The Record Newspaper 26 May 2005

GREAT DAY FOR XAVIER: Armadale school blessed and opened Page 3

Thursday May 26,  Perth, Western Australia ● $1 Western

THE WORLD: 7 days in the life of the Church Pages 8 & 9

MEET HIM: Benedict XVI’s first homily is simple and direct Page 10

Award-winning

The Parish. The Nation. The World.

The

martyrs still inspires - offered the choice of their faith or life they chose to keep holy the Lord’s day, and to die.

The Icon “The Madonna of the Word” by Katherine Osenga depicts the Virgin receiving the Word of God both as Scripture and as her son. Photo: CNS

‘After 28 years, I’m home at last...’

When Pentecostal minister Alex Jones started using Catholic prayers in services his wife thought he was having a nervous breakdown. Now the couple are Catholics...

■ By Catholic News Service

Alex Jones, a former Pentecostal minister who became a Catholic in 2001, used to call the Catholic Church “a cult filled with superstitious beliefs” and “the epitome of corrupt religiosity having the form of godliness, but not the power.”

Today, Jones calls Catholicism “the church of Jesus Christ that teaches the truth and will never be abandoned by the Holy Spirit.”

As coordinator of an evangelisation program for the Detroit Archdiocese, the 63-year-old Detroit native now prepares parishioners for ministry in the church that he once denounced. He will be ordained a deacon on October 1.

Jones describes his spiritual journey at parishes, missions and conferences

“I never wanted to be a Catholic,” he told an audience of more than 250 during a May 5 presentation at Blessed Sacrament Church in San Diego.

That resolve ended four years ago, when he embraced the Catholic faith, along with his wife, Donna, and 54 members of his Maranatha Pentecostal Church.

Jones’ journey was both painful and rewarding. His mother, who died in 2003, and several other relatives never accepted his decision.

“My mother thought I had ... joined an ungodly church. It was painful for both of us,” he told Catholic News Service. He remains alienated from several other relatives who reject his decision to become a Catholic. However, his three sons and other relatives are practising Catholics.

Jones began his “quest to know God” in the Church of God in Christ, the largest African-American Pentecostal denomination. As a youth, however, he “drifted from the church. I wanted to party,” not attend a church with restrictive rules, he said.

Then, at age 16, “I was touched by God and enfolded in his love,” he said at the San Diego church. He began to preach in Midwestern Pentecostal churches at age 25, revealing in their 12-hour services.

Five years later, he became pastor of an African-American Pentecostal church in Detroit. Dissatisfied with the congregation’s racially segregated makeup, Jones resigned and founded the charismatic, evangelical Maranatha Church in Detroit, whose members included a small percentage of Caucasians.

For 18 years, he led the Maranatha assembly, which outgrew its first facility - a rat-infested bar - and moved to a large warehouse. Later it relocated to a Greek Orthodox church, complete with a school and gymnasium.

Reading Paul’s epistles for a Bible class he conducted prompted the pastor to study the church fathers, whose writings convinced him that the “church had always celebrated the Eucharist.”

Jones then added prayers from the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist to his services, which he called “apostolic, not Catholic.”

At first, his wife thought he “was having a nervous breakdown,” he said. But she later joined him in taking instructions, and the couple, along with 54 members of the Maranatha congregation, entered into full communion with the church during the 2001 Easter Vigil.

“After 28 years of preaching, I finally got it,” he said. “I’m fulfilled, blessed and home at last.”

He is also at home as coordinator of the Detroit archdiocesan “Sign me up! Evangelisation” program. It aims to “sign up those who feel called by the Holy Spirit to minister to the people of God and prepare them for effective ministry,” he said.

Franciscan Father Daniel Havron, who

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Parish finds a place for all

formerly coordinated the evangelisation program, said in a telephone interview the future deacon brings “a universal perspective of the Church” to the Archdiocese, where 100 languages are spoken.

Having preached in Canada, Uganda, Ghana and three Caribbean Islands since he entered the Catholic Church, “Jones is adaptable to all cultures and generations,” the priest said.

Jones and four other team members are developing a 12-week formation seminar, designed to re-evangelise parishioners and empower them to become disciples in their communities, Father Havron said. The team will then help individual parishes implement programs to present their church as a “neighbourhood-friendly community and welcome unchurched and inactive Catholic neighbours to parish activities.” - CNS

Invitation

Year of Eucharist

Eucharist DVD and Group Discussion Booklet entitled “Do This In Memory Of Me” will be launched at the Maranatha Institute For Adult Faith Education.

Wednesday 1st June

Catholic Education Centre, 50 Ruislip Street Leederville 9.30am – 12noon

All those interested are welcome to attend

Altar servers assist at a Mass for people with disabilities at St Frances de Chantal Church New York.

Photo:CNS

New school rewards efforts

■ By Phil Bayne

Nine years of discussion, planning and development culminated in the construction of the new Xavier Catholic School, the buildings of which were officially blessed and opened late last week.

Before a large crowd of staff and students, both past and present, as well as school, parish, community, government and congregational (Mercy Sisters and Loreto Sisters) representatives, Board Chair, Eric Chabros, said the ceremony was a “fantastic climax to a concept that was conceived many years ago.”

“This school is an example of courage and vision for the future that will ensure the excellent tradition of Xavier education is accessible to future generations,” he said.

Archbishop Barry Hickey offered a prayer of peace over the school and all those associated with it.

Ron Dullard, the Director of Catholic Education in WA, said the blessing and opening of the new facilities not only completed the relocation of Xavier Catholic School to its safe, peaceful and spacious setting, but also marked a new and exciting chapter in the school’s long tradition of providing quality Catholic education to the young

people of the broader Armadale area.

“This is another milestone in the history of your school, a history of commitment that started in 1938 when the school was opened by the Sisters of Mercy,” he added.

“This commitment continues today through the Catholic community of Armadale that believes it is important for their children to have access to a Catholic education which fosters knowledge, understanding, faith and compassion.”

Principal, Megan Phillips, paid tribute to the support, dedication and hard work of all those who had helped make the dream a reality.

Frank’s goal is the Spirit

■ By Jamie O’Brien

A former police officer and commander of the Australian Federal Police were installed as lay associates during a Mass at an annual assembly for the Spiritan Congregation last month.

Frank Pimm of Joondalup has been given the task of promoting the Confraternity of the Holy Spirit, a lay order of the Spiritan Congregation.

Its mission, says Mr Pimm, is to make the Holy Spirit better known and loved and to develop an awareness of his presence in our lives... “To encourage others to have a greater responsiveness to his Holy inspiration so that we may bear witness to him in our lives by increasing missionary awareness.”

Members have three mains tasks - praying daily to the Holy Spirit, reading scripture and helping the

Mr Pimm, who also has qualifications in pastoral ministry and mental health, said he became interested in the Confraternity 18 months ago through his association with the Spiritan Congregation.

The Spiritans are a religious congregation of more than 3100 members involved in many diverse ministries worldwide.

They are dedicated to working with the poor and in situations where the Church has difficulty in finding ministers.

After 12 months formation, he felt he wanted to do more and upon offering his services was asked to promote the Confraternity.

He has since brought 19 people to the group, which meets every second Thursday. For more information on the Confraternity of the Holy Spirit, please contact Frank Pimm on (08) 9304 5190 or fcpimm@cambraivillage.com.au

The Knights of the Holy Sepulchre are growing. Archbishop Hickey, who is Grand Prior of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, invested four men and two women on

Pentecost Sunday at St Mary’s Cathedral. The Order will be conducting a pilgrimage to Israel and Rome in May 2006. For more information: (08) 9445 1435 or jjcarr@wa.globaldial.com.

www.ppre.net

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

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

Spiritan Congregation by prayer or other works.

Xavier Catholic school students perform at the opening ceremony.

Photo: Phil Bayne

Frank Pimm, back, second from left, and fellow members of the Confraternity.

Youth learn concept of social justice

■ By Jamie O’Brien

Gay marriage, abortion, people with disabilities and racism were just some of the topics at a recent Social Justice Congress run by the Edmund Rice Centre.

Many students questioned what the Church’s teaching on gay marriage is, but strongly favoured its position on the rights of the unborn.

The invitation by the Edmund Rice Centre in Fremantle to students of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese to attend the congress met with an overwhelming response.

The invitation was extended especially to schools that run service learning as part of their curriculum. More than 28 students and 12 teachers turned up for the two-day event on May 14 and 15 in Fremantle.

Program co-ordinator Damien Norris from the Edmund Rice Centre said the aim of the congress was to start a combined social justice and service-learning environment.

Service learning provides an opportunity for students to contribute to the community through activities which involve them volunteering their time with organisations such as nursing homes.

Two-day meeting popular with schools

“The benefit of this is that kids get out into their society and to learn the context of their life in society,” Mr Norris said.

“The social justice aspect of that is that they do this in a Catholic setting, taking into account the Gospel message, learning what is a just society and they are able to combine these two concepts together.

“Learning should not just be about books and facts and figures.

During the discussions students began with lectures, moving on to forums where they could share their own concerns.

One question was asked as to why people would kill growing humans that have a potential to be someone in the world.

From there the students were given the opportunity to critique the issues, taking into consideration the social teachings of the Church.

“In this way many young people are learning about being responsible, active young citizens,” Mr Norris said.

“It is an opportunity to get young people to move from seeing injustice to doing something about it.”

One student made the comment that the social justice teachings are the best kept secret of the Church.

Teachers were also given the opportunity to contribute to their

own discussion forums and looked at areas such as how secondary educators provide students with meaningful experiences of the marginalised in our local communities.

Corpus Christi Principal Vaughan Sadler said he believes Service Learning is becoming more important for young people in schools.

“It is really something that young students see as an opportunity to become involved in as a service for the others,” he said.

“They see it as the Church in action.... there is a great generosity of spirit.”

