gift which God has given us in calling us to life, to exist as man or woman in an unrepeatable existence full of endless possibilities for growing spiritually and morally: -Human life is a gift received in order then to be given as a gift.- (Evangelium Vitae, 506) "In fact, the gift reveals, so to speak a particular characteristic of human existence, or rather, of the very essence of the person. When God Yahweh says that 'it is not good that man should be alone' (Genesis 2:18). he affirms that 'alone' man does not completely realise his existence. He realises it only by existing with someone' - and even more deeply and completely: by existing for someone.'"(Pope John Paul 1980 and
H
1989)
The Record, March 7 1996 Page 9
Video Reviews
The good, the bad and the plain silly Wondering whether the videos your children want to see so much are really that suitable for a family setting but don't have the time to check them out or preview them yourself? Luckily The Record is able to help harassed Mums and Dads come to grips with Hollywood's offerings, courtesy of the US Catholic Conference Office for Film and Broadcasting
Waterworld In a waterlogged future where scattered bands of people subsist on man-made atolls, a mutant fish-man (Kevin Costner) reluctantly gives refuge aboard his uniquely rigged sailboat to a woman (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and a child with a mysterious tattoo sought by a murderous pirate gang (under Dennis Hopper) because it supposedly shows the location of a hidden patch of dry land. Aside from a visually bleak vision of humans struggling for survival in an aquatic world, Recurring violence, partial nudity, sexual innuendo, profanity and an instance of rough language. The US Catholic Conference classification is AIV adults, with reservations.
duction's zestful animation was originally done for the 1949 Disney feature, "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad," and is packaged with a companion storybook to encourage children to read as well as watch.
Nine Months When his pregnant girlfriend (Julianne Moore) leaves him because of his ambivalence about parenthood, a self-centered child psychologist (Hugh Grant) sets out to convince her that he wants both marriage and a family. Writer-director Chris Columbus' contrived situation comedy delivers spotty laughs on its way to a feelgood ending of marital commitment. AI - adults.
The Brothers McMullen Sturdy but flawed comic drama set in New York City where three brothers (Jack Mulcahy, Mike McGlone and Edward
Pocahontas Visually lovely animation romanticizes the historical story of Native American princess Pocahontas (voice of Irene Bedard) and English captain John Smith (voice of Mel Gibson) whose life she saved in 1607 Jamestown as conflicts between Indians and settlers threaten to boil over. While not Disney's finest achievement, directors Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg's exceptional imagery and simple narrative stress respecting nature and appreciating how different cultures can learn from each other and live in harmony. Al - general patronage.
The Run of the Country Darkly eccentric coming-of-age story in which an 18-year-old Irish lad (Matt Keeslar) quarrels with his policeman father (Albert Finney), moves in with a rural roughneck (Anthony Brophy) and
Dangerous Minds
Saint's Gallery
Weak but warm-hearted comedy in which three drag queens (Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze. John Leguizamo) driving to Hollywood have motor trouble in rural Nebraska where they make friends with the startled townspeople by helping several resolve personal problems. Breezy depiction of cross- dressing, mild sexual references and minor violence. AM adults.
The Wind in the Willows Fanciful adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's whimsical British children's classic about the foolish but loveable Mr. Toad centers here on how his friends cure him of his mania for motor cars. A 34-minute video In the "Favorite Stories" series, the pro-
Contrived escapade of an American youth visiting his estranged father on a panda reserve in the highlands of northern China where the 10-year-old boy promptly gets lost in the wilds while trying to rescue a panda cub from a pair of gun-toting poachers. Despite the beautiful locales and cuddly cub, director Christopher Cain can't overcome the handicaps of an artificial story, undeveloped characters and the spoiled lad's unconvincing juvenile exploits. All - adults and adolescents.
Bushwacked
Gritty crime tale told in flashback to a hard-nosed cop (Chazz Pa'minter') by the surviving member (Kevin Spacey) of a motley band of thieves (including Gabriel Byrne and Stephen Baldwin) who pull off a heist with far-reaching consequences. Recurring stylized violence and much rough language. The U.S. Catholic Conference classification is Ain adults.
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
The Amazing Panda Adventure
On the run after being framed for murder, a dopey delivery man (Daniel Stern) pretends to be the savvy guide assigned to take six children on an overnight camping trip into the wilds, with an FBI agent (Jon Polito) and the real guide (Brad Sullivan) In hot pursuit. Director Greg Beeman's forgettable comedy is a conventional mishmash of slapstick sketches and hammy acting with resourceful youngsters predictably helping the clumsy tenderfoot prove his innocence. All - adults and adolescents.
The Usual Suspects
Drawing from largely classical but also some contemporary art works as well as original drawings by Marist Brother Steve Erspamer. the 34-minute program provides brief introductions to the lives of six saints - Joseph. head of the Holy Family. Joan of Arc. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Martin of Tours, Martin de Porres and Elizabeth of Hungary. Written by Susan Heinkel Bayer and Oblate Father Roger Schoenhofen. the result is visually interesting and the selection of saints diverse enough to have broad appeal for all ages.
Missouri, to the White House and back. Directed by Frank Pierson, the re-creation of far-ranging events is held together by Gary Sinise's likable performance in portraying Truman as a man striving mightily to measure up to the responsibilities of the land's highest office. All - adults and adolescents.
Actress Julia Roberts, who stars in Something To Talk About
Burns) share their muddlements over love, sex, relationships and commitment from the perspective of their Irish-Catholic upbringing. Also written and directed by Burns. the low-budget picture succeeds best in portraying the close family bond helping the brothers face individual moral quagmires as best they can without benefit of ties to parish or sacraments. Sexual situations occasioning much discussion of morality with sporadic profanity and rough language. AIV - adults, with reservations.
gets a girl (Victoria Smurfit) pregnant before finally taking some tentative steps towards maturity. Some violence, strong sexual situations, brief nudity and occasional profanity as well as rough language. AIV - adults, with reservations.
Hackers
When an ex-Marine (Michelle Pfeiffer) turns to teaching high school English to a chaotic class of tough minority students, she becomes involved in their personal problems while showing them that poetry offers practical insights in facing life's struggles. Director John Smith's fact-based story stresses uplifting themes about staying in school and rejecting despair but the slick script rarely rises beyond shallow characterizations and pat solutions. Brief violence, some sexual references and much crude slang and rough language. Am - adults.
