Aug 2013 146 by EuropeAxess Media

JOY TO ALL MEN AND PEACE TO MANKIND

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Dear Friends,

Sorting the Catch W

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hat can a story of a dragnet and a great catch of fish tell us about Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kingdom?

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The dragnet catches all kinds of fish, but then the Fisherman will sort the catch, with his years of experience he will swiftly discern which fish are good and will add value to the total haul, ultimately to be put to use, feeding others for the greater good. Those fish who do not make the grade will be discarded.

The two most common ways of fishing in Jesus’ time was with a casting-net (or hand-net) which was thrown from the shore and the dragnet or trawl which was let down or cast into the waters from a boat. As the boat moved through the waters, the dragnet was drawn into the shape of a great cone which indiscriminately took in all kinds of fish and flotsam and jetsam swept in its path. It usually took several men to haul such a net to shore.

What is Jesus’ point here? Just as a dragnet catches every kind of fish in the sea, so the church acts as God’s instrument for gathering in all who will come. Just as the dragnet does not or cannot discriminate, so the church does not discriminate between the good and the bad, the useless and the useful. God’s kingdom is open to all who will accept and believe. But there will come a time of separation, at the close of the age, when the angels will send the good and the bad

to their respective destinations. Our duty is to gather in all who will come. God, in the end, will give the good (those who accept God’s word and obey it) and the bad (those who reject God and his word) the reward they deserve. God offers the treasure of his kingdom to all who believe in him and who accept his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. God Bless you, Fr Stuart

Owners of commercial trawlers use high-tech sensors to better understand the fish’s environment. Guided by this data input, and their experience, they maximise their catch.

Upon this Rock magazine is published monthly by EuropeAxess Media, Gibraltar. Editor: Fr. Stuart Chipolina: editor@ uponthisrock.gi Production Editor: A. Sargent angela@europeaxess.com Cover: The Mayor hosts a Press Conference with the JCC, see page 4. Photo: A.Sargent Upon this Rock magazine is entirely supported by advertising and donations. It is run in liaison with the Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar by EuropeAxess Media Ltd. as a not-for-profit project. For Advertisers: This magazine is hand-delivered to homes, churches, hospitals and many businesses around Gibraltar every month. To discuss your advertising requirements, or promote your church group or charity, call Tel: +350 200 79335 email: angela@europeaxess.com Editorial is selected by EuropeAxess Media in liaison with the Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar. Neither of these parties is responsible for the accuracy of the information contained herein, nor do the views and opinions expressed herein necessarily reflect the views and opinions of either party. Advertisers are not endorsed by virtue of advertising in this magazine. EuropeAxess Media Ltd. reserves the right to refuse space to any submissions or advertisements. Efforts have been made to establish copyright owners of images, but if we have used your material, and have not credited you, please contact us to discuss restoration.

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A visit to the Rock, to see interfaith

harmony as a reality.

View from Gibraltar past the Shrine bell tower, across the Strait to the African coastline.

ibraltar is an astonishing crossing point! This struck me forcefully as I looked out from one of the Pillars of Hercules, my eye crossing from Europe to Africa and from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. I enjoyed this beautiful view as one of a small delegation from the Council of Christian and Jews (CCJ) which made a most memorable day trip to Gibraltar. It was a pleasure to travel with those whom I have come to know well through the CCJ, such as its Chairman, Nigel

