Record Number 3004
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PERTH, WA: July 4, 1996
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What's Inside... Perth Catholics give $20,000 to help fight NT euthanasia - Page 3 Morris West reflects on life - Page 11 Eight brothers united in family joy - Page 9 Dardanup's Fr John McGrath celebrates 50 years of priesthood - Page 6 ABC attacked over Four Corners - Page 5
The human face of funding to job training programs
Ozanain cuts 'blessed' status on horizon VATICAN CITY (CNS) Pope John Paul II has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Frederic Ozanam, co-founder of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, clearing the way for his beatification. The news, released on Monday in Rome, will cause great rejoicing among members of the society in Australia and around the world. Vice president of the society in Western Australia, Laurie Phillips, said the miracle was in answer to prayer. The society's regular opening prayers had been, "for quite a number of years, specifically for his canonisation, and this will now clear the way." Mr Phillips told The Record. "Now we are overjoyed and all states will be happy and celebrating with some special function," he said. Mr Phillips is not sure what format the WA celebrations will take, but tentatively suggested there might be a Mass in St Mary's Cathedral to which all Catholic organisations would be Invited. Pope John Paul II approved the
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Frederick Ozanam
decree recognising a miracle attributed to the intercession of Frederick Ozanam on 25 June. Beatification, which requires the declaration of at least one miracle, and in which the Church declares a person blessed, is the main step before a declaration of sainthood. The president of the United States' council of the society, Joseph Mueller said the entire Vincentian family was overjoyed that the Holy Father had chosen to officially recognise the saintliness of its founder. "Frederic Ozanam was a devoted family man," he said, "and It seems particularly fitting that he be moved one step closer to canonisation at a time when there is such an outcry to embrace family values." A 19th-century French historian and literary scholar, Frederick Ozanam is considered a model of the lay apostolate. His attention to the poor, on an intellectual and a concrete level, Inspired his society, which today includes hundreds of thousands of Catholic lay people worldwide. Born in Milan, Italy, in 1813, he was brought up and educated in southern France. At the age of 20, he and fellow students in Paris formed the "Conference of Charity," an organisation that two years later became the Society of St Vincent de Paul. From the beginning, the society offered assistance to Catholics and non-Catholics and promoted the transfer of charity resources from country to country. As a professor of law, history and literature, Ozanam had a profound effect on French academic life in the mid-1800s, particularly in refuting attacks on Catholicism. In addition to his teaching positions at the Sorbonne in Paris and at Lyons, he was active in evangelization programs and Catholic journalism. He died at age 40.
Bruce Portman in training: funding cuts not a Joking matter
Both were sobered by the news that funding to Skillshare had Bruce Portman and Victoria been cut by up to 30 per cent in Besoain, trainees with the the coming three months to the Catholic Church's Centrecare Budget, news which is unlikely to Skillshare training program, Improve after Budget night. found themselves this week on "I am a migrant. I have been the receiving end of Federal Government cuts to the program unemployed for one year and which they say enhances their this is my first opportunity to get chances of finding a job. training experience," 25 year-old
Victoria told The Record at Centrecare's Manners restaurant where Skillshare trainees pick up skills in the hospitality and catering industries. She added she was "very upset" by the news of the cuts, which had come on her first day in the program after being unemployed for the last 12 months.
tor in May 1995 after 24 years service. The best news story award, judged by the former religious affairs writer for The Age in Melbourne, Mark Brolly, was for a front-page story last December on Archbishop Hickey's decision to establish a Catholic Women's health centre following controversy over the counselling procedures of the Archdiocese of Perth's family and welfare agency, Centrecare. "It reported soberly criticisms made of the agency by a right to
life group and the archbishop's response to the claims," Mr Brolly said. The article was written by the Record's managing editor, David Kehoe. The Archdiocese of Hobart's publication, The monthly Standard, edited by Penny Edman, won the award for the most improved publication, and Canberra's Catholic Voice was recognised for general excellence in design, coverage and initiative with the prestigious Bishop Phillip Kennedy Memorial Prize for newspapers.
By Peter Rosengren
Continued on Page 3
Record wins top news award The Record has snapped up one of the key annual awards of the Australasian Catholic Press Association by taking the best news story published in a Catholic newspaper in Australia and New Zealand in 1995. And the former long serving editor of The Record, Father Pat Cunningham, has been honoured by the ecumenical Australasian Religious Press Association with a life membership to mark his lengthy contribution to the religious press. Fr Cunningham retired as edi-
Colour, price rise for Record next week Colour will enter the reading to confirm the faith of parishof supporters of The Record ioners and spread it to their next week when WAs only neighbours. Catholic weekly newspaper At the same time, and for the begins publishing colour pic- first time in ten years, the price tures and graphics on four of its of The Record will increase. sixteen pages each week Despite periods of high inflaThe colour pages will enable tion since 1986, The Record has The Record to begin publishing kept its price at a low 60 cents. features on the life of Perth and The new rate of Si from next WA parishes on the back Sunday, 11 July, will bring the The new Parish Portrait page cover cost of the paper into line will help parishes inform other with the price of Catholic weekparishes of what they're doing ly papers on the East Coast and
will drastically cut the more than $250,000 annual deficit The Record has been suffering for several years. Archbishop Barry Hickey has written to parish priests supporting the price rise as reasonable and "long overdue". Rates for advertising in The Record have also increased for reasons similar to those that justify the cover price rise. (See page 15 for further details on new advertising rates)
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Law must reflect God's rules, not change them
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jast week I sent a cheque for $20,000 to Bishop Collins of Darwin. Most of the money came from a quick appeal to the parishes to help fund a legal challenge to the euthanasia legislation in the Northern Territory. There is more to come. I thank the parishes for their quick response to my request. It is clear that many priests, together with their people, see a principle at stake that needs a strong defence. Bishop Collins is part of a coalition that is backing the legal challenge against euthanasia. The challenge is now before the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, and may eventually go before the High Court of Australia. The Federal Govern-
ment may also intervene to overrule this unique piece of legislation that will sanction assisted suicide. Although the challenge is about legal matters, the real issued has to do with values and morality. Euthanasia is one critical area where values clash. On the one hand there are those who invoke free choice as the ultimate value. They say that we are able to choose whether we live or die and that the law must respect the choice we make. In other words, they are saying that we have power over life and death at least as it affects ourselves. It is an awesome claim. The situation in which they press this claim is when there is no chance of recovery. However,
once such a claim is recognised all rather than be a burden on by the law, it becomes a principle others. that can be extended to other sitWe face a frightening future. It uations quite easily. is entirely appropriate that the This awesome power over life Churches in Darwin should back and death is the point at which the legal challenge to euthanasia, fundamental values clash. because it must resist the modTo Christians, God is the author ern trend to let the law deterof life and death. mine what is right and what is Just as murder usurps God's wrong. power, so does suicide. The law There are certain fundamental outlaws murder and suicide issues, like the dignity and because of their disastrous sacredness of life, that are set by effects on society. is simply to reflect God. Law Once people have the "right" to kill others or even themselves, them, not change them. It is probably hard to argue the they take to themselves a right over human life that belongs to case in the Supreme Court that the world is to come under the God. Furthermore, the long-term reign of Christ the King. Nevertheless, that is where we effects of such a law could create fear in the sick and elderly. They stand, and we must act accordmay feel under pressure to end it ingly.
Government refugee policy hit as 'unjust' The Refugee Council of Western Australia has condemned as insensitive and unjust Australian Government plans to limit the access of immigrants to social security payments until two years after they arrive in Australia. In a letter to Federal Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock, council president Gerald Searle called for a more compassionate policy towards new arrivals who will be affected by the changes that came into effect on April 1. He said the moves would hit hardest relatives trying to join their families here in Australia, and would force great sacrifices from refugees and their families.
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Catechists sent to work
Archbishop Hickey last week commissioned 64 new catechists to serve in the Archdiocese and re-commissioned 530 Catechists for 1996 and 199Z The Commissioning Ceremony is held once every two years in St Mary's Cathedral. Mr Searle told The Record that "We're not giving them a good The archbishop commissions on the one hand a lot of impor- start, we're putting so many barthe catechists according to his tance was being placed on the riers before them and in the long authority as first teacher in the necessity of having sound fami- run we're going to pay for this Archdiocese. lies in society but, on the other, because its going to make settleThe catechists of the Archdioofficial policy was making it ment very difficult," he said. cese provide religious education Mr Searle also criticised the harder for refugee families to be reunited with members from Government for its treatment of for Catholic children who are not refugees and asylum seekers. attending Catholic schools. overseas. The Government had tried to Most catechists work in parishAn average refugee family spent deny the Human Rights about $10,000 to come to Commission access to asylum es and government schools and Australia and now had to pay seekers, he said, describing the are trained by the Archdiocesan $2,200 for English classes, he move as a basic violation of Catechist Service. said. A smaller group of catechists human rights. work through the Personal They now also had to face the "Its unjust and unfair. Service and provide Advocacy possibility of no financial support "Those are basic human rights. from social security payments for If [the Government's] got nothing religious instruction to Catholic their first two years in Australia to hide why should they deny people with disabilities who are "at a time when they really need access by the Human Rights unable to access regular school and parish activities. the support," Mr Searle added. Commission?" he asked.
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Irela De Bono from St Kieran's Parish, Osborne Park, receives certificates on behalf of her parish from Archbishop Hickey during the Mass at the Cathedral. Mrs De Bono has been a voluntary catechist for 28 years and her mother spent 25 years as a catechist before her.
Rights' abuses on committee agenda A Parliamentary inquiry looking into ways of helping former child migrants to Western Australia track down surviving relatives overseas and contact them will examine almost all facets of the child migrant experience in WA, including possible human rights violations. State opposition MLA Mike Barnett moved for the establishment of the select committee this week with backing from both sides of Parliament. Mr Barnett, who will chair the
Mr Barnett said former child inquiry, said the objective of the inquiry would be to recom- migrants were concerned with mend what action was neces- the absence of sufficient sary to help former child records both in Australia and migrants contact their families. the UK to help them to be The Barnett committee will reunited with their families. Submissions to the committee also investigate what action has been taken on complaints by close on 19 August. child migrants concerning their The WA, Commonwealth and migration and treatment in WA British governments were all institutions; if the action was Involved in administering the appropriate or what action child migration schemes as should have been taken; and if well as church agencies such as any human rights violations the Christian Brothers and nonoccurred under the child government bodies such as migration schemes. Fairbridge Homes.
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Perth digs deep for $20,000 to fight euthanasia Perth Catholics have con- wide interest. The Vatican news- ing the Coalition's legal costs last tributed $20,000 to the fight paper, L'Osservatore Romano, month when the challenge was against euthanasia currently editorialised on the issues, saying announced. Bishop Collins told The Record being waged in the Supreme that killing, shortening or suppressing life was always a crime. on Wednesday those involved in Court of the Northern Territory. Moral theologian Fr Gino the case were waiting now for Archbishop Barry Hickey this week forwarded the money to Concetti wrote in the paper that the Supreme Court to hand down Bishop Edward Collins of Darwin it was very grave when for the its decision after a two-day hearto help with the legal costs of the first time a State has decided to ing. Coalition Against Euthanasia, a proclaim euthanasia as legal and "The judges have gone away to broad grouping of organisations allow it to be applied. write their verdict, though we The money sent to the NT was don't know how that's going to that has challenged the validity of the NT euthanasia laws which raised by Perth parishes who go," he said, adding that it was responded to an appeal from likely to come in a week or more. came into effect last Monday. The issue has aroused world- Bishop Collins for help in meet"If it goes the other way we'll have to go to the High Court," he said. Bishop Collins said there was already one doctor waiting to perform euthanasia on a terminally ill individual who had requested it, an act which could not legally occur until 9 days after the laws were proclaimed on July 1. The bishop also said he was delighted by the response from Perth's parishes. its great to think that people have put up money for it but we're going to need more." he added. Photo CNS/Reuters Anti-euthanasia protesters in Melbourne last Monday.
Students hear of ancient Aboriginal heritage
Pre-primary students at St Brigid's Primary School, Middle Swan, have
been busy over recent weeks making didgeridoos and learning a little about the Aboriginal people who have looked after this land for thousands of years. Their program came to a climax on Friday last week when they came to school in costumes and painted their faces for a celebration of Aboriginal culture through a corroborree. Neil Kelly, Aaron Mesiti and Jack Brown, top, join in prayer to open the celebration and, below, all eyes are focused on the school principal Jack Keay, when he acted out a story explaining why Aboriginal culture was so important for all Australians. dr,a - LQyflG.Catno0c. E o.cabor Ot'oce
The human face of cuts to the funding of job training schemes Continued from Page 1 Bruce Portman. who has been training in the catering course offered through the Skillshare program and run under the auspices of Centrecare, said he was disappointed to learn of the cuts. "I think its a shame because the people that are in this course could benefit a lot from it," he said. "Especially because the courses here are good trainers - you do actually learn a lot on the job. It's pretty much the same as
being on a job," he added. Federal Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs Minister, Senator Amanda Vanstone last week outlined funding cuts as high as 80 per cent to some labour market programs last week She said the final position for funding of programs for the next financial year would be determined by the Budget process. "From July 1 to September 30 we will primarily be investing the limited funds available in labour market programs that work best - traineeships, apprenticeships and
wage subsidies for business," she said. A statement from the heads of Churches including Australia, Western of Archbishop Barry Hickey, said the uncertainty surrounding the provision of retraining of the unemployed caused them "grave concern.," particularly as Skillshare programs often helped up to 70 per cent of Skinshare graduates get jobs. Pauline Robertson, project manager with the Centrecare Skills Thiining Centre said many unemployed people's chances of employment would be severely reduced.