A Kid in King Arthur's Court
Magically transported from his Southern Jumbled crime story in which a computer California baseball field to 12th-century expert (Fisher Stevens) electronically Camelot, a timid teen-ager (Thomas Ian steals millions from a corporation, then Nicholas) finds the inner resources to resattempts to frame a group of teen-age cue King Arthur's daughters (Paloma computer freaks for the crime. Director Baeza and Kate Winslet) from a villainous lain Soffiey relies more on zippy pacing usurper (Art Malik). Director Michael than narrative logic in an overbusy script Gottlieb's unimaginative fantasy- advenMoonlight and Valentino which ignores the teens' penchant for illeFeminist drama in which a grieving widow gally breaching computer security sys- ture strings together a sluggish series of (Elizabeth Perkins) gradually puts her life tems. Ambiguous treatment of white-col- routine obstacles for the lad to overcome. back together with the help of her best lar crime, fleeting nudity and an instance All - adults and adolescents. friend (Whoopi Goldberg), her college-age of rough language. AM - adults. sister (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her mellowSomething to Talk About ing ex-stepmother (Kathleen Turner). T ruman After discovering her husband (Dennis Directed by David Anspaugh. the situation is deeply emotional but the story is con- Based on David McCullough's Pulitzer Quaid) has been unfaithful, a Southern trived and the treatment is cerebral, with Prize-winning biography, this 135-minute mother (Julia Roberts) re-evaluates her life results that are more sentimental than television dramatization treats the life and and family relationships, a painful process convincing. Adult themes, including sexu- times of Harry Truman in episodic fashion involving her own mother (Gena as he makes his way from Independence, Rowlands). AM - adults al situations. AM - adults,
Video Classifications Here is a list of recent videocassette releases of theatrical movies that the US. Catholic Conference Office for Film and Broadcasting has rated on the basis of moral suitability.
Beyond Rangoon, AM The Amazing Panda Adventure, Al! The Big Green, AI Brian Wilson:I just Wasn't Made for These Times, AM The Brothers McMullen, AIV USCC classifications: At - gen- Bushwacked, Al! eralpatronage; All - adults and Cinderella, Al adolescents; AN - adults; AIV - Circle of Friends, AIII adults, with reservations (this Clueless, 0 indicates films that, while not Congo, All morally offensive in them- Copycat, 0 selves, are not for casual view- Crimson Tide, AIII ing because they require some The Cure, Al! analysis and explanation in Dangerous Minds, Al!! order to avoid false impres- Desperado, 0 sions and interpretations); 0 - Die Hard with a Vengeance, 0 Dolores Claiborne, Al!! morally offensive. The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Before Sunrise, AIII The Record, March 7 1996 Page 10
Mountain, Al!! Fair Game, 0 First Knight, All Fluke, All Forget Paris, Al!! French Kiss, AIII The Glass Shield, AIII Gordy, Al Hackers, AIII Hideaway, Al!! The Hunted, 0 The Indian in the Cupboard, AI Jade, 0 Jeffrey 0 Judge Dredd, 0 Just Cause, AIII A Kid in King Arthur's Court, AII Kids, 0 Living in Oblivion, Al!! Lord of Illusions, 0 Losing Isaiah, Al!!
Love and Human Remains, 0 The Madness of King George, Al!! Miami Rhapsody, AIII Moonlight and Valentino, AM Mute Witness, AIV My Family-MI Familia, AIII National Lampoon's Senior Trip, 0 The Net, Al!! Nine Months, AM Only You, All Outbreak, All Party Girl, AIV The Perez Family, AIV Pocahontas, AI Priest, ATV Pulp Fiction, 0 A Pure Formality, Au Pushing Hands, Al! Rob Roy, AM
The Run of the Country, AIV Safe, AIII The Secret of Roan Inish, Al! Showgirls, 0 Smoke, AIII Something to Talk About, Al!! Species, 0 The Stars Fell on Henrietta, Al!! To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, Al!! Tommy Boy, AIII Top Dog, AM Truman, Al! Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, 0 Unzipped, All! The Usual Suspects, Al!! Virtuosity, 0 A Walk in the Clouds, Al!! Waterworld, AIV While You Were Sleeping, Al!! Window to Paris, Al!!
Features
Sally braves bullets of Bosnia Project Spark hopes to feed, educate Bosnia's children for a new civilisation By Peter Rosengren
S
ally Trench may be mad. but she is not stupid. For four and a half years now she has been driving trucks laden with food and the basic essentials to sustain life through the frontlines of the Bosnian war and delivering them to the most Innocent victims of the savage five-year-old conflict - the children. 'Mad' because she works in the most dangerous places in the middle of the war zone, where even the large official relief agencies will not tread. On a flying visit to Perth last week, Sally. England's Catholic Woman of the Year for 1995, described the horrors she has witnessed in her aid work for children in Bosnia and appealed for funds so the aid work could be continued. The director of Project Spark, which helps children with basic foodstuffs and clothing in the most war-ravaged and brutalised parts of the former Yugoslavia, she described how she had witnessed living women placed in deep freezers to kill them, being held at gunpoint while 14-yearold girls were raped by drunken soldiers, removing dead children from concrete mixers and seeing children deliberately shot by snipers. "Most of us have read or seen Schindler's List, most of us have read about what the Nazis did to the Jews and the atrocities at Auschwitz," she said to a packed meeting in St Joseph's parish hall in Subiaco organised by the Perth Catholic Social Justice Commission. "I can tell you here, first-hand, similar atrocities are taking place today in the Balkans." Hearing of a group of 200 children who had fled into the mountains after their fathers were killed defending their village, and who were searching for food after their rations were depleted. Sally walked 112km to find them. "By the time I arrived 68 were alive out of the 200 . . . . We had to let down ladders for the children to climb in (to the helicopters). The soldiers saw us and shot the children as they climbed
the ladders. I came away with 25 children only. The rest were killed." she said. Sally first gained public recognition 25 years ago for her work with the poor and homeless in London when, at 17 years of age, her hook Bury Me In My Boots was published and soared to the top of the best-seller lists, eveintu-
The soldiers
shot the children as they climbed the helicopter ladders. . . . 43 were killed.