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McCulloch, Emeritus Anglican Bishop of Manchester. However, the trip also occasioned the welcome opportunity to meet for the first time Ephraim Mirivs, Chief Rabbi Designate of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. I very much look forward to serving alongside Rabbi Mirvis when he becomes a fellow president of the CCJ. ut why did we come to Gibraltar? This image of Gibraltar as a crossing point helps to illustrate the reason for our visit. The significant feature of any crossing point is that it is also a meeting point. Even though during its history it has not always been so, for nearly three centuries Gibraltar has been, and still is, a place where Jews and Christians meet and live together in mutually profound respect. During my all too brief visit, I heard many times that in Gibraltar harmonious relations between Jews and Christians, and indeed between all religions, is more than just an idea to be admired, rather it is a lived reality. I experienced the truth of this at the lunch generously hosted by James Levy, QC, CBE and graced by the presence of Gibraltar’s Governor, Chief Minister, Anglican Dean and Rabbi. So too the delightful evening reception held in the Gibraltar Regiment Officers’ Mess attended by a large number of guests from an impressive variety of religions and cultures. It was a great pleasure to walk to the Mess down Main Street after the Press Conference in City Hall ably chaired by then Mayor, Tony Lima. Before the Press Conference and the Reception, I visited the ancient and important Shrine of Our Lady of Europe. It was a marvellous privilege to celebrate Mass there. I am very grateful to Bishop Heskett and Mgr Azzopardi for arranging it and concelebrating with me. Likewise to everyone who came to the Mass and whom I was extremely glad to meet afterwards. During the Mass, with the impression of Gibraltar as a great crossing point still in my mind, the truth that Christ’s cross is the place of meeting became even more powerfully apparent. This was just as it should be. For in every celebration of the Eucharist, the sacrament of unity, the unifying power of the Cross is truly present and effective, forming us as Christians into the one body of Christ. Yet the Cross does not direct the Christian away from those of other religions, or indeed away from our fellow human beings who profess no religion. No, contemplation of Christ crucified inspires us to reach out to people of all religions and cultures. It ignites and drives our heartfelt desire to establish authentic dialogue with them. This is especially so in our relationship with Jewish people. For the roots of the Cross, which the Church proclaims as the sign of God’s all-

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Archbishop Vincent Nichols concelebrated Mass at the Shrine with Bishop Ralph Heskett and Monseigneur Charlie Azzopardi. The Shrine of Our Lady of Europe was once an ancient mosque, and still has a Moorish paved patio, concrete testimony to another shared heritage.

In 2009 the first civil Mayor of Gibraltar Solomon Levy MBE ED JP met with the local heads of the major religions at the City Hall. The Gibraltar Chronicle photographer, Johnny Bujega, invited the group to make what might be called the ‘Bugeja Handshake of Friendship’ which they did happily as he captured the moment with his camera.

embracing love, are set deep within a rich spiritual patrimony shared with Judaism. The very source of this shared spiritual patrimony is brought into clear focus by the inescapable physical character of Gibraltar – the Rock. In the Hebrew Scriptures, which form part of the Christian Bible too, God is frequently likened to rock. God, then, is the Rock on which the intimate relationship between Jews and Christians is founded. Only when both Jews and Christians place their confidence in God, the Rock, He who is eternal, whose faithfulness is everlasting and who alone assures salvation, can there be fruitful dialogue between us. However, such confidence in God, which is at the heart of fruitful dialogue, requires that all of us, both Jews and Christians, first become silent: silent so to listen to God. In silence we meet God. In silence we are sensitive to His living presence, aware that He draws us into a living relationship with him; a relationship which proffers the most solid basis for all our relationships with others. This is why, as someone noted, following Holy Communion during the Mass celebrated at the Shrine, it was good to have a prolonged silence. Indeed this is a fruitful feature at every Mass. It is a time to be silent with Mary, herself a Jewish woman. Mary directs our attentiveness to her Son, whom St. Paul describes as the Rock (see 1 Cor. 10:4). Paradoxically, it is by being firmly set on the Rock who is God incarnate, that Christians find the courage to travel to that crossing point in which we meet non-Christians not

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as strangers but friends, friends with whom we are willing to journey. Our journey to Gibraltar as Christians and Jews was certainly one of friends. We may have been small in number and our visit short in length; nevertheless I believe our pilgrimage will have an enduring effect on many more people besides those who made the trip. We took back to England something precious to share in our own communities: an even stronger conviction that the close bond between Jews and Christians is not just Archbishop Nichols remained, something to be talked about, to with those present, in a prolonged be acknowledged in the abstract, time of silence during Mass in but instead must and can be lived the peaceful suroundings of the in our daily lives. For this I am Shrine. He later commented, extremely grateful to everyone “Indeed this is a fruitful feature at every Mass.” who made this remarkable day possible, but particularly to Rabbi Dr Levy, without whose ceaseless encouragement the visit would never have happened. Above all, thanks be to God, our Rock. May he continue to bless us on our pilgrim way. +Vincent Nichols Archbishop of Westminster

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We Made it

Happen

“G

ood evening Ladies and Gentlemen! Please be seated as the athletes, coaches and volunteers make their way to the staging area to commence the parade which will be led by the band of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment.