Students were also given questions to think about: do the needs of the poor take priority over the wants of the rich? Is the freedom of the weak taking priority over the liberty of the powerful? Should the needs of marginalised groups take priority over the preservation of an order that excludes them?

Students also developed some of their own ideas of what is required to be a ‘just’ Christian Catholic.

A belief in God was the first priority.

Keeping the 10 Commandments, treating others equally and loving one another, especially the marginalised, was also considered important.

More clergy changes announced

The parishes of Karrinyup and Innaloo will be brought together under one parish priest from the end of May.

The news of the move came among changes in clergy appointments issued by Archbishop Barry Hickey this week.

Karrinyup and Innaloo are to be

brought together under Fr Richard Rutkauskas of St Dominic’s Parish, Innaloo, to take effect from Monday May 30.

It was not known as The Record went to press whether the two parishes were being merged into one entity.

Additional clergy changes

announced by the Archbishop included:

Fr Benedict Quadros, currently parish priest of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Karrinyup, has been transferred to Our Lady’s Assumption Parish, Dianella, to take effect from Monday 30 May 2005.

The return of the Goody

■ By Jamie O’Brien

The Archbishop Goody Award has come back to life in the Perth Archdiocese.

The fund was set up by former Perth Archbishop Sir Launcelot Goody to be used for the formation, education and training of lay people in the Archdiocese of Perth.

However the fund has been dormant since 1991 until it was reactivated recently by a Board appointed by Archbishop Hickey.

The official relaunch was held last Tuesday May 17 at St Joseph’s Parish Subiaco.

Applications are now being accepted from the laity – individuals, groups or organisations from the Archdiocese of Perth.

There is no age limit however only Catholics can apply.

Applications for the current award close on July 31.

For more information contact St Joseph’s Parish House on 08 9381 0400.

St Mary’s wins trophy

■ By Matthew Biddle

St Mary’s Cathedral held off a defiant St John’s Pro-Cathedral by just three points in the annual football match played on Anzac Day.

St Mary’s came from two goals behind at three-quarter time to win 10.11.71 to St John’s 10.8.68 in the closest finish to date.

The match, which was played at Trinity Playing Fields in Waterford, was held in honour of the fallen Anzacs.

Commemorative prayers and a minute silence were observed before the match by both players and spectators.

The first quarter was dominated by St Mary’s, who kicked six goals to one to take a handy lead into the first change.

However, by three-quarter time, St John’s appeared to have secured victory, holding a 12-point lead after controlling the second and third quarters.

The final quarter was a titanic struggle as both sides fought desperately to gain the ascendency.

But St Mary’s managed to kick four goals to two for the quarter, eventually hanging on to win

the Maternity of Our Lady trophy for the first time. The game was thoroughly enjoyed by all involved, including the enthusiastic crowd of about 60 spectators.

St John’s Pro-Cathedral priest, Fr Michael Rowe, said he believed the game was of “quite a high standard,” and an important social event.

“It gives the parishioners a chance to mix together and also to meet other young Catholics,” he said.

The game was generally played in a fair but competitive spirit, despite the odd scuffle between opposing players.

Assistant priest of St Mary’s Cathedral, Fr Milton Arias, found the funny side in the occasional wrestle.

“I saw some kind of violence during the game,” he said, “but they tell me that’s part of the fun.”

The idea of an annual football match came about after Fr Michael spoke with Fr Richard Tomelty at “morning tea” a few years ago.

The first match was played on October 11, 2003, the feast day of the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is responsible for the trophy’s name.

This was the third annual match played between the two sides.

Students who attended the Social Justice Congress outside the Edmund Rice Centre in Fremantle. Some of them had never heard of the Social Teachings of the Church.

The winning team of the annual Anzac day football match

College maps out a vision for the future

■ By Phil Bayne, CEO Media

The future hopes and dreams for the students, staff, parents and community of Clontarf Aboriginal College in Waterford have been proudly revealed following the recent launch of the College’s Strategic Plan 2005 – 2008.

In front of a large crowd, Noongar elder Ben Taylor led a traditional welcome to land before College Board Chair, Robert Isaacs OAM JP, shared with those present the College mission.

As a Catholic School in the Edmund Rice tradition, Clontarf Aboriginal College is a place of learning and understanding that respects Aboriginal culture and spirituality and encourages students to reach their dreams.

In response to the mission, representatives of the different groups associated with the College carried forward lit candles in a symbolic embodiment of its future hopes and dreams.

In her address to those present, Principal Donella Brown drew a parallel to a passage from Ecclesiastes as she explained how the College had tried many things over the years - keeping what was appropriate and discarding what was not.

The College, she said, was a joyful place where the focus was on achieving the best for its students.

“Over the years, the College has served as a place of comfort, self-discovery and

healing,” she said. “It is a College that is built on the story of our people and that has embraced the story of the nonAboriginal people.

“Together we have journeyed and will continue to journey with the hope of success for our young people, the hope of a better way, a better place and a better space.

“As a College community, I believe we have taken a very positive step in developing this strategic plan. Many people, both young and old, have shared their enthusiasm, hopes, dreams, challenges and disappointments in shaping this plan for the next part of our future,” she added. Conceding that the journey was not one that the College could take on its own, Donella asked the broader community to join with them.

“We ask you to walk with us, knowing that the task is enormous but achievable. I can assure you it will be hard work, but we must all believe that success will happen. We will need to work from the inside, from our heart and soul, and in so doing find out more about ourselves and the influence of Jesus in our lives,” she suggested.

Providing an overview of the Strategic Plan, Liz Pattison said it was developed between the two phases of listening and planning that sought input from all interested parties before the main concepts were developed.

Quotes at the foot of each page from parents, staff, students, former students

I the Lord Am With You Always

Prayers and Meditations for Eucharistic Adoration

First published in 1999, this second edition contains new material and a chapter for children of First Communion and Confirmation age.

Clontarf

and Board members, she said, would give a sense of people’s belief in the College and its distinguishing characteristics.

“I firmly believe that the College, in partnership with you all, has the courage and commitment to achieve its dreams and goals,” she added.

Outlining the mission, vision, strategic direction and challenges of the next three years, the Strategic Plan also addresses the five key result areas of the Learning and Life Environment; Ethos and Values; Staff; Partnerships; and Sustainability.

The Year of the Eucharist

(10th October 04 - 29th October 05)

“The Church and the world have great need of Eucharistic Worship. Jesus waits for us in the sacrament of love. Let us be generous with him in going to meet him in adoration and in contemplation that is full of faith and ready to make reparation for the great faults and crimes of the world.”

(John Paul II: Dominicae Cenae 3)

“This book ... contains a wealth of prayers, thoughts and meditations, all centred around the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament ....It is a privilege for us to be able to spend time before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. During those precious moments we sense Jesus' tremendous love for us. We bring to Him our joys and our sorrows, we talk to Him about the needs of those around us, and we ask for that deep conversion of the heart and mind that will make us one with Him ...

I commend this book to all, especially to those who have rediscovered the beauty and joy of Eucharistic adoration..."

Most Rev. B. J. Hickey - Archbishop of Perth

A beautiful set of Vatican Rosary beads will be sent to all those who give an additional charity donation of $10.00 or more to help the projects of Aid to the Church in Need for the persecuted Church in Sudan*. Please tick the box below if you would like to receive the Papal Rosary beads.

Our Lord does not come from Heaven every day to stay in a golden ciborium – no, He comes to find another Heaven, the Heaven of our soul in which He loves to dwell.

– St Therese of Lisieux

Christ could not endure that His children should be fed by others. He nourishes us Himself with His own Body and Blood and in all ways makes us one with Himself. – St John Chrysostom

Aboriginal College staff member Jeremy Hunter demonstrates his skills on the didgeredoo

Bishops consider consciousness of sin

Australia’s Bishops have resolved to pursue a more detailed pastoral discussion of the Sacrament of Penance following a presentation on the topic at their May Plenary meeting in Sydney.

Fr Tony Ireland, whose studies have focused on the practice of penance in Australia, gave a presentation to the Bishops on the issue.

The bishops then discussed catechesis surrounding the sacrament of penance, the different rites of penance, the sense of sin in Australian society today and issues surrounding priestly formation.

The Bishops voted to seek material on the topic from relevant committees of the Bishops’ Conference,

In May Australia’s bishops also looked at furthering their bid for the next World Youth Day to be held in Sydney

such as the Canon Law Committee and the Committees for Laity, Liturgy, and Doctrine and Morals.

New research on abortion

New research showing that majority support for abortion on demand is significantly softer than previously thought showed that the abortion discussion in Australia was still very much alive, a leading bio-ethicist priest has told the Bishops.

Fr John Fleming presented

Your library is a friend

In celebration of Library Week 2005, the Catholic Library of Western Australia has established a large display to commemorate the 150 year anniversary of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition.

Under the theme of ‘Past and Present’ the display is a collection

of memorabilia including photographs, news clippings, handicraft, lacework, old classroom furniture and books, as well as sculptures and artworks. Members of the public are welcome to visit the display between the hours of 8:30am and 5:00pm, Monday to Friday.

the report Give Women Choice: Australia Speaks on Abortion which resulted from research undertaken by the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute.

Fr Fleming said the report looked beyond the question of legal access to abortion and measured how Australians really feel about abortion and how the issue has been managed.

“The survey shows that beneath in-principle support for abortion on demand there is significant disquiet about its use,” the report says.

“The vast majority of Australians endorse an approach which provides women with increased support and opportunity to choose to continue their pregnancies.”

Chairman of the Bishops’ Committee for the Family and for Life, Bishop Eugene Hurley said the report would be a valuable tool for the Bishops’ Taskforce on Pastoral Responses to Abortion, giving a focus to their efforts to recast the debate and provide women with alternatives to abortion.