ally selling more than one million copies. With the proceeds of the book she set up Project Spark to provide special education for deprived and traumatised children and delinquent teenagers. And everyone who stands by without doing anything, whether in Europe or Australia, was complicit in the genocide going on in Bosnia, she said. Her work is solely for the children, who live in the wrecks of cars on the street and in the shelled-out cellars and buildings that were once their homes. They have no family left and survive any way they can. "(They) are not living, but existing. surviving as best they can," she said. She said that, in the five years since the war had broken out,
over four and a half million people had been displaced and several hundred thousand had been wounded, raped or killed. Horrified by the appalling pictures emerging from the Balkans in 1991. Sally convinced British entertainment tycoon Richard Branson to fly her to Cmatia's refugee camps. "I have been held at gun point to watch 14-year-old girls being raped by drunken soldiers . . . . I will never ever forget the refugee camps. I came away knowing what I had to do,I had to become a truck driver to get food to the thousands and thousands of children living in the most appalling conditions in enclaves, villages, in mountains, hiding," she said. Since then she has led aid convoys of trucks, every two months on average, to some of the most dangerous behind-the-lines parts of Bosnia such as Sarajevo and Mostar. On one occasion during winter she had parked a truck in a street to distribute footwear to barefoot children whose parents had been killed and who were living in the bombed out ruins of their houses. Just as she bent over a little fiveyear-old girl to teach her how to tie her shoelaces, a machine gun opened fire on the children, killing two within seconds and wounding tens of others. "This was another so-called 'peaceful' day in Bosnia that had gone terribly wrong," she told her audience. And a major difference between the small non-government organisations and their larger official aid counterparts. she said, was that Project Spark and a few others work behind the frontlines in a war zone. For insurance reasons the larger agencies will not venture into such places, she said. Despite the horrors she has seen she has not lost a sense of humour. To do this sort of work meant that one had to be crazy, she told the audience in a lighthearted aside. "We're all slightly mad, slightly honkers," she laughed. But even though agencies such as the United Nations regard Project Spark and other unofficial relief projects as 'amateurish'
Sally Trench: helping save the homeless children of Bosnian
In their attempts to alleviate some of the suffering, after five years she was still alive "and half of them are still dead." she smiled. "So in fact I regard myself as very professional," she added. She told the audience that in practical terms it was pointless trying to send clothes and food from Australia. What was most important was to donate money so that efforts to help the children could continue. In addition, getting children out of Bosnia not as refugees but for educational purposes was an important part of her work, she said, outlining a long-range objective that is somewhat unusual. She hopes young, educated Bosnians will be able to return home and lead their nation into a more civilised era at some time in the future. "In the last two months I have been in AustraliaIhave managed to get headmasters from secondary schools to agree to take
Bosnian children in to their schools free (of charge)," she said. "I want to get them out, get them into peaceful countries, democratic countries where they have a chance to be educated in forgiveness and reconciliation so they can return to their country." she said. Invited to Australia as a guest speaker at the Marist youth festival in Kilmore. Victoria. Sally also launched Project Compassion. the Catholic Church's national Lenten appeal. in Melbourne. She has spent two months in Australia speaking on her work and appealing for funds. And the work is just as urgent as ever, spurred on partly by the fact that Sally does not believe the Dayton peace agreement. which introduced a ceasefire 17 weeks ago. will hold, and she bluntly says so. How long will she continue doing her 'mad' work? She does not know, but says she will step down when God tells her to.
Humble pretzel has its origin in early Christian Roman fasts
T
hose who have cut back on junk crossed in prayer, supposedly to remind food for Lent need not starve them- hungry Christians that Lent was a time of selves because there is dne snack prayer and penance. food that claims to have roots in ancient In medieval times, it is said, people Lenten traditions. prayed not with hands clasped together The pretzel, which today shares shelf but with their arms across their chest in a space with chips and popcorn, was actual- cross shape, with each hand on the oppoly created in the fourth century by the site shoulder. early Roman Christians, according to Later monks apparently introduced Jesuit Father E. X. Weiser in The Year of these breads to the northern countries. the Lord in the Christian Home. The Germans coined the word -brezel." Fr Weiser writes that these early Another account of the pretzel's origin Christians observed a strict fast - abstain- says it was invented by a monk who used ing from milk, butter, cheese, eggs, them to reward students who recited cream and meat - and wanted to make their catechism properly. That same story something to eat without using also says the pretzel shape was no accithose ingredients. dent, but that it was meant to resemble the So, they invented a new kind of bread arms of a child in prayer. using just flour and yeast and then sprinOther accounts of the pretzel claim that kled.the finished product with salt. illustrations of the bread can be found in In Latin, it was called ' brachiatellum.- ancient biblical texts as page borders derived from the word -brachium.- mean- and that a drawing and description of the ing arm. pretzel dating to the fifth century can be The bread was so named because found in a manuscript at the Vatican its makers shaped it in the form of arms Librar-s.
The humble pretzel, which has its origins in an early Roman Lenten tradition.
theilecord. March/1'.1996 ,-Paae.1,1
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To Jesus through Mary. . . . The Angelus is an appropriate prayer in honour of the Annunciation, wherein thrice a day we recall the blessings of the Incarnation. Already in the year 1549, devotion of the Angelus was practiced in the ancient city of Strasburg, Germany. At the first sound of the Angelus bell, all conversation would cease, all work and amusement would be interrupted and all would pray aloud.
An interesting story is told about the Angelus, which happened in a little village of Lower Austria in 1883. It was close to midday; two little brothers were playing together by the river-side, not far from a gigantic mill that stood on its banks. The elder, only eight, was proud of his responsible post of looking after his younger brother, but carefully as he watched him, he
Clinton and US bishops clash on abortion By Julie Asher (CNS) WASHINGFON President Clinton's latest push for an exception to protect the mother's health in a bill to ban partial-birth abortions would render the measure meaningless, said pro-lifers on February 28. Clinton. in a letter sent the same day to key lawmakers, threatened to veto any ban on the procedure if it does not include such an exception. "We are deeply offended by the president's decision to support a procedure in which doctors mostly deliver a live human child, then brutally kill that child before completing the delivery," said Helen Alvare, the US bishops' pro-life spokeswoman. "The president's response is disingenuous," Ms. Alvare said. "It is well known that a 'health' exception is a legal term of art that means any abortion a woman elects to have. Since Roe vs Wade and its companion case Doe vs Bolton, the Supreme Court has defined 'health' in the context of abortions to include all forms of psychological, emotional or social 'well-being."
She also referred to a letter sent to the president on February 22 by Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, chairman of the bishops' pro-life committee, who said that a health exception "would render the bill meaningless." The Senate and the House have passed slightly different versions of a bill banning the procedure. Both versions explicitly allow such abortions to be performed to save the life of the mother, and the Senate's version permits it to be used "if the mother's life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness or injury." The likely course to resolve the differences will be for the Senate version to be put before the House to be approved. The procedure involves inducing labour to partially deliver a fetus, then stabbing surgical scissors into the base of the infant's head. Suction is used to remove the brains, allowing for easier removal of the rest of the fetus. Cardinal Law and Cleveland Bishop Anthony Pilla, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, have written to the president urging him to sign the ban into law.
. . . a column of Marian
was unable to prevent his slip- should he be caught in the ping out of his sight from time to wheel, death would be instantatime. Suddenly there was a sud- neous. With all the strength he could den splash that told him the little muster, our hero swam on. At lad had fallen into the river. Without delay, the brave boy length he reached his brother, plunged in after him, for he well but it seemed as if they might die knew the danger which threat- together, for no sooner had he grasped his brother firmly by his ened him. than they were borne with hand The overpowering velocity of speed toward the dreaded terrific child the the water was carrying No one could hear their wheel. toward the machinery of the mill, help; they seemed forfor cries which was working full speed; saken by God and man.