“

Whilst waiting for this to happen it was easy to reflect on the preparation which had taken months of planning for this moment to become real. As the band struck the opening bars and moved to lead the parade it was time “once again Ladies and Gentlemen good evening and it gives me great pleasure to bid you all, on behalf of Special Olympics Gibraltar, a very breezy Levanter welcome to our 28th summer games.” A ripple of applause, interspersed with light laughter greeted this announcement as those in the know acknowledged the prevailing weather conditions. For those who require enlightenment, well, the Rock of Gibraltar is a solid hulk of limestone rising to 436 metres (1,396ft) out of the Mediterranean Sea. Because of its location, on the edge of Europe, close to Africa and guardian of the Straits, linking the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Gibraltar is a place of meteorological extremes. The Levante, (English Levanter), is a warm, moist, east to northeast wind that flows from the

Alboran channel and is funnelled through the Straits of Gibraltar. It is accompanied by a characteristic banner cloud which forms on top of the Rock and streams away to leeward. Whilst it is not new to us its grey blowing presence was very unwelcome during the last week in June as it persisted in its oppressive bearing. Ironically, we had been concerned that high summer temperatures would cause problems for our visitors from Andorra and the Isle of Man but the wind kept these at bay. By now the Band of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, impeccably smart, was leading the Parade of athletes in our Opening Ceremony and immediately behind came Diane from Gibraltar, Teresa from Barbate, Stuart from the Isle of Man and Taisa from Andorra led by Coach Kelly Ann carrying the flag of Special Olympics. “Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome, for the first time to Gibraltar, a team from the Principality of Andorra, a team of old friends from the Isle of Man, Barbate from nearby Spain who have come to participate in the

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football events and will remain with us throughout the Games, and our very own athletes from Gibraltar, a warm welcome to each and everyone one taking part in our 28th Games!” This truly was the moment when the excitement became evident as applause rang out in support and welcome. His Excellency the Governor, Sir Adrian Johns, gave an upbeat address of welcome which was followed by the Flag Raising event. Coach and athletes struggled to control the flag as it whipped around. “Ladies and gentlemen, just a small glitch

courtesy of the stronger than usual Levanter breeze which is causing the flag to misbehave somewhat,” Michael went to the rescue and soon it was flapping vigorously as the ceremony continued. It was time for the Oath taking and as is customary one athlete is selected to recite it on behalf of all the participating athletes and Francis Mauro, our athlete representative stepped up. “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.” This Oath is older than Special Olympics which began in 1962

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when Eunice Kennedy Shriver started a day camp for people with intellectual disabilities in her own back yard. It grew from there to the holding of the first International Special Olympic Games in 1968 in Chicago. At the first ever Opening Ceremony she announced, “In ancient Rome. The gladiators went into the ring with these words; “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt”. Today, all of you young athletes are in the arena. Many of you will win, but even more important, I know you will all be brave and bring credit to your parents and your country.” Next it was time for the Law Enforcement Torch Run with the ‘Flame of Hope’ to make an entrance. This began in the US in 1981 as a way of raising awareness and funds for Special Olympics. Seven years later it was started in Gibraltar which became the first in Europe to do so. This year is their 25th Anniversary. At this point in the ceremony the atmosphere builds as the relay of the ‘Flame of Hope’ to light the cauldron begins. To applause and cheers and calls of encouragement the first athlete, Nigel, receives the torch and runs to pass it to Carlito, our oldest athlete, who sprints towards Daniel who raises it high as he charges to

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Nicholas who, with excitement that is palpable races to where the cauldron is waiting to be lighted. With careful help from some of the Torch runners Nicholas lights the cauldron and triumphantly holds the ‘Flame of Hope’ aloft. “Well done Nicholas and thank you to all who took part in this exciting event. A big thank you to the Law Enforcement Torch Runners” leaving the stadium to a round of spirited applause. It was time to call upon His Excellency who declared the Games open; “Let the Games begin”, the same way Eunice Shriver did in 1968 and how its been done ever since. The Band bade us a musical farewell and it was time for the entertainment part of the evening.

he Levanter continued to blow strongly for the remainder of the Games but the outdoor football and athletics events went ahead. The football on the morning of the 26th saw some hazy sunshine filter through the grey cloud

but it was in the evening at the athletics events that we felt the full force of this 17, gusting 2225 knot breeze! Our Victoria Stadium, situated as it is on the eastside is vulnerable to these winds as they swoop over the Rock. continued on page 11

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Interview with a marathon fundraiser.