Bishops’ meeting infused with the spirit of Mary Mackillop

The spirit of Blessed Mother Mary Mackillop infused the Bishops’ Plenary session, with the meeting taking place at a venue attached to Mary Mackillop Place at North

Sydney. The Bishops started their daily meetings gathered for Mass in the chapel adjacent to the tomb of the woman who could become Australia’s first official saint.

Many also took the opportunity throughout the 10 day meeting to spend individual time in prayer before her tomb.

During their meeting, the Bishops reaffirmed their support for her canonisation and resolved to convey this support to Pope Benedict XVI in a letter to be sent around the time of Mary Mackillop’s feast day in August.

Up to 2,000 Australian pilgrims for World Youth Day in Cologne.

Up to 2,000 young Australians are expected to make the pilgrimage to take part in World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany in August.

A report from the Bishops’ Committee for Laity said registrations currently stood at 1,550, with that number expected to rise to 2,000 by August.

Meanwhile, preparations are progressing for the bid to conduct a World Youth Day in Sydney.

Bishops receive Caritas update on Tsunami response

Caritas Australia has received almost $20 million for its Asia Tsunami Appeal and has already

Join Pope Benedict XVI in prayer - May

disbursed more than $4 million of that to its overseas partners in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Thailand.

Indonesia and Sri Lanka are the Caritas priority areas.

Action group on Senate Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care reports

Australia’s Bishops have endorsed a series of recommendations set out in the first report of the Action Group they established to respond to the Senate Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care.

Among the recommendations endorsed by the bishops was one for Catholic Welfare to undertake a scoping study of agencies that may have a role in the ongoing response of the Church. This would be followed by state-based workshops with those agencies. A report on progress will be provided to Bishops and Leaders in 12-18 months.

Cardinal Hamao to address

Sydney conference

Cardinal Fumio Hamao, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People will visit Australia in November, to attend a national conference hosted by the Bishops’ Committee for Migrants and Refugees. Entitled, One in Christ Jesus: Pastoral Care in a Culturally Diverse Australia, the conference will be held at Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse function centre from November 16-18

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

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

A talk you can’t afford to miss

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

● Children in the world: 2.2 billion;

● Children living in poverty: more than one billion;

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

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

● Death rate of children in 2003: 10.6 million;

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

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

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

● Children sexually exploited: 2 million;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Source: Unicef 2005 Report

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

DATE: Friday 17th June 2005

TIME: 7pm to 9pm

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

KEY NOTE SPEAKER:

Fr. Patrick Byrne, SVD

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

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

More than one billion children are living

in poverty around the world.

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

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

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

A faith handed down

Two Record writers pay homage to Mary in the month of May

■ By Peter Rosengren

Ihave four women in my life. Two of them are in heaven. My job is to help get the other two – my wife and my daughter - there one day as well. And I have a son. He’s also included in my game plan.

Being a journalist, in comparison, is completely unimportant.

My mother died at about 3.43am, on October 24, 1989. I know. I was kneeling beside her bed in the hospital ward in Bendigo, regional Victoria, saying the Rosary as I had already been doing for several nights that week. For some strange reason I glanced at the clock when she died, making a mental note of the time.

For the previous week and a half I had been taking the night shifts to be with Mum while the rest of the family would stay with her during the day.

When Mum died I felt a strange relief I can’t describe,

How Mary looked after a family through the best and worst times

one I have never tried to explain since, but mainly because I felt she had been released from her sufferings.

Diagnosed with breast cancer 18 months earlier she had gone through the worst of it – the earlier bungled diagnoses, the chemotherapy, the radiation treatment, the retching after each session, all the terrible things that those who suffer cancer undergo as part of their treatment. And, I suppose, the fear.

And now that she had died I was almost happy.

As I had prayed with her, and for her, I knew she was dying, that only a miracle could save her. I also knew a miracle was unlikely.

In my prayers I had asked another mother, Mary, to take her to God, together with Mum’s guardian angel

and St Joseph. I reminded Mary that Mum had suffered much in her life – and not just with physical illness - that she had borne enormous burdens and all for the sake of love. Years later a friend said to me that some people wear their crown of thorns in this life. I think that was true for Mum.

A few days before she went into hospital for what was to be her final visit our parish priest had emerged from her room where he had given her the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.

“Your mother is a remarkable woman,” he said to me as he came into the dining room.

“Why?” I asked.

“She just told me she’s offering up her suffering for all of her family,” he said, clearly impressed.

As her breathing became more and more laboured in hospital, I had prayed not knowing quite what I was doing or why. But I clung to this prayer, asking

The dog that prayed the Rosary. The author’s father, with dog in tow, would walk the top paddock of the family farm early each morning praying for everyone he knew. Photo: Peter Rosengren

Jamie O’Brien reflects on how he has drawn strength from the example of Mary, the first Disciple who was also with her Son as He died on the Cross. His own mother has, in many ways, helped to pass on her own devotion to the Mother of God to her son.

■ By Jamie O’Brien

When I was asked to write about my experience of what Mary means to me, one of the first thoughts that came to mind was the inspiration and care that my own mother – my sole parent - has provided for me throughout my 24 years of life.

From the moment I was born, my mother has provided the highest and utmost care for me. She brought me up - along with my three sisters and brother - on curry and rice, the Rosary and her tireless dedication to the Virgin Mary and her son, Jesus Christ. She has cooked for me, (and still does, even though I have moved out of home) washed my clothes, provided financial help, and cleaned my room - the list goes on. I’m sure this was not always the easiest of tasks, especially when there were four other siblings to handle at the same time.

My mother was the one who was there for me when I fell over and cut my head open at the age of seven, when I was sick in hospital at the age of 13 and when I lost a close friend to a heroin overdose at the age of 16.

It was my mother who, inspired with the love of the Virgin Mary, helped me to pray the Rosary, which I must admit many times I did not understand, but

nevertheless, we said it and said it with strength.

I would pray the Rosary endlessly as a young boy, asking Mary and her Son for whatever I needed or wanted at the time.

Later on in my teenage years, no excuse I made – as a typical youth trying to do my own will – was ever good enough to not say the Rosary.

My mother is for me a symbol of Mary – who endured much suffering during the passion of Christ – like her she bore what she had to and took great pride in doing this.

With almost every decision I’ve had to make regarding my life, I think, what would my mother want me to do?

Like my relationship with Mary and her Son, I have cried with my mother, screamed at my mother and laughed with my mother.

I can’t say I’ve always done it or agreed with it, but when I have, I’ve known I couldn’t be going wrong.

My mother dedicated our family to Mary Help of Christians, Patroness of Australia. We also lived in Mirrabooka, which means Southern Cross, another sign for Mary Help of Christians.

I will never fail to believe that it was the Rosary that kept my family close despite the many trials and tribulations that came our way.

phone when I turned 18 just to make sure I didn’t forget the fact.

In 2002, I spent a year in Melbourne, and the one person I can say I missed the most was my mother.

A mother’s love is strong...

I remember learning the hymn of Isaiah 49, where it asks ‘does a woman forget her baby, or the child within her womb?’

I am convinced my mother never forgets me.

It was my mother’s idea to get a mobile

The many times I prayed the Rosary, I constantly thanked Mary for giving my mother the wisdom to teach it to me.

I spent many hours on the phone catching up on all the time I was not spending with her.

Handing down the Faith

It was during this time I realised how close I was to her and how much I depended on her support as a parent.

It was during that time I took great consolation in the spiritual guidance of Mary, who I looked to in my times of despair and sadness - my father died that year - and also during my times of great joy and happiness, such as when I attended World Youth Day in Toronto.

Without any hesitation I say it is Mary – through the insistence and prayers of my mother - who led me to a meeting with her son Jesus Christ.

someone who knew more what suffering was about than perhaps anyone else to hear my request, born of love and grief and pain for my mother, and to grant it.

The night before, Mum had temporarily emerged from her morphine-induced sleep.

Mary, in her infinite yet simple wisdom so humbly said ‘yes’ to becoming the mother of God.

And my mother, who was determined help me do the same has done everything she can, and still does, to bring me closer to Christ.

It is this example that I want to follow, to say yes to the will of God, to say yes, I will follow your will, Lord, and not my own.

She had been lying half propped up in bed with several pillows because of the extreme discomfort caused by the illness.

“I love you,” I told her.

“I know,” she whispered, looking straight at me.

Those were her last words to me.

prayers they taught me and the examples of their own patientlyborne sufferings that were the vehicle Christ used to call me back, helping me to overcome my selfishness. And chief among those prayers were the prayers to Him asking His own Mother to intercede for me, for us, for all of us.

I leaned over and spoke to my father.

This experience is based largely on my mother, who spent many a night – against her will - waiting up for me to come home from a party.

Because I am a person who appreciates the physical presence of the image of Mary, one image that I draw to mind is of a painting by Kiko Arguello, founder of the Neocatechumenal Way.

I always thought it was a privilege to be with Mum when she died. I always felt strongly that my prayers were answered too – that when she went, she really was taken away by Our Lady and St Joseph and the angels.

Of the prayers my father taught me one in particular came to have a special meaning. It was the prayer I was to pray when I knew I had noone else to turn to.

“Now Dad, I’m going to say a prayer for us,” I said, trying to sound bright and matter-of-fact.

Two millenniums of devotion to

“I’ll say the Rosary for you and for me, for all of the children and for all of the grandchildren, asking Mary to look after all of us. Alright?”

And the Rosary I said almost continuously beside my mother’s deathbed was almost a natural prayer of choice. It wasn’t the only prayer I said, but now that I look back it was definitely the main one.

It wasn’t hard to know why.

Once, when I was young, I remember Mum visiting her own mother in New South Wales. She had taken my brother and two sisters but for some reason I stayed with Dad.

Neocatechumenal Way at that time, I would have left the Church.

His tired old eyes continued to stare at me without any apparent comprehension.

So I began.

This image is used at all celebrations of the Neocatechumenal Way, to which I belong, and one that I have stared at for many hours in my endless search and continuing journey of knowing what it is to have eternal life in the risen Christ.