Because of the cuts, up to 500 people would be unable to take advantage of training with the agency. Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission director Toby O'Connor condemned the Government's approach to the issue, saying that decreasing the aggregate level of Government funding in the hope that small business would emerge as the saviour of the unskilled and long-term unemployed would be an unrealistic employment strategy.
H ER HUSBAND PASSED AWAY LAST YEAR.
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TOMORROW TODAY
Jesus `The Man' to show God's will Pope John Paul spoke to young people in Rome on 8 June about how to see what God wants them to do with their lives. The following are excerpts from his talk
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ear young people, your age is the time of great choices, the time when each one plans his own future, deciding what he wants to be. It is the most beautiful age. not because it is "care-free", as they say, but because it is the age richest in thoughts and the most creative: it is of course the most decisive of all life's seasons. For those who have the gift of faith it is the moment of the great encounter with Christ. Jesus also came to his life choices first during his long seclusion in Nazareth and then during the 40 days In the desert, learning fully to conform to the Father's will, to the point of total self giving. You are called to look to him, in order to "plan" for yourselves and your future. Do not be afraid of meeting Christ. He, the Word of God, is no less human for that, indeed he is the fullness of humanity, the man par excellence! Unawares, Pilate was a prophet when he presented him to the crowds saying: "Here is the man!" Your search requires faith, prayer and silence. Every young person's problems are both simple and demanding. What do I want to be? What will I live for? How can I become a true man or a true woman? May God give you the grace to
Choir parish visits get off to a flying start
respond like Jesus: "Lo, I have his brothers and sisters, making come to do your will, 0 God!" himself attentive to their require(Heb 10:7). ments and needs .. . . Assuming this basic orientation, In your profession - as today in the problem remains of how to your studies - you fulfil your put it into concrete practice. It is baptismal priesthood. the question of personal voca"Present your bodies . . . . to tion, to which. in these years, you God", St Paul exhorts us (Rom feel committed to giving an 12:1). It is as if to say: offer to God answer. the concrete events of daily life, To do this you must know how the things you continuously do, to listen, to examine yourselves the efforts of your hands and and your surroundings, to discov- mind, all that you produce .... er the signs through which the All this can and must be materLord speaks to you. ial for a sacrifice to offer God. This search requires faith, bringing to your work all the prayer, meditation, silence, advi- dedication it requires and devotce and freedom of spirit, so as to ing all the resources of your intelbe ready to say yes, whichever ligence and industry to serving way God may wish to lead you, your brothers and sisters. whether to the priestly ministry, . . . . When the commitment of the consecrated life or marriage the will and the fruit of intelliand the family. gence achieve their goal, then we .... Let yourselves be guided in are presented with the full beauthis by Christ's example as seen ty of a work which, placed at the in the Gospel episode of the service of our brothers and siswashing of the feet, in the pas- ters, is worthy of being offered to sage from John which we have God. just heard. Jesus points out to us Thus research and human how, whatever it be, we should knowledge are combined with carry out the mission we have the wisdom of which St Paul received from the Father not to spoke in his Letter to the be served but to serve. Corinthians. Here, my friends, is Christian . . . . We think of the first wisdom. Whatever your place in Christian communities, whose society, whatever profession you members lived "devoted ... to the practise, you are called to carry it Apostles' teaching and fellowout as a service. . . . ship, to the breaking of bread This inevitably means as swim- and the prayers" (Acts 2:42). ming against the tide, given that a May it be so among you! worldly wisdom is oriented in a . . . . With this hope, I entrust very different direction. your community and your comThe Christian, labourer or mag- mitment to the protection of Her istrate, doctor or fanner, busi- who in Nazareth watched tennessman or teacher, is recog- derly over the human growth of nised by how he practises the the Incarnate Word. and I impart commandment to love God and my Blessing to all.
The Mass Chior from the Performing Arts Ministry, rehearsing their stuff.
By Jason Duff and Linda Furey Performing Arts Ministry
Rockingham, gateway to Perth's southern suburbs, was the venue for the Performing Arts Ministry Mass Choir's debut, Sunday two weeks ago. The Performing Arts Ministry Choir, composed of approximately fifty young adults from all over Perth and a five piece band. joined with the parishioners of Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Rockingham for their Sunday evening Mass. This Eucharistic celebration proved to be an enthusiastic occasion, thanks to the large congregation and the alive, joyful and prayerful atmosphere. The feedback from the Parish has been positive and encouraging to PAM. One young boy was overheard asking "Why can't church be like this all the time?" The Catholic Youth and Young Adult Ministry established the Performing Arts Ministry in
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The, Record, July 4 1996, Page 4 • , • , Cl Y.V,E
September of last year to reach out to young people. Barry Newman. the Ministry's newly appointed Development Officer, said this week that "The purpose of taking PAM to Parishes is to introduce to the general Church community an example of young people worshipping in a way that is distinctly their own, but is also acceptable to all age groups." The PAM Mass Choir aims to provide a service to the Archdiocese by visiting one Perth Parish per month, joining with that Parish in the celebration of the Eucharist. PAM wishes to express its thanks to Father Ian Esmond and the Rockingham Parish for the invitation to visit, and the enthusiastic welcome we received. The Performing Arts Ministry meets on a weekly basis to practice skills in all disciplines of the arts. The next Parish to be visited by the choir will be St Thomas in Claremont on Sunday 21 July.
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Catholic scholars historic meet theologian Fr Norm Ford, each gave papers on death and dying. ACTA secretary Anne Hunt said the joint sessions between the three organisations helped maximise the overall effectiveness of the weekend and allowed representatives to share insights. Biblical Association president, Pamela Foulks, said that while there were no major issues planned for the CBAA meeting, it was designed to provide a forum for members to share their latest research on biblical related issues with colleagues. She said euthanasia had not been an issue when the joint session topic on death and dying was chosen more than a year ago in preparation for this year's conference. "We were looking for something that all three groups could address from their particular point of view, which was an issue that was faced by everybody in the Church," she said. Outgoing ACTA president Fr Tony Kelly said the joint ses-
Fr Walter Black
sion between the three organisations was an historic first. Three bishops also attended the weekend conferences as the of representatives Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Fr Kelly said Bishop Michael Putney at the ACTA conference, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson at the meeting of moral theologians, and Bishop Bede Heather at the Scripture meeting.
Media Catholics attack ABC's Four Corners A group of Catholics working in the media has written to the chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Mark Commission. Professor Armstrong, criticising the ABC current affairs Four Corners program for its handling of the story on sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy and Religious. In a letter signed by Jesuit provincial Father Bill Uren on behalf of the Catholics in Media committee, the group said they were "dismayed by the unprofessional and unfair journalism" that they found in the Four Corners report broadcast last month. The group said that despite being firm supporters of the ABC the unprofessional standards of the report had made it difficult for them to support the corporation at a time of vulnerability for public broadcasters. Admitting that sexual abuse of children had become a real problem for the Church and that it had not been handled well by the bishops, the group nevertheless accused the Four Corners report of being "incomplete, editorially slanted and unbalanced." "We were surprised that, despite the time spent by the Four Corners team with the pastoral advisory group of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, the remedial work done by the Church was deemed irrelevant and not mentioned," the letter said.
"Also Four Corners were also present at the Sydney conference on sexual abuse, but only chose to use a very brief extract from one speech by an overseas speaker, plus accusations directed at the Church. We are informed by people who attended that this was only a minuscule part of what actually happened at the conference," it said. The group also claimed Four Corners did not acknowledge a split in an anti-Catholic group. "There was also no reference to the fact that the organisation. Broken Rites has now split, and that its founder, Ms Chris Wilding. and another outspoken member have left because, according to them, the organisation no longer represents victims, but has become quite antiCatholic," the letter pointed out. The letter also alleged the split in Broken Rites had occurred before the Four Corners program but that Four Corners had made no mention of it. The letter to Professor Armstrong came as Archbishop Barry Hickey, separately from the media group, criticised the ABC on another matter in The Record last week. The Archbishop said the ABC had exceeded grounds of common decency in some of the material it had recently broadcast on national radio and needed to "clean up its act" for its listeners if it expected public support for its funding.
K,It.HIS 0, iHi ,t,Etti.RS CROSS (WA) IN( t ,R11 tRAFE
EDMUND RICE BUSINESS ETHICS SYMPOSIUM, AUG. 6-8, 1996 Knights of the Southern Cross are aware of the importance of Business Ethics in our Society. As a sign of the Knights support for the Christian Brothers and in recognition of the Beatification of Edmund Rice we proudly announce sponsorship for the full costs of attendance of 5 persons to the Edmund Rice Business Ethics Symposium. The sponsorships will he targeted towards 'young people who are developing their careers in the Business Sector and who may not be able to meet the cost of attendance'. Interested persons should apply to Mr Neville Ward, State Executive Officer, Knights of the Southern Cross, PO Box 169, Hamilton Hill. WA 6163 before July 26, 1996.
bility for Aboriginal welfare in Australia; and a presentation from ABC journalist Margaret Coffey on the relationship between the media and moral theology, he said. He added that there had also been a presentation from Melbourne Catholic Education Office staff on how the orthodox moral teachings of the Church were presented in Catholic schools. The moral theologians also heard from the executive secretary of the Bishops' Committee for Justice, Development and Peace, Michael Costigan. Dr Costigan reported on the different social issues the committee was studying, including the Bishops' committee's consultation with young people, its investigation of the participation of women in the Catholic Church in Australia, a coming report to mark the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty, and the Australian Social Justice Council's release of a discussion paper on Church and politics earlier this year.
"I think the single main thing to emerge is the excellent quality of communication and networking," he said, adding that such conferences were increasingly attended not just by those working in association with seminaries but other Catholic tertiary institutions, including representatives from Notre Dame in Western Aust-ralia. Fr Kelly said that three new executive members of ACTA had been elected at the weekend, including Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ as president, Sr Marie Farrell RSM as vice-president and Dr Terry Veling from the Catholic Theological Union in Sydney as secretary. Western Australian moral theologian, Fr Walter Black from the L J Goody Bioethics Centre said the moral theologians' conference which he had attended had been of a high standard. "I would say it was probably one of the best ever," he said. Subjects covered included the relevance of Sacred Scripture to moral theology; social justice; collective moral responsi-
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PRESENTS TWO
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Theologians, moral and biblical scholars from around Australia gathered at Corpus Christi seminary in Melbourne last weekend to hear a variety of talks on subjects as diverse as death and dying and Aboriginal spirituality Members of the Australian Catholic Theological Association, the Catholic Biblical Association of Australia and the Moral Theology Catholic Association of Australia and New Zealand met separately over the weekend but were able to move to and from each other's conferences as they took place simultaneously. The joint session heard a presentation by a member from each organisation on the subject of death and dying viewed from a Christian perspective. The Corpus Christi meetings enabled the 100 or so people from the three organisations attending to meet simultaneously for the first time in their history. Er Tony Kelly, outgoing president of ACTA; biblical scholar, Fr Brendan Byrne and moral
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The Record, July 4 1996 Page 5
Of road, rail and cards By Colleen McGuiness-Howard
You can believe that Father John McGrath of the Bunbtuy Diocese has spent 50 years in the priestly saddle when you learn that he used to visit his parishioners on his bicycle complete with heavy (and hot!) black soutane albeit with the salvation of his priestly hat! Pushing each reluctant wheel over the rough bush roads, sometimes for an hour at a time in the unremitting heat, accompanied by flies, Fr McGrath would visit parishioners en route, possibly for his succour as much as to Fr McGrath with niece Paula, left, sister-in-law Eileen, and niece Eibhelim at replenish their spiritual reserves! the recent celebrations. Later, his life was "back on the to offer rails" when during a four year looks him a bite to eat. But God ioners of Dardanup and after his own and, fortu- Boyanup, plus friends, and relaperiod, three times a year, he'd nately, recollected Fr McGrath, tives out from Ireland, that he spend a week travelling to the "I'd usually get two good meals a recently celebrated his Golden Nullarbor Plain, as far as Forrest, day, thanks be to God." Jubilee of priesthood. and then daily zigzagging by rail There was only one school on About 200 people came togethto bring Mass to the gangers ser- his line, so Fr McGrath's visit to er in a concelebrated Mass with vicing Western Australia's far Zanthus meant a day off for the Bishops Peter Quinn, Robert flung rail outposts. school children, with celebra- Healy, and 14 priests. Life distinctly lacked 'trim- tions usually involving everyone In recognition of his 50 years of mings' in those days when dur- chasing local animals for fun. priesthood, Fr McGrath's two tier ing that week he'd ride in the Those carefree but mightily cake represented an altar in the guard's van of the Tea and Sugar' uncomfortable days finished for lower half, featuring a chalice preparing the Mass which he'd Fr McGrath when an enthusiastic and the Holy Spirit, while above say for the gangers upon arrival, Austrian priest, Fr Mikula, took and behind on a sloped stand and then try and get the 'Meat on the travelling cleric role. stood a Bible cake featuring a Train' back to the point of origin, Fr McGrath had come a long stained glass window with a so he could ride another line to way in every sense of the word, Cross and the hands of a priest. get to the furthermost point, since his birth in County The cake also recorded details which would be Zanthus. Donegal, Ireland, in 1920 as one of his ordination and 12 WA Travelling light with a Mass bag, of six children, three of whom appointments since 194Z a pillow and rug, and a change of are still living. Fr McGrath whose building shirt and underwear, Fr McGrath He came to Australia as a priest achievements embraced the would bed down on the railway for Perth in March 1947 and was church at Walpole (furnished station overnight unless he was assigned to Highgate, Kalgoorlie, from the Loreto convent lucky enough to get a bed in one Albany, Denmark, Manjimup, Nedlands), the Margaret River of the gangers humble homes; Wagin, Moore River, Bunbury, and meals bore out the true Harvey, Waroona, Donnybrook and Waroona presbyteries, Waroona and Donnybrook meaning of Divine Providence and Dardanup. school extensions, is currently when he had to rely on someone And it was with the parish- holidaying in Ireland, and will
Message from Our Lady, Queen of Peace, given to Marija, on the 15th Anniversary of Mecljugorje, June 25th, 1996
"Dear Children, Today I thank you for all the sacrifices you have offered me these days. Little children, I Invite you to open yourselves to me and to decide for conversion. Your hearts, little children, are still not completely open to me and therefore,Iinvite you again to open to prayer so that in prayer the Holy Spirit will help you, that your hearts become of flesh and not of stone. Little children, thank you for having responded to my call and for having decided to walk with me toward holiness." (It is accepted the final authority irgarding apparitions of Our I.uit at Mediugor)e rests with the Holy See of Rome.)
