AUGUST 31, 2003, vol 53, no 18

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| SUNDAYS AUGUST 31 AND SEPTEMBER 7, 2003 SINGAPORE 50 CENTS/WEST MALAYSIA RM 1.20 M.I.T.A.(P) No.105/01/2003 PPS 201/4/2004 Vol 53 No.18 |

RECOGNISING THE CAREGIVERS

By Don Gurugay A SPECIAL respect for life is the difference between a Catholic nurse and others, Archbishop Nicholas Chia told more than 200 nurses and para-medical staff at the annual Nurse’s Day Mass at the Church of Immaculate Heart of Mary August 17.

The Archbishop touched on the important role of nurses and explained how Jesus is the role model for them. Nurses have to be steeped in faith and in Christ’s teachings as they are an extension of Christ and are his instruments, he explained.

By their loving service, they will find great fulfilment, he said, for “in giving you receive.”

He reminded the nurses about the difference between a job and a ministry. If you’re doing something which nobody wants to do, it’s a job; but great and growing churches are filled with people doing a ministry.

Nursing aide Chandrakumary and nurse Lucena both from the St Joseph’s Home expressed their joy with the celebration. Chandrakumary said,“We should all take our role as a ministry and not a job; it’s more fulfilling then.”

Mass was followed by a dinner for the nurses and their fellow health professionals. □ Archbishop Nicholas Chia blesses the hands of caregivers, hands that are instruments of Jesus the Healer.

HEALERS &KILLERS POPE DEPLORES BOMBINGS, URGES END TO VIOLENCE

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy - Pope John Paul II deplored deadly bombings in Iraq and Jerusalem and urged steps to end the new spiral of violence in the Middle East.

The pope spoke a day after a U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, was blown up and a tourist bus in Jerusalem was bombed.

The pope said news of the attacks “can only generate deep sadness and total condemnation in our heart.”

“While we entrust to divine mercy those who lost their lives and implore comfort for the bereaved, we pray to the God of peace that wisdom will prevail in hearts and that those responsible for civil society will know how to break this sorrowful spiral of hatred and violence,” he said.

The top U.N. official in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was among at least 20 people killed in the Baghdad explosion, which ripped through a hotel used by the United Nations. Authorities said a suicide bomber rammed a truck into the complex.

A telegram sent in the pope’s name to Kofi Annan, U.N. secretary-general, expressed the pope’s deep sadness at the attack.

“Imploring all involved in perpetrating acts of violence to abandon the ways of hatred, His Holiness prays that the path of reconciliation will prevail and that the people of Iraq will know a new era of peace, justice and social harmony,” said the telegram, signed by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state.

U.S. and U.N. officials said the blast would not break the will of the international community.

The Vatican’s representative to the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, said the bombing was a brutal and irrational act against an agency that is trying to bring humanitarian aid to Iraq.

In Jerusalem, the suicide bus bombing was carried out by a 29-year-old Palestinian man; he said in a videotape he was avenging the killing by the Israeli army of a leader of the militant group Hamas. Several children were among at least 18 people killed when the bus exploded. □ c n s A rescue worker carries an Israeli girl to a hospital after she was injured in a bus bombing in Jerusalem.

Sundays August 31 and Septem ber 7, 2003 P C atholicNews

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Volunteers sacrificing their weekends and many week nights for rehearsals to make the play a treat for everyone.

Musical to celebrate new church - Come end September, parishioners of St Mary of the Angels will celebrate Mass in their new church. A musical “Feast of Life-A Taste of the New Church” will be staged to mark the event.

The musical is based on St. Luke’s gospel and will be performed by parishioners. It is one of many events designed to bring the parish community together in addition to fund raising.

“We hope that the musical serves as one of the ways for our SINGAPORE

parishioners to come together and involve themselves as a community, either by volunteering for the different roles in the musical or by being part of the audience who share in this Feast of Life,” said Fr John Wong, spiritual director. “In the process, we hope that the bond within the community will deepen,” he said.”We hope that those less-involved members of our parish will take a more active interest in the church by offering their time and effort to the musical. More importantly, we

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hope that those who are involved will grow spiritually.”

For those not familiar with St Luke’s gospel, this is an opportunity to listen to the messages through story and song.

It will be a spiritual journey they can relate to. The stories revolve around meals Jesus shared with friends regardless of their social standing. The focus of each story shifts from forgiveness to generosity to brotherly love- an experience shared by ordinary people today when they open their homes to family and friends during special occasions.

“As Christians, all of us are in the business of proclaiming the gospel, as well as of being transformed ourselves by the good news. The musical is just one of the vehicles used in the process of proclamation,’’said Fr John.

The musical is based on the original written and composed by Marty Haugen and Gary Daigle, and will feature ten songs, and dance depicting the life of Jesus from his birth to the walk to Emmaus.

The Feast of Life will be held on two nights - Friday 26 September 2003 and Saturday 27 - at the Franciscan’s new home at Bukit Batok. The first, Community Night, is reserved for the parish community. The second, Charity Night, is open to everyone. Tickets prices start from $15. They are on sale every weekend at St Mary of the Angels.

For more details, visit www.feastoflife.com □

New home for ex prisoners to find faith and hope - After Heartville, the church-run prison- aftercare home in Changi, closed last year, Jimmy Yuen and a team of volunteers decided to continue this important ministry by establishing a lay-run home for aftercare of ex-prisoners and their families. They established Cornerstone Restoration Centre at No. 13 Chuan Garden on July 1, 2003.

In going ahead with the project, the volunteers also took to heart Pope John Paul 11 ‘s invitation to “cast out into the deep” (Lk. 5:4) and inspiration from Community Cenacolo in Medjuore.

SINGAPORE

volunteers have visited the Mother House in Saluzzo, Italy, met Sister Elvira and stayed with the Community in Medjugore.

Jimmy hopes that Cornerstone Restoration Centre will be a light in the darkness and a sign of hope to those who seek change. They are offered a simple life, an opportunity to live as a family and help to rediscover the dignity of work, friendship and the Word of God. Through prayer and meditation healing takes place.

Jimmy’s inspiration and mentor, Sister Elvira, is often quoted as saying to her residents “We can proclaim ourselves Jimmy meets Sr Elvira at Community Cenacola in Medjugorje as Audrey (extreme right), a volunteer at CRL, looks on.

Community Cenacolo is a Christian Association that welcomes lost, dissatisfied, disillusioned and desperate young people who want to find themselves again, to find joy and meaning in life.

It was founded in July 1983

by Sister Elvira Petrozzi, who wanted to give her life to God through helping drug addicts and lost youth.

The Community today has 43 fraternities in Italy and the world providing a home and helping more than a thousand young men and women.

Some of the Singapore

ready to leave the Community when we have chosen prayer for all our lives.”

The cost of running the Singapore project is met by volunteers and well-wishers.

Jimmy hopes that the Lord will send some good people to make this project a success.

“If you wish to contemplate the splendour of the face of Christ in the broken hearted and the poor of our society then welcome to this ministry” he said.

Jimmy can be contacted at 97422114 or Cornerstone Restoration Centre at 62826277.

□

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By Cian Molloy DUBLIN, Ireland - Irish Health Minister Jim McDaid has issued a warning about incense, saying that though the health risk is minimal altar servers need to be taught to minimize that risk.

McDaid, a medical doctor, made his remarks in an interview Aug. 20 with Highland Radio, a local station broadcasting in County Donegal, where he was speaking in favour of the Irish government’s plan to ban tobacco smoking in all pubs, bars and restaurants.

During the interview, he called on priests in the Raphoe Diocese to take greater care in instructing altar servers about how to hold the censer properly.

“Often you will see a child

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holding the incense burner in a position below their waist and a huge cloud of smoke rising up into the child’s face,” he said.

“It makes me cringe, particularly given the delicate nature of a child’s lungs.

Among children the alveoli, the small bubbles in the lungs, are particularly delicate and easily damaged.

“Carbon is a carcinogenic and by definition smoke is ‘a suspension of small particles of carbon in the air,’ so incense is carcinogenic,” he said.

Speaking on RTE Radio’s Liveline Aug. 21, the minister denied a report in that day’s Irish Independent newspaper that he was “incensed about the use of holy smoke.”

“That slant was put on it to ridicule me,” he said. “I’m quite used to ridicule, but I am not

against the use of incense at religious ceremonies. What I am saying is that there is a minimal risk to health here, but if we manage to minimize that risk we will have achieved something.”

The health minister’s concerns are legitimate, said Father Andrew McKeever, Raphoe diocesan secretary.

“Of course we have to think of the health risks,” he told Catholic News Service. “I tend not to let the altar servers (but) to use the thurible myself, mainly because they don’t hold it properly and because some of them, particularly those with bad chests, can have a reaction to the incense smoke.

“I think most priests would be aware of the problem and understand that it is an issue.

But at the same time, incense isn’t really used that much, except at Benedictions and funerals, and it would be the priest himself who would mainly be handling the thurible,” the priest said, c n s

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Youth meet in India to promote peace BANGALORE, India — Young people from 20 Asian countries rallied at the annual Asian Youth Day to highlight the need for world peace.

Some 2,000 young people participated in the six-day event which ended Aug. 15 in Bangalore. One of the highlights was a march for peace when the youths were joined by members of the interreligious forum Voice of Righteousness and by people of other faiths.

Father Alwyn D’Souza, director of the Indian Catholic

Youth Movement, said other Indian cities held similar programs at the same time, “so the celebration of light and peace became a national event, and its effect will follow in years to come.”

Everyone carried a flag, a placard or a lighted candle.

Onlookers watched the rally from either side of Mahatma Gandhi Road as the young people advanced along the city’s busiest street. An unexpected rain forced the onlookers to seek shelter under buildings and bus stops.

The procession coincided with

the Independence Day celebrations of India and Pakistan — Pakistan’s Aug. 14 and India’s the following day.

The rain stopped when the procession reached Gandhi Park, about 2,600 feet from the starting point. When they arrived there, the young people placed garlands on a statue of Gandhi before making a pledge to shun violence and to spread the message of peace through their lives.

Gandhi, revered as the father of India, used fasting and nonviolent civil disobedience to help win India’s freedom from British rule and to protest Hindu-Muslim violence. His statue sits on a 15foot high platform at the entrance of a landscaped garden. Delegates used bamboo poles to place the garlands on the statue, and their various national flags flew nearby as participants sang a peace song.

Catholic layman Swamy Sachidananda called on the young people to use their faith to promote peace and harmony among people of different religions and cultures. □ u c a n . c n s

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Christian, Muslim leaders talk peace PASAY, Philippines - Organizers of a gathering of Asian religious leaders said they envision a region free of religious extremism.

The three-day meeting, which began Aug. 18, brought together Islamic scholars, Catholic and Protestant bishops, pastors, priests and lay people in Pasay, outside Manila. The theme of their gathering was “Seeking Peace and Development Through an Authentic Christian and Muslim Dialogue of Life in Asia.”

The event was organized by the seven-year-old Bishops-Ulama Conference, which sponsors meetings of Catholic and Protestant bishops and Islamic scholars in the southern Philippines. The Philippine Office of the Presidential Adviser for Special Concerns provided funding and logistical support for the gathering which attracted delegates from 13 Asian nations and observers from Libya, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Vatican.

Catholic Archbishop Fernando Capalla of Davao, Philippines said that he and other religious leaders in Mindanao decided to initiate the Asian gathering after the October bombings that killed more than 200 people in Bali, Indonesia.

Archbishop Capalla said organizers did so because the Bishops-Ulama Conference shares the concern of some government officials about “increasing extremism on the part of some Muslims in Asia” that could affect many people in Asia.

“We can help prevent extremism on both sides — on the part of Christians and on the part of Muslims,” he said.

Archbishop Capalla noted that 200 million of Asia’s 670 million Muslims are in Indonesia, while most of the continent’s 150 million Christians live in the Philippines, where at least 90 percent of the

Talking about peace in the region.

From left: Mohammad Al-Sharief, secretary general of the World Islamic Call Society; Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; and Archbishop Fernando Capalla of Davao in the Philippines, c n s Photo people are Christians.

Archbishop Capalla told journalists that a major objective of the meeting was to discuss the possible formation of an organization or network of Asian Muslim and Christian leaders to work for peace in local areas and in the whole of Asia. □ u c a n , c n s

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Priest social worker dies

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Redemptorist priest, Fr Raymond A. Brennan, who pioneered church social work in Thailand leaves behind 180 orphans.

BANGKOK, Thailand —

Redemptorist Father Raymond A. Brennan, who pioneered the Thai church’s social welfare ministry to abandoned and disabled children, died in Bangkok Aug. 16. He was 70.

The Chicago-born priest was founder and director of Pattaya Orphanage and various schools for orphaned, disabled and street children.

UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, reported that the priest’s body was on display at the orphanage hall in Pattaya, a seaside resort city. After the funeral Aug. 21, Father Brennan was to be buried at the Redemptorist cemetery in Pattaya.

Rachada Chomchinda, Father Brennan’s secretary and office manager of the orphanage, told UCA News Aug. 19 that the children mourn “the loss of their father.” She said many of the more than 180 orphans slept in the hall near the priest’s body “so he won’t be alone.”

Rachada said Father Brennan built the orphanage but also other facilities, including the Redemptorist School for the Disabled, the Redemptorist School for the Blind and Deaf and the Redemptorist Home for Street Children. Rachada said staff members sometimes wanted to shield Father Brennan from those who always came for his help, but he asked his staff not to do so.