It has been because of the Neocatechumenal Way that I am still part of the Church today – my mother herself had started in her own community and invited me to go along.

I am sure that if I hadn’t attended the

Our Lady

“In the name of the Father….” I said. Before I got any further a withered hand emerged from under the blanket in a very slow and deliberate movement. He blessed himself with the sign of the Cross.

“…And of the Son… and of the Holy Ghost,” he said, reciting the formula he had learned as a young boy.

In many instances of my life, particularly in the past 12 months, I have been faced with the question why I worship Mary.

I tell people I don’t.

I honour her, the same way a son listens to his mother, when she gives him a smack to help him learn a lesson and comforts him when he is lost.

At night I would sleep in my parents’ bed with my father and fall asleep, conscious of the silence, the particular smell of his body and waiting to hear the gentle rhythm of breathing that would tell me he was asleep.

For this I give thanks to Mary and my earthly mother - my hero and my friend.

But before he slept Dad would teach me to pray the Rosary. I wasn’t really keen but I went along with it. Before each mystery he would explain what the significance of the mystery was.

I stopped, amazed that he had spoken at all. Then, he said a whole Hail Mary with me, slowly reciting the words that seemed over the decades to have become a part of his very being. At the end I sat there beside him, holding his hand, staring at him and he at me. It was, as they say, a moment of grace.

Now that I am married my wife and I have two small children. I look at them amazed by the wonder of God’s creation of each and every human being. Children who look up at me with complete trust, eyes full of wonder, full of love.

When we knew we were expecting a baby my wife and I decided to consecrate our child to Mary. It was something we wanted to do, just as, when we married, we decided to consecrate our marriage to her. A second child meant a second consecration to her, part repayment of a debt we will never be able to repay.

There we would lie, in the darkness, saying the Rosary as we worked our way through the mysteries. It all seemed a little incomprehensible.

Now that I remember those moments in a young boy’s life I am amazed I was so lucky. In later years when I drifted far from the faith my parents wanted to give me, it was the

It begins with the words “Hail, Holy Queen…” It is a prayer asking a mother to turn her eyes of mercy to us as we live in this valley of tears, we who really are the banished children of this world, and to bring us to her Son. I grew up. I left home. I drifted away from my faith. All the years I was away my father would rise early in the morning and walk the top paddock of our small family farm, sheepdog in tow, saying the Rosary for his family and all those he knew. First orders of the day. Late last year my father, then in his nineties, also lay dying. He had suffered increasingly from Alzheimer’s Disease in his last years. On each visit home from Western Australia he might know me. Then again, he might not. I saw him for the last time about two weeks before he died. He didn’t seem to know me. I felt the crushing blankness of being an unknown son, an overwhelming desire to hug him and to be recognised. This time I showed him his two grandchildren, including one grand daughter he had never met. While I sat with him in the afternoons the sunlight would creep in through the window. The few words that passed between us were almost all mine. His pale blue eyes would stare at me for long periods without any hint of recognition. I took to silently saying the Rosary. By myself, pausing as the nursing staff came in every few minutes to check his condition. At one point I realised the son was repaying a debt of love to the father, a debt that had begun all those years ago as the two of us lay in the darkness. But now the roles were reversed.

These days, I wait until our children are asleep each night and creep quietly into their rooms to pray over them. Apart from Jesus himself, and each child’s patron saint, this particular father also asks a woman whose love of God and closeness to him places her in a special position to win a favour, to grant a poor and sinful man’s request for his children – that they be kept free and safe from all evil and grow strong in faith and love of the Lord.

By this stage Dad had barely spoken for months, hardly anything other than a very slow, very tiredsounding ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ in answer to some question.

So I write this, to repay an unpayable debt, to a woman who knows what suffering and love are really all about.

A woman whose presence has been felt in my family for a long time. May it always be so.

The Magnificat – A hymn of praise composed by the Blessed Virgin Mary in Luke 1:4655 as a response to her cousin Elizabeth on the occasion of the Visitation.

The Mysteries of Light – Pope John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries to the modern Rosary in 2002.

The Angelus – Officially approved as a prayer of the Church in 1724 by Pope Benedict XIV. The tradition of ringing a ‘Hail Mary Bell’ began as early as the thirteenth century with the Franciscan friars of Assisi.

Memorare – Became popular through the work of the French priest Claude Bernard in the fifteenth century.

Rosary – The modern Rosary emerges in the Dominican order late in the fourteenth century.

Hail Holy Queen (Salve Regina) – Was popularised by Bernard of Clairvaux and the Abbey of Cluny in the twelfth century. Its origin is debated as being approximately the turn of the first millennium.

Hail Mary – Taken from scripture the use of the first half as a distinct prayer is attributed to St Ildefonsus of Toledo in the seventh century. ‘Jesus’ was added to the end of the first half by Pope Urban IV in the 1261 and the second half of the prayer was added in the fifteenth century.

Queen of Heaven (Regina Coeli)

– The first lines were spoken to St Gregory the Great in the seventh century on Easter morning. The last lines were added by him at a later date.

The Sub Tuum – A prayer found on a third century papyrus in Egypt. It is one of the oldest verifiable prayers to Mary.

The image of Virgin and child painted by Kiko Aguello, founder of the Neocatechumenal Way.

Year of the Eucharist

Martyrs: we can’t live without Sunday

The defiant cry of early 4th century martyrs still rings down through the ages

On his first trip outside the province of Rome, Benedict XVI will make known to the world the message left by the martyrs of Abitene: “We cannot live without Sunday.”

The martyrs’ message is the theme of the 24th Italian National Eucharistic Congress, to be held in Bari May 21-29. The Pope will preside at the closing Mass.

Martyred in 303, the Christians lived in Abitene, a city of the Roman province called “Africa Proconsularis,” today’s Tunis. They were victims of Emperor Diocletian’s persecution, initiated after years of relative calm.

Disobeying the emperor’s orders, a group of 49 Christians of Abitene (among them Senator Dativus, the priest Saturninus, the virgin Victoria, and the reader Emeritus) gathered weekly in one of their homes to celebrate Sunday Mass.

The emperor ordered that “the sacred texts and holy testaments of the Lord and the divine Scriptures be found, so that they could be burnt; the Lord’s basilicas were to be pulled down; and the celebration

of sacred rites and holy reunions of the Lord were to be prohibited” (Acts of the Martyrs, I), explained the organisers of the Eucharistic Congress.

Disobeying the emperor’s orders, a group of 49 Christians of Abitene (among them Senator Dativus, the priest Saturninus, the virgin Victoria, and the reader Emeritus) gathered weekly in one of their homes to celebrate Sunday Mass.

Taken by surprise during one of the meetings in Ottavio Felice’s home, they were arrested and taken to Carthage to Proconsul Anulinus to be interrogated.

When the Proconsul asked them if they kept the Scriptures in their homes, the martyrs answered courageously that “they kept them in their hearts,” revealing that they did not wish to separate faith from life.

“I implore you, Christ, hear me,” “I thank you, O God,” “I implore you, Christ, have mercy” were exclamations uttered by the martyrs during their torment. Along with their prayers they offered their lives and asked that their executioners be forgiven.

Among the testimonies, is that of Emeritus, who affirmed fearlessly that he received Christians for the celebration.

The Proconsul asked him: “Why have you received Christians in your home, transgressing the imperial dispositions?”

“Sine dominico non possumus” (“We cannot live without Sunday”), answered Emeritus.

“The term ‘dominicum’ has a triple meaning. It indicates the Lord’s day, but also refers to what constitutes its content - his resurrec-

Could it be you?

Young men willing to think about being a priest are invited to an open enquiry day at St Charles’ seminary at Guildford next Sunday, June 5.

Almost every priest ordained since St Charles’ re-opened in 1994 had been to at least one enquiry day, the Archdiocesan Vocations Director Fr Corran Pike said this week.

It was a great opportunity for young men to get a feel for the life of a seminarian and to sense themselves in that role.

“It is not necessary to be 100 per cent certain of being a priest before entering the seminary,” Fr Pike said.

“It is enough to be willing to enter the seminary and allow the Lord to work in you to determine whether you will be ordained,” he said.

“There is more honour in testing your vocation and finding you are not called to priesthood than in not being willing to test it at all.

“If priesthood is a possibility for you, don’t carry the burden of uncertainty on your own.

“Come and talk to priests and to other young men who are at various stages of training and begin to get a feel for the life.”

Fr Corran said the process was

tion and presence in the eucharistic event,” explained the congress’ organisers.

The motive of martyrdom “must not be sought in the sole observance of a ‘precept,’” as “in that period the Church had not yet established in a formal way the Sunday precept,” noted Monsignor Vito Angiuli, pro-vicar of the Archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto, in last Sunday’s edition of the Vatican daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano

“Deep down was the conviction that Sunday Mass is a constitutive element of one’s Christian identity

and that there is no Christian life without Sunday and without the Eucharist,” he stressed.

This is clearly appreciated, he said, in the “commentary that the writer of the Acts of the Martyrs made to the question posed by the Proconsul to martyr Felice: ‘I am not asking you if you are a Christian, but if you have taken part in the assembly or if you have a book of the Scriptures,” he stressed.

“O foolish and ridiculous question of the judge!” states the commentary of the acts.

“As if a Christian could be with-

out the Sunday Eucharist, or the Sunday Eucharist could be celebrated without there being a Christian! Don’t you know, Satan, that it is the Sunday Eucharist which makes the Christian and the Christian that makes the Sunday Eucharist, so that one cannot subsist without the other, and vice versa?”

“When you hear someone say ‘Christian,’ know that there is an assembly that celebrates the Lord; and when you hear someone say ‘assembly,’ know that a Christian is there,” concludes the quotation.