The clock struck the hour of twelve. All hands stopped work, the mill stood still, and one of the men, with head uncovered, coming out to say the Angelus in the open air, saw at once the two boys so close to the mill wheel. Before long they were safely by their mother's side thanks to the Angelus. - Ave Maria, the magazine of the Garabandle Centre of WA.
Guerilla warfare can break out at any tick of the clock: Croat bishop MILAN, Italy (CNS) - A Bosnian Croat bishop has warned that guerrilla warfare could ignite in Bosnia-Herzegovina because of the number of displaced people who can't go home. In Mostar there are more than 15,000 displaced Croats from central Bosnia who "cannot return because their homes are already possessed by Muslims," said Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno. The Muslims cannot be dislodged because they come from territory under Serb control and are themselves the victims of ethnic cleansing, he added. At the same time, 2,300 Serbs who lived in the Croat zone of Mostar throughout the war are leaving the city, he said. The situation is the perfecting of ethnic cleansing by creating ethnically homogeneous regions, he said in an interview appearing in the March 3 Milan-based Catholic newspaper, Avvenire. The bishop did not predict another outbreak of war, but said conditions are ripe "for a guerrilla war" and for -continually pestering terrorist ambushes." Bishop Peric said that the Dayton peace accords are largely to blame for the continued tensions in Bosnia because of the way territory was divided among the ethnic factions. -The assigning of 50 percent of Bosniaof territory the Herzegovina to the Serbs represents a germ of injustice, the consequences of which are difficult to foresee," he said. Serbs formed only 32 percent of the population in 1991, said the bishop. "The Dayton accords were reached without the Croatian Catholic Church being consulted," he said. The Church's statements were "systematically ignored." "The Church cannot be called to guarantee a treaty in which
A Bosnian Serb family tries to escape from a burning apartment set on fire by unidentified Serbs in a Sarajevo suburb on Feb. 22, Many Serbs were fleeing before Bosnian government police begin patrolling the area,
ample degrul,, of injustices remain," he said. "I would like to have more reasons for hope, but it is difficult to find them when you are at a dead end," he added. Bishop Peric said that it is still Impossible for him to visit half his diocese because of the persisting ethnic tensions. Mostar and the surrounding region are inhabited mostly by Croats and Muslims. Tensions have been high between the two groups since the end of the fighting last year. Although the Muslims and Croats were nominally allies during the war, they fought each other in the Mostar region. Meanwhile, a Bosnian bishop has asked the Croatian government not to use Catholic refugees as a political bargaining chip. "We are not pawns in your hands. Do not manipulate us," said Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka in Serb-controlled Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Croatian government must clarify its position regarding
Catholic refugees from Bosnia living in Croatia. he said during a late February visit to Zagreb. His comments were reported by the Catholic Press Agency of the Zagreb Archdiocese. Catholic refugees are willing to live with Serbs and Muslims in Bosnia, he said. "But we cannot accept the fact that we could never return to our homes in Bosnian-Herzegovina," he added. The bishop also asked that Croatian authorities inform themselves about the situation of Croatian Catholics living in Serbian and Muslim-controlled parts of Bosnia so that they can form a coherent policy. In parts of Bosnia, Catholics are still persecuted, he said. Meanwhile, Vatican Radio reported that Bishop Komaric.a had protested after being prevented from entering Serbia on February 22, to attend an ecumenical meeting to which he had been invited and which was organised by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Pope John Paul takes a little of life's refreshment from the Catechism By John Travis VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope John Paul II spent his Lenten retreat taking "catechism lessons" on everything from the importance of angels to relations with other religions. If the sermons sounded familiar, it was because they drew heavily from the -Catechism of the Catholic Church," written under the Pope's direction a few years ago. The spiritual exercises, held at the Vatican in late February, were conducted by Archbishop Christoph Schonborn of Vienna, a 51-year-old Dominican who was one of the catechism's chief editors. As might be expected from someone whose mentor was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's top doctrinal official, the archbishop stressed the importance of traditional doctrine. On angels and demons, for example, he underlined the Catechism's plain teaching that they exist for today's world just as they did in biblical times. The Record, March 7 1996 Page 12
People who treat them as fantasies are mark on people around the world, he said. losing something, Archbishop Schonborn The suffering in the gulags showed the bankruptcy of communism, but there has said. "The earth has become poorer, and so also been moral devastation in the rich have we, as the awareness of invisible Western countries, he said. He described the Holocaust as a lesson creatures has been lost, even among for all, including Christians, and said Christians," he said. But angels - "those magnificent crea- hatred for the people of Israel is, at bottures" - seem to be making a comeback tom, hatred for our common God. The archbishop said the Church teaches lately, which is a good thing, because so respect for followers of other religions, but are demons, he said. Angels offer spiritual protection to cautions people against assuming all relihuman beings, which could be crucial in gions are equal. All religions in the past 2,000 years have the "tremendous struggle with evil" occurfaced a basic question, he said: whether ring in the world every day, he said. Archbishop Schonborn described the they are for or against Christ. The fact that we worship Christ remains many evils of contemporary society as plain evidence of one of the Church's the "great obstacle and the great scandal for believing Jews and also for Muslims," main teachings: original sin. This is a truth that science or philosophy he said. can never grasp, but its effects are seen Archbishop Schonborn also found fault today in such basic human situations as with some Catholics who, he said, are trywork and the relationship between the ing to diminish the emphasis on Christ, sexes, he said. particularly in the language of the Church. Entire pastoral programs are drawn up And in our 20th century - a "century of wolves" - ideologies have also left their today "without once mentioning the name
of Christ," he said. Further, some are expressly asking that we talk "more about God and less about Christ, so that what divides us from other monotheistic religions will not be accentuated," he said. This was part of a well-designed effort to undermine the faith in the divine nature of Christ, he said. In one of his talks, Archbishop Schonborn also examined Church doctrine on creation and cautioned against reading it as mere allegory. The Book of Genesis, he said, reflects basic Christian truths: that the universe is the work of God, created with a view toward the Church. These are truths that are often soft-peddled in modern catechesis because of "fear of another new Galileo case" and the desire to keep an arm's length from fundamentalist religion, he said. The meditations, held in a papal chapel and attended by many of his top Vatican aides, were accompanied by prayers, chant and adoration of the Eucharist.
International News
Overseas work pressures Filipino family links By Maria Ceres Doyo MANILA. Philippines (CNS) - After four years working in the Middle East, Jane is finally home at her low-cost apartment in a Manila suburb. Her two daughters, ages 7 and 9, occasionally interrupt what they are doing to give their mother a tight hug, aware of the fast-approaching time when she will return to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and their grandmother will once again take her place. They are always hugging me.... They do not want me out of their sight," Jane, a 30year-old widow, said during her vacation in Manila. "They are doing very well In school." Back in Saudi Arabia Jane will resume caring for her elderly, wheelchair-bound employer. "I bathe him, take him to the bathroom. clean his body. even his private parts." the trained midwife said as her daughters cringed.