Father John Chuchart Srivichairatana, Redemptorist vice provincial superior, said Father Brennan’s was the first

church-run ministry to develop in an official and prominent way in predominantly Buddhist Thai society.

The priest said Father Brennan’s ministry made clear that the church must be active in society. His work, he said, not

Fr Ray, as he was known to all, was loved by the children at the orphanage. only is a legacy of social involvement for the church, but it also highlights the Redemptorist mandate of caring for the most abandoned in society regardless of their religion.

A statement from the orphanage said Father Brennan’s projects included a home for elderly people being kept in jail as illegal aliens. The priest persuaded the government that imprisonment was unnecessary for the very old, and some were released to his care.

North Korea needs help HONG KONG - Caritas Internationalis is

calling for more relief assistance to North Korea. The international charity said donations to North Korea have dropped due mainly to political tensions sparked by the communist country’s nuclear weapons programme.

In April, Caritas launched a US$2.67 million drive for North Korea and has raised 30 percent of that total so far.

“If there is not enough aid to the people there, the most vulnerable, such as children in residential care, the sick and pregnant women, would be most affected,”a Caritas representative said.

The food shortage and the health crisis remain key concerns, so Caritas will continue to help North Korea improve its agriculture sector and provide the country with basic medical equipment. □ u can. cns

Father Brennan was bom Dec. 7,1932, in Chicago and was ordained a priest July 2,1959. He arrived in Thailand in 1961.

Father Brennan told UCA News in 1998 that he was temporarily in Pattaya in 1970 to give a retreat to American military personnel ||| resting there during the Vietnam War. Some said the orphanage began > when he found a baby at his door, but he said that was not true. A lady one day asked him to take her baby, and though he “did not want this baby, my mind moved toward God and I took the baby,” he said.

Father Brennan also recalled: “I gave the baby to the woman who looked after the church, but more babies came, and finally I needed to build an orphanage. I have never refused a child. I think if children get to the door of the orphanage, then God wants them here.”

When asked what motivated him as a priest, Father Brennan responded: “God calls some to be witnesses. They are not called to convert, but to witness to the love of God. This insight has carried me through to this very day. In helping the poor, I am changing lives. I am witnessing to the love of God.” Father Brennan’s work continues under Redemptorist Father Philip Banchong Chaiyara, who became director of the “Father Ray Foundation” last November. The foundation manages the social welfare projects that the late priest began. □ cm

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Sundays August 31 and Septem ber 7, 2003 □ C atholicNews

News U.S.bishops press for more aid funding W ASHINGTON -U .S .

bishops’ are pressing congressional leaders to fully fund programs to combat HIV/AIDS and support foreign economic development.

They say the current version of the foreign operations bill falls $1 billion short of the amount requested by President Bush to finance the HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis Act. The Senate bill also is $300 million short of the amount requested by the White House to fund the Millennium Challenge Account, a foreign aid programme that rewards governments for sound policy decisions that combat poverty and support economic growth.

The U.S. bishops say that the United States should honour the full commitment of the programmes and in a manner which promotes human life and dignity. □ c/vs

Tit for ta

Boston Archdiocese offers US$55 million sex abuse settlement - The Boston Archdiocese has offered US$55 million to settle 542 pending lawsuits over clergy sexual abuse of minors.

If accepted, it will be the largest settlement ever reached for a group of victims of clergy sexual abuse, although not the largest settlement per victim.

The proposal reportedly requires that in order to take effect, at least 95 percent of the plaintiffs will have to sign on within 30 days. The amount will be reduced by 1/542 —about US$101,000, for every plaintiff who does not sign on.

In return, the archdiocese reportedly will not contest any of the claims or seek protection under a state law that says no charitable institution can be sued for more than US$20,000.

While the proposed settlement would mean an average of about US$101,000 per plaintiff —or about US$70,000 after attorneys’ fees - lawyers said not everyone would receive the same amount.

The Boston Globe reported that some victims welcomed the offer and expressed a desire to settle, but others said they want to take their cases to court. □ cns BOSTON

JERUSALEM - An explosion, detonated by Israeli soldiers Aug. 21, destroys the West Bank house of the Palestinian who blew up a Jerusalem bus Aug. 19 killing 20 people and injuring more than 100. The attack shattered a seven-week-old cease-fire in the Israeli-Palest inian conflict, c n s Photo

Denver WYD remembered Young people in Denver join in a prayer during an Aug. 15 festival marking 10 years since World Youth Day was held in the Colorado capital. Reflecting on the anniversary, Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said the 1993 international event “began a renewal in the church in northern Colorado that touched every aspect of Catholic life and it continues right down to today.” □ cn s photo

G ay decisions in Episcopal C hurch a big problem

By Jerry Filteau — An ecumenical spokesman for the U.S. Catholic bishops said Aug. 11 that the U.S. Episcopal Church’s recent decisions to confirm an openly gay bishop and recognize that some Episcopal communities bless same-sex unions present ■‘new ecumenical challenges” to Catholic-Anglican relations.

Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., chairman of the Catholic bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said the Catholic Church remains committed “to prayerful and honest dialogue, however difficult,” despite those challenges.

He said the Episcopal decisions “reflect a departure from the common understanding of the meaning and purpose of human sexuality and the morality of homosexual activity as found in sacred Scripture and the Christian tradition.”

“As such, they have serious implications in the search for Christian unity and for the work of our bilateral Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue in the United States,” he said.

The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The church’s triennial convention, held in Minneapolis in early August, confirmed the election of Canon V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, who in June had been elected by New Hampshire Episcopalians as bishop of their diocese.

The convention also approved a compromise resolution on same-sex unions that called on the church to continue study and

WASHINGTON

FOR THOSE WHO NEED TO BE MOTIVATED TO COME TO CHURCH, SOON WE SHALL BE SERVING WINE * * (AND A TEN-COURSE DINNER TOO).

On 27 Septem ber, the parish of St. V ince n t De Paul m ill be ce le b ra ting its 40th A nniversary w ith a mass at 6pm T h is l by a sum ptuous dinner at th e Orchid Country Club at 8pm. Reverend Father M ic h a e l Sitaram invites all parishioners al to p a rticip a te in th is ausp iciou s o ccasio n . Call Stephen (9815 7158) or Serene Ng (9789 7297I fo r reservations.

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discernment of its pastoral care of gay and lesbian persons.

An amendment introduced in the convention’s House of Bishops dropped language in the resolution that would have called for the Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music to develop rites for the blessing of same-sex relationships.

Bishop-elect V. Gene Robinson is pictured in a June 2002 file photo.

However, the amended resolution that was adopted included the statement, “We recognize that local faith communities are operating within the bounds of our common life as they explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same-sex unions.”

The confirmation of Bishopelect Robinson has divided members and leaders of the U.S. church and of the Anglican Communion around the world.

The primate of the communion, Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, warned of a possible schism the day of the confirmation vote and urged church leaders to “consider this development before significant and irrevocable decisions are made.” □ cns

CatholicN ews □

Sundays August 31 and Septem ber 7, 2003

PhotoNews Love and mercy are God’slast word, always CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy - Pope John Paul II blesses pilgrims in traditional Siberian dress during his weekly audience at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug. 13.

Speaking at his weekly general audience Aug. 13, the pope said God may punish his people occasionally as a way to show them they need to mend their ways, but his love and mercy always have the last word.

Conversion and a commitment to working for justice are the gateways to experiencing God’s

love, which brings serenity and hope, he advised.

“God uses punishment as a means to call deaf sinners back to the correct path,” the pope said.

“In his justice, God is not indifferent to the evil perpetrated by human beings and, in different ways, he calls them to conversion

and to walking the paths of truth and goodness.”

“Nevertheless, God’s last word remains that of love and pardon,” the pope said. “His deepest desire is to be able to embrace again his rebelling children who turn to him with a repentant heart.” □ c n s

Safe haven during blackout NEW YORK - People rest on the steps of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan (above) Aug. 15, the morning following a night without electricity in New York. The church remained open through the night.

Some who could not make it home after the blackout said the reason they stayed at the church was because they felt safe there.

The worst in U.S. history, the outage left several U.S. and Canadian cities without electricity, some for more than 24 hours.

Below, Franciscan Fathers Vincent Laviano and Joseph Hertel assist New York workers with refreshments. □ c n s

Want to live to be 100?

LEOMINSTER, Mass. - How do you live to

be 100? “Follow the rules - health rules, church rules and common ordinary sense rules,” said Sister Mary Juliana Woods, who celebrated that milestone July 31 with a Mass and party.

On Aug. 2, the Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary marked 100 years as a Christian. “I was baptized at two days old.” she said.

Sister Woods said she can no longer see well enough to read prayers. But she is better off than she expected. She can’t move fast, but “I don’t creep along.”

Asked what changes she has found most amazing in 100 years, Sister Woods replied, “Radio and TV and the cars.” c n s

CNS Photos

On 27 Septem ber at 8pm sharp, the parish of St V ince n t De Paul w ill be c e le b ra tin g its 40th A n n ive rsa ry w ith a sum ptuous din n e r at the O rchid Country Club. Reverend Father M ic h a e l Sitaram invite s all parish io n e rs and th e ir fa m ilie s to p a rtic ip a te in th is auspicious occasio n . Call Stephen (9815 7158) o r Serene Ng 19789 7297) fo r reservations.

Sundays August 31 and Septem ber 7, 2003 □ CatholicNews

Current Issues

BIBLE CONDEMNS CONTRACEPTION (The Levirate law of Judaism prescribed that if the oldest brother died, the next oldest, single brother would marry his

By Fr. William P. Saunders widow to preserve the family line.) The Bible reads, “Onan, N EXPLAINING the however, knew that the church’s teaching about descendants would not be counted contraception, many as his; so whenever he had people mistakenly think relations with his brother’s widow, that this teaching is relatively new, something whichhe wasted his seed on the ground, to avoid contributing offspring for occurred with Humanae Vitae in his brother. What he did greatly 1968. Other people, from a more offended the Lord, and the Lord fundamentalist bent, want to know took his life.” (Cf. Genesis if there is any basis in Sacred 38:Iff). Here is a basic form of Scripture for these teachings. In contraception — withdrawal, and reviewing both Sacred Scripture as clearly a sin in the eyes of God. well as the history of our church’s Interestingly, the Protestant teaching in this area, one finds a tradition cited this story as a basis very positive and solid foundation. for condemning any form of Concerning “What does the contraception.Martin Luther Bible have to say?” the very commented, “Onan...spilled his positive presentation concerning seed. That was a sin greater than creation, marital love, and adultery or incest, and it provoked covenant emerges from the texts God to such fierce wrath that he of Sacred Scripture. However, we destroyed him immediately” also discover references to many (Commentary on Genesis). In violation of the unitive-procreative another work, he wrote, “For dimensions of marital love and to Onan goes in to her, that is, he lies the divine consequences which with her and copulates, and when followed. In Genesis, we find the it comes to the point of story of Onan, the second son of insemination, spills the semen, lest Judah, who married Tamar, the the woman conceive. Surely at widow of his older brother Er.

F ollow ing is p a rt fiv e in a sixp a rt series on contraception.

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such a time the order of nature established by God in procreation should be followed” (Works).

John Calvin also commented on the story of Onan: “The voluntary spilling of semen outside of intercourse between

Protestant leaders Martin Luther (left) and John Calvin also taught that contraception was gravely wrong. man and woman is a monstrous thing. Deliberately to withdraw from coitus in order that semen may fall on the ground is doubly monstrous. For this is to extinguish the hope of the race and to kill before he is bom and hoped-for offspring”

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(Commentary on Genesis).

Interestingly, two of the leaders of the Protestant movement both condemned a practice which suppressed the procreative dimension of marital love.

History further illuminates the church’s position on this subject.

Anthropological studies show that means of contraception existed in antiquity. Medical papyri described various contraceptive methods used in China in the year 2700 BC

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and in Egypt in the year 1850 BC. Soranos (AD 98-139), a Greek physician from Ephesus, described seventeen medically approved methods of contraception. Also at this time, abortion and infanticide were not uncommon practices in the Roman Empire.

The early Christian community upheld the sanctity of marriage, marital love, and human life. In the New Testament, the word p harm akeia appears, which some scholars link to the birth control issue. Pharmakeia denotes the mixing of potions for secretive purposes, and from Soranos and others, evidence exists of artificial birth control potions. Interestingly, pharmakeia is oftentimes translated as “sorcery” in English. In the three passages in which pharmakeia appears, other sexual sins are also condemned: lewd conduct, impurity, licentiousness, orgies, “and the like.” (Confer Galatians 5:19-21.) This evidence highlights that the early church condemned anything which violated the integrity of marital love.

Further evidence is found in the Didache, also called the Teachings of the Twelve Apostles, written about the year AD 80. This book was the church’s first manual of morals, liturgical norms, and doctrine. In the first section, two ways are proposed - the way of life and the way of death. In following the way of life, the Didache exhorts, “You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal.

You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure abortion, nor destroy a new-born child. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods....”

Again scholars link such phrases as “practise magic” and “use potions” with contraceptives.

In all, the Catholic Church as well as other Christian denominations condemned the use of contraceptive means until the twentieth century. The first Christian denomination to approve contraception was the Church of England or Episcopalian Church.

At the Aug. 14, 1930 Lambeth Conference of Bishops of the Anglican Church, a resolution was passed which allowed the use of methods to limit the size of families “where there is a clearlyfelt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood.” The “primary and obvious method” was considered “complete abstinence from intercourse...in a life of discipline and self-control lived in the power of the Holy Spirit”; however, other methods could also be used, namely artificial means.