- Zenit

similar to preparation for the other Sacrament-for-life, marriage. There was a period of general enquiry when young people got to know a number of possible life partners, then a period of courtship and engagement to a particular person where people began to experience being publicly identified as a couple while learning more and more about themselves and one another, and a final lifelong commitment in marriage.

“The marriage discernment process happens in a world of married couples where there are others, including parents, to talk to, but discernment of a call to priesthood requires contact and communication with those who live that life.

“The enquiry day is a valuable part of that communication,” he said.

The day will open at 11.30am with a welcome by the Rector, Mgr Tim Corcoran, and a tour of the seminary, followed by lunch.

In the afternoon there will be talks on seminary life, spiritual formation and vocations, followed by small group discussion and testimony.

Mass at 4pm, with Bishop Don Sproxton as the main celebrant, will bring the day to a close.

Master Carpenter needs joiners the successful applicant will be able to:

■ Feed sheep

■ Be fisher of men

■ Cast out demons

Is God calling you to be a priest?

Priesthood Enquiry Day

A unique opportunity for single Catholic men aged 17+ to ask the question:

WHEN: Sunday June 5

WHERE

TIME

WHAT TO BRING: Yourself, and an open ear!

160 Years a Diocese

Silent tryst

■ By Mary Busher

For many decades in most parishes celebration of the 40 hours adoration of Christ in the Eucharist was an annual event.

With a gleaming golden monstrance holding the host, surrounded by banks of flowers and masses of candles, plus a steady stream of worshippers day and night fulfilling their rostered “hour” it was always a devotional occasion.

The date of the first Quarant Ore (40 hours) in Perth is uncertain. But a report in the Catholic Record newspaper, 30 June, 1881, enthused over such a celebration in the Perth cathedral. In the flowery prose of the day, here are a few extracts.

“Many devout worshippers of both sexes attended during the hours of exposition to offer up their praise and their supplications before their hidden Lord.

“The beautiful marble altar appeared more beautiful still when contrasted with the variegated hues of its flowery burden. The many coloured vases, the handsome candelabra, with the canopy and cross surmounting all, lent their loveliness to the scene. Banners of various designs of precious material and rich ornamentation were ranged round the sanctuary. The scene at the closing procession within the walls of the cathedral (Sunday evening) was a sublimely religious one and will long be remembered by those who witnessed it.

“Who can describe the feelings of the beholding Christian on such an occasion. By the eyes of faith he recognizes in the Host before him the hidden presence of the incarnate God. He believes as firmly that Jesus the Son of the Most High, the second person of the most adorable Trinity, is there present, as He was present in the crib at Bethlehem in the last supper room, or on the height of cruel Calvary.

“He rejoices to see his Lord honoured, although in this poor way, by his creatures. He is pained to see an irreverence shown Him and offers himself as a victim

Fremantle-ites got their way

■ By Mary Busher

The first Mass Centre outside the Perth metropolitan area was at Fremantle.

Located in what was then the Sisters of Mercy convent chapel in Henry Street, Mass was first offered there in 1847.

The convent was a roughly built cottage. When winter gales or unfavourable high tides prevailed, water swept into the bottom floor of the building.

Geraldine Byrne in her book, Basilica in the Making, noted that Bishop Serra on his return from Europe in 1850, officiated at the first baptism recorded at Fremantle on December 1, 1850. He baptized 11-day-old William, son of Julia and William White. The parents had recently arrived in WA with the first group of pensioner guards in charge of the convicts.

The availability of convict labour

and the subsequent boost to the Fremantle economy prompted population growth. To cater for the growing number of Catholics, in September 1852 Bishop Serra arranged for the building of a small wooden church in the grounds of the Henry Street property.

It was a modest structure. Byrne’s book noted that a few years later Catholic layman, Thomas Little, of Dardanup, described it as a “miserable room.”

From 1851 to 1853 pioneer priest Father Donovan served the town as well as ministering to the prison inmates and guards.

By 1853 Fremantle’s Catholic community wanted their own resident priest. Almost 300 signatures were on a petition presented to Governor Fitzgerald asking for the help of the Government and the Fremantle Town Trust to fund such an appointment.

At Fremantle as elsewhere in those early years, it was demand from lay people for a church in

of reparation. Fast forward through the volumes of the Record to 15 October, 1942, and a report on a just concluded 40 hours devotion at St Columba’s South Perth, echoed the same sentiments. The writer suggested that the World War, broken families, sickness, business worries and earlier prayers, for the event’s success, had all combined to draw crowds of worshippers.

“Throughout the day the incense of adoration rose incessantly from ardent worshippers kneeling here and there in silent tryst with God.”

The writer noted that the atmosphere of hushed reverence was maintained until the closing ceremony, presided over by Archbishop Prendiville. The report concluded.

“The people who “made” the Forty Hours shall go back freshened, strengthened and revived, because they have bathed in the wells of Eternity. The scales have fallen from their eyes, and they have seen, even though “as in a glass in a dark manner” the onlyness and the allness of God.”

The tradition of Eucharistic Adoration continues today but in different form. Father Doug Harris, director of Eucharistic Adoration for the Perth Archdiocese provided this update.

In July 1988, Father Martin Lucia MSS, superior of the Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament, from Texas, launched Perpetual Adoration at St Lawrence’s Church Bluff Point, Geraldton. The parish priest was then Father Brian Ahern. A month later with the help of the then parish priest, Father Geoff Aldous, Father Lucia launched Perpetual Adoration at St Gerard’s Balga.

Shortly afterwards Father Brian Morgan of the Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament, was instrumental in starting Perpetual Adoration at St Brigid’s Midland in October 1992. The Midland parish was administered by the Order of Friars Minor.

More recently Father Harris has been instrumental in several other parishes undertaking Perpetual Adoration. They are: St Anne’s Belmont where it began in April 2002, Sacred Heart Highgate March 2003, Christ the King, Beaconsfield, October 2003 and St Joseph”s Bassendean, June 2004.

which to honour Christ in the Eucharist which prompted action and the appointment of priests to meet these needs.

The first St Patrick’s Church, built of local limestone, was consecrated on 5 August 1860.

When the present St Patrick’s Church, (elevated to a minor basilica by the Vatican in 1994) was officially opened in June 1900 the old church became the parish hall..

The new St Patrick’s was a big undertaking. By opening day the then uncompleted building had cost 10,000 pounds.

With Bishop Gibney presiding, the opening was a gala event. The Premier Sir John Forrest and Lady Forrest headed the dignitaries present. Special trains ran from Perth. Some of the train travelers may have been surprised when they had to pay 2 shillings and sixpence for admission to the opening.

Fund raising was well to the fore - opening day netted almost 800 pounds for the building appeal.

St Patrick’s Basilica, Fremantle. Photo: Eugene Mattes

First monstrance of the Diocese of Perth.

The World

Pope Benedict makes his mark

In first month, Benedict XVI places distinctive mark on papacy

■ By John Thavis

He began under the sign of continuity, but in his first month Pope Benedict XVI has already placed his own distinctive mark on the papacy.

His public appearances, while generating enormous enthusiasm, have been designed more to provoke thought than to please crowds. This will be a teaching Pope, and his lessons draw heavily on Scripture.

The new Pope has kept Pope John Paul II’s team of Vatican officials. But in his first major appointment, he picked an American, Archbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco, as his successor at the doctrinal congregation - a bold move that gratified many US Catholics and lessened European influence in the Roman Curia.

In waiving the five-year waiting period for the start of Pope John Paul’s sainthood cause, the Pope showed he was listening to the popular voice of the Church and recognised that rules are sometimes made to be set aside.

Two other decisions hinted at Pope Benedict’s governing style: He opted not to preside at beatification liturgies, ending a 34-year practice.

Although papal beatifications had become routine, the Pope and others thought they created misun-

derstandings about the sainthood process.

He shortened the October Synod of Bishops. In the past, the Pope had said synods tend to exalt the role of bishops as delegates of local churches rather than as shepherds of their own flocks.

The Pope’s decisions and talks since his election on April 19 seemed to show a desire to pare back to the essentials - at least as much as possible for a 21st-century Pope.

At the same time, Pope Benedict understands that in many ways he is expected to be a “Pope for all people.” In his first month, he spoke with various heads of state,

international diplomats, Christian and non-Christian representatives, journalists, bishops from Africa and Asia, members of Rome’s Catholic community, clergy, curial officials, pilgrim groups from around the world and, of course, the College of Cardinals. At his weekly general audiences, the Pope has grown increasingly relaxed with big crowds. He seems to genuinely enjoy riding his open jeep around the square, standing and waving as he holds onto a bar with one hand.

After his first general audience, the Pope shook the hands of nearby bishops and left the scene. Now he makes it a point to seek out the sick and lay people who have come for

a personal blessing or to bring him gifts. He doesn’t rush and usually has a few words for each.

The new Pope’s reception has been overwhelmingly positive. Many visitors are impressed by his easy and direct style, others by the simple fact that the Church once again has a Pope who can move through a crowd or improvise a talk.

Pope Benedict’s talks and sermons have not been the high theology of books and conferences. Instead, he has focused on the basics during his first month: the Church’s evangelising mission, the danger of losing sight of God and the priority of human life issues in modern society.

On several occasions, particularly around the feast of Pentecost, he has explained the Church’s purpose by recalling the words and witness of apostolic times. Even his nonliturgical talks, like his address to Sri Lankan bishops, have been built around passages from the New Testament.

The Pope has not dumbed down his message. His sermon on Pentecost, for example, examined the relationship of human freedom, the gift of the law on Mount Sinai, the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Church’s mission and the Eucharist. But woven through the homily were straightforward statements about people’s real limitations and the recognition that faith is often a struggle.

“We continually close our doors; we continually want to feel secure and do not want to be disturbed by others and by God,” the Pope

said. But Christ will come for us, he said, just as he passed through the closed doors to reach his disciples at Pentecost.