It's good for them to know how difficult ing legally in 10 major areas, mostly in the they would in the Philippines, they also Middle East. Many others work abroad contribute so much to the host countries," my job is," she added. Mrs Aquino said, noting that by caring for Her monthly salary of $300 is just a little illegally. Senator Ernesto Herrera, former chair- children, the foreign workers allow formore than what she could earn as a midwife in the Philippines, but such jobs are man of the Philippine Senate's labour eign mothers to go out to work. All the while, the thread that holds committee, reported in early February that hard to find. While Filipino overseas contract workers in 1995 foreign exchange remittances by together the homes of overseas contract send home the dollars that bolster their Filipino overseas contract workers hit a workers can unravel. Anita, another Filipina whose 11 years in country's struggling economy, they and record $4.7 billion, significantly higher than in 1994. Hong Kong helped build her family their families pay a huge price. Herrera noted that this was achieved home in a rural town in the northern In a pastoral letter issued last July, the Philippines bishops' conference called on despite the 9.1 per cent drop in overseas Philippines and invest in real estate, conthe Philippine government to stop promot- contract worker deployment following the tinues to work overseas. When she recently arranged for her faming overseas employment "as a means to March 1995 hanging in Singapore of ily to go to Hong Kong on vacation, her Filipina maid Flor Contemplacion. sustain economic growth." Miss Contemplacion was hanged for the eldest son, 21, stayed behind to work on a The letter, titled "Comfort My People, Comfort Them," urged the government murder of another Filipina maid and her ferry. Her husband, a tailor, reportedly does young charge. instead to address poverty at home. In an interview with UCA News, an not approve of the situation. "Loss of life, loss of human dignity, moral Anita's niece told UCA News the husdegradation or a broken family is too high Asian church news agency based in a price for just a better salary," the letter Thailand, former Philippine president band "does not want (Anita's) money." Then the niece added, "I suspect he Corazon Aquino said that the countries said. Since 1985. more than 3 million Filipinos where Filipinos work should do more for resents that Anita could come home now but prefers Hong Kong I don't think they - almost equally divided between men them in terms of benefits. Though they earn more abroad than are still family." and women - have been listed as work-
Chinese clergy refuse to buckle HONG KONG (CNS) - Chinese government officials said they had successfully registered members of the pro-Vatican Catholic Church and Church buildings in a month-long campaign to bring unregistered Catholics in line with state religious policy. But clergy and religious of the so-called underground Church refused to fill out the Chinese Catholic Clergy Registration Form as demanded by the officials, a Hong Kong source said. The form was supplied by the government-approved Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and its allied Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China. The registration campaign is an effort to identify underground Catholics and put them in step with State policy which bars Chinese organisations from submitting to "foreign" authority - in this case the Vatican. Government officials said they would continue to "mobilise" underground clergy to register, the source added.
The source said that none of the bishops, priests. seminarians and nuns who were detained by officials complied with the registration. The Hong Kong Catholic source quoted Catholics in northern Chtna who said about 10 teams of 30 to 40 local Religious Affairs Bureau and Public Security Bureau officials each were sent into the field. This had taken place between January 14 and February 24 to enforce the registration policy. the source said. They were dispatched to Catholic communities allied with the underground Church, which recognises papal authority, in contrast to the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which rejects Rome's authority. The teams were said to have had three goals: • To outlaw elements of the underground Church. • To force Catholics to join the local Catholic Patriotic Association. • To promote the local association.
Schindler's List is alive and well in China, ex-prisoner tells conference By Patricia Zaper \SHINGTON (CNS) - From China to Chiapas, protection of human rights must be more closely lied to economic globalisation, said speakers at a national social ministry conference on February 26. In sessions featuring Chinese human rights activist Harry Wu and Father Loren Riebe, a US missionary who was evicted last summer from Chiapas. Mexico, social ministry workers were told that the new emphasis on a global economy is doing a disservice to much of the world where human rights are ignored. They were joined by policy analysts in panel discussions during the February 25-28 Catholic social ministry gathering, co-sponsored by 11 Church agencies. "Instead of a global village, we are creating, for the majority of the world, a global apartheid," said one analyst. John Cavanagh of the Institute of Policy Studies. He said large companies operating internationally must be held accountable for the way they treat their workers, even if local traditions and laws permit Inhumane conditions. For example. he said, under
MIMS human rights activist Wu threat of a Christmas-time boycott. the Gap clothing company last year agreed to cooperate with consumer groups that protested the way workers were treated at factories in Central America that produce goods for the chain. Such responses by consumers in wealthy nations are the key to ensuring that people's lives are not made worse by the expansion of industries around the globe. Cavanagh said. For the poor Indians of Father Riebe's parish in Chiapas, human rights concerns are as basic as providing the opportunity for children to be educated
beyond the sixth grade and allowing villagers to open their own cooperative store. Father Riebe, a native of Los Angeles, was expelled from Mexico last June. Mexican authorities accused them of fomenting rebellion. "Jesus is the guilty one. frankly." Father Riebe said. "All we do is present the Gospel." That Gospel teaches that every individual has rights, which sounds revolutionary in a region where everything worthwhile is owned by a few coffee barons, he said. "The growers exert complete control." Father Riebe said. "You have to see it to believe it." Harry Wu captured the world's attention last year when he was arrested by the Chinese government and sentenced to 15 years in prison for his human rights activities. After an international outcry. Wu was released. He previously had spent is years in a Chinese forced labour camp. "Everything you saw in the movie, 'Schindler's List,' is happening today in China," Wu said. The Oscar-winning film was about the fate of Jews in concentration camps during the Holocaust of World War II.
Seminarians stay right where they are PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa (CNS) - Two would-be seminarians are Nigerian appealing their status as illegal aliens in a case that included being evicted from a residence operated by the Diocese of Port Elizabeth. Isidore Udoh and Jude Imhnwa were being housed in a refugee facility in Braamfontein near Johannesburg awaiting the outcome of their appeals to the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees representative in Pretoria. The two men had refused to leave the country after they had been judged unsuitable for the seminary. Bishop Michael Coleman of Port Elizabeth responded by taking legal action. Diocesan attorney Jonathan Connelan said in a February 21 statement that after repeated
unsuccessful requests to the Nigerians to vacate the diocese's pastoral house in Algoa Park, Port Elizabeth, he reported the situation to immigration authorities who declared them illegal aliens. Udoh and Imhnwa were in a group of four Nigerians invited by Bishop Coleman to train for the priesthood. But diocesan officials eventually judged them to be unacceptable candidates.