Bishop Brent gave an impassioned plea stating that if the resolution passed, soon contraception would be allowed for any reason and the decision would give way to selfish rationalization. Interestingly, Following the Lambeth Conference decision, T. S. Eliot commented, “The world is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized, but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail, but we must be very patient in waiting its collapse” (Thoughts after Lambeth).

In response to the Church of England’s approval of contraception, Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical Casti Connubii on Dec. 31, 1930, stating: “Since, therefore, openly departing from the uninterrupted Christian tradition some recently have judged it possible solemnly to declare another doctrine regarding this question, the Catholic Church, to whom God has entrusted the defense of the integrity and purity of morals, standing erect in the midst of the moral ruin which surrounds her, in order that she may preserve the chastity of the nuptial union from being defiled by this foul stain, raises her voice in token of her divine ambassadorship and through our mouth proclaims anew: any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offence against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin.”

A renewed challenge to the church’s teaching came with the approval of the anovulant pill in 1960. This historical survey will continue next issue. □ A r l i n g t o n CATHOLIC HERALD

[Father William Saunders is dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College and pastor of O ur Lady of Hope Parish in Sterling, Virginia.]

CatholicN ews □

Sundays August 31 and Septem ber 7, 2003

9

eeml Report

CATHOLIC

SOCIALTEACHING Ten principles of Catholic social thought

By Father William Byron SJ

PRINCIPLES, once internalized, lead to something. They prompt activity and direct choices. The point of laying out principles of Catholic social thought is to clarify the basis for action, social action, on the part of Catholic believers. Catholics are called to live their faith in the world, to translate their “credenda” (what must be believed) into an “agenda” (what must be done).

A wise, witty observer of the human condition once remarked that the trouble with the world is that “the people who do all the thinking never act, and the people who do all the acting never think!”

Thinking Catholics, once they realize that the church’s social teaching is an essential part of their faith, must face up to the challenge of putting legs under their beliefs - “walking the talk,” as the saying goes - and doing something to reduce obstacles to the coming of Christ’s kingdom of justice and peace.

No one believer has to be active on all fronts. But the community of believers, in the sum of all its wonderful parts, must act for justice, and each believer has a share in this responsibility.

The principle of respect for human life drives all social action aimed at protecting the unborn and defending each unique human being’s right to life through all stages of life.

#

Human dignity

for the use of others in the human community. Capital never should consume the human person.

Labour and capital interact for productive purposes, but human persons must never be ground under on the road to economic THE CORNERSTONE, the “progress.” foundation of the entire body of Catholic social teaching Catholic social doctrine is human endorses and supports the right of dignity. workers to organize. There is a Every human being is created proper role for free trade unions in in God’s image. Every person — giving labor a voice in wages and regardless of race, sex, age, working conditions. Substandard health, ethnicity, religion, sexual wages, unsafe and inhuman orientation, employment, working conditions constitute an economic or social status, assault on human dignity. intelligence, achievement or any Exploitation of workers, other differentiating characteristic discrimination in hiring and — has inherent dignity and is promotion, incivility, harassment worthy of respect. and deceit in the workplace — all It is not what we do or have these negate basic human dignity. that gives us a claim to respect.

Individuals are capable of Being human establishes our denying their own human dignity dignity. In the Catholic view the at work and elsewhere. Some human person is never a means, things we do to “make a buck,” but always an end. get the upper hand or take unfair Catholic social teaching begins advantage of others are done at a with the human person, but does price to our own human dignity. not end there. For in emphasizing The church’s official prayer individual human dignity the (Daytime prayer on Mondays) church does not endorse would have the worker - salaried individualism, a term that suggests or hourly, manager or anyone imbalance, an overemphasis on down the line - pray these words the individual to the neglect of the to the Lord: “Work is your gift to larger community. us, a call to reach new heights by The present focus on using our talents for the good of Singapore’s employment all.... Teach us to live in the spirit situation provides a useful that has made us your sons and context for considering the daughters, in the love that has principle of human dignity. made us brothers and sisters.”

Work is for the worker, not That prayer presupposes the other way around. - Capital is respect for human dignity and for the human person, to be used commitment to justice every day in producing goods and services of the year.

Respect for human life PRINCIPLED behavior is human action based on an internalized conviction.

Deep in the heart of Catholic social doctrine is the principle of respect for human life. This principle rests on the conviction that human life from the moment of conception through death is sacred.

This conviction drives all social action aimed at protecting the unbom and defending each unique human being’s right to life through all stages of life.

Honest people in society do differ on whether a human person is present from the moment of conception. That is a biological and philosophical question that can never be settled by political argument.

Catholic doctrine is clear, however, that a human life, worthy of respect, is present from the moment of conception. A human embryo is a human being.

And Catholic practice regarding embryonic human life is guided by the same respect the tradition accords a fully formed human person.

It seems to me that “pro-life” and “pro-choice” are political labels of diminishing utility. The Catholic tradition is pro life and pro moral choice in every area of human decision making.

The abortion debate, particularly in the political arena, requires the light of solid moral arguments before choices are made. Emotions can understandably run high when issues of human life and death are under discussion, but heated debate has to be cooled by moral reasoning if personal and policy decisions that respect human dignity and human life are to emerge.

Catholic social thought weaves what is called a “consistent life ethic.” It embraces the unbom, the weak and poor, the elderly and infirm; it speaks to life-and-death issues associated with war and weaponry, death and dying, incarceration and capital punishment.

Catholic social thought calls for conviction and consistency across the board on life issues.

Moreover, Catholic social thought looks to issues such as violence, denial of health care, carelessness regarding automobile speed and safety, toleration of hunger and neglect of either personal or public health as respect-for-life issues.

A respect-life perspective looks to life’s beginning and end

stages; it stretches from the abortion issue to euthanasia.

Rarely, if ever, will public policies reflect 100 percent agreement with Catholic values.

To expect the end result of a political process to match perfectly with the moral convictions Catholic social thought embodies is unrealistic.

It would be quite realistic, however, for Catholics to adopt a social-action strategy that devotes intellectual energy to the development of moral arguments that can be used by moral leaders in their task of moral persuasion aimed at building a consensus broad enough to support public policies that demonstrate a genuine respect for life.

Catholic social teaching holds that it is morally impermissible directly to attack, with intent to destroy, innocent human life.

Moving from that moral principle to a political (art-of-the possible, community standard-setting) position requires careful moral reasoning and powerful moral persuasion.

Action without thought and thought without action will be equally ineffective in this regard.

In a participative and representative democracy, the law often permits anti-life policies that go against a national consensus on respect for life. The challenge facing Catholic social action is to influence that consensus in the direction of respect for life and to participate in democratic processes aimed at reducing the range of permissibility of anti-life behaviour.

Meanwhile, individual Catholics and the broader Catholic community have to meet the challenge of providing good respect-for-life example. Catholic acceptance and advocacy of abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment and the unjustifiable use of force only serve to contradict Catholic social doctrine and delay the removal of these obstacles to the coming of God’s promised kingdom of justice and peace.

Jesuit Father William Byron is pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Washington, D.C. Father Byron, a noted economist, formerly was distinguished professor of the practice of ethics at Georgetown University. He is a former president of The Catholic University of America and the University of Scranton.

Sundays August 31 and Septem ber 7, 2003 □ CatholicNew s

10

#

Participation Everyone has a part to play in the making of a good society.

“PARTICIPATION,” as the first four letters in the word suggest, means “taking part.” The word hints at the idea of partnership, but doesn’t claim full partnership status for all participants in all decision-making processes.

Catholic social teaching holds that everyone has a part to play in the making of a good society. Each person has a right not to be shut out from participating in those institutions that are necessary for human fulfillment. Nor should anyone be excluded from participation in the decisions and formation of policies that directly affect his or her personal human development.

This principle applies in a special way to conditions associated with work because it is in and through work that the individual participates in God’s creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, the basic rights of workers - the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to own private property, to take economic initiatives - must be protected.

Also important (and of special relevance to those of voting age) is the question of voter participation in elections that determine public policy and elect public officials. This is democracy’s way of getting things done. It works best with full voter participation. It cannot work well if voter nonparticipation gives away the political store to those who care little about the common good.

Failure to register to vote, coupled with nonparticipation by registered voters, hands control of the process over to those who resist campaign finance reform and consider themselves entitled to the best government money can buy.

Although money can pollute the political process, it is necessary to move the wheels of commerce. Here again participation is important.

Every day in the marketplace there is a national referendum on taste, style, standards, safety, quality and the characteristics of anything else that can be sold. If enough good people buy the kind of food, drink, clothing, housing, transportation, books, magazines and entertainment that meet the standards of a good society, we will enjoy a good and wholesome way of life.

- Low voter participation permits relatively few citizens to control political outcomes.

- Low buyer participation in markets for products and services that reflect high standards and solid values permits a spending minority to define our culture downward.

However, participation considerations extend beyond workplace, polling place and marketplace; they look to decision making in family, faith and civic communities as well.

The principle of participation can be negated in the family circle by a domineering spouse or parent.

It can be all but forgotten in a patriarchal parish. And it can be violated by discrimination against, or inattention toward, would-be participants in private clubs and civic organizations.

Denial of participation is one thing, refusal to participate is another and, in my view, the more common problem for most of us. Each of us is responsible for overcoming the inertia, hesitation, fear, selfishness or whatever else that holds us back from doing what should be done if we are to meet our responsibilities as participating human beings.

“Never volunteer for anything,” may have been good advice for nervous newcomers to military service in the days of the wartime draft. But faith urges us to help one another in the style of the Good Samaritan and to participate in some way in the political processes that can change unjust social structures or forge new and just ways of assuring peace and justice for all in the human community.

the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty” (Lk 1:52-53).

The story of the Last Judgment in Matthew (25:31-46) is, all would agree, an important part of our faith tradition. From its earliest days, the church taught that we will be judged for what we choose to do or not do regarding the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger seeking shelter and the naked needing clothes. We will be judged for our success or failure in visiting the sick and prisoners.

Faith tells us that we touch Christ when we touch the needy. Our

members has not ceased to work for their relief, defense and liberation through numerous works of charity which remain indispensable.”

Why preferential love? Because the common good requires it.

If the good of all, the common good, is to prevail, preferential protection must move toward those affected adversely by the absence of power and the presence of privation.

Otherwise the balance needed to keep society in one piece will be broken to the detriment of the whole.

Any parent knows what preferential love means. The

We will be judged for what we chose to do or not do regarding the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger seeking shelter and the naked needing clothes. CNS photos

Preferential protection for the poor and vulnerable LUKE’S Gospel frequently highlights Jesus’ preferential posture toward the poor. In Chapter 6:20, Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.”

Later (14:13) Luke has Jesus telling his dinner host to “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,” and then “blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.”

And who could miss the point of the famous parable of the rich man Dives and the poor man Lazarus (16:19-26)?

The poor seem to attract the preferential love of the Lord because they tend more readily to accept his message.

Why is a preference for the poor so hard for modem Catholics to accept as part of their faith? Even at Christmastime most contemporary Catholics are charmed by the poetry of Mary’s Magnificat but fail to grasp the implications of her praise for a Lord who “has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up

Catholic faith instructs us to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church emphasizes this in words taken directly from an instruction issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF, “Libertatis Conscientia,” 68): In its various forms ... human misery is the obvious sign of the inherited condition of frailty and need for salvation in which man finds himself as a consequence of original sin. This misery elicited the compassion of Christ the Savior, who willingly took it upon himself and identified himself with the least of his brethren. Hence, those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the church, which since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her

vulnerable 3-year-old gets preference over the more self-sufficient older sibling under certain circumstances.

So the church is asking nothing unusual, unfamiliar or extraordinary when it calls for preferential love of the poor and vulnerable.

For those who find this truth hard, the words of Pope John Paul II might be reassuring: “Love for the poor must be preferential, but not exclusive” (“Ecclesia in America,” 1999).

Those who happen not to be poor should never make the mistake of thinking that the Lord doesn’t love them dearly. They should simply make the commitment to show their gratitude to God for all their good fortune by using their gifts to do what they can to reduce the scourge of poverty in the world.

Human equality

,

An important step in poverty’s reduction is the provision of sound education.

HUMAN equality derives from the principle of human dignity.

Differences in talents possessed by human persons are a part of God’s plan, but discrimination at the level of fundamental human rights is not.

Our natural endowments - what we bring with us into the world explain what might be called “natural differences” in the human community. They make possible a variety that enriches the human condition.

Life, therefore, can often be uneven without necessarily being unfair or unjust; the unevenness makes life interesting and challenging, though it sometimes brings pain and sadness.

One person may be bom healthier or brighter than another, 1 but those natural advantages are not taken at the expense of the other.

It is possible, however, for one person’s gain to be the result of another person’s loss - for example, lost income for the many may well have provided funds for the enrichment of the few. Maybe, but not necessarily.

Unevenness in the world requires careful analysis before a given situation is declared unfair. The notion of equality raises in the popular mind an expectation of evenness - the even playing field, the even allocation of time to take the test.

Treating equals equally is one way of defining justice, which is also understood classically as rendering to each person his or her due.

Underlying the notion of equality is the simple principle of fairness.

The principle of human equality', might just as well be called the principle of fairness or principle o f 1 justice.

Persistent income inequality points to poverty. Can poverty ever be said to be fair? Just?

A simple definition of poverty is “sustained deprivation.” In answer to the follow-up question “Deprived of what?”- income, shelter, nutrition, health care, education and employment come , immediately to mind.