Likewise, on the feast of the Ascension, he offered a simple reflection on Christ’s continued presence in the world, saying: “The Lord is always within hearing. We can inwardly draw away from him. We can live turning our backs on him. But he always waits for us and is always close to us.”

So far, Pope Benedict has spoken mostly about the essentials of church life and relatively little about contemporary social issues. Appeals for victims of disasters or violence, which made for easy headlines under Pope John Paul, seem to have disappeared.

The new Pope is also meeting with fewer groups, especially from Italy; such meetings used to fill the calendar of his predecessors. And so far he does not seem to feel the need to send messages or give speeches to participants of every meeting at the Vatican.

Pope Benedict may have given some clues to his style of papacy in his 1987 book, “Church, Ecumenism and Politics.” He warned about “the limits and dangers of activism” in church governance, which he said risks getting in the way of the Holy Spirit.

He said it was worth remembering that the only true head of the Church is Christ, and “we are all merely his tools.” The real task of the pastor, he said, is “to stretch out the sail of our faith ... so that the Holy Spirit can fill it with his breath.” CNS

Hope for reconciliation through Mary Trinity affirms God is love

Pope says Christian belief in Trinity affirms that God is love

The Christian belief in the Trinity is an affirmation that God is love, said Pope Benedict XVI.

“The phrase that summarises all of revelation is this: ‘God is love,’” the Pope told thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square on May 22 for the recitation of the Angelus.

Like the Trinity, he said, “love is always a mystery, a reality that surpasses reason without contradicting it. Rather, it exalts its potential.”

The doctrine of the Trinity, which says the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three persons in one God, reflects the truth that “God is not solitude, but perfect communion,” the Pope said.

“For this reason, the human person - the image of God - realises himself in love, which is the sincere gift of self,” he said.

The Pope also used his Angelus address to encourage special activities and devotions on the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, which is celebrated on May 26 at the Vatican and May 29 in Italy (and Australia).

Pope Benedict confirmed he would preside over the May 29 Mass

in Bari, Italy, to conclude the weeklong Italian eucharistic congress.

“In the heart of this year dedicated to the Eucharist, the Christian people gather around Christ present in the most holy sacrament, the source and summit of their life and mission,” he said.

“Every parish is called to rediscover the beauty of Sunday, the Lord’s day, on which the disciples of Christ renew in the Eucharist their communion with the one who gives meaning to the joys and trials of each day,” he said.

Pope Benedict took the opportunity to offer special prayers for children and young people around the world who were receiving Communion for the first time and for those who were being confirmed.

CNS

Vatican ecumenist: ARCIC document on Mary could help reconciliation

■

By

Cindy Wooden

The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission’s new document on the Blessed Virgin Mary can be “an instrument of reconciliation,” said Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Vatican’s ecumenical efforts.

“What is needed now is a wideranging reflection on the document itself,” so that Anglicans and Catholics can say together that it expresses their beliefs about Mary, the cardinal said in a message.

Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, prepared a homily for a May 22 ecumenical evening prayer service at Rome’s All Saints Anglican Church.

He was ill, so Bishop Brian Farrell, council secretary, read his homily.

The ARCIC document, “Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ,” was released on May 16 in Seattle.

“As it is read and studied, it must be our profound hope and prayer that it will serve as an instru-

“The ARCIC text affirms that ‘Christ’s redeeming work reached back in Mary to the depths of her being ...’”

ment of reconciliation, providing further theological foundations upon which relations between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church can be strengthened,” the cardinal’s homily said.

Cardinal Kasper highlighted the scriptural basis used by members of the dialogue team to overcome “the consequences of not sharing a common faith about the one we both believed to be the Mother of God.”

The document used Scripture and the early tradition of the Church particularly to explore the basic contents of the Catholic dogmas of Mary’s Immaculate Conception and her assumption, body and soul, into heaven.

Cardinal Kasper said the document’s “most important statements” about common belief flowed from the way the Anglican and Roman Catholic theologians looked at a text from St Paul’s Letter to the Romans, which speaks of God knowing each person from eternity, setting a path, calling, saving and glorifying him or her.

The dogma of the Immaculate

Conception, that Mary was conceived without sin, is part of the “preparation for her sacred calling,” Cardinal Kasper said.

“The ARCIC text strongly affirms that ‘Christ’s redeeming work reached back in Mary to the depths of her being and to her earliest beginnings.’”

And just as God’s grace was at work in a special way at the beginning of her life in view of the special role she was to play in salvation history, so it is reasonable and scriptural to believe that she was “drawn into God’s presence” at the end of her earthly life, he said.

Cardinal Kasper also wrote, “In praying to Mary, we see her in relation to Christ and to the Church, forever pointing us to the unique saving role of her son.”

“In asking her assistance as we strive to further our relations through dialogue, prayer and common witness, we acknowledge her as ‘mother of the faithful,’ who prays for and desires our unity, that we may be one in her son and in the Father and in the Spirit who gives life to us all,” he said.

Pope Benedict XVI arrives for the screening of the movie “Karol: The Man Who Became Pope” on May 19 at the Vatican. PHOTO: CNS

The World

Disabled man fights to live

Bishops intervene for English man trying to keep right to hydration

■ Simon Caldwell

The English and Welsh bishops have intervened in the case of a terminally ill man fighting a court battle for the right not to be starved and dehydrated to death when he loses the ability to communicate.

Leslie Burke, 45, a Catholic from Lancaster, England, has suffered from cerebellar ataxia, a degenerative disorder of the nervous system that causes unsteadiness and lack of coordination, since 1982. Burke, a former postman, knows eventually he will not be able to communicate and said he fears that doctors may withdraw nutrition and hydration.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales submitted written evidence in Burke’s favour during a May 19 hearing at the Court of Appeal in London, where Burke was defending an earlier ruling that the practice of withdrawing food and fluids was unlawful.

In their submission, the bishops said human dignity could be violated by “acting on the basis that the person would be better off dead and so can deliberately be killed by an act or a planned course of omissions.”

The government had argued in court on May 18 that the continued feeding of mentally incapacitated patients would represent wasteful and unfair misuse of health service resources, but the bishops argued that such logic led to euthanasia.

“If those involved in a patient’s care introduce, as a step or premise in their reasoning as to what treatment is appropriate, the criterion that costs could be saved or resources freed up by the patient’s death, so as to reach the conclusion not to provide a particular

treatment, it follows that they intend to bring about the patient’s death by their deliberate withholding or withdrawing of that treatment,” the bishops said in their submission.

“To the extent that the Court of Appeal is invited to consider the relevance of costs in decision-making about life-sustaining treat-

ment, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales urges it categorically to condemn the use of such reasoning,” the bishops said.

Beginning in 1993, the courts allowed the withdrawal of food and fluids from braindamaged patients, but last July Burke convinced the high court that the practice was unlawful because it failed to recognise “the heavy presumption in favour of life-prolonging treatment.”

The General Medical Council, a charity set up to protect national standards of health care, appealed against the ruling, and the case returned to court on May 17.

Burke argues that he may suffer “pain and extreme distress” during the two weeks it may take to die from malnutrition.

“I am just scared that at the end I won’t be able to communicate, but my intellect will be unimpaired and I will be aware of the things going on around me,” he told Catholic News Service on May 19.

“If they (doctors) decided it was in my ‘best interests’ to die, I will know about it but won’t be able to do anything about it. I can’t think of a more horrifying way for one’s life to end,” he said.

The hearing was due to end on May 19, but judgment in the case was to be reserved until a later date.

Under the 2005 Mental Capacity Act, which will be in force in Britain by 2007, people are permitted to make legally binding advance directives, or living wills, to refuse specific types of medical treatment, but are not allowed to request treatments.

Phyllis Bowman, executive director of the London-based Right to Life, told CNS on May 19, “If you make an advance directive which is suicidal, that is legally binding, but if you make an advance directive which says I want to live, that is not legally binding.” CNS

Nazi education will defend dignity in future

Educational programs that study Nazi atrocities and honour the victims of the Holocaust help prepare a new generation of citizens ready to defend human dignity, said Archbishop J. Michael Miller.

Archbishop Miller, secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, made his remarks at an early May seminar for European ministers of education.

The text of his speech to the seminar, which took place in Krakow, Poland, and at the nearby Auschwitz death camp, was published on May 20 in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

The Nazis’ “program of hatred must serve - today and for the future - as a warning to us never to yield to ideologies which in any way justify contempt for human dignity on the basis of race, colour, language or religion,” the archbishop said.

“We now remember this suffering in order to pay honour to the dead, to acknowledge historical reality and, above all, to ensure that those terrible events will serve as a summons for all men and women to ever greater responsibility for our common history,” he said.

The archbishop, former president of the University of St Thomas in Houston, said educational programs studying and commemorating the Holocaust offer students “fresh opportunities for reflection and selfexamination.”

In addition to honouring the dead and paying tribute to those who displayed true heroism in the face of such horror, the commemorations call people “to assume moral responsibility for ensuring that never again will selfishness and hatred grow to the point of sowing such suffering and death,” he said.

Receiving Communion is agreeing with the Church

The Catholic Church believes the Eucharist is a sacrament that strengthens the unity of the Church because those who share Communion profess the same faith, said the Vatican’s chief ecumenist.

To say “Amen” and receive Communion means “I fully agree with what has been said and what has been done,” said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Acknowledging the Eucharist as

the world in brief

a memorial of Christ’s last meal with his disciples is not enough, the cardinal said, responding to questions after a May 19 talk on “The Sacrament of Unity: The Eucharist and the Church.” Cardinal Kasper’s talk at the Atonement Friars’ Centro Pro Unione in Rome was drawn largely from his new book of the same title.

Saying “Amen” means acknowledging Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist and the sacrificial value of the Eucharist for the forgiveness

Call to remain faithful

The countries of Eastern Europe can help the entire continent by ensuring their Christian cultures are not watered down as they move toward greater unity with the rest of Europe, said Pope Benedict XVI.