Salute to the

Holy Spirit!

incent Vinent is well known to everybody in Gibraltar as an accomplished Flamenco dancer and teacher, perhaps less known, is his charitable activities. Many local societies and organisations have expressed their gratitude to him for his fundraising shows.

Together with his dance group he has often given free charity performances. Cancer Relief, the British Red Cross, The Social Probation Service, Line Edward Committee and the Missionary Movement ‘Gesu Fil-Proxxmu’ are among the many who have benefited from his shows. This was noticed in very high places and in 2009 he was awarded the Gibraltar Badge of Honour by Governor Fulton on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth... But who is Vincent Vinent?

Q&A

What do you most like about Gibraltar? The warm hearted, friendly people.

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What do you least like about Gibraltar? The high rate in cancer amongst it’s small community of people. What’s your most treasured possession? A medal of the Virgen del Rocio blessed by Pope John Paul II in Rome and the Gibraltar Badge of Honour from H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth II, presented to me by His Excellency Governor Fulton. What’s your favourite movie? Gone With the Wind. What is the best advice you’ve ever been given? Always be who you are and never change. What human qualities do you value most? Honesty. For what cause would you die? For any member of my familiy. Which living person do you most admire? My nephews but especially my dearest niece Hazel. What word or phrases do you most over use? Te Quiero or I Love You. What keeps you awake at night? Worries. How would you like to be remembered? For all the good I have done for others. What makes you laugh? Mrs. Bucket from the T.V. series “Keeping Up Appearances” Who would you have liked to meet in life? Mother Theresa of Culcutta.

How would you describe yourself? A good person and loyal good friend to my friends. When was the last time you got really annoyed? Last year when someone said things that were not true. Who has been the greatest influence in you life? My dear parents. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Being healthy and surrounded by close friends and family. What historical figure do you most identify with? The Late Princess Diana, she was a great believer in helping others and devoted to charity. What object do you always carry with you? As a good Catholic I always carry a rosary. What is the best country you have ever visited and why? As a good religious person i have visited Lourdes for my Virgen of Lourdes and Jerusalem. Finaly we wished Vincenti a Happy Birthday and many happy returns! Many thanks and God bless you all!

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Ready for Gibraltar Youth Pilgrimage to World Youth Day

On the 24th of March during the Angelus, Pope Francis sent one of many messages directly to the youth saying:

“I especially entrust you to Mary, dear young people, on your path towards Rio de Janeiro; this July, Rio! Prepare your hearts spiritually, may all of you have a good journey!”

gr. Charlie Azzopardi celebrated Mass at St. Theresa’s for the the young people who were about to set off on their pilgrimage to Rio, they had their suitcases packed and ready and would be boarding the coach to take them to the airport after Mass. For Fr. Charlie, this day represented the successful culmination of many months of fundraising, including taking part in a daring Sky Dive, at great personal sacrifice, due to the strict physical training he undertook in preparation for the day when he and three others stepped out of a light aircraft in Faith. Now their sponsord jump has paid off. The sky divers can be proud of their achievement as they stand with the group [pictured above] which was assembled outside the church with parents and friends before Mass, (not all of the group going on the trip are in the photo). It was the penultimate day of the August Upon this Rock magazine layout and by the time you read this, the event will be over. For the Youth and there leaders, it was the day they had been training for, with many prayer meetings and retreats, many hours spent in spiritual preparation, studying our Faith and how to live a Christian life today. We asked Jeremy Duo (front row, far left) why he felt it was important to go on pilgrimage to Rio: Why are you looking forward to going to World Youth Day in Rio de Janiero? It is extremely important that we make a statement as the Catholic Youth of the world. Is it not a long way to go and see the Pope, would it not be easier to

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RIO

go to Rome? We are not going primarily to see the Pope, we are going to take part in World Youth Day, and as there will be so many young Catholics there, it is appropriate that the Head of our Church is there also, as our Spiritual Father, seeing him there is an added bonus for the Youth. On a local level, it is extremely important that the Young Catholics in Gibraltar can see and understand that we are not alone and isolated in our Faith, that there are millions of young people just like us all around the world.