The more probing question, “Sustained by what (or by whom)?” calls attention to possible discrimination, or systemic and structural obstacles in society that are symptoms of something other than unevenness; they point to injustices.

Catholics, the bearers of this tradition of Catholic social thought, clearly believe in the importance of education — not simply religious education to protect and cultivate faith, but education of every person’s

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full human potential for enjoyment of a full and productive human life.

You will search in vain for a person who is well educated and also involuntarily poor. Hence, an important strategic step in poverty’s reduction (a social-justice issue) is the provision of sound education.

B Measures also must be taken to provide jobs, housing, good nutrition and health care, but education can ^ break the cycle of poverty.

Not just basic education is strategically important, higher education is the key to closing the widening gap between high- and low-income families. The principle of human equality will serve to drive ■ a sustained effort to reduce income inequality through more, better and higher education.

One simple image helps in detecting injustice. You see it on lawyers’ paperweights and office insignia. It is the familiar trays in balance on a scale: the scales of justice. If the trays are even, the situation is just. If there is a downside gain taken at the expense of the upside tray, the situation is unjust and calls for compensatory measures.

The familiar figure of the tall, blindfolded woman with extended arm holding the evenly balanced trays, symbolizes the impartiality of the law.

The lawyer’s job is to promote just relationships, to even up the trays. The good Catholic, committed to the promotion of social justice, has the job of applying strategically . the principle of human equality for the good of the human community.

Solidarity A response of both charity and justice is needed to heal a broken world.

THE PRINCIPLE of solidarity J translates the familiar “love-yourneighbor” commandment to global dimensions in the interdependent ^ world each of us inhabits. We are indeed our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.

We are one large and growing human family. And we seem to be seeing more of the family these days as we find ourselves ever more frequently in the air, or on the road, rails and seas for business or pleasure.

Travel any distance in any direction and your eyes are opened wider to the beauty and diversity, as well as the wealth and misery of those with whom, whether you realize it or not, you are locked hand-in-hand by virtue of your common possession of the same human nature.

Deepening that realization is an important first step to assimilating this key social principle.

The principle of solidarity functions as a moral category

prompting expressions of sharing and caring; it leads to moral choices promoting and protecting the universal common good.

The following words - not from Pope John Paul II, who speaks so often of solidarity as a moral category, but from Pope Pius XII are instructive: “(An error) today abundantly widespread is disregard for the law of human solidarity and charity, dictated and imposed by our common origin and by the equality in rational nature of all men, whatever nation they belong to. This law is sealed by the sacrifice of redemption offered by Jesus Christ ... on behalf of sinful humanity” (“Summi Pontificatus,” 1939).

Notice that this quotation speaks of a law of charity, an obligation to act out of a motive of charity.

Justice, however, also is involved in the principle of solidarity.

Societal injustices, not just personal or individual misfortunes, trouble the human community. A response of both charity and justice is needed to heal a broken world.

Pope John Paul II, in “Sollicitudo Rei Socialis” (“On Social Concern”), associated himself with the view of his predecessor Pope Paul VI, whose encyclical “Populorum Progressio” (“On the Development of Peoples”) spoke of the “duty of solidarity” as a moral obligation.

Because of our solidarity with all other humans, wrote John Paul II, “political leaders and citizens of rich countries considered as individuals, especially if they are Christians, have ‘the moral obligation,’ according to the degree of each one’s responsibility, to ‘take into consideration,’ in personal decisions and decisions of government, this relationship of universality, this interdependence which exists between their conduct and the poverty and underdevelopment of so many millions of people” (“Sollicitudo Rei Socialis,” No. 9, emphasis in the original).

Admittedly that prose is a bit turgid and the concepts somewhat abstract, but give the encyclicals a chance to form your social conscience.

To take an altogether different perspective on this matter, consider how human solidarity is evident in the shared effects of original sin.

The reason we all have to carry the baggage left behind by the sin of our first parents is because we inherited the burden. We are all related to one another; we have the same human nature.

Think for a moment, in a not exclusively secular context, of the Solidarity movement in Poland. It had a lot to do with the fall of communism in Europe in our own day. Sure, it was a free trade union movement, and there is nothing all that religious in that. But it was also a faith-inspired exercise of Christian freedom demonstrating the incompatibility of totalitarian rule and democracy.

A popular religious spirit, with the encouragement of the Polish pope, enabled democracy to prevail.

using your wealth for the good of others.

Think as well of the natural environment that literally surrounds you. Your stewardship responsibility looks out, and up, and all around.

“Sustainability” is the word to keep in mind. Since life itself is dependent on this environment, it must be used, but used with great care to assure that it will be there to sustain the life of future generations.

Use of the word “humans” in that last sentence may prompt some to wonder if our stewardship responsibilities apply only to the welfare of humans. No, there is a human responsibility for the preservation of plant and animal life too, but our faith tradition understands God’s plan as providing plant and animal life for the enrichment of human life. Hence in caring for nature, humans care for themselves.

“Stewardship” is a wonderful word that holds great potential for prompting - if not pushing - us to work together to build an even more wonderful world.

Subsidiarity Since life itself is dependent on the environment, it must be used with great care to ensure that it will be there to sustain the life of future generations.

Stewardship OUR CATHOLIC faith tradition urges us to show both gratitude and respect to the Creator by exercising proper stewardship of creation. The fundamental idea of stewardship is this: Wealth possessed is held in trust for others.

The possession of assets - material or spiritual, physical or intellectual involves serious social responsibilities.

The greater the wealth, the more awesome the responsibility.

Moreover, the human person’s coexistence with gifts of creation that he or she does not own but depends upon for the maintenance of life — woodlands, croplands, grasslands, air, water and all the other assets that are part of “natural creation” — implies a stewardship relationship of the individual toward the environment.

The steward is a manager, not an owner. This truth is grounded in the first verse of Psalm 24: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”

Another rendering of this verse puts it this way: “The earth is the Lord’s and all it holds, the world and those who live there.”

Ownership is proper to God. Use of all our wealth is God’s gift to us.

We are stewards, not owners.

From a theological perspective it is apparent that no one of us owns

anything absolutely. God owns everything you possess, despite the fact that your name appears on the legal title.

Private ownership is necessary for the orderly conduct of affairs in any person’s transit through life. Not to be forgotten, however, is the fundamental fact of God’s sole ownership not only of “the earth” but also of all that the earth contains.

This means that God owns the mineral deposits and also all that is produced or fabricated from the earth’s natural endowment. Similarly, our intellectual property - the ideas generated by our creative but created human minds - also belongs to God. Return now to the fundamental idea of stewardship, namely, that wealth possessed is held in trust for others. Everyone has some wealth.

All have wealth of mind and body.

Like other assets, these are subject to depletion. Good stewards care for them and use them well so long as time permits.

Think of all your personal assets, and consider how well you are cultivating, caring for and preserving them, and think also of how you are using those assets in the service of others. Once you acknowledge that they are God’s gifts to you, you cannot avoid declaring yourself to be “much obliged.”

Your obligation is both to say thanks to God (as well as “make thanks” ritually in the Eucharist) and to “do thanks” in a practical demonstration of your gratitude by

THE PRINCIPLE of subsidiarity serves to keep government in its place and points to the importance of private voluntary associations.

The great social encyclical “Quadragesimo Anno” (issued by Pope Pius XI in 1931 on the 40th anniversary of the publication of Pope Leo XIII’s “Rerum Novarum”) refers to subsidiarity as “that most weighty principle, which cannot be set aside or changed, [and which] remains fixed in social philosophy” (No. 79).

It is wrong, this principle would say, for a higher level of organization to perform any function that can be handled effectively and efficiently at a lower level of organization by those who are closer to the problem and closer to the ground. This is a solid democratic principle, a safeguard against both left-wing collectivism and right-wing totalitarianism.

Oppressive governments are always in violation of the principle of subsidiarity; overactive governments frequently violate this principle.

This is not to say that no government is the desirable goal. Nor does it suggest that big government is never justified. The U.S. Social Security Act of 1935 was a “big government” initiative that showed then and continues to display respect for the principle of subsidiarity.

A major new monument in Washington, D.C., frames the years of the Great Depression in sculpture and inscriptions related to the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The FDR Memorial occupies seven open-air acres of land near the Tidal Basin.

The designer created four architectural “rooms” representing each of FDR’s four terms as president.

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o pedal Repoi In the section dedicated to the second term, 1937-40, one sculpture depicts a bread line: five bronze figures of men with overcoat collars turned up, eyes and hat brims turned down, shoulders bent as they line up against a soup kitchen’s brick wall waiting for the door to open.

Each time I’ve visited this place, I’ve seen tour buses unloading platoons of school children. The youngsters invariably move toward that bread line and insert themselves between the bronze figures to pose for their souvenir snapshots. The irony is striking.

The sculptured figures represent the great grandfathers of these children of affluence. These fun-loving children would not have the health, wealth, education, economic security and long life expectancy that they take for granted had not government, in the form of Social Security and other strong executive and legislative initiatives, stepped in to do something during the Great Depression to combat poverty and protect the elderly, people with disabilities and the survivors of breadwinners who lost their lives.

No individual or group, no lower levels of governmental or private organizations could have done what Social Security began to do in 1935.

But here we are in the new millennium. Both government and private-sector initiatives are still necessary. Needed also are private voluntary associations. The principle of subsidiarity is still necessary if higher levels of decision making are to be kept from overreaching and from crushing those below.

Individuals often feel helpless in the face of daunting societal problems: homelessness, hunger, addiction, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment. But individuals also pay taxes. With all due regard for subsidiarity, the governmental entity that collects those taxes can help the conscientious citizen “do something” about those problems by applying government resources, effectively and efficiently, to meet major social problems that otherwise would go unattended.

[In Singapore,effective government from the 1960s , initially in a self-governing and then in a fully independent state , was able to make the policies and marshall the resources that enabled most Singaporeans to find employment, educate their children, enjoy some of the best healthcare in the world, own homes and have savings to help them pay for expenses during their retirement.Only a national government could have made these possible.]

Subsidiarity calls for justice and responsibility at all levels. It applies, I should also note, to church as well as state, and to the family as well as to the organizations where family members earn their living or get their education.

CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING

The common good The individual has the obligation to contribute to the common good and the right to participate in society’s benefits.

CONTEMPORARY Catholic social thought, building on Aristotle and Aquinas, understands and applies the notion of the “common good” in a common-sense way.

In its Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modem World, Vatican Council II explained the common good as “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment” (No. 26). The council immediately added that this principle relates to “the general welfare of the whole human family.”

Sally Spalatin-Moore, of Malibu, Calif., has 10 “Credenda/ Agenda” (“Things to Believe/Things to Do”) principles posted on her family’s refrigerator door. One says, “Your choices must foster the universality of the common good.”

Another says, “The common good insists upon a global family.”

It is quite natural for families (and voters) to see the world through their respective kitchen windows. It is unusual, however, for the ordinary citizen’s worldview to be truly global.

Respect for the person is one piece of the common good. Also included is the promotion of conditions that encourage development of the full human potential of all persons in all circumstances.

Another important part of the common good is the maintenance, by public authority, of peace and security.

In our day, however, the principle of the common good has taken on global proportions by reaching beyond family and neighborhood to cross regional and national boundaries.

What constitutes the common good in a particular set of circumstances and a given historical context always will be debatable. But if there is no debate - if there is an absence of concern for or sensitivity to the common good in public discourse - then you have a clear indication that society stands in need of help.

As a sense of community erodes, concern for the common good declines. This is an obvious danger in an age of individualism.

The common good of society as a whole can be likened to the

Catholic social action always will work to promote family stability and defend the family against any potentially destructive forces. C N S p h o t o balance that is not simply desirable but necessary for both wheel and tire on an automobile. Perfect balance means safe progress whenever the wheels are in motion.

Both driver and mechanic take the whole tire, the entire wheel, into consideration when they inspect tires for safety and road readiness.

The New Dictionary of Catholic Social Thought, edited by Judith A. Dryer (Michael Glazier Books, 1994) contains an interesting article on the common good. It makes the point that recent teaching presents two complementary themes relative to this concept, namely, the individual’s obligation to contribute to the common good and the right of the individual to participate in society’s benefits.

For better or worse, all of us in the human community are in the same boat. All of us have to work to keep it afloat and pull our respective oars if progress is to be achieved. Turn again to the Constitution on the Church in the Modem World (Nos. 25, 30) for further instruction on this point: The good of each person is bound up with the good of the community, and the obligations of justice and love are fulfilled when each person contributes to the common good in accord with his or her abilities and in light of the needs of others.

Commitment to the common good is the ultimate selfimprovement programme!

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Association CATHOLIC social teaching views the human person as both sacred and social.

You will notice how most of the word “social” is lodged right there in the middle of a larger word, “association.” You might also note that “association” derives from the Latin preposition “ad,” meaning “to” or “toward,” together with another Latin word, “socius,” meaning “companion.”

Association, accordingly, means “toward companionship.” It implies social contact.

Association involves being with others, enjoying the companionship of others, working with others, sharing life, joy, energy and responsibility with others.

Our faith tradition recognizes that how we organize our society economically, socially, politically and legally will affect each person’s capacity to be with others and to grow in community.

For any human person, it all begins with family. Our social doctrine points to family as the centerpiece of society. That is why Catholic social action always will work to promote family stability and defend the family against any

potentially destructive forces.

By association with others in a family, the human person begins the process of socialization. That process continues on through school and work and all the stages of life. It continues by association with others in social institutions that foster growth, protect dignity and promote the common good.