C HARISMATIC
MASS FOR H EALING
attend a reunion with 21 priests remaining from his ordination group at St Patrick's College, Carlow. Once a Gaelic footballer and golfer, Fr McGrath, due to physical impairment, is now only a bystander. However, his friend Fr Michael Ryan of Palmyra, having told of many a long Monday night off playing cards in the Nedlands presbytery (dubbed Monte Carlo by those who knew!) makes one think that Fr McGrath still has an active future, albeit as a 'Card Sharp.' Cards? Well yes, he explains, because with a monthly stipend of seven pounds in the early days, this seemed the best way to add to one's income. But, in the process of becoming sharper and better at the game, and pitted against considerable priestly odds, Father's meagre allowance, sadly enough, often became yet more meagre. But what about a highlight and challenge in the 50 years of priesthood which he rejoices in? "Fr Tony Chiera's Waroona ordination," he immediately responds. With more people than facilities allowed, a newly built machinery shed was transformed with curtains, a carpet runner, and 1,000 chairs. "We packed them all in, with breakfast later in the town hall and another marquee for them to eat in; then at his first Mass the next day we repeated it with the same number of people." He relishes his past parishioners - "some were absolutely magnificent" - his "every minute as a priest," and his adopted country Australia which he loves.
A ministry dogged by illness Obituary: Dom Patrick Kelly OSB, 1915-1996 Shortly after nine o'clock in the morning of 27 June 1996, Fr Patrick Kelly, of the Benedictine Abbey at New Norcia, breathed his last in Hollywood Private Hospital, Nedlands, where he had been a patient for several weeks, following a series of strokes. Patrick Kelly was born in the New South Wales country town of Ganmain on 4 April 1916, the second of eight children born to B. F. Kelly and his wife Margaret. On leaving school Pat joined his father in the family butcher shop, which he left to enlist in the RAAF in 1942. Upon discharge from the air force he returned to Australia, and eventually worked in his own valuation business. Meantime the thought of devoting his life to God as a priest and monk kept recurring, until in 1959 he applied to and was accepted as a postulant at New Norcia. After some months his health broke down and he had to leave. But he returned to the monastery some years later and finally made his solemn monastic profession in
1970, and was ordained to the priesthood in Sydney, where his mother was then living. on 23 January 1971. For a time he was assistant to the parish priest of New Norcia, and was instrumental in organising the first parish council. Among many things, he did stints of relief work in various parishes of the archdiocese, and gave a few retreats. In the late 1970s Fr Patrick spent some time as chaplain to the Highgate Sisters of Notre Dame des Missions. In the early 1980s Patrick discovered one of the great loves of his life - the philosophico-theological writings of the Canadian Jesuit Bernard Lonergan. 'Rolling up your sleeves and getting stuck Into it' was an expression often heard from Patrick's mouth the context almost always being that of intellectual endeavour. In many ways he was a frustrated man, often unable to achieve at the level he aspired to. Dogged by migraine and various other illnesses, he finally took up residence at the Returned Services League Home in Mt Lawley, where he lived happily for about eighteen months, able to exercise some priestly ministry, do some study and have nursing and medical care on hand. May he rest in peace.
A woman of faith, presence
Obituary: Stella Boxsell, 1915-1996 It is a real privilege and honour to speak of the life of Stella Boxsell. the Deputy Director of the Catholic Education Office, Sister Joan Buckham said recently. Marts Stella Boxsell was the second child of Walter and Mary Boxsell, sister of Monica and Kitch, sister-in-law of Fon and Aunt of Peter, Paul and Kathryn. Her early life and schooling was spent in the country and then in the city. Stella finished her schooling at St Brigid's College. Lesmurdie where she was a good student who enjoyed learning and all the options of curriculum offered at that time, Sr Buckham said. Stella joined her loved nursing profession as a trainee nurse at Royal Perth Hospital. was in charge of the hospital in Morawa at the age of 25 which was some achievement - and finished her nursing career as Matron at Hollywood Hospital. Stella was a real lady. Sr Buckham said, who was a striking woman who always made an impression when she walked into a room. She loved the people of Mt Lawley parish and they in turn loved her. She was a faith-filled woman. When Stella was in St John of God Hospital this last 2 weeks, it was wonderful to see her great interest in the Nurses and also their professional respect for her. We know Stella is now enjoying her eternal reward. Sr Buckham said, and with all those in Heaven, we say . . . . 'Well done Good and Faithful Servant'. "We are sad, but very proud to have walked with you Stella on some of your journey," she said.
"We thought that planning our funerals would be an uncomfortable business. But the Purslowe family made it very easy:"
6pm Sunday July 14th
The evening will consist of Praise 8t Worship, Holy Mass, and Prayers for Healing.
Holy Family Church Thelma Street, Como. Flame Ministries International s , The Record, July 4 1996 Page 6
Our family serving your family. since 1906 North Perth 444 4835, Midland 274 3866, Victoria Park 361 1186, Wanneroo 409 9119, Northam (0961 221137. Mareena Purslowe and Axsociates. Subiaco:M0 162)
Cci &tiers 10 Prostitution will always corrupt, even if legal I
Not only is this degeneracy degrading problem is the aim of enforcing the law, power the WA police have in a situation and overlook the fact that law enforce- in which they are in effect managing (and for the individuals who subject themment is an effective control measure in thus by implication protecting) an indus- selves to it but also for the community in try which is technically operating outside which it is allowed to flourish. itself. No one is denying that the problem of the law. Until we accept that prostitution is a That this would lead to cynicism on the source of corruption and that it attracts to prostitution is as old as time itself or that enforcing the law as it currently stands part of the WA police with regard to the itself corruption, no solution we propose enforcement of the law there is little to deal with the problem and its consewill not entirely solve the problem. However, this does not mean that I or doubt. Enforcing the law is no longer quences will be adequate. those around me should co-operate or seen as a question of right and wrong but We can deceive ourselves that regulaassist those who are intent upon promul- rather as a means to an end. will bring prostitution out into the tion The potential for corruption and abuse gating the falsity of prostitution by legalthereby legitimising it and giving it open, is of this power is immense. No one ising it. we can also dress up a respectability; One thing is sure, if our stated aim is to accountable for managing the operations beast like a man to try to pass it off as eliminate the problem of prostitution (or, of an industry which is technically out- such, but in the end a beast is a beast and its consequences), common sense dic- lawed. a man is a man. There is no doubt that containment not tates that legalising it will certainly not In the same way the press, the fundais it that but work doesn't only achieve that end. The criticism of the current contain- mentally flawed because prostitution Government. and the police can try to ment policy seems to be based on the itself conspires against humanity, as pros- control prostitution by legalising and regulating it, dressing it up to pass it off as an obvious hypocrisy of a situation in which titution itself is a source of corruption. and respectable profession but, in honest serProstitution produces no valuable the sex industry (if one can truly call It "Industry") is, in reality, being managed vice to mankind as does legitimate indus- the end, prostitution is prostitution and all the regulation in the world will not try. by the West Australian police. change that. upon feeds that parasite a is it nstead, I corto lead should That containment ruption within the WA police Is hardly itself creating an appetite for Itself, feed- Rory O'Hagan Attadale surprising given the enormous coercive ing upon the vice of our fallen nature.