When religion, like so many other things, starts in the • • • uma? NTAMBUA, Indonesia (UCAN) Atambua diocese's efforts to combat religious dualism among tribal Catholics in western Timor have led leaders to turn their uma (tribal houses used for animistic rituals) into clan-owned chapels. Over the last three years, a number of tribal leaders in three subdistricts of the mainly Catholic region in the centre of Timor island covered by the diocese have pledged to convert their uma into Catholic chapels. Most recently, 186 tribal leaders in
Manufui village, South Biboki subdistrict, declared that they would turn their uma into chapels. They also pledged to strengthen their Catholic faith. The declaration came after the leaders met with Divine Word Bishop Antonius Pain Ratu of Atambua in September. Bishop Pain Ratu told the leaders that the only way to eradicate prevailing religious dualism is to turn traditional tribal houses into houses of prayer where clan members can deepen their Christian faith
while maintaining values of their culture. Father Febronius Fenat, the parish priest who organised the meeting, told tribal leaders that religious dualism challenges today's evangelisation. Now we are not challenged by the pagans as faced by past-time missioners. The biggest challenge lies in ourselves, in our diehard practices of pagan rituals in tribal houses," he said. Agustinus Kasenube, the South Biboki subdistrict head, said the dialogue was helpful in understanding not only Catholic
evangelisation but also community development. According to Kasenube. the Church's efforts to turn tribal houses into chapels could curb lavish feasts held during rituals. 'When uma serve no more as traditional worship houses, people can concentrate on enhancing their economic life and improving their children's nutrition,' he said. The tribal leaders issued declarations to guide Catholics in the proper use of uma. The Record, March 7 1996 Page 13
International News
Buchanan 'smear' cry Hostage's
In Brief
WASHINGTON (CNS) American ABC Television's Ted Koppel has been accused of Buchanan-bashing and Catholicbashing for a "Nightline" report on February 23 that linked antiSemitism to presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan through his Catholic boyhood roots. Koppel apologised on February 27 "to all the Buchanans" for having said the candidate's father "listened to the bigoted and isolationist radio orator Father (Charles) Coughlin" - a claim also reported elsewhere but denied by the family. But Koppel said he was "outraged" at claims that his report was anti-Catholic. "I defy anyone to look at this program and define it as an antiCatholic program," he told United Press International. Controversy over the "Nightline" segment highlighted the fact that numerous news reports and analyses have focused on Buchanan's Catholicism in the wake of the candidate's narrow victory over other Republican contenders in the New Hampshire primary The Catholic League for Civil
Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan speaking on February 29 cAds.Reuw, and Religious Rights found "a papers. The "Nightline" program trail of Catholic-baiting remarks" sought to analyse the politics of not only in "Nightline," but in Buchanan the candidate partly in programs on NBC and CNN, arti- terms of his upbringing in the cles in The New York Times, The 1940s and '50s in a staunchly Washington Post, Newsweek and Catholic family in Washington. The Koppel report also includthe New York Observer, and editorial cartoons in several news- ed a report that a childhood
neighbour of the Buchanans, Bob Bernstein, recalls having been beaten up and called a Christkiller "by some of the younger Buchanan brothers. Not Pat, he says." Bay Buchanan, the candidate's sister and campaign manager, said their father never listened to Father Coughlin and said the suggestion that a Catholic school in Washington encouraged antiSemitism in the 1940s and '50s was a "smear" against the Church. She said if the younger Buchanan brothers beat up a Jewish boy in the neighbourhood It did not indicate anti-Semitism. "They did not discriminate. They beat up everyone," she said. The Washington Post quoted Catholic-Jewish relations expert Eugene Fisher of the US bishops' Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs "Whatever Buchanan got in Catholic school at the time (about Judaism) was the same thing that Protestant kids were getting in Sunday school" and it's wrong to portray that as a distinctively Catholic phenomenon. Fisher said.
Comiskey Canadian inquiry into Indians set to blame Church and Government denies allegations By Art Babych
By Cian Malloy WEXFORD, Ireland (CNS) After five months in a US alcohol abuse treatment centre, Bishop Brendan Comiskey of Ferns returned to Ireland and denied a series of "horrific" allegations made against him during his absence. The bishop. who has Irish and US citizenship, said at a February 28 news conference in Wexford that: • He never obstructed any police or health authority Investigation into clerical child abuse in his diocese. • He never misappropriated diocesan funds. •During his trips to Thailand. he did not stay in any sextourism resort. • He was never arrested by Thai police. "I have been accused of a pretty horrific list of things. every one of which is untrue," he said. But he said he erred in his handling of clerical child abuse cases. "The greatest single mistake I made was my failure to go to those who were hurt and suffering. In later cases I did this, but not soon enough," he said. Bishop Comiskey left Ireland suddenly last year, shortly after calling for a Church debate on clerical celibacy At first this was said to be for a sabbatical, but later it was learned that he was being treated for alcoholism in Rochester, Minnesota. Doubts about his future as a bishop emerged when his return, originally scheduled for before Christmas, was repeatedly postponed. He returned to Ireland in mid-February. The bishop said he is considering libel action against some Irish media organisations.
OTTAWA (CNS) - The damage to Indian culture and individuals committed by Church and government agents is expected to be documented in the final report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People, scheduled to be released later this year. The hint of what is to come was contained in the commission's 315-page interim document on aboriginal people and criminal justice in Canada, released on February 22. I n our final report we will deal with the damage done by government agents and missionaries In efforts to assimilate aboriginal people by undermining aboriginal institutions and cultural values," Canadian Catholic News quoted the document as saying. Many of the residential schools wereNrun by Catholic religious orders. The Churches that operated the now-defunct schools have come under fire in recent years by aboriginal leaders, who said they helped carry out a government policy of "cultural genocide" against natives.
Many natives have also alleged "exercise choice with respect to they were physically, psychologi- the types of offenses they will cally or sexually abused in the hear and the particular offenders who are to come before them." institutions. The commission also said aboThe commission quoted from a report on the Cariboo-Chilcotin riginal nations should be able to Justice Inquiry, which concluded develop their own charters of ". . . . experiences at the (St rights to supplement the protecJoseph's) mission led to very seri- tions in the Canadian Charter of ous social and psychological Rights and Freedoms. injury to generations of native • Also recommended is a meetpeople in the Cariboo-Chilcotin." ing of federal, provincial and terIt added. "It is not surprising ritorial justice ministers to disthat rampant alcoholism, family cuss the commission's recomviolence and distrust of authority mendations. are part of the mix they bring In the introduction to its report, Into the equation of their rela- the commission said a fundationship with the justice system." mental question is whether aboThe commission's document riginal people will be able to said what is usually absent from "live their lives within a circle of determinations of legal guilt justice, or are they to continue to involving natives "are considera- have their lives broken on the tions such as the fact that the wheel of injustice?" accused's formative years were It noted that almost 10 percent spent in state institutions, where of the prison population in physical and sexual abuse were a Canada are natives, even though regular part of life." they form only about 2 percent of The interim report makes 18 the country's population. recommendations to governmeIt also claimed that in some nts, including a call for recogni- provinces "the coercive intrusion tion of the rights of aboriginal of criminal laws into the lives of nations to establish and adminis- aboriginal people and aboriginal ter their own justice systems. communities is increasing, not Such systems should be able to receding."