This is how human persons achieve their fulfillment: in relationships with others, in companionship with others.

How many times have you heard the words “I (or we) don’t associate with” this group or that, this person or another? In the Gospel story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn 4:5-30), the writer felt compelled to explain that Jesus was breaking new ground in meeting alone and speaking with this woman because, as is written in Verse 9, “Jews do not associate with Samaritans.”

That was just one of the many divisions Jesus wanted to close.

Association brings people together.

By association, individuals overcome isolation. If association is denied, the path to a fuller life is foreclosed.

Phone books list all kinds of associations. They reflect an impressively broad range of human activity.

There are associations that use other labels like “league,” “union,” “federation,” “council” or “conference.” Regardless of the name, the purpose is the same: to unite people for a purpose, and at bottom the purpose is some kind of enhancement of human life and advancement of human growth.

Catholic social teaching has a nice link at this juncture with Catholic sacramental theology.

Association relates to companionship, and companionship, in the Catholic view, relates to Eucharist.

Eucharist is a bread-breaking ritual. Those who gather around the altar to remember their Lord “in the breaking of the bread” are indeed bread breakers .There is a Latin phrase, “cum pane,” that describes what believers are about when, with bread, they give praise and thanks to God. That same phrase, “cum pane,” is hidden at the heart of the more familiar word “company.”

What a revolution it would be if bread-breaking believers carried the spirit of their Sunday companionship into the companies where they go to work on Monday morning! And what a denial of eucharistic unity it is if Sunday’s bread breakers choose not to associate with other humans they judge to be inferior or deny access to others, for any prejudicial reason, to employment, education, housing or health care.

This Catholic social principle of association can be a powerful force in removing some of those troublesome societal obstacles that block the path of God’s coming kingdom, the promised kingdom of justice, love and peace. □ c n s

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J 'm i i w i k f ir iy y w k !

By David DiCerto FABLED Arabian swashbuckler Sinbad crosses swords with a mischievous goddess in order to retrieve a powerful magic book in the animated adventure “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas”.

Despite a star-powered cast lending their pipes and polished animation, directors Tim Johnson and Patrick Gilmore’s lukewarm story lacks both the character and narrative development required to qualify it as one of the seven animated wonders of the ancient world.

The fanciful tale centers on Sinbad (voiced by Brad Pitt), dashing daredevil of the “Arabian Nights,” who, on this cinematic voyage, trades in his flying carpet for the helm of the Chimera and its motley crew of fun-loving pirates, itching for some time off from pillaging and plundering.

The loot that will punch their tickets to fun in the sun, a priceless leather-bound volume called the “Book of Peace”, is en route to Syracuse, a mythic realm, part Byzantium, part Camelot. The only problem is, the treasured tome is being escorted by the gallant Proteus (voiced by Joseph Fiennes), heir to the throne of Syracuse and Sinbad’s former childhood chum.

It is revealed that their friendship went sour and that the two have not seen each other in 10 years. All is forgotten when a

N u n s a p o lo g iz e f o r p o o r tr e a tm e n t o f g ir ls , b u t film

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By Mark Pattison - The U.S. branch of the Sisters of Mercy has issued an apology for how some members of their order in Ireland treated young women and girls entrusted to them in what were called “Magdalene laundries.”

The laundries were so named because many of the young women were sent away to live at convents to wash and iron laundry as a penance for sins real or imagined - such as giving birth out of wedlock or acting flirtatiously - with the laundry work analogous to Mary Magdalene’s tears washing Jesus’ feet.

The Magdalene laundries flourished in Ireland throughout the 1900s; the last was closed in 1996. It was “a time in the history of the Catholic Church and religious orders of which we are not proud,” said the apology from the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, which is based in Silver Spring, Md., a Washington suburb.

“As women religious committed to mercy and justice throughout the world, we

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Legend Of The Seven Seas

The film promotes a child-friendly theme about the value of friendship sea monster attacks, stymieing Sinbad’s shot at filching the book from under Proteus’ nose. After barely escaping a watery grave in the squid-like behemoth’s tentacles, Sinbad is offered a deal by Eris (voiced by Michelle Pfeiffer), the goddess of chaos, who also has designs for the mystical manuscript — if he steals the book for her, she’ll guarantee him that he and his mates will retire in style. All of this has little to do with the book itself, and everything to do with stirring up trouble: What else is an immortal to do for a little fun?

Sinbad and his boys sail on to Syracuse, crashing Proteus’ welcome-home bash with plans to pilfer the book, which has been set in the city’s well-guarded citadel. At the party Sinbad is introduced to Proteus’ beautiful betrothed, Marina (voiced by Catherine Zeta-Jones). One look from her doe-like eyes makes the cocksure cad want to amend his thievin’ ways. But Eris trumps

grieve with all victims of the Magdalene laundries and pray that they experience God’s comfort and healing in their lives,” the statement said.

“We are deeply saddened to hear the stories of some of the women who were so obviously hurt by the entirety of what happened to them. We sincerely apologize for any and all injustices that may have occurred,” it added.

The Sisters of Mercy of the Americas have 5,000 members serving in the Americas and Asia. The Mercy sisters were just one of many orders of women religious who ran Magdalene laundries in Ireland.

The apology coincides with the release of the movie “The Magdalene Sisters,” a docudrama on incidents that took place at the Magdalene laundries.

The movie’s director, Peter Mullan said that the women who worked in the laundries decades earlier “still felt stigmatized.”

“I wanted to do something for these women,” he said, so “at the very least, they could stand up and say, ‘We need not punish ourselves any further, we can go back to Mass with our heads held high.’

Which is really the saddest thing about this whole tragedy.

“Of all the survivors that I’ve met subsequently, that’s all they want,” he said.

“They’re not looking for money....

eros when the divine diva steals the book herself in the guise of Sinbad, framing him for the crime. Sinbad is sentenced to death, but too-noble-to-be-true Proteus, believing his friend was set up, valiantly offers to take his place at the chopping block, unless Sinbad can return in 10 days with the book.

In true heroic fashion, Sinbad sets a course for Tartarus, the netherworld abode of Eris, battling treacherous seas and fantastical creatures in pursuit of the perilous prize, proving that underneath his knavish facade is an honourable heart. The journey is complicated by a stowaway, Marina, who, it turns out, fancies the goateed rogue’s bad-boy magnetism to her prissy prince’s charm.

Fans who prefer the more traditionally drawn Disney-style animation to Pixar’s computer generated critters will not be disappointed. Drawing inspiration from both classical Greco-Roman and Arabian

folklore, the filmmakers have created an eclectic world, at once both realistic and mythic. The enchanting artwork is at its best when dealing with the film’s more fantastic elements. Eris slithers with serpentine fluidity, as do the ethereal Sirens, the mythological seductresses whose hypnotic songs lured sailors to death - envisioned here as fountain-like liquid femme fatales.

Special mention should also go to the surreal sequence in Tartarus, a Dali-inspired realm of shifting sands, littered with the ruins of ancient cities - the perfect digs for the goddess of chaos.

Pfeiffer steals the show as the deliciously devious deity. Pitt’s Sin-”Brad” is rather bland and takes a back seat to his more colorful crew. Zeta-Jones’ raspy voice is always a pleasure to listen to, even without any tunes for her to belt out - in fact, there aren’t any songs at all.

Several of the scenes, including a near­ shipwreck and the Tartarus sequences, may be distressing to the under-6 set. And while much of the plot hinges on a complex emotional triangle involving Sinbad, Proteus and Marina, the film promotes a tyke-friendly theme about the value of friendship, as well as imparting a strong message about honesty and selfless courage.

If you are trying to figure out what to do with one of your thousand and one nights, you might just want to see this film.

While it could have been better, it’s still not all that Sin- “bad.”

Due to some scary scenes, as well as complex emotional relationships, the U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II - adults and adolescents. □ c n s

A nun and her charges are depicted in a scene from the movie “The Magdalene Sisters,” which sensationalized apparently real incidents to the point of caricature and is classified as morally offensive by the USSCB. C N S p h o to

Primarily, they want to make peace with their God through the faith that they still know and believe in.”

These women, he said, “want a representative of the church to come in and sit down (with them), and say, ‘How long do you want me in for? A week? A month? A year? ‘Cause I’ll do it. I’ll talk you through everything (that happened) and I will personally take on the sins as committed by the Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, every priest that’s abused every child on the planet. I will personally live through that if it can make you realize that you, me, are equal before God.’” The Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gave the film a classification of O —

morally offensive — citing an exaggerated theme of abusive nuns, brutal beatings, sexual violence including rape and forced oral sex with a priest, an extended scene of dehumanizing full female nudity, an attempted suicide, sporadic rough language and brief profanity.

In their review of the film, Gerri Pare, director of the office, and David DiCerto, a staff critic, said the incidents were “sensationalized to the point of caricature.” The film, they added, was “better suited for the propagandist than the dramatist. Regrettably, drama is jettisoned along with objectivity since this kind of stacking the deck drains the narrative of any inner tension. The result is a cavalcade of cartoonish vignettes.” □

B iiu j m u iik ^ 4 Dili album

By Mark Pattison - John Michael Talbot may be the busiest monk since Trappist Father Thomas Merton.

Talbot has released his 46th album, “Signatures,” with 15 of his compositions that he rerecorded with the Sinfonia of London and St. Michael’s Singers from Coventry Cathedral.

A Catholic layman who heads the Arkansas monastic community he started, Talbot gives about 50 concerts a year.

He also has written 15 books and conducts retreats. And that’s just part of what he does.

Talbot acknowledged that in the face of a hectic ministry there is a continual challenge to lead a life of simplicity, which is the monk’s calling. In fact, he even refers to Father Merton in finding the spiritual sustenance he needs each day.

“Time with God is the most important reality in a believer’s life,” he told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from Eureka Springs, Ark., headquarters of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity, the community that Talbot founded. “But he’s the W A S H IN G T O N

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one who gets cut back.”

Talbot added, “I look to spend 20-30 minutes with God, two times a day if you can, once if that’s all you can do. Of those 20 minutes of prayer, two minutes are of contemplation. Thomas Merton said if you get those two minutes, that’s all you need.”

He said he has thought about how other religious figures fared with balancing the monastic life with their public ministry. “They all had to get out,” Talbot said, and “deal with all of the culture. I call it ‘using all things without attachment.’”

Over the years, simplicity has become “a fact of life” for Talbot.

For his concerts, “we roll into parishes in a big old tour bus.

There’s four to 12 people in a bus.

We do that because it’s cheaper. It makes touring fun and doable.”

The tour bus, Talbot said, “symbolizes everything I’m not,” but “this is how I’m reaching out to our culture. It’s an itinerant ministry.” And he sympathizes with rock and country artists who do 150-200 concert dates a year out of tour buses: “For them, that seemingly pretentious tour bus is their home.”

Talbot added that he does

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most of his television watching from hotel rooms on the road, but he said after a few days “you feel dull.” The bigger challenge, he said, is returning to the monastery. “Being in a hotel room, where someone cleans up after you, is addicting; ‘You mean I have to clean up the floor?”’

In the early 1970s, Talbot was part of the band Mason Proffit with his brother, Terry. Then, both embraced an evangelical brand of Christianity and started releasing albums infused with Christian themes. John Michael Talbot became a Catholic 25 years ago.

Talbot told CNS he doesn’t depend on the Christian Booksellers Association or the Gospel Music Association to sell his books and albums, but guessed from book and CD purchases at his concerts that 30 percent to 40 percent of his

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audience is Protestant. “Although nobody shows their (denominational membership) card,” he said with a laugh.

If the new album “Signatures” sells well, Talbot said he would like to return to London and do a second album rerecording his earlier music. He credited the Sinfonia of London with having an “intuitive” sense of the music.

Rerecording seemed like a good idea because, “after you perform the songs in thousands of

concerts, the songs grow.”

He admitted when he began his monastery, an integrated community of celibate and married monastics, “I had all those highfalutin’ ideas about what (monastic) life was.” It turned out, Talbot said, that it was “cooking dinner, washing windows, planting seeds, washing cars, doing dishes - doing the Lord’s service.”

It gets to a point, Talbot said, where in community you have to “grow a green bean for God.” He said his “false self’ might have been reduced after years of community life, but not eliminated. One of his flaws is impatience, he said, but he looks to the advice of Jean Vanier, Catholic philosopher and founder of L’Arche communities for the mentally handicapped: “Be a friend of time.”

“Everybody does come around to the right thing, even though it may not be my opinion of what’s right,” Talbot said.

Monastic life, Talbot added, requires a lengthy commitment.

“You’ve got to give it a good 10 years,” he said. “Most people will not get it in three to five years.

For we Americans, that’s too much for us. We’re fast-food Christians.” □ c n s

P

WITH THE CR ■ ■ 1 ■ ■■

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Catholic Charismatic Evangelist Jim Murphy carried a life-sized cros the United States. He will share his experiences on Unity, Renewal, a

Allow him to help you prepare for the Feast o T H E

T R IU M P H A N T

C R O

ilgrimage 3 nselization

‘

Sep 9, Tue / Sep 10, Wed / Sep 11 Thu / Sep 12 Fri / 7.45pm to 9.45pm Sep 13 Sat 9am to 4pm Workshop only for the parish organizations Sep 14 Sun Full-day seminar for SACCRE (Contact your prayer group for details, Church of the Holy Cross Clementi Avenue 1

Bro. M urphy will explain the need for Je s u s and how to a cce p t Him in our lives, how to serve w ith the Cross and how each of us can live fully w ith the Cross and be trium phant w ith it.