Liturgy team loss saddens
serving team gave freely and willingly of their time to serve Almighty God at His altar, and did so, I believe, to the best of their ability, as do many others. It was extremely sad to learn of their disbanding and I believe I speak for many when I say that such instances are extremely discouraging and unfortunate. John Morris Swan View
write concerning the current debate regarding the legalisation of prostitution in Western Australia. I cannot understand the attitude or the logic of both the press and of the West Australian Government in focusing on two proposed solutions, as though these were the only options available: the continuation of the so-called "containment" policy or the legalisation of prostitution. There is a third option which is being overlooked, so much so that one begins to wonder at the motives of those who appear to be genuinely concerned with the problem: enforcing the law as it stands (without resorting to containment). Enforcing the law some would say, does not bear contemplation because it is impossible to eliminate prostitution. It is curious that those who use this line of argument, do not use it in relation to offences of a more serious nature such as murder. Those who use this line of argument' mistakenly assume that elimination of the
F
riday, June 14, was the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. That evening there was a Solemn Pontifical Mass in the Cathedral which I attended. However, there was one thing I noticed that puzzled me greatly - the absence of ne hundred and fifty years ago the the Archbishop's master of ceremonies first High Mass was held in the litand the Archbishop's special serving tle Cathedral of St John the team. Evangelist in Victoria Avenue. Perth. Some days later, still wondering why this One of the paintings placed on the wall was so. I made enquiries and found that in the little building was brought from very restrictive guidelines made it Europe by Dom Rosendo Salvado. extremely difficult for the serving team It was of the Victory of the Christians and the master of ceremonies to operate over the lloks at Lepanto on 7 October, effectively. As a result, after nine years, the 1571. As a result of this victory Pope Pius serving team is now disbanded. V instituted the Feast of the Rosary for the The end of the involvement of the servfirst Sunday of October and he added the ing team at Solemn Pontifical Masses in name Mary Help of Christians to the the Cathedral is extremely disappointing. Litany. On each occasion I have attended Mass The Archcliocesan Archives would like to when the serving team has provided the a copy of this painting if any readacquire servers, I have, without fail, seen an Record has one. I can be conThe of er extremely high standard of serving providArchives on (09) 325 9177 the at tacted ed by young men who are also very reverStibi PBVM Frances Sister ent and have a genuine love of the Mass. Archivist Archdiocesan I have no hesitation in predicting that their expertise will be sorely missed at Solemn Pontifical functions and that the ather Dickinson is indulging in an standard of serving, and of the liturgy in exercise in semantics (The Record general, will fall dramatically. 20 June). For nine years, Doug Williams and his
Painting request
Semantics charge
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My dictionary defines method as a way of "doing" something, surely a way of performing an activity? My method is to love my neighbours zealously. The Jehovah Witnesses' method appears to be to pester people zealously. Ellen Morris Bayswater
Seeing Christ in each
I
hope it is not too late to comment on the belief of Eric Rebeiro (The Record, 9 May) that it is normal among some Mass-goers "to shout, gossip, and defile the Sanctuary of God with their backs turned on the tabernacle," and that these are "destined for severe judgement by God." With all due respect - extremely strong words! Yes, by virtue of your baptism you too, Mr Rebeiro, are called to be a prophetic voice in the Church, and a witness to Jesus; but, at the same time, I would suggest that we all need to be wary of Matthew 7:1-2 when fulfilling that call only God knows the true interior disposition "of almost everyone after Mass." Yes, I am guilty of what you call "shouting and gossiping, and defiling the Sanctuary of God with my back turned to the tabernacle (at times)" after Mass, generally because of a need to make contact with a person before they disappear quickly from the Church. or, because they come up and speak to me personally for some reason. I will never ignore, nor turn my back on anyone who does this for they have just
been to communion and received the very living body, blood and Spirit of the risen Lord Jesus - all that makes up the person of Jesus. They have literally become anew His tabernacle, the Sanctuary of God; and I would not show Jesus in them that disrespect. In very truth, they really deserve that I genuflect to them at that moment, just as I would genuflect to Jesus in the Sanctuary tabernacle in the church. My understanding of the Australian hierarchies' request that, where possible, tabernacles be given an appropriate (and I emphasise appropriate) niche of their own, suitable for quiet prayer and reflection, that was not directly behind the main altar, was with the deliberate intention of trying to help the congregation appreciate more fully the fact that the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus was taking place again, though in a bloodless manner, on the main altar in that Eucharist. and in their own lives right there and then. Of course. if anyone did come up and literally shout at me, or want to gossip in the true sense of the word. I would be most unhappy. But,I would never turn my back on anyone who did come up, because I would be turning my back on the Sanctuary of God - God speaking to me through that person, and who was entitled, therefore, to the same response, love and respect that I would show to Jesus in the church's Sanctuary tabernacle. Joy McMullan Hamersley
Parents' example, prayer, realism needed to sell marriage
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hanging attitudes in our culture are affecting the traditional institutions of marriage, the home and family life. Some changes are very subtle, some are very blatant. A changing world has altered its attitude towards sex and sexual morality. There is a different attitude towards premarital sex, birth control and abortion. All that has to have an effect on family life. It is easy to understand why some Christian couples today are bewildered by the fact that their children, as they become young adults, seem to be rejecting the very values and principles that their parents have tried to make a part of their family life. Temporary relationships are becoming more common, so is living together before marriage. Many of our young people are
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asking questions such as: what does the Sacrament of Marriage mean? Is it just an outdated institution? They see that many Catholic marriages seem to be in difficulty, so what does "Sacrament" mean anyway? Why does marriage have to mean total commitment until death do us part? Why not live together until we see whether it will work or whether it won't? Nowadays, young people are confronted with all kinds of moral opinions, values and influences that they find difficult to
weigh up. The greatest danger lies in the effect that these influences can have on the development of a healthy personality and a true growth in sexuality. I really do believe that the prevailing attitude of most young people today is not a rejection of all moral standards, but an honest search for those that are meaningful and permanent. Through the media, people are constantly bombarded with various values of love, sex and marriage. In a very real sense, expectations are built up of what these
things are all about. Many times the reality is far removed from the pictures portrayed. How then do we get the message across that marriage as a vocation must be chosen after careful consideration, particularly in the light of the Sacrament that it is, the importance to the individuals involved, and the consequences to children that might be born. Marriage is more than companionship and rearing children, il ls an opportunity for a couple to shape a small community, living by its own ideals, principles and values. A couple and their children become a family through growing together through the complexities of daily life. A community or family doesn't come about easily without some pain or disappointment. Somehow, we need to help young people understand that part of
loving a husband or a wife is allowing them to be human, to have moments of impatience, selfishness or thoughtlessness and that, when this does occur, it doesn't necessarily mean that this is the beginning of the end. Because marriage is a special relationship, it needs to be seen realistically; there will be wonderfully good days, difficult days and unhappy days. Perhaps it is only through prayer and by living out our own vocation as married couples, that we can support our children in their journey towards a decision about their vocation in life. Then, when and if they do choose marriage, we may be able to help them to understand that it involves a commitment to love every day, that it will be full of joys, surprises, and probably misunderstandings but that peace, happiness and fulfilment can prevail. The Record, July 4 19% Page 7 W &N.? d VP.A. t-ritnn,1
Features
Patriots thank God for a nation By Dan Luby
I
t had been fine when these people visited, coming into the country with a small delegation to buy food. But now they were actually moving in. Leaving their land behind, they were bringing all their worldly possessions on their backs, with squalling babies and fearful grandmas and noisy animals and a hungry look that made the natives anxious. Nobody was inclined to be very welcoming toward them. It is the story of the ancient Israelites I'm telling - the story of how they left famine in their homeland and moved to Egypt in search of greater opportunity. And it is a story that echoes throughout Israel's history: The people wandered in the desert for the 40 years of the Exodus: for 50 years they were exiled in the civilised "wilderness" of Babylon: and they experienced endless deportations to countries strange and hostile to their religion and customs. All these experiences shaped the spirituality of these our ancestors in faith. A.s refugees and exiles and wanderers, the Israelites came to recognise that God travelled with them. The pilgrim God, who travelled with Israel into wastelands and wilds, is not confined to one place. They came to know that God was mighty enough and loving enough to be with them wherever they went. In the Exodus journey in particular, the commitment and presence of God was manifested in the fact that Israel built not a temple of stone, but a tent of sticks and hides to house the divine presence. The people had to be ready to move on. The pattern of wandering was etched so deeply into the Israelite spirit that even at the height of their powers, with great armies and mighty kings and a glorious temple, they did not forget their roots. They recognised themselves as aliens in God's land, abiding there by divine generosity. And their law made allowances for the just treatment of foreign-
ers in their midst, including them in the Sabbath rest. The prophets continually called Israel to "remember and not forget" that their father Abraham was a "wandering Aramean" and that their God is a God of the journey. Israel was a people of both temple and tent. It embraced both Temple worship's stable permanence and glory, and Tent spirituality's simple vulnerability and dependence. For Catholics, a time of year when people honour the origins of their country and reflect on their roots as a people is a time to reflect on how faith shapes and transforms patriotism. How does love of country acknowledge and allow room for the higher loyalty the Gospel commands? Today, passions in my part of the world tend to run high around immigration issues. Many citizens find themselves resenting the influx of people from other countries - people whose language and customs and outlook seem alien, and who, in addition, have needs like the rest of us. It seems important in these times to consider how our identity as people of one country inter- DiManna* Moms people can be felt as a burden or a threat, when in fact there is nothing to fear at all. meshes with our identity as children of Abraham and disciples of Jesus, the teacher who wandered the streets of Palestine and who in the end had no place to lay his head. t is a sad fact that "the world tempt for other nations or cul- bility for the common good make Like the ancient Israelites, we has yet to learn how to live tures, and patriotism, which is a it morally obligatory to pay taxes, who follow Christ are all essenwith diversity," Pope John Paul proper love of one's country. to exercise the right to vote and tially wanderers. II said when he spoke to the UN "lime patriotism never seeks to to defend one's country" (No. For we are refugees in search of General Assembly in New York advance the well-being of one's 2240). a final home and a permanent in October 1995. own nation at the expense of othBut the catechism says there are peace. That which makes the world's ers," the Pope said. limits to this obedience. At our best, we are a people peoples different "can sometimes Patriotism of the kind the Pope -The citizen is obliged in conwho remember our own experi- be felt as a burden or even as a described is a virtue. science not to follow the direcence as newcomers - strangers - threat," he explained. The Pope included a strong tives of civil authorities when in a foreign land where the lanWhat the Pope told us that day note of caution in his comments. they be contrary to the demands guage and customs, the values is not to fear our differences. He decried "a narrow and exclu- of the moral order, to the fundaand priorities surrounding us He said that, yes, every nation sive nationalism which denies mental rights of persons or the were often different and some- "has the right to shape its life any rights to the other." Why? teachings of the Gospel" (No. times hostile to our own. according to its own traditions," Because it "can lead to a true 2242). We recall with gratitude expres- though this does not include any nightmare of violence and terThe catechism uses a word that sions of hospitality and tolerance, right to abuse basic human rights ror." is dear to the Pope when describand recognise a call to extend the or, in particular, to oppress Recent events in Central Africa ing the boundaries of patriotism: same to those among us whose minorities. and in the former Yugoslavia "solidarity." language is different and whose Every nation has a right to its illustrate his point. In simplest terms, to exercise ways are unfamiliar. Our stories, culture, he said. The Catechism of the Catholic at their core, are the same. But, he added, "we need to clar- Church discusses the duties of solidarity means to exercise our To feel patriotic is to be grateful ify the essential difference citizens in its treatment of the individual rights in a context: the for the gifts God bestowed on us between an unhealthy form of Fourth Commandment. "Submis- context of the common good. as a nation. nationalism, which teaches con- sion to authority and co-responsi- Father Paul Schmidt
Forget differences in neonle I
I ' used to be proud and boastful, but now I'm perfect' Peter Dwan continues meditations on the readings for Sunday Mass. This week the readings for the 14h Sunday of Year A
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ride which manifests itself in disobedience is the basis of all sin, and humility which leads to loving obedience is the basis of all ,anctity. Today's readings give us the chance to take a closer look at this truth. In the first reading (Zechariah 9:9-10), the prophet Zechariah says: "See now, your king comes to you; he is victorious, he is triumphant, humble and riding on a donkey" This prophecy was fulfilled when Our Lord entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey on the first Palm Sunday. Although Our Lord was to triumph over His enemies, He entered Jerusalem like the conquering eastern kings but humbly, riding on a donkey The people, but not their leaders, turned out to welcome Him as David's successor.
The Record, July 4 1996 Page 8
A Layman's
Meditation . . . with Peter Thean "Hosanna to the son of David," they shouted (Mt 21:1-11). They saw the prophecy of Zechariah fulfilled in Jesus on that day, and did as Zechariah had told them - they shouted for joy In today's second reading (Romans 8:9, 11-13), St Paul tells us: "Your interests are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual." The Glenstal Bible Missal notes: "In St Paul, "to live unspiritually" means to confine oneself to human strength and values." Pride blinds us to the need we have of God's help and the strength which only comes from prayer.
While laziness may sometimes explain why people miss Mass on Sundays through their own fault, a Redemptorist Retreat Master once commented that the explanation may also be that pride which makes people believe that they can live without God. While everyone knows that seven days make one week, many today seem unaware that seven days without prayer makes one very weak! The humble, on the other hand, realise the need they have of the strength which comes through prayer. They attend Mass, often on weekdays as well as Sundays, they spend time in private prayer and ask others to pray for them. Priests often ask people to pray for them because they realise the need they have of God's help. Today's Gospel passage (Matthew 11:25-30), provides further insights into the theme of humility and highlights the pitfalls of pride. This passage records Our Lord's words to His Father: "I bless you Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children." God resists the proud and gives His grace to the humble. While Our Lord was born for all people, Scripture tells us that only the shepherds and the Magi found the Infant Saviour. In other words, He was only found by those whom either simplicity or wisdom had taught to be humble. The same is true today. Converts are either people of great simplicity or of great wisdom. When the then agnostic writer, the late Malcolm Muggeridge, mentioned the difficulties he had with Catholicism to Mother `Teresa of Calcutta, she said to him: "Become like a little child, and you will understand everything beautifully." Malcolm Muggeridge received the grace to heed her advice and was received into the Church in 1982. Pride can blind us to reality This truth is captured in the yarn about the person who said: "I used to be proud and boastful, but now I'm perfect!"
Features
A mother's love is something Life is only full when it beyond normal imagining becomes a gift of self
Further excerpts from the Vatican's Pontifical Council For the Family's guidelines for education within tlit family on human sexuality
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Treating their wives to an annual restaurant luncheon, are Joe (left), Doff, Ned, Amando, Jim, Johnny, LOU, and Rocco hlartino who give top priority to God, togeihemess and family life.