Key US Vatican Council bishop dies PHILADELPHIA (CNS) Cardinal John Krol, the last of the key bishops who led the US Church through the Second Vatican Council, died at his home in Philadelphia on March 3. He was 85. In poor health in recent years from diabetes and a heart condition, the retired Philadelphia archbishop was hospitalised in mid-February for lung and kidney problems. A bishop since 1953 and a cardinal since 1967, Cardinal Krol was archbishop of Philadelphia from 1961 until his retirement in 1988. He was one of the leaders of Vatican II as undersecretary of the council.
The Record, March 7.1996 Page .14
commissions. A son of Polish immigrants, he played important roles in strengthening the Polish Church under communism. He also played a pivotal role in bringing Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Krakow to the attention of other Church leaders around the world. In 1978 Cardinal Wojtyla was elected Pope John Paul II. In the United States he led the Catholic bishops in their fight against abortion before and after the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalised it nationwide. Cardinal Kroi In a telegram to Cardinal He was a member of the central Bevilacqua, Pope john Paul said commission formed after the he felt "a great sense of loss" council to interpret the council when he learned of Cardinal and coordinate postconciliar Krol's death.
illness
HILLSIDE, Illinois. (CNS) Lawrence Servite Father Martin Jenco, who once faced pain and violence as a hostage in Beirut, Lebanon, now faces another kind of challenge. In January he was diagnosed with pancreatic and lung cancer. On January 4 of this year, doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told Father Jenco of his cancer. He is now on a regimen of chemotherapy. Eleven years ago Father Jenco was kidnapped in Beirut by Shilte Muslims who had mistaken him for someone else. Father jenco's book. "Bound to Forgive: The Pilgrimage to Reconciliation of a Beirut Hostage." was published by Ave Maria Press in 1995.
Righteous award LVIV, Ukraine (CNS) - The late Ukrainian Catholic Father Klemens Sheptycky has been honoured by Israel for rescuing Jews during World War II. In 194Z after the Ukrainianrite's forced merger with Russian Orthodoxy, the 78was clergyman year-old among the 800 Ukrainian priests arrested by Soviet authorities and deported to Siberia. He died in Vladimir prison in 1950. The "Righteous Among Nations" medal given for Father Sheptycky's role in saving Jews under Nazi occupation was awarded by the Israeli Embassy to Ukraine in a February 25 ceremony in Lviv.
Cool preaching WASHING1ON (CNS) Jesuit Father Walter Burghardt is the only Catholic on Baylor University's list of the 12 most effective Christian preachers In the English-speaking world. The list - drawn up from a survey of more than 300 seminary professors and editors of religious periodicals - was featured in the March 4 issue of Newsweek along with an article on the state of preaching today. Father Burghardt, 81, is senior fellow at the Woodstock at Centre Theological Georgetown University in Washington and author of more than a dozen books.
Prize to Walesa WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -Poland's former president, Lech Walesa, has been named recipient of the 1996 Path to Peace Prize by the Vatican's mission at the United Nations, awarded annually to a public figure who contributes significantly to building world peace. 'nvo European Catholic Church figures also have won awards for their Church and public activities. Previous winners of the Path to Peace Prize include UN Secretary General BoutrosBoutros Ghali and former Philippine President Corazon Aquino. Walesa, founder of the Solidarity labour movement, was defeated by a former communist in last November's Polish election.
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MEMORIAL FUND FATHER Lawrence Attard Memorial Fund. The relatives of the late Fr Lawrence Attard wish to thank • everyone for the sympathy and condolences they received after their sad loss. A Holy Mass will be celebrated in thanksgiving for everyone concerned. A memorial fund has been set up for anyone wishing to contribute towards a tombstone. Donations should be sent to: Rev. Father Attard Memorial Fund. PO Box No. 286. Guildford. Enquiries please contact John (09) 457 7771 or mobile 015 385 209.
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THANKS MY grateful thanks to the Divine Mercy and Our Lady of Schoenstatt for numerous favours granted in time of sorrows. -A friend of Jesus." MAY the Sacred Heart of Jesus be praised. adored, glorified and loved today and every day. Thanks and praise to Sacred Heart Blessed Mother of Mt Carmel, St Joseph. St Jude. Holy Spirit. St Anthony. St Clare. St Peter, St Therese of the Little Flower, St Anthony and St Martha. I thank them all for helping us in our prayers. A.L. Thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St Jude for favours granted M
BEREAVEMENT THANKS TAYLOR, WILLIAM (Bill). Anne, Richard, Margaret, Kathleen, Elizabeth and families wish to express sincere thanks to all relatives and friends for the many expressions of sympathy, visits, flowers. notices and attendance at the Mass and funeral of their dear husband and father. Your support has been greatly appreciated. God Bless you all. SACHSE, HAROLD. Mary, Elizabeth, Carmel and Bill wish to thank all relatives and friends for their kind thoughts and wishes ard attendance at the funera and Mass of their late husband and father, Harold. As there are so many pie to thank, please aLep: notice with our thanks and gratitude.
BEREAVEMENT SHARPE (Sr. Winifred M.S.S.) Beloved sister and sister in law of Lois and Margaret. Dear aunty of Hugh and Connie. Peter and Sue. Elizabeth and Mark. Catherine and Lee, Marcel and families. Peacefully left us (February 13. Toowoomba). Joyful in God's love.