CatholicN ews □

Sundays August 31 and Septem ber 7, 2003

15

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CHILDREN’S STORY: “M y people,” said M oses as he looked around. Hundreds of people from children and elders to priests and leaders had gathered to hear what M oses had to say. M oses had told everyone to com e and hear him because he had a m essage from God. “People of Israel, hear the good news from the Lord. W e w ere once

captives in Egypt.

Since God freed us w e have been searching for a place that might becom e our home.

W ell, I can tell you this. There is such a place, and w e are almost there. God wants us to take possession of it and it will belong to us.”

W hen Moses said this, the people cheered.

Although the young men and wom en and the children never had to live as slaves in Egypt, there w ere m any other people who had. And even those who had been wandering had heard the stories of Egypt and the hard work the Israelites had to do there. A land that would be their own w as good news indeed.

“But God has asked us to do

something in return for our new hom eland. W e must observe his laws.

W e should not try to take aw ay any laws that God has given to us, nor should w e add any new ones of our own making.

“R em em ber how God destroyed those who chose to follow the pagan god Baal. God will keep his promises to us, and he expects us to keep our promises to him.

“If w e obey God, if w e keep all of his com m andm ents,” M oses continued, “all the nations on earth will see the wisdom and intelligence that God has blessed us with. T h ere are nations who have their own gods, but which of them has a God that loves them ? W hich of them has a God that answers if the people call his nam e in prayer? And which nation has laws as holy and as just as ours?”

An old man who had been with M oses from the days of Egypt stood and said, “Tell us of our new country.”

“It is across the Jordan River,” M oses answered. “Although I will not see it, when you reach it and live in it, even after m any years, God will show you his mercy. He will never leave you, and he will never forget the promises he m ade to our fathers.” □ c n s BIBLE ACCENT

PUZZLE:

Even though the Israelites were used as slaves in Egypt, the pharaoh was afraid they might one day rebel against him, so he commanded his s o ld ie rs to k ill a ll th e ir newborn babies. In order to spare his life, the mother of M oses se nt her baby son adrift on the river in a basket, hoping someone would find him. The person who found him w a s p h a ra o h ’s own daughter, and she raised him as her own son.

M a k e a c h e ck in the c o rre c t c o lu m n . “ O T ” m eans th e b o o k is f r o m th e O ld Testam ent, a n d “ N T ” m eans i t is f r o m th e N e w T estam ent:

1. ___ OT ___

NT Genesis

2. ___ OT ___

NT Acts

3. ___ OT ___

NT Joshua

4. ___ OT ___

NT Jude

5. ___ OT ___

NT 1 Corinthians

6. ___ OT ___

NT 1 Chronicles

7. ___ OT ___

NT Revelation

8. ___ OT ___

NT Ezekiel

9. ___ OT ___

NT Job

10.

NT Romans

OT

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When he grew up, Moses killed an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite, so he hid in the d e se rt. T h e re God spoke to him and told him to return and ask pharaoh to free the Israelites. Pharaoh re fu s e d u n til G od s e n t p la g u e s a g a in s t E gyp t.

Moses led his people through the wilderness for the next 40 years until they reached the country God promised.

16

Sundays August 31 and Septem ber 7, 2003 □ CatholicNews

flie W o rd u fG o i Sunday August 31 □ Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8;Psalm 15:2-5;James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27 Mark 7:1-14-15, 21-23

THE LAST W O RD

Is suicide a sin o r really a sickness?

MARGARET ATWOOD once wrote that sometimes things need to be said, and said, and said, until they don’t need to be said any more. Each year I write a column on suicide because, given the misconceptions about it, some things need to be said over and over again.

What are our misconceptions about suicide? What must be reiterated over and over again?

First, that suicide is not an act of despair. We are, too slowly, emerging from a mindset that understands suicide as the ultimate act of despair - culpable, irrevocable, and unforgivable.

To commit suicide, it is too commonly believed, puts one under the judgement once pronounced on Judas Iscariot: “Better not to have been bom.”

Until recently, victims of suicide were often not even buried in church cemeteries.

What we didn’t understand when we thought these things is that the propensity for suicide is, in most cases, an illness, pure and simple. We are made up of body and soul, either can snap. We can die of cancer, high blood pressure, heart attacks, aneurysms.

These are physical sicknesses. But we can suffer these too in the soul, not just the body. There are malignancies and aneurysms also of the heart, mortal wounds from which the soul cannot recover.

In most cases, suicide, like any terminal illness, takes a person out of life against his or her will. The death is not freely chosen, but is an illness, far from an act of free will. In most instances, suicide is a desperate attempt to end unendurable pain, much like a woman who throws herself through a window because her clothing has caught fire. That’s a tragedy, not an act of despair.

If this is true, and it is, than we should also give up the notion that suicide puts a person outside the mercy of God. God’s mercy is equal even to suicide.

After the resurrection, we see how Christ, more than once, goes through locked doors and breathes forgiveness, love, and peace into hearts that are

By Fr Ronald Rolheiser unable to open up because of fear and hurt. God’s mercy and peace can go through walls where we can’t. As we all know, this side of heaven, sometimes all the love, outstretched hands, and professional help in the world can no longer reach through to a heart paralysed by fear and illness.

But, where we stand helpless, God’s compassion can still reach through. God’s love can descend into hell itself(as we state in our Creed) and breathe peace and reconciliation right into wound, anger, and fear.

God’s hands are gentler than ours, God’s compassion is wider than ours, and God’s understanding infinitely surpasses our own.

Our wounded loved ones who fall victim to suicide are safe in God’s hands, safer by far than they are in the judgements that issue from our own limited understanding. God is not stymied by locked doors as we are.

When suicide victims wake on the other side, they are met by a gentle Christ who stands right inside of their huddled fear and says: “Peace be with you!” as we see in the post-resurrection appearances of Christ, God can go through locked doors, breathe out peace in places where we cannot get in, and write straight with even the most crooked of lines.

Finally, too, there is a misunderstanding about suicide that expresses itself in second-guessing: if only I had done more! If only I had been more attentive this could have been prevented.

Rarely is this the case. Most of the time, we weren’t there when our loved one departed for the very reason that this person didn’t want us to be there. He or she chose the time and place precisely with our absence in mind. Suicide is a disease that picks its victim precisely in such a way so as to exclude others and their attentiveness. That’s part of the anatomy of the disease.

This, of course, may never be an excuse for insensitivity to those around us who are suffering from depression, but it’s a healthy check against false guilt and anxious second- guessing. Many of us have stood at the bedside of someone who is dying and experienced a frustrating helplessness because there was nothing we could do to prevent our loved one from dying. That person died, despite our attentiveness, prayers, and efforts to be helpful. So too, at least generally, with those who die of suicide. Our love, attentiveness, and presence could not stop them from dying - despite our will and effort to the contrary.

The Christian response to suicide should not be horror, fear for the person’s eternal salvation, and anxious self-examination about we did or didn’t do. Suicide is indeed a horrible way to die, but we must understand it for what it is, a sickness, and stop being anxious about both that person’s eternal salvation and our less-than-perfect response to his or her illness.

God redeems everything and, in the end, all manner of being will be well, even beyond suicide. □ t h e

c a t h o l ic

h e r a l d

The Samaritans o f Singapore has a programme fo r Suicide Prevention Week beginning Saturday, Sept 6, 2003. See details in W hat’s On column in Page 18.

'J 1 )C S 0 U )'C C 0 f sin It’s not always easy to confront the sin that is ANSWERING the accusations of some incensed Pharisees, Jesus told his disciples that it is not any within our hearts, but we need not fear. Jesus came food that we consume that makes us unclean in to save us, not to condemn us (John 3:17). He is for God’s eyes. What really matters is what is in our us, not against us (Romans 8:3 1). He knows the hearts - and the behaviour that condition of our hearts - far better flows from our hearts. Through than we do - and no matter how their traditions the Pharisees had “Nothing fia t goes into bad it may be, he will never turn a man from outside away from us. Rather, he waits become accustomed to focus on outward signs of ritual purity. m m make him undean; with outstretched arms of mercy But Jesus went straight to the for us to come to him just as we II is the things that heart of the matter. Sin and are, with our sins, to receive grace holiness lie inside the human come out of a man that and mercy (Hebrews 4:16). heart, not in the digestive tract. is the Great Physician makes him andean*** whoJesus offers us healing and How about us? Do we pay close attention to our religious forgiveness, comfort and aid. At observances to the exclusion of Mass today, ask him to search and the inner life of our hearts? It can examine your heart (Psalm be tough to do at times, but God 139:23-24). Open yourself to his does want us to examine how the gentle probing so that he can attitudes of our hearts are identify the sickness of sin and apply the healing power of his expressed in the ways we treat cross. Let him create a clean heart other people. Rules and observances are helpful to a life in you so that you can bring forth of holiness, but they should never good fruit in holiness and be the sum total of our Christian righteousness. □ life. That is part of the reason why Jesus poured out his Spirit: so that we could be renewed in our inner “Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner in need of selves and begin to manifest the love, power, and your mercy and forgiveness. Create a clean heart in me. I love you, Lord. Restore me to your love." compassion of Christ to the world.

Sunday, September 7 □ Isaiah 35: 4-7; Psalm 146: 7-10;James 2: 1 -5; Mark 7: 31-37

“Ephphatha!” Be opened!

WITH THAT one simple word, a man who was deaf ears so that we might hear his words of love. He and mute was healed immediately and completely. wants to heal our spiritual tongues so that we can The muscles and nerves in his throat and tongue speak freely to him. Above all, God wants to heal were restored. Minuscule bones and tissue inside our minds so that we will be able to set aside any his ears were suddenly made well - or even appeared mistrust, feelings of unworthiness, or other out of nowhere. And yet, to accomplish such an preoccupations that would keep us from spending intricate work, all Jesus had to do was say the word. time with our heavenly Father. If this change of Have you ever felt like your children were deaf mentality seems too much for God to accomplish, or mute? You call them, but they don’t listen. You we can take hope from today’s gospel reading. What ask them a question, and you get no response. Do work could be more challenging than such a delicate you think God ever feels like a frustrated parent operation? with us? He calls to us, yet we are so occupied God is ready to begin, or deepen, the healing with other things that we don’t even process any time we are ready to “H e m a k es th e hear him. He invites us to bring our cooperate. So let’s not waste the needs to him, but we don’t think we d e a f h ea r an d th e opportunity today. Let’s go to our can afford the time to pray.

Father ready to receive all that he has d u m b sp e a k .”

Perhaps our underlying problem is for us and become more intimately that we don’t grasp who God is and acquainted with him. □ what he wants to be for us. For example, we may view God as one “Lord God, I want to hear your voice who loves the world but doesn’t have and express my needs to you. I pray time for us personally. But this is just that you will say, “Be opened!” to my plain wrong. God wants to speak to spirit. Teach me about your love for each of us intimately and tenderly. And me.” ______________ _________ not only that, he loves to hear what A 16th-century painting of Jesus each of us has to say to him.

Christ by Italian artist Jacopo de Barbari.

God wants us to clear our spiritual

What a )xivelaficm!

By Anthony Oei I AM SURE many are familiar with Psalms 118:8. It says: “It is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in man.” But I doubt if many know the position of the verse in the Bible and the significance of the position. I didn’t, until I received this revelation in the form of an email from my daughter.

The revelation is truly amazing and I want to share it with Catholic News readers. It happens that the chapter in the centre of the Bible is Psalm 118.

There are 594 chapters before it and 594 after it. If we add up 594 and 594, we get 1188. And Psalm 118:8 is the centre verse.

The verse is the centre of God’s Word and the central theme of all religious faiths. Its position in

the Good Book is therefore most appropriate. The Lord must have had a hand in this to remind us that everything in this world should revolve around him. So if you know of someone who seems lost or depressed, just quote him Psalm 118:8. Follow that up with Hebrews 13:5 which contains this consoling promise: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” □

CatholicN ews □

Sundays August 31 and Septem ber 7, 2003

Viewpoints CatholicNews Fortnightly newspaper o f the Catholic Archdiocese o f Singapore M anag ing E d ito r

Fr Johnson Fernandez S ta ff correspondent

Ms. Mel Diamse-Lee Consultant

Francis Yeo TO CONTACT US E d ito rial

Email: cnedit@catholic.org.sg P lease includ e y o u r fu ll nam e, address and telephone num ber.

Ms Elaine Ong Email: elong@catholic.org.sg In M e m o ria m : Ms Susan Lim Email: suslim@catholic.org.sg Subscriptions: Richard Paul Email: rpaul@catholic.org.sg Advertisements:

Address: T h e C ath o lic N e w s O ffic e 2 H ig h la n d R oad # 0 1 -0 2 S ing apo re 5 4 9 1 0 2 .

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Our world

I lie quietly tonight On (lie gentle w ings o f a prayer and guided by a clove.

11V far aw ay tow ards Ilie vasl expense o f a land w here I have never been.

To a place long forgotten w here no footprints can slay.

In my dream , m any souls walk in desolation So, I leave in grief, bringing with me A key. a key that can lead To sanity and som e hope M aybe tom orrow at dawn All this sorrow will dissolve and Ihe b a ilie will be over.

I pray to .lesns to slay close to me As I go on with a sm ile and give all I can , help others and love No m ailer what happens Life will be restored again And Ilie strength 1 don't have, Will com e from above.

So com e, lak e my hand and through this darkness we will sail If w e all join in prayer, have faith, w e can never fail W e'll rem em ber to care, rem em ber to feel And no m atter what happens, <)ur w orld we will heal.