The Pope met separately on May 23 with the president of Bulgaria, the prime minister of Macedonia and Catholic-Orthodox delegations from both countries.

The delegations were in Rome to visit the tomb of St Cyril, who with his brother, St Methodius, took Christianity to the Slavic peoples.

The Orthodox mark the brothers’ feast day on May 24.

of sins and the transformation of the world, the cardinal said, but it also means accepting that the Eucharist is celebrated in communion with the Pope and united with the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints.

Because complete agreement between Catholics and other Christians is lacking on one or more of the points of faith, eucharistic sharing is permitted only in limited circumstances and usually requires the approval of the local bishop,

The Pope told Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov that the brothers’ impact on his nation made an unbreakable link between Bulgaria’s culture and Christianity, a link Bulgaria must keep strong as it acts as a “bridge between the West and East.”

Hope for Rwandans

Pope Benedict XVI called on Rwandan Catholics to remain hopeful for the future and steadfast in their faith, although they were “harshly tried” by the nation’s 1994 genocide.

He also asked that the Holy Spirit, during this time of Pentecost, help “make fruitful the efforts of those who are working to build fraternity among all Rwandans in a spirit of truth and justice.”

Cardinal Kasper said. The restrictions the Catholic Church places on Christians receiving the Eucharist at each other’s services, he said, “are not external disciplinary decisions of the Church,” but the logical consequences of saying “Amen.”

“We do not invite all Catholics (to Communion) either,” he said. Those who are in a state of sin or who cannot answer yes to the question “Does your life correspond to what is celebrated here?” are asked not to receive, he said. “Ecumenism

The Pope’s comments came in his May 21 address to Rwandan bishops at the end of their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican.

Heads of dioceses are required to make such visits every five years.

The 1994 massacres in Rwanda left more than 800,000 people dead when ethnic tensions between Hutus and Tutsis exploded into a campaign of violence.

Some 100,000 people are in prison still awaiting trial for their alleged role in the slaughter.

Take Gospel to the public

The Church must take the Gospel message into the public sphere in order to “attain the common good” and bring about “a civilisation of love,” Pope Benedict XVI

is not a political, diplomatic or purely pragmatic undertaking,” he said.

“It is primarily a spiritual concern,” a matter of all Christians converting to deeper faith in Jesus, being open to the call of the Holy Spirit and, finally, being able to express full unity in faith by sharing the Eucharist. “The point of ecumenical dialogue is not that we should abandon our own identity but that we should let it be purified, grow and mature,” he said.

said in a letter to Spanish bishops. “The true nature and mission” of the Church involves “promoting the common good for all people,” and, as such, “spreading the faith and religious practice cannot be confined to the purely private sphere,” he said in a written message released by the Vatican on May 23.

Christ came not “to judge the world,” but that the world would be saved by him, the Pope said in the letter, read on May 21.

The letter was read to thousands of pilgrims at the start of a pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Pilar in Zaragoza.

Fifty-one Spanish bishops and the apostolic nuncio to Spain, Archbishop Manuel Monteiro de Castro, were to take part in the pilgrimage as part of the Year of the Eucharist and Spain’s Year of Immaculate Mary.

British man Leslie Burke fights for the right not to be starved once he is unable to communicate.

Meeting with Christ gives life

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

“The second symbol used in today’s liturgy to express the inauguration of the Petrine ministry is the presentation of the fisherman’s ring. Peter’s call to be a shepherd, which we heard in the Gospel, comes after the account of a miraculous catch of fish: after a night in which the disciples had let down their nets without success, they see the Risen Lord on the shore. He tells them to let down their nets once more, and the nets become so full that they can hardly pull them in; 153 large fish: ‘and although there were so many, the net was not torn’ (Jn 21:11). This account, coming at the end of Jesus’ earthly journey with His disciples, corresponds to an account found at the beginning: there too, the disciples had caught nothing the entire night; there too, Jesus had invited Simon once more to put out into the deep. And Simon, who was not yet called Peter, gave the wonderful reply: ‘Master, at your word I will let down the nets.’ And then came the conferral of his mission: ‘Do not be afraid. Henceforth you will be catching men’ (Lk 5:1-11). Today too the Church and the successors of the Apostles are told to put out into the deep sea of history and to let down the nets, so as to win men and women over to the Gospel - to God, to Christ, to true life. The Fathers made a very significant commentary on this singular task. This is what they say: for a fish, created for water, it is fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to serve as human food. But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse is true. We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and death; in a sea of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of death and brings us into the splendor of God’s light, into true life. It is really true: as we follow Christ in this mission to be fishers of men, we must bring men

and women out of the sea that is salted with so many forms of alienation and onto the land of life, into the light of God.

“It is really so: the purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men. And only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him. The task of the shepherd, the task of the fisher of men, can often seem wearisome. But it is beautiful and wonderful, because it is truly a service to joy, to God’s joy which longs to break into the world.

“Here I want to add something:

both the image of the shepherd and that of the fisherman issue an explicit call to unity. ‘I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must lead them too, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd’ (Jn 10:16); these are the words of Jesus at the end of His discourse on the Good Shepherd. And the account of the 153 large fish ends with the joyful statement: ‘although there were so many, the net was not torn’ (Jn 21:11). Alas, beloved Lord, with sorrow we must now acknowledge that it has been torn! But no - we must not be sad! Let us rejoice because of Your promise, which does not disappoint, and let us do all we can to pursue the path towards the unity You have promised. Let us remember it in our prayer to the Lord, as we plead with Him: yes, Lord, remember Your promise. Grant that we may be one flock and one shepherd! Do not allow Your net to be torn, help us to be servants of unity!

“At this point, my mind goes back to October 22 1978, when Pope John Paul II began his ministry here in Saint Peter’s Square. His words on that occasion constantly echo in my ears: ‘Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors for Christ!’ The Pope was addressing the mighty, the powerful of this world, who feared that Christ might take away something of their power if they were to let Him in, if they were to allow the faith to be free. Yes, He would certainly have taken something away from them: the dominion of corruption, the manipulation of law and the freedom to do as they pleased. But He would not have taken away anything that pertains to human freedom or dignity, or to the building of a just society. The Pope was also speaking to everyone, especially the young. Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to Him, are we not afraid that He might take something away

from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom? And once again the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation.

And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and He gives you everything. When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundred-fold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ - and you will find true life. Amen.”

PANORAMA a roundup of events in the archdiocese

Saturday May 28

MAY QUEEN BALL

From 7.30 to 12.30am to fund raise for Holy Family church Maddington. It will be held at Maddington Community Centre (corner of Yule & Alcock Street)

For more information contact Francis Williams 9459 3873 9493 4287 0404 893 877 francis@perthfamily. com.

Sunday May 29

BULLSBROOK SHRINE SUNDAY MASS PROGRAMME

Shrine of Virgin of the Revelation 36 Chittering Rd, Bullsbrook. 2pm Holy Mass, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrement and Holy Rosary. Reconciliation is available in Italian and English before every celebration. A monthly pilgrimage is held on the last Sunday of the month. Annointing of the sick is administered for spiritual and physical healing during Mass every second Sunday of the month. The side entrance to the Church is open daily between 9am and 5pm for private prayer. Enq SACRI 9447 3292

Sunday May 29

ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK 1  2 PM ON

ACCESS 31

The Holy Eucharist Life for a dying world with Fr

John Corapi from the Fatima Series. Please let your family and friends know about these wonderful Catholic programs. If you are going to be out, why not record it? Tapes are available on request, and also may be borrowed from free video lending libraries at various locations. Make EWTN a part of your life and be inspired! Postal address: The Rosary Christian Tutorial Association. PO Box 1270, Booragoon 6954. Enq 9330-1170.

Tuesday May 31 DAY OF REFLECTION

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

Tuesday May 31

MMP, DAY OF REFLECTION

St Bernadette’s Church, Jugan St, Glendalough, commencing 10.30am with Rosaryfollowed by Holy Mass, Confessions and Talks, concluding at 2pm. Celebrant and speaker, Rev Fr Hugh Thomas (CSSR). Bring lunch to share.

Wednesday June 1

CARITAS AUSTRALIA INVITES YOU TO BREAKFAST

Tsunami And Caritas Update. Be Challenged By

Guest Speakers. National Director, Jack De Groot And Global Education Advisor, Janeen Murphy. 7.30-9am, Perth Zoo Function Centre, Cost $30pp. Bookings Essential Rsvp By Wed 25th May Tel: 9223 1311 Or After 16 May 9422 7925 At Highgate. Email Perth@Caritas.Org.Au

Wednesday June 1

INVITATION

DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME - DVD and ghroup discussion booklet launch at Marranatha Institute for faith education. At the Catholic Education Centre, 50 Ruslip St Leederville 9.30AM – 12NOON All those interested are welcome to attend.

Friday June 3

SOLEMNITY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

St Mary’s Cathedral, Victoria Square. Begins 6.50pm with Holy Rosary and Litianies, followed by Holy Mass at 7.30pm and Consecration of the to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary followed by Benediction. Principal celebrant Archbishop Barry J Hickey. Novena to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart from Thurs May 26 to Fri June 3 after weekday 13.10pm Mass and Sat 6.30pm Mass, Sunday 11.30am Mass at the Cathedral.

Friday June 3 FEAST OF SACRED HEART OF JESUS  GLENDALOUGH

The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary will be celebrated at St. Bernadette‚s Church, Jugan Street, Glendalough with an all night Eucharistic vigil. Holy Mass at 9pm. Concludes with Parish Mass at 7.30am. Enq 94446131 and 93425845.