By Colleen McGuinness Howard
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t's the story of a little mother who emigrated from Calabria in the deep south of Italy. She was a peasant, who never had a lot of money, and died illiterate, but she created a small dynasty of prayerful sons who've continued the work that she started so well by bonding them and her husband to their Heavenly Mother, with ongoing decades of the Rosary. Through her daily recitation of the Rosary, she lived out the ideal of motherhood - a life of selflessness, direction and demonstration of her great love and dedication to God and her own family. Coming out to join her husband Dominic in Perth. who preceded her two years before, Maria-Rosa Martino brought their young son Rocco in 1927, and remained until her death in 1980, with only a smattering of English. She was not a feminist's dream, "nor a show piece" by popular standards, according to one of her sons. but she unstintingly lived for them: "we were her life." Maria-Rosa also taught her children filial love and bonded them into the family unit and to each other with strong ties. Each New Year's Eve when the clock struck midnight, her eight sons would be at the family home, frequently with their wives. They'd see the New Year in for a couple of hours, and then return that day with their families for the main meal. Each Easter, Christmas Day, Mothers' and Fathers' Day, the eight families gathered around this little matriarch and her husband, who forged the family links and strengthened them with her ongoing love and concern for their welfare. They would then go onto the wives' parents to celebrate the day. "If she couldn't say something nice about someone, she said nothing at all," described one of her sons, "and not one of our wives has ever said anything against our mother." They're an interesting group of people really, because one would think that with eight outside women, there would be at least some differing between them. But there's no bickering, nastiness, jealousy, or materialism between them, the Martino men state, "and if one of us does
well, we're happy for him: and if one does badly, then we'll do our best to help." In fact they're an outstanding family, because with the mother's firm grounding of togetherness, after her death, and their father's death in 1988, the sons and their wives have continued to meet in each other's homes every second month. Then annually the eight husbands take out their wives to a restaurant so they don't have to work on that occasion. And towards the end of the year, they hire a hall and invite all their extended families and friends with usually more than 150 people gathering to celebrate their togetherness and life in general. But there's more to it than meets the eye, big achievement though that is. Because there's an underlying force which welded them together - and it's one of deep, committed faith. Maria-Rosa had such a tremendous love for Our Lady, that when she was hospitalised before her sons were fully raised, she was concerned about her prognosis in view of the seriousness of the operation she was about to have, so was praying to Our Lady to let her live "because who will raise my sons if I die?" Lou at her bedside then saw this bright light and the outline/image of Our Lady stretching out her arms over his mother at the moment when she exclaimed: "Oh! the Madonna's come to see me!" She survived the operation well. But yet another encounter with the Madonna when her sons once again prayed for help! Hospitalised in St John of God and not expected to survive the night, the eight sons were summoned and told that she was nearing the end. The sons prayed three Rosaries around her bed that night and went home waiting for the expected telephone call. However next morning their mother jumped out of bed and lived for another two years, resident at St Vincent's Nursing Home. Finally nearing the last stages of dying in St Vincent's, Maria-Rosa lingered for a week, but it wasn't until the final morning when all of her eight sons whom she'd been hanging onto life for, came in, that she finally let go. At that point, said Lou, "when I walked
into her room (with the other seven sons already there), she opened up her eyes, saw me, and then with a gasp (of relief), she died. "At that moment, although the still morning was without a breeze of any kind, suddenly the curtain swung over towards my mother's bed and flew back out through the open window, as though my mother's soul had been taken up to heaven." Today, her eight sons are daily Communicants, their wives are practicing Catholics, and "at least 30" of their 37 children, practice their Catholic faith. Between them they have 60 grandchildren with three more due. What do they consider the cohesive factor behind their togetherness and faith fidelity today? The sons suggest variously - "the women we married," "our mother's love," "her example," "always insisting we come together on important occasions," ...but then perhaps Roma, one wife, says it all: "It's Our Lady! It's because of her and the fact my mother-in-law had such a love for the Madonna - and was never without her Rosary." Maria-Rosa is not unique in-as-much as there are countless mothers who've given their lives one way or another, to their children and who, despite modern trends, have prioritised their family first and the outside world's enticements second. And the progeny of these mothers would all claim: "My mother was the best in the world!" What is praiseworthy and wonderful about Maria-Rosa and all other mothers like her however, is their vision for God's offspring given to their care, and, hand-inhand with the nourishment of the earth, they've been commendably astute enough to likewise nourish their souls, and link them to their Heavenly parents. And although this life is short, and fraught with uncertainties, Heavenly promises are never broken, and it's the Maria-Roses of this world who've got it right when they with childlike belief, have entrusted their children to their Heavenly Mother, and continuously prayed every day of their lives to the Mother of all, who never lets her children down.
hristian revelation presents the two vocations to love: marriage and virginity. In some societies today not only marriage and the family. but also vocations to the priesthood and the religious life are often in a state of crisis. The two situations are inseparable: "When marriage is not esteemed, neither can consecrated virginity or celibacy exist: when human sexuality is not regarded as a great value given by the Creator, the renunciation of it for the sake of the kingdom of heaven loses its meaning." A lack of vocations follows from the breakdown of the family, yet where parents are generous in welcoming life, children will be more likely to be generous when it comes to the question of offering themselves to God: "Families must once again express a generous love for life and place themselves at its service above all by accepting the children which the Lord wants to give them with a sense of responsibility not detached from peaceful trust"; and they may bring this acceptance to fulfilment not only "through a continuing educational effort but also through an obligatory commitment, at times perhaps neglected, to help teenagers especially and young people to accept the vocational dimension of every living being, within God's plan.... "Human life acquires fullness when it becomes a self-gift: a gift which can express itself in matrimony, in consecrated virginity, in self-dedication to one's neighbour toward an ideal, or in the choice of priestly ministry. Parents will truly serve the life of their children if they help them make their own lives a gift, respecting their mature choices and fostering joyfully each vocation, including the religious and priestly one." When he deals with sexual education in "Familiaris Consortio," this is why Pope John Paul II affirms: "Indeed Christian parents, discerning the signs of God's call, will devote special attention and care to education in virginity or celibacy as the supreme form of that the constitutes self-giving that very meaning of human sexuality." . . . . Parents should therefore rejoice if they see in any of their children the signs of God's call to the higher vocation of virginity or celibacy for the love of the kingdom of heaven. They should accordingly adapt formation for chaste love to the needs of those children, encouraging them on their own path up to the time of entering the seminary or house of formation, or until this specific call to self-giving with an undivided heart matures. They must respect and appreciate the freedom of each of their children, encouraging their personal vocation and without trying to impose a predetermined vocation on them. The Second Vatican Council clearly set out this distinct and honourable task of parents, who are supported in their work by teachers and priests: . . . The greatest contribution is made by families which are animated by a spirit of faith, charity and piety and which provide, as it were, a first seminary, and by parishes in whose abundant life the young people themselves take an active part." The Record, July 4 1996 Page 9
Movie Review
FaIT Hies ill cheer for Disney's unchback T
he Disney studio hopes the bells- will be ringing to applaud the release of its latest animated musical, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." And there is much to enjoy in this Hollywood-happy-ending version of Victor Hugo's classic humanist tragedy, set in 15th-century Paris. _ In a swirling opening we see vicious Judge FroLlo (voice of Tony Jay) about to drown the misshapen infant of a mother who died seeking sanctuary on the steps of Notre Dame. Instead, Frollo is ordered by the archdeacon (voice of David Ogden Stiers) to raise the deformed child, Quasimodo (voice of Tom FluIce). Frollo hides the boy in Notre Dame's bell tower for 20 years, convincing him he is a monster unfit for human contact. His only friends are a trio of talking stone gargoyles (Victor, Hugo and Laverne, voiced by Charles Kimbrough, Jason Alexander and Mary Wickes) who persuade Quasimodo to slip outside into the Festival of Fools celebration in the cathedral square.
There he is unwittingly chosen King of the Fools for his unbridled ugliness, but a kindhearted Gypsy, Esmeralda (voice of Demi Moore), comes to his defence, publicly decrying Frollo's cruelty. The furious judge orders his noble captain of the guards, Phoebus (voice of Kevin Kline), to arrest her, but she scurries inside Notre Dame claiming sanctuary - much to smitten Phoebus' relief. Quasimodo is love-struck as well and helps her to escape her stained-glass prison and soon the lustful Frollo is prepared to burn down Paris to find her and to burn her as a witch if she doesn't submit to him. Phoebus defies him and becomes a fugitive as well, but when each is recaptured Quasimodo vaults into action to save his new friends. Although Hugo's tragedy has been recast as a triumph where love conquers all, directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise remain true to the spirit of the work and its theme that each person is a child of God, whether the physically deformed (Quasimodo) or socially outcast (Esmeralda).
Quasimodo and gargoyle friends - timeless message of love for all God's things in this Disney cartoon.
The animation is up to Disney's standards, enhanced by fluid camera work and facially expressive characters. The three gargoyles, however, are such formula comic sidekicks their routine wisecracks have become interchangeable from one Disney movie to the next. Alan Menken's music is more of a departure, incorporating choir chanting and even some Latin, given the movie's religious back-
drop, and it blends beautifully into the dramatic story. The nine songs' lyrics by Stephen Schwartz are less inspired, except for Esmeralda's prayer, a lovely ballad, "God Help the Outcasts," sung by Heidi Mollenhauer). Esmeralda's character is the heart of the story, telling Quasimodo he is not a monster and that Gypsies aren't evil as he was taught. The story moves
swiftly from escape to escape, ending on a gentle note as a little child hugs Quasimodo and the crowd cheers. And families are likely to as well, as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is colourful, sweetnatured entertainment with a positive message about respecting all of God's creations. The US Catholic Conference classification is A-I - general patronage.
Book Review
And now, get ready for the controversy to come.... The Jesus Papyrus by Carsten Peter Thiede and Matthew D'Ancona. Published by Weidenfold and Nicolson, London 1996. 193pp $34 Reviewed by Fr Pat Ahern.
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t first glance, this book seems to be outstanding and sensational, especially with its conclusion that "There is now good reason to suppose that the Gospel according to St Matthew... . was written not long after the Crucifixion and certainly before the destruction of the temple in AD 70" (p 150) The book is about the discovery, translation and dating of three small pieces of Papyrus of St Matthew's Gospel found at Luxor in Egypt by Rev Charles Bousfield Huleatt (1863 - 1908). Kept in the old library at Magdalen College, Oxford, they are referred to as the Magdalen Papyrus or P64. In February 1994, Carsten Peter Thiede, a German Papyrologist examined the fragments and came to a startling conclusion. This was published on the front page of The Times on Christmas Eve 1994: "A papyrus believed to be the oldest extant fragment of the New Testament has been found in an Oxford library", the newspaper said. "It provides the first material evidence that the Gospel accord-
ing to St Matthew is an eyewitness account written by contemporaries of Christ." Now comes the controversy. Graham Stanton, one of Britain's most eminent New Testament scholars and a leading specialist on Matthew's Gospel, was among the first to call the new findings into question. In 1995 Stanton published his own conclusions about the Papyrus in Gospel Truth? New Light on Jesus and the Gospels. I was fortunate to be able to read a copy of this book also. Stanton writes: "The articles in The Times referred to Thiede's forthcoming scholarly discussion of the Magdalen College fragments in the January 1995 issue of the journal, Zeitschrift fur Papyrol-ogie und Epigraphik. Dr Thiede concluded his article as follows: "it may be argued that it (the Matthew papyrus) could be redated from the late second century to the late first century, some time after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (in AD 70)."" He continues: "I am mystified by the discrepancy between the extravagant claims made in The Times and the caution of the academic journal article. There is a world of difference between dating the fragments of Matthew to the mid-first century and to the late first century! The later date would not change any of the
most widely held views about the origins of the Gospels." Stanton further writes: "Equally puzzling is his failure to discuss the two rather more substantial Barcelona fragments of Matthew from the same codex (P67). If one is making a comparison of handwriting styles, it is obviously important to use as large a sample as possible." Thiede's book was then published in 1996. Ills not surprising he makes several attempts to discredit Stanton's book of 1995. The task of translating, interpreting and dating fragments of papyrus is very difficult. As Stanton states, "the most important guide to dating is the style of the handwriting. . . . but specialists have often noted that on its own, this feature is too arbitrary to be trustworthy". The whole subject of the dating of papyrus fragments is one that has involved great controversy. Thiede's book obviously shows the fruits of scholarship and expertise, but some lapses. On a more technical point, in my reading of the Greek text I found it difficult to reconcile the identification of the Greek fragments, with the numbering of the English translation on page 79. Comparing and contrasting Thiede's book with Stanton's, I must give my vote to Stanton's work as more credible and more scholarly.
Features
Curious case of apologist writers The incidence of paedophilia shocks all who believe and live by the natural moral law. The following are excerpts from a paper by Australian Family Association national secretary Bill Muehlenberg warning that some media commentators, intentionally or unintentionally, might be beginning to set the stage for a defence of paedophilia.