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An inspirational article that Louise sent to the magazine shortly before she died.

Choosing Louise Borastero, who passed away suddenly last month, explains how Knowledge as part of Faith, propels us towards Jesus’ arms in our search for love. We trust that she is now resting in His loving arms.

here are so many things in life that we are free to choose to believe; we choose whether or not to believe everything really, whether or not we have faith in our choice. Why does what matters to others matter to us too? Often we think it may matter because if those around you don’t like you or accept you, then who will? And the fear that we have,d is that we are going to be alone. We think that unless we change ourselves we will never be good enough, and furthermore, that we will become failures. We are so often so full of negativity that we forget to be grateful, or rather, we choose not to be grateful and we forget that being grateful, gives us great peace. When we live closer to christ we are

never alone and never will be. We are already ‘good enough’ for him. Having confidence in our thoughts, actions and choices can often make all the difference, especially as christians, and humans we are sometimes oppressed with fears and restrained by a spirit of timidity. There are some things in life that we cannot change and we therefore have the choice whether to give up or keep on going. Do you believe in yourself, or do you believe in others possible judgment of you? Will you believe people when they make a negative judgment on you, or would you believe their positive judgment first? These are all choices we make. Confidence in making the right choices is vital and this

confidence is a spirit which god wants us to embrace in life. We are all on a journey and we travel a step at a time. It doesn’t matter how big the steps are or how little or small, as long as we take one at a time; its our only option. If we keep taking steps in every different way or direction, there will come a time when we will fall down, and we may often ask ourselves, who will be there when or if that happens? You choose the answer. God is unconditional love; it doesn’t matter what you look like, how successful you are, how intelligent you are, or how rich or poor, he will come into your life if you let him, or rather hopefully, when you let him. Sometimes we do not place importance on how God sees us. Why? It matters all too

often what others think of us, why does it not matter how God thinks of us? For many people, God can be a concept; an idea, or perhaps even a theory. Some might say that god is a way of understanding the world. Faith cannot be seen, so it is hard to have it; it cannot be felt. God cannot be seen as conventionally as we see everything else, therefore we may find it hard to believe in him. In school we learn so many concrete theories like that of gravity, when we let go of an object it falls, so we take no time in believing that it falls, we have no doubt because we see it. However, there is no such test for the belief in God. Many people, including intelligent academics throughout history have devoted their lives to serving him and loving him, ultimately leading to a change in everything about our lives as human beings. He saves our lives, gives us hope and loves us. This does not mean that once we believe in God we will get everything we want, nor does it make life easy; we will not be trial free, but we have him by our side. Experiences of suffering are more that Gods way of disciplining us in order to teach us lessons. The trials we are sent build our character, they are good for us, they build our faith and maturity. There is no need to believe in God to know this, but believing helps to carry us through. We are taught as Christians that

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Believe there is freedom in truth; there is also freedom in love, in showing love to one another. Showing others love and kindness can save a life. Kindness makes the world heal, and the power of encouragement can help so many as only God knows how many people around us are hurting. God can use the power of encouragment through you, through those who choose to believe and are aware. Everybody is going through something, but we can all find that freedom through love and we can all find that happiness through God. Choices are yours. Having faith in our choices can prove just as challenging as making the right choice, but with the right formula of confidence, it can be achieved. Faith is choosing to believe in God; faith is not faith when you know something - that is knowledge. Kowledge is only a part of faith and its a good thing because it points us in Gods

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Louise

16.08.1985 - 02.07.2013 direction; it almost propells us into his arms in our search for wholeness, sense and love. Some things however, are beyond knowledge and that is where the trust part of faith comes in, knowing that faith is faith when you choose to believe.