Moral authority and the right to speak WHEN THE Vatican released a new document this week reiterating its opposition to gay marriages, it didn’t take long for pundits and talk-show “prophets” to take their shots at the church.

It’s fine if some people disagree with the church on this matter; in our pluralistic society many will. Debate the issues involved. We welcome a discussion that uses philosophical, theological and sociological arguments to make a case in opposition to the church’s teaching. All will benefit from a better understanding of the issue.

However, the most distressing thing to hear after the release of such a document is that the church has no right to speak on this matter because the church has problems of its own right now.

“The bishops need to clean up their own act first,” goes the admonition. “A bunch of celibate men should not tell the rest of the world what to do about sexuality,” goes another harangue.

One gadfly who went into a tirade last week was CNN talkshow host Larry King. He agreed

Yes, the Novena sure has pulling power I REFER to the letter written by Mr Anthony Oei (CN:Aug 1724). I affirm that the Novena has much pulling power. It has brought about many converts and my family is one example.

My family has been growing so much in faith and love for Godbecause of the Novena Church. Whenever we face any difficulty, we do not hesitate to offer our petitions to Mother Mary, asking her to intercede for us. Week after week, my family would attend the Novena and entrust to God and Mother Mary all our difficulties and joys.

I was baptized a Catholic only three years ago and would like to ask two questions which have been on my mind: 1) What is the significance of the Benediction?

2) What is the significance of the Divine Praises?

I would appreciate an answer as I wish to provide an explanation to inquirers (from RCIY) when I invite them to the Novena.

Seraphim Ho Singapore 530579

shouldn’t be commenting on gay marriage.

If quality of past experience is a criteria for being able to address an issue, what credibility does Larry King, who has been married six times, Larry King was one of bring to any discussion of what makes a good those who dism issed the marriage? church’s right to make a King and Maher didn’t stand on gay marriage. bother to actually address any of the substance of the Vatican’s recent document.

Nor did they seem to make any specific arguments against the church’s stand.

They just criticized.

The Catholic Church ■■ has problems, challenges IS *? # -!

— whatever one chooses to call them. It has had such problems through the centuries. There’s an account of the Christian church in conflict in the Acts of Apostles. We’ve been through the Dark Ages, the Inquisition, the Crusades and the Reformation. And through each era of church history,

with pundit Bill Maher, who said the bishops have so much work to do to clean up the sexual misconduct scandal that they

i

\

Photo shows 24 -week old foetus. Some babies born at this stage will live. In Singapore, abortion on demand is allowed on foetuses of up to 24 weeks old.

we have emerged stronger. Our experience has tempered us. We have been refined in the fires.

The church has not just years of experience addressing issues of community and society, not just decades, but centuries. The Catholic Christian Church addressed the topic of what makes a healthy, holy family in the days when Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt with the baby Jesus and when those same parents left behind Jesus in the temple. The Catholic Church is not a latecomer to these debates, unlike some talk-show yammerheads.

If someone believes and supports a different ideology from what the Catholic Church believes and teaches, then those people should address the issues, rather than attack the church’s right to participate in the debate.

Disagree, if you will. Discuss, if you must, the merits of reasoned arguments. But do not simply dismiss the church, or its right to speak on issues that affect the church and the society at l a r g e . I ] T h e C a t h o li c S u n , n e w s p a p e r o f th e P h o e n ix D io c e s e

“There is som ething d eep ly w rong w ith a society that can even contem plate harvesting e g g s from the ovaries o f aborted foetuses.

H ow is it that w e can recognize that the aborted foetus is human enough to b ecom e a b iological parent and yet not hum an enough to have the right to life? ” Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff, Wales, co m m en tin g on reports o f n e w research in the U K w h ere b y harvested eggs fro m aborted foetuses is used fo r in v itro fe rtiliz a tio n .

Right disposition for Communion I WRITE on the need to be rightly disposed to receive Holy Communion.

Saints in their great love for God go often to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, what more we miserable sinners. I quote from “Jesus Our Eucharistic Love” by Fr Manelli: “ What is there to say about the great purity of soul with which the saints approached to receive the Bread of Angels? We know that they had a great delicacy of conscience which was truly angelic. Aware of their misery, they tried to present themselves to Jesus ‘holy and immaculate’ (Eph 1:4), repeating with the tax collector, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner’ (Lk 18:13), and having recourse with great care to

the cleansing of confession.

“When St Jerome was brought the Holy Viaticum at the end of his life, the saint prostrated himself on the ground in adoration, and he was heard to repeat with profound humility the words of Elizabeth, “ How is this, that... my Lord should come to me?” (Lkl: 42). “ St Pio of Pietrelcina used to repeat with trepidation to his brethren,’God sees blights even in the angels. What must he see in me! ’ For this reason he was very diligent in making his sacramental confessions.

“St Thomas Aquinas, St Francis de Sales, St Ignatius, St Charles Borromeo, St Francis Borgia, St Louis Bertrand, St Joseph Cupertino, St Leonard of Port

Maurice and many other saints went to confession every day before celebrating Holy Mass.”

I travel to different churches in Singapore and, sad to say, I do not see many people go for confession except at Novena Church. I think it is probably because there are priests there hearing confession before Mass (even weekday Masses).

I understand that priests in other parishes have to cope with many duties, but I hope that they can set aside time to redeem souls for the Lord and that the lay faithful will follow the examples of the saints to purify themselves to receive our Lord in the Eucharist.

Abel Goh

18

Sundays August 31 and Septem ber 7, 2003 □ CatholicNews

)r

O & A Catholic News reader Christopher Yeo raised two questions after reading the Aug 3 and 10 issue of CN. One question relates to the article “Understanding Homosexuality” written by the Catholic Medical Guild and the other to the first part of a series on Humanae vitae titled “In the beginning” written

by Fr William Saunders. We asked the experts for the answers.

its e lf have been found. Based on

W o u ld this not m ean that the rhythm

studies done on those w ith

m eth od o r o ther m ethods used b y

hom osexual orien tation so far, it has

N F P w o u ld fa ll under this d e fin itio n

to be ackno w led ged that

and be at risk o f the “ co ntraceptive

e n viron m en tal factors, together w ith

m e n ta lity : loss o f respect fo r w o m en

an in d iv id u a l’s choices, m ade both

and hu m an life , the w ea ken in g o f

consciously and subconsciously, have

fa m ily , and p o p u latio n co ntrol by

a big part to p lay in the developm ent

g o vern m en ts.” ? P lease cla rify .

o f such orientation.

T h e exam p le o f a basketball this point: that even i f an in d ivid u a l

acts ( C N 2 2 /6 /2 0 0 3 , fa m ily life

m ig h t predispose h im to a certain cond ition , there w o u ld s till be the need fo r some events in his life ,

homosexuals be happy M e g nonhomosexual?

Q. In

some en viron m en tal influence, say fro m other persons in his life , coupled w ith decisions that he h im s e lf m akes, that w o u ld m ake h im d evelop in such a w a y as to acquire that condition.

It is true that repeated com m ission o f the hom osexual act, coupled w ith the lik e -m in d e d com pany that an in d iv id u a l keeps, w o u ld m ake it m ore d iffic u lt fo r an

‘U nderstanding

H o m o s e x u a lity ’ , under the discussion o f genes, en viron m en t and choice, I fe el the author needs to add a crucial perspective.

T o use the basketball exam p le,

in d ivid u a l to g ive up the habit. A n analogous exam p le w o u ld be found in , say, alcoholics w h o continue to m in g le w ith friends w h o drin k. Fo r them to k ic k the habit m ay be d iffic u lt, but not im possible.

can a professional basketballer give up basketball easily?

I suspect m any hom osexuals fe el that th eir genes, upbring ing and circumstances have m ade them becom e lik e v e ry ta ll in divid uals w ith great hand-eye coordination and have friends w h o are basketballers. In other words, m an y homosexuals prob ab ly fe el that they w ill not be happy i f they do not ‘play ba ske tb a ll’ , given w h at they are now.

T h is is especially so w h en society w ill ostracise and stereotype them as ‘ex tre m e ly ta ll in d iv id u a ls ’ .

I f the article is m eant to convince hom osexuals to ‘change’ and to educate the pu blic and m ake them ‘ a v ailin g in d iv id u a ls ’ , this aspect needs to be better understood.

W ill the w rite r please comm ent?

A.

A s w e m entioned in our article, the church recognizes the diffic u ltie s that these in divid uals face. She exhorts us not to ostracize or discrim inate against them in any way.

H o w e ver, lo vin g a person does not m ean lettin g the person do anything he w ants, especially w h en it is w ron g. T ru e lo ve necessitates us to g ently but fir m ly h elp them to g ro w as persons m ade in the im age o f G o d through true frien dsh ip, fe llo w s h ip , perhaps even counselling and the referral to an appropriate support group. These are via b le options. T h e F a m ily L ife S o ciety’s counsellors are equipped and ever w illin g to o ffe r th eir services. I t is n o w our duty as C atholics united in the one B o d y o f C hrist, to brin g Jesus, o r rather to B E Jesus, to our brothers and sisters w h o are suffering in th eir o w n quiet way.

W e w o u ld lik e to thank

C hristoph er fo r g iv in g us the

The Catholic Medical Guild of Singapore

op po rtunity to c la rify the purpose and substance o f our article “U nderstanding H o m o s e x u a lity ” .

T h e purpose o f the article was tw o fo ld : 1. To help the reader understand the possible causes o f hom osexual orien tation , and 2. To explo re w hether and h o w w e could help those w ith hom osexual orien tation to overcom e their d iffic u ltie s should they w ish to seek help.

T h e causes o f hom osexual

T h e short an sw er is that

contraception and N F P are d iffe re n t

w ere b o m w ith some attributes that

vm

A

p la y e r was brought up to illustrate

page).

C o n tracep tio n ruptures G o d ’s design o f p rocreatio n and so it is a lw ays e v il, even w h en w e have good intentions fo r using it. N F P accepts G o d ’s design and is th erefo re good in its e lf. T h e w ords them selves illu strate the differen ce.

C o n tra c e p tio n ’ m eans an ti­ c o nception, c o m m o n ly translated as a n ti-b ab y and a n ti-b irth , w ith ab ortio n as the backu p - a w a y o f g ettin g rid o f u n w an ted ch ildren .

N F P m eans plan n in g a fa m ily , not av o id in g one, and inspires the user a w a y fro m the e v ils o f the co ntraceptive m en tality . B ut c e rta in ly N F P co uld be used w ro n g ly lik e a co ntraceptive and then it w o u ld be as e v il as co ntraception . F o r ex am p le, i f w e have sexual in tercourse using N F P to d e lib e ra te ly re m a in ch ildless, w e are using it lik e a co ntraceptive and pu ttin g ourselves at risk o f even w orse ev ils. W e co -op erate w ith G o d b y accepting fe r tility and ch ild re n as a g ift, not b y fe arin g it as a disease.

T h e issue th erefo re is about h o w sexual in tercourse is being triv ia lis e d as a m ere b o d ily fu n ctio n rath er than as a u n itiv e act th at is p e rfo rm e d in co -o p eratio n w ith the c reative p lan o f G o d. Pope P au l V I in his en c y c lic a l H u m an ae V ita e (on H u m a n L if e ) in 1968 described G o d ’s design o f sexual intercourse

orien tation are co m p lex and cannot

Q

be en tirely attributed to genes,

defin ed as “ (n ) the practice o f or

C ontraception in yo u r article is

contrary to w h at some people w o u ld

m ethod used in deliberately

lik e to have us believe. T o date no

preventing a w o m an becom ing

genes w h ic h code fo r hom osexuality

pregnant as a result o f havin g sex” .

P ro c re a tiv e ” m eanings. P ope John P aul I I added this in F a m ilia ris C o n so rtio (o n T h e F a m ily ) in 1981, “ ... the covenant o f co n ju g al lo ve (is ) un iqu e and ex clu s ive in order to liv e in co m p lete fid e lity to the plan o f G o d , the creator.” understand h o w N F P should be c o rrectly used. O u r C re a to r has designed days o f fe r tility and in fe r tility that occur in cycles. A n d also designed each act o f sexual in tercourse w ith inseparable “U n itiv e and P ro c re a tiv e ” m eanings to un ite the co up le in lo v e and in this w a y to be open to the transm ission o f life .

N F P is the w a y w e d ecip her and use this design. H a v in g intercourse thus binds us to the g ift o f fe rtility and to accept as m an y c h ild ren as w e can take care o f. B u t i f w e have grave reasons, w e can then use the second g ift, our in fe rtile days, to space o r even in d e fin ite ly postpone

W I L L S G R A N T OF P R O B A T E & LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION

the n e xt ch ild.

C le a rly the fo rm a tio n o f conscience is essential i f w e are not to use N F P lik e a co ntraceptive. A s the pope h im s e lf advised, “ A n o th e r w a y o f w ea ken in g the spouses’ sense o f resp o n s ib ility w ith regard to th e ir co nju gal lo v e is that o f spreading in fo rm a tio n about natural m ethods w ith o u t accom panyin g it w ith adequate fo rm a tio n o f

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5 1 B Tem ple Street Singapore 0 5 8 5 9 6 Tel: (6 5 ) 6 3 2 3 2 -5 6 5 Fax: (6 5 ) 6 3 2 3 2 -3 7 3

www.grck.com .sg law @ grck.com .sg

PASTORAL COURSES P R A Y E R : W IT N E S S IN G T O G O D ’S P R E S E N C E IN T H E W O R L D

4 sessions w ith Sr Francisca Tan, rc on W ednesday at SPI. Dates: Sep 3, 10, 17 & 24, 7.45pm -9.45pm E U C H A R IS T & L IF E O F T H E C H U R C H

In L o v m y lV jU fB P

I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me shall never die.