T
here are some ideas so preposterous that only an intellectual could believe them, said George Orwell. Forces of secularism and sexualism have combined to rewrite our understanding of morality and socially acceptable behaviour. What was once universally regarded among civilised societies as deviant behaviour, such as homosexuality, is now referred to as "an alternative lifestyle". M the United States' commentor Daniel Patrick Moynihan has put it, we are "defining deviancy downwards". Deviancy has reached such huge proportions that in order to deal with the problem, we have changed the way we think about normality and abnormality What used to be regarded as deviant behaviour is now reclassified as normal, and what we used to call normal behaviour we now call abnormal. In the homosexuality debate, therefore, the only abnormality now is to be "homophobic". Indeed, after intense pressure from the homosexual lobby, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the listing in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Mental Disorders In 1973. Minority activist groups know that they can soften up a population to change by constantly pushing an issue, seeking to wear down resistance. They also know that verbal engineering precedes social engineering. Thus euphemisms like "the gay lifestyle" are used instead of "sodomy"; "freedom of choice" is used instead of "baby killing". Perhaps the last taboo remaining is the Issue of paedophilia. The same process of getting us used to the idea is now taking place. In fact, the APA has already declared that paedophilia is no longer abnormal: in 1994 it removed paedophilia from the list of psychiatric disorders. Sadism or sadomasochism, transvestism. voyeurism and
"nothing less than descriptions of criminal child abuse." In her column, Ms Faust defends Kinsey and his associates, and seems to gloss over the fact that actual child abuse may have occurred. She accuses the critics of the Kinsey experiments of being panic-mongers. If concern about paedophilia is a sign of panic-mongering, perhaps we need more of it. For the moment - until society becomes more "enlightened" - pedophilia is a criminal offence. It is one thing to give a general defence of Kinsey. But for Ms Faust to just laugh off the serious charges being brought against Kinsey, is both offensive and frightening. A society that has become so desensitised that it can dismiss as scaremongering protests against the sexual assault of children is a society that has lost its way. In the April 27-28 Weekend Australian resident atheist Phillip Adams weighed in on the debate with these amazing opening The shame of paedophilia remarks: "Paedophilia. Three cheers for exhibitionism were also re-diagnosed. moral outrage. Hip, hip, hypocrisy. In a This push for the acceptance of pae- society all but inured to shock, the paedophilia is not just coming from the dophile is deemed shocking. Yet . . . . for expected sources. As just on example, con- every individual who molests a child, sider a number of articles which have there's a corporation that molests childrecently appeared in The Australian hood." Well there you have it - sexually assaultnewspaper. ing a child is no worse, and maybe even In the December 11, 1995 issue, a front better than, a company trying to sell kids page story reported on Dr Alfred Kinsey's Pepsi or Barbie Dolls. use of paedophiles in his research on Mind you, I am not trying to defend the human sexuality. For many of us, such a revelation was nothing new. The sleazy many corporations who do put profit and shonky science of Dr Kinsey had been ahead of family values. But to equate these well documented in Judith Reisman's two activities is to lessen the hideous nature of paedophilia. book, Kinsey, Sex and Fraud On the same day that Adams was minWhat is remarkable about this story, imising the ugliness of paedophilia, The however, is that in the very next day's edi- Age in Melbourne was also weighing in, tion of The Australian, columnist Beatrice arguing that balance and perspective are Faust came out with a vigorous defence of needed in dealing with this issue. Kinsey The reporter said that homosexual What about his use of paedophiles? No groups were uneasy about reports on paebig deal! was her response. Indeed, the dophilia. claiming they contain "generaliwhole article appeared to be not just a sations and double-standards". Speaking defence of Kinsey, but a defence of pae- of double standards, isn't it strange that dophilia. In a ho-hum manner she informs when the media picks up on stories of us that sex experiments on young children abuse taking place within the home, we by grown men provided valuable informa- never hear of calls for balance and pertion. spective. Ills assumed that the traditional Two days later I had an article in The family is a breeding ground for abuse and Australian expressing amazement at Ms exploitation. Faust's apparent defence of the indefensiYet with the issue of paedophilia, when it ble and in which I detailed Kinsey's looks like homosexuals might be implicatdescriptions of his sexual stimulation ed to a large degree, we are urged to calm experiments on babies and children as down and see the whole picture.
Just a week later in the May 4-5 Weekend Australian Beatrice Faust again wrote on the subject She states the "the word 'child' means different things to different people" and that age of consent laws are "arbitrary". Then she says there is no evidence that paedophile victims are coerced: "almost no children or adolescents are kidnapped, chained, drugged or coerced. Free to come and go, they return to the paedophile again and again." There you go: children actually like paedophiles and come back for more - just like revisiting a lolly shop. She concludes by referring to the "realities" of "cross-generational sexual contact", a euphemism used quite often by Kinsey to cover up the real nature of paedophilia. This softening up process to get us used to the idea was at one point left to the hard-core paedophile advocates. Now we journalists at have "respectable" "respectable" newspapers seemingly arguing for the same thing. The process of redefining paedophilia, of making it appear to be just another "lifestyle option" will surely continue. Indeed, as I write, I note in the day's papers that a female teacher who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old student did not regard herself as "a paedophile but a lesbian who fell in love with a younger woman". In fact, almost daily we are reading of such attacks on children. Just one example: in April an eight year-old boy was raped in a toilet block in a busy shopping centre in broad daylight In the light of this growing trend, there are two responses we can make. We can throw up our hands and give in, or we can do all we can to not allow the abnormal to become normal; to not allow the unacceptable to become acceptable. I for one will do all I can to fight this battle. I greatly fear for my own young children. They are growing up in a world that is radically different from the one I grew up in just 35 short years ago. And I am reminded of the biblical warning found in Luke 17:2: "It would be better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he was cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones." This warning applies not only to the actual perpetrators of the crime of paedophilia, but to those sophisticated apologists and defenders of this gross evil.
There is life yet in arch exponent of malleable faith By Nancy Hartnagel
B
est-selling Australian author Morris West says he is "a man who lives necessarily in the shadow of eterni-
ty." Before he had heart surgery five years ago, West, now 80 and a lifelong Catholic, received the sacrament of the sick. "I was lying there without fear, no fear at all," he said. "And I found myself saying, 'Well, however you may judge me, I'm prepared to accept that, for good or evil. I've had a lot of love in my life.... If you want my life back. I give it to you. If you feel the need to reject it, reject it. And I went to sleep." ' 'That's the final act," he said, tears forming in his eyes. "And I've remained in that state ever since.... That's where I reside, at the centre of that calm." West spoke with Catholic News Service in late June, during the Washington stop of a publicity tour for his latest novel. "Vanishing Point." In the earlier part of his life, West joined the Christian Brothers but never took final vows. Following military service in World War II, he enjoyed rapid success as Australia's "boy wonder of radio," then suffered a nervous breakdown. "I went through an identity crisis," he recalled. "You know, who was I? I'd been taken into the Christian Brothers at aged 13-and-a-half, remained in there until I was 26, and came out into a world of war
with a highly incomplete identity. I hadn't West believes the "centralised, monarbeen allowed to see my parents or family chic working" of the Church "may no for 10 years." longer be applicable in the 21st century." West said the crisis also was "precipitat"Absent a huge renewal of vocations to ed by an early and unfortunate marriage." the celibate clergy, absent a huge renewal He has two children from that marriage of vocations to the celibate life among and four from his second marriage of 43 women, how will life in the Church be caryears to his former secretary, Joyce ried on?" he asked. Lawford, who still is his "fiercest critic." "I see a greater participation of an edu"In some form or another." he observed, cated laity within the Church. I see the "all one's personal experiences transmute need for a more open discussion within themselves into fiction." the Church," he said. In the new novel, published by Harper West said he sees "no theological barriCollins, a central character who suffers er" to the ordination of women, and thinks from manic depression vanishes after both women priests and married priests completing a multi-billion-dollar banking are "inevitable." deal. He noted that he first "received the faith The manic depression drives the disapfrom the lips of a woman." his mother. And his daughter "is a nun who is givpearance and subsequent plot; West noted he has experienced the illness in friends ing retreats to priests." and family. "The expediency of the move (ordaining women), however, is a very local matter," But "Vanishing Point" contains no startling predictions such as West made in he said. earlier novels. "Whether it is a good idea for this dioHe predicted the election of a Slavic cese or that, given its local customs ... is a matter of the practical politics of the pope in 1963 in "Shoes of the Fisherman," Successful Australian author Morris West and his 1981 book "The Clowns of God" its congealing policies and attitudes, with moment." featured an attempted papal assassination. all its alienations within the Church." The Vatican has repeatedly reaffirmed Later this year, West's memoir, View "I've given myself two years," he the Church's ban on women priests as an from the Ridge," will be pufilished. It's the laughed. "What the almighty is going to infallible teaching. closest thing to an autobiography his read- give me, God knows." Back home, West has been involved in ers will get, he said. Whether the current Pope survives until and said he is "likely to be more involved He also has committed to writing one the millennium is a complicating factor for in - the discussions on a bill for euthanamore novel - on the future of the Church. the plotting, he said. "But an even sia in Australia." "I thought, why not, because we are com- more important question is how the He would like to see the argument shifting visibly to the end of one papal reign, Church, itself, will change in the third mil- ed from direct termination of life to palliawith all its changes, and again with all lennium." tion of extreme pain. The' ttecord, July 4 f99e Page i1
To Jesus through Mary. .
. . . a column of Marian devotion
Leaning forward she extended to him a large brown scapular and said: "'Receive My son this habit . . . . whosoever dies wearing this scapular shall not suffer eternal fire . . . . it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace." Protection from damnation, danger and a pledge of peace! Who does not need all three? In 1322, to give further emphasis to the ornography, abortion, X-rated scapular promise, Our Lady appeared to movies, drugs, godlessness, the Pope and spoke to him concerning immorality and most insidious of all, those who die wearing the scapular: "I, indifference - are the pollution of sin that the Mother of grace, shall descend on the infects us all in one way or another, either Saturday after their death, and whommaking us more prayerful and concerned soever I shall find in Purgatory, I shall for our salvation or resigned to its exis- free." Unfortunately, some consider the scaputence, hoping it won't contaminate our lar insignificant. They say, "Why the fuss families. How can anyone immunise themselves over two little pieces of cloth?" It must be remembered that God in His from so sinful a pollution? What preventive medicine exists for so many infectious wisdom always demonstrates His greatevils? There is a vaccine. To be inoculated, ness in little things, so as to confound the worldly-wise and humble the proud. every one can be consecrated to the The Church has been preaching the Blessed Virgin and wear her brown scapu- scapular for over 700 years and many lar (two small pieces of cloth joined by Popes have blessed and endorsed its string and worn under clothes) as an out- usage. ward sign of this consecration. This sacramental is a sign of consecraInterest among the Catholic faithful in tion to Mary; we are placing ourselves the scapular began soon after the first under her motherly protection. No other apparition of Our Lady to St Simon Stock, sacramental in the Church bears the on July 16, 1251. promise of Our Lady, that whosoever dies His cell flooded with heavenly light and wearing it will not suffer eternal fire. St Simon beheld Our Lady with the Christ Thus the antidote to the ills of modern Child in her arms. society is the scapular. A simple answer to The approaching feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel on Tuesday week reminds Catholics of continuing devotion to the scapular. It was given by Mary to protect Christians from the influence of the Devil and his assistants who prowl the world to tempt humanity to eternal physical and spiritual agony in Hell.
p
Mary, and her Son, Jesus, with scapulars
a great problem! But this simple answer can be a challenge to modern Catholics. By likening our faith to the simplicity of a child's faith, our trust and confidence will grow in the promise of salvation and protection which the Blessed Virgin gave concerning the scapular. To understand this, we must become like little children who look to their mothers for guidance and protection and apply this same attitude towards our heavenly mother in these times of crisis. The real challenge will come when each one of us has to humble himself to adopt
'China will not interfere' in faiths after 1997 HONG KONG (CNS) - China's Religious Affairs Bureau will not set up any office or implement religious regulations or policy in Hong Kong after its return to Chinese sovereignty, the bureau's director-general said. The official, Ye Xiaowen, led an 11-member Religious Affairs Bureau delegation from Beijing to Hong Kong from June 20-29 at the invitation of Buddhists. Catholics, Confucianists, Muslims, Protestants and Taoists. Each religion hosted the delegation for one day. Addressing about BO leaders of the six major religions in Hong Kong at a dinner reception June 21, Ye said the regulation issued by the State Council on January 31, 1994, on administration of religious venues will not be implemented in the post-1997 Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The "Regulation on the Administration of Places for Religious Activities," State
Council Order Number 145, requires all religious venues, personnel and activities on the mainland to be registered with the Chinese government. Ye noted that about 2,000 religious venues in China had been registered with the Civil Department, and more than 70,000 places are in the process of registration in accordance with the order. The director reiterated that his bureau will not interfere in or administer religious affairs in Hong Kong, because it observes the state policy of "one country, two systems" and the Basic Law, the constitution that will take effect when the Special Administrative Region comes into existence with the July 1997 handover. "Hong Kong religions are not required to support the socialist system, but must respect the nation and motherland, not undermine Hong Kong's stability and prosperity, and love the
this child-like faith. How many of us can do that? Those who are wise in the faith can see how much we need to be consecrated to Our Lady today. Those who reject this consecration run the great risk of becoming infected by the moral ills of today. Unfortunately many Catholics have drifted away from devotion to Our Lady's scapular. Millions know absolutely nothing about it. And our Catholic children, who are tomorrow's Church, have no idea at all of the Scapular. Countless Catholics are of the opinion that it is outdated devotion of little or no value. The devil is certainly having his heyday. Consequently the question arises - Is the scapular outdated and irrelevant to our times? Does it really have spiritual value? And .... aren't we getting caught up in old devotional practices rather than following Vatican II? But how can any true Catholic consider the need for protection from danger, eternal fire and a promise of peace, outdated? The truth of the matter is that there are too many who deny the power of Our Lady and her ability to keep her promise. But Our Lady is unconcerned with the negative attitude of men who shun Her help. - Adapted from an article in the Ave Maria magazine of the WA Garabandal centres and originally published in Garabandal Magazine. USA
Peter first fisher of men, is also ' fishermens' patron
country, Hong Kong and religion," he said. The religious sector can help provide a stable and prosper,ous society in Hong Kong, he said. Beijing has appointed some Peruvian fishermen return to dock with a statue of St Peter after a voyage religious leaders as Hong Kong near Lima last Saturday to pray for a productive year of fishing. Hundreds of Photo C" affairs and district advisers and fishermen joined in on the feast of Sts Peter and Paul. to China's Preparatory Committee for the handover, noted Ye. He reiterated that the relationship between Hong Kong reliVATICAN CITY (CNS) - In a over the last century, recent years gious bodies and their counterparts in China should be based move that has potential ecumeni- have seen a return of tensions on the three principles of non- cal repercussions, Pope John Paul in Eastern Europe - often over subordination, non-interference II declared a group of 18th-centu- questions of church property. The martyrdom decree was and mutual respect laid down in ry Polish Catholics - killed resisting an order to turn their issued for Vincentius Lewoniuk the Basic Law. Mainlanders should not try to church building over to the and 12 of his companions, "unimake Hong Kong people con- Orthodox - to be martyrs of the ate Catholics" from Podlachia now the Diocese of Siedlce - in form to their ideas, nor should faith. The decree, approved at the eastern Poland, killed on January Hong Kong people attempt this Vatican on June 25, opens the 24, 1874, at the town of Pratulin. with mainlanders, he added. The Religious Affairs Bureau way to the group's beatification, Polish Father Marian Babula, a delegation was received by which supporters hope can take beatification supporter, explainCardinal John Baptist Wu Cheng- place when the Pope visits his ed in an interview that they were chung of Hong Kong and Polish homeland in 1997. slain by Russian occupation While Catholic-Orthodox rela- troops after they refused to leave other Catholic diocesan officials on June 21. tions have generally improved their church.