continued from page 7 Dust and grit was picked up stinging eyes, as well as hair being whipped around faces, papers blew sending our carefully sequenced events awry, a couple of dustbins went crashing over and a few cans went rattling around, and all felt the sting of this fresh breeze. Our swimming events went, well, swimmingly, and just as the Closing Ceremony was about to begin…”Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to begin our Clos…..” words faded into silence as we experienced a power cut! Disconcerted surprise was quickly replaced by an impromptu ‘we can do it’ as Rachel ‘yelled’ us through the rest of the evening. With great good humour everyone entered into the spirit of lowering the flag, extinguishing the cauldron and acknowledging the athletes courageous participation in our 28th Games. Then it was off to enjoy the family BBQ. We had to cancel a Dolphin trip

into the Bay for the Andorran athletes. This was very disappointing as coming from a landlocked microstate located in the Pyrenees Mountains, bordered by France and Spain it would have been a real thrill to experience the wild dolphins in their natural habitat. However with prevailing Levanter conditions of which even the Phoenicians once upon a time found difficult to negotiate, as the winds cause a high sharp swell, this was not to be. The athletes were real troopers having driven over eight hundred miles in two mini buses all the way through Spain in the heat of summer, a journey of sixteen hours with stops, to come and participate in our Games. Our flag is folded and in safe keeping for next years Games. All Games present a challenge but this year the Levanter certainly presented us with an extra dimensional one. However, in the true spirit of Special Olympics, we made it happen.

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1 Flesh There’s a better way than just birth control.

The

CYC

What is it?

The Creighton Model FertilityCare™ System (Creighton) is the only natural method of family planning developed by an OB/ Gyn. It is based on observing cervical secretions throughout a woman’s cycle. During the fertile period of ovulation cervical crypts respond to rising estrogen levels, producing a type of mucus that aids the motility and lifespan of sperm. This mucus is necessary for conception to take place. Conversely, the absence of cervical mucus indicates periods of infertility. Thus, like all natural methods, it can be used as a method to achieve, as well as avoid, pregnancy.

How effective is it?

In a study of 1,876 couples using the Creighton Method, it was found that “the method and use effectiveness rates for avoiding pregnancy were 99.5 and 96.8 at the 12th ordinal month and 99.5 and 96.4 at the 18th ordinal month, respectively.”1 An earlier study of 242 couples placed the use-effectiveness at 98.0%.2 (The effectiveness of the Creighton Model is based on the assumption that if a couple understands from their charting that it is a day of fertility, and that having sex is therefore likely to result in pregnancy, but have sex anyway, a pregnancy that results from taking that risk is not a failure of the Creighton Model. The method did what it was supposed to do. It taught the couple to recognize their days of fertility, allowing them to freely choose whether and to

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It’s working together, its not like

what extent they would risk the burden is on one person, it strengthens your relationship. becoming pregnant. Thus the effectiveness of Creighton is not directly comparable with the effectiveness of contraceptive methods, which would hold that any pregnancy is an unintended pregnancy. In order to make a more direct comparison, a new study is currently being conducted.)

Do couples like it?

88.7% of couples using Creighton to regulate their fertility continue their use after one year.2 To put this rate in perspective, studies indicate that between 45.9%3 - 69.4%4 of women using oral contraceptives to regulate their fertility continue to use them after one year.

In general, how does it work?

A woman is only fertile during a couple of days out of every month. A couple can only become pregnant when they have sex during this “fertile window”. A woman’s body gives off different signs when she is fertile and infertile. Creighton helps a couple read these signs and therefore monitor when a woman is fertile. A couple who wishes to avoid pregnancy will abstain from sex during the fertile period of the month and have sex during the infertile period of the month.

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Editorial Selected by Dr. Monique Risso

Specifically, how does it work?

(This description is not a substitute for the private instruction required to learn Creighton.) The woman is instructed to observe her cervical mucus every day, every time she goes to the bathroom, both before and after urination and/or a bowel movement. She is taught to first determine the sensation the mucus creates (dry, smooth, or lubricative) as she passes the tissue over the perineum, then to observe the tissue for any mucus present. If mucus is present she will finger test, noting the degree of stretch and it’s color. As ovulation nears the cervical mucus becomes increasingly clear, stretchy and/or lubricative. After ovulation there is an abrupt change, where all three mucus qualities, clear, stretchy (an inch or more) and lubricative, are absent. The last day she observes mucus that is clear, stretches one inch or more, and/or is lubricative, is her Peak Day. Because ovulations can occur up to three days after the Peak Day the next three days are also indicated as fertile. By these mucus observations the couple is able to pinpoint their days of fertility and infertility, and plan sexual intercourse based on their intentions to achieve or avoid a pregnancy. When a couple is avoiding pregnancy, intercourse is at the end of the day on dry days in the pre-ovulatory phase of the cycle. By waiting until the end of the day they are able to confirm the absence of mucus, and thus infertility of that day. In the postovulatory phase, intercourse can be any time of day, as ovulation has passed.