6 sessions with Fr M ichael Arro, M EP on T hursday at Blessed S acram ent Church.

Dates: S e p 4 ,1 1 ,1 8 ,O c t2 ,9 & 16,7.45pm9.45pm IN T R O D U C T IO N T O M A R IO L O G Y

5 sessions with Sr Christine Santhou, FDCC on Friday at N ovena Church. Dates: Sep 12, 19, 26, O ct 3 & 10, 9.30am - 11.30am.

Each course contribution: $20. O rganised

by Singapore Pastoral Institute Tel:68583011 Fax: 6858-2011. R egistration form s are available in parish office or dow nload from w w w .catholic.org.sg/SPI/

NEW RCIA C H U R C H O F ST F R A N C IS X A V IE R Date: W ednesday Sept 17 at 7.45 pm.

Registration form s are available at the Reception Office. Enquiries: M r Anthony Goh (6284-3718, 9788-6401) or Mrs M onica Kwok (6288-9712 or 9682-7808).

CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF P E R P E T U A L S U CC O U R

31 Siglap Hill. Venue: V erbist Hall, 4th Fir. Date: Sunday, Sept 21 at 7.30 pm .F orthose who are interested in the Catholic faith.

Registration forms are available at the church secretariat. Enquiries: Joanna Wong (6339-8868) or Amanda W oon (6374-8302).

For those who have no one to pray for them - w e pray to the Lord.

APOLOGY Due to a

Tenth Anniversary

In loving memory of

computer data transfer problem at the printer, page 18 o f issue N o. 16 was reprinted in issue N o . 17

R.C. PRISON MINISTRY

(the last issue).

The new page 18

The R.C. Prison M inistry - a team o f lay m en and w om en, priests, sem inarians and religious sisters who respond to the sim ple and profound invitation o f Jesus to visit those in prison. We invite you to give your tim e and love to serve our prisoners and their fam ilies. The prison authorities in Singapore regard us as their key partners in the rehabilitation o f each prisoner. To quote from the Prisons Departm ent's vision statem ent: “We will be instrum ental in steering them tow ards being responsible citizens with the help o f their fam ilies and the com m unity.” If you like to serve in this M inistry, call Sharen 6299-3936, Sr G erard rgs (9109-8990).

fo r issue N o 17 was left out.

O w ing to this error, three In memoriam inserts were not published.

W e apologise fo r the error.

Thirteenth Anniversary

In loving memory of

NORMAN KLASSEN

Departed: Aug 29, 1993 His smiling face and pleasant way, Are a pleasure to recall, He had a kind word for each, And died beloved by all.

Always remembered by his family and loved ones.

Fifteenth Anniversary

In loving memory of

as h a vin g inseparable “ U n itiv e and

I t is im p o rta n t then to

Wouldn’t NFP cause contraceptive mentality?

f f P

conscience.” (P ope John P au l I I ’s address on the 2 0 th A n n iv e rs a ry o f H u m an ae V ita e , 1 9 8 8 ). □

Dr Ian Snodgrass H e a d , N F P services Singapore

OTHERS CHIJ ST THERESA’S CONVENT A ll Theresians, teachers and well-wishers are invited to the 70th anniversaery mass, celebrated by Archbishop Nicholas Chia at Church o f St Teresa on Oct 1 ,8 .3 0 am.

There w ill also be a D inner and Dance in Ochard B allroom , Orchard H otel on N ov 28, 7.3 0 pm at $8 0 per pax. Tickets are available at the school office (6270-3050).

MASS AND BLESSING OF ST MICHAEL’S SCHOOL O fficiated by Archbishop Nicholas Chia.

Venue: St M ic h a e l’s School H a ll at 3 Essex Road. Date: Sept 5 at 2 pm.

CATHOLIC MEDICAL GUILD AGM, DINNER CUM LECTURE N et proceeds raised from the dinner w ill be donated to the Canossian East T im o r Missions to help rebuild the healthcare facilities and services there.

Date: O ct 18, (Saturday). Place: The Oriental Hotel. Time: 4.30pm (A G M ), 6 pm (Annual Dedication M ass), 7.30pm (D in ner & F r Edmund Dunne lecture.

Speaker: P ro f Gabriel L o w Cheng Hock).

Cost: $70 a person; donation tables at $1,000 a table. A ll healthcare personnel and their fam ily members are welcome.

Enquiries: D r Gabriel Seow 6364-9661 / 6252-5 384 or D r John H u i at 6458-8 596 or e-mail: cmgsingapore@yahoo.com.sg

SUICIDE PREVENTION WEEK 2003 T o be launched on Sept 6, 2003 at 6.30 pm by M r M a h B ow Tan, M in ister for National Developm ent and Patron o f Samaritans o f Singapore (S O S ) at the M arin e Parade Com m unity Club Theatrette. The SOS programme consists o f a play titled Staying A liv e ! B y The Necessary Stage fo r w orking adults, struggling w ith the economic downturn, unemployment and drop in income. The play w ill be staged Sept 6 to 8. A fte r each performance, speakers w ill debate the issues highlighted in the play, follow ed audience comments. Tickets at $1 each at S IS T IC outlets.

MOSES G O H K H E N G JOO

Departed: Aug 18,1990 God took you home, it was His will But in our hearts we love and miss you Your memory is still dear today As we often sit and think of you.

Always remembered by all loved ones.

PETER JAMES LOH

Departed: Aug 23,1988 The years may wipe out many things.

But this they’ll wipe out never, The memory of those happy days Which we had spent together.

Deeply missed

by Catherine Goh and family.

THANKSGIVING Thank you Holy Trinity, Mother Mary, Saints Jude, Pio for miraculously helping me pass my examination. PP.

My thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St Jude for prayers answered. With my gratitutde. John Tang

Heartfelt gratitude to St Jude for prayers answered. Please continue to pray for me and assist me, and please bless my family and me. Tina

Dearest St Jude, Thank you for answering my prayers, St Jude pray for us and all who invoke your aid. Love C.M.

8 months lost beloved one unknown a sars victim! Now full recovered and heard!

Grateful to mighty St Jude! SY, anon-Catholic

Thank you Lord Jesus, Mother Mary, St Jude, St Gerard and St Therese for answering my prayers. Please continue to watch over my family and pray for us. Yvonne.

Holy St Jude, I am grateful to you for helping and guiding me to excel and succeed for the past months. Please bless me. Gerard

Thanks to St Jude for answering my prayers.

Please continue to bless my family and me.

Bridgette

CatholicNew s □

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You entered that wondrous abode on high Where we hope to meet you by and by To praise God with the saints for aye.

Deeply missed and fondly cherished by loving daughter Beatrice.

CHAN FLORENCE Departed: Aug 31,1993 Rest in peace, dear loving mother, Ten long years have passed away; You’re gone, but are still living In the hearts of those who stay.

Sadly missed by children and grand-children.

PATRICK CHONG TAT CHEONG Departed: Sep 3,1998 Dear God, Shine your perpetual light upon him.

And grant him eternal peace.

Always fondly remembered by loved ones.

In loving memory of

HENRY CHOW AH CHONG Departed: Sept 5, 1993 Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let your perpetual light shine upon him.

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Always remembered by his family and loved ones.

FOURTH ANNIVERSARY In loving memory of a beloved Husband / Father / Father-in-law / Grandfather

GERMAINE QUEK nee Lee Meow Hiang Departed: Sept 5, 1994 God knows how much we miss her, Never shall her memory fade; Our loving thoughts ever wander, To the spot where she is laid.

Loved by Andrew, Jane, Karen and all who knew her.

T wenty-Fourth Anniversary In loving memory of

MAGDALENE TAN LEE HOON Departed: Sept 11,1994 Dearest Mummy/ Mama, Rest in the peace of the Lord.

Take comfort in the presence of the Holy Spirit and we will rejoice when we see you again.

We love you and will always miss you.

Fondly remembered by all loved ones.

SHARON WONG M EI LING Bom: Sept 25, 1974 Departed: Sept 12,1988 The blessed memories we have Of her we’ll always cherish, And count them tenderly each day Lest for lack of love we perish.

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In loving commemoration of

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JO H N BAPTIST LEE KEOK SENG Departed: Sept 7,1988 Jesus I T rust In You Rest in peace, dear loving father, Fifteen long years have passed away; You’re gone, but are still living In the hearts of those who stay.

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Complete one-stop funeral arrangements S.M. FRANCIS XAVIER Departed: Sept 8, 1999 God knows how much we miss him, Never shall his memory fade; Our loving thoughts ever wander, To the spot where he is laid.

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Departed: Sept 11, 1999 Time may heal the broken heart, Time may make the wound less sore, But time can never stop us missing Our dearly loved one gone before.

From your loving wife, daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren.

Mass at 10 am on Sunday Sept 7 at Church o f St Teresa, Kampong Bahru Road.

FLORENCE QUEK Departed: September 7, 2002 Like her famous namesake, Florence was a light that brought Warmth and love into the hearts of all Who knew her.

Full of smiles and joy, With a heart of compassion and the Inner strength of steel.

Such was the woman, Florence, A wife, a mother, a friend.

With the grace of God, She now rests in peace but shall Always be deeply missed by her loving family and friends.

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20

is io k p ii!

Theh

A helicopter dumps water on a forest fire in northeastern Spain.

Pope John Paul II offered special prayers for the victims of fires that were burning in several European countries.

By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY-Although they

would not be so blunt, the most common approach to August among Vatican officials was, “Pray for rain and head for the hills.”

With the threat of drought looming because of a heat wave that already had lasted three months in central Italy, Pope John Paul II requested prayers for rain Aug. 10. A full month earlier he had transferred to the papal summer residence in the hills south of Rome.

At the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto and the five parishes belonging to the Loreto prelature, Catholics recited the traditional Marian Loreto Litany, often recited in the past when people were threatened by plagues, natural disasters and invasions.

The litany begins with a prayer that Mary would intercede with God to obtain “the precious gift of rain to refresh and make fruitful all his creation.”

Elsewhere around the country, priests were choosing the prayer

for rain contained in the Roman Missal under the heading, “Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions.”

The prayer includes the lines, “Help us in our present time of trouble, send us the rain we need, and teach us to seek your lasting help on the way to eternal life.”

Benedictine Father Ildebrando Scicolone, a liturgy professor in Rome, told the Catholic newspaper Avvenire that formal prayers for rain have been part of the Latin liturgy for at least 1,000 years.

Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Eastern Christian communities based in the Middle East and

North Africa always have had formal prayers for rain.

“We know that everything depends on God,” Father Scicolone said. Prayers for rain, the blessing of animals, seas and fields all are signs of faith that “everything, even the cosmos, has been redeemed and saved.”

Vatican officials left suffering in Rome were few and far between. Nearly 50 percent of Rome’s residents cleared out of town for a traditional August vacation, according to city officials, and an even higher percentage of employees at the central offices of the universal

michael’s 2003

church followed suit.

Actually getting someone on the phone at the Vatican was especially difficult in mid-August.

St. Peter’s Basilica was the only place at the Vatican fully staffed and open normal hours Aug. 14 and 15, the feast of the Assumption, and the major Italian summer holiday.

Vatican Radio, the Vatican press office and the Vatican health service were scheduled to observe Sunday hours or to have Sunday staffing levels.

The Vatican Information Service, which sends out daily news summaries, was closed for the entire month of August.

Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, also took a monthlong break from publishing, although some employees worked on updating the agency’s Web site.

The Vatican Library, a haven of cool thanks to old manuscripts’ need for climate control, was closed the first two

weeks of August.

Few public places at the Vatican offered refuge from the severe heat and lack of rain plaguing Italy and much of the rest of Europe.

Even in the relative morning cool Aug. 13, visitors in St. Peter’s Square were clumped into the narrow band of shade offered by the obelisk in the center of the square or gathered under the shelter of Bernini’s colonnade.

With high temperatures in the low to mid-90s, people in Rome were not suffering as badly as those in many parts of France, where officials said heat contributed to the deaths of up to 3,000 people in the first 10 days of August.

But the Vatican health service said it had received a higher than usual number of emergency calls from the cupola on top of St. Peter’s Basilica.

While the air may be fresher on the dome’s veranda some 440 feet above the square, getting up there requires exertion, which combined with the heat, height and winding stairs under the low sloping ceiling frequently leads to queasiness.

Most Vatican offices now offer air conditioning - usually in the form of small portable units although their use is somewhat culture-specific. □ c n s

st michael’s feast day celebration 2003 w e m a y n o t b e a n g e ls o r a rc h a n g e ls b u t w e a r e c a lle d t o b e e o j n + Q by rev. fr. john tamayo, sdb 25 S e p te m b e r (thursday) mass at 8.00pm the healer st raphael 26 S e p te m b e r (friday) m a s s at 8.00pm the m e s s e n g e r st g ab rie l

date 1 4 th S e p te m b e r (su time 9.00am to 2.00pm venue st. michael’s church 17 st. michael’s road Singapore 327976

27 S e p te m b e r (S aturday) (no sunset mass) mass at 8.00pm the protector st michael

feast day 28 S e p te m b e r (sunday) 12.00pm to 3.00pm qian xi (paya lebar) restaurant tanjong katong complex 854 geylang road #04-09

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