Poles declared martyrs
Don't leave repatriated Vietnamese refugees without protection: plea By John 'Mavis VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope John Paul II urged the international community to make sure that the phase-out of refugee camps in Southeast Asia does not leave thousands of Vietnamese without protection. The Pope made the comments at a Sunday blessing on June 30, the day most refugee camps were officially scheduled to close across the region. Some 31,000 Vietnamese remain unsettled in host countries, and they faced forced repatriation. In noting the camps' closing, the Pope • 4xPssed ihiq aPPWC10q411tor ,what the The Record, July 4 1996 Page 12
United Nations and host countries have done to assist the refugees over recent years. He said the aid and resettlement programs had given new hope to hundreds of thousands of people. "However, this cannot be considered the end of the duty of solidarity toward these brothers and sisters," he said. "For many of them, the protection and control that international organisations and governments have promised for their repatriation remain an absolute necessity," he said. He said international assistance is still crucial for people who are currently housed in temporary centres.
The Pope appeared to suggest increased Western assistance to Vietnam when he said international aid was essential for countries to welcome back thousands of their own citizens "in dignity and security?, About 1.5 million refugees left Vietnam after the war ended in 1975. Most have either returned or have been permanently resettled, many in the United States. But in places like Hong Kong and Malaysia, thousands of Vietnamese refugees have remained in detention camps. Malaysia closed its last camp in late June; Hong Kong, which hosts 18,000 Vietnamese, has been given until June
1997 to follow suit. The United Nations considers the remaining Vietnamese economic migrants and not political refugees. The host countries have encouraged them to return to Vietnam, and some 80,000 have done so since 1989. Efforts at forced repatriation have become more common in recent months. The United Nations has said the refugees today have a better chance of starting a new life in Vietnam, which is experiencing economic growth. UN officials have claimed that refugees' fears of harassment and detention in Vietnam have proved exaggerated and have not proven true for those who have gone back.
International News
Another Council is needed: US bishop By Jerry Fitteau WASHINGTON (CNS) Archbishop John Quinn called for major Roman Curia reforms, new ways of selecting bishops and a new ecumenical council in an address on June 29 at Oxford University. The quest for Church unity requires changes in the style of governance of the Catholic Church, the recently retired San Francisco archbishop said in a speech marking the 100th anniversary of Oxford's Campion Hall. The archbishop took the cue for his address from Pope John Paul II's own request, in last year's encyclical on Christian unity, for leaders and theologians of the Christian Churches to help the Pope "find a way of exercising the (papal) primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation." Archbishop Quinn said a new council to open the millennium should let the world's bishops discuss frankly and openly key issues facing the Church. Among such issues, he said, are clerical celibacy women's role in the Church, the role of bishops' conferences, general absolution, liturgical inculturation, ordination of women, contraception, and reception of the sacraments by the divorced and remarried. US Jesuit Father Francis Sullivan, who taught theology of the Church for decades at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, called Archbishop Quinn's talk one of the most important public statements on Church reform by an experienced, high-ranking Catholic prelate since a May 1969 interview with the late Belgian Cardinal Leo Jozef Suenens in the French Catholic periodical, Informations Catholiques Internationales. Vatican officials had tried to prevent publication of that interview, in which Cardinal Suenens called for Curia reform, more local voice in selection of bishops and more subsidiarity in the Church as prerequisites for Christian unity.
Archbishop Quinn, who headed the San Francisco Archdiocese for 18 years, is a former president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Formerly a theology professor, he has been a visiting professor at Oxford this northern spring. He said Pope Pius XII called for applying the principle of subsidiarity - invoking higher structures only for those things that can't be done at a lower level - to the life of the Church. To call for local selection of bishops - as was done in most of the Church until the early 19th century - or for less centralisation of authority in other areas is not to challenge or question the primacy of the Pope, but to address the issue of what is the appropriate or prudent exercise of that primacy he said. He said in urging discussion of a wide range of current Church issues by a council, he was not necessarily advocating changes in Church teachings or policies but arguing a major obstacle to Christian unity is "the way issues are dealt with by the Curia." "It must also be said that this is a concern all over the world," he said. "Recent events in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and France, in Brazil, Africa and the United States are only one indication of how widespread this concern is." Archbishop Quinn said the widespread concern he referred to "has to do with the appointment of bishops, the approval of documents such as the 'Catechism of the Catholic Church,' the grave decline in the number of priests and the consequent decline in the availability of Mass for the people, the cognate issue of the celibacy of the clergy, the role of episcopal conferences, the role of women and the issue of the ordination of women." "Two things are involved in these issues: the decision of the Holy See on a specific issue and the way in which these decisions are reached and implemented," he said. The speech is to be published in the July 12 issue of Commonweal, a US national lay Catholic journal.
A boom of babies, not guns
Newborns sit perched in a sunlit room in Sarajevo's maternity hospital on June 20. In 1993 the ratio of abortions to deliveries was 3-1 due to a lack of births and an increase in abortions related to the Bosnian war. With peace looming ,the ratio has reversed with abortions to deliveries at 1-3.
Fifty years on, Papal-Jewish relations under the Nazis still fires debate By John Thavis VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope John Paul II travelled to Germany in June to cast the light of faith on some dark historical chapters. Curiously, what he didn't say sparked almost as much reaction as what he did. That's because the issue was a perennially painful one: whether Church leaders, including Pope Pius XII, spoke out strongly enough against Hitler's Nazi regime and its persecution of the Jews. It's not unusual these days for Pope John Paul to skip passages in his prepared texts, as a time-saving practice. The texts are still considered valid, though the words are never pronounced. But in Germany, people saw a pattern in the cuts. First he skipped over two paragraphs praising the resistance offered by the entire German Church to Nazism. Then he dropped a paragraph defending Pope Pius XII and his moral leadership during the war. Was the Pope unconvinced by the remarks, which were drafted in advance by his aides on themes submitted by bishops? Or was he trying to avoid stirring up debate on the subject? For 'ffillia Zevi, president of the Italian Jewish community in Rome, the Pope accomplished an act of "ecumenical wisdom"
by dropping the passages. encyclical for me on racism. More attuned than others to Write it as if you were the Pope. Jewish sensibilities, he probably and then we'll see. saw the comments as a source Father LaFarge spent months on of potential conflict, she said. the task. But one Italian newspaper comThe text was passed around plained that the Pope had secretly for various revisions and shown insensitivity to the memoeventually found its way to the ry of Pope Pius XII. Pope's desk in January 1939. US Jesuit Father Robert But by that time, Pope Pius XI Graham, the Vatican's chief histowas extremely ill and only rian on the World War II period, said he considered the dropped a month away from death. To this day, no one knows phrases "much ado about nothing." whether he ever had a chance to In the aftermath of the German read the draft encyclical. trip, for example, Italian newspaWhen Pope Pius XII was electpers ran articles about a never- ed, the text was filed away published encyclical against anti- because, as Father Graham said, Semitism, said to have been writ- "with a new Pope, you start from ten by Pope Pius XI shortly scratch." before he died and quietly Few people knew about the shelved by his successor. Pius XII. document: Father Graham found This text, in the eyes of critics, some 20 years later from out was proof that Pius XII passed up an opportunity to defend the Father LaFarge himself and managed to get a copy. Jews from Nazi policies. "As I read it today my heart The real story, Father Graham said, is quite different - and no sinks. Thank God it didn't less interesting. come out," Father Graham said. In the summer of 1938, Father The reason, he explained, was Graham recounted, US Jesuit that it contained pre-Vatican II Father John LaFarge was travel- theological thinking about the ling through Europe when he Jewish race, maintaining that was summoned to a private auditheir denial of Christ established ence with Pope Pius XI. When he arrived in the Pope's a conflict with Christianity "This would have been a real chambers, the priest noticed on a coffee table a copy of his own obstacle for the Vatican Council. How could you have come up book, "Interracial Justice." The Pope told him: I've read with a document like 'Nostrae your book.Ilike it, and I've been Aetate' with an encyclical like looking for someone to write an this on the record?- he said.
Jewish leaders spring to Pope's defence over attacks in Germany WASHINGTON (CNS) - Jewish commuRabbi David Saperstein, director of the nity leaders in the United States Washington office of the Union of have issued a statement condemning American Hebrew Congregations, and attacks made by protesters on Pope John Judith Hertz, chair of the organisation's Paul II during his visit to Germany at the Interreligious Affairs Committee, spoke end of last month out against the German protesters' con"Such behaviour is an insult not only to duct in a June 28 statement. the Pope, but to all Catholics and to the A variety of Catholic and non-Catholic values of love and tolerance that groups staged protests and alternative we, together, cherish," the statement said. events to the papal visit in Paderborn and
Berlin, but for the most part police kept protesters far from the Pope. "One would have hoped that the German people, especially, would have understood the lesson we Jews learned all too bitterly a half century ago," the statement said, "that there is a dark spectrum of bigotry and intolerance encompassing uncivil and dehumanising words extending to the destruction of other human beings."
During the route the papal motorcade took from Berlin's cathedral to the Brandenburg Gate, a tattooed naked woman ran between two cars in the motorcade behind the popemobile and was apprehended by police. 1Wo balloons filled with red paint were hurled at the popemobile; one hit the white vehicle, the other hit a security officer. The Record. July 4 1996 Page 13 Jp3f4 e ,tfIr
F International News
call unity East West Nuncio for In Brief
Ethiopia
VATICAN CITY (CNS) Father Silvano Tomasi, a Scalabrinian priest who has worked on migration issues in the United States and at the Vatican, was named apostolic nuncio to Ethiopia and Eritrea by Pope John Paul II. The Vatican announced the appointment on June 27. At the same time, the pope named him an archbishop. Fr Tomasi was named secretary of the Council for Migrants and Travelers in 1989.
Catalan bishops MADRID, Spain (CNS) Bishops in the Catalonia region said they will continue to fight for greater ecclesial recognition following Vatican denial of their petition for their own episcopal conference in early June. Under canon law, bishops' conferences may be formed only in recognised states. The only European example of multiple bishops' conferences for one nation is Great Britain, where Scotland has a separate conference from the bishops' conference of England and Wales.
Disney Jesuit WASHINGTON (CNS) Jesuit Father Leo O'Donovan, president of Georgetown University in Washington, has been elected to the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company. The 62-year-old theologian and educator called his twoyear board term "an important opportunity to influence and help one of the world's largest communications companies." Michael Eisner, Disney chairman and chief executive, announced Father O'Donovan's election to the 17-member board on June 25.
NCR sued MILWAUKEE (CNS) - Briggs & Stratton Corp. has sued National Catholic Reporter for $3G million. The lawsuit says the Catholic weekly newspaper libelled and defamed the engine manufacturing company, two of its officials and a company attorney in December 1994 when it ran an article, editorial column and graphic illustration on Briggs & Stratton layoffs in Milwaukee. Briggs & Stratton is a leading US manufacturer of small engines, most widely known for its lawn mower engines.
Abuse apology CfITAWA (CNS) - Ontario Attorney General Charles Harnick apologised in the provincial legislature for the abuse government wards suffered at two Catholic residential schools. Former students at the schools reported 945 individual cases of abuse between the 1930s and the 1980s. Thirty-four Christian Brothers from both schools were charged with criminal offenses: 18 have been convicted.