M ARCH 8/9 St Francis Xavier Seminary. Adelaide Archbishop Hickey 10 Preach at Eucharist Services and lead Study Group. St George's Cathedral- Archbishop Hickey Multi-Faith Observance for Commonwealth Day, St George's Cathedral Rev Fr Adriano Pittarello CS 12 Principals' Regional Mass (N. Coastal/Western) - Bishop Healy 13 Principals' Regional Mass (Southern Central/S.W.) - Archbishop Hickey Civic Reception for Ambassador of Israel - Rev Fr P Ahern 14 Opening of Parliament Monsignor M Keating 15 Meeting of School Chaplains. Catholic Education Office - Bishop Healy 15-17 Centenary Celebrations. Kalgoorlie A rchbishop Hickey 16 Mass for St Patrick's Day, Subiaco Bishop Healy 17 Mass for St Patrick's Day. Fremantle Bishop Healy 19/20 Central Commission, Canberra Archbishop Hickey 19,21 Finance Meeting for Parish Priests and Parish Finance Committee, R edemptorist Monastery Bishop Healy 20 Finance Meeting for Diocesan A gencies. Redemptorist Monastery - Bishop Healy 21/22 National Liturgy Commission A rchbishop Hickey
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The Catechism of the Catholic Church IV The Celebration of this Sacrament 1572 Given the importance that
the ordination of a bishop, a priest, or a deacon has for the life of the particular Church, its celebration calls for as many of the faithful as possible to take part. It should take place preferably on Sunday, in the cathedral, with solemnity appropriate to the occasion. All three ordina-
tions, of the bishop. of the priest, istry to which the candidate is of the saints - attest that the and of the deacon, follow the being ordained. choice of the candidate is made same movement. Their proper 1574 As in all the sacraments In keeping with the practice of place is within the Eucharistic additional rites surround the the Church and prepare for the liturgy. celebration. Varying greatly solemn act of consecration, 1573 The essential rite of the among the different liturgical after which several rites symsacrament of Holy Orders for all traditions, these rites have in bolically express and complete three degrees consists in the common the expression of the the mystery accomplished: for bishop's imposition of hands on multiple aspects of sacramental bishop and priest, an anointing the head of the ordinand and in grace. Thus in the Latin Church, with holy chrism, a sign of the the bishop's specific consecrato- the initial rites - presentation special anointing of the Holy ry prayer asking God for the and election of the orclinand, Spirit who makes their ministry outpouring of the Holy Spirit instruction by the bishop, exam- fruitful; giving the book of the and his gifts proper to the min- ination of the candidate, litany Gospels, the ring, the miter, and
the crosier to the bishop as the sign of his apostolic mission to proclaim the Word of God, of his fidelity to the Church, the bride of Christ, and his office as shepherd of the Lord's flock presentation to the priest of the paten and chalice, "the offering of the holy people" which he is called to present to God; giving the book of the Gospels to the deacon who has just received the mission to proclaim the Gospel of Christ.
rie,RecolicE Marth 7 1996 Page 15
a
Forrestfield P L. Yeap-O'Shea B.Optom NSW
Optometrist and Contact Lens Practitioner
453 2344
Mead Medical Centre 11 Salix Way Forrestfield 6058
CATHOLIC SINGLES CLUB Are you 25-39, single, enjoy socialising with films, dining, dancing phone Brian 444 4083 a/h
MANNING & ASSOCIATES
OPTOMETRISTS CONTACT LENS CONSULTANTS MARK KALNENAS (B. OVTOM)
Grove Plaza, Cottesloe 384 6633 or 384 6720
(QumBaard)
YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENT
PRINCIPALS MICHAEL QUIN & KAREENA BALLARD PROPERTY SALES - RENTALS - STRATA MANAGERS
SOUTH OF THE RIVER
474 1533 WE CARE!
Guest Speaker Fr Bob Cardin
THE _ PARIS SCENE
Liaison Priest for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal will give a two part series of dynamic talks on the Charismatic Renewal at the
Bethel Friday Night Prayer Meeting ALAN AT SUBIACO PARISH On Friday 15 March after the Rosary at 7.15pm Alan Ames will speak in St Joseph's Church, 1 Salvado Rd, Subiaco. The evening will conclude with Healing. All welcome. Inquiries: Russel on (09) 274 6018 or Parish (09) 381 1248. ANNUAL ST PATRICK'S MASS A concelebrated Mass will be offered in St Joseph's Church, Salvado Rd, Subiaco on Saturday 16 March at 10.30am. Chief celebrant Bishop Healy. Everybody welcome to participate. NEWMAN SOCIETY Vatican H Group. Tuesday March 12 at 11am. Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity. Outlines p.96 "Particular Churches". Venue: Our Lady of the Missions Convent, 40 Mary Street, Highgate (use Harold St entrance). Open to all interested. Contact No: (09) 446 7340 GUEST SPEAKER Fr Bob Cardin, liaison priest for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal starts a two-part
series of dynamic talks on the Charismatic Renewal at Bethel Friday Night Prayer meeting, March 15 at 8pm, at the Bethel Centre, 236 Railway Pde, Leederville (opposite the railway station). All welcome. Inquiries: (09) 388 1333. COUNTRY DAY OF PRAYER The next country day of prayer and reflection will be held at St Mary's Church, Westral St, Bruce Rock on Monday, 24 March, commencing 9.30am. Guest speaker: Fr Joe Parkinson. Theme for the day: The Annunciation Mary, Joseph and Us. Bring own basket lunch, please. Tea/coffee provided. The day will conclude with Holy Mass at 2.00pm. All most welcome. Contact: Cec Aurish (090) 611 269, Marg Foss (090) 651 034. LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR FAMILY FAIR The Little Sisters of the Poor, Glendalough, Family Fair will be held on March 24 from 11am to 2pm. Hot Snacks, Drinks, Stalls and many other attractions for all the family.
on Friday 15 and 22 March. Starts 8pm Come along and bring a friend and enjoy Fr Bob's inspirational talks.
At BETHEL CENTRE
236 Railway Parade, Leederville (opposite Railway station) Tel. 388 1333 A service to the Catholic Carismatic Renewal
ALAN AlVIES OF PERTH The Eucharistic Rosary pamphlet and Books containing "Messages" are available from "God's Healing Touch", PO Box 85, Wembley 6014. Enquiries: Russel 274 6018, George 275 6608
ELLIOTT & ELLIOTT Optometrists
Contact Lens Consultants 4 Cantonment Street, FREMANTLE Phone 335 2602
Please send your notices for the Parish Scene by Monday, 5pm.
The two Moons of Perth wish you...
, appy
THE 'MOON & SIXPENCE - WOODVALE Celebrate St Patrick's Day the Irish way, with Irish Food, Beers and Music at the fabulous new Moon & Sixpence Pub in Woodvale! Join us for our normal Lunch or Dinner Menu, or try our very special traditional St Patrick's Day Fare with a choice of "Beef & Guinness Pie" "Irish Stew" - "Dublin Coddle" or "Dublin Bay Pasta", all served with Irish Soda Bread, for just $7.50/serve, & available all day! (Noon to 9pm) Join us on Sunday March 17th from 12 Noon for a St Patrick's Day you will never forget!
-
INCI115 Day! THE 'MOON & SIXPENCE - PERTH This St Patrick's Day, get a little touch of the 'Blarney' at the Moon & Sixpence in the City!!! There's a great choice of traditional Irish foods for you to try all week leading up to St Patrick's Day itself! Try a draught "Guinness" or "Harp", and you'll likely discover why it is (to be sure...) that the Irish are happy nearly all of the time!!! And.., when it comes to music, the Moon & Sixpence in the city has some of Perth's finest Musicians.
Draught "Harp" & "Kilkenny" is now available!
Get a group of friends together & make a real party of it at the Perth 'Moon'!
For further details & Bookings, phone:
Enquiries Phone:
ub.
309 4288
Woodvale
ers & Chichester Drives The Record, March 7 1996 -Page 16
481 1000 Perth City 300 Murray Street, Perth