Friday June 3 PRO LIFE PROCESSION

Mass, Procession and Rosary Vigil commencing at 9.30am with Mass at St Brigid’s Church, Midland. The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate will lead us. All are invited to witness for the Sanctity of life and Prayer for the conversion of hearts. Enq Helen 9402 0349

Friday June 3-5

HOLY SPIRIT OF FREEDOM COMMUNITY ANNUAL

CONFERENCE FOR THE BUNBURY DIOCESE

Will be held in Pemberton, the conference theme is “Living Flame Transforming Love” and all are invited to be a part of this Festival of Praise and Worship. For more details, bookings and accommodation alternatives contact Lisa on9776 0323 or Connie on 9776 1092.

Pope Benedict XVI stands at the altar during his April 24 inaugural Mass. The main symbols of the papacy - the fisherman’s ring and the pallium - are located on each side of the altar. Photo: CNS

BUILDING TRADES

■ BRICK REPOINTING

Phone Nigel 9242 2952

■ HANDYPERSON

Home maintenance good rates. Phone

Adrian 9343 9025

■ GUTTERS/DOWNPIPES

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

■ PERROTT PAINTING PTY LTD

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

■ PICASSO PAINTING

Top service. Phone 9345 0557, fax 9345 0505.

CATHOLICS CORNER

■ RETAILER OF CATHOLIC PRODUCTS

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

MAY

CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER

■ WORK FROM HOME

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

EMPLOYMENT

■ SITUATION VACANT

Wanted live in cook/housekeeper for elderly Catholic gentleman in Attadale. Private accommodation down stairs including lounge, bedroom, bathroom and river views. Ph 9330 3289 or T.Kenny 9339 3209

FURNITURE REMOVAL

■ ALL AREAS

Mike Murphy 0416 226 434.

HEALTH

■ GLYCONUTRIENTS

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

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

■ BUSSELTON

Geog Bay, Park Home sleeps UP TO 6 winter rates apply.

Ph Elizabeth 0408 959 671

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

MUMS ON A MISSION

■ SUCCEED FROM HOME

Call Christine on Tel: 9256 2895

OFFICIAL DIARY

3

RELIGIOUS PRODUCTS

■ BAPTISM/WEDDING CANDLES Carefully hand crafted by Benedictine Sisters. www.Jamberooabbey.org. Ph: 02 4236 0011, Fax: 02 4236 0041

RE-UPHOLSTRY

■ REUPHOLSTRY Lounge,kitchen,dining,etc. Wide range of fabrics. Warwick, Can/vale, Willetton and surr areas. Call Lawrie 94560757, mb 0409689955.

Classifieds

Ph: Eugene 9227 7080 or A/h: 9227

7778

Humour

An old priest was dying. He sent a message for an IRS agent and his Lawyer to come to the Rectory. When they arrived, they were ushered up to his bedroom.

As they entered the room, the priest held out his hands and motioned for them to sit on each side of the bed. The priest grasped their hands, sighed contentedly, smiled and stared at the ceiling. For a time, no one said anything. Both the IRS agent and Lawyer were touched and flattered that the old priest would ask them to be with him during his final moment.

They were also puzzled because the priest had never given any indication that he particularly liked either one of them.

Finally, the Lawyer asked, “Father, why did you ask the two of us to come?”

The old guy mustered up some strength, then said weakly, “Jesus died between two thieves, and that’s how I want to go, too.”

JUNE

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

27 - 29 Confirmation, Ocean Reef - Bishop Sproxton

29 Celebratory Lunch for Anniversary of Italian Republic - Archbishop Hickey

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

1 Launch of Eucharist DVD “Do This in Memory of Me”, James Nestor Hall - Archbishop Hickey

2 Mass at Orana Catholic Primary School - Bishop Sproxton

3 Visit

Candidates of Divine Mercy College - Archbishop Hickey

for Feast of Sacred Heart, 7.30 pm, St Mary’s Cathedral - Archbishop Hickey

Friday June 3-4

ALL NIGHT VIGIL

All Saints Chapel, Allendale Square. Devotion and Feast days of The Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary. Commencing with Mass at 9pm Friday followed by Rosaries, Hymns, Prayers and concluding with Mass at 7am Saturday. Enq 9409 4534

Saturday June 4

WITNESS FOR LIFE PROCESSION

Commencing with Mass at 8.30am at St Anne’s Church, Hehir St Belmont. We proceed prayerfully to the Rivervale abortion centre and conclude with Rosary, led by Fr Paul Casey SSC. Please join us to pray peacefully for the conversion of hearts. Enq 9402 0349

Saturday June 4

DAY WITH MARY

St Thomas the Apostle Church, Cnr College Road and Melville Street, Claremont. 9am to 5pm. A video on Fatima will be shown followed by a day of prayer and instruction based upon the messages of Fatima. Includes Sacrament of Penance, Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Sermons on the Eucharist and Our Lady, Rosaries, procession of Blessed Sacrament and Stations of the Cross. Enq Sisters of the Immaculate 9250 8286.

Sunday June 5

DIVINE MERCY

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

Thursday June 9

HEALING MASS

In honour of St Peregrine, patron of cancer sufferers and and helper of all in need, will be held at the Church of SS John and Paul, Pinetree Gully Rd (off South St) Willeton. Commencing at 7pm with Veneration of the Relic and anointing of the sick . Enq Noreen Monaghan 9498 7727

Sunday June 12

GOSPEL FOLK CONCERT 2PM  4.30PM

St. Michael the Archangel Chapel, 50 Ruislip

Street, Leederville. Featuring WA’s Finest Gospel Performers-A Cappella Praise – Uplifting Spiritual & Ecumenical, HarmonyUs – Sing along with a touch of bluegrass, Danni Stefanetti – Young singer guitarist & songwriter, Melalueca Road – A dynamic duo of quality, Gospel Camelot – Perfection and Harmony, Josephine Bakhita Choir – Authentic African Gospel Tickets No door sales & numbers limited. Available now. Enq and bookings Carmel Charlton 9446 1558 or email

Sunday June 12

THE SISTERS OF ST JOSEPH OF THE APPARITION

The Srs of St Joseph of the Apparition are celebrating 150 years of presence and mission in Australia. This will be officially celebrated with a Mass at St Patrick’s Basilica Fremantle at 11am. Chief celebrant will be Bishop Don Sproxton and past pupils, Associates and friends are welcome to attend.

Sunday June 12

FATIMA HOLY HOUR

The world Apostolate of Fatima will hold a Holy Hour in the Immaculate Conception Church, East Fremantle. In this special year of the Eucharist, let us spend an hour in the ecompany of Mary, to make Eucharistic reparation to her Divine Son. All welcome.

Thursday July 2

CLASS OF 62 REUNION

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

Saturday July 9

CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY INVITES YOU TO OUR ANNUAL FUNDRAISING DINNER

Which will be held at South Fremantle Football Club at 7pm. For more details please contact us on 9319 8344.

REFLECTION AFTERNOONS

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

3-5

4

5

7

8

Day Internet Launch for Schools - Archbishop Hickey, Bishop Sproxton

Confirmation, John XXIII College - Archbishop Hickey Visit Confirmation Candidates, St Anthony’s School, Greenmount - Bishop Sproxton

9 Visit Iona Presentation College - Archbishop Hickey

Confirmation, Trinity College - Fr Brian O’Loughlin VG

SUNDAY CHINESE MASS

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

LITURGY OFFICE OFFERING EXCELLENT WORKSHOPS

Leadership for Music Ministry 9 June, 23 June, 28 July and 25 August. Cantors for the Country To give people confidence and practical skills to lead the singing in country parishes.13 August and 22

October, Combined Liturgical Ministry Workshop No 2 28 June. Phone: 9422 7902

THE GINGINCHITTERING PARISH

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

PUBLIC LECTURES

Public lectures are being held at the Acts 2 college of Mission and Evangelisation, 67 Howe street, Osborne park, every Tuesday from 4pm – 5pm in May and June. Cost is $5 per lecture and all are welcome. For more information contact Jane Borg on 9202 6859 or 0401 692 690

THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL JUSTICE COUNCIL

Holding a seminar concerning ‘The Living and Dying of Terry Schiavo” with Fr Joe Parkinson, Director of the LJ Goody Bioethics Centre Perth, to be held at the Catholic Pastoral Centre 40A Mary St Highgate (parking off Harold St) at 1-2pm. All welcome. Enq Terry Quinn Catholic Social Justice Council 9422 7926

CONFRATERNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Confraternity of the Holy Spirit has been sanctioned in the Perth Archdiocese, our aim is to make the Holy Spirit known and loved, and to develop awareness of His presence in our lives. If you would like more information please call WA Coordinator

Frank Pimm on 9304 5190

CROSS ROADS COMMUNITY TERM 2  26 APRIL TO 1 JULY

Family & Friends Support Groups of Substance

Abusers on Wednesdays 7pm–9pm, Substance

Abusers Support Groups on Tuesdays 5.30–7.30pm & Fridays all day Group for Substance Abusers

9.30am–2pm including Healing Mass on Fridays at 12.30pm during term. Weekday Rosary at 12.301pm. Our new address is 4 Preston Point Road, East Fremantle behind Immaculate Conception Parish.

SECULAR FRANCISCANS IN WA

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

CATHOLICS EXPERIENCING THE BIBLE

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

ENTERTAINMENT BOOK

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

THE DIVINE MERCY APOSTOLATE

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

Witness to Hope

a unique insight into Pope John Paul II, the person George Weigel called “the greatest Christian witness of the Twentieth Century.” AVAILABLE NOW!

From The Record

Pope John Paul II was a poet, playwright, actor, mystic, philosopher and pope. Shaped by the terrors of World War II and the subsequent brutalities of Nazism and Communism in Poland, Karol Wojtyla became one of the world’s greatest defenders of religious freedom and human rights. Filmed on location in Krakow and Rome this richly-textured documentary traces the personal life and struggles of the first non-Italian pope in more than 450 years. Based on the book Witness to Hope by George Weigel, this film is the most complete and intimate film ever made on John Paul II.