By John Thavis
VATICAN CITY (CNS) - At a Mass concelebrated with 30 archbishops, including four Americans, Pope John Paul II urged Catholics and Orthodox to do "everything possible" to restore unity Marking the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on June 29, the pontiff placed around the neck of each archbishop a pallium, a white woollen stole, and told them it was a sign of their special unity with Rome. As in previous years, a delegation from the Orthodox patriarPhoto CNS/Reuters chate of Constantinople attended Archbishop Schonborn receives a the Mass. The Pope made a special point pallium from Pope John Paul II of praying for the ecumenical conceptions and get to know patriarch. Bartholomew I, and for each other better." the success of dialogue between "As the son of a Slavic people, I the two churches. feel a personal call from the Lord The Orthodox recently decided to work for this," he said. to postpone a major dialogue The 76-year-old pontiff appearsession for a year because of ecumenical tensions, a move that ed tired as he presided over the three-hour-long ceremony in disappointed Vatican officials. The Pope, while avoiding refer- St Peter's Basilica. Dressed in red as a reminder of ence to the cancelled encounter, said it was time for members of the martyrdom of Sts Peter both churches to "drop all pre- and Paul, the Pope said the wit-
ness of the two saints was part of the Pope said "the spirit of God a common patrimony shared by gives us no peace until we estabboth Catholics and Orthodox lish full unity among us." He recalled that the early cenchurches, which split in the 11th turies of Christianity were also century. "I hope today's fraternal meet- marked by Internal tensions, a ing in prayer before the Lord naturat consequence of a new strengthens the commitment to evangelisation effort in diverse do everything possible to over- places and cultures. come the difficulties that still These differences were ironed remain," he said. out, however, in meetings such as Afterward, at a blessing from the Council of Jerusalem in the his apartment window above first century. "Unfortunately, it has not St Peter's Square, the Pope appealed to Catholics to improve always been easy to follow their knowledge of Eastern that example in the course of history," he said. church traditions. He said the Holy Spirit was The Pope spoke of St Irenaeus, pushing the faithful of both a second-century church father churches to "shorten the dis- born, as a "bridge" between Eastern and Western churches tances" that separate them. For Catholics and Orthodox, he and an inspiration to unity today. said, it is important to acquaint He prayed to Mary that "while themselves with the doctrinal, respecting legitimate diversity spiritual, cultural and human and traditions, we can learn to richness of each others' tradi- respect each other and deepen tions and of their common histo- our convergence in the faith and In charity." rYThe Pope announced that he In a separate message to planned to dedicate several Patriarch Bartholomew, the Pope Sunday Angelus talks to explor- emphasised the importance of ing the great Christian tradition keeping the lines of communicaof Eastern churches. tion open between the Vatican In the first such talk on June 30. and Orthodox leaders.
Church should support family in face Prayer team of rapid Asian economic boom: Pope works for Church, he said, must not grow weary of pointing out that real VATICAN CITY (CNS) - As human development also respoSoutheast Asia's economy contin- nds to the cultural, ethical and ues to develop, the Church spiritual needs of men and should make sure that family and women. "In this way the Church will community values are not sacrificed to materialism, Pope John continue to be a leaven in society, Paul II told bishops from the lending support to initiatives which seek to protect and defend region. true values, especially the values He encouraged the minority of family and community solidarChurch in the Western Pacific to ity, against the threat of materialincrease its dynamic presence in ism and self-centred individualsociety, through Church-run ism," he said. schools, social services and misHe said this was a potential sionary outreach. area for cooperation with nonHe spoke on July 1 to bishops Christians, who form a majority from Malaysia, Singapore and in the region, and with other Brunei, who were making their Christians. "ad limina" visits to the Vatican. He called it a "dialogue of life," The pontiff noted that all three in which believers join in bringcountries were experiencing ing comfort to the suffering and rapid economic growth. The ensuring respect for the rights of By John Thavis
minorities, immigrants and refugees. He also asked the bishops not to forget that among the immigrants to their countries were many Catholics, who need pastoral support. Reviewing evangelisation prospects in Southeast Asia, the Pope noted the Church's minority status and the cultural climate that makes interreligious dialogue difficult at times. But he said the "tiny flock" in the region, with its rich blend of ethnic and cultural diversity, was uniquely positioned to spread the Gospel. He said the bishops should give priority to enhancing the laity's contribution to the Church, fostering vocations, training catechists and keeping up Churchrun schools.
Vatican 'started McBrien book review' By Jerry RIteau PORTLAND, Oregon. (CNS) - It was a Vatican request that prompted the US bishops' Committee on Doctrine to initiate a staff review of Father Richard McBrien's book "Catholicism," said a document the committee released in Portland on June 22. The four-page document, a narrative of events written by doctrine committee chairman Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, defended the committee's decision not to grant Father McBrien the formal doctrinal dialogue he requested. It said most comments on the staff review have been "in regard to the process rather than in regard to the substance of the review." The narrative was released on the final day of the US bishops' June 20-22 meeting in Portland. Earlier in the meeting Archbishop Pilarczyk was elected chairman of the doctrine committee to fill the remainder of the term left vacant when Archbish-
The Record, July 4 1996 Page 14
op John Quinn of San Fran- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith contacted Cardinal cisco retired last December. Archbishop Pilarczyk had been William Keeler of Baltimore, acting chairman since Archbish- then president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, op Quinn's retirement. Father McBrien is a professor of "and requested him to ask theology at the University of the appropriate NCCB entity to study the third edition ... to deterNotre Dame. "Catholicism," a comprehensive mine whether some response to overview of Catholic teaching It might be appropriate." He outlined the steps and conand thought, first came out in 1980, followed shortly by a sec- tacts with Father McBrien by ond edition called a study edi- the doctrine committee, first under Archbishop Quinn and tion. In 1985 a doctrine committee then under himself. statement praised "many posiHe said that early on the comtive features" of the book but crit- mittee "determined that some icised its treatment of some public statement should indeed points of Church teaching and be made, given the extended called for clarification and revi- process that had taken place in sion of several elements it found the early 1980s and the fact . 'confusing and ambiguous" or that many of the things that had . 'not supportive of the Church's been troubling to the COD authoritative teaching as would (Committee on Doctrine) at that be expected" in such a book. time had remained unchanged in Father McBrien published what the third edition of 'Catholicism,' he described as a "thoroughly and that the preface to the revised and updated" third edi- third edition seemed to suggest tion of the book in 1994. that some sort of approval had Archbishop Pilarczyk said that been given to the work by the in autumn 1995 the Vatican COD."
India peace
GUVVAHATI. India (CNS) Following intertribal violence in northeastern India. a 40member ecumenical peace team has been promoting love, peace and forgiveness in relief camps. The team visited some 25 camps, praying with the residents to forgive and seek reconciliation as they prepare to return to their villages, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. More than 200 people were killed and some 300,000 were displaced, most to relief camps, when armed conflict broke out in May between Bodo and Santal tribes In the Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon districts of Assam state. Sal an Archbishop Thornas Menamparampil of Guwahall said rehabilitation is a "massive task and the Church can only assist" government efforts. "Our loving, compassionate presence must continue," said the archbishop, who cancelled a Rome visit to receive the pallium, a symbol of office conferred on an archbishop by the Pope, because of the tense situation. Archdiocesan officials said the Catholic Church has spent about 700,000 rupees (US$20,000) to provide medical aid, food and shelter. Salesian Sister Pronoti Sangma said officials were "anxious and uncertain" about the peace mission's outcome but "In the end we were convinced of the fruitfulness of the visit." Allen Brooks, a layman and state minority commission member, described the visit to the camps where "people live in inhuman conditions- as an expression of true Christian concern and solidarity.
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Discounts: For weekly insertion 15% Bi-weekly: 10% Monthly: 5% Effective 11 /6/96 The Record, July 4 1996 Page 15
THE CATHOLIC EDUCATION COMMISSION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
invites applications for the position of
PRINCIPAL Our Lady of Mt Cannel School Our Lady of Mt Carmel School, Hilton is a co-educational school with 263 students enrolled from Pre-primary to Year 7. The successful applicant will take up the position in Term 4 or by negotiation with the Director. Applicants need to be actively involved in the Catholic Church and be experienced educators committed to the objectives and ethos of Catholic education. They will have the requisite theological, pastoral and managerial competencies, together with an appropriate four year minimum tertiary qualification, and will have, or be prepared to complete, appropriate Accreditation requirements. Further information and official application forms are available from Sr Clam Rafferty. Consultant, School Personnel Team, Ph: (09) 388 4268.
Official application forms should be addressed to The Director, Catholic Education Office of WA, PO Box 198, Leederville WA 6903 and be lodged no later than Monday, 15 July 1996. All Catholic schools are smoke-free workplaces.
NAGLE CATHOLIC COLLEGE GERALDTON The Principal invites applications from suitably qualified, experienced and energetic educators who possess the competendes required to participate in the educational leadership of the College from the beginning of 1997 as
DEPUTY PRINCIPAL Together with the Principal, the two Deputy Principals form the peak leadership team of the College. Thus appointment to this position requires that the appointee is active in the practice of the Catholic faith. has a strong background of professional achievement, and possesses to an exceptional degree the qualities and competendes required for the ministry of Deputy Principal. An absolute commitment to the objectives and the ethos of Catholic education is a prerequisite. The official application form and relevant information are available from the Principal's Secretary. Applications close 4.00pm, Friday 19 July. The Principal Nagle Catholic College PO Box 97 Geraldton WA 6531
SERVING ALL YOUR REAL ESTATE NEEDS OFFICE 272 8411 — Mobile: 018 955 332 (Res): 375 3116 Pager: 483 6551
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REAL ESTATE BANSWATER 3a King William Street
SALLY PALMER Pleased to lie of service
ELLIOTT & ELLIOTT Optometrists Contact Lens Consultants
4 Cantonment Street, FREMANTLE Phone 335 2602 The Record, July 4 1996 Page 16
THE PARISH SCENE,
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NEW DELHI ARCHBISHOP There will be a welcome reception for Most Reverend Alan DeLastic - Archbishop of New Delhi on Sunday the 7th of July 1996 at 11.30am - St Joachim's Parish hall - 122 Shepperton Rd Victoria Park. Please bring a plate and drinks. Thank you Enquiries: 419-2920, 272-1379, 342-1053, 342-1772. C ARMELITE FEAST A Solemn Concelebrated Mass will be offered for the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, on Tuesday 16 July at 11.30am at the Carmelite Monastery, Adelma Road Nedlands. Archbishop Hickey will be principal Celebrant. All are most welcome to the Mass and to light refreshments afterwards. HOLY HOUR The next Holy Hour for the World Apostolate of Fatima will be held on Sunday 14 July, at 3 00pm in the Good Shepherd Church, Streich Ave Kelmscott NEWMAN SOCIETY STUDY GROUP 'Ut Unum Sint' Chpt 3 'Continuing Spiritual Ecumenism, and bearing witness to holiness', 'Section 82, p92' Tuesday July 9 at 11am. Our Lady of the Venue: Missions Convent, 40 Mary Street Highgate. Enter from Harold St. Open to all interested. Contact 4467340
New Ad Rates For detailed information about our new advertising rates please ring The Record on 22 77 080
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FREE TRANSPARENCIES Our Lady of the Lakes Parish Yangebup has the 3 year cycle of transparencies for all the responses at Mass. Gospels Originally are illustrated. used for the deaf ministry in Parishes. Not being used any more here. Available FREE to any Parish. FLAME MINISTRIES SEMINARS Two 'Set my people on Fire' seminars will be conducted over 16 weeks, beginning with introduction night. of river: 7.30pm South Tuesday July 2nd, Holy Family Church hall. Thelma St, Como; 7.30pm of river: North Wednesday, July 3rd, St Keiran's Parish hall, Cape St. Osborne Park. For information ring 382 3668. THE 21st COUNTRY DAY OF REFLECTION is to be held at St Joseph's Wellington St, Church, Northam on Monday 22 July commencing at 9.30 am with Rosary Cenacle, concluding with Holy Mass at 2 pm. Theme for the day: -Mary in Modern Times." Fr Oliver Martin OPraem will be guest speaker. BYO lunch. Tea/coffee supplied. Please wear name tag. Contact no's Vanda (096) 221528, Kathy (096) 22-2766, Metro Margaret 446-1935.
Official Engagements JULY Requiem Mass for Fr Pat Kelly 4 OSB, New Norcia Bishop Healy Luncheon celebrating 200th Anniversary of Independence of USA Rev Fr Chris Ross OSM Mass to celebrate 50th 7 Anniversary of Canonisation of Mother Cabrini at Villa Terenzio - Archbishop Hickey Fr Frank Christie OSM 40th Anniversary of Ordination Bishop Healy Annual Church Service St John's Ambulance at St George's Cathedral Rev Fr Tony Vallis 8 & 9 Central Commission, Canberra - Archbishop Hickey 10
Episcopal Ordination of Bishop Wilson, Wollongong Archbishop Hickey
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Feast of St Benedict, New Norcia - Bishop Healy
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