Does Creighton work for women with irregular cycles?

Women with irregular cycles (those that don’t fall in the 21-38 day window) use the Creighton model with equally as high effectiveness as women with regular cycles. In fact, charting with the CrMS can help your NaPro doctor detect problems that may be causing your cycle to fall outside of the normal range. CrMS charting can help diagnose underlying gynecological problems that might otherwise go unnoticed, or be masked if oral contraceptives have been prescribed for the symptoms. The full footnoted article is available for reference at http://www.1flesh.org/showcase/the-creighton-model/ Guidance on the use of The Creighton Model System is available in Gibraltar from: Dr Monique Risso MB ChB MRCGP General Practitioner and NaPro Technology Physician Specialist Medical Clinic, Unit 7, First Floor, ICC Building, Casemates Square, Gibraltar. Tel: +350 200 49999 www.ladyofeuropefertilitycare.com

Photos Far left and top: Fr. Johnathan recently led the CYC in a day of prayer with an evening adoration on the Upper Rock. Above left, the group held a day of prayer at the Retreat Centre earlier this year, and above right a Day of Prayer at the Shrine recently.

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Dr Monique Risso shares guidance from YouCat on contraversial issues.

The Fifth Commandment Experimentation and Organ Donation Is it permissible to experiment on a live human being? Scientific, psychological, or medical experiments on a live human subject are allowed only when the results that can be expected are important for human well-being and cannot be obtained otherwise. Everything, however, must take place with the free and informed consent of the subject in question. Moreover, the experiments must not be disproportionately risky. To make human beings the subjects of research against their will is a crime. The fate of the Polish resistance fighter Dr. Wanda Poltawska, a close confidant of Pope John Paul II, reminds us what was at stake then and still is now. During the Nazi period, Wanda Poltawska was a victim of criminal human experiments in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Later Dr. Poltawska, a psychiatrist, advocated a reform of medical ethics and was among the founding members of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Is organ donation important? Donating organs can lengthen life or improve the quality of life, and therefore it is a genuine service to one’s neighbor, provided no one is forced to do it. It must be certain that the donor during his lifetime gave his free and deliberate consent and that he was not killed for the purpose of removing the organ(s). Donation by living donors is also possible, for example, in bone marrow transplants or in the donation of one kidney. Organ donation from a cadaver presupposes a certain determination of death and the consent of the donor during his lifetime or else of his representative. (YOUCAT questions 390-391) Respect for Human Dignity

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“Never, without my permission!”

In the film ‘The Fifth Element’ the character Leeloo is said to be made perfect. After Korben Dallas gives her refuge in his home, he kisses her while she is sleeping. She jumps up and angrily repeats

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“Se“Se No AttaNo Garnat!” Atta “Se No Atta “Se No YouCat gives ethical guidance on difficult and contentious issues.

Digital art by Goldloeckchen87

“Se Garnat!” No Atta “Se No Atta Why does the Fifth Commandment protect the physical and spiritual integrity of a human being as well? The right to life and human dignity form a unity; they are inseparably connected to each other. It is possible to put a person to death spiritually also. The commandment ‚‘You shall not kill’ (Ex 20:13) applies to both physical and spiritual integrity. Every seduction and incitement to evil, every use of force is a serious sin, especially when it occurs in a relationship of dependency. The sin is especially evil when the dependence of children on adults is involved. This means not only sexual abuse, but also spiritual seduction by parents, priests, teachers, or educators who lead their charges astray from values, and so on.

How should we treat our body?

The Fifth Commandment forbids also the use of violence against one’s own body. Jesus expressly demands that we accept and love ourselves: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Mt 22:39). Self-destructive acts against one’s own body (‘body piercings’, cutting and so on) are in most cases psychological reactions to experiences of abandonment and a lack of love; hence they call first and foremost for our sincere and loving response. Within the context of organ donation, it must be made clear, however, that there is no human right to destroy one’s own God-given body. (YOUCAT questions 386-387)

the phrase ‘Se No Atta Garnat!’ which is translated as ‘Never, without my permission!